Les Maîtres du temps [Masters of Cinema] [1982] [DVD]

I'm in the I-saw-the-English-version-in-1987 club too. I searched high and low for the English version. The BBC didn't have it and the commissioner's office put me on to Eureka Video who told me that, even if the English dubbing was found and the rights were not an issue, it would not be cost-effective to print a new batch of DVD's containing the English soundtrack anyway. So I bought the original French version. You know, I'm glad I did. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Even with subtitles. This cartoon has stayed in my mind since 1987. It really is a top notch piece of work. Big thumbs up.

This film freaked me out when I was a little boy. I saw it on BBC2, and when we got to the end with its shocking twist... I think that may have been the moment I really fell in love with science fiction.

Anyway time passed, I couldn't remember what the film was called and thought it was japanese, until I was looking at something about Moebius, the legendary French artist of the Incal and Blueberry and the Airtight Garage etc. etc. and realised that this was that film I had loved and lost.

So how does it stand up twenty years later? Well, the animation isn't as smooth as some of the stuff you get these days, but it has a strong design sense and distinct imagination that simply is never done in live action sci fi.

A little boy is trapped on a lethal planet after his father dies after a meeting with those rotten hornets. With only a microphone for company he travels across the planet facing bizarre natural threats. The microphone connects him to a spaceship carrying a heroic pilot and a spoilt prince who has stolen a fortune and his sister. They try to keep the boy safe while they travel across the galaxy to gather him up. Along the way they catch up with an expert on the planet, an old man who was attacked by those rotten hornets. They also face various threats that keep them from rescuing the boy.

To go any further will spoil the ending. I should say that as with Moebius' comic strips the ending comes out of left field - the plot is a string of adventures against the tension of whether the travellers will get to the boy in time - and isn't quite as incredible as I remember it (but I also think I'm slightly misremembering the film as well) but is still pretty fun.

It is still a great film though. I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of things like Labyrinth and the original Star Wars and all those late 70s/early 80s sci-fi and fantasy films. You know, back when they were adventures in metaphysics about the nobility of the soul, instead of thinly-veiled allegories about 9/11 and the war of terror.

all i could remember about this film was the ending and the twist. I too saw the english dub in the late 80s. I searched "80s" "sci-fi" "cartoons" "time travel" and found it pretty quick. Been bugging me for YEARS