The Mysterious Cities of Gold

[hamster8 at hotmail.com]

OK.  This is ... um ... deeply, deeply OT, even for the OT group.  If 
you were aged between 6 and 11 at any point between 1982 and 1989, 
you may well remember this TV series.  The Mysterious Cities of Gold 
was a French/NHK (Japan) co-production made in 1982, and screened on 
BBC 1 in 1986 and later in 1989.  It may also have been screened on 
Nickelodeon in the States.  Until recently I assumed I was the only 
person who could remember the show, but I have recently found some 
websites dedicated to it, and am curious to know if any listers over 
here can remember it.

It was set in South America during the Spanish conquest.  An 
orpahaned 11/12 year old boy called Esteban teams up with a girl 
called Xia and a boy called Tao (last survivor of an ancient nuclear 
capable civilization that destroyed itself in a war with Atlantis) - 
sort of historical sci-fi.  There was some Spanish captain called 
Mendoza and comic relief sailors called Sancho and Pedro.  There was 
a solar powered ship, called the Solaris, and the Golden Condor, a 
sophisticated flying machine.  Aztecs, Mayans and Incas abounded.  
Sound familiar yet?  It was considerably better than most of the 
force fed dreck kids get today ... like Pokemon.  It had a plot, 
superb animation (ahead of its time in some respects) and 
historical/educational significance.  It also didn't shirk from 
issues - characters did die.  In short, it was perfect television.

If it does sound familiar, then you might want to check out ...

www.unity.force9.co.uk/mcog/index.html

Downloads of the theme tune are available, which had me feeling all 
nostalgic for several hours yesterday.

Here's the important bit.  If, like me, you were a fan, or even if 
you vaguely remember it, there is a letter writing campaign to get 
involved in - the object of which is to get the series released on 
video and DVD (in the UK only at this time, sorry).  The rights are 
currently owned by some TV company that's trying to get the series 
placed on a UK terrestrial network.  Anyway.

Desperately irrelevant.  I just suddenly got nostalgic for childhood 
TV again ... hey, it happens.

Al
*where schnoogling happens a lot, and we think Nancy Stouffer is hot*