Light Years (film)
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| Light Years | |
|---|---|
 VCR cover |
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| Directed by | René Laloux |
| Written by | Jean-Pierre Andrevon (story) |
| Release date(s) | 1988 |
| Running time | 83 min. |
| Country | France / South Korea |
| Language | French |
| IMDb profile | |
Light Years (Original title: Gandahar) is a 1988 French animated science fiction and fantasy film. The original version was directed by René Laloux, and was based on a story from Jean-Pierre Andrevon. The English version was directed by Harvey Weinstein, and noted science-fiction author Isaac Asimov made the revision of the translation.
The animation was in color and ran for 83 minutes. Among the actors providing the voices for the English-language version were Glenn Close, Jennifer Grey, Terrence Mann, Penn and Teller, John Shea, Bridget Fonda, David Johansen and Christopher Plummer. The film is notable for its strange scenery and exotic flora, fauna, and bizarre inhabitants.
There are currently no plans to release Light Years on DVD from Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
The paradise world of Gandahar is threatened by a mysterious power, so Queen Ambisextra (Glenn Close) and the Council of Women send the warrior Sylvain (John Shea) to scout for this danger. He discovers metallic humanoids with a paralyzing ray who sent the bodies of those they captured through a portal. Later these individuals returned, also encased in metal.
Airelle (Jennifer Grey) 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 (Christopher Plummer), 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.
[edit] Trivia
- The English version does not contain most, if any, of Gabriel Yared's soundtrack for the original version of the film.
- A certain scene in the English version was edited due to sexuality, the scene where Airelle and Sylvain are in the nest.
