The ending, a question

It really is a fantastic film....but a little depressing.

It's implied that the transmissions were from many many years ago...

From what I understand, Perdide was completely destroyed by the time they got to it and the Time Masters manipulated time by pushing Jaffar’s spaceship into the future which in turn killed Silbad/Piel in the process. I’m not sure how much time they jumped. The transmission’s Jaffar was receiving from young Piel were all from the past...we just didn’t know how far back.

What is not explained, however, is why Piel and Silbad (the old man) can have a discussion through "mike".

For what it's worth, it is often said in reviews and interviews that Piel and Silbad are the same person.

I think you're both trying to make it more complex than it is. Claude is Piel's father, but I don't think it was a spaceship they were travelling in – it looked more like multi-purpose land/water vehicle to me. I presumed that Claude and his spouse (Anna, or Annie, or something like that) were scientists/explorers researching the planet Perdide, though what they are and how they got there is outside the scope of the film.

The two microphone things communicate almost instantaneously, like an ansible. Perdide, with Piel on it, is there, at the same time, for the all the while that Jaffar and co. are chatting with him. However, neither of them had any inclination that the Time Masters were planning to send Perdide back in time, which they started to do at around the same time that Jaffar was approaching it. The people who ran that giant floaty hospital thing (I've nicknamed it the 'Life Star' ^_-) DID know about this, and were patrolling the area with the aim making sure that no one else got too close. And it would appear that neither the Masters of Time, nor the Life Star people knew about Claude, Anna and Piel being on the planet – otherwise they would probably have tried to rescue them before all of this confusion started.

I've also worked out that when Perdide was sent back 60 years, this also altered the position of the planet in its orbit (though I don't understand, and don't care to know, why). Thus it appeared to disappear from where Jaffar was heading, and appeared where Igor was heading. Igor took him home, and renamed him Silbad, and he seems to have forgotten his old name (a lot can be put down to the handy explanation of having giant hornets attempt to suck out his brains). Either he returned to Perdide during his lifetime, or still vividly remembers some of his childhood experiences (again, brain damage could have weirded out the way his memory works). Though just as legitimate is that he knew Piel was him, and did what he remembered was done to him (thus avoiding a paradox) but didn't let on about this to other members the crew, so as not to weird them out and make them worry unnecessarily.

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But how could Jaffar have been a friend of his dad (or tutor) while at the same time having known the old guy for a while, it doesn't add up.
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Claude, Piel (and the mom) are from the same time as Jaffar. Then, at the end of the movie, Perdide is sent 60 years back, Igor finds Piel that in the next 60 years (up to when the movie starts) grows up to be the Silbad in the movie.
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yeah, Claude, Piel are from the same time as Jaffar.
Then Claude, Piel is sent 60 years back, Piel grows up to be the Silbad.

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.

[deleted]

It's actually really simple:

Claude and Jaffar were friends - Claude moves to Peride with his family - sometime later his wife is killed and he escapes with his son - He calls Jafar right before he dies, Jaffar and his crew, including old Piel talk to young Piel.

THEN

The Time Masters come and send the planet back in time. Piel gets rescues. But he was so young that he might have forgotten everything, particularly with those insects eating part of his brain.

Silbad/Piel then spends the next 60 years in the past, getting to know Jaffar, but not his father. As you see through their convo Silbad refers to Claude only as Jaffar's friend.

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[deleted]

It was a land rover type vehicle, not a ship.

What you are missing is that the story starts in the movies present. But at some point the planet is taken by the Time Masters and moved into the past. At a guess this co-incides with when the boy loses the communicator.

And due to the damage to his head he doesnt remember any of it as Silbad.

Theres a simmilar odd time twist in Gandahar/Light Years.

I've read the thread and I get brain ache! All I know is that Piel and Silbad were one and the same. The reason for this is the way the film is edited and Jaffar's comment about no one knowing Slbad's childhood.

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