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5 Things We Learnt At The Valerian SDCC Panel

In an alternate universe, where time-travel is real, I wish I could go back and warn myself of something that I absolutely underestimated: the excitement I would feel for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Sure, prior to attending the Hall H panel for the upcoming sci-fi flick I was certainly curious about it, but after walking away from my seat I was absolutely blown away and shivering with excitement.

1) The World That Luc Besson Has Built Is Massive And Impressive

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At the beginning of the panel, Mr. Besson revealed that making a Valerian movie took an unusually long amount of time because the characters in the series are roughly “85% aliens,” which means a lot of technology is needed to bring those species to life on the big screen.

This means that, yes, the film will have a lot of special effects, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to look bad. In fact, the footage shown during the panel was “very rough, very raw” and in early stages, but, in all honesty, you couldn’t even tell. Maybe a trained CGI expert could, but 95% of the graphics in the footage looked pretty good to me.

Additionally, Mrs. Besson-Silla revealed that the beginning of the movie starts with a bit of backstory and tells, essentially, how Alpha, the City of a Thousand Planets, was formed. The crowd learned that there are gas-lands in the North, liquid lands, including the Sea of Galanis, to the South, and the human lands/territories lie to the East. Between these lands, there are tubes you travel in to get around, but everyone must wear certain equipment in order to survive within parts they’re not native to. Before immersing themselves into the story of Valerian and Laureline, viewers will be treated to the history of space travel within the universe and shown just how “The City of a Thousand Planets” came to be.