 Introduction
The introducing text above (prettier with
a WeddingText BT font) may have rung a bell in your mind, especially
if you belong -like me ! to the blessed generation that could watch such
fabulous programs in the 80's. Why did I write such a tribute to the Mysterious
Cities of Gold ? Well, I was so enthralled by this series when I watched
it for the second time, thirteen years after the first, that I just needed
to express this enthusiasm somehow and share it with other people. I began
with two pages in French that I linked to the webring ; I also subscribed
to Tyrone's mailing-list (where you would hardly hear about me - I'm
a great lurker before God :) Now it's time I widen my audience with
an English version (correct English I hope :) I made it slightly
different from the French pages, for you and I probably have a different
experience of this show. As some of you have not seen it for ages and
long for video tapes, I have tried to avoid spoilers, too.
Let's begin... years and years ago, when I was a kid, on...
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Wednesday, 4 PM...
 On
Wednesdays 4 PM in the fall of year nineteen eighty-three AD, I could
not see anything ! At that time, I had to put on my sportswear and
go to training, while a silly presenter in conquistador outfit was announcing
the beginning of the show. VCRs were not that common in those ancient
times, and it was kinda torture to hear my pals at school talking about
the previous episode. So holidays were welcome to catch a bit of Esteban,
Tao and Zia's solar adventures : the Galapagos, Solaris, the documentary...
Boy, was it great ! Then, back to trainings, back to school, and
friends telling me Solaris had eventually s... Argh !!!
In brief, my first impression of this show was great excitement mixed
with tremendous frustration. Fortunately, Antenne2 broadcast the whole
series two years after. I was a bit less young (thirteen and some spots :(
but still eager to watch it, and I assure you I did not miss a single
episode then (I wasn't training anymore but not for that reason :)
Ever since I have retained the memory of a great anime and...
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A Great Adventure
39 episodes, each twenty minutes or so long, which as a whole make up a wonderful epic.
 This
is the story of a child, almost alone in the world, like so many heroes
for children. On this rainy day of year 1532, in the Spanish city of Barcelona,
the young Esteban learns from his dying guardian, Father Rodriguez, that
his father disappeared in a shipwreck twelve years ago. Before he vanished
in the raging ocean, he had the time to confide the baby he was holding
in his arms to a Spanish sailor who bravely came to the rescue. Thus Esteban
was saved from the Pacific roaring waters and brought along to Spain on
the very flagship of Magellan's fleet, with a strange medallion hanging
from his neck, and the alleged power of calling out the sun from behind
the clouds. After Father Rodriguez died, the brave sailor, Mendoza,
reveals himself to Esteban and tells him that the medallion is linked
to the Mysterious Cities of Gold - the legendary Eldorado. He offers to
go and search them with him. Mendoza is driven by greed, but the quest
for the lost father is the main reason that induces Esteban to follow
him across the ocean.
 This
is the story of a second child, a girl named Zia, born in the Andes, as
old as Esteban. She has inherited a medallion identical to Esteban's from
her father, an Inca priest, as well as the knowledge of the Incas' writing
and computing system, the quipu. She has been abducted by Mendoza on behalf
of an ambitious conquistador, Gomez, who serves the evil Governor Pizarro.
They hope she will show them the path to the fabulous cities. Like Esteban,
whom she meets on the Spanish ship sailing to the New World, she wants
to find her father.
 This
is also the story of a third child, Tao, definitively an orphan, who lives
alone on the Pacific island not far from the one where Esteban and Zia, along with Mendoza
and his two henchmen, Sancho and Pedro, ran ashore. Tao is heir to a considerable amount of
knowledge, which is that of his ancestors from the mythic empire of Heva (1).
The two other children's coming strikes the time for the quest of his
roots, and again this quest runs through the path to the Mysterious Cities
of Gold.
The three children will face countless dangers on their
way : the wild nature, the greedy and relentless Spaniards, the hostile
tribes of the New Continent and its dark secrets. But they can rely on
Mendoza and his men's (self-interested) support, on the help of Inca and
Mayan people who consider them as messengers of the gods, on their exceptionally
clever parrot :), and at last on the late Hevan Emperor's providential
wisdom, whose technological secrets arise just in time to give our heroes
all the means needed to accomplish their quest. And as they progress and
solve the puzzles, they realize that the stakes go far beyond the struggle
for the precious metal.
Will they discover the secret of the Empire of the Sun ?
Don't miss the next episode !
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The Best of Anime
Many people around me and on the Net confess,
as I do, that the Cities of Gold are really the best anime they've ever
seen. I already see some of you raise a skeptical eyebrow and a Miyazakish
standard... Well, I guess Laputa is certainly a must-see and I'm
really eager to watch it, but please do not compare a two hours long 1986
movie with a thirteen hours long 1982 TV series !
Anyway, whether MCoG is the best of anime or not, surely the best of anime
it is made of :
- Heroes you immediately identify with : Who has never dreamed
once of holding the control lever of the golden Condor and flying over
the Andes, of breaking up the clouds on command (2)
and operating smashing mechanisms to
open lots of cool secret doors ?
Who has never held his breath while the children were frantically
swimming in an underwater tunnel, never shivered as they were facing
the Rain god's alligators or when they were struggling in the frightful
Olmec freezers ?
Who has never wiped a tear while... (uh-oh... no spoilers, I swore
it ! :)
Strong identification with the heroes is a CAPITAL prerequisite !
(2) I wish Esteban had been by
my side last August 11th ! (I hate clouds forever !!!)
(back)
- A consistent universe : la accion tiene lugar in
the just post-Colombian Americas, when the conquistadores' dirty job
is still under way. The historical, geographical and archaeological
elements are brightly integrated in the story, most of the time accurately,
and make it very credible, a few details excepted. The fantasy/sci-fi
part, based on myths and lost continents, is the thread that enables
the characters to cover the main South/Central American civilizations
in a logical progression. Moreover, sites like Machu Picchu or Nazca,
whose actual roles are still questioned, naturally justify themselves
in this fantasy context.
- Quality graphics : OK, these are not precisely state-of-the-art,
some people may even find them terrible nowadays, but at the time, it
was honorable indeed for a TV production. At least, black and white
static shots and other typical economical expedients that have nothing
to do with esthetics are quite rare here. Sun effects are pretty good
(I won't say this for the rainbows) and the aerial shots of the
condor into sunlight are simply astonishing.
- The background music (BGM) : Haim Saban and Shuki Levy
have achieved here nothing less than a magnificent score : more
than fifty different themes using synthesised sounds as well as traditional
instruments, all perfectly sticking to the action. Some tracks easily
reach Vangelis level. Original or reconstructed themes are available
on the Web (see the links section)
and a CD was issued recently (of not-so-good quality, alas...). Notice
that the Japanese version of the soundtrack is completely different :
more "sci-fi" oriented, with far less themes, poor ones to tell you
the truth... Not to mention the credits songs : the opening makes
me think I gonna watch MacGyver, and the closing sounds terribly sitcom
("Friends... Oh my friends" :) But if you're fond of bad
JPop, you will find them okay :)
- The documentaries : after the next-episode trailer (or
should I say spoiler ? :), our young and tender brains would
get a 3 or 4 minutes RL documentary about various topics related to
the episode : from the Magellan Strait dreadful chasms to the folk
ceremonies by the Titicaca's shores, we discovered through NHK's lens
that the Children of the Sun's adventures unfolded on a not entirely
fictional background. That kind of bold initiative was a way for us
kids to stay in the mood, as well as an incentive to open a book on
the subject (it may even have aroused some vocations !). Unfortunately, these docs were not broadcast
in every country : too long, too boring for kids were probably
the main -bad- reasons. I know very few people who said they were actually
bored : some were too young to appreciate, the others... well,
I'd better not tell about them :>
- A killing suspense : if you're blessed with the perfect
joy of owning the complete set of videos, you realize it's very hard
to say : "I stop after this episode", cos just
at the end, a sudden danger threatens our heroes - and you just can't
leave them in that frying pan, or a mystery is eventually unveiled,
and you want to know how it will be used by the Children of the Sun.
The next episode trailer, as I've already said, is a little spoiling.
But since the series was originally broadcast once a week, you were
supposed to have forgotten it, and the previous episode summary was
often welcome. Fortunately, the thrilling scenes are not restricted
within episode ends !
- A well-built script : time for a bit of national pride,
especially since France is not renowned for its scriptwriters' skills :>
But Bernard Deyriès and Jean Chalopin, cofounders of DIC Entertainment,
have proven themselves with worldwide successes such as Ulysses 31,
Inspector Gadget, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Pole
Position and many others. For the MCoG, they just edited a first
draft by the Japanese crew, based very loosely on Scott
O'Dell's novel, which I've been told it's not very good anyway... Another
case of a work surpassed by its own adaptation !
I could also write about the depth of characters and the
quite never silly humour (despite Sancho and Pedro's desperate efforts :)
Thanks to all these points, this marvellous anime withstands rather well
the passing years... of its viewers !
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