DIC: Series Of Our Childhood - Book Review (And Some Thoughts)

I have a huge amount of affection for the animation of the 80s, some of my most formative years in terms of developing my interests. I was (and still am) a huge Mysterious Cities of Gold fan, which I found out was a specific style of animation called anime, and that became a huge part of my life for the following 20 or so years. For me the series had it all; relatable characters, amazing adventures and a thrilling story line. I found out much later that the series was only 39 episodes long but back then it seemed to stretch on forever, like Dogtanian and Willie Fogg; all large sequential series that showed on BBC 1 and ITV weekly and then in large chunks in the morning during those looong summers. Other series I loved were Ulysses 31, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and Heathcliffe- all series produced by DIC. The name sticks because, well, it's DIC and in England it means something very different from Diffusion, Information and Communication.

Over the years, I've collected all these series on DVD and Bluray boxsets and have reviewed them right here on this website (links to all below). So when I heard that there was going to be a crowd funded hardbacked book on the history of DIC called The Series of Our Childhood I knew I had to get in on that. The book, which is written in French, by Maroin Elausti and Nordine Zemrak, is beautifully produced with good quality paper stock, excellent print quality and clear images, many of which I have never seen before. Now, my French is very GCSE from nearly 30 years ago so it is poor but I used Google Translate and read the entire book this way. It's not the most convenient way for sure but it worked well enough.

The book is pretty comprehensive as It looks at how DIC started out making short commercials for private companies and the French government before moving onto short form animation then moving on to longer animated series.

Ulysses 31

The first big ticket animation for them was Ulysses 31. I first came across the show when it was first shown in the mid 80s on the BBC but I saw it in my formative years again in the early 90s on Channel 4, where it was shown daily at 6:30, just before the Big Breakfast. I remember thinking how cool and ahead of it's time the animation was but the moody, evocative and exciting synthesizer soundtrack complemented the show well... heightening the sometimes very dark cartoon well. I had fond memories of the series as a child and rewatched it in my youth, collecting the DVD boxset when there was an 80s nostalgia fueled goldrush in the early 00s. Since then I've collected the soundtracks but have never really known much about the creative process behind the series; it's for partially for this reason that I purchased this book.

  • Creator, Jean Chalopin, decided to tap into the zietgiest created by Star Trek and Star Wars and wondered what the world would be like in the 31st century; would racism, classism or poverty still exist? By placing Ulysses, a hero known for his cunning and metis (the application of skills and knowledge in different situations) in to this futuristic world he could explore the cosmos and the different scenarios within.

  • Chalopin explains, "Our reasoning was as follows: during Antiquity, the Mediterranean Sea remained immense and partially unexplored for the Greeks. It was as mysterious as the Universe to us today. Means of transport were as limited as those we have today to explore the Universe. So, if we project the Odyssey into a Star Wars type universe, we obtain Ulysses transposed to the 31st century, lost in space... During Antiquity, the Greek hero was an extraordinary being, thanks to his exploits which elevated him to the rank of demi-God.'"

  • The idea that the ancient Mediterranean Sea was a wild and unexplored place, much like space, and thus created a wide canvas for Ulysses to adventure in is the insight I was looking for.

  • Additionally, learning that the cryosleep curse of the companions by Zeus in episode one was a choice made out of financial constraints makes sense. By having fewer characters to animate, it created the appropriate tone and focussed in the central conceit of saving his companions.

  • Later we learn that the co-production between DIC and TMS, Japan was due to the stronger animation house infrastructure in place there that would allow the animation to be of a stronger standard and keep the costs significantly lower. TMS also wanted to build its reputation abroad as it often was outsourced for animation but had never co-produced a series. Rene Borg, who designed the original characters, didn't want to compromise his vision so refused to collaborate with his Japanese counterpart and so was replaced by Bernard Deyries who created the animation style we all know and love alongside Shingo Araki (designer of Saint Seiya and Goldorak). Sci-fi writer Philippe Adamov and François Allot were the world builders and created the machines and environments for the series. When fellow Chief Director Nagahama died, Bernard Deyries became the sole Chief Director.

  • We learn that the series had some teething issues, usually related to differences between the French and Japanese cultures. Ulysses is a key figure in the West and is proto-Heroes journey what in Japan he is an unknown figure. The push and pull between fights and wiles caused tension as the French wanted to show him being clever and philosophical whilst the Japanese wanted more action, battles and robots. It's more complex that thia sounds but these were the general divergence between the two studios. Shoji Kawamori, creator of the mechs and ships used in Macross, helped design the spaceships and fighters in Ulysses 31. Nono, was not his design but Borg's, however the design was tweaked to make it more childlike and cute.

  • The show was composed of between 9000 to 12000 cels as well as several computer techniques to add depth and layers like space and star fields. The show was a huge success in France but less so in Japan. The Odyssey book by Homer became a huge seller that year in France and revived an interest in the Classics amongst the French students.

  • Jean Chalopin met composers Ike Egan and Denny Crockett through the Osmond family over dinner. Over two weeks, he worked with them to create over 100 tracks and selected ones he wanted to use for the show. Haim Saban and Shuki Levy were asked to create the now iconic opening credit music.

  • DIC worked with Bandai to develop a toy range and the products were best sellers.

  • The series has a lasting legacy in the West and is affectionately remembered.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold

  • MCOG was first shown on the Antenna 2 channel in France on 28th September 1983 but the show started off following the success of Ulysses 31, Marco Polo and Belle and Sabastian. NHK wanted a story based on the conquest of the Americas but it wanted a literary foundation and to be able to create informative documentaries after the show. Mitsuru Kaneko (MK Production) found Scott O'Dell's The King's Fifth by chance and met him to secure licencing rights. They agreed that the story could be changed to make it more appealing to younger audiences.

  • NHK approached DIC and Jean Chalopin to collaborate with as they had a lot of credit with the release of Ulysses 31. Even though it was not a smash hit, it sent shock waves across Japan on how productions could be collaborative.

  • The first several months of production were spent on creating the Bible for the series. The series had been a more straightforward adventure story under the Japanese team but the mystical elements, such as the Hiva/ Mu civilisations, the Jade Mask, the solar power design of the Solaris and Golden Condor were placed in on insistence from the French team.

  • Mitsuki Nakamura was the lead background animator and produced the detailed backdrops that made the world come alive. There were sometimes more than 250 different backgrounds used in a single episode.

  • Studio Pierrot did the animation and was headed by Yuji Nunokawa, a Tatsunoko alumnus, and Mitsuru Kaneko, a journeyman who had worked for Toho, MGM and the MK Company.

  • Hisayuki Toriumi, the Art Supervisor, said that when she was developing the characters she wanted to create a group with no leader. Mendoza is the most complex and compelling as the audience don't know who's side he is on throughout. She wanted to keep audiences guessing until the end with Mendoza's moral ambiguity.

  • Toshiyasu Okada was the Lead Character Artist and worked with DIC to create an agreeable ensemble of characters. The character designs were altered to appeal to more Western sensibilities and animation styles so the eyes became rounder and the chins less pointy. They didn't want an issue selling to certain markets like they'd faces with Ulysses 31 and NHK agreed. Okada also worked alongside DIC to make the 'evil' characters look less evil, a sensibility that arose in manga where it is obvious who the bad guys are. This nuance was tricky but he understood how, 'A monks clothes do not make him a monk.'

  • A major sticking point between the French and Japanese was the soundtrack, they could not agree and so each did their own version. Deyries thought the soundtrack needed to breathe and add an air of wonder and mystery. He listened to Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds soundtrack and wanted that sense of drama and gravitas. He hired Haim Saban and Shuki Levy to produce tracks and, out of 60 to 70 pieces, chose 50 that would be used on the show.

Inspector Gadget
There follows an extensive Inspector Gadget piece which looks at the creation, based on an idea by Andy Heyward, who had previously worked at Hannah Barbara. Using Heyward's experience of the American animation marketplace, an area in turbulent times in the late 80 and early 90s, DIC were able to create the idea of the bumbling Inspector Gadget in pretty quick time.

  • The pilot was given a healthy budget and animated by TMS but the rest of the 65 series episodes were created by Nelvana, the Canadian animation company who had worked on the 10 minute Star Wars Holiday Special animation, TMS and a Korean company. It was up to the Japanese team to ensure consistency across all teams.

  • The series aired on 24th October 1983 and was a great success.

  • The second season of 21 episodes was not as successful as the budget was cut, Penny's role diminished and the Gadget jokes becoming more hack.

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
The next big piece for me was the Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors section which didn't reveal much new except that the toys were designed first and the cartoon after. Additionally, J. Michael Straczynski wrote on the show and even wrote a downbeat finale which was never produced as the toys didnt sell enough to warrant a 64 episode syndication run.

Overall, this book is essential for DIC fans as it gives a pretty good overview of their genesis to closure. I'm pleased with the book as it goes pretty deep into Ulysses 31 and MCOG and those were what I wanted to investigate. There are plenty of other series, all of which I read through too, but I’m glad that the series that were formative for me were covered in so much detail. Any classic animation fan should definitely get this book!

Mysterious Cities of Gold Season 4 Part 1 Review (No Spoilers)

*Since writing this post, I have written an updated article with a review of the whole season 4. You can find that here*

The Mysterious Cities of Gold started in 1982 and this year was set to mark the conclusion with the forth and final season. Closure, at last, after 38 years. Or so we thought…

Unfortunately, Covid had different plan and has delayed the complete season release. Instead we only get the first part of the season which consists of 11 episodes with the remaining episodes are set to air early in 2021. The show is available to stream on French and Swiss channels but there has been no word on the English language dub yet.

Luckily, I was able to download the available episodes through the hard work and diligence of the members of the Gold List, a MCOG Yahoo Group created in the late 90s that I had been a member of since 1996. I also received translated English subtitles (thanks Kevin!) which were converted and retouched for fluency from the original French to watch alongside the downloaded episodes from the streaming sites of those channels. Whilst not my ideal way to watch the show I am grateful that I have been able to view it and appreciate it alongside other fans in real time.

So, over the course of a few days I watched the show and these are my reflections on the forth series so far. This is a spoiler free article but I do gently brush over themes covered in the season. Season 4 part 1 propels the story forward and picks up from the slight slump of the tail end of the third season, where I felt that the characters started to act out of character and the plot became a little convoluted.

The final series starts with Ambrosius, Gaspard and Laguerre travelling to Africa to find the next city (the fifth of seven), armed with the two gold medallions found from the previous golden city. Building on the legend of the Queen of Sheba, they are seeking the city of Ophir and a treasure that could be a game changer for the possessor, granting them potentially god-like powers. Ambrosius covets it but Esteban and the team are not too far behind him. With Zia's growing ESP abilities, as well as the moxie of the team as a whole, they overcome many of the traps set by Ambrosius to find the Doorway of the Ancients, a Mu-en (Mu-vian? Mu-enite? Mu-tian? ) portal which allows them to teleport across continents in an instant. It is with this development that the series grows in scope.

The Doorway of the Ancients

The Doorway of the Ancients

We get an introduction to the Order of the Hourglass, an organisation set up to find out more about the ancient Mu/ Hiva culture. As a former pseudoscientific theories/ conspiracy buff by way of Graham Hancock, Erich Von Daniken et al. and to a much lesser extent Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, it's great to see how the writers of the series have interwoven so much lore, theories and alternate timelines together to make a cohesive and intriguing mythos.

Notable figures from this period in history make appearances and add a new layer of intrigue into the mix with quasi-history. What I liked was that, as well as these real figures from history, we also see the return of a few old faces from seasons past who are all eager to get to the fifth city and are as unscrupulous as ever. One reveal in particular has a WTF moment where I actually gasped and then whooped for joy.

When the fifth city of Ophir is finally discovered, the reveal is spine tinglingly good. Its obvious eventual demise is a given, as is this shows wont, but no less dramatic against its backdrop.

Overall, I think that the setting and portrayal of Africa is very well done and the peoples are treated with respect and dignity, something that comics (remember Tintin in the Congo, oof!), and some other mediums (many, many anime and manga series), have often not handled well with broad stereotypes and ethnocentric racism usually depicting the land and people as 'savage' and 'other'. There is the exception of Princess being infatuated with Pedro which is played for laughs. I believe it is meant to show a strong female character but could come across as quite stereotypical of the problematic 'Jezebel' trope. However, this is only a small slight against the show which is very positive about Africa in the 16th century, as it should be. After all, the continent was home to many kingdoms and empires that were independent, prosperous and successful in trade before the onset of European colonialism and empire.

I learned a lot watching this series; I never knew about such amazing historical sites as the 13th century Lalibela monestry, hewn from a single rock, or the great gold mines and trade of the Mutapa Kingdom in Zimbabwe. The documentaries shed more light on these and I've now got a few more books on my wishlist to buy to research more on the matter as a result.

Another plus for the series is how on this journey the children see the harsh realities of colonialism and the start of the slave trade. They struggle to reconcile with a world where men are sold as commodities and the topic is treated with sympathy and respect. MCOG is a deeply humanist work and over the course of the 4 seasons it has always made each peoples sympathetic and flawed. After all, even the Olmecs were just trying to keep their race alive--even if it was through questionable means. As Pedro says, "There are some things that are worth sacrificing, good deeds make you better people" and for his character that is quite the development from season 1. The end of show documentaries discuss the matter somewhat and, whilst aimed at children, it is enlightening and will hopefully get young people thinking more about the legacy of empire.

As with the previous season there are moments of stunning artistry and beauty and for fans of the series to enjoy. The Golden Condor again is given centre stage and there is pure GC adoration as the machine is lovingly shown from all angles, usually accompanied with a huge swell in dramatic synth music. And that's something to mention too; the quieter contemplative moments have some stunning music that is modern but more than just an homage to the past soundtrack It is its own beast and very worthwhile.

And so, as we head into the final straight our team are down to the final 2 cities and I'm not sure how the story will end. I wonder if it'll do the Twilight Zone's, "Man is brought down by his own hubris" *shakes fist in the air* thing as the 5 cities so far have presented clean transportation, energy, medicine and technology but always it has been destroyed by warring factions. I think it'll end on a note of optimism with ‘the kids shall inherit the Earth, and make it better’ but we shall see.

This has been an excellent start to the end of the series and I can't wait for the last few episodes to drop as in this complex 4D chess game, it's all to play for.

LINK- MCOG Season 4 Streaming (French Dub and French Subtitles)

LINK- Mysterious Cities of Gold Season 3 (English Dub) -Complete Series Review

LINK- Watch MCOG Season 1, 2 and 3 on SBS On Demand Australia

LINK- MCOG Series 2 Review

LINK- MCOG Nostalgia

LINK- MCOG Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- MCOG Soundtrack on Vinyl Review

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- An English Geek in Saudi Arabia

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors- Soundtrack Review

A warm fuzzy feeling fills my heart whenever I watch television shows and cartoons from my childhood. However, there are only a few that quicken my heart and make me yearn for simpler times, well, t least simpler as a kid and those include Ulysses 31, The Mysterious Cities of Gold, Inspector Gadget, Dogtanian, Around the World With Willy Fogg and… Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors.

Thundering across the stars,
To save the universe from the Monster Minds!
Jayce searches for his father,
To unite the magic root,
And lead his Lightning League to
Victory over the changing form of Sawboss!
Wheeled Warriors explode into battle!
Lightning Strikes!

With these words Jayce and his Lightning League battled the Monster Minds and Saw Boss for 65 episodes. Produced by the hilariously named (at least I thought at the time) DIC studios and overseen by Jean Chalopin (of Mysterious Cities of Gold, Ulysses 31, Inspector Gadget and tonnes of other formative cartoons from the 80s) the show was grand and cheesy operatic drama and a big part of this was due to the epic music, created by Shuki Levy.

The soundtrack for the series has never been released… until now. Tele 80 crowdfunded the soundtrack and I backed it. After a seemingly long wait (it wasn’t that long actually but it seemed that way due to anticipation and slight Covid delays) I finally received my vinyl and CD.

I first came across the show when it was first shown in the mid 80s on Channel 4 but I saw it in my formative years again in the early 90s on Channel 4, where it was shown at weekends. I remember thinking how cool and ahead of it's time the animation was and how moody, mature and rocky the synthesizer soundtrack was.

Since getting the soundtrack I've listened to the album a few times now and the majority of the themes I remember are all here, however the soundtrack isn’t as ingrained into my mind as much as The Mysterious Cities of Gold, Ulysses 31 or Inspector Gadget are.

I'm not going to go through every single track here as that would be long and incredibly tedious for you to read so I'll pick out the highlights.

The album starts with the French opening credits. It has the instrumentation that we all know and love but with the French vocals. The track is okay but holds no real nostalgia for me, that'd be track 21, the English vocal track that played over the opening of the show, but this is the extended cut. Track 23 is the instrumentation of the opening credits, whilst track 22 has the ending vocals (‘Keep On Rolling’) and track 24 has the instrumentation of that, so you can get your hair rock on!

Now onto the back ground music (BGM):

Track 2 (The Fight of the Light Force) - starts off all mystical and woozily dreamlike but quickly the synthy beat, violin and jazz flute kick in and it's a veritable smorgasbord of pure 80s euphoria.

Track 4 (The Cunning of the Monster Minds) - lots of oboe and unsettling string picking make this a suitably creepy piece.

Track 6 (A Hope) - a light, chilled piece which wouldn't be out of place in a romance scene from some forgettable 80s movie.

Track 7 (The Fight Against the Monster Minds) - a consistent drum beat which is followed by a fluttering flute before a jazzy brass section comes in to add some uptempo jam before a crescendo of strings swells and hits.

Track 10 (All Together) - a relaxing piece which is sort of like a redux of track 9.

Track 11 (Moments of Clairvoyance) - breezy and airy sounding with a gentle wind chimey sound.

Track 12 (An Unknown World) - creepy and unsettling as a quick rhythmic mood sets in with heavy synthesiser sounds wend their way in and out. This track wouldn't be out of place in a John Carpenter film as it fits his ouvre.

Track 13 (Mysteries of the Universe) - upbeat funk with wailing guitar and jazzy brassy freestyling.

Track 18 (Imminent Danger) - sounds like an end of level boss from a PS1 game which is no bad thing. Heavy drums and waning guitar give way to moody rhythmic guitar.

Track 19 (Musical Bridges)- This track is a collection of 5 to 10 second bridged that are dramatic and concluded fight or action sequences. They are dramatic and bombastic, ending with a flourish.

Overall, there are plenty of tracks here for Jayce fans but the track that I most miss due to its omission is the darkly sinister driving imperial march sounding one that is reminiscent of St. Elmo's Fire/ La Passage Secret from the MCOG soundtrack. It was the track used when a discovery was made and is one of the most spine tingling tracks from the show and the Jayce equivalent, which shares a lot of the same DNA, is missing too. I’ll link it below so you can have a listen to both tracks.

Manga Exhibition at the British Museum: Review

In Japan, manga has been a part of the culture for a long time. The origins of manga are debated and The Handscroll of Frolicking Animals by Kitazawa Rakuten is considered a major influence, but generally it gained prominence in the post World War 2 era where artists such as Osamu Tezuka brought some levity and lightness to proceedings with Mighty Atom or Astro Boy as he's known in the West. Tezuka was to manga what Will Eisner was to American comics; the medium existed before their arrival but they brought it to the fore and forever changed it.

Astro Boy is iconic and will feature heavily in the 2020 Olympics, which will be held in Japan.

As a young boy growing up in east London, England, I didn't know anything about manga or anime but I was consuming it unknowingly through shows such as The Mysterious Cities of Gold and Ulysses 31.
One Saturday I went into my local WH Smith and saw issue 22 of a magazine called Manga Mania and was taken by the big eyes, spiky hair style and tiny mouth and nose of the cover star that reminded me so much of the animation style I liked. When I picked it up, from the top shelf next to the more salacious magazines, I felt a bit of a rebel but upon opening it the kinetic imagery and artistry blew me away. Flicking through it I saw a mention of The Mysterious Cities of Gold in the letter pages and knew I had found something special. From then on I would buy Manga Mania monthly and purchased graphic novels, VHS films, soundtracks and even anime cels. The shop Forbidden Planet became nerd nirvana for me and I'd visit it monthly. Manga was one of my first true loves and one that has survived to this day, at least to some lesser extent. Manga is in my lifeblood and even though it doesn't feature as prominently in my daily life as it once did for me, it was formative in my youth and for that I am still grateful.

I loved getting my monthly Manga Mania fix.

I loved getting my monthly Manga Mania fix.

Since those heady underground days in the early 90s, manga has grown and thrived and its influence is spreading across the world. So, when I heard that the British Museum was hosting the largest manga exhibition outside of Japan I wasn't surprised and knew that I had to go. The British Museum has dipped its toes into the manga and anime pool before over the years but these have been smaller, more focused exhibition. This promised to be a much larger, grander affair as manga is still developing and evolving, the form has and is still contributed rather uniquely to modern culture and I'm glad that a venerable institution as the British Museum is recognising this. I visited the Kyoto International Manga Museum several years ago, which is the largest repository of manga in the world, and wanted to see how this exhibition would compare.

So the question is, is the exhibition worth visiting? In a word, yes.... but this comes heavily loaded with a proviso, which I'll go into later.

The whole show feels less like a staid exhibition but more like something you'd see at more immersive and engaging galleries, no surprise as manga means 'irresponsible pictures' and what is on show is a riotous walk-through of the medium. Being a family oriented exhibition the more controversial elements have been excised but that doesn't diminish what's on show, rather it still offers a smorgasbord of artists and genres that covers the art-form well without excluding younger generations or upsetting some sensibilities.

The exhibition starts with an introduction about the origins of manga and provides a guide on how to read it, from left to right. Then there is a section on the manga-ka, the artists who produce the manga, and the tools of their trade.

On an impressive display of collected comics are a few televisions with the chiefs and editors of the weekly manga collections which are published weekly and sell in the millions. They offer their insight into the creative, production and distribution process.

Around the corner, there is a brief look at the influence of woodblock and scroll works on the medium. There are a few stunning pieces on show but a couple stood out to me, the one where a recent piece of work by artist Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Domu and Memories) was compared to his woodblock forebear. The current breed of artists have built on the shoulders of giants and their influence is appreciated here.

After that, the bulk of the exhibition is split into little islands where different themes of manga and artists are explored like Love, Sports, Horror etc. This is all quite dynamic and exciting as there are banners and posters hanging from the ceiling and giant murals and original art pieces stuck on the gallery walls.

In the middle of the exhibition, there is an impressive library of manga on offer and many soft seats in which to read at your own pace.

Manga Exhibition at the British Museum

The last section of the exhibition has a couple of art installations. Kawanabe Kyosai’s theatre curtain from 1880 was painted in just four hours after the artist had imbibed several bottles of rice wine. He painted the 17 metres by five metres high piece using a huge brush and it was done in such a rush of inspiration that you can still see his footmarks on it!. It really is an impressive achievement and whilst not manga, it shows the kinetic frenetic art style that would feature in so much manga years down the line.

Kawanabe Kyosai’s theatre curtain certainly is an impressive piece of work.

Kawanabe Kyosai’s theatre curtain certainly is an impressive piece of work.

Near the exit, a large projected montage of Studio Ghibli films at the end is a fitting bookend to an impressive exhibition.

The exhibition is a great primer for the common manga fan or someone with a cursory interest in the medium but someone looking for a deeper look into the minutiae of manga, this is not that. In my opinion the exhibition, whilst well organised and curated, had some glaring omissions in manga-ka such as Rumiko Takahashi (Mermaid Saga, Urusei Yatsura and Inuyasha) and Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell, Aplleseed and Dominion Tank Police),  but on a personal level I'd have loved to have seen some works by Yoshitoshi Abe (Serial Experiment Lain, Haibane Renmei) and Yukito Kishiro (Battle Angel Alita). I understand that with such a large number of artists it is not possible to get everything in the exhibition but Takahashi and Shirow are titans of the medium and needed some mention or recognition. It’s like having an exhibition on Italian masters and forgetting to mention any of the Turtles; Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo, it just wouldn’t seem complete. However, as the first real look at manga outside of Japan this is an excellent exhibition and well worth the 90 or so minutes of your time. It is an amuse-bouche to the promise of something more and for that I’m excited.

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: And So It Ends

LINK- The Moomins 80's Soundtrack Vinyl Review

LINK- Inspector Gadget Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- The Mysterious Cities of Gold Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Sonic Mania Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack

LINK- Thomas Was Alone Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack Review

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

DIC: Series Of Your Childhood

I am a huge fan of the animated series Mysterious Cities of Gold, it is my favourite programme of ALL time and was a formative part of my childhood; single handedly igniting my interest in anime, manga, South and Central American cultures and synthesizer music (It's why I love Jarre, Vangelis and Oldfield).

In my mancave I have a MCOG medallion, an original cel, a French book discussing the making of (even though I haven't studied French since my GCSE's 20 years ago) and a model of the golden condor. The animation was created by DIC and legendary creators Haim Saban and Jean Chalopin, who in their time created Ulysses 31, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, M.A.S.K and Inspector Gadget.

Now, a new documentary is seeking to be crowd-funded to explore their world and find out about the origins and development of the studio. I am SO on board with this as anything that delves behind the making process of some of the finest animation of my childhood deserves further exploration.

In their own words:

We have started with the distribution of leaflets in mailboxes. About 100 people worked full time. One day, we received an order to create a cartoon, Bernard Deyries joined us and we started to work on the animation. We had a company that was based in Tours and then in Paris. One day, we felt like creating series just like big companies. We started by making a creation that was “Ulysses 31”, which he presented to France 3. They accepted the idea and Jean Chalopin said:" there are not enough people to do this in France". He went to Japan and came across a Japanese company looking for a way to get into Europe. One day, Jean Chalopin told me: "I will go to the United States." I said: “You’re crazy! You're not going to beat the Americans on their own turf." Well! I was wrong. In cinema as in television, going to Hollywood is always a dream, which until now and before our company existed, has been unattainable to almost all Europeans. We created a different way of working, which mixes the American and the French systems with Japanese special effects. We imported, for example with “The Littles” or with “Inspector Gadget”, a trait, which was very different; it did not exist in the American market.

I’m going to help fund this documentary, why don’t you?