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Titan AE and Treasure Planet take place in the same universe.

Disregarding how eerily similar the characters, settings and plots are, Earth having been destroyed and humans being scattered across the galaxy would totally explain why Jim and his mom are the only humans we see in Treasure Planet at all. And not on Earth.

  • If that's the case then, at least on that world, humans (or rather just the Hawkins) are treated fairly.
  • The problem with this theory is that space is clearly portrayed as a vacuum in Titan AE. Witness the scene where Cale is told to exhale before making a jump between two spacecraft without a spacesuit. That only makes sense if you're traveling through an environment without air, because in space the loss of external pressure would cause your lungs to expand and rupture. In Treasure Planet, on the other hand, Space Is Air in the literal sense. Characters can breathe and speak in space, and don't have to wear spacesuits. The technology in Treasure Planet also leans closer to the Steampunk side of things, while in Titan AE the various vehicles and spacecraft look more properly futuristic.

Korso is Jim Hawkins's estranged biological father.

Consider the above... and think about it. It just fits too well.

Alternate Character Interpretation of the plot:

Humans invented a super-weapon that converts energy into planets. The Drej are a race made up of pure energy. The Drej, upon discovering the fact that a very hostile race had just developed a weapon capable of annihilating their entire race and make Earth-like planets in its wake, preemptively destroyed Earth. Unfortunately, the weapon-ship, the Titan, escapes. Fifteen years later, the son of the man in charge of the Titan project has to set out and complete what his father started: annihilating the Drej and making planets out of them.

  • The Drej as victims would make more sense if they focused their violence exclusively towards humans and their allies. When they splattered the harmless The Scrappy all over the wall, they kicked the dog and crossed the line from Good or Neutral into Evil.
  • The novelization covers the Drej point of view (seriously, the plot is almost a third longer for it), and this isn't far from how they see things. They don't know the Titan makes planets out of energy, but they know the technology is an exact match for their own technology, and it scares them so shitless that they decide it's all gotta go. As noted above, the queen is willing to risk letting the entire mothership break down and doom them all rather than try to appropriate it to fix the problems.
    • Fix what problems?
      • A large part of the Drej subplot in the novel is that their own technology has been breaking down for some time and they lack the ability to fix it. By the time the plot happens, the mothership is running on whatever the energy equivalent to duct tape would be; by the climax its so bad that an improvised hackjob is needed to bring the planetkiller weapon back online for the impending confrontation with the Titan. The queen is torn between trying to salvage the Titan and using humanity's version of their matter <—> energy technology to fix their own problems, or destroying it anyway just to be absolutely sure it will never be used against them while praying that they'll find some way to repair the wear and tear themselves before the mothership can't sustain them anymore. The queen ultimately ops for the latter.
  • In a nutshell: As noted under "Energy Beings," the novel seemed to indicate that the Drej had mastered the transfer of matter to energy. The Titan Project violated what they regarded as their exclusive monopoly on this ability, which brought their wrath down on Earth and Humanity in general.
  • A military superpower fears an economic superpower. The Drej may have feared that humanity's cornering the galactic real estate market threatened their hegemony.

Preed had decided to betray Korso before the start of the film

The characters are repeatedly chased down and attacked by the Drej as they moved from place to place. First the Drej corner Cale and Korso on Tau-14, and then they find them on the Seshirram. How? It's not like they somehow magically know where Cale is, nor is there any indication they can track the ring. Simple: Preed keeps contacting them and ratting his human companions out. He called the Drej to Tau-14, where he'd be safe aboard the Valkyrie as they attacked the cafeteria. Then on Sesharrim, Preed wastes time trying to shoot a bug while he's supposed to be watching out for Drej fighters. What appears to be irresponsible behavior is actually him deliberately giving the Drej time to arrive, knowing Gune will be too distracted by his own projects until it's too late. Then he flies the Valkyrie aimlessly around the hydrogen tree forest "looking" for them, even though it should be pretty obvious where the Drej fighters are. There are also scenes where Preed is seen holding a gun to Korso's back when following him prior to the betrayal, even though you typically hold a firearm away from your allies in case of accidental discharge. Ergo: Preed was never on their side from the start.


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