Les maîtres du temps (1982)

Piel, a 7 or 8 year old boy, is alone on the desert planet Perdide, only survivor of an attack by giant hornets. Calling for help, Piel's father's friend Jaffar keeps contact with the kid ... See full summary »

Director:

René Laloux

Writers:

Stefan Wul (novel), René Laloux (scenario and adaptation)

Stars:

Jean Valmont, Michel Elias, Frédéric Legros

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean Valmont	...	Jaffar (voice)
Michel Elias	...	Silbad (voice)
Frédéric Legros	...	Piel (voice)
Yves-Marie Maurin	...	Matton (voice) (as Yves-Marie)
Monique Thierry	...	Belle (voice)
Sady Rebbot	...	Claude (voice)
Patrick Baujin	...	Jad (voice)
Pierre Tourneur	...	Yula (voice)
Alain Cuny	...	Xul (voice)
Yves Brainville	...	Général (voice)
Michel Barbey	...	Igor (voice)
Jim Bauman	...	Lowry (voice)
Michel Paulin	...	Pixa (voice)
François Chaumette	...	Robot (voice)
Henry Djanik	...	Un soldat (voice)

Storyline

Piel, a 7 or 8 year old boy, is alone on the desert planet Perdide, only survivor of an attack by giant hornets. Calling for help, Piel's father's friend Jaffar keeps contact with the kid and hurries across space toward Perdide.

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Plot Keywords:

boy | planet | hornet | outer space | space opera | 

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

France Switzerland West Germany UK Hungary

Language:

French

Release Date:

24 March 1982 (France)

Also Known As:

Gospodari vremena

Company Credits

Production Co:

Télécip, TF1 Films Production, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The visual style and animation garnered mixed reception. Contemporary Hungarian movie reviewers harshly criticized the French creators' storytelling and Moebius' character designs, arguing that they don't meet the standards of science fiction movies. Members of the general public on the other hand often commented that the art direction was good, but the animation by Hungary's Pannónia Film Stúdió was uneven and poor, and that the studio was probably used because they were cheap. Editor and sound editor Dominique Boischot claimed the film could only have been created at Pannónia, because their animators were very experienced at facial expressions and body language. However, the comments of Marcell Jankovics, one of Pannónia's in-house directors, discredit this notion, as he claims many of the studio's in-betweener animators were in reality really bad at facial animation.

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Quotes

Angel: The creature denies happiness!

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Soundtracks

various songs
Lyrics by Jacques Lanzmann
Music by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre

User Reviews

Best animated sci-fi film ever made (OK, don't count anime)

I remember I was very young when I saw this movie first. It was famous in Hungary as it was a co-production of French and Hungarian filmmakers (e.g. the animation director was Hungarian). I did enjoy it then, although I could not understand everything. Sometimes I felt it was quite scary. But still, it deserved the best Children's Film award in 1982.

Now I have seen it with friends who remembered how cool we felt then. And it was cool again. Okay, maybe the two songs during the movie were not as incredibly cool as everything else in the movie (okay, so they should have forgotten making people sing in a sci-fi) but well...that's the only tiny problem. Everything else is really cool. Sorry, I don't wanna give away anything from the story but it's truly amazing. Did you go to see Titan A.E.? That was quite good, but very American and quite senseless. This movie is different. Much smarter. Classic sci-fi.

If you don't think only American-type happy ending can be the end of a movie, but something like the ending of 12 monkeys or other almost-perfect movies, go and watch this one. You'll enjoy.

9,5 stars of 10!!!!