Weird Does Not Begin to Cover This

• Known as Gandahar as well as Light Years
• Written and Directed by René Laloux
• December 11, 1987
• Based on Jean-Pierre Andrevon’s 1969 novel Les Hommes-machines contre Gandahar (The Machine-Men versus Gandahar)

Voice Cast

• Sylvain –John Shea
• Airelle-Jennifer Grey
• Metamorphis-Christopher Plummer
• Ambisextra-Glenn Close
• Blaminhor/Blaminhoe-Earl Hammond
• Spokesman/Council Spokeswoman-Sheila McCarthy
• Apod, The Metal Man-Alexander Marshall
• Optiflow-Paul Shaffer
• Chief of the Deformed, Maxum-Earle Hyman
• Octum-Raymond Joseph Teller
• Chief of the Deformed-Penn Jillette
• The Head, The Metal Man-Dennis Predovic
• The Head, Historian-Bridget Fonda
• The Head, The Metal Man-Chip Bolcik
• The Head-Sheila McCarthy
• Shayol-David Johansen
• The Collective Voice-Terrence Mann
• The Metal Man-Kevin O’Rourke
• The Metal Man-Ray Owens
• Announcer-Jill Haworth
• Gemnen-Charles Busch

A mysterious force begins attacking the ecologically harmonious people of the world of Gandahar.

I remember seeing Gandahar (on the VCR cassette case called Light Years) well over 30 years ago. I have been a fan of animation for as long as I can recall and I would often explore the children’s section because that’s where animated movies wound up in the local video rental place. Regardless of what it was, back then animation was seen as strictly for kids. This continually caught my eye but because of my whims I passed it by. But one day it spoke to me and I had to get it. I’ve only seen it that one time yet it has stuck with me. 

Visually it’s unlike anything I think had ever seen before in my youth. And I’m not talking about the abject nudity which made me wonder why this animated feature was in the children’s section. The women are pretty well topless throughout. And blue-ish. The style used had the look of those Monte Python cuts. Mix that with a heavy dose of imagination and this can look like a fevered hallucination. It makes it come off as a mix of a 70s Saturday morning cartoon and the film Heavy Metal.

This all takes place on the Eternia-esque world of Gandahar which is heavy on being in harmony with nature. Themes of environmentalism? Maybe. There are also hints of themes of destiny as well as society paying for its mistakes though none of those really gets explored. They are just kind of tossed into the movie and then the story moves on. And that’s if I’m not reading too much into anything done in the story.

The story itself moves rather quickly. Gandahar is only around 80 minutes and those behind this pack a lot in here. Our hero gets sent on his initial mission, falls in love, meets the villain who is not yet the villain, travels to the future to meet the villain as the villain, and saves the day. All in 80 minutes. It certainly could’ve benefited from another 20 minutes or so to let all this sink in. Every idea gets crammed in to the point nothing has a moment to breathe and thought upon until you’re moving onto the next one. Either some of the stuff should’ve been cut out or as I said a couple more minutes added to this. 

I do like that the villain Metamorphis when first met is not actually a villain. In fact the characters is as ignorant of what’s going on as the hero Sylvain is. There is an implication that he came up with his idea based on what he learned about his future self over time. But it is a very weak implication though that does not cover where it originally came from.

But what really sells this for me is that it’s just weird-both visually and narratively. Not weird to be weird but weird because they went all in with their imagination. They put creativity first to the detriment of everything else. Meaning story and at points characterization suffered to the overall presentation.

Gandahar is so close to greatness but it never quite gets there. It’s just an inch away and if it did just something a little bit different (maybe add time and a stronger focus on story) it could’ve been amazing. This could have had a cult following. But it never gets there.

As far as I know a version of Gandahar is streaming on Amazon as of this writing (maybe) but my viewing was on YouTube where several bootleg copies are available. For me it was a must see as I wanted to revisit something that I hadn’t viewed in decades. And for me it was worth a visit but this is more of an acquired taste. Having said that, if any of the images I have included with his article intrigue you then check it out but otherwise don’t.