FANTASTIC PLANET v2.0 (17 page)

'The Traags
accept our proposal!' he yelled out.

Everyone
stood up at once, gripped by an almost painful joy which soon gave way to
laughter, cheers and antics little befitting a Council.

When things
calm down a little, Terr banged his fist on the table.

‘In order to
uphold our bluff to the end', he said, 'the plenipotentiaries have to meet the
Traags with a dazzling display. A Traag ship is due to meet ours in five days
half way between our respective coasts. This gives us ample time to work
wonders. I want the ship to be entirely serviced, repainted and equipped with
false aerials and fake ray launchers to impress the Traags with our advanced
technology. We have nothing to fear from checks, since their size prevents them
from visiting the ship.'

Vail
interrupted him. He was pallid.

'There's one
thing we didn't think about', he said. 'The Traag ships will continue blowing
up on the eggs rotting away in the Return Siwo! The Traags will suspect us of
disloyalty and launch a desperate offensive!'

'We've made
provision for that',
sniggered
Terr. 'We've warned the
Traags their military ports are threatened by our weapons. They've accepted
sending their ship from a civilian port located further south in a safe area.
We took a hard line on that point because we couldn't do otherwise. In fact I
was really scared they'd refuse.'

Vail was
surprised:

'An ultimatum.
And they accepted it!'

'Unbelievable, but true!
Don't forget the Traags
haven't been used to warfare for a long time. The failure of their offensive
has broken their morale. This makes us appear like victors. They believe we're
capable of anything. We'll be in a position to dictate terms which although
bold for our part will appear relatively mild to them given our success.

A racket
could be heard filtering from the troglodytic city. An Om entered in the room,
his eyes crazed,
his
lips smiling.

'We're
asking to see the Aedile', he yelled. 'Show yourself, or else the crowd will
force open the police cordons.'

Followed by
the Council members, Terr took a corridor leading to an opening. He emerged
onto a terrace half way up a massive cave and he raised both his hands, saluted
by a howling crowd of delirious Oms. The bottom of the cave was swarming with
raised faces, open mouths and gesticulating silhouettes. In their primitive
enthusiasm, female Oms were pulling their hair off and throwing it towards the
Aedile. Males were forming pyramids of muscles on top of which children roared
with laughter whilst shaking their small arms.

Five days later, two ships met
in the high sea greeting each other by sending out bursts of rays towards the
sky.

The Om
vessel was gleaming with a thousand lights beneath the sun. It approached the
Traag ship at speed and drew alongside it with a perfect manoeuvre. Lined up on
the deck, the ship's
crew, helmeted and magnificent in their
uniforms were
paying respect to their recent enemies.

Strapped up
in a shiny tunic, wearing plastic boots and sporting a gleaming breastplate,
Terr slowly climbed onto the Traag ship followed by ten or so Oms.

The Traags
could not get used to meeting Oms rigged out in such a way. They'd always seen
them naked and humiliated by having to wear a collar. Such a sight would have
seemed comical prior to the recent events.

Also wearing
the insignias of his office, Master Singh greeted the Oms' Aedile with great
consideration and asked him to his cabin.

They had a
long conversation. Terr endeavoured to speak slowly and to pronounce all
consonants in order for the Traag to understand him. But his thoughts were
going faster than his words, giving him an edge in the talks.

The old
Traag felt inferior.

'I am
afraid', he was saying,
'that
signing this agreement
might soon make you this planet's masters. You are much faster than we are.
Admittedly we live much longer, but you multiply very quickly. Your
civilisation will easily overtake ours in a few years.'

Terr's reply
was peremptory and sincere.

'No!' he
said, 'there exists, Supreme Aedile, a great danger for an evolved race:
sclerosis. You know the Oms' past and understand that. Once a civilisation
reaches a point of perfection it becomes a gigantic machine incapable of
progress and whose members are nothing but thoughtless cogs.'

'That's what
we freed you from when we brought you to Ygam.'

'I know. And
in a way we are grateful to you. That is why I am putting you on your guard, Supreme
Aedile. Your society is showing signs of senility. It is too perfect, and
little by little Traags are becoming routine-minded robots. Look at the
problems you faced trying to stir your fellow citizens. If you stay on that
easy slope any longer you'll become nothing but a great ants' nest without a
soul. I am using words you're familiar with, since you've studied planet
earth's animals.'

Master Singh
waved his membrane vaguely. He leant forward to be levelled with his
interlocutor.

'We'd be
even more at your mercy.'

'Not at all.
If you look closely at
article 10 of the treaty, which I hope you will sign, you will see the
significance for both our peoples. It allows for a partnership between our two
civilisations. There will be no master race anymore, but two equal races
working side by side and mutually benefitting from their progress. Thanks to
such a close friendly rivalry, you will avoid the collective sclerosis I was
talking about earlier. And you'll play the same part for us. I foresee an
incredible future for both our races, achieved thanks to the spirit of
emulation.'

'That will
take a long time to set in motion. The Traags are still distraught about you.
Some cherish you like nice animals, others fear you like future conquerors.'

'And both
these attitudes offend us equally, one in our pride, the other in our loyalty.
The wounds are still too fresh. Put your trust in time and the future.'

The Traags'
Supreme Aedile slowly held out his hand to the Oms' Aedile. He then appended
his seal on the treaty.

He
straightened his old body and went to open the cabin's door.

'Traags', he
said, 'and you, little Oms, I have signed! Your Aediles' work is over. The
details will be ratified by the Councils. Our two races are united for the
better or the worse!'

***

In the
golden night descending onto the sea, two vessels leant against each other like
two friends. Traag anthems and Om songs could be heard undulating in the
breeze.

AVAILABLE
NOW ON BLU-RAY FROM THE MASTERS OF CINEMA SERIES

Rene
Laloux's mesmerising psychedelic sci-fi animated feature won the Grand Prix at
the 1973 Cannes Film Festival and is a landmark of European animation. Based on
Stefan Wul's novel
Oms en Serie,
Laloux's breathtaking vision was
released in France as
La Planete Sauvage [The Savage Planet
]; in the USA
as
Fantastic Planet
; and immediately drew comparisons to Swift's
Gulliver's Travels
and
Planet of the Apes
(both the 1968 film and
Boule's 1963 novel). Today, the film can be seen to prefigure much of the work
of Hayao Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli
(Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away)
due to its palpable political and social concerns, cultivated imagination, and
memorable animation techniques.

La Planete
Sauvage
tells the story of "Oms", human-like creatures kept as
domesticated pets by an alien race of blue giants called "Draags".
The story takes place on the Draags' planet

Ygam, where
we follow our narrator, an Om called Terr, from infancy to adulthood. He
manages to escape enslavement from a Draag learning device used to educate the
savage

Oms — and
begins to organise an Om revolt. The imagination invested in the surreal
creatures, music and sound design, and eerie landscapes, is immense and
unforgettable.

Widely
regarded as an allegorical statement on the Soviet occupation of
Czechoslovakia,
La Planete Sauvage
was five years in the making at
Prague's Jiri Trnka Studios. The direction of Rene Laloux, the incredible art
of Roland Topor, and Alain Goraguer's brilliant complementary score (much
sampled by the hip-hop community) all combine to make
La Planete Sauvage
a mind-searing experience.

http://eurekavideo.co.uk