The Mysterious Cities of Gold - Nick Knacks Episode
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- Nickelodeon continues its trend of introducing two animated shows to their lineup. 1986's theme? French Weirdness! It's 1532, and Spain has gold fever! Join Esteban, Zia and Tao as they get kidnapped, get taken to South America, and end up joining shady explorer Mendoza on a quest to find the fabled seven cities of gold!
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CZcams took down the Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea episode. If you'd like to watch it, you can catch it on the Internet Archive.
archive.org/details/spartakus-and-the-sun-beneath-the-sea-nick-knacks-056
You could post an audio only version of that video on CZcams, just so that it's on your list.
I learned 3d animation at a college in the early 2000s. I was talking with some other students about our favourite childhood animations, mentioned MCoG and one of the girls got excited because her mum was a colourist on it. She said, "I have so many cels from that show that were like, mistakes." So I asked for a few, and a few days later I got about 10 cels of varying quality! There was a great one of Esteban so I got it framed for my sister's birthday.
That's freaking awesome! I would love to get one or two of those. I'd follow your idea and get one framed for my brother- my Golden Condor co-pilot :)
I cannot help but feel pride. Cities of Gold was, if not abundantly clear, my favorite thing on Nick for its entire run and I’m glad it is well received both here and in the extended community. I really hope that it continues to grow as younger generations discover a very early Nick gem, before Double Dare.
Well done and my thanks.
And SpongeBob too.
@@mrquake7789 I used to rush home to watch this on TV. It was on our ABC in Australia, yes very well before streaming or the internet really. It started at 3:30pm, and well before Nickelodeon even existed in Australia. Spongebob didnt exist when this came out. Every time that Condor comes out, so good
Also that comment about missing a week of episodes got me... too friggin true!!! 🤣
@@L.S-. interesting 🤔 as well as Avatar
Here in the UK this show ran on the BBC in the 80s, such a great show, every kid I knew watched it.
Hell yeah I used to run home from school to watch it as a kid, actually thought I imagined it until I looked up big gold bird and gold city lol
Me too. Where can I stream it?
@@jasmineadam9739 Streaming is a bit hit and miss, Amazon Prime has the first season but not the others and I have heard Apple TV has all seasons but I can't verify that. It can be purchased on Amazon on DVD though.
Wasn’t it on nickelodeon,”?
@@pasta1169 Maybe but originally it was broadcast on BBC 1 when children's TV consisted of about 2 hours in the afternoon.
As a native person (pomo coto tribes from Northern California, Torasco from Mexico) I loved this show, i finally had something where the characters actually looked like me, came from a world, a culture that i was familiar with. It also told the story of colonisation unflinchingly, never sugarcoating it for the sake of "the children". Finally, the end of each episode came with a quick 3-5 minute history recap of whatever it was you just watched. That was one of my favorite parts. Episode 14 had one where they spotlighted how even though there are over 7 million native peoples in South America they are still treated like 2nd class citizens in their own homeland.
If you were a White person saying exactly the same thing for yourself, it would be racist and soupremacist, with the comments filled with hate and slander against you.
Probably why I watched transformers instead so I could not learn anything lol
@@tractorback76😂 cold but funny 😅
Do you know where the cities of gold are
@@user-iu5my9tr3nactually not at all because what is a white person? Most white people can trace their ancestry back to another country and culture.. yes by phenotype people self identify but culturally it’s okay to celebrate your heritage dude every culture has amazing history and traditions. At one point Germany was ran by the Nazi regime but besides that they still have rich culture that has nothing to do with that part of history so it’s totally okay to celebrate and have pride just know what part of history to have pride in .
I loved this show as a kid. Haven't seen it since the 80s, but that theme tune is still stuck in my head.
Revisit it, it totally holds up and you can enjoy the new seasons! Season 4 started last fall... they're going to Africa!
Lyric sheets available from Andy Crane?
@@Undrave It really does, though. I was surprised by how good of a story they tell and how well they do it. I'd assumed it was just a kid thing but no - it's a bona fide epic.
I was only in kindergarten when this aired, and our family couldn't afford a VCR yet, so I only got to see this when I was off from school. And even then, most of the time I missed it cuz I'd need to go to my cable-less grandparents' house. So watching it was a confusing but engrossing experience the very few times I managed to catch. It probably kick-started my childhood fascination with "lost" mythical locations and my fondness for the anime aesthetic.
Honestly when I watched this show, I was a child a small child. I vividly remember being so excited about the friendship and the traveling they got to do together. The music was so awesome, The Neverending story vibes…. Well in my eyes!!! I loved it and it gave me beach vibes… I always wanted to be at the beach. But dude… this show was my vibe! I had to go to my grandmothers to watch it. My parents were hippies and refused to get cable. But when she picked me up from school I would rush to her tv and turn it up… I loved it…. Thanks for this!!! No one ever talks about this… who knew I loved an anime show… I’m 45 now so wow!
This is still one of the most beautiful cartoon series ever i watched this show when I was 13 still love it today 👍 cheers stevo 🍀🍀🍀🍀
Man, Shuki Levy and Haim Saban were kinda amazing at music, weren't they? I remember they also did music for Inspector Gadget back in the 80s, and it shows. Great stuff :D
You're not lying. Not only that they did the theme/music package for their only live-action game show I'm Telling.
It's more a question of what iconic cartoon themes they *didn't* work on. Saturday morning would have sounded completely different without them.
Levy has a website with all of his intros. It's a very long list.
It was mostly Shuki Levy, Haim was the producer :p Even then, the way it worked is they hired musicians and gave them a steady paycheck in exchange for their rights so it's not clear 100% what is Levy's completely original work and what isn't. Though I'm pretty sure it was him who created the Inspector Gadget theme.
As it should be, the ghostwriters were never heard from.
When I was four years old, for some reason, I was emotionally invested in this show. I used to love watching it.
I LOVED LOVED LOVED watching Belle and Sebastian, The Little Prince, and the Mysterious Cities of Gold when I was between 9-11 yrs old, roughly '84-'86 or '87...Loved history too.
The intro and melody to (mysterious cities of gold)that song is one of the most unforgettable tunes ive ever heard.
Its beautiful. I feel like a 7 year old again when I hear it.... special place in my heart there....
Haim Saban and Shuki Levy are seriously geniuses when it came to music. This shows song has stuck in my brain since I was 4 :’) thank you very much for doing this documentary.
I loved this show when I was a kid!!! I’m so glad I was able to pick up the DVD collection!! I enjoyed this review of the show.
This maybe the episode of the 80s era I was most hyped. I finished binging this series just for this review
Me, too!
@ULGROTHA I use Watchcartoononline
@ULGROTHA You can buy it on google play, and watch it on youtube for like 16 bucks now.
I don't see why Mendoza shouldn't get his gold at the end of the show's first season, it's like his reward for assisting the children.
I loved watching this series as a child and was surprised how it ended; specifically, how there were other cities of gold elsewhere within the world..
It's worth noting that giant bear people and white Amazon women were things that the conquistadors claimed to have seen. The show didn't invent them.
The quasi-alien bat people however...
my first thought was Calafia, but the women should've been a different color
They had nice shades of lipstick in the rainforest though.
Still, even though the Olmecs were a culture hijacked by the show for a villain race, it's fair to say that; A) they weren't entirely unsympathetic, and B) that flying machine was badass and terrifying.
It makes sense that they would try to draw from whatever folklore the Conquistadors came up with, the bat people on the other hand probably have more to do with the "Chariots of the Gods" crowd that believed these ancient tribes had connections with aliens.
I remember these cartoons when I was a child watching TV
The thing that I loved about it was the fact that they did actually find the cities at the end…it wasn’t like many cartoons that never came to a conclusion
SPOILERS FFS!!!
One of the best introductions of any cartoon from the era. The combination of washed-out still photos and Japanese style animation along with that equal parts cheesy and haunting song was truly singular.
Apologies in advance for all those Spartakus music numbers you're about to have stuck in your head for the rest of your life.
Before you caaaame.....we only had a dreeeeam burning brightly like the sun....beneath the sea! SPARTAKUS!
@@matthewdaley746 Yeah. you might like this cover: czcams.com/video/LIgBoZrpgKk/video.html
@@matthewdaley746 I'm glad you did. He also does a ulysseus 31 cover, if you like that show too.
A little 9-year-old me wanted that giant robot condor *so bad*...
Can you believe they NEVER made a toy of it?
@@Undrave in france they sold a model of it you can find on eBay especially eBay France.
@@KCKingdomCreateGreatTrekAgain Yes I have one. It was sent to me by a friend in Belgium.
Almost 39-year-old me *still* really wants one...
The Levy soundtrack is so indelibly part of my memory of watching this show, it never even occurred to me it could've had another score originally. Maybe it's a touch derivative of Vangelis, but regardless it's still insanely evocative.
I'm reading this, and recalling the "1492 Conquest of Paradise". Chicken and Egg situation?
As a French fan of the serie, I really enjoyed your video and learned a lot of things of the American version, really great video!
I sometimes do a wonder if Bryan and Mike thought about this show when making Airbender, the main trio are similar archetypes, reluctant chosen one, determined compassionate girl, and a comic relief that's also smart with gadgets
It's practically a trope. See Harry Potter.
@@zvimur which goes back to Star Wars, or Tolkein. I mean the show has it's own R2D2 and C3P0, which a based characters of a Kurosawa movie
@@Tacom4ster the buffoonish sidekick goes at least as far back as Don Quixote's Sancho Panca.
Earliest comic relief I can think of is a soldier delivering bad news in Sophocleses Antigone, who keeps assuring all that's he's not responsible for the news.
Also this from Macbeth czcams.com/video/Yr4jULsh9Lg/video.html
Dude
For some odd reason this show literally just popped into my head, great memory
Personally I thinks hold up better than Dances With Wolves, this maybe the earliest example of showcasing the tragedy of colonialism on American tv. Didn't know the soundtrack was redub, it's one of my favorite soundtrack of any animated series, much better than 4Kids overblown orchestra.
Yes. It was sad when Spain was colonised
@@fredperry9235 My favourite part of the story is when Spain got its ass handed to it by the Americans for being imperialist colonisers - and then the USA didn't give back any of the colonies to the locals.
Hilarious.
Tragedy of colonialism? Thanks to my European ancestors you have electricity bwoy! Sit down
@@briancartwright7 your a tool, and a racist
@@briancartwright7 your a slave to people richer than you, stop defending the bourgeoisie, one day the rich will use robots to replace and perhaps kill all the workers, as they have orgies with sex robots on Mars, while Earth is destroyed
I never saw this show but heard good things about it online. I'm glad the show was honest about violence and death. Even as a kid, it bugged me when "character is totally okay! Yay!" when you never saw them again or the visual elements hinted at death: sad music, sad characters, something falling, etc. I know they died, don't treat me like I'm dumb.
At least they weren't sent to the Shadow Realm. Or called onigiri either donuts or sandwiches.
Kids can handle death (when framed correctly). A lot of that was the fault of parents and networks being paranoid.
Agreed
I 100% agree, they had many, way too many for these days deaths, both on and off screen or on except for the moment the character actually dies.
But the newer version bringed 1 character back from the dead instead so they didn't learn.
Thank you for this video. Its a joy to find stuff you watched over 30 years ago as a kid.
Also good to know its not one false memory things you mind likes to play on you every once in a while.
THIS SHOW WAS AWESOME. The death count is insane for a Nickelodeon could show! And historically accurate... with the conquistadors and the incans mayans and olmecs being slaughtered left and right.
Also, i don't remember Nickelodeon cutting the documentary segments out. It was one of the things that got my mom and dad (dad especially, he is where alot of my native blood comes from) to record the show for me, dad even did that when the show started coming on at 5am since he was already up for work at that time anyways. Thank you for spotlighting a very special part of my childhood growing up, i appreciate you for that👍
I loved this show and the theme. These videos are full of so many member-berries.
One of the most interesting I've encountered on the network by far, blending 70's style animation with 80's type music. This is like something I would somewhat find during the pre-8 in the morning time slots on Saturday mornings.
I remember being shocked by all the countless on-screen deaths of
supporting characters. Morion helmeted Conquistadors fell to their deaths from broken rope-bridges and the Ancient Alien Olmecs lazer blasted the Inca warriors by the dozens.
Realizing how old this show is surprised me; i don't know when they stopped playing reruns of it in France, but in Quebec you could see it on Radio-Canada (basically French CBC) semi-regularly well into the early 2000s iirc. I could never quite keep up with it bc of the heavy continuity but i always loved catching episodes when i could.
Just spent the last couple of days watching the entire Nick Knacks playlist, what a cool project! Being from Canada i don't quite have the same nostalgia for Nick as i assume most people watching this would have, but the whole slice of TV History behind everything is truly fascinating. Can't wait to see what's next :D
I love your series. I was hoping you would shed some light on this show. My dad had recorded Nickelodeon for me when he first got his VCR, and Mysterious cities of gold was one of the programs, I watched it daily even though I had no clue what really was going on at 3 years old , I do remember the documentary portions early on because they scared me back in the day lol I havent looked at all your episodes yet but I hope you did one on Todays Special :)
Only saw a few episodes as a kid but it stuck with me as much as Transformers or GI Joe. Finally watching the whole series, wow!
Thanks for the retrospective. I was only ten years old when this aired on Nick and the thing I remember most was the theme song. Hell, to this day the theme song pops into my head once in a while. It's pretty damn memorable. I remember the characters in the show, but not much about the plot. I don't think I knew at the time that it was a serial. I just caught random episodes here and there and enjoyed the spectacle of it. It was a visually gorgeous show and definitely trippy. Those are the things I remembered the most, not so much the actual plot.
This show reminds me of one of my favorite video games of all time. Illusion of Gaia. Mysterious ruins on every continents with mysterious connection to each other.
This is the 1st time hearing the Japanese theme song, and it's okay but the French opening much better. Mysterious Cities of Gold is one of those series in which i remember the theme song more the show, but I have since watched the show and bought the DVD and am enjoying it so far. I even have a wall mount of the show. I also kinda hope the sequel series gets a DVD release or becomes available for streaming in the U.S. at some point. Anyway, the next episode is one of the shows I've been waiting for since the project began. Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea is a bizarre show that hardly anyone talks about.
@@matthewdaley746 I'm aware that season 2 got a Region 2 DVD release, I'm just hoping it gets released in the States in some form. As for Spartakus, when it 1st aired it was on weekdays at 3:30, it was later when it got stuck in early morning timeslots.
@@matthewdaley746 So did I, and didn't fully watch Spartakus until recently on CZcams. There is when I see what an odd Series it was, specially the end.
@@vgtrp I can tell you that Season 2's blu ray release was accidentally left region free.
Before the show (SATSBTS) was cancelled in July 1991 by (ARRRGH!) those darn Little Bits, Nickelodeon reran the second season of episodes on an overall basis @ 6:30 in the morning on weekends after ranger era mostly colorized Lassie repeats and Eureeka's Castle beforehand since September 1990 (it stopped airing on weekdays at the same time slot around late September of that same year and was replaced with a crappy version of Kidsworld which had no business of being on Nickelodeon to begin with). Still, I feel in my opinion it didn't get the respect it deserve since it replaced Danger Mouse with new theme music by Menudo (a la early Ricky Martin's backup band) when it took over the 7:30 prime time weekday slots back in the spring of 1987, thus disappointing many DM fans alike whom hopelessly had to find where the show was before that too was cancelled by the end of the year with a far deserved farewell.
2:43 do one thing for me..........get.....Mendoza......................
MENDOOOZAAAAAA
This is and always will be a fantasy story. It was never meant to accurately depict the cultures mentioned. I don't think I ever saw the documentaries as a child, but that didn't lead me to believe that every single element to the story was real. To suggest that only south American people can talk about south American history is such a flawed and simplistic concept I'm shocked you suggested it. But then again, it's easy to critique (anyone can do it) but it takes huge amounts of hard work and risk taking to actually create something.
It's so funny you mentioning it showing at 5 am - that's exactly when I remember seeing it, up insanely early!
This is strange, I watched this show as a child on NICK, but I definitely remember seeing the mini-docs at the end. I remember very clearly being freaked out because they showed things related to death that I hadn't seen before, like human skeletons, and chickens being butchered. I was actually scared by them, and would sometimes cover my eyes. The intro to the mini-docs are just as ingrained to me as the theme song.
Hmm, maybe they showed the documentaries when the show first came on, because when I saw the episodes in 1989-90, the documentaries were removed.
The whole of my time in primary school I watched this on RTE and genuinely caht remember ever seeing the same episode twice. I loved this series. When they showed it in the afternoon on children's BBC the filmed sections talking about the history. Don't remember that happening on RTE.
Another one of my favourite shows.
I never knew they reworked the music. The new soundtrack is spectacular. Just spectacular.
Thanks so much for producing this. I had a moment of reflection on the show that captured my imagination in its first run when I 7 years old, and wanted to refresh what I remembered and you didn't disappoint. In fairness to the show's perceived inaccuracies, what we know about the ancient past is still obscured by time, and by both missionaries admittedly destroying and suppressing evidences of culture, as well as researchers like the Smithsonian Institute, as well as forgers of artifacts, there is a lot that we do not know. Additionally, real people, such as Christopher Columbus, are complex and do not lend themselves to simple assessments, whether positive or negative. Many descriptions taken to praise him merely reflect his intentions, imperfect as he was. I recommend The Pilgrim Hypothesis by Tim Ballard for an equally important aspect of his story in context of his intentions. Thank you again. You did a fantastic job with this video.
This was one of the first things done by Studio Pierrot?? Holy crap, that's a name I never expected to see come up in this retrospective (or, at least, not before we arrived at The Legend of Korra). This was produced pretty much exactly 10 years before they produced the first evergreen franchise they'd be tasked with, too (Yu Yu Hakusho), after which they'd eventually pretty much be known handling a ton of huge (mostly action) anime (Naruto, Bleach, Tokyo Ghoul, the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA, Great Teacher Onizuka, half of the infamous second season of The Legend of Korra). Not to say that they didn't have well-remembered works before then, though (Urusei Yatsura and Creamy Mami being two of the biggest anime of theirs from the particular era that Mysterious Cities of Gold was produced, two that I still see people talk about, though not quite as much as the others I mentioned).
Honestly, one of my favorite things about this series is seeing you uncover hidden connections like these that I probably never would've ended up learning in my own research. Heck, I certainly didn't expect this series to be a nexus between Nickelodeon, DIC, Pierrot, Saban and a children's historical fiction author of all parties. This was a trip in particular to learn.
My memories of this from childhood were just what you said "What is going on?!" after missing episodes.
Nicholai Fugate Similar story here. We loved the theme song and the characters but mostly I remember being confused by the story. I’m sure I eventually gave up on it as a kid for that reason alone.
Indicated with the tagline, "To Follow".
I remember this as a kid and thought I was probably the only kid at my school that watched it. Until it came up in conversation with a friend and he freaked out "You watch it too? I love that show!" We both assumed no one else watched it and were wrong. I think it had more fans than people realized. It was one of my favorite cartoons and I remember it getting harder and harder to catch it on tv.
32:41 I just realized how much those weird creatures looked like The Jeep, the funny looking pet from Popeye.
Oh wow thank you for this in depth review!!!! I used to watch this show at 5 am when I was a kid!!!!
The synth music on this show takes me right back.
I was literally wishing for a new nick knacks this afternoon
Man. I love the soundtrack so much. All that guy's themes are in my 8 yr old heart
I really liked how you did the sign off. Just like how they ended the documentaries :) Thanks for this episode. I've been waiting for it for a while. Next to You Can't, this was my favorite show on nick in the mid 80's, so it's good to see it covered. Waiting eagerly for your episode about Spartakus....and kind of sad we won't get one about Ulysseus 31.
@@matthewdaley746 Yeah, this is my era of nick, and at the risk of falling into the trap he talked about in his first video, 1986-1995 is the golden age of nick.
@@matthewdaley746 Yeah, looking at the nick and more listing, I tend to agree. Doug and rugrats, and ren and stimpy last for like 20+ years, and when you last that long, you just have tons of episodes you can rerun forever, and you don't need as many new shows to fill time, like nick in 1986 did.
Nosferatu Olmecs? Someone on the staff was *bored*.
So is that _better_ or _worse_ than National Treasure 2...?
I just assumed they came from the same planet as Panthro from the Thunder Cats.
Show goes full-on "ancient astronaut theory" at the end ;)
Once upon a time, I woke up really early one day (around the ungodly hour of 5 AM) and caught the intro to this show. I was transfixed. I had no idea what it was. It was actually kinda scary in an otherworldly way, being awake at an unusual hour and seeing (and hearing!) something on TV that I'd never encountered before.
I didn't get to watch whatever episode I'd stumbled upon. I either fell back alseep or had to get ready for school or something. I also never got to see the show again because, seriously, eff 5 AM. For decades, however, bits of the theme song and images of the golden condor lingered on the edge of my memory. I eventually did put my memories to rest with some Googling ("Oh, this really did exist!"), but it wasn't enough to spur me to watch the show.
I've been looking forward to this episode of Nick Knacks to see exactly what I missed _and_ to get it with a level of detail and care that I wouldn't get from, say, Retrojunk. Thank you, poparena!
MissAshley42 Y'know, you go to school to have crap drilled into your brain, you grow up learning bills are a necessity to life, but of course you forget both of these things. But God forbid you ever see the first half one episode of some obscure half-anime in the ass-crack of dawn cause that will stay with you forever.
i think when it started airing at that time, they ran them in full with the mini docs. i can't think of how else i would have seen them. and 5am wasn't that early when you consider how early we were getting up to get ready for school
Good work on this series!!!
Nickelodeon be like, "Remember, kids: you can't zap your friends with a harmless beam of light, that's too violent. But you can hurl giant rocks at crowds of enemy soldiers and crush them into armor-clad pretzels. Nick-nick-nick-nick, na-nick-nick-nick, Nickelodeon!"
This was my SHOW when I was a kid, and probably why I became a total history nerd.
i watched the theme song for this song because final fantasy 14s new expansion dawn trail has cities of gold and I wanted to send it to someone as a joke. Who knew there were insightful videos on this obscure old show I barely remember that fueled some of my childhood nightmares.
I was looking forward to this episode, I grew up watching the show when I living in the UK where to my knowledge was received a lot better by UK audiences than it did with both Japanese and American audiences, it helped that the show was given a better timeslot in the UK. When my family moved back to Egypt, I got to see an Arabic dub of the show.
I was able to enjoy in spite of not being able to follow it religiously when I was a kid, whenever it came on my eyes were glued to the screen. Of course, I was thrilled when many years later a friend of mine ordered the DVD collection and had it shipped to my brother's residence so I could finally watch the show from beginning to end. While I wish the recent seasons/revivals had traditional animation like the original show, it's great to see the story continue as originally planned especially since the third season takes in the Middle East particularly centering around Arabic cultures.
Thursday's on bbc1 at 1640 iirc ...
Yeah Saban and Levy prior to Power Rangers was in the music business. DIC, Filmation, and Ruby Spears most notably along with Saban's studio.
Saban even got involved with dubbing kiddie Anime before Power Rangers
I'm forty-three and as an an eight to ten year old I LOVED this show, but in the pre-DVD much less pre- streaming era it was frustrating to watch. It would have been nice if Nickelodeon had thought to offer a once or twice a month or was it a week ? multiple hour block of continuous episodes to help us second-graders who were trying to keep up with the plot.
The documentaries were featured in all the broadcasts I watched. The narrator's ominous voice was a nice touch.
I remember this and haven't seen it since it aired, thanks!
This is the exact same plot as One Piece. Oda just managed to expand the 30 episodes to almost 30 years xD
Excellent; I was waiting for this episode (albeit with trepidation, as I'm always afraid something I liked as a child might not hold up to scrutiny)
The Cities of Gold shined!!!
Never heard of this show before, but I guarantee it would have been one of my favorites if I'd grown up with it
I loved watching Esteban and the City's of Gold when I was a kid. I was 13 going to 14 in July. Last summer of being a kid. I loved the show. I got bored with it when they got to the alien's part and stopped watching. Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea. This might be the show I've been wondering about for years since I saw it. I remember only seeing the first episode maybe. It started with this old ship making baby little versions of itself for a birthday and the mother, I guess, told the kid the ship was really old and be gentle. I remember thinking how cool that was. I never saw it again. Maybe it was Spartikus.
I wish this show got more recognition, I love it so much I made a spoof movie
I have had this cartoon on my mind, since having my first. Couldn't figure out the name, just remembered images. Thanks for posting.
This show is one of my most vivid early memories.
Also, Levy/Saban always making the music for my favorite cartoons (most notably for me, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra Princess of Power, and The New Adventures of He-Man) I can hear the similarities and I love it!
I also want it known, Esteban was my first crush. 3 year old me thought he was cute. Haha. Now I'm more a Mendoza guy ☺️
There's much to be said for nostalgia, both good and bad. And, nostalgia can sometimes prevent the afflicted from making any sort of clear critical assessment of something in retrospect.
But, damn, I landed late in this show when it was aired in the late 1980s on CBBC (the Schofield 'broom cupboard' era); for they'd just met up with Tao. And, as I struggled my way through that first episode watched, I was nonetheless bewitched by it. Two eps later, I was solidly in the groove and fully on board with it. By the end, I'd almost forgotten where I'd started, it's such a journey.
And so, of course, my memories of the show were of pure nostalgic pleasure; a shining golden moment of my lost childhood.
Getting the chance to re-watch it on DVD was just a treat. I jarred at the aged animation for a few moments, quickly got the 'feel' for the show again... and then something happened.
Clarity.
i found myself actually able to be critical about it. The childish moments felt childish; the sillier ones felt clearly silly and a little embarrassing.
And yet, I recognised all the goodness in it. There is magic in this show - a genuine alchemy between the elements that make it up.
And *it just works* so well.
It remains thrilling, magical, charming, endearing and just a rollicking good ride. Like the best 80s adventure movies (Raiders, for example), MCoG stands the test of time, because it can stand on its own merits. It doesn't need any rose-tinted buttressing.
That's a hell of a thing.
Thank everyone involved for this incredible show.
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If only they could have got Spielberg at his zenith - mid Noughties - to have directed a pair of live-action movies based on this series. A cinematic two-hander, each two hours or so in length, would have been something to witness on the big screen.
not sure how much I remember of the show itself, but I feel like I probably watched it just based on remembering the theme song itself! (I should've guessed it was a haim saban/shuki levy joint.) definitely makes me want to pick up the DVD of the original, and look into the sequel which I'm only now learning exists!
Loved first time seeing and THE SHOW IS STILL GOING!
take me back on CBBC BBC1 in 1982 in UK
I totally stumbled on this video, but greatly enjoyed it
I loved the video. If you got the deluxe set you might have seen me on there. It took us fans several years to figure out a lot of the mysteries on this show, manly the voice actors. It was a credit on Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the sea that helped us point to Howard Ryshpan.
My fan made set helped Fabulous films with how the documentaries were supposed to go as the BBC didn't have them all. They later located original audio tapes that had the documentaries on them.
It was also pretty fun to meet the voice actors in Montreal. It was my suggestion for the scene to dub with the Solaris. It was too bad that "Pedro" and "Sancho" weren't present. We even got to see the old machine on how they would dub this using celluloid film and magnetic tape. Most of my Episodes came from my taping it early in the morning in 1989. I was missing a few as occasionally Nickelodeon was still off the air and nothing was on that morning.
As I child of the 80's, I loved the show.. I watch in on the BBC in the UK. I think it works as a child's anima, but as an adults.. clearly its easy for us to pick apart lol danger mouse was a UK staple
The music added in later is epic and makes this show. How absolutly sad this didnt get all 7 seasons.
Mysterious Cities Of Gold and Spartakus and The Sun Beneath The Sea were two of my favorite cartoon series on Nickelodeon. This is a great mini documentary you did on the show. Did you ever do one of Spartakus as well? I figured Nickalodeon had cut the Mysterious Cities Of Gold since I later discovered the uncut English dubs on youtube. Sadly the U.S. dvds are out of print, so I had to go ebay to buy an OOP dvd set. I don't the sequel series ever got a dvd release in the states.
OMG I want that soundtrack! (The French one - duh)
The French soundtrack is available on North-American iTunes. Includes the theme song and all the leitmotives.
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches? Ya' know, if you had just stuck to plain Ramen you'd probably be up to the Secret World of Alex Mack by now.
This video showed clips of the documentaries that I assumed were the ones that were cut for time? Do you know where I can find the full documentaries? I own the DVD box set, but they only have the cut versions that aired when I was a kid.
I grew up watching this when my parents were in the airforce in the 80s. I'm native american (ojibwe) I eventually did a native studies degree at Berkeley because of this, I think. Thanks for the intense nerdy dedication
For me. It will always be about the theme song. Love that song! Both the English and the original French versions.
I remember watching this in the early morning before school. Pretty bold Cartoon with what it showed at the time.
I got to see the show now and then over my grandparents until we finally got Nickelodeon on our cable channel. It's a good show, and I had already learned to enjoy serialized storytelling thanks to Filmation using the movie serial style in some of their shows.
That theme song is amazing. I didn't know DIC's origins but they made a number of the shows I grew up with. Now their library has gone through numerous acquisitions. I think Media DHX owns it now.
Yeah DHX has most of the old library and almost all of it (not including Cities of Gold) can be found through their CZcams broadcasting arm 'WildBrain'. Just type any DiC show + 'WildBrain' in the search bar and you can find free episodes to watch. They also got Filmation and Ruby Spears stuff. Usually they set up playlists because their uploading scheme is whack.
It's ALWAYS tricky to write fictional history in a way that's accurate but also entertaining. Kids and even adults don't necessarily want long, drawn-out accounts of war and death and political strife, but these things shouldn't be ignored and SHOULD be represented accurately. Or at least acknowledged as "alternate history" (hello, Anastasia).
Personally I think any culture can write about any other culture IF they do the work. I grew up with the American Girls series, which did NOT shy away from things like cholera deaths, children nearly dying working in factories, and black slavery. And what they did gloss over they covered in a "this is how it really was back then" section after the story.
I used to get up early to watch this show! I think it was Little Prince then MCOG then David the Gnome before school. But they would take these long breaks and I couldn’t catch up. I need to get the DVD now.
I will say, even as a seven ish? Year old when this was airing the continuity wasn’t THAT hard to pick up on. I missed the entire “Esteban in Spain” arc first watch but it made it a point to have the characters re-explain what’s going on and what their goals were. Even though as nick viewers we never got to see the documentaries (I agree it was a shame!) it was always clear the breakdown between the “real” and “fantastical television nonsense”. Part of what made it so thrilling WAS the serializaiom as it made every episode feel completely crucial and built anticipation for things like when they finally do introduce the city of gold in the last act.
As meh as English language dubs were of this era kudos for not just “inventing a new story entirely out of the pictures a la the little prince”. Saban and Levi were not deserving of child show billionaire status, but the soundtrack is great (it was the mid 80’s- warbling synths were a mandatory feature).
I HAD NO IDEA THERES A NEW VERSION I WILL BE CHECKING THAT OUT VERY SOON.
Spartacus and the sun beneath the sea I never really dug as much because it’s a bat shit insane acid trip compared to this
has flashbacks of Warriors of the Wind
So the show turned the Olmecs into the final bad guy from every late 70s-early 80s space anime. What.
This show was awesome. It was based in history but takes an adventurous step towards the fantastic and mystical.
Our heroes are looking for technologically-advanced artefacts from a long-lost civilisation, it's INEVITABLE that they will come across other such advanced societies.
🌇Thanks for answering the mystery! ... of a show we had occasionally seen and sometimes wondered about
This ..... AND Spartakus - I'm so happy y'all also mentioned it............. THIS IS MY CHILDHOOD. My grampa taped and SENT me..... EVERY episode of this, he viewed this as worthy a well as other "history" based cartoons................. I WILL ALWAYS LOVE - Cities of Gold
this was my favorite.
French Soundtrack was what made it 100 times better for me. It had that "Warriors" vibe lol
Whoa, a few minute before I get this notification, I was reminding myself that you tweeted about this being on patron yesterda, meaning today this will likely pop up for me to watch. Nice.