Ikarie XB 1

In 1963 Jindřich Polák expanded his filmography with his sci-fi feature Ikarie XB 1 (Icarus XB 1). Thanks to its motif, the film constitutes a unique piece of Czechoslovak cinematography. The screenplay – on which Pavel Juráček collaborated – is based on Stanisław Lem’s novel Obłok Magellana (The Magellanic Cloud). The humanistic narration set in the year 2163 tells the story of a spaceship with an international crew making a voyage to seek signs of life in the Alpha Centauri star system… The feature won an award at the Trieste International Science Fiction Film Festival and was subsequently sold to many countries including the USA. The American International Pictures company transformed it into the American B-movie Voyage to the End of the Universe with English dubbing and Anglicised names for both the actors and members of the production crew credited in the titles. The feature was also recut (an ideologically-coloured scene that depicts an encounter with a derelict spaceship from the era of capitalism was omitted, and a new ending was created).