Finding Quantum Quest

Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey might be the biggest movie you've never heard of. It's a 2010 animated sci-fi movie starring Chris Pine, John Travolta, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Amanda Peet, James Earl Jones, Mark Hamill, William Shatner, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Alexander, Sandra Oh, and Neil Armstrong. It ran in one theater in Kentucky, then disappeared forever. It never got a wide theatrical release or home video release and it's never been on any streaming services. I set out to find Quantum Quest and along the way found there's a lot more to this story than your typical lost media piece, and the butterfly effect of this movie reaches further than I could have imagined. Finding Quantum Quest started as the search for a lost movie but ended up being much more. I spoke with filmmakers, actors, NASA employees, and neuroscientists who led me down a rabbit hole of art, science, exploration, and ultimately what it means to be human.

Episodes

Finding Quantum Quest - Trailer

January 3, 2022 • 2 mins

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Episode 1: This Fever Dream of a Film

January 26, 2022 • 41 mins

Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey is an animated sci-fi movie starring Chris Pine, John Travolta, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Amanda Peet, James Earl Jones, William Shatner, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Hamill, Jason Alexander, and Neil Armstrong. It premiered at the Kentucky Science Center on January 22, 2011–six months later it disappeared forever. It never got a wide theatrical release or home video release and it’s never been on any...

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Episode 2: They Forgot to Bring the Movie

February 2, 2022 • 47 mins

After all my digging, I still had tons of unanswered questions about Quantum Quest–How did it get made? Why was it made? Who cast all these A-list actors? Why was it made in Taiwan? Who paid for it? Why did it disappear? To get to the bottom of those questions I sat down with perhaps the only two people capable of answering them. Finding Quantum Quest is a production of Du Vide Media. Written and produced by Spencer Wirth-Davis. C...

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Episode 3: In Saturn’s Rings

February 9, 2022 • 41 mins

It turns out there was more than one IMAX movie based on the Cassini mission. Filmmaker Stephen van Vuuren spent more than a decade combining over 7 million real images of outer space, using multiplane photo animation, to create a 40-minute movie titled In Saturn’s Rings. He also happens to be one of the very few people ever to see Quantum Quest in the theater. Finding Quantum Quest is a production of Du Vide Media. Written and pro...

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Episode 4: This Island Jewel

February 16, 2022 • 55 mins

It all comes back to Cassini. Without that groundbreaking mission, and more specifically the 400,000 images it took, there is no Quantum Quest or In Saturn’s Rings. I spoke with Dr. Carolyn Porco, who led the imaging team on Cassini and was ultimately responsible for taking those images and distributing them to the public. Finding Quantum Quest is a production of Du Vide Media. Written and produced by Spencer Wirth-Davis. Co-produ...

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Episode 5: A Message for the Cassini Commander

February 23, 2022 • 42 mins

It’s been about four months since I first heard about Quantum Quest. Since then, I’ve watched every clip that exists online, spoken to the people who made it, and assembled the whole back story. It’s been top of mind for so long, I have to keep reminding myself I haven’t actually seen the movie yet… Finding Quantum Quest is a production of Du Vide Media. Written and produced by Spencer Wirth-Davis. Co-produced by Ryan Kopperud and ...

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Side Quest: Comparing The Casts

March 2, 2022 • 61 mins

We're back with a bonus episode! We have some exclusive audio of the two Quantum Quest casts (thanks to co-director Dan St. Pierre) and we're going to see how they compare. Do you prefer John Travolta or Chris Pine as Dave the photon? Was Sarah Michelle Gellar or Amanda Peet the better Ranger? And who's more sun-like, Michael York or William Shatner? Finding Quantum Quest is a production of Du Vide Media. Written and produced by Sp...

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