The Mysterious Cities of Gold

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The Mysterious Cities Of Gold
太陽の子エステバン
(Estaban, Child of the Sun)
Genre Anime, Historical, Fantasy
TV anime
Directed by Bernard Deyries, Edouard David, Kenichi Maruyama, Kenichi Murakami
Studio Studio Pierrot
Network Japan NHK
France Antenne 2
United Kingdom BBC
United States Nickelodeon
Original run 1982 – 1983
No. of episodes 39

The Mysterious Cities of Gold (Japanese: 太陽の子エステバン; Taiyō no Ko Esteban , French: Les Mystérieuses Cités d'Or) is an animated television series produced by Studio Pierrot. It was a French/Japanese co-production which originally aired in Japan on NHK (the national public broadcasting station) in 1982, and in France and Belgium in 1983 on Antenne 2. It was also shown in Britain on Children's BBC, and a few years later in the United States on the Nickelodeon cable network, in Australia on the public broadcaster ABC, TV2 in New Zealand, in Iceland on RÚV, in Portugal on RTP, as well as in Sweden.

There are 39 half-hour episodes, in the typical anime serial style of one continuous story. In some countries (though not in the English dub aired in the UK or the US) a small documentary follows, presenting concise, accurate and appealing (for children) information about subjects related to the episode, due to funding by the NHK.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Left to right: Esteban, Tao, Kokapetl, Mendoza and Zia
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Left to right: Esteban, Tao, Kokapetl, Mendoza and Zia

The story is very loosely based on the children's novel, The King's Fifth, by Scott O'Dell. In the year 1532, a Spanish orphan named Esteban joins a party of Spaniards in their search for one of The Seven Cities of Gold in the New World, hoping to find his father. He is joined on his quest by Zia, an Incan girl, and Tao, the last descendant of the sunken empire of Mu ("Hiva" in the English dub).

Left to right: Pedro, Sancho and Mendoza
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Left to right: Pedro, Sancho and Mendoza

The series is a mix of South American history, archaeology, and science fiction. The characters discover many lost technological wonders of the Mayans, Inca, and Olmecs, which include a solar powered ship (the Solaris) and The Golden Condor, a huge solar-powered airship, capable of traveling considerable distances under the sun's power alone. They are constantly pursued by antagonists Gomez and Gaspard, who are also in search of the Cities of Gold.

The Cities of Gold, of which there are seven, were built by the Emperor of Mu out of fear of a global war which would destroy civilization. Such a war indeed broke out, destroying the Empires of Mu and Atlantis when they used the "weapons of the sun" (implied to be thermonuclear weapons). The Seven Cities of Gold hold copies of books in their "Universal Libraries" as well as powerful artifacts, including the "Great Legacy", a portable fusion reactor. Other elements of this technology turn up in unexpected places, like the Solaris in Tao's home island, Esteban's and Zia's medallions as keys to the Cities, or Tao's jar as an important piece of the Great Legacy.

Solar ship Solaris, in conventional propulsion mode.
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Solar ship Solaris, in conventional propulsion mode.
  • Reminiscences of this ancient story are present in Inca legends written on golden Quipu, which only Zia can read. This triggers an obsessive quest for the Cities of Gold on the part of the Spaniards (Mendoza, very loosely based on Pedro de Mendoza, Gomez, Perez and Francisco Pizarro).
  • Esteban seeks his long-lost father and is tied to Mendoza (who rescued Esteban from a sinking ship as a baby): he might know the whereabouts of Esteban's father and holds half of Esteban's medallion. Esteban seems to have a magical ability to make the Sun appear, which proves an invaluable asset throughout the series.
The Mysterious Cities of Gold English logo
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The Mysterious Cities of Gold English logo
  • Zia also seeks her father, from whom she was taken as a very young girl. She has a medallion similar to the one Esteban carries.
  • Tao seeks signs of his ancestors; he possesses an encyclopedia about their lost technology and a "mysterious jar which no one can open" (the Great Legacy's cooling or control rod system).
The Golden Condor
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The Golden Condor
  • The Olmecs are descendants of survivors of the global war who hid under their mountain. Only their elite were able to survive in hibernation. The Olmecs seek the Great Legacy in order to power their cryogenic systems, as well as samples of healthy cells from the children to combat their mutations and sterility. Their technology is generally inferior to that of the modern day, with weapons such as spears and swords used. They do however maintain some elements of the advanced technology heritage such as the stasis and medical technology used to keep the elite of the Olmecs in suspended animation until such time as they can be revived, powered by what appears to be a geothermal power system. This power system is destroyed in an escape by the Children and Mendoza, starting a frantic search by the Olmecs for the fusion reactor core (the Great Treasure) hidden in the City of Gold.

They also have a single flying machine that appears to use very similar technology to that of the Golden Condor, however it is armed with some kind of particle beam or focused heat weapon of great power. The more senior of the Olmecs are also very familiar with the technology inside the Mysterous city of Gold, manipulating it easily to liberate their Great Treasure...but in the process setting off automated defense systems which engage and cripple the Olmecs flying machine, forcing them to beat a hasty retreat.

Eventually, the Olmecs succeed, at great cost, in taking control of the Great Legacy, but it begins to melt down without the moderation provided by Tao's jar. A Chernobyl-like accident is avoided by the personal sacrifice of Esteban's father who, acting as the High Priest of the Cities, dies replacing the jar.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Characters

  • Esteban
  • Zia
  • Tao
  • Mendoza
  • Pedro
  • Sancho
  • Commander Gomez
  • Captain Gaspard
  • Lana
  • Gwynn
  • Menator
  • The Doctor
  • Kalmec
  • Priest
  • Wanococha
  • Wyna
  • Captain Perez
  • Pizarro

[edit] Episode guide

[edit] Credits

  • Directed by: Edouard David, Bernard Deyriès, Kenichi Maruyama and Kenichi Murakami
  • Produced by: Kanae Mayuzumi, Max Saldinger and Atsumi Yajima
  • Musical Score by: Shuki Levy, Haim Saban and Ryuji Sasai
  • Writing Credits: Bernard Deyriès and Jean Chalopin

[edit] Regional releases

MCoG has a small but loyal fanbase. It has been released in France, Belgium, Japan, Canada and Germany on DVD, but not in other parts of the world. It remains unclear who owns the rights to the English version, or even whether the masters still exist. [1]

However, some have attributed the English-language licence to either Saban Entertainment or DiC, as Shuki Levy and Haim Saban are listed in the English dub credits [2], and DiC as the original US distributor. [3]

It is rumored that a sequel was attempted, but cancelled due to lack of funding [4].

It has been dubbed and subtitled in French, English, Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese, German, Polish, Turkish, Arabic, Japanese, Hungarian, Hebrew, Ukrainian and Zulu.

[edit] English dub

The voice actors for the English dub are not credited, but some have been discovered in recent years.

[edit] UK airing

The show was shown in 1988 as part of Children's BBC during the early afternoon slot (at 4.20pm, one episode a week), before Newsround but after the programs for young children. It was presented/introduced from what was called the "Broom Cupboard" (a very small studio with a seated presenter surrounded by pictures children had drawn of their favourite shows). The presenter was Phillip Schofield, who has transitioned from children's TV to primetime TV, and was replaced on the Broom Cupboard by Andy Crane. A clip exists of Phillip Schofield singing the theme tune, which was dug out of the archives on the occasion of his leaving Going Live!, much to his embarrassment.

The programme was shown without the accompanying 3 minute documentaries (see below) that appeared at the end of each episode, which were considered inappropriate for the time slot.

[edit] The 39 documentaries

The 39 documentaries, averaging 3 minutes in length are not documentaries about the making of the show but closer in context to History/Discovery Channel featurettes themed around that particular episode. For instance an episode featuring Pizarro was thus followed by a short documentary about him. Others feature the Strait of Magellan, the Galápagos Islands, Inca worship, sacrifice, Machu Picchu, the Amazon rainforest, the various temples, and the Jade Mask. Each documentary was filmed (not animated) at the various locations. They also feature many aerial shots featuring ships, Inca terraced farms, the Amazon and the Straits of Magellan. In the English version these documentaries are narrated by Vlasta Vrana. While not shown in the UK the documentaries aired in Australia and other countries. The documentaries are included in the retail versions of the series - but no English retail version has been released.

[edit] Setting

Most of the backdrops in the series are based on real archaeological sites and artifacts, reproduced with near-photographic accuracy. They are, however, often combined and moved to suit the plot. Famous cities and their fictional counterparts include, in order of appearance:

[edit] Trivia

  • There are two versions of the opening credits. The version aired in the UK is a cut-down version running 60 seconds instead of 75. The extended version of the credits include a live-action shot of a bird diving into the sea and more sequences of the three children running along. One possible reason for the cut is that many TV shows in the UK have short opening credits (30 seconds) while many Japanese anime series (the show was animated in Japan) have long opening/ending credits of up to 90 seconds.
  • Haim Saban, who worked with Shuki Levy on the music, is Israeli. Haim Saban through various clever business deals associated with the rise of multi-channel children's television has since become a billionaire.
  • The voice actors who did the English dub also dubbed other cartoons from the same company[9]. Listening to Ulysses 31, the voices for Esteban, Mendoza and Gomez are recognisable.
  • Furthermore, many of them speak with strong Canadian accents.
  • On his last day presenting Going Live! (the Saturday morning Children's BBC programme in the UK) Philip Schofield's co-presenter Sarah Green played a performance of Philip singing the theme tune to Cities of Gold from years before, much to the howls of amusement from the Going Live crew. Judging by Philip's reaction he was completely unaware this was going to happen.
  • Spoiler: A violent scene where Olmecs use a death ray to vapourise some of the Mayans was cut from a later episode in at least one region.
  • Other cuts have been made to various versions that appear to be purely editorial and occur during slower scenes. These have been noted by Tim Skutt on his webpage. Episode 1 started with a high camera angle of the square in Barcelona. Though only 5 seconds long this was cut from the UK version.
  • Lima is mentioned as the destination in Episode 2, yet the story is set in 1532, three years prior to Lima's founding by Francisco Pizarro.
  • The series like many other animated shows of the time have a multiple of 13 episodes (39 in this case). This is due to the fact that 13 weeks make a quarter of a year (13 x 4 = 52) making scheduling easier for networks.
  • Esteban was referred to as a 'child of the sun', and the lyrics to the opening credits song are about the "children of the sun". This is how the Inca referred to themselves.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] English forums

[edit] French sites

[edit] Music

Formerly Broadcast Animated Nickelodeon Shows of the 1980s
Channels on the Nickelodeon Network: TV Land | Nick Too | Nick GAS | Nicktoons Network | Noggin / The N
Premiered between 1983-1989:

Bananaman | DangerMouse | Belle and Sebastian | Star Trek: The Animated Series | The Little Prince | The Smurfs | Mysterious Cities of Gold | Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea | Adventures of the Little Koala | Heathcliff | Jim Henson's Muppet Babies | Inspector Gadget | Maple Town | Count Duckula | The Alvin Show on Nickelodeon | Beetlejuice | Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics | Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon | Noozles | The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! | The World of David the Gnome
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