ON THE COMET. Absurdist science fiction based on Verne

On the Comet will appeal to fans of old-fashioned animation and Monty Python. The year is 1888, in a French colony in North Africa (probably Algeria). The resourceful Captain Hector Servadac is a cartographer in the service of the French army. One day, while mapping the terrain, he meets Angelica, a young woman fleeing from Spanish abductors. Meanwhile, an Arab ruler supported by the Spanish is organizing a rebellion against the colonists. During the preparations for battle, a massive celestial body suddenly appears in the sky—a comet that collides with Earth, tearing away a large piece of land and transferring it onto its own surface. The French, Spaniards, and Arabs become trapped together on the comet, which doesn’t stop them from continuing their fierce conflict; it turns out the asteroid is home to dinosaurs, giant sea serpents, and other strange life forms.

Servadac must protect Angelica not only from enemy forces but also from the creatures inhabiting the comet as it drifts through outer space. Karel Zeman (1910–1989) was sometimes called the “Czech Georges Méliès” because, like the French filmmaker, he used pioneering special effects, animation, and photographic tricks in his films. These had a profound influence on the work of Jan Švankmajer, Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Wes Anderson, and the Quay Brothers. Over his more than fifty-year career, Zeman often drew on the works of Jules Verne: he adapted Facing the Flag as The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958), and Two Years’ Vacation and The Mysterious Island as The Stolen Airship (1967).

In the late 1960s, he turned to the two-volume novel Hector Servadac: Voyages and Adventures Through the Solar System (also known in Poland as A Journey Around the Sun), which had previously been adapted by Edward Bernds in Valley of the Dragons (1961). Like Zeman’s previous feature films, On the Comet is a blend of live-action and animation. Zeman took only the starting point and illustrations from Verne’s novel, which served as the basis for the animation; everything else was the invention of the director and co-writer Jan Procházka.

On the Comet freely combines science fiction, adventure, romance, and absurd comedy full of grotesque humor. Primarily, it is a satire on the military, imperialism, and bureaucracy, but also on the flaws of our species, which— even on an alien planet (because that is what the titular comet essentially is—scientific accuracy is not the point here)—does not cease to engage in idiotic life-and-death quarrels (a brilliant subplot features British officers who, upon learning where they are, immediately proclaim the comet as territory of Her Majesty).

This blend of absurd humor, live action, and animation irresistibly recalls the work of the Monty Python troupe, who delighted in mocking all kinds of “authorities.”