Laputa

Story

I suggest you don't read this on the internet, download a zip file of this story here.

The story takes place in an alternative universe where although the setting and the characters' dress
would suggest a rural time period, the existence of air ships that can carry thousands of passengers
would prove it otherwise.

The film opens high above the sky, where a small air balloon/craft with a pirate symbol is looming over
a gigantic air passenger ship. On signal, four mini-air crafts eject from the balloon craft and flap
towards the passenger ship. Sheeta, our heroine, is on the huge passenger ship and is being held
captive in a cabin occupied by a group of men in suits. She stares sadly out the window, but then
something catches her eye. Out of nowhere, the four mini-air crafts appear at her window. Captain
Dola of the Dola pirates peers through the window and gives an eerie grin to Sheeta. With that, she
propels her craft forward to the front of the passenger ship. Without haste, the pirates board the ship,
but before they can get into Sheeta's cabin the group of men in suits stop them with guns. Meanwhile,
the leader of the group, Mooska, remains in the room with Sheeta while he uses a tele-graph machine
to ask for rescue. Sheeta, taking advantage of his occupied state of mind, picks up a wine bottle and
knocks him over the head. Once he became unconscious, she reaches into his pocket, and takes out a
beautiful blue pendant. Outside the cabin, the pirates have broken through, but when they open the
door to the cabin, no one is in there. They peer out the window and sees that Sheeta is dangling
outside the ship, with the pendant around her neck, she tries to climb over to the cabin next door. The
pirates try to grab her, and in her panic, Sheeta loses her grip and plunges down through the clouds
below……..

[Opening Credits]

Sheeta is falling through the sky, when suddenly a brilliant blue light flashes from her pendant and
beings to levitate her, allowing her to fall gently downwards.

On the ground, Pazu our young hero, is buying dinner for his boss. The town is quite rural, and the
central business would appear to be the mine. When Pazu is walking back towards the open mine, he
spots a glowing blue light in the sky descending. Upon closer inspection, he sees that it is really a
person. As the body descends closer to him, he reaches out towards it and carries her to the floor and
he is in awe as to how the girl could have fallen from the sky. But he does not have time to give it any
thought as his boss calls for his help with the machinery. Pazu tries to tell his boss what just happened,
but his boss is too pre-occupied to listen, and goes home without allow Pazu to speak.

Pazu, seeing no other alternative, carries Sheeta back to his home and allows her to stay for the night.
Upon the breaking of the morn, he wakes up on the floor to see her sleeping peacefully on his bed.
Pazu goes outside his little house and begins to play a glorious morning tune on his trumpet. Sheeta
awakes to the music, and is shocked to see herself in the strange surroundings. Pazu tells her what had
happened, and she thanks him for his kindness. Pazu then asks to wear Sheeta's pendant and Sheeta,
who seems to have no knowledge of the pendant's power, gives it to him. Pazu grins a silly grin to
Sheeta and then jumps off the roof of his house. His attempt to be levitated fails and he falls hard on
the ground. After laughing the incident off, Pazu shows Sheeta around his house

There are a lot of model airplanes around, and Pazu explains to Sheeta his desire to fly as his father
had. When he sees Sheeta staring at a picture of a castle amongst clouds, he explains it was a picture
taken by his Dad during a voyage in the sky. It is Laputa, he explains, castle in the sky. His father tried
to tell people about it he says, but no one would believe him. In his sadness, he died, and that is why
Pazu must find Laputa again to prove to everyone that his Dad was telling the truth.

Suddenly, a car appears on the street outside Pazu's house. It is the Dola pirates. As two of them
approach the house, Pazu quickly grabs Sheeta, who is in disguise, outside. They are questioned as to
whether they have seen a girl (Sheeta), but Pazu lies with a negative response and quickly runs away.
As they are running, one of the men discovers Sheeta's dress in the house. (How did they get in so
fast? And why did they go in after Pazu tells them he knows nothing?) The two men chase after our
hero and heroine, and chase them to the home of Pazu's boss. There, the two pirates meet up with
two more of their gang, and while Pazu and Sheeta hide in the house, they confront the boss. While
the men outside are busy showing off each other's biceps and power, Pazu and Sheeta escape through
the back door.

On a high cliff, Captain Dola peers through binoculars and realizes the children have escaped. She
hurriedly picks up the other pirates, and proceeds to recklessly chase Pazu and Sheeta. The two,
having climbed aboard the train of a friend, fight off the pirates' attempts to board. However, just
when they think they are safe, a government army tank/train appears before them. Sheeta recognizes
the people in the tank as the men who captured her and flees with Pazu right behind her. With the two
different groups both chasing the two heroes and with the army opening fire on the pirates, the railroad
tracks begins to collapse, and Pazu and Sheeta are left dangling on a piece of wood. As much as they
try to hold on, their grasp slips and they plung into an open mine pit. But as all those above watch their
descent, the blue light flashes from Sheeta's pendant once more and their drop is slowed down
dramatically. Pazu cries out in joy, while Sheeta, with shock in her eyes, holds his hand while they
drop further and further below.

They arrive safely on the ground and the two begin to walk through the dark tunnels in search of an
opening. There, they are met up with an old miner named Uncle Pom, who tells them the rocks have
been restless lately. Pazu and Sheeta are puzzled and so Uncle Pom explains what he means by
restless rocks. He blows out his lantern, leaving them in pitch darkness when suddenly all the rocks in
the cave start to glow blue just as Sheeta's pendant did. When Sheeta takes out her pendant, they see
it is glowing the most brilliant of all. Uncle Pom explains all the rocks contain traces of "levitation
stone", but they turn back into ordinary rocks when they are exposed to air. He tells Sheeta her
pendant is a levitation crystal, the same kind that Laputa uses to float in the sky, and that only those
from Laputa can possess such a crystal. Pazu cries out in joy that Laputa does indeed exist, and now
his ambition to go to the castle is propelled to an even greater degree. Once Pazu and Sheeta have
exited the cave, Sheeta confess a secret to Pazu. She tells him her full name is in fact Lusheeta Toelle
Ul Laputa, meaning she is a descendent of the people of Laputa. But before Pazu has the chance to
question her, an army plane appears and captures the pair.

They are taken to an army fortress where Pazu is placed in a prisoner cell, while Sheeta is taken to a
lavish room. Mooska does not listen to Sheeta's pleas, but insists she follows him to a room in the
dark basement. There, he reveals to her a broken robot lying on the cold floor. It is a robot from
Laputa he explains to her. It had fallen from the sky a while back, and it is this robot that has raised
the government's interest to find Laputa. He then calls Sheeta by her full name, a name that she has
never revealed to anyone except for Pazu. She is a descendent of the royal Laputa throne he tells her,
and only she can awaken Laputa from its deep slumber. He gives her an ultimatum. Help him, or they
will keep Pazu locked up forever. Realizing she has no choice, she tells Pazu to forget about Laputa
and forget about her. Pazu is pleads with Sheeta to change her mind, but she does not, and Pazu was
escorted out.

Upon returning to his home, the deeply saddened Pazu is greeted by the Dola pirates who demand to
have Sheeta. They laugh at Pazu for being such a failure in trying to protect Sheeta, and Pazu realizes
Sheeta pushed him away because she was trying to save him. The pirates receive an intermission that
the army will be using the giant army ship Goliath to take Sheeta away from the fortress in the
morning, they immediately proceeded to intercept it. Pazu begs the pirates to take them along, and
when Captain Dola half realizing his sincerity and half realizing the advantage of his presence, agrees to
his request.

Back as the fortress Sheeta stares sadly outside the window of her room. She thinks back to a time
when she was sad as a child, and her Nana told her a rhyme to use in distress. Sub-consciously,
Sheeta recites the rhyme out loud, and then all chaos breaks loose. Blue light flashes from the pendant,
and its power engulfs everything in the room. Mooska tries to touch the pendant, but he pulls back in
pain as the pendant would not permit him to do so.

The power of the pendant also awakes the broken robot, and it proceed to destroy everything in its
path while trying to reach its master, Sheeta. Sheeta escapes to the top of the fortress tower, where
suddenly Sheeta's pendant projects a thin blue beam into a part of the sky. The robot, having found
her, captures Sheeta in his hand and destroys everything that tries to separate her from it. The fortress
is set ablaze, as fire consumes nearly every inch of the magnificent fortress. Sheeta cries for it to stop
its destruction, but it does not understand. The army attacks in full force, and the robot is greatly
handicapped. At the same time, the pirates arrive and Pazu cries out for Sheeta. Sheeta answers
Pazu's call, but she cannot reach him. Then the robot suddenly reaches out to grab Sheeta who,
believing it is trying to stop her from leaving, struggles to get free. But then the robot gently places her
on a ledge, and that's when Sheeta realizes all that the robot had been trying to do was to protect her.
Just as Sheeta is about to say good-bye to her new friend, the army destroys it. Torn to see its
destruction, Sheeta cries out with pain. After a daring attempt, Pazu reaches down from below the
mini-craft and yells at Sheeta to jump. In a blink of an eye, Sheeta lands safely in Pazu's arms and they
fly away to safety leaving behind clouds of smoke.

In the midst of the battle and rescue, Sheeta's pendant had drop to the ground. After the confusion
had clear up, Mooska and his men finds it and see that its blue beam (pathway to Laputa) continues to
beam. Knowing he does not need Sheeta anymore to find Laputa, Mooska grins and orders for the
immediate departure of Goliath.

High above the sky in the flappers, Sheeta and Pazu are still recovering from a state of shock and
sadness, but they beg Captain Dola to let them join the crew so that they can all search for Laputa.
The Captain Dola objects to the idea at first, but later agrees. As the flappers continue to fly towards
their mother ship, Sheeta and Pazu takes a last look at Pazu's little house and say their good-byes.

Upon return to the mother ship, both Pazu and Sheeta are assigned tasks. Pazu is taken to the engine
room where he is to help with the machinery. Sheeta, after telling Captain Dola about the path of
beam the pendant projected, is sent to work in the kitchen.

At night, Pazu is awaken to take his shift on the night watch. Because both the pirate ship and the
Goliath are in a race for time, the pirates must keep a look out for the enemy. Sheeta, seeing Pazu
pass by her bedroom door, decides to join him. As they stood alone high above the sky, the two
discussed their fate and their future, and Sheeta reveals to Pazu that she knows a destruction spell
passed through her family that is supposedly so terrible that she should never use it. As Sheeta and
Pazu talk intimately to one another, they are not aware that the entire crew is listening to their whole
entire conversation. As their conversation is drawing to a close, Pazu suddenly notices a shadow
beneath their ship, and with sudden realization, he sounds the alarm that Goliath is right beneath
them!!!

The entire crew awakens at once, and quickly dive the ship into the clouds to avoid a confrontation
(for the flimsy Pirate ship would surely lose to the Goliath which is 20 times its size and power). Pazu
is instructed to fly in a kite-craft, attached to the ship, in order to keep watch above the clouds, and
Sheeta joins him. As a security measure, Pazu tells Sheeta to use a rope to tie and hold them together
so that neither one could be blown away. Goliath seems to have disappeared, but an enormous
cyclone made of clouds is right at the bow of the ship. Pazu realizes the cyclone fits his father's
description of Laputa's location. But before the pirates has the chance to proceed, Goliath appears
and attacks the ship. In the battle, the ship is blown into pieces, and the kite is cut loose from it.

Incredibly strong winds pull the kite-craft into the cyclone, and as Pazu and Sheeta fly uncontrollably
towards the column of cloud, they are both knocked unconscious. Pazu, in a dream-like state, thinks
he sees his father's ship.

When the kite emerges through the wind into the eye of the cloud, it lands on a patch of grass, and
Pazu and Sheeta are thrown to the ground. Then, as the clouds part, the most glorious castle that
could ever be imagined is revealed. When they awaken, the twosome realize they have reached
Laputa. The castle, is built from the foundation of an enormously magnificent tree, with branches that
spread in a glorious fashion. (I was in awe when I first saw this in the theatre. The animation in
combination with the music is breathtaking).

In the midst of their celebration, a robot identical to the one at the fortress approaches them.
Somehow, Sheeta understands the robot and realizes it is their friend. The robot instructs them to
follow him, and takes Pazu and Sheeta through the castle. There, they see the most wondrous
plantations, the most exotic creatures, and a magnificent city that is underwater. As they stare into the
open sky above them (the Laputians were so advanced that they built walls which appeaedr to be
walls from the outside, but is invisible when viewed inside) they realize Laputa is made of a technology
that is beyond the comprehension of anyone on Earth.

Continuing to follow the robot, they are led to the center of the castle, or the trunk of the tree, and to
the grave where the last Laputians laid. There, Sheeta sheds tears for her ancestors who once lived in
this remarkable castle.

The sound of rifles firing echo through the castle. Sheeta and Pazu quickly run to see what caused the
noise, and are greeted by the shocking appearance of the Goliath and thousands of soldiers invading
the castle. They can also see the wreck of the Pirate ship, and the crew captured and bounded by
ropes. When sneaking a peek into the interior of the palace, they see the soldiers ransacking the
castle, ripping from it its jewels, gold and other valuables.

Formulating a plan, Pazu and Sheeta decide to free the pirates by reaching the column beneath where
the pirates are held. However, the column is separated from the main ledge, and in order to reach it,
they must jump over a huge distance. Realizing they have no other alternatives, Pazu takes the first
leap, and struggles to hang on as he climbs higher and higher on the column. But each time he climbs
higher, the column is destroyed more and more. Meanwhile, Mooska along with his men, is flipping
through a little notebook as he search for the "real" jewel of Laputa. As Pazu continues to climb,
Sheeta sees Mooska is holding the pendant in the palm of and as he held the pendant in front of
another symbol on the wall, the wall magically disappears and a secret opening appears...... Suddenly,
a block of the column falls down the sky, and the noise catches the men's attention. Just as one of
them is about to fire at Pazu, Sheeta lunges at them to prevent the shot from being fired straight. Pazu,
by now has reached an opening at the column, and sees that the men have captured Sheeta. As he
shouts for them to stop, the men pulls Sheeta into the secret opening, and the secret wall closes behind
them. The soldiers above Pazu start firing at him and one throws a grenade. Above, Captain Dola
suddenly feels a burst of smoke beneath where she is sitting. Upon closer inspection, she realizes Pazu
is removing the bricks from beneath her. Once he had removed enough bricks, Pazu was able to cut
Captain Dola loose with his knife. Pazu tells them he must go save Sheeta, and Captain Dola gives him
a gun and two bullets that she had hidden in her pants. He has become a brave boy, she remarks.

Mooska, Sheeta and the men enters the center of Laputa. The inside is nothing like what its
appearance is. It is cold, dark, technological, and solemn. Not at all like the beauty, peace, nature and
harmony that the outer shell possesses. When they reached the royal chamber, Mooska orders his
men to wait outside while he takes Sheeta with him.

The room that they have entered is covered with the roots of the tree. There is no light, and the two
walks in silence, their steps echo through the empty corridors. Finally, Mooska found what he was
looking for. Having found the door to final room, Mooska enters a place filled with
weeds…………and the levitation crystal; the crystal which allows Laputa to float in the sky. Mooska
uncharacteristically rejoices in happiness, and appears frantic as he celebrates. Looking behind the
levitation stone, Mooska finds what he is looking for. It's a small black plaque on the ground with
Laputian language written on it, and as Mooska flip through his little notebook, he smiles knowing that
he is able to understand what it says.

Sheeta asks Mooska why he knows so much about Laputa. Mooska answers that he too, like her, is
a royal descendent of the Laputians. Their family went their separate ways when they got to Earth, but
Mooska made it his life's quest to find Laputa. Mooska runs the pendant over the black plaque.
Suddenly, parts of Laputa start to move around. As the soldiers watch in shock, a wall opens in front
of them, and they hear the voice of Mooska above inviting them to go through. All the soldiers run
through the tunnel onto a platform that overlooked the sky. Suddenly, a holographic vision of Laputa
and a bounded Sheeta appears before them. Mooska demonstrates the power of Laputa by activating
a nuclear blast towards the Earth. The soldiers were motionless, but the Captain started firing at the
holographic vision. Mooska laughs at his pitiful attempt, and reaches out to the black plaque once
more. Sheeta tries to stop him, and cries to the soldiers they must run!!! It is too late. Mooska, runs
the pendant over the plaque, and the floor where the soldiers are standing opens, dropping everyone
into the open sky.

Once they return to the chamber, Mooska activates giant robots (ones which resembled the one at the
fortress) which begin to attack the soldiers. As the soldiers scrambled for their lives, the Goliath begins
to leave, leaving many soldiers on the planet with the robots, and many dangling for their lives. The
Goliath opens fire at Laputa, but it is no use. Mooska orders the flying robots to start attacking the
giant battle ship, and soon the Goliath plunge through the sky in a gulf of fire.

Sheeta incensed, sees Mooska laughing as the Goliath is plunging into destruction. Wrenching free of
the ropes, she grabs the levitation stone off Mooska, and runs back into the black corridors.

Meanwhile, Pazu begins to climb into Laputa through one of the tunnels that had held the flying robots.
With his gun in hand, he cries out Sheeta's name.

As Sheeta searches desperatly for an exit, Mooska calmly follows her, telling her it is no use to flee.
Nearly at the end of all hope, Sheeta hears Pazu's cries, and answers them. Following each other's
voices, the twosome find each other, but they are separated by a thick wall. Pazu tells Sheeta to move
away so that he can blast through, but Sheeta tells him it is too late, and gives him the levitation stone.
"Take it and throw it into the sea", cries Sheeta. At the moment Pazu catches the crystal, Mooska
catches Sheeta and fires a shot at Pazu. "Give me back the crystal, or else the girl is dead" he says.

Pazu uses his last remaining bullet to blast through the wall, and follows the footsteps of Mooska as
the villan chase Sheeta into the Royal Chamber. There, Sheeta tells him it is all over. Mooska orders
Sheeta to retrieve the levitation crystal pendant, but Sheeta's refused and Mooska fires on Sheeta's
two braids. Next is your hear he claims. "Stop!!" Pazu shouts. He has the crystal, but he demands to
speak to Sheeta first. Mooska, unaware that Pazu was out of ammunition, gives Pazu his wish while
he himself reloads his gun. Sheeta and Pazu embrace, both knowing neither one would leave the
chamber alive. "The pirates are safe", he tells her, "teach me the destruction spell". Pazu opens the
palm of his hand, and there lies the crystal. Sheeta smiles knowing the others are safe and sadly
agrees. Hand in hand, they turn around to face to Mooska. Pazu drops his gun on the ground, and
they recite the spell. A bright flash erupts through the palace. The giant levitation crystal surges from
the chamber room, and upwards through the palace. In the midst of the crystal's power, Pazu and
Sheeta are thrown onto the roots of the great tree. As the crystal travels upward through the palace,
every last piece of stone in the bottom half of the castle begins to break away. As all of the horrific
man-made technology plunges into the sky, only the beautiful tree and the garden above remain.

Sheeta and Pazu awaken and surprised that they are both alive. Mooska had fallen to his death with
the destruction of the palace, but Sheeta and Pazu were saved because of the roots. Pazu and Sheeta
find their kite-craft, and with one final push, they glided away from Laputa. As the now much lighter
castle floats higher and higher up the sky, Pazu and Sheeta's last glimpse of the castle is that of the
peaceful garden and the gentle robot with its animal friends.

As the kite continues to sail, they find the pirates who were able to escape safely. They all embrace in
jubilation, before separating once more to go their separate ways. The pirates, with some of the
newfound wealth they found on Laputa, went off to start new lives. Sheeta and Pazu fly off into the
sunset to return to their homes and to live happily ever after.

Script

The script is so long that I decided not to put it up, click here to download it

Lyrics

imi o nosete (Carrying you)
"Tenku no Shiro Laputa" ending theme

ano chiheisen kagayaku no wa The reason the horizon shines
dokoka ni kimi o kakushite iru kara is that somewhere it's hiding you.
takusan no hi ga natsukashii no wa The reason I long for the many lights
ano doreka hitotsu ni kimi ga iru kara is that you are there in one of them.
saa dekake you hitokire no PAN So, I set out, with a slice of bread,
NAIFU RAMPU kaban ni tsumekonde a knife, a lamp, stuffed in a bag.

* tou-san ga nokoshita atsui omoi Father left me his burning desire.
kaa-san ga kureta ano manazashi Mother gave me her eyes.
chikyuu wa mawaru kimi o kakushite The earth turns, hiding you.
kagayaku hitomi kirameku tomoshibi Shining eyes, twinkling lights.
chikyuu wa mawaru kimi o nosete The earth turns, carrying you,
itsuka kitto deau bokura o nosete carrying us both who'll surely meet.

* Repeat

Singer: Inoue Azumi

Lyricist: Miyazaki Hayao
Composer/Arranger: Hisaishi Jou

Translation: Theresa Martin (revised April 23, 1993)