Fantastic Voyage - A Solo 7TV2 Game

Fantastic Voyage - a solo game of 7TV2

Here is the narrative and pictures of one of several games that followed a week's work during lockdown, which was the result of what I can only describe as a moment of madness. I like these modelling and gaming challenges, but I honestly thought this one would be easier; with more time and considerably larger spend the result of this project might have looked a lot more professional, too. Please therefore consider this as what Fantastic Voyage might have been if it had been made by the BBC special effects dept on a particularly small 1960's Dr Who budget.

This is the second of two related posts - this one that describes the narrative of a game, mostly in pictures, and the pother setting out the rules by which the game was played. Enjoy!

THE PLOT SO FAR

During the cold war, a Soviet scientist who has perfected a technique for shrinking things has defected to the West. Unfortunately he was attacked on the way and is now in a coma. A blood clot needs to be removed from his brain or he will die - but the only way the clot can be operated on is to use the scientist's own techniques to shrink five members of the Combined Miniature Deterrent Force (CMDF) and a repurposed submarine called Proteus to tiny size, inject them into his bloodstream, and get them to use surgical lasers to remove the clot from the inside. They then have to escape safely before they expand to normal size, and it's a race against time as they can only remain that small for an hour. Travelling through the heart and the inner ear to the brain, they have to contend with the body's defences, and what's more, there's a saboteur on board as well.

The adventure (or at least, the way it turned out on one occasion of playing) is best told in pictures.

The Proteus approaches the brain wall, where the blood clots that must be removed can be seen. Proteus moves easily through the more open areas of this capillary but body tissues become denser closer to the brain wall.

Grant, Dr Michaels, Dr Duval and Cora Peterson leave the submarine via the air lock. Red blood cells flow all around, some of them dangerously close to the Proteus. If they collide and cause a disturbance, antibodies will soon arrive.

Equipped with surgical lasers, the divers swim closer to the brain wall, taking care not to disturb the sensitive body tissues. Nerve cells flicker with light as they approach.

A red blood cell bumps gently against the Proteus, doing no damage, but the ripples cause antibodies to be attracted.

Cora's laser appears to be ineffective, but Grant burns part of one of the blood clots away. Using the surgical laser can clear the obstruction efficiently, but the vibrations it causes inevitably disturb the bloodstream and antibodies begin to gather. In the distance, Dr Duval and Dr Michaels work to weaken another blood clot.

Antibodies gather, attracted by the disturbance cause by the surgical lasers.

Another round of surgical laser shooting proves less effective. The clots here are more resilient and stubbornly remain in place.

A distant view of the action as seen from Captain Owens at the helm of the Proteus.

Numerous antibodies close in on Cora, whose efforts to shift one of the blood clots prove unsuccessful.

It's time to get moving! Cora alerts Grant that they need to hurry.

Without warning, Dr Michaels' body goes limp - oxygen is leaking from his tank and he has momentarily lost consciousness. Stunned and weakened, with the last of his awareness he seals the leak, but this can only be sabotage!

Working together, Cora and Grant clear one of the blood clots entirely, but a large number of antibodies are closing in and one clot has to be abandoned. Grant turns his attention to a second clot while Cora makes her way in his direction.

Further along the brain wall, Dr Michaels has recovered thanks to his smelling salts (it's not clear how he used them in the diving suit, but we will gloss over that). He and Duval get to work together on another blood clot.

A distant view across the body tissues.

Antibodies swarm around in the bloodstream, hunting for targets.

Antibodies start to close in on Cora, who beats it quick in Grant's direction.

The Proteus attempts to move to a more protected location, but antibodies are dangerously close.

A mass of antibodies is generally drifting toward the Proteus.

The same moment, from a different angle.

View of the whole table and game in progress. I'm not sure what the sellotape is doing there.

Dr Duval and Dr Michaels clear another blood clot. Cora swims past Grant toward them.

Another red blood cell blunders into the Proteus, and this time antibodies attack. Behind, others home in on the disturbance.

Grant, determined to remove just one more clot before he leaves, finds himself in a dangerous position. Despite antibodies close by, he destroys the clot with laser fire, and then deploys a grapple gun to pull himself out of position away from the antibodies and closer to the rest of the crew.

Working together, the divers clear a fourth blood clot from the brain wall.

Antibodies start to build up on the hull of the Proteus. Captain Owens starts to worry. Many more and Proteus will be unable to move.

Their job done, the crew pull away from the brain wall. They know that time is of the essence and they need to get back to the submarine soon.

Proteus slowly pulls away, a mass of  antibodies attached to its hull, as yet more close in. Captain Owens calls on the radio for the divers to hurry back.

Masses of antibodies that have built up relentlessly pursue the Proteus.

Job done, at last our heroes swim back between body tissues toward the submarine.

But there's a twist in the plot - Cora swims up behind Grant and stabs him in the back with her diver's knife. She's the saboteur, secretly working for the Soviets, and intent on the mission failing! Now we know why her laser was so ineffective earlier!

Unfortunately for her, Cora is closely followed by Dr Duval, who manhandles her away from Grant and leaves her for dead in the water. The saboteur has been dealt with, but the massive disturbance this has caused means that antibodies are already homing in.

Wounded, Grant makes it back to the Proteus, which continues to accumulate antibodies.

At the back, Dr Michaels is attacked by an antibody. Weakened, and with more pursuing, he makes his way back toward the Proteus with all speed.

As time runs short, Owens, who has left Proteus, does what he can to clear antibodies from the hull using his laser, while Duval accompanies Michaels back to the submarine.

At this point the Fan Favourite card is drawn from the deck - and there's only one way to interpret this. In another twist of fate, this can only mean that the beautiful Cora isn't dead at all (this traumatic loss of eye candy at such a critical point in tjhe film would have been very bad for ratings) but has in fact been saved by Grant, who manhandles her unconscious body back through the Proteus airlock. She'll survive to be passed to the authorities to be dealt with when they return to normal size. And so, with just enough antibodies removed to enable Proteus to make its escape, the remaining crew swim aboard.

It's the final turn, and the last Countdown Card is drawn: Inevitable Explosion. Somewhere, something explodes - but Proteus leaves the table safely and the episode ends.

The patient is saved. The crew and the Proteus have survived. The saboteur is sent to be dealt with by a military court, and the reputation (and future budget) of the CMDF is secured. A resourding victory for the good guys.

But that is only one possible outcome of the episode...