Other magazine artwork

Cover for the magazine Pionýr, 1957.

Magazine artwork for Vlastimil Toman´s short story To (It, magazine Pionýr, 1964).

Illustration celebrating the first Lunar landing of the Luna 2 probe.

Magazine artwork for H. G. Wells´s short story In the Abyss (Sestup do propasti) from 1976.

Friends from the Ophiuchus illustrations

Interior bw gouache illustrations for the magazine edition of the Vladimír Babula´s novel Přátelé z Hadonoše (Friends from the Ophiuchus, 1956) belong among the most striking Burian´s sf artworks. The novel is a third part of a space adventure trilogy with strong elements of the communist propaganda. It had been reprinted in a book form but not with Burian´s illustrations.

The Man from the First Century

Muž z prvního století (The Man from the First Century, 1962, directed by Oldřich Lipský) is the first Czechoslovak SF movie set completely in the future. The story itself is a social satire showing a contemporary guy who accidentaly undergoes a space travel by the first interstellar spaceship. Because of the relativistic effects he returns after 500 years, together with a friendly invisible alien whom he met in space. The society lives in utopian harmony and has all the typical features of the communist paradise, although the communism is not mentioned. Contrast of this "man from the first centrury after sputnik" and the idealised people who are funny as well brings a variety of comical situations. The movie is especially interesting for its totally futuristic design made by movie architect Jan Zázvorka.