There were nights when the winds of the Etherium, so inviting in their promise of flight and freedom, made one's spirit soar.
Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island - IN SPAAAAACE!!!!!With great gusto at that, containing: Space-sailing ships, aliens, robots, cyborgs and Space Pirates. Telling: one boy's search for the treasure of the evil pirate Flint, the Loot of a Thousand Worlds. Starring: The human Jim Hawkins, the spry cat-lady Captain Amelia, a bookish dog-like alien named Dr. DelbertDoppler, the fiendishcyborgSilver, and a metamorphosing pink blob named Morph in a steampunk alternate pirate universe.This Disney film was released in an overcrowded market—right on the heels of the second Harry Potter Film. For that matter, it opened less than a week afterDie Another Day arrived in theaters. It may also have suffered due to the Disney Marketing Department's decision to advertise it primarily during time slots occupied by kids' shows, when its premise and content are more suitable for older audiences. Also notable for an extreme case of Dueling Movies, in its race with the similar film Titan A.E. to be released.Whatever the reason, many fans blame this film for rudely ending Disney's confidence in hand-drawn animation for features, and which is what started the decline in their production of such films, closing their studios until 2009. Today, it's become a Cult Film thanks to its intricate blend of CGI and traditional animation.An important point of the design of absolutely everything, was that the universe had a 70/30 ratio of the blend between Victorian-era style, and its technological capacities. In places where the two might have clashed, Cyber Punk and Steam Punk technology were used to merge them together. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the designs of the ships themselves, and the design of John Silver.It portrays a father-son bond between the two main characters and some amazingly choreographed action sequences. According to Word Of God, this film was made to be Disney's big film for "single parent, Generation X" kids, as reflected in the darker family subtext. While it performed well with critics, the film flopped and flopped hard financially. As said previously, though, the film has gained a new lease on life thanks to DVD and television. Who knows? Maybe this film could someday replicate the eventual successThe Nightmare Before Christmas enjoys now.
All There in the Manual: A good chunk of exposition is provided by the art book, "A Voyage of Discovery"; who built Treasure Planet, how Flint got B.E.N, Silver's early life, why Leland Hawkins left his family; very useful information and leaves just enough to the imagination to write a prequel fanfic. (Then again, that last part may not be a good thing.)
Ambiguously Human: Silver looks human at first glance but his nails are pointed like claws, his ear is pointy and his face and chest are a continuous light tone rather than his actual hair colour (brown). He looks more like a literal shaven bear, which may actually be true.
Anti-Hero: Jim, as far as Disney Animated Canon will allow it. Post-Timeskip, he's constantly running afoul of the law. His mother tells Doppler outright that the solar sailor sequence was a violation of his parole, he is failing all of his classes, and he is starting to become more withdrawn.
Anti-Villain: John Silver. He's supposed to be the main antagonist, and he remains so for any part of the film where Scroop doesn't show up, but it turns out he's even better at being a father figure to Jim.
Artificial Gravity: Oddly played straight in a world where, among other things, people can breathe in space. Perhaps too straight, as it needs to be engaged even when the ship is close enough to the surface of Treasure Planet to be seen from it. And people start getting actively sucked into space if it's off, even if the ship is rising.
Artistic License - Astronomy: "Does an active galactic nucleus have superluminal jets?" No, Dr. Doppler. While they are relativistic, the particles do not exceed the speed of light. Being such a self-styled genius, he really ought to know better. Though, considering Doppler is also something of a Know-Nothing Know-It-All, this may have been intentional.
One can not quite underline enough how inaccurately the film portrayed Supernovas.
Cat Girl: Captain Amelia, though she's much more stoic than the average cat girl and doesn't have a tail either.
Chance Activation: After the Benbow Inn has been burnt down and the Hawkinses are staying with Dr. Doppler, the good doctor is explaining that he has no clue of function of the "odd little sphere" which Jim now possesses. Cue Jim fiddling around with the sphere and unlocking it, thereby discovering its function: a map containing the location of the legendary Treasure Planet.
Chekhov's Gunman: Morph. He's a shapeshifter. The moment he and the map-ball are in the same close-up practically SCREAMS "Before the movie's over, I'm gonna morph into this ball".
Conspicuous CG: The ships, the zoom-in on the spaceport, and the gratuitously CG'd space whales. Averted with Silver's cyborg parts and BEN, which were both CG'd, but the only clue is that nobody would want to draw all that by hand.
Cyber Punk/Steam Punk: A nice blend, with designs for the costumes, machinery, and ships that look distinctly Steam Punk in origin mixed with power, concepts, and designs from Cyber Punk.
Death Glare: A very nicely done one from Jim to B.E.N.
Jim Hawkins: If I'm not back in five minutes, leave without me. Ben: I am not leaving my buddy Jimmy! (Death Glare) Ben: ... Unless he looks at me like that. Bye Jim!
When Fridge Horror kicks in, one realises that Scroop won't die from falling upwards. Since in this universe space is filled with air Scroop won't suffocate, instead he will drift in the interplanetary emptiness until he dies of starvation of dehydration.
Dueling Movies: One of the most destructive cases ever, against Titan A.E.. Both films had very similar plots, both films raced to be released first, and both went down to defeat at the box office, causing a financial collapse in traditional Western Animation for the ensuing decade.
Amelia: Actually, Doctor, your astronomical advice was most helpful. Doppler: Well, u-uh, thank you. Thank you very much. Well, I have a lot of help to offer, anatomically—amanamonically—as...astronomically. *Facepalm*
Friend or Idol Decision: Played with in that it's the villain who has to make the choice. And he chooses the friend.
Gender Equals Breed: The children of Captain Amelia and Delbert Doppler in the end. Though the spinoff games point towards Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism. They were the same species.
Hive Mind: The cyborg cops in the beginning show this trait from time to time.
Hidden Badass: The bumbling, easily-flustered Dr. Doppler shows off his badassery, impressing more than a few people, most notably Captain Amelia, his future wife.
Hot Mom: Well, Jim had to get his good looks from someone, and as far as the film's concerned, Sarah Hawkins is the more likely candidate.
Captain Amelia.
Hyperspace Arsenal: In his cyberneticarm, Silver has about a dozen cooking tools, a pistol, a sword, a crutch, and a vice, as well as all the necessary gears and other cyborg guts. He also has an Arm Cannon, but half of that appears to be strapped to his leg.
I Can Still Fight: Captain Amelia. "Nonsense. Cup of tea and I'll be right as rain", anyone?
Idiot Ball: Yeah, Jim, go ahead and piss off the spider/scorpion/lobster thing with the obvious big evil yellow eyes. I'm sure all he'll do is go cry in a corner. It's the weakness of a Deadpan Snarker. They use humor as a defense mechanism.
Improbable Aiming Skills: Awesomely played straight, and even more awesomely lampshaded. During their escape from the ship, Dr. Doppler screws up his eyes and fires a pistol for the first time in his life (well... for the first time on purpose, anyway)—and the shot hits a hatch, ends up tossing several pirates out into space. Amelia stares, wild-eyed in surprise. Dr. Doppler stares at his gun, every bit as surprised as she is.
Amelia: Did you actually aim for that? Dr. Doppler: You know, actually, I did.
Doubles as a Chekhov's Skill, early in the movie we see his status as a physicist give him spatial/vector awareness required for making those sorts of calculations mentally.
The PC game Battle at Procyon offers more evidence for this, as you can have a number of dog and cat people join your crew. All the males are canine, while the females are all feline.
Ironic Echo: "All my life I've dreamed of an adventure like this."
Jumped at the Call: Delbert has been waiting for an adventure like this to happen all his life.
Delbert: I really really really REALLY want to go.
Karma Houdini: Silver may be a much better person by the end, but he still gets away with theft, mutiny and a lot of child endangerment.
Kubrick Stare: Both Jim and Silver have their fair share of this throughout the film.
Leitmotif: Several. Jim has a very prominent one, as well as Silver - or, particularly, Silver's good side.
Lethal Chef: B.E.N. tries to serve Amelia and Delbert "drinks" that appear to consist of machine fluids, although that's more the old "robots drink motor oil" gag coupled with a robot who hasn't had any contact with carbon-based lifeforms in over a century. Apparently, he gets better once he starts working at the new Benbow Inn in the finale.
Limited Wardrobe: Apparently no one aboard the Legacy bothered to take an extra change of clothing for the voyage. Except for Silver, who changed his pants halfway through (because the stripes were too time consuming to draw)
Lost Technology: Any mother's son calling himself a troper can recognize this one, even if it's only hinted at remotely: The Treasure Planet, the map and the portal are on a whole different level from anything is the film, and promotional material makes reference to some really smart aliens having built them. Supposedly Flint stumbled upon them and had a really profitable idea.
Mad Oracle: The hermit robot, B.E.N., is a bit scatterbrained from being marooned on a desert island... Er, planet. Literally having lost his "mind" helps too. Although is not so much as lost, as Flint "holding onto it" for him.
This is also a shout-out to Star Trek's Doctor McCoy: "Dang it, Jim. I'm an astronomer, not a doctor!"
Obviously Evil: Scroop. Also, the big bad pirate from the introduction story, too.
Oh Crap: Ben gets one of these moments when he goes to disable the laser cannons.
Ben: Disable a few laser cannons, what is the big deal? All we gotta do is find that one little wire... [Ben opens some electrical doors, revealing a mess of wires] Ben: Oh mama!
Meltdown (the fat pirate) also fits this trope:
Doppler: Excuse me, brutish pirate. Meltdown:[Belches] Doppler: Yes, you. I have a question. Is it that your body is too massive for your teeny-tiny head... or is it that your head is too teeny-tiny for your big, fat body?! Meltdown:[Grabs Doppler] I PUMMEL YOU GOOD! Doppler: Yes, I'm sure you will, but before you do, I have one more question! [pulls out a gun and points it at pirate] Is this yours? Meltdown:[Stares at the gun in shock] Uhhhhhh....
The black hole sequence, where they actually use the fireball itself to give them enough power to outrun it.
The climax, where they sail through the portal and to Montressor spaceport just ahead of Treasure Planet exploding behind them.
Papa Wolf: John Silver. He becomes fiercely protective of Jim and essentially gives up everything, including his life's dream, for him in the end.
Parental Abandonment: The only song in the movie is about Parental Abandonment. In fact, Disney said they specifically geared the film to single-parent households. Appropriate since it is Jim's motivation for befriending Silver.
Parental Substitute: Silver. The movie could best be described as a platonic love story.
Planet of Hats: The DVD extras reveal that Montressor is a "mining planet". There is a mining operation which Jim flies through early in the film, but otherwise this isn't elaborated on.
The artbook, A Voyage of Discovery, explains that Treasure Planet was actually built by an ancient race called the Forefathers who used the portal to learn more about other alien cultures. They eventually disappeared and left the entire planet behind.
Sexy Discretion Shot: Surprisingly, for a Disney movie. Amelia has a broken rib, and Dr. Dopper says "Let me take a look at that." The camera pans away.
Slipped the Ropes: Done hilariously with Dr. Doppler. Turns out, he has abnormally thin wrists.
Stealth Pun: Dr. Doppler is a dog-like alien. The meal Sarah serves him in his first scene at the Benbow Inn looks like dog food and is served in what looks like a dog dish, but even the name follows this theme: Alponian chowder.
Teens are Short: Jim is fifteen◊, but he can't be more than 5-and-a-half feet tall; he's even shorter than his mother. Granted, his shortness makes Silver's and Mr. Arrow's downright hugeness stand out more, as well as making Scroop and the larger aliens appear more menacing by comparison. It even accentuates Capt. Amelia's statuesque height.
If you watch the reunion scene closely, you can see that Jim's actually as tall as his mother, and later at the inn's reopening, Jim's grown taller. Obviously, he was just waiting for a growth spurt.
That's No Moon: Treasure Planet turns out to be a giant artificial construct, with Flint's trove hidden in the core, and the whole planet was rigged to explode should anyone try to take it.
There's also the spaceport, which was intentionally built to resemble a crescent moon from a distance.
Troubled, but Cute: Jim. Hawkins. That is all. Thanks to Generic Cuteness and Puppy-Dog Eyes, he is indeed cute, and due to the aforementioned Disappeared Dad, troubled enough that he can tell the officers exactly which paragraph of the rules he broke this time.
Weld The Lock: Captain Amelia welds the hatch to prevent the pirates from getting in.
What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: So, Amelia is a Cat Girl, Doppler is a Dog Man, John Silver looks like some kind of shaved bear, Morph is a Squishy Pink Thing (although Your Mileage May Vary on the cute part), and Scroop is a horrid Spider-Scorpion. Guess who the bad one is! Go on!
What Song Was This Again?: The French version of "I'm Still Here" is translated to "Un Homme Libre" (A Free Man) and becomes less of a song about a boy telling off the universe and something more like 'if you feel like a reject, maybe you should run away'.
Wooden Ships and Iron Men: To a degree. It's been somewhat Disneyfied, but the pirates themselves evoke this trope. Quite literally in Silver's case.
Yank the Dog's Chain: So Silver's got the treasure that he's spent a good chunk of his life searching for, and given up an arm, leg, and eye for. A few kabooms later pretty much all of it's gone. Ouch.
Zeerust: Invoked. Space is filled with luminiferous aether capable of propelling any vehicle Baron Munchausen might've dreamed up. So long as it looks piratey.
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