La Planète sauvage (aka Fantastic Planet) - René Laloux's mesmerising psychedelic sci-fi animated feature won the Grand Prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival and is a landmark of European animation. Based on Stefan Wul's novel Oms en série [Oms by the dozen], Laloux's breathtaking vision was released in France as La Planète sauvage [The Savage Planet]; in the USA as Fantastic Planet; and immediately drew comparisons to Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Planet of the Apes (both the 1968 film and Boule's 1963 novel). Today, the film can be seen to prefigure much of the work of Hayao Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away) due to its palpable political and social concerns, cultivated imagination, and memorable animation techniques.
Features include:
•All-new restored high-definition transfer
•Optional English subtitles with original French soundtrack
•Optional USA dub track
•Laloux Savage, a new 55-minute documentary on the director
•Two short films by Laloux: Les Escargots (1965, in a new 1080p transfer) and Comment Wang-Fo Fut Sauvé (1987)
•The complete soundtrack to La Planète sauvage (1973)
•56-page full colour booklet, featuring an essay by Craig Keller, interviews with Laloux, and a lavish selection of ephemera and original promotional materials from the film
http://homecinema.thedigitalfix.co.uk/c ... -july.html
La Planète sauvage (aka Fantastic Planet) - BD Release.
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John Johnson
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La Planète sauvage (aka Fantastic Planet) - BD Release.
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AndyDursin
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John Johnson
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- Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2005 3:28 pm
Fantastic Planet (French: La Planète Sauvage, lit. The Savage Planet) is a 1973 animated science fiction film directed by René Laloux, production designed by Roland Topor, written by both of them and animated at Jiří Trnka Studio. The film was an international production between France and Czechoslovakia and was distributed in the United States by Roger Corman. It won the special jury prize at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. The story is based on the novel Oms en série, by the French writer Stefan Wul. A working title for the film while it was in development was Sur la planète Ygam (On the Planet Ygam).
The film is chiefly noted for its surreal imagery, the work of French writer and artist Roland Topor. The landscape of the Draag planet is full of strange creatures, including a cackling predator which traps small fluttering animals in its cage-like nose, shakes them to death and hurls them to the ground. The Draag practice of meditation, whereby they commune psychically with each other and with different species, is shown in transformations of their shape and colour.
The interaction of science and superstition is most apparent in the Wizard, who resists the knowledge that Terr brings, fearing it will erode the power he maintains. Knowledge trumps ignorance, but in this case only after surviving an attempted assassination.
Terr's drive to share knowledge overpowers the fear of an unknown people. Only his courage to save others not of his adopted tribe allows that tribe to overcome the loss of their leader.
The Draags and Oms finally learn to live in peace and mutual benefit; presumably any groups can if they and their leaders really want to. This may have been a theme favoured by the filmmakers as it was made and released during the Cold War (the source novel was written long before this).
At least two versions of the film were available on VHS, the only differences being two very brief scenes. The shortened film left out Tiva's first attempt at naming the new baby Om and her father's reply. Another very brief omission (an establishing shot) had no dialogue.
Permanent English subtitles on Anchor Bay's USA DVD release spell the name of the blue-skinned race as "Draag"; the original novel the film is based on spells it as "Traag".
In 2006, Eureka Entertainment released the film on DVD in the UK as #34 in their Masters of Cinema range. Unlike the Anchor Bay release, this uses an anamorphic widescreen transfer and newly translated subtitles which retain the "Draag" spelling. This version was released in Region 1 on October 23, 2007.
On October 23, 2007 Facets Video and Accent Cinema released a newly restored version of the film on DVD, including many bonus features never available before. It is different from the version released by Eureka.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Planet
The film is chiefly noted for its surreal imagery, the work of French writer and artist Roland Topor. The landscape of the Draag planet is full of strange creatures, including a cackling predator which traps small fluttering animals in its cage-like nose, shakes them to death and hurls them to the ground. The Draag practice of meditation, whereby they commune psychically with each other and with different species, is shown in transformations of their shape and colour.
The interaction of science and superstition is most apparent in the Wizard, who resists the knowledge that Terr brings, fearing it will erode the power he maintains. Knowledge trumps ignorance, but in this case only after surviving an attempted assassination.
Terr's drive to share knowledge overpowers the fear of an unknown people. Only his courage to save others not of his adopted tribe allows that tribe to overcome the loss of their leader.
The Draags and Oms finally learn to live in peace and mutual benefit; presumably any groups can if they and their leaders really want to. This may have been a theme favoured by the filmmakers as it was made and released during the Cold War (the source novel was written long before this).
At least two versions of the film were available on VHS, the only differences being two very brief scenes. The shortened film left out Tiva's first attempt at naming the new baby Om and her father's reply. Another very brief omission (an establishing shot) had no dialogue.
Permanent English subtitles on Anchor Bay's USA DVD release spell the name of the blue-skinned race as "Draag"; the original novel the film is based on spells it as "Traag".
In 2006, Eureka Entertainment released the film on DVD in the UK as #34 in their Masters of Cinema range. Unlike the Anchor Bay release, this uses an anamorphic widescreen transfer and newly translated subtitles which retain the "Draag" spelling. This version was released in Region 1 on October 23, 2007.
On October 23, 2007 Facets Video and Accent Cinema released a newly restored version of the film on DVD, including many bonus features never available before. It is different from the version released by Eureka.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Planet
London. Greatest City in the world.
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AndyDursin
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- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:45 pm
- Location: RI
The Anchor Bay release was the last time I saw it...VERY odd.
I am loving Eureka's line-up though. I imported WIZARDS, BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH and PRINCE VALIANT a couple of weeks ago -- they are a godsend for catalog content on Blu as I don't see the big studios lining up for that kind of thing here unless it's some major title like Zhivago, Gone with the Wind, etc.
I am loving Eureka's line-up though. I imported WIZARDS, BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH and PRINCE VALIANT a couple of weeks ago -- they are a godsend for catalog content on Blu as I don't see the big studios lining up for that kind of thing here unless it's some major title like Zhivago, Gone with the Wind, etc.