And with news that Uber has hired a NASA engineer to develop airborne cars, it's surely only a matter of time before you, too, can hitch a ride in a flying cab.
But the most gonzo alien flick of them all was Luc Besson's The Fifth Element, a bright, manic, space jam featuring Bruce Willis as a New York City cab driver in the year 2263 who finds himself in the middle of an intergalactic adventure when fiery-haired alien Milla Jovovich literally falls into the back of his flying cab.
Mézières produced further concept drawings for Besson, including flying taxi cabs.
Interested by the flying taxi cabs that appeared in some of the drawings, Besson asked Mézières to draw more taxis and also a flying police car.
Mézières showed images of the flying taxi to Besson, who was inspired to change the background of Korben Dallas from a worker in a rocketship factory to that of a taxi driver who flies his cab around a Rubanis-inspired futuristic New York.
When a strange young woman in an even stranger outfit (Milla Jovovich) falls through the roof of a a flying Yellow Cab, it's up to unwitting driver Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis) to shuttle her (and eventually, all of humanity) to safety.
Mézières sent a copy of the album to Besson who was inspired to change the background of Korben Dallas, the lead character of The Fifth Element, from a worker in a rocketship factory to that of a taxi driver who flies his cab around a Rubanis-inspired futuristic New York.
"I was moving along and for some reason, the wagon just stopped dead and these two massive sparks came flying into my cab.
Take a five-fold reduction in energy use because of mass, and another three-fold reduction thanks to the improved efficiency of electric vehicles, and suddenly that little cab flying around Manhattan with no driver is using 15 times less energy than a standard car.
A thrillingly arranged account of Eurhythmics' Sweet Dreams, two diaphanous ballads (Mae's Song, for Mason's late mother, and a Jarrettish approach to Leonard Bernstein's Some Other Time), some flying bebop (NY Cab Ride) and an equally breathless title track, over a racing left-hand ostinato, confirm the impression that the gifted Mason has done it again.
Paul's existence depends on walking, sitting in cabs, flying on planes, riding in the backs of cars.
