Beloved French animator René Laloux's films are all these psychedelic, fantastical adventures that take place on other planets, and are populated by casts of aliens, mutants, and otherworldly beings. The most famous, "Fantastic Planet," wowed audiences with its wildly imaginative visuals, mind-bending concepts, and trippy score. Laloux stood out as a producer of more high-minded, experimental, adult animation, coming to prominence around the same time as Ralph Bakshi in the 1970s. Laloux's work was often in collaboration with other famous French artists and illustrators, with deep roots in French science-fiction and comics. With Roland Topor, he made "Fantastic Planet," with Caza he made "Gandahar," and with Jean Giraud, better known as Moebius, he made "Time Masters."
"Time Masters" is often looked upon as the least of Laloux's films because it is not immediately visually impressive next to the others, and has a rather meandering story before it pulls off a very good twist. The animation was primarily produced in Hungary by Pannonia Film Studio, best known for Marcell Jankovic's animated films like "Son of the White Mare" and "The Tragedy of Man." However, I find it the most entertaining and engaging of Laloux's films, with the best characters. "Fantastic Planet" and "Gandahar" are these grand epic adventures, featuring larger-than-life, god-like heroes. These protagonists are very beautiful and charming, but also very bland. The characters in "Time Masters," on the other hand, are much rougher and more relatable. We have an odd collection of characters on a spaceship - a roguish pilot, his two fugitive passengers, and an elderly eccentric - who are trying to help a small boy who has been stranded alone on the hostile planet Perdide. They are only able to talk with him through a small communication device, dubbed Mike. There are encounters with aliens and monsters and science-fiction phenomena, but "Time Masters" maintains very approachable, very human points of reference to its storytelling throughout.
As a fan of a lot of the 70s and 80s animation, "Time Masters" may not be as ambitious or as spectacle-based as something like "Gandahar," but it is extremely well executed. The translation of Moebius's style into animation is excellent, and the film manages to nicely integrate both the caricatured and the highly realistic visual elements together. The animation doesn't cut corners the way that similar films of the time period often do, and holds up very well. My favorite characters are the two comic relief "gnomes," Jad and Yula, who comment on the action and largely stay separate from the rest of the crew. They're telepathic, childlike, and have the ability to fly through the air like sprites and change their forms for comedic emphasis. Though they move and act in ways that are much more cartoonish than the other characters, there's nonetheless always a real weight and gravity to their forms, so they still feel like they are a part of this universe. Conversely, the same is true of the monstrous inhabitants of the planet Gamma 10, which look like faceless, identical, stark white angels. They're stylized just enough that they come across as unreal and fantastical, while also exuding a real menace and danger.
The story of "Time Masters" is messy, and its worldbuilding could certainly be better. It feels like random things keep happening to the characters, and the whole adventure on Gamma 10 is like some of the crew just wandered off into a different movie for thirty minutes - a movie that is more reminiscent of the allegorical struggles against tyranny and evil seen in Laloux's other films. Nobody ever lays down any rules in this universe. Rather, we're just told how and why things are happening as they happen, often due to cosmic forces like mysterious time controlling aliens, or a sinister hive mind that can be defeated with enough self-hatred and abnegation. It can be frustrating to watch, but if you give yourself over to the experience, and just accept the strangeness and the weirdness of the film, there is a lot to love. And while I admire "Gandahar" and "Fantastic Planet," I can't help but prefer "Time Masters," as rough and scruffy as it is. What it lacks in polish, it more than makes up for in daring.
What I've Seen - René Laloux
Fantastic Planet (1973)
Time Masters (1982)
Gandahar (1987)
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