Forgotten Sci-Fi Fantasy Epic Gets Stunning Rescue And Restoration
1982’s Time Masters, also known by its original title as Les maitres du temps, is finally receiving a 4K restoration. Not only that, but the movie is about to receive a theatrical run in New York on July 26, followed by a national rollout, followed by DCP and Blu-Ray releases.
Time Masters is a French-Hungarian animated sci-fi movie directed by Rene Laloux from the joint penning effort by himself and Moebius—a pseudonym for the famous French graphic novelist Jean Giraud. The movie alone is based on the 1958 novel L’Orphelin de Perdide and opens up with Claude sending out a message to his friend Jaffar, recounting the tragic death of his wife.
Time Masters first hit theaters in 1982.
Once his vehicle crashes, Claude frees his son Piel from the wreckage, equipping the boy with an interstellar communicator and letting him face the planetary challenges alone.
Laloux, best known for his work on Fantastic Planet, completed The Time Masters in 1982, with the movie boasting a stunningly beautiful animated universe designed by Moebius, who actually storyboarded the entire movie, along with the character, costume, and background design.
Animation was done by Hungary’s Pannonia Studio, which produced the movie on a rather lean budget and a tight production schedule. It’s also worth noting that the production was somewhat hampered by language barriers between artists and animators.
Fortunately, the movie transcended those limitations, and the original conception was so strong that those limitations didn’t compromise the production but added to its charms. Time Masters received overwhelmingly positive reviews from both the critics and the audiences, namely for its intricately woven plot that also involved time travel, exiled royalty, monster-looking aliens, and psychological themes.
Time Masters is based on Stefan Wul’s 1958 novel L’Orphelin de Perdide.
Admittedly, it wasn’t a widespread commercial success, but it did earn a cult following among animated sci-fi fans over the years.
The movie was originally intended for English-speaking audiences, and an English dub has been produced. There are also some notable drawbacks associated with the movie, particularly with its animation. As previously mentioned, the production was handled by Pannonia Studio, mostly due to budgetary constraints.
This led to varying quality of animation in different parts of the movie, with some sequences of the film featuring high-quality animations while others tell a tale of financial limitations production faced.
In the end, Time Masters had the unfortunate event of staying a barely recognized masterpiece of animation, but despite all of its shortcomings—of which there are few—the unique style of animation and character design left a lasting impression on the animation industry going forward.
Time Masters will be re-released in theaters July 26.
Of course, tales were spun, and suggestions were made about potential remakes and adaptations that would bring this hidden gem to broader audiences, but those plans never bore any fruit.
Fortunately, Janus Films decided to give Time Masters a 4K treatment, and the movie is set to receive a Blu-Ray and DCP releases in the future—presumably following the theatrical releases—but the exact date and time of their release and the entire release window, remains unknown.
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