“Fantastic Voyage” (ミクロの決死圏), Original Japanese First-Release STB Tatekan Movie Poster 1966, Ultra Rare, STB Size (c. 51 × 145 cm / 20 × 58 in) I356
This is an original, ultra-rare Japanese STB tatekan theatrical poster, printed in 1966 for the first Japanese cinema release of Fantastic Voyage (ミクロの決死圏), Richard Fleischer’s landmark science-fiction adventure—released in Japanese cinemas on 23 September 1966.
Known to collectors as an STB or tatekan, this imposing Japanese cinema-display format consists of two vertically arranged B2-size sections forming a complete poster approximately 51 × 145 cm—almost five feet tall. These posters were designed for highly visible cinema-front, entrance or foyer presentation and have a substantially greater physical presence than the standard Japanese B2 format.
Film background
Fantastic Voyage is one of the defining science-fiction spectacles of the 1960s. Following an assassination attempt, an important scientist is left with a life-threatening blood clot in his brain. Conventional surgery is impossible, so a specialised team and the experimental submarine Proteus are miniaturised to microscopic size and injected into his bloodstream.
The crew has only one hour—3,600 seconds—to navigate the human body, reach the damaged area, perform the operation and escape before the miniaturisation process reverses. The journey transforms the interior of the human body into an extraordinary alien landscape of arteries, lungs, nerves, antibodies and immense biological hazards.
Directed by Richard Fleischer and produced by Saul David for 20th Century Fox, the film stars Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O’Brien, Donald Pleasence, Arthur Kennedy, Arthur O’Connell and William Redfield. Fleischer approached the fantastic premise with the seriousness of a technological thriller, combining Cold War suspense with medical science and visionary “inner-space” spectacle.
The film became particularly celebrated for its elaborate production design and groundbreaking visual effects. It received five Academy Award nominations, winning two—for Colour Art Direction and Special Visual Effects—while also receiving nominations for colour cinematography, film editing and sound effects.
Poster design
Printed in the monumental Japanese two-section STB tatekan format, this extraordinary first-release design features:
An enormous human eye dominates the upper half of the composition, immediately establishing the film’s central idea of entering an unseen microscopic world. The eye is rendered in pink, flesh and black tones, while a circular scientific structure and minute human figures appear within the pupil, visually suggesting the transition from the ordinary human scale into the film’s radically miniaturised environment.
Above the eye, the Japanese title ミクロの決死圏 is presented in spectacular three-dimensional typography. ミクロ appears in white with sharply angled pink bands, while 決死圏 is printed in brilliant hot pink. The small connecting character の is placed between the two sections of the title.
The Japanese title may be understood approximately as “The Desperate Mission in the Microscopic Zone.” Rather than translating the comparatively poetic English title directly, the Japanese campaign emphasises danger, confinement and the crew’s life-or-death operation inside the human body.
To the left of the eye, the original English title “fantastic voyage” appears in condensed turquoise lettering. Its cool blue-green colour provides a striking contrast with the vivid pink Japanese title and the dark internal landscape surrounding it.
At the upper right, the period presentation text 総天然色／シネマスコープ announces the film as being presented in “Full Natural Colour / CinemaScope”—an important part of the original 1966 campaign, which promoted the scale and visual spectacle of the production.
A succession of miniaturised crew members descends diagonally through the microscopic environment, creating a dramatic sense of motion from the upper eye towards the lower anatomical imagery. Their cream-coloured protective suits, breathing apparatus and dark harnesses contrast against a dense web of turquoise, blue and black organic forms resembling capillaries, nerves and living tissue.
At the centre, an armed crew member advances through this strange biological landscape carrying specialised equipment, while additional figures appear to tumble or swim through the body’s interior above and behind him. The repeated figures convey the hazardous progress of the mission and the disorientating loss of ordinary scale.
Raquel Welch as Cora Peterson dominates the lower section, wearing the film’s distinctive cream diving suit and black breathing mask. Her dramatically enlarged figure projects towards the viewer, creating the illusion that the crew is emerging directly from the microscopic environment.
At the lower right appears the unmistakable white form of the Proteus, the miniaturised submarine used to transport the surgical team through the scientist’s bloodstream. Its smooth, futuristic silhouette is one of the film’s most recognisable pieces of production design.
Across the lower composition runs a sharp white electrocardiogram line, visually connecting the expedition to the patient whose life depends upon its success. The line leads towards a vividly coloured anatomical illustration of the human body, with arteries and veins mapped in red and blue.
The anatomical figure creates an ingenious change of scale. The microscopic crew members appear enormous within the internal landscape, yet the cutaway human form at the bottom reminds the viewer that the entire adventure is taking place inside a single injured body.
Along the right edge, a vivid orange-red vertical band carries the dramatic Japanese campaign text:
潜行隊は微小化され、博士の体内に注入された！驚異とサスペンスがきざむ3600秒の決死圏！
This may be translated approximately as:
“The expedition has been miniaturised and injected into the scientist’s body! A death-defying 3,600 seconds marked by wonder and suspense!”
The reference to 3,600 seconds directly expresses the film’s one-hour time limit and turns the entire design into a visual countdown.
At the lower left, the principal cast is presented in Japanese, including Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O’Brien, Donald Pleasence, Arthur O’Connell, Arthur Kennedy and William Redfield, followed by the credit for director Richard Fleischer and the original 20th Century Fox mark.
The extraordinarily vertical composition is exceptionally well suited to the STB format. The viewer’s eye is pulled from the monumental title and staring eye at the top, down through the descending microscopic crew, towards Raquel Welch, the Proteus, the electrocardiogram and the anatomical figure below.
Its combination of hot-pink dimensional typography, turquoise microscopic forms, orange campaign text, an enormous human eye, descending crew members and anatomical imagery makes this one of the most spectacular Japanese poster designs created for Fantastic Voyage.
Because the STB tatekan was intended for prominent physical display and was formed from two large sections, complete examples were far more vulnerable to separation, folding, tearing and disposal than conventional posters. In our experience, complete first-release STBs for major 1960s science-fiction films are exceptionally difficult to source today.
This complete poster presents in very good+ to excellent condition overall. The printed image and colours remain remarkably strong, with especially vivid pink, turquoise, orange, cream and deep black tones.
The poster has been stored folded and retains visible horizontal and vertical fold lines. There is a horizontal tear entering from the left edge along one of the folds in the upper section, with a fine continuation into the image, together with two small adjacent pinholes. There is also light age-related edge wear, minor handling creases and small marks consistent with its original cinema use and nearly sixty years of storage.
The tear is situated within a dark and visually complex part of the design and does not substantially interrupt the principal imagery. The remainder of the poster presents extremely well, with no major area of image loss. The reverse remains clean overall and retains a period handwritten Japanese title annotation, adding further evidence of its original theatrical handling in Japan.
Please refer to the detailed photographs of the front, reverse and affected area, as this is the exact poster that is for sale.
It is over 59 years old.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
