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Fantastic Planet (1973)
THE FANTASTIC PLANE She stopped moving.
Now we can't play with her any more. Careful! It's Mr. Sihn. Look, father. A female Om and her baby. Is she dead? I'm afraid so, Tiwa. Why does the baby make noise? It's either frightened or hungry. We can't leave him. May I keep him? Let me, father. I'll take care of him. All right, Tiwa, we can't let the animal die. He was the Great Master of the Traag people. He saved my life and took me into his home. Mother! Mother! See how cute the little Om is! His mother's dead. I want to keep him. He is very pretty, Tiwa. You disturbed your mother's Meditation! Make that animal behave or I'll take it away! Father, he got away. He needs a collar. Learn to use the Watch. Now put the animal down. It's fun. Let me try. No so fast. The animal is delicate. You might hurt it. Did you name it? Tiwa, like me. That's not an Om's name. Name it Frisky or Trusty. Watch him wiggle, the little devil! I'll name him Terr. I was forgotten! A baby Om is nothing compared to Meditation! A weird virtual. Traags devoted most of their time to it. It seemed to be chief concern. Oddly enough, the housing unit factory on our Uva at Goham... has not met production levels. The machines show unusual wear... This wear causes the delay. Master Taj, can you explain? We don't know yet. Meanwhile well use machines from our reserve... to meet the schedule. I don't understand. The machines worked perfectly until now. Have you had similar problems on other Uvas? Only machines from our space flight... to planet Antax 4 have trouble completing their program. Master Sihn, our scientists... explain this loss as a break in the sensory compensation system. Scientists also notice that animals brought from planet Terra... have sovibon and rather high intelligence. I am not sure that is true. Obviously, the animal adapts rather well. But is that intelligence? The little pet you stroke... between Meditations may well... surprise you some day. Films made in Terra show many traces of organized life. This ability to adapt, Master Kon may indicate advanced evolution. Oms have a much shorter life span that we. But we must not forget that they multiply much more rapidly. If the animal is intelligent, Master Sihn... we have not yet noticed. What we do notice is the considerable damage... caused by Oms on the Uvas of Jext and Telez. The numbers of tame Oms is easy to control. But wild Oms probably exist... in much larger numbers than most of us realize. We de-om the enclaves... of wild Oms every 3 cycles. But I wonder if... that is often enough. Few weapons have a long-term effect. Drastic measures must be taken. New ways to fight them are being researched. I doubt if they will suffice. Go play somewhere else. I'm very sorry. Imagination was so rich today too... That Om is a pest! Please, our children all love those animals. I grew up fast in that slow world. A Traag week was equal to one of my years. I was only a live plaything. I was sometimes rebellious. Tiwa loved me. Terr loves Tiwa... Repeat! Terr loves Tiwa... Repeat! Tiwa got her learning from a headphone. Its lessons cut directly into the brain... engraved on the memory forever. "Our Planet Ygam has one satellite... "the Fantastic Planet. It is uninhabited "and used for Meditation. "Ygam is divided into several Uvas. "Uvas Strop and Yot are natural and symmetrical. "Urtana, the largest Uva, is covered "with blue assonic blocks. "Its temperature range... "is from 8 to 243 laics... "making ripocal exploitation impossible... "Our Uva, Goham, has a fepular inland sea... "stabilizing the apenosh at about 20 laics. "Fixations bloc offset pontic rebation. "Er-shaped globes regulate pressure. "All Uvas under go a cycle of 3 seasons of unequal length. "The seasons of garus crystallization..." An accident enabled me to acquire the Traags knowledge. "When the soil peels, intense vegetation..." "replaces all nosks with similar nosks." I liked the lessons. I tried to get the most out of them. "The cliffs on the fepular sea are eroded... "by rains that often last long." Tiwa, bring your animal! Jurgal has his and we'll have some fun. I don't want him hurt. Jurgal's animal is insane! Once, he almost tore off his ears! He won't damage your Om. Come and play! Come and see! Let Terr fight, it will be more fun. Terr will win, he's a real demon! Now fight! He sings well. Terr can sing too. Sing, Terr. Go on! - He'll strangle him! - He doesn't know what he's doing. What a mean animal! "It is simple to see a tark's fladed muscles... "because the animal's easily skinned..." Do you hear the Om? That's Tiwa's lesson! She loves Terr so much that he is with her always. Can he understand what he says? I don't think so. Anyway, I'll forbid her to keep Terr during infos. She must study seriously. "The liscinian muscle of a trak's leg... "is a fleshy, fuliform vilok... "The molog is an enviparous animal... "It has more than half a billion lucons. "The entire surface of their walls... "is made up of little cells... "separated by leaves of thin organure." "Some scientists... "today believe it is not organure but only gambous amalga... "an artificial structure..." Have you got Terr again during you info? I told you to stop! Into the Omhouse! But father, he doesn't bother me... And he's so happy. The infos are for you! Get back to work! It was time for the Traag children to have their first Meditation... The initiation ceremony was a major step... on their road to knowledge. After a while I lost my intimacy with Tiwa. As she grew up, she gave up her playthings. Deprived of lessons, I decided to run away. Mother, I can't find Terr. And my headphones are gone. Use your bracelet! If he's far away, it'll hurt him. Put your bracelet on maximum, please. No, mother... You're pretty stupid. Like all tame Oms! You have a collar too. Its a fake, to fool the Traags. What's that? The Traags invented it. What? The Traags made it. Listen! "Valio, cycle, info 4... "You will observe that Aklon research... "in solid pernetrope... "works the same as in plane pernetrope. "Notice that we look for festation groups..." Don't worry, it's not dangerous. Where are you taking it? - I don't know. - Come with me! My new friend took me to her people who lived hidden in the Big Tree. deep in an abandoned park. As a silly tame Om, my first meeting with wild Oms was a failure. Don't touch that case, it's a trap! Since I brought the headphones of knowledge... the wizard opposed me at once! We've brought 5 cases, Chief. What? Is that all? One of them was a trap and Speed is dead. He knew it was a trap. He's a tame Om. He ran away with a Traag device. It taught him to read Traag writing. He knows what's in the cases? In that one? Color powder. "Urtana is covered with blue assonic blocks. "Its temperature range is from 8 to 243 laiks... "making ripocal exploitation impossible. "Our Uva, Goham, has a fepular inland sea "stabilizing the apenosh at about 20 laiks. "Fixations blocks... "offset ontic rebation. "Er-shaped globes regulate pressure..." Why interrupt the info? Traag knowledge is bad. We don't need it. We are not tame Oms. It is great offense! You must battle according to the Law. Bring the combat animals! You win. Stay with us Oms of the Big Tree. You can be of use to us. Tomorrow we go on an expedition. It was my first expedition to steal Traag food. We brought a great deal back. Be brave, the Big Tree isn't far. The Hollow-Bush bandits! Look out! Why attack us? They're from the Hollow Bush. Beware of them. They are thieves from the other side of the park. The Great Zarek 3000 cycles before Krowp... "created the pyramidic civilization. "From his tomb - they say he still animates... "the ball of Life. "Projectiles pierce him but he does not change. "His mind travels through Ygam's skies... "regularly ever since he led the Traags... "to victory against the Jankos. "This may well be how Meditation originated. "Some believe that Zarek is immortal and... "that from the flames of time he reappears in infinitely varied... "whirling reality... "to combat the Traags will to die. "Actually "driving out the Jankos made... "the Traags develop a spirit of enterprise..." The Oms are learning if only we had more headphones. You know as much as the Traags. I am barely learning to write. Look. Are you sure? Did you read it right? All the park walls read "de-om"! What does it mean? The Traags want to kill all the Oms! Long ago... I saw them de-om the park. It was horrible! But now on our tree, there's not much danger. What will we do? - It had to come. - Anyway, we have time to prepare. We'll post sentries. They'll slaughter us... to punish us for stealing knowledge. Let us pray to the Fantastic Planet. Sentries will warn us when they come. Tomorrow we shall see. What are you doing on our land? I came to warn you. The Traags intend to de-om the park. De-om! You don't say! How do you know? One of us read it on the wall! Can Big-Tree Oms read Traag writing now? Don't listen to him! It's a trap to get us out of the Hollow Bush! Believe me, the Traags will de-om! Take him away! Someone go look at the walls! Listen! - Traags! - Quiet! I smell Oms here. That vermin! The Masters should... de-om more often! It's not bad to have pet Oms... They're fun. But all those wild Oms... They steal. They're dirty and multiply appallingly fast. Look... A nest by the walk. See... A whole colony. Let's kill Them. Chief is dead. Stop weeping like children. We must go where the Traags can't find us. I know a place, I'll take you there. This road leads to an abandoned rocket dump. We'll be safe there. I regret that we de-om only every 3 cycles! This killing proves it is not enough! A Traag murdered! It's unbelievable! Are we so weak that Oms can kill us... so easily? Wild Oms are much more numerous than we thought. The body showed many... bites and wounds, said Traag who managed to escape slaughter. Oms' bites were very numerous. Every day wild Oms become bolder! They multiply at a terrifying rate! Master Sihn, it is disturbing to note that your Uva at Telez is not the only one that has been very difficult to de-om. Two other Uvas... Goham and Urtana... have had similar problems... Near the murdered Traag we found... two surprisingly well organized lairs. Most disturbing of all was... that in one of the lairs... cases were sorted according to contents. But they were unopened. How could the Oms know what they contained? It is high time to take efficient measures! I suggest we de-om twice a cycle. I also request strict regulation of breeding... and selling of tame Oms. Too often they turn wild again... and go join the throngs of Oms... living in parks and other isolated areas. We must use the new, much-discussed de-om-ing devices at last. We must exterminate all wild Oms. And I ask you: Should we keep our tame Oms? We are wrong to believe Oms are merely vicious animals. If we do, we may commit... an error of serious consequences. Ygam had... 3 seasons equal to... 15 of our years. The Traag rocket graveyard was abandoned. There we built our city. We planned to go to the Fantastic Planet. Many tame and wild Oms came to join us. Knowledge acquired from the headphones... enabled us to reduce... Traag rockets... to our size. "Trinur is a metal that palsifies Matwar "top-grade reculid gives it a remarkable metallic shine." We have succeeded, Terr. Two rockets are for testing. We will start with those. - It's only a matter of work and time. - We must hurry! Om informers say... that a large-scale de-om-ing is near! They may know where we are. We must send up our two rockets at once... to see if we can live on the Fantastic Planet. We cannot wait any longer! Too bad. I can't go with you. I'm not afraid. I'm sure you'll succeed. I know you will build... a new world where Oms can be happy... far away from the Traags. The Fantastic Planet will be our planet... a world for our children. You must go! You must hurry! You must... We had discovered the secret of the Traags. The Spheres of Meditation there enabled Traags to meet... beings from other galaxies and hold strange nuptial rites. This union gave them vital energy which they needed... and enabled them to reproduce. We were afraid... The statues feet might damage our rockets. We found the only weak point of the Traags. On Ygam, the de-om-ing was halted. Never have the Traags been in such great danger! Our entire civilization is threatened! The Oms are taking revenge. They have incredible scientific knowledge. They must be stopped! It may be too late. Neither Oms nor Traags... will profit from destruction. We must try to make peace. "Since the Sihn era, "the Traag civilization has undergone a remarkable evolution. "The Oms, instructed by our philosophy and... "technology... "now provide the Traags with... "dynamics and a new way of thinking. Our planet now has two satellites, one natural and one artificial. "The natural one, the Fantastic Planet... "is kept for Traag Meditation. "The artificial one was made by Oms. They named it Terr. "Oms live in huge cities on the various Uvas." |
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