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This has been bugging me for years. I watched this incredibly memorable animated film or series as a child in France in the 80s/90s and cannot find the name of it. It has a particularly haunting soundtrack that is unmistakable. It's very unique and doesn't match the style of animation I have seen before or since.

The unique style of animation makes me think that this was European or soviet, rather than American or Japanese.

After reviewing many examples from that time period, I think it was either Soviet or Eastern European.

Definite details:

  • An egg-shaped white space ship lands on a planet
  • The soundtrack is haunting and hard to forget
  • The animation style is unique and different from other animated media of the era (not traditional French/Belgian, not American/Disney, not typical manga)
  • Available in France in the late 80s / early 90s on VHS
  • Sense of gravitas
  • Colour palette is muted, washed out, darker and lower contrast than most animation of that period.

Maybe:

  • The characters wear differently coloured jumpsuits.
  • The spaceship lands in a jungle.
  • It's possible the film / series was created in the 70s or earlier given its different animation style.
  • I don't think it had weird creatures, or comic relief of any sort. I'm pretty sure this was targeted at an adult audience.
  • It may be an animated short, rather than a feature.

It is not:

  • Fantastic Planet / La planète sauvage
  • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
  • Time Masters / les maîtres du temps
  • Legacy from the Future - Fantastic Adventures of Family Mézga
  • Ulysses 31
  • Once Upon a Time... Space / Il était une fois... l'espace
  • Captain Future / Capitaine Flam
  • Planeta 888 (although that's in the ballpark)
  • Angel's Egg
  • Once Upon A Time / Когда то давно although the soundtrack is in the right direction
  • Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea / Les Mondes Engloutis

I went through sci-fi & animation in IMDb for the 1960s without any luck.

I went through IMDb's 10659 entries for Sci-Fi, animation, colored or colorised between 1970 and 1994 without finding it.

I have confirmed with my relatives that this is not a figment of my imagination and took the form of VHS tapes. They can't remember the title either.

Found!

Thanks to @McTroopers! The animation is Misiunea Spațială ”Delta” a Romanian animated feature from 1984. You can find the entire movie on youtube, including egg-shaped spacecraft and walk through jungle with strange music.

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  • Any chance you could try sketching what the style sort of looked like? Aug 29, 2019 at 0:17
  • 1
    Any chance that this could be Angel's Egg? youtube.com/watch?v=fIhKqaNp4Dc
    – skyjack
    Aug 29, 2019 at 0:22
  • Thanks @dominicfonde,It's not Angel's Egg. The art style and soundtrack where much more distinctive.
    – brice
    Aug 29, 2019 at 1:00
  • @Stormblessed I'm afraid my artistic skills are not up to the task.
    – brice
    Aug 29, 2019 at 1:07
  • @brice Even really simple stuff like the drawing here is useful. Aug 29, 2019 at 1:15

2 Answers 2

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Could it be Space Mission Delta, a Romanian animation movie?
Here you can also listen to some samples of its soundtrack (so you could easily realize if it is the title you're looking for)

From imdb:

the year is 3084, man settled interplanetary space, but space is still full of secrets - On a research mission to a newly discovered Galaxy heads the most advanced spaceship, Delta, operated by an extremely powerful electronic brain. Project Delta was conceived in order to establish a dialogue between intergalactic civilizations. Soon after an alien journalist, Alma, was allowed to board the spaceship, she and the captain noticed that the super-brain that controlled the ship could act by itself.

This Tumblr blog has some posts about it (and if this is not the right title, I think you could find the possible answer by sifting through it):
https://animationactivist.tumblr.com/post/138917163721/title-english-delta-space-mission-romanian
https://animationactivist.tumblr.com/post/138916908241/english-delta-space-mission-romanian-misiunea
https://animationactivist.tumblr.com/post/138915896771/english-delta-space-mission-romanian-misiunea

From the above site:

This is the first feature-length science fiction animated film made in Romania, a sequel and continuation to a Romanian animated series of the same name directed by Victor Antonescu, with characters drawn by Călin Cazan and Mircea Toia.

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  • YES!!! Thank you so much @McTroopers. That's the one. It's not clear to me whether I watched the film or the series, but this is it. Thanks so much. Now I need to get hold of a version in French or English :)
    – brice
    Sep 15, 2019 at 13:19
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The Masters of Time - Les Maîtres du temps

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Ma%C3%AEtres_du_temps

bit of the soundtrack

Check the egg-ship in the image. Plus the time period and muted colors seem to match.

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    I believe the OP has already rules this out, see "Time Masters / les maîtres du temps" in the "It is not" section.
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Sep 4, 2019 at 14:31

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