The Full Scale Proteus Mock-up
Rescue Sub?
The Proteus is one of those extremely rare instances in Hollywood where the interior set is actually built inside the exterior. The reason is obvious, with the huge array of windows across the front almost the entire interior is visible anyway so why not just build the whole thing in one piece. This makes it all the more fascinating for model builders because, for once, they don't have "fudge" the interior to make it fit. The only real flaw in the design (and this is typical of all Hollywood designs) is there is no space allowed for the equipment which would drive, dive and operate the sub. For the most part the interior is built right out to the exterior except for a small allowance for wall thickness.
When I first visited 20th Century
Fox (see the "personal
account" pages of the Planet of the Apes spaceship section) one of
the things I asked about was the "mock-up sub from Fantastic Voyage".
The gentleman who's office I was in, Ivan Martin, told me that he thought
that it was still around the lot somewhere and "it had been redone into
a rescue sub for the Poseidon Adventure but never used". I asked
what they had done to it and he said "they covered up the windows, cut
off the flange, put a hatch in the side and painted the whole thing red".
Well I was disappointed to hear that but on further investigation we discovered
that the mock-up was nowhere on the lot. It had probably been cut
up after the decision not to use it on "Poseidon" so we were spared the
awful sight of it at its unglamorous end.
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