Light Years is a 1988

1988 in film

-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:* Act of Piracy* Action Jackson, starring Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* Akira* Alice...

 French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 animated science fiction

Science fiction film

Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...

 and fantasy film

Fantasy film

Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...

. The original version was directed by René Laloux

René Laloux

René Laloux was a French animator and film director.-Biography:He was born in Paris in 1929 and went to art school to study painting. After some time working in advertising, he got a job in a psychiatric institution where he began experimenting in animation with the interns...

, and was based on Jean-Pierre Andrevon

Jean-Pierre Andrevon

Jean-Pierre Andrevon is a French science fiction author. He has used the pseudonym Alphonse Brutsche for novels published under the Fleuve Noir label. In addition to his regular authorship, he has written scenarios for several prominent comics artists, among others Georges Pichard and Caza,...

's novel Les Hommes-machines contre Gandahar (The Machine-Men versus Gandahar).

An English version was directed by Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein, CBE is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. He is best known as co-founder of Miramax Films. He and his brother Bob have been co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company, their film production company, since 2005...

 and produced by Bob Weinstein

Bob Weinstein

Robert "Bob" Weinstein is an American film and theatre producer, the founder and head of Dimension Films, former co-chairman of Miramax Films, and current head, with his brother Harvey Weinstein, of The Weinstein Company.-Career:...

, while noted science-fiction author Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...

 made the revision of the translation. The English title is a translation, not of the original title, but of the original tag line "Les Années lumière" ("The Light Years") as seen on the French poster.http://palais.wikidot.com/gandahar

Voice actors for the original French version included Pierre-Marie Escourrou, Catherine Chevallier, Georges Wilson

Georges Wilson

Georges Wilson was a French film and television actor. He is the father of French actor Lambert Wilson.Wilson was born in Champigny-sur-Marne, Seine , to a French father and an Irish mother...

, Anny Duperey

Anny Duperey

-External links:*...

, Jean-Pierre Ducos, and Jean-Pierre Jorris.

Among the actors providing the voices for the English-language version were Glenn Close

Glenn Close

Glenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...

, Jennifer Grey

Jennifer Grey

Jennifer Elise Grey is an American actress. Her first major roles came in the 1984 war film Red Dawn and the 1986 comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In 1987 she starred as Frances "Baby" Houseman in the hit film Dirty Dancing for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. In the early 1990s, Grey...

, Terrence Mann

Terrence Mann

Terrence Vaughan Mann is an American actor, director, singer, songwriter and dancer who has been prominent on the Broadway stage for the past three decades...

, Penn and Teller, John Shea

John Shea

John Victor Shea III is an American actor and director who has starred on stage, television and in film. He is best known for his role as Lex Luthor in the 1990s TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and also starred in the short lived 1990s TV series WIOU as Hank Zaret...

, Bridget Fonda

Bridget Fonda

Bridget Jane Fonda is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in films such as The Godfather Part III, Single White Female, Point of No Return, It Could Happen to You, and Jackie Brown...

, David Johansen

David Johansen

David Roger Johansen is an American rock, protopunk, blues, and pop singer, as well as a songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal protopunk band The New York Dolls and also achieved commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.-Early life:Johansen was born in...

, Earle Hyman

Earle Hyman

Earle Hyman is an American stage, television, and film actor. Hyman is known for his recurring role on The Cosby Show as Cliff's father, Russell Huxtable.-Career:...

, Earl Hammond

Earl Hammond

Earl Hammond was an American theater, radio, film and television actor, and, in his later years, a voice actor for several animated films and TV series.-Best known roles:...

 and Christopher Plummer

Christopher Plummer

Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...

.

The animation was in colour and ran for 83 minutes. Production work was done by SEK Animation Studio

SEK Studio

SEK Studio is a North Korean animation studio, based in Pyongyang. It was registered in 1997 in order to take part at a festival of animated film in France...

 of North Korea. The film is notable for its strange scenery and exotic flora, fauna, and bizarre inhabitants.

Plot

The paradise world of Gandahar is threatened by a mysterious power, so Queen Ambisextra and the Council of Women send the warrior Sylvain to scout for this danger. He discovers metallic humanoids with a paralysing ray who send the bodies of those they capture through a portal. Later these individuals return, also encased in metal.

Airelle serves as the love interest for Sylvain. He meets "The Deformed," a group of mutants who Sylvain at first mistakes for the enemy.

The cause of this terror is traced to the giant brain Metamorphis, although Metamorphis is puzzled about how he could be the cause. The metal humanoids are coming back in time from the future, so Metamorphis offers to place Sylvain in stasis until that time. Sylvain awakens in 1,000 years as planned, and destroys the old, weakened, and now insane, Metamorphis.

Availability

A European DVD release of Gandahar, in French with English subtitles, was released in October 2007http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000UM1GCE by Eureka!'s Masters of Cinema

Masters of Cinema

The Masters of Cinema organization began as a website dedicated to the most well-regarded film directors in the world. Founded by a diverse international group of like-minded film enthusiasts: Jan Bielawski, a mathematician; Doug Cummings, a graphic artist and freelance critic; Trond Trondsen, a Ph.D...

label. There are currently no plans for a Region 1 DVD release.

External links

• Gandahar at the Masters of Cinema Series
• Gandahar at Le Palais des dessins animés