Around the World with Willy Fog

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Around the World with Willy Fog
Genre	Animation
Creator(s)	Jules Verne BRB Internacional Nippon Animation Claudio Biern Boyd
Developer(s)	Luis Ballester Fumio Kurokawa
Opening theme	"La Vuelta al Mundo de Willy Fog" by Mocedades "Sky Way" by Keiko Han
Ending theme	"Sílbame" by Mocedades "Our 2 Watches" by Keiko Han
Country of origin	Spain  Japan
Production
Executive producer(s)	Claudio Biern Boyd
Running time	26 mins
Broadcast
Original channel	RTVE/TV Asahi
Original run	1981 –
Links
IMDb profile

Around the World with Willy Fog (Original Spanish title La Vuelta al Mundo de Willy Fog) is a cartoon version of Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne in the same vein as Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds, and like that series produced by BRB Internacional. The characters are anthropomorphisms of various animals, Willy Fog (Phileas Fogg in the original book by Jules Verne) himself being a lion and Romy (Aouda) and Rigadon (Passepartout) being cats.

The series was broadcast on TV Asahi in Japan in 1987, with episodes 14, 18, 21 and 22 deleted from the Japanese series run. The title of the series in Japanese is Doubutsu 80 Nichikan Sekai Isshuu ("Animals Around the World in 80 Days").

Contents 1 The basic story 2 Main characters 3 Episode listing 4 The theme song 4.1 The original Spanish theme song 4.2 Other theme songs 5 Staff 6 Willy Fog 2 7 External links

[edit] The basic story

Willy Fog wakes up at 8.00am (as he has done ever since he moved into Savile Row) and having woken up he rings for his manservant (whom he sacked yesterday for consistently being late). As a result Mr. Fog gets up, checks the clocks in his house, does his morning constitutionals and makes himself a cup of hot coffee. After getting dressed, he sits in the hall waiting for someone to arrive at 11.00am.

The person he is waiting for is currently making his way to Mr. Fog's house and after a small encounter with a carriage arrives outside the imposing frontage that is Mr. Fog's house. This person is called Rigadon (Passepartout) and he has with him Tico, an old circus colleague. Checking his watch to see that he is on time, he practises his introduction to Mr. Fog, which Tico doesn't approve of. Rigadon rings the doorbell at 11.00am and whistles "La Marseillaise" while he wants for the door to be answered but is put off by Mr. Fog's stern face and the announcement that "You're late by four minutes!"

Prompted by Tico, Rigadon introduces himself and they enter the house where Mr. Fog starts to interview Rigadon. During the interview the discussion turns to Rigadon's past careers which included a spell in the circus and Rigadon demonstrates his skills by balancing on Mr. Fog's cane using a hand and holding a wine glass on a tray. Mr. Fog commends Rigadon for his performance but reminds him that he is looking for a butler and not a performer

After an interupption by Tico (which Rigadon passes off as a ventroliqiusm act), Mr. Fog employs Rigadon as his butler and announces that he was employed at 11.29am on Wednesday, October 2, 1872 and that as it is now 11.30am, he has to leave. Rigadon insists that it's only 11.23am, but Big Ben chiming the half hour soon puts pay to that argument. Rigadon sees Mr. Fog out as he heads to the Reform Club whisting "Rule Brittania"

At the Reform Club, the main topic of conversation is the recent theft of £55,000 from the Bank of England and when Mr. Sullivan, the governor of the Bank arrives at the Club he asks that the topic isn't discussed. However, an off remark by Mr. Sullivan stating that the criminal is probably still in London, gains a very loud "POPPYCOCK" from Lord Guinness (the club's senior member). This brings up an article written by Ralph (a reporter at the Morning Chronicle owned by Mr. Wesson another Reform Club member) stating that it should be possible to travel the world in eighty days.

The article states that after leaving London, you then go to Paris. Following that is Brindisi, and the Suez Canal. All of that takes just a week. Having rounded the Arabian peninsula, you arrive in Bombay on day 20 and then a three day railway journey to Calcutta. Hong Kong is reached on day 33, Yokohama on day 39, and then a mammoth three week crossing of the Pacific to arrive in San Francisco on day 61, a week long train crossing to New York and then finally a nine day crossing of the Atlantic back to London making it possible to travel the world in eighty days.

Mr. Sullivan bets Mr. Fog £5,000 that it is impossible to complete the trip in time. This bet soons increases to £20,000 as the other members pile in their money. He then stuns the club by announcing that he will leave that very evening and promises to return to the room where they are by 8.45pm on December 21, 1872.

[edit] Main characters

• Willy Fog is a well mannered, well read, English gentlemen who is loyal to his friends and always a man, or lion, of his word. He resides in London and is described as a rich, eccentric bachelor. Willy Fog is a member of the Reform Club in London and is challenged to travel around the world in 80 days.
  
• Rigadon is Willy Fog's loyal butler. Rigadon is a French cat and is mild mannered individual. Before his employment with Mr Fog Rigadon, and his friend Tico, were circus performers.
• Tico is Rigadon's best friend and the show's 'mascot.' Tico is an Italion mouse who lives on his stomach and is always full of life and energy. He is much more clumsy than his French associate and is nearly always getting into some kind of trouble.
• Princess Romy (Aouda) is the widow of an Indian Rajah who worshipped the goddess Kali and was destined to be a suttee but was rescued by Rigadon.

[edit] Episode listing

1. The Wager
2. Bon Voyage
3. The Mysterious Mademoiselle
4. The Temple of Doom
5. The Counterfeit
6. Bombay Adventure
7. The End of the Line
8. The Deadly Jungle
9. The Remarkable Rescue of Romy
10. A Present For Parsi
11. Guilty As Charged
12. Shipwreck
13. The Butler's Dilemma
14. En Route For Yokohama
15. Akita's Circus
16. Hawaiian Party
17. A Trip In A Balloon
18. The Showdown
19. Moment of Truth
20. Warpaint In The West
21. A Very Special Train
22. Below Zero
23. Destination Liverpool
24. Fire Down Below
25. Last Train To London
26. What A Difference A Day Makes

[edit] The theme song

[edit] The original Spanish theme song

The original Spanish theme song, called like the series "La vuelta al mundo de Willy Fog", was sung by the group Mocedades, as if the song was sung by Willy Fog, Rigodon, Tico and Romy. They also sang the ending theme, "Sílbame" (Whistle to me) and several other songs featured in the series. All of them were released as cassette, LP and CD in 1984 [1].

[edit] Other theme songs

This theme song was the cause of celebration on "National Willy Fog Day" which took place on April 28, 1987, when Andy Crane (the presenter of Children's BBC) sent copies of the lyrics of the song to anyone who wanted them for a mass singalong of the theme tune. This song is not a translation of the original Spanish theme song.

Both the opening and ending themes to the Japanese version were sung by Keiko Han.

[edit] Staff

• Based on the Novel "Around the World in 80 Days" by: Jules Verne
• Produced by: BRB Internacional, Nippon Animation
• Collaboration: Televisión Española
• Music: Izumi Kobayashi, Susume Kikuchi
• Music Produced by: Guido & Mauricio de Angelis
• Music Published by: Cabum Magister
• Special Thanks: Iberia, the airline of Spain
• Directed by: Luis Ballester, Fumio Kurokawa, Eiji Okabe, Hiromitsu Morita, Toru Hagiwara, Yukio Okazaki, Tom Wyner
• Produced by: Koichi Motohashi
• Executive Producer: Claudio Biern Boyd
• Written by: Claudio Biern Boyd, Izumi Kobayashi, Ryuzo Nakanishi
• Storyboard: Fumio Kurokawa, Eiji Okabe, Hiromitsu Morita, Katsumi Endo, Ko Suzuki, Shigeo Koshi, Shigeru Ohmachi, Toru Hagiwara
• Character Design: Isamu Kumata
• Edited by: Soledad Lopez
• Special Effects: Luis Castro
• Music Subpublished by: Southern Pics Music
• Theme Sung by: Mocedades, Amaya Uranga, Keiko Han
• Recorded and Re-Mixed at: Intersound

[edit] Willy Fog 2

Due to the massive success of the first series, Willy Fog returned in Willy Fog 2 - this time it was a 30 part series comprising of two stories - again based on Jules Verne novels. The series was again made by BRB now in co-production with Wang Film Productions, and premiered in Spain. It was first shown in the UK in the mid-1990s.

The first was Journey to the Centre of the Earth and the second 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The first story was very similar in many ways to the first series. Again a bet was made with Sullivan - and he sent Transfer to cause havoc. This time, however, more people believed in Willy Fog, although all of them (apart from Lord Guinness) turned against him at times - when reports came back that the volcano they journeyed into was about to erupt. Romy, Tico and Rigadon went with Willy on the voyage again and were joined by Professor Lidenbrock - an expert in archeology and Hans - an Icelandic who acted as a general dogsbody. The team again made it - just in time to win the bet.

The second story was completely different to the other two. Willy was invited to help investigate strange goings on - several ships had been attacked by what seemed to be a sea monster. Willy, Romy, Rigadon and Tico went, although soon the ship they were on was invaded and they, alongside Ned the harpoonist (very like Hans from the previous story) and another Professor, were kidnapped by the mysterious Captain Nemo. After having adventures under the sea, they finally escaped.

As production occurred in Taiwan and Korea, Nippon Animation, the Japanese studio who made the first series, was not involved in Willy Fog 2.

The series has been shown several times the UK on Children's BBC and achieved top ten ratings many times^{[citation needed]}.

The first series, and both stories from the second were heavily edited and glued together to make three Willy Fog films released on DVD. But in 2005, Revelation Films (who sold the DVD set of "Around the World with Willy Fog" released the first nine episodes on DVD. Other merchandise such as an LP of some of the songs/incidental music was released, but only in Spain.

[edit] External links

• BRB Internacional website
• Andy Crane leading the singalong of the Around the World with Willy Fog theme tune (video clip)
• Willy Fog Online Forum (created November 16 2006}