Original subtitles

One less mirror bird to watch over Jasper.

Murdered like the others were.

Who did it? And why?

To keep us from learning what threatens us.

Without the eyes of the mirror birds, we can't see what's going on in our land.

Our screens aren't powerful enough. I've been warning you about this.

But no one would care at Jasper.

It's the pride of our civilisation to prefer birds to machines!

And natural order to technical solutions, of course...

...but it seems that we may have to pay too dearly, and too soon.

The Council has taken emergency action.

We're sending our best agent.

Which one?

Sylvain.

Syl? But he is not experienced enough!

I've taught him, and I am certain about it.

He is very capable.

Surely there are more experienced and more capable agents than him.

The Council has ruled. Besides, he's already here.

Agent Sylvain... Syl, as friends call you.

You've been chosen for an important, difficult and dangerous mission

- I'd give my life... - We don't want you to die.

But to return and inform us.

An unknown enemy menaces Gandahar.

You must find out where this enemy is, who this enemy is...

...determine its plans and power...

...assess its weaponry and methods...

...guess its secrets, find its weakness...

...if it has any.

I'm not happy to see you go.

It's too dangerous. But we did have to send our best agent.

Exactly where are you sending me?

Your target is vast...

...the Circumscribing Ocean.

Most of the mirror birds were killed there.

One bird saw the invader. Here's the image it was able to transmit.

Can we play it in reverse?

More slowly?

I also hoped to identify the aggressor. But with these metallic reflections...

We've been foolish to expect...

...that our happiness would last forever at Gandahar.

And it has been lasting so long that we've forgotten how to fight.

No doubt about it. He was will be from Gandahar.

Impossible! I have never seen a being who looks...

Gandahar, I tell you.

Gandahar, but before...

Unbelievable!

He was will be alive... but very weak.

He was will be very careless to fly so far from Jasper.

No, not careless. Courageous!

Maybe he was sent.

Do you think those in Jasper have wakened to the danger?

- Who were you? - I am!

I am a son of Gandahar!

A soldier.

- And a prisoner of the enemy. - Enemy?

- Where did you come from? - From Jasper!

They were will be always so smug in Jasper.

They certainly were when they did this to us.

Quiet!

Now, do you really believe we are the enemy?

I do!

- Ready to attack you? - Yes.

- Capable of defeating you? - No!

Can you guess who we are?

With these bodies, these heads...

...these misshapen limbs assembled without care.

The... Deformed?

Those that Jasper calls the Deformed!

- Not the deformed, the malformed. - The result of monstrous errors.

- From the games of chance. - The wretched mutants!

We also came from Gandahar. Once, you and me were alike.

The victims of your research in the field of genetics...

I would never have imagined.

We became an embarrassment, and were banished underground...

...like so many other failures.

As a child, I learned about you.

- But I would never imagine... - Of course! No one would imagine!

- Forgive me for having taken you... - For the enemies you're trying to find?

I forgive you... and understand you.

The real enemy has never been seen.

Never!

But we can hear them through these tunnels.

The Ears of the Earth.

Shayol! I was will be at your command!

I have chosen you to lead Sylvain out there...

...until you reach the noise

I was will be at your command!

Why do you say "was will be" instead of simply "I am"?

The Deformed are terrified of the present.

Why is it?

Perhaps it's atavistic.

We keep degrading.

At the time of the first genetic errors, we had the gift of foresight.

Unfortunately, we've lost it.

There is nothing left other than a double prophecy, doubly obscure.

In 1,000 years, Gandahar was destroyed and all of its people killed

1,000 years ago, it will be saved and the inevitable avoided.

In 1,000 years, Gandahar was destroyed...

1,000 years ago, Gandahar will be saved...

Past in future, and future in past?

But what does it mean?

We don't understand it any better than you, but it has become our nature...

...and the past-future has become our way of speaking and believing.

Shayol!

Are these women and children dead?

Petrified on the spot!

Annihilated!

No! Don't turn me to stone!

Don't turn me to stone!

- Don't steal my body! - It's not something I would do!

I've fought them, Ambisextra.

But they are made of metal!

Airelle... Your name is as beautiful as you are!

And what is your name?

Sylvain, friends call me Syl. I am an agent.

- Of Ambisextra? - How do you know?

I've never seen you in Jasper!

I live far away from the capital...

...in a fishermen's village

I would show it to you, if we get out of this prison.

- I was carelessly fishing with my flute. - Flute?

- Do you want to learn it? - If we get a chance...

When they shot at me, I didn't feel any pain.

My body became hard and insensitive

I fainted and woke up in here...

...right before you did.

What is it?

What's happening?

It's all gone quiet...

Syl! Syl, help, it's turning! Our prison is turning!

Don't try to resist, roll with it!

I have a gun. With one last grain in it.

Syl, what is it?

I hope it works!

What a monster!

A sorn?

It's impossible...

In theory, the species has been extinct from our planet.

Don't be afraid. Sorns are not carnivores.

He's going to eat us!

You are so beautiful, Airelle!

So are you, hero!

- How do sorns reproduce? - They lay eggs.

- Our sorn is a lady. - A lady?

- How would you know? - Intuition.

She's not just a lady, she's a mother.

She took our prison for an egg, and us for the hatchlings.

- That explains it. - Of course, it does.

So she was fighting with the metal men to get back what she took for her eggs!

My grain made the egg hatch, so she thought we were her progeny.

That's why she groomed us. I expect her to feed us soon!

Poor Syl, the brave soldier has become a chick!

Mysterious metal men attacked my village...

...you were sent to investigate...

...we were both captured...

...and put in the same cell...

...and then freed by a lady sorn...

...and now, it looks like I am falling in love with you.

I used to be stupid and way too self-confident.

And I expected this to be just another reconnaissance mission.

But things have been happening so fast.

I am afraid, Airelle. Yes, afraid!

If I fail, Gandahar will die.

The metal men are extremely strong, but obviously very stupid.

- They cannot win! - And I don't want to lose you!

I'm not that easy to lose, you'll see.

No, I won't. You'll be nice and wait for me, OK?

Syl, let's not argue, I'll go where you go.

You would get in the way, I'll go on my own!

Out of the question, soldier!

Those who are meant to be together will stay together.

Empty!

Inexplicably empty!

No flesh, no skeleton.

Nothing living, nothing mechanical. No gears, no circuits, no nothing.

And yet they can move and fight. They can use weapons.

And their heads!

Let's take a look!

It's a real army!

I didn't know they were so powerful, so well equipped...

...and so well organised for the purpose of destroying us.

Gandahar won't stand much of a chance!

We've got a real advantage.

They are empty. Without brains, without hearts.

That's how it happened

I must have been carried by one of these cold monsters...

Luckily for us, the sorn hacked them to pieces!

I don't like that door.

It doesn't close or open anything.

Yet, they disappear as they go through it.

- There must be an explanation. - We must find it.

Oh, it's terrible!

They went in as petrified statues, and they come out as metal men.

This door transforms the people of Gandahar into the robots who kill them.

Men of metal! Men of metal!

Our mission has been a success.

Our losses do not matter.

The loss of metal men should not be grieved.

Death only has meaning for weak beings, in love with the individual self.

The "I" does not exist!

The "I" does not exist!

I am you, you are us.

Us are Him

I am you, you are us.

Us are Him!

We are Him, the Great Procreator...

...the source of our energy, and soon the master of the world.

Soon, Gandahar will finally be a thing of the past!

Gandahar! Civilisation of pleasure!

Kingdom of waste and licence!

The Great Procreator will take back what you don't deserve.

Before the final annihilation...

...our delegates will travel over the Ocean...

...to prove our complete submission...

...and renew our power and our strength thanks to Him!

Hear me! Hear me!

Tonight you must stay disconnected until we embark.

Long live the Great Procreator!

Long live the Great Procreator!

The Great Procreator? Total annihilation? He's insane!

I'm afraid he's quite serious. The annihilation must refer to the eggs.

The Great Procreator must be their master.

And he is somewhere in the Circumscribing Ocean.

We must go with them!

- Unbelievable! - It has been since the beginning.

They've taken their heads off?

They've been told to disconnect, they just obey.

- Would you be able to swim that far? - I'll be there first!

You smell as good as the sea.

- And you swim like a siren. - A siren?

It's a creature from the terrestrial mythology.

An irresistible creature.

We who only exist by and for your will...

...we are executing your orders.

Gandahar will become what you want it to be.

Our attacks have been successful.

Many Gandaharians have been transformed...

...as you have ordered us.

The civilisation of wasteful pleasure will soon disappear.

And now, men of metal...

...be ready to draw strength from the substance of the Great Procreator.

Long live the Great Procreator!

Why doesn't the Great Procreator say anything?

- Gods rarely respond. - That's because they do not exist.

That thing will probably take us too...

It's going to swallow us!

Sylvain!

The body that contains us doesn't know ours.

Those who inhabit us are inhabited in turn.

And all these bodies, one inside another, are the body of Eternity.

- What is it? - A terrestrial poem that I like a lot.

Hello, Sylvain!

- Who is speaking? - You know very well.

Are you the leader...

...the god of the metallic carcasses who worship you?

Neither leader, nor god.

It's true that they worship me as a god, whereas I am only a...

Murderer!

If I were what you think I am, how would you still be alive?

Think about it

I know who you are, where you're from, what you're after...

...and I allowed you to approach me and even to insult me. Odd, isn't it?

- Are you the master of the metal men? - That's what they think.

Are they obeying your orders?

They think they've received them. Sometimes I believe I've given them.

Are you for or against this war of extermination?

It would be physically unpleasant for me, should the men of metal fail.

And yet I would not like to see Gandahar die.

It must be my sentimental disposition.

- That's admirable. - Yes, child of Jasper!

We are cousins, in a sense. I am the Metamorphis.

- Who are you? - Airelle.

Your name is as beautiful as you are.

And you? What's your name?

What's your name?

You smell as good as the sea.

And you swim like a siren.

- A siren? - An irresistible creature.

- No, Syl! - Leave Airelle alone!

I've just looked in her dreams. It seems she only dreams of you.

That's something a brain could not understand.

You are just a brain, aren't you, Metamorphis?

One that regrets to be living...

If you're from Gandahar, why would you not help us defend it?

We can't defeat the men of metal on our own, but you could easily...

Easily! Really?

You get carried away!

I have to think!

I must first understand this connection between me and them!

The one that would make their failure unpleasant?

I told you that I have to think!

He didn't promise anything. He has to think.

But it's already unbelievable that he didn't kill us...

...and let us go back to Jasper, and even helped us with it.

The wings are getting less and less stretched.

And less and less like wings.

Look!

Gandaharians flee from their homes. They hope to find refuge in Jasper.

Syl! A mirror bird!

It will spread the news of our arrival.

This time, it's the end.

Bye-bye, amorphous Metamorphis!

- So? - You'll be half surprised.

The flying beast and the brain of the metal men...

...are of the same nature.

The only difference is the age of the cells.

It's a huge difference, incomprehensible.

And Metamorphis pretended he didn't know

"I must find the connection”."

Well, here it is for you, Metamorphis...

These killers, these metallic beasts are born of you.

Nothing can stop them, not even death.

Priority message.

Would Ambisextra and the Council proceed to the central laboratory.

Priority, priority.

Ambisextra and the Council.

Well, Blaminhor, any news?

Perhaps I've figured it out. Have a look!

Jasper, Department of Research.

Experiment - Biotype.

Code name - Metamorphis.

The experimental brain is growing extremely rapidly.

Ifs volume doubled within a few days.

However, its capacity is inferior to that of the ordinary brain.

Due to its size, we had to transfer it...

...to a special platform in the Circumscribing Ocean.

The brain experienced profound changes.

Most amazingly, it can acquire its own senses.

Vision...

...touch...

...and others of the kind that are unknown to us.

Monstrous!

For reasons of security, it was decided to stop the experiment.

But would it be possible to destroy Metamorphis?

Logically, it was Metamorphis who destroyed his creators

Jasper disengaged from these experiments...

...and the monster was abandoned in the Ocean.

Abandoned!

His cells continued to proliferate, forming the brains of the metal men.

Thus, Gandahar produced its own mortal enemy without knowing it.

They disconnect at night.

It only gives us respite. Sylvain must kill Metamorphis!

Wait a minute. Metamorphis let us go back to Jasper.

That proves he's not aware of the connection with the metal men

I'll talk to him. I'll convince him.

- And if he doesn't listen? - Then, I'll kill him.

- How? - I've created the ultimate weapon.

At least, I think so.

One injection must suffice.

- I've been waiting for you. - Monster.

Liar! You knew that the metal men...

I know what you want to say, that the men of metal are my tools

I also know something that you don't. They come from the future!

I've seen them in action.

Their victims are petrified, imprisoned and converted into monsters.

Do you want to understand?

Do you want to save Jasper? Do you want to kill me?

Leave that ridiculous syringe alone and listen.

I repeat, this invasion is coming from the future.

It's absurd! Unbelievable!

What do you know of time, of its continuity, its traps...

...its false perspectives, its apparent paradoxes...

...its relation to space?

So Jasper is a victim of an invasion that hasn't yet occurred?

It's nonsense!

That's another logic.

The invasion has occurred even though it might be coming from the future.

- And how? - Through the Door.

- What door? - The Door of Time!

You've seen it, yet you didn't understand it.

Can you go both ways through this Door of Time?

As with any door...

So the prisoners are carried into the future.

- Why, Metamorphis? - I don't know it yet.

- Give me a proof of your good will! - A proof? You've got one!

You're alive

I could destroy you the moment you came!

But I'd been waiting for this encounter as much as you had.

- Is it a new trap? - It's not a trap, Syl.

But it will become one, and I don't want to be caught in it

I do not want to become an insane tyrant ruling over an army of killers.

Syl, I want you to overcome me in 1,000 years!

Why not now?

Because I do not want it, and you're not capable of it

I am not vulnerable.

Not yet

- I'll see you in 1,000 years. - It's impossible. I'll be dead!

You'll be neither dead nor alive...

...but hibernating at the bottom of the ocean.

On the appointed day, on the appointed hour...

...you will wake up, just as you are now - young, strong, determined.

You will try to overcome the old Metamorphis...

...and his army of metal men.

If you succeed, Jasper will be saved!

And I will stay a prisoner of the future.

Exiled from my time, away from those I love.

A mere professional risk, soldier.

But you may still have a chance to return to the present.

The Door of Time.

The Door of Time!

- No news from Sylvain? - We've completely lost contact.

The Council considers his mission to be over.

- For what reason? - We can't wait any longer.

- There is no hope. - Wait!

Wait a bit longer.

How do you know that Syl has failed?

The metal men haven't stopped killing.

It can't be so simple.

Syl...

Hurry up.

Please hurry up, my darling!

Are the Deformed going to resign to being destroyed by the metal men?

We were will be capable of fighting and winning...

Winning? Winning what?

The war was will be going on inside of our bodies forever, without victory.

Then it was will be death without struggle?

No, Shayol, no!

Here is our struggle!

We have succeeded...

...but not for long. What a pity!

Our power has its limits.

We could use this power to help Jasper.

They never helped us.

They have never acknowledged our existence, never until now.

In the face of deadly menace, everything changes quickly.

Gandahar must remember that the Deformed are Gandaharians.

Oh, mirror birds, the guarding birds...

...the birds of vision...

...deliver us from the impending destruction.

Take Jasper away from the ground.

Farewell, Gandahar! We've been so happy living here.

In 1,000 years, Gandahar was destroyed...

...and all its people killed

1,000 years ago, Gandahar will be saved...

...and the inevitable avoided.

In 1,000 years, Gandahar was destroyed...

...and all its people killed

1,000 years ago, Gandahar will be saved...

...and the inevitable avoided.

Here I am, Metamorphis.

The thousand years have passed.

I awoke on the appointed day on the appointed hour, as you wanted.

And I will now do what you wanted.

Who sent you?

- Were you will be from Gandahar? - I were will be.

And you were will be my friends.

Syl, the warrior, I know you!

I know you too!

We met during my first mission, about 1,000 years ago

1,000 years ago?

1,000 years or one day...

...it doesn't matter once you've passed through the Door of Time.

The petrifying rays, the eggs, the journey into the future.

We were converted into something else altogether.

They sorted us when we arrived...

...the normal to one side, the monstrous to the other.

We monstrous ones, the lucky ones, were found unusable, unrecoverable.

They relegated us to the underworld, just like at Jasper.

And the others?

The Gandaharians with beautiful faces and perfect bodies?

Yes, those who looked like me.

For once they had to regret they didn't look like us.

- Were they systematically wiped out? - Worse than that.

- You'd better not know about it. - But I have to know!

I have to understand, so that I can stop this.

Soldier, no one doubts your courage and your qualities.

But how would you overcome such power?

- Where are we? - In the city of the metal men!

Don't you recognise it?

Nothing existed around Metamorphis except the Circumscribing Ocean.

Now it is all covered by metal, except for the Door of Time.

Still more prisoners.

The machine drains life from them.

I must see what they're going through.

- How can you imagine such horror! - And such absurdity!

Such a complicated system of extermination.

On the contrary, it's terrifyingly logical

1,000 years have passed.

Metamorphis has become very old, and his cells no longer reproduce.

To keep on living, he needs new cells.

The petrifaction, the eggs, the Door of Time are necessary...

To deliver the substance and keep it intact.

Intact, until it is needed.

The invasion of metal men who ravaged the planet, it comes from Metamorphis.

Could Metamorphis have changed into metal, like everything around us?

What if it was not actual metal?

Our limited powers will allow us to see!

Dead cells...

...agglomerated...

...fossilised.

Degenerate cells of Metamorphis that...

We know of others

...that metallise with ageing.

Metamorphis is afraid of what's happening.

- That's why he wants me to kill him. - He wanted!

Will he still honour your agreement from 1,000 years ago?

I'll take the risk. I have no other choice.

You had will have allies...

While you'll confront him, we'll attack.

The highest priority is the reservoir that feeds Metamorphis.

Once disconnected, he'll lose strength.

We must also free the prisoners.

But first things first.

Let's take care of the metal men.

You can leave me now.

It's personal

- I'll go with you. - No.

It's personal, I say.

It's the beginning of the end.

Don't you try to bury me too soon, soldier...

These cells will fall off like scales, covering everything around me...

...and brand new ones will replace them indefinitely.

And you will kill indefinitely!

- This substance is that of your victims. - It's very practical!

Remember! You asked me to kill you in 1,000 years

I've never said anything so ridiculous!

- Are you going senile with age? - I haven't aged...

I'll never age!

- And you've come to kill me? - Yes, I have!

As Metamorphis asked me, when he was still lucid.

Looks like the sages of Jasper put all their wisdom into one syringe...

The ultimate weapon!

Why don't we test it? On you, for example.

The reservoir is out!

I am losing the left hemisphere. Alarm!

The cortex gave way!

Double security circuit badly damaged!

Calling all posts!

How quiet!

Silence at last...

Complete silence...

Why is the sun black this morning?

The snow is falling.

It's swirling.

It covers everything.

The pain subsides...

...and the fatigue.

How can I sleep...

How can I, without the dream of explosion?

The roaring water!

To all men of metal! Destroy the Door of Time!

Who opened the drawers of my memory?

Everything is scattered at random.

Why did I have to be born?

It hurts... it hurts!

It's too late for the present.

No, no... not alone in this freezing ocean.

I am a Gandaharian too.

Wait for me, wait for me.

What good did it do to kill the Metamorphis?

Gandahar is in ruins, Jasper is decapitated...

...and its people are petrified or lost somewhere in the future.

We can find them.

When? In 1,000 years?

The mirror bird!

Jasper has been saved?