Journey to the Beginning of Time
Encyclopedia
Journey to the Beginning of Time is a 1955 Czechoslovak children's science fiction feature film
directed by Karel Zeman
. Produced using a combination of 2-D and 3-D models, it was the first of Zeman's productions to include actors in conjunction with stop-motion and special effects, and won awards at the International Film Festival
s of Venice
and Mannheim
. The documentary-type nature of the film showing extinct animal species behaving naturally in their own environments was most unusual for its era and pre-empted many later TV productions that would depict prehistoric life for educational rather than purely entertainment purposes. Cesta do Pravěku should not be confused with a dubbed and partly re-filmed US version of the film that was released in 1966 under the title Journey to the Beginning of Time.
, in which a team of Russian explorers enter the Earth's crust
via an Arctic portal (a huge depression in the Earth surface created many millions of years previously by the impact of a giant asteroid, into which prehistoric animals had entered), and follow a river that leads them through a sequence of past geological eras and associated animal life. Some scenes in Cesta do Pravěku recall Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World
novel (1912) with four male protagonists exploring a prehistoric world where they find evidence of native human habitation, are attacked by a group of enraged pterodactyls, witness a twilight fight between a carnivorous dinosaur and a herbivorous one, encounter a Stegosaurus
up-close, and see one of their members (Petr) pursued by a Phorusrhacos
.
town in the Czech Republic
at the nature reserve named (in Czech) Osypané břehy and on studio sets.
Zeman was heavily influenced by the palaeo-art of the celebrated Czech artist Zdeněk Burian
(1905-1981), and much of the film's imagery was inspired by Burian reconstructions that had been painted under the guidance of Czech palaeontologist Josef Augusta
(1903-1968). In some scenes, 2-D 'profile' images of animals originally depicted by Burian were filmed in real time (as in the Styracosaurus
sequences), whilst other well-known Burian scenes were recreated in stop-motion using a combination of 2-and 3-D models (as in the Deinotherium
and Uintatherium
sequences). Possibly for the sake of continuity, Zeman also used models or 2-D profiles when depicting extant species including bison, a python, flamingos, vultures, various antelopes, giraffes, and a jaguar (which was briefly spliced with footage of a real animal in one of only three instances of live species footage). In some scenes, miniature models of the actors and their boat/raft were also animated.
In addition to numerous miniature animal models and 2-D 'profiles', Zeman also used larger models of heads and bodies of animals (including a full-size 'dead' Stegosaurus
and swimming woolly rhino, Brontosaurus and Trachodon
models), as well as life-sized model plants (as in the Carboniferous
forest sequence, and the encounter with the Styracosaurus
). The use of 2-D profiles and 3-D models animated by concealed means had the advantage of filming in real time without the need for labour-intensive stop-motion. Two of the film's prehistoric species were not based on Burian images; the Stegosaurus
and the Ceratosaurus
with which it fights in a twilight scene (it remains unclear as to why Zeman did not use Burian images in these instances).
Cesta do Pravěku was made on what would be considered a small budget by western film-makers. It discussed the various time epochs as defined by palaeontologists and the types of animals typical of those periods, using information known in the 1950s. Whilst many animated feature films, particularly those in the US, used models of prehistoric animals in contrived sequences, Zeman instead depicted animals acting naturally in their own environments as if being filmed for a documentary, with the actors observing from the relative safety of the river. Such a philosophy was unusual at the time and was more typical of later TV productions that depicted prehistoric animals in an educational context (including the BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts series) which became popular following the advent of computer-generated imagery that negated the need for time-consuming, highly-skilled manual animation. The original release of Zeman's film was 93 minutes, although the East German release had a slightly shorter running time.
whose company had been marketing Russian animated cartoons and feature films from the 1940-'50s, especially those of the famous Soyuzmultfilm
studios (well known titles included The Firebird, The Frog Prince, Beauty & the Beast, The Space Explorers, and Twelve Months). The films were dubbed, sometimes re-titled, partitioned into chapters and distributed to US TV stations. In the case of Cesta do Pravěku, Cayton replaced the opening and closing scenes of the original with new footage of American boys who entered the film in a dream squence whilst visiting the American Museum of Natural History
in New York. The film was copied to poor quality film stock and edited into short segments (about six minutes each) for presentation as a serial, syndicated to various children's television programs. The US version was released on VHS video by Goodtimes in 1994. Because of the new sequences, none of the actors' faces could be shown until the original footage began.
In April 2001 Cesta do Pravěku was screened at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York, as part of the retrospective entitled The Fabulous World of Karel Zeman. In 2010, it featured at the 50th Zlín Film Festival (May 30 - June 6) in the Czech Republic, one day of which (June 4) was dedicated to Karel Zeman to honour the centenary of his birth. The four original actors also attended the ceremonies (three from the Czech Republic and one - Vladimír Bejval - from the US).
In 2004 a DVD version of the film appeared in Japan, in Germany in 2005, and Spain in 2007. The Japanese and Spanish versions had different digital masters. The first German DVD had no digitally remastered images, but another German version with Czech and German dialogue, and 15 min of extras showing some of Zeman's filming techniques, was released in Jan 2010. This version used some modified sound effects for the dubbing, and the picture quality is below that of the original. Unfortunately the announced DVD of the original was held back for licence-juridical reasons and it remained unavailable commercially (as of April 2011) although copies of the original circulate amongst enthusiasts.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
directed by Karel Zeman
Karel Zeman
Karel Zeman was a Czech film director, artist, production designer and animator. Because of his creative use of special effects and animation in his films, he has often been called the "Czech Méliès."-Life:...
. Produced using a combination of 2-D and 3-D models, it was the first of Zeman's productions to include actors in conjunction with stop-motion and special effects, and won awards at the International Film Festival
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
s of Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
. The documentary-type nature of the film showing extinct animal species behaving naturally in their own environments was most unusual for its era and pre-empted many later TV productions that would depict prehistoric life for educational rather than purely entertainment purposes. Cesta do Pravěku should not be confused with a dubbed and partly re-filmed US version of the film that was released in 1966 under the title Journey to the Beginning of Time.
Plot
The story involves four teenage comrades who take a rowboat along a "river of time" that flows into a mysterious cave and emerges on the other side onto a strange, primeval landscape. The boy actors were Josef Lukáš (Petr, the main narrator), Petr Herrmann (Tonik, who also narrates in part), Zdeněk Husták (Jenda), and Vladimír Bejval (Jirka). As they make their way upstream, they realise that they are travelling progressively farther back in time, and facing various perils as they do so (but learning much about prehistoric life in the process). The animals depicted in Cesta do Pravěku were never shown interacting with animals of other periods and it is assumed that different parts of the river represented distinct time periods. The plot is somewhat similar to that of the novel Plutonia (1915) by the Russian palaeontologist Vladimir ObruchevVladimir Obruchev
Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev was a Russian and Soviet geologist who specialized in the study of Siberia and Central Asia. He was also one of the first Russian science fiction authors.- Scientific research :...
, in which a team of Russian explorers enter the Earth's crust
Hollow Earth
The Hollow Earth hypothesis proposes that the planet Earth is either entirely hollow or otherwise contains a substantial interior space. The hypothesis has been shown to be wrong by observational evidence, as well as by the modern understanding of planet formation; the scientific community has...
via an Arctic portal (a huge depression in the Earth surface created many millions of years previously by the impact of a giant asteroid, into which prehistoric animals had entered), and follow a river that leads them through a sequence of past geological eras and associated animal life. Some scenes in Cesta do Pravěku recall Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World
The Lost World
-Conan Doyle novel and adaptations:* The Lost World , a 1912 book* The Lost World , a silent film* The Lost World , set in Venezuela* The Lost World , set in Africa...
novel (1912) with four male protagonists exploring a prehistoric world where they find evidence of native human habitation, are attacked by a group of enraged pterodactyls, witness a twilight fight between a carnivorous dinosaur and a herbivorous one, encounter a Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus is a genus of armored stegosaurid dinosaur. They lived during the Late Jurassic period , some 155 to 150 million years ago in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well...
up-close, and see one of their members (Petr) pursued by a Phorusrhacos
Phorusrhacos
Phorusrhacos was a genus of giant flightless predatory birds that lived in Patagonia, containing the single species Phorusrhacos longissimus. Their closest living relatives are the much smaller seriema birds...
.
Production
Zeman's use of unorthodox and seamless production techniques ensured that the film was free of jerky stop-motion sequences and grainy splicing of stop-motion with real-time footage that characterised Hollywood's animated films until the advent of computer-generated imagery. Filming took place on the Morava river near BzenecBzenec
Bzenec is a town in the southeast of Moravia, in the Czech Republic. It lies in the South Moravian Region. The population is 4,305 . Bzenec was first mentioned in 1015 . In 1330 it became a town.- Districts :* Bzenec* Domanín...
town in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
at the nature reserve named (in Czech) Osypané břehy and on studio sets.
Zeman was heavily influenced by the palaeo-art of the celebrated Czech artist Zdeněk Burian
Zdenek Burian
Zdeněk Michael František Burian was a Czech painter and book illustrator whose work played a central role in the development of palaeontological reconstructions during a remarkable career spanning five decades...
(1905-1981), and much of the film's imagery was inspired by Burian reconstructions that had been painted under the guidance of Czech palaeontologist Josef Augusta
Josef Augusta
Josef Augusta was a Czechoslovak paleontologist, geologist, and science popularizer.During 1921 to 1925 Augusta studied at the university in Brno...
(1903-1968). In some scenes, 2-D 'profile' images of animals originally depicted by Burian were filmed in real time (as in the Styracosaurus
Styracosaurus
Styracosaurus was a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period , about 76.5 to 75.0 million years ago...
sequences), whilst other well-known Burian scenes were recreated in stop-motion using a combination of 2-and 3-D models (as in the Deinotherium
Deinotherium
Deinotherium , also called the Hoe tusker, was a large prehistoric relative of modern-day elephants that appeared in the Middle Miocene and continued until the Early Pleistocene. During that time it changed very little...
and Uintatherium
Uintatherium
Uintatherium, is an extinct genus of herbivorous mammal that lived during the Eocene epoch, which includes a single species currently recognized, U. anceps. They were similar to today's rhinoceros both in size and in shape, although they are not closely related...
sequences). Possibly for the sake of continuity, Zeman also used models or 2-D profiles when depicting extant species including bison, a python, flamingos, vultures, various antelopes, giraffes, and a jaguar (which was briefly spliced with footage of a real animal in one of only three instances of live species footage). In some scenes, miniature models of the actors and their boat/raft were also animated.
In addition to numerous miniature animal models and 2-D 'profiles', Zeman also used larger models of heads and bodies of animals (including a full-size 'dead' Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus is a genus of armored stegosaurid dinosaur. They lived during the Late Jurassic period , some 155 to 150 million years ago in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well...
and swimming woolly rhino, Brontosaurus and Trachodon
Trachodon
Trachodon is a dubious genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur based on teeth from the Campanian-age Upper Cretaceous Judith River Formation of Montana, U.S.A...
models), as well as life-sized model plants (as in the Carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
forest sequence, and the encounter with the Styracosaurus
Styracosaurus
Styracosaurus was a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period , about 76.5 to 75.0 million years ago...
). The use of 2-D profiles and 3-D models animated by concealed means had the advantage of filming in real time without the need for labour-intensive stop-motion. Two of the film's prehistoric species were not based on Burian images; the Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus is a genus of armored stegosaurid dinosaur. They lived during the Late Jurassic period , some 155 to 150 million years ago in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well...
and the Ceratosaurus
Ceratosaurus
Ceratosaurus meaning "horned lizard", in reference to the horn on its nose , was a large predatory theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period , found in the Morrison Formation of North America, in Tanzania and Portugal...
with which it fights in a twilight scene (it remains unclear as to why Zeman did not use Burian images in these instances).
Cesta do Pravěku was made on what would be considered a small budget by western film-makers. It discussed the various time epochs as defined by palaeontologists and the types of animals typical of those periods, using information known in the 1950s. Whilst many animated feature films, particularly those in the US, used models of prehistoric animals in contrived sequences, Zeman instead depicted animals acting naturally in their own environments as if being filmed for a documentary, with the actors observing from the relative safety of the river. Such a philosophy was unusual at the time and was more typical of later TV productions that depicted prehistoric animals in an educational context (including the BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts series) which became popular following the advent of computer-generated imagery that negated the need for time-consuming, highly-skilled manual animation. The original release of Zeman's film was 93 minutes, although the East German release had a slightly shorter running time.
Marketing and retrospectives
In 1966, another version of the film was released in the US by William CaytonBill Cayton
William D. Cayton , best known for helping to manage and promote Mike Tyson early in his career, was also famous for preserving much of boxing's legacy through his efforts as a film historian and producer...
whose company had been marketing Russian animated cartoons and feature films from the 1940-'50s, especially those of the famous Soyuzmultfilm
Soyuzmultfilm
Soyuzmultfilm is a Russian animation studio based in Moscow. Over the years it has gained international attention and respect, garnering numerous awards both at home and abroad. Noted for a great variety of style, it is regarded as the most influential animation studio of the former Soviet Union...
studios (well known titles included The Firebird, The Frog Prince, Beauty & the Beast, The Space Explorers, and Twelve Months). The films were dubbed, sometimes re-titled, partitioned into chapters and distributed to US TV stations. In the case of Cesta do Pravěku, Cayton replaced the opening and closing scenes of the original with new footage of American boys who entered the film in a dream squence whilst visiting the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
in New York. The film was copied to poor quality film stock and edited into short segments (about six minutes each) for presentation as a serial, syndicated to various children's television programs. The US version was released on VHS video by Goodtimes in 1994. Because of the new sequences, none of the actors' faces could be shown until the original footage began.
In April 2001 Cesta do Pravěku was screened at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York, as part of the retrospective entitled The Fabulous World of Karel Zeman. In 2010, it featured at the 50th Zlín Film Festival (May 30 - June 6) in the Czech Republic, one day of which (June 4) was dedicated to Karel Zeman to honour the centenary of his birth. The four original actors also attended the ceremonies (three from the Czech Republic and one - Vladimír Bejval - from the US).
In 2004 a DVD version of the film appeared in Japan, in Germany in 2005, and Spain in 2007. The Japanese and Spanish versions had different digital masters. The first German DVD had no digitally remastered images, but another German version with Czech and German dialogue, and 15 min of extras showing some of Zeman's filming techniques, was released in Jan 2010. This version used some modified sound effects for the dubbing, and the picture quality is below that of the original. Unfortunately the announced DVD of the original was held back for licence-juridical reasons and it remained unavailable commercially (as of April 2011) although copies of the original circulate amongst enthusiasts.