RESTORED IN 2016 FROM THE ORIGINAL NEGATIVE
WINNER, SPECIAL JURY PRIZE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 1973
FANTASTIC PLANET
Based on the Novel by STEFAN WUL
She stopped moving.
Now we can't play with her anymore.
Careful! It's Master Sinh.
Look, Father. A female Om and her baby.
You think she's dead?
I'm afraid so, Tiwa.
Why's the baby making noise?
It depends. He could be frightened or hungry.
We can't leave him here. Let me keep him.
Please, Father. I'll take care of him.
All right, Tiwa. We can't let this animal die.
Thus I first heard the name of the Grand Master of the Draags.
In saving my life, he linked my fate to his.
Mother!
Look at the little Om. Isn't he cute?
His mother's dead. I'm going to keep him.
He's very pretty, Tiwa.
Tiwa, you disturbed your mother's meditation.
If you can't discipline that animal, I'll have to take it away.
But Father, he ran off. He needs a collar.
You must learn to use it. Watch.
Set the animal down.
How fun! Let me try.
Not so fast!
The animal's delicate.
You might hurt him.
What are you going to call him?
Tiwa, like me.
That's not an Om's name.
Call it Trusty or Frisky.
Look at him wriggle, the little terror!
I'll call him Terr.
I was forgotten about.
A baby Om is nothing
compared to the extraordinary importance of their meditation,
that strange ritual to which my masters devoted most of their time
and which seemed to be their chief concern.
Contrary to projections,
the housing unit factory on our Uva at Goham
has not met its new production target.
The worker machines show unusual wear,
and that seems to have caused the lag.
- Master Taj, can you explain? - We don't yet know the reason.
In the meantime,
we'll use reserve worker machines to meet the schedule.
I don't understand.
The machines have worked perfectly up till now.
Have you had the same problem on other Uvas?
Only machines from our space flight to Planet Antax 4...
had some trouble completing their program.
Master Sinh, our scientists attribute this decline in activity
to a rupture in their system of emotional equilibrium.
Our scientists also noted
that animals brought from Planet Terra
had a high level of savibon and intelligence.
I'm not so sure they're correct.
It's clear that this animal has adaptive capabilities.
But is that intelligence?
The little pet you're stroking between meditations
may well surprise you one day.
Films made on Terra reveal numerous traces of organized life.
These adaptive capabilities you mention, Master Kah,
may indicate an advanced evolutionary state.
Oms have a much shorter life span than us,
but keep in mind that they reproduce much more rapidly.
Whether this animal evolves or not, Master Sinh,
we have yet to establish.
What we have established
is the considerable damage
caused by Oms on the Uvas of Jexte and Tél?ze.
The number of domesticated Oms is easy to verify,
but the number of wild Oms is probably much greater
than is generally acknowledged.
We de-Om the enclaves of wild Oms every three cycles,
but I wonder if that's often enough.
Few weapons remain effective in the long term.
Forceful measures must be taken.
New ways to fight them are currently being researched,
but I doubt they will suffice.
Tiwa, go play somewhere else.
I'm sorry.
Imagination was so rich today.
This animal is a pest!
Think nothing of it. Our children all love those animals.
I grew up fast in that slow world,
for a Draag week was equal to one of my years.
I was just a living plaything
that sometimes dared to rebel.
Tiwa loved me.
"Terr loves Tiwa."
Repeat.
Terr loves Tiwa. Repeat.
Tiwa received her education through a headset.
The lessons were transmitted directly into the brain...
and engraved in the memory forever.
"Our planet Ygam has just one satellite,
the Wild Planet,
which is uninhabited and is used for meditation.
Ygam is divided into several Uvas.
Two of them, Strom and Yot, are natural and symmetrical.
Urtana is the largest Uva
and is completely covered with blue assanic blocks.
Furthermore, temperatures there range from 8 to 243 laiks,
making exploitation impossible.
Our Uva, Goham, has a fepular inland sea
that stabilizes the apenosh at about 25 laiks.
Fixation blocks combat pontic ribation,
and emmaliate domes regulate pressure.
All Uvas undergo a cycle of three seasons of differing lengths.
The season of garus crystallization..."
By accident I too was able to acquire
the Draags' knowledge.
"When the soil peels,
dense vegetation replaces all mosks
with similar mosks."
I liked the lessons
and did my best to make the most of them.
"The cliffs on the fepular sea
are eroded by rains that often last..."
Tiwa, bring your animal over here.
Jurgal has his here. We'll have some fun.
I don't want him hurt. Jurgal's Om is like a ferocious animal.
He nearly tore Terr's ears off the other day!
He won't hurt your Om. Come play!
Come see!
Let's have Terr fight. It will be more fun.
Terr will win. He's really wild.
Go fight.
- He sings well. - Terr can sing too.
Sing, Terr. Go on.
- He'll strangle him! - I don't know what he's doing.
What a horrid animal!
"It's easy to see a tark's fladed musculature
because the animal is easily skinned."
You hear the Om?
He's reciting Tiwa's lesson.
She loves Terr so much that she's never without him.
You think he understands what he's saying?
I don't think so.
Anyway, I'll forbid Tiwa to have the Om with her
during her Infos.
She has to study seriously.
"Let us observe the chiscinian muscle of a tark's leg.
The chiscinian muscle is a sinewy, threadlike vilore..."
"The molog is an anviparous animal.
It has over half a billion lucons,
and the entire surface of their walls
is made up of tiny cells
separated by very thin sheets of organure.
Some scientists today believe it is not organure
but gambous amalga, an artificial structure..."
Is Terr with you again during your Infos?
I told you not to do that.
Back to the Omerie!
He doesn't disturb me, Father, and he's so happy.
The Infos are for you. Back to your studies now.
The day came for the Draag children to meditate for the first time.
The initiation ceremony was an essential step
on their road to knowledge.
Tiwa's interest in me had been fading for some time.
As she grew into her teens, she gave up her playthings.
I could no longer make use of the lessons.
I decided to run away.
Mother, I can't find Terr!
And my headset is gone.
Then use your bracelet.
But if he's far away, I'll hurt him.
Put your bracelet on maximum right now!
No, Mother...
You're not very bright, like all tame Oms.
- But you have a collar too. - It's a fake, to fool the Draags.
What's that?
A device invented by the Draags.
A what?
A Draag device.
Listen.
"Valio cycle, Info 4.
You will observe that searching for aklons
in pernetrope in space
is carried out in the same way as on land.
Note that the search is not only for festation groups..."
Don't be afraid. It's not dangerous.
Where are you taking it?
- I don't know. - Follow me.
My new friend took me to her people,
who lived hidden in the Big Tree deep in an abandoned park.
This tame Om looked ridiculous
in his first encounter with wild Oms.
Don't touch that case. It's a trap!
Since I had brought the headset of knowledge to the Big Tree,
the wizard opposed me from the start.
We've brought five cases, Chief.
Is that all?
One of the cases was a trap, and Frisky is dead.
He knew the case was a trap.
He's a tame Om, Chief.
He escaped with a Draag device
that taught him how to read Draag writing.
I'm sure he can't read. Ask what's in the cases.
Does the tame Om know what's in that case there?
Yes. Colored powder.
"...temperatures there range from 8 to 243 laiks,
making exploitation impossible.
Our Uva Goham has a fepular inland sea
that stabilizes the apenosh at about 25 laiks.
Fixation blocks offset pontic rebation,
and emmaliate domes regulate pressure.
The two other Uvas, Jexte and Tél?ze,
are full of craters -"
- Why did you stop the Infos? - Draag knowledge is evil.
We Oms don't need it.
We're not tame Oms.
It's a grave offense.
You must fight as set forth in the law.
Bring the combat animals.
You're the winner.
Stay with the Oms of the Big Tree. You can be of use to us.
Tomorrow we set off on an expedition.
It was my first expedition to steal food from the Draags.
We came back loaded with spoils.
Take heart. The Big Tree isn't far now.
The Hollow Bush bandits! Watch out!
Why did they attack us?
They're the Hollow Bush gang. Beware of them.
They're thieves from the other side of the park.
"In the third millennium before Kraup, the Great Zarek created
the first pyramic civilization.
Legend says that from his tomb
he still animates the ball of life,
that his body, though constantly pierced by projectiles,
does not change,
and that his mind has regularly traversed the skies of Ygam
ever since the Draags, under his direction,
fought off the first Yanko invaders.
Certain experts believe this is how meditation came about.
Others believe that Zarek is immortal
and that from the flames of time he reappears in reality,
whirling in infinite forms,
to fight the part of the Draag spirit that wishes to die.
In fact...
after the pyramic civilization,
the Draags fought off Yanko invasions..."
The Oms are learning.
If only we had more headsets.
Terr, you're as learned as the Draags.
I'm barely learning to write.
Look.
Are you sure?
You're sure you read it correctly?
Yes, "de-Om" is written on all the park walls.
- What does it mean? - The Draags mean to kill all the Oms.
I witnessed a de-Omization long ago.
It was horrible.
But we're not in any great danger now here in our tree.
What are we going to do?
- It was bound to happen. - Anyway, we have time to prepare.
We'll post sentries.
They're out to slaughter us
as punishment for stealing their knowledge.
Let us pray to the Wild Planet.
The sentries will warn us of the Draags' approach.
We'll see tomorrow.
What were you doing in our territory?
I came to warn you. The Draags intend to de-Om the park tomorrow.
De-Om the park? You don't say! How do you know?
A member of our group read the writing on the walls.
So the Oms in the Big Tree can read Draag writing now?
Don't listen to him.
It's a trap to lure us out of the Hollow Bush.
You must believe me! They're going to de-Om.
Take him away!
Someone go look at the walls.
Listen!
Draags! - Quiet!
- It smells of Oms here. - The vermin!
The Masters should decontaminate the area more often.
A tame Om is fun as a pet,
but wild Oms steal, and they're dirty,
and they reproduce at an alarming rate.
There's a nest in the gutter!
It's a whole colony! Let's kill them.
The chief is dead.
Stop blubbering like children.
We must go where the Draags can't find us.
I know a place. I'll take you there.
This road leads to an abandoned rocket dump.
We'll be safe there.
I denounce the decision to de-Om only once every three cycles.
Recent events have shown how ineffective that is!
A Draag murdered! Unbelievable!
Are we so weak that Oms can kill us so easily?
Wild Oms are much more numerous than we imagined.
The body showed numerous bites and wounds.
According to the Draag who managed to escape,
there were great numbers of Oms.
The wild Oms are becoming bolder by the day.
They reproduce at a terrifying rate!
Master Sinh, it's disturbing to note
that the Uva of Tél?ze
was not the only one that was very difficult to de-Om.
Two other Uvas,
Goham and Urtana...
have presented similar problems.
In the de-Omed park near where the Draag was killed,
we found two surprisingly well-organized lairs.
Most disturbing and inexplicable of all
was that in one of them,
boxes were sorted according to their contents,
yet they hadn't been opened!
How could the Oms know what they contained?
Master Sinh, it's high time we take truly effective measures.
I suggest we de-Om the parks twice per cycle.
I also request that the breeding and sale of tame Oms
be strictly regulated.
Too often they return to the wild
and swell the numbers of Oms living in the parks
and other isolated areas.
It's time to use the new de-Oming weaponry
we've heard so much about.
All wild Oms must be exterminated.
And I ask you:
Should we keep our tame Oms?
You're wrong to consider Oms as merely vicious animals.
I fear we're committing an error fraught with consequences.
Three seasons had passed on Ygam,
the equivalent of 15 of our years.
The Draag rocket graveyard had long been abandoned,
and there we built our city.
But the Wild Planet was where we wanted to go.
Many Oms joined us, both tame and wild.
The knowledge acquired via the headset
enabled us to use sophisticated technology
to reduce Draag rocket components to our size.
"Trinur is a white metal that palsifies matoir.
Careful reculidization gives it an exceptional metallic sheen."
We've succeeded, Terr.
The first two rockets are ready for testing.
The others just need more time. - We must hurry.
Many tame Om informers have warned us
that there will be a large-scale de-Omization.
The Draags may know where we are.
We must send up our two rockets at once
to see if the Wild Planet will support life.
We can't wait any longer.
It's a pity I won't be going with you.
But I'm not afraid. I'm sure you'll succeed.
I know you'll build a new world
where Oms can be happy, far away from the Draags.
The Wild Planet will be our planet,
a world for our children.
You must go.
You must hurry.
You must...
We had at last discovered the Draags' secret.
The Draags used their meditation spheres
to meet beings from other galaxies on the Wild Planet
and hold strange nuptial rites.
This union gave them the vital energy they needed
while also guaranteeing the survival of their species.
We were gripped by fear.
The statues' huge feet might crush our rockets.
By chance we found the Draags' only weak point.
The de-Omization on Ygam was halted.
Never have the Draags faced such great danger.
Our entire civilization is threatened!
The Oms are taking revenge!
They have amazing scientific equipment!
- They must be stopped! - They must be exterminated!
It may be too late.
Neither the Oms nor the Draags
stand to gain from mutual destruction.
We must try
to make peace!
"Since the Sinh era, the epoch of the Masters of Ygam,
the Draag civilization has undergone a remarkable evolution.
Instructed in Draag philosophy and technology,
the Oms now provide the Draags
with a dynamic and vital new way of thinking.
Our planet now has two satellites,
one natural and one artificial.
The natural satellite, the Wild Planet,
is reserved for Draag meditation.
The artificial satellite was created by the Oms,
and they called it Terr.
The Oms live in huge cities on the various Uvas..."