# La Planete Sauvage (Fantastic Planet)



## Zaedrin (Aug 2, 2012)

Okay, now this is a very obscure, but _VERY_ incredible animated film, considered to be one of the greatest ever made, really. It's called _La Planete Sauvage, _perhaps better known as _Fantastic Planet.
_
One of my all-time favorite films and a *VERY* trippy one, in fact.

The overall plot, sans spoilers, is that Humans are ruled by these 40-foot tall, blue-skinned humanoids known as the Draags on the planet Ygam. Humans, or as they are now known, as "Oms", are used for both menial labor and as simple pets. Many more Oms live out in the wild in various tribes, where they are at the mercy of both the planet's bizarre wildlife and of the Draags themselves, who treat the savage Oms as pests and exterminate them regularly to keep their population under control. One Om, named by his master as "Ter", is adopted by Tiva, the daughter of the Draag Prime Minister, Master Sinh, after his mother is killed by overly inquisitive Draag children. Once he has reached young adulthood, Ter escapes from his home with an educational headset that Tiva used and flees into the wilderness of Ygam. After being taken in by a Tribe of Savage Oms who soon notice that he is capable of reading Draag script, Ter organizes a rebellion against their alien masters and liberate Humankind from their shackles.

Produced in France and animated in Czechoslovakia, then produced and animated in Paris to avoid Communist interference, _Fantastic Planet_ was directed by Rene Laloux (Who sadly, only made 3 feature films before his death in 2004) with art direction by surrealist artist Roland Topor, winning grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973. Based on the book _Oms En Serie _by Stefan Wul. 

What really strikes me as unique about the film's setting is that the Draags do not treat the Oms poorly out of genuine malice or with a sense of superiority over them, but simply out of sheer ignorance, believing them to be little more than animals and completely unaware that they are in fact sentient beings. Also noteworthy is that despite the fact that the film's plot is supposedly based on the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia, its delivery is done with such a brilliant level of subtlety that it becomes a commentary on Human Rights, Animal Rights and environmentalism all at the same time. The animation is gorgeous, albeit rather stiff, and the voice acting is wooden and on occasion, narmy, but overall, this film is NOT to be missed.

Despite its obscurity, it is a very influential film...

It was the direct inspiration for the film _Avatar._
It had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shout-out in an episode of _Superjail!_
Referenced in the episode "Tulip's Worm" of _Courage The Cowardly Dog._* Seriously.*
It is the film that the abominable _Battlefield: Earth _was based off of.

*NOTE: *The film is pretty PG, but it contains tasteful nudity, brief suggestive themes and mild violence and gore. I'm not sure if it's work safe or not, really.

[video=youtube;wvg5kcx--8Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvg5kcx--8Q&amp;feature=related[/video]


Your thoughts?


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## Kit H. Ruppell (Aug 2, 2012)

Too tired to watch now; but I should watch it sometime.


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## Zaedrin (Aug 5, 2012)

You really should see it, Kit. I STRONGLY recommend seeing this film ASAP.


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## Project H311H0UND (Aug 5, 2012)

I remember watching this movie on shrooms. Weird trippy movie.


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## triage (Aug 5, 2012)

one of my favorite movies of all time


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## HarryCanyon (Aug 7, 2012)

My favorite animated movie ever since i was 10 when i rented it with Lightyears (aka Gandahar) and became a fan of Rene Laloux, such a unique work of art with style like Monty Python and Gandahar (aka Lightyears) is as equally awesome.

Both Gandahar (aka Lightyears) and Fantastic Planet were some of the many inspirations to Avatar as i can tell.


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## Zaedrin (Aug 8, 2012)

HarryCanyon said:


> My favorite animated movie ever since i was 10 when i rented it with Lightyears (aka Gandahar) and became a fan of Rene Laloux, such a unique work of art with style like Monty Python and Gandahar (aka Lightyears) is as equally awesome.
> 
> Both Gandahar (aka Lightyears) and Fantastic Planet were some of the many inspirations to Avatar as i can tell.



Yes they are. Also, the fact that you appreciated such great, yet obscure works at such a young age is pretty awesome.


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