Time Masters

The only survivor of a crash on the desert planet Perdide is a small boy called Piel. All he has is the radio his father left him. Jaffar and his crew, on a ship far away, hear the boy's voice on that radio and set out to fetch him. The journey is long, there are giant killer hornets on the planet, and the boy has no time to spare. All the tension is built through the radio: the adults cannot see the child, only hear him, and as long as they cannot see him they believe they are protecting him. The revelation at the end turns that distance into something else. Rene Laloux directed, with designs by Moebius, that is Jean Giraud. The source is Stefan Wul's 1958 novel L'Orphelin de Perdide. The dialogue was written by Jean-Patrick Manchette, better known for his crime novels. It was a co-production of France, West Germany, Switzerland, Britain and Hungary, with the animation made at the Pannonia studio in Budapest under technical director Tibor Hernadi. The film was forgotten for years and later returned to cinemas in a 4K restoration. Who it is for: anyone who likes European animated science fiction of the seventies and eighties, and the Moebius line. Who it is not for: anyone expecting fluid animation. The movement is limited, the voice work is flat, and side stories in the middle interrupt the main line.