Hey guys, I’m Mike and if you’re like most Americans, you might not be that familiar with ‘Valerian.’
But the upcoming movie is based on one of the most famous and influential comics to ever come out of France.
Like a lot of French sci-fi, it’s unique, stylish, and not afraid to experiment.
From Jules Verne’s “science adventure” novels, to those damn dirty apes, French sci-fi is almost its own sub-genre.
So today, we’re gonna take you through the surprisingly influential history of French science fiction.
But before we start, I gotta warn you guys:
I don’t speak a word of French, so my pronunciation might be a little off.
I’m gonna try my best though.
Anyway, let’s get started with Jules Verne.
This French author is one of the founding fathers of science fiction, even though he never liked the term.
Between 1863 and 1905, he wrote a series of novels called the Extraordinary Voyages.
He wrote 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth.
But his most important book might be From the Earth to the Moon, published over a century before the Apollo 11 landing.
Granted, he thought we'd get there using a cannon instead of rockets, but that's neither here nor there.
It’s mostly remembered for the film adaptation it inspired.
A Trip to the Moon was directed by French filmmaker George Melies in 1902, and it’s arguably the very first science fiction film.
It looks more like a trippy music video than a modern sci-fi movie, but it’s innovative special effects and far-out premise paved the way for what we have today.
Verne’s stories all have an optimistic, utopian vibe.
They’re steampunk adventures in a world that celebrates science, and Verne’s success kicked off a French sci-fi boom.
Unfortunately, the bright future these authors imagined never came to be.
The two world wars took a heavy toll on France.
It’s hard to be optimistic about new technology when you’re up close and personal with the devastation it can cause.
So sci-fi fell out of fashion for a while, just as it underwent a golden age in America.
The stories that were produced in France were pretty cynical, like Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel Monkey Planet.
Yep, Planet of the Apes was a French novel first, but the movie’s famous ending came from Rod Serling, an American writer.
The experimental filmmakers of the French New Wave had a little more success with science-fiction.
Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville is probably the most famous example.
It’s film noir mixed with a cyberpunk dystopia, and it had a huge influence on later movies.
There wouldn’t be a Blade Runner without Alphaville.
As the wars faded into the past, a new generation of sci-fi creators emerged in France.
They weren’t that interested in the space race and a bright future.
Instead, they wrote about the post-war changes in society and politics.
About human identity and sexuality, and expanding your horizons with drugs instead of spaceships.
And the best way to show these surreal new visions was through one of the oldest forms of media around. Comics.
During the 60s, the new crop of comic creators pushed all kinds of boundaries with their art.
There’s 1962’s sexy cosmic adventure Barbarella.
You might remember her as the objectified space babe played by Jane Fonda in the cult classic movie.
And if you don't, your dad definitely does.
And a few years later, Valerian and Laureline debuted in 1967.
It’s a comic about a meathead time-cop named Valerian and his partner, a smart and savvy 11th century peasant girl who came back to the future with him.
It’s one of the most popular and influential comics in the history of sci-fi, and most Americans probably haven’t heard of it until this summer.
Star Wars in particular owes a lot to Valerian, from the worn-down, used look of its futuristic technology to Leia’s metal bikini.
But the real revolution began with Metal Hurlant.
Metal Hurlant?
In French, that translates to “Screaming Metal,” but you probably know it better by the American title, Heavy Metal.
Heavy Metal is a science fiction anthology magazine started in the seventies by a group known as the “United Humanoids.”
It was one of the first “adults only” comics.
Stories were violent, surreal and sexual.
It helped change the perception of comics as a kids-only medium ten years before ‘Watchmen’ and ‘The Dark Knight Returns.’
A lot of it hasn’t aged well.
The art is gorgeous, but there’s a lot of gratuitous nudity and voluptuous women in chainmail bikinis.
Basically everything you’ve ever seen airbrushed on the side of a van.
And some of the stories can be straight-up creepy and misogynistic.
The 80s were kind of defined by excess like this, and Heavy Metal played a huge part in it, for better or worse.
Let's leave it at that. What do you mean?
When Heavy Metal came to America in 1977, it blew a lot of minds.
We even got this gnarly animated movie out of it.
Death! DEATH!
But Heavy Metal’s most important achievement was introducing America to the works of Jean Giraud, better known under his pen-name, Moebius.
After starting his career drawing cowboy comics, Giraud created the pseudonym “Moebius” to explore his new interest in science fiction.
Cause, let's be honest, every great Western would make a better sci-fi film.
With Heavy Metal, Moebius quickly established himself as a monster in the field of sci-fi illustration.
His meticulous art was so innovative and memorable we’re still feeling its impact today.
Anime legend Hayao Miyazaki’s cited Moebius as a huge inspiration for his classic film Nausicaa.
And the two became lifelong friends.
Author William Gibson, the father of cyberpunk and like, most of what you love about The Matrix, credits Moebius for the “look” of the genre.
You can see it in the cramped, oppressive megacities of comics like The Long Tomorrow, which clearly shaped the design of films like Blade Runner and Akira.
Moebius influenced a lot of films, but he also worked directly on a bunch too.
One of his most famous film projects is the unreleased Dune by the French-Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky.
I had Moebius who was a genius. Because he was not only an artist with an incredible capacity but he was very quick!
When the movie fell through, they turned his concept art into a sprawling space comic called The Incal.
He helped design the neon world of Tron, the Imperial Probe Droid in the Empire Strikes Back, and did some early costume designs for Alien.
Moebius even worked on Space Jam!
Not even kidding. He’s in the credits riiiight here.
One film owed so much to Moebius that he even took the director to court, The Fifth Element.
Luc Besson is probably the French filmmaker best known to modern U.S. audiences.
He became famous for '90s crime thrillers like La Femme Nikita and The Professional.
But he always wanted to create a sci-fi world like the ones in the comics grew up reading.
Besson actually started writing the script for The Fifth Element in 1975, when he was just 16 years old.
Just one year after the first issue of Heavy Metal.
When Moebius saw the finished product, he thought it was a little too close for comfort with his comic, The Incal.
But The Fifth Element isn’t a Moebius ripoff any more than Star Wars is a Valerian ripoff.
Sci-fi is a constantly evolving genre.
The best artists take bits and pieces from a long history of inspiration and transform it into something new and wonderful.
That’s why I’m so excited to see what Luc Besson does with ‘Valerian.’
It’s a film he’s been waiting his whole life to make, and I can’t wait to see this source material combined with his own unique “cinema du look” style.
So, if you’re an American sci-fi fan looking for something new, you might wanna check it out.