The 39 episodes of the animated series The Mysterious Cities of Gold were co-produced between DiC Entertainment and Studio Pierrot. The series premiere episode was broadcast in Japan on NHK on 1 May 1982, and it entirely ran for 39 episodes until its conclusion on 5 February 1983. The plot of the episodes follows a young Spanish boy named Esteban who joins a voyage to the New World in search of the lost Seven Cities of Gold and his father.
The series aired in the English dubbed format in the United States, premiering on Nickelodeon on 30 June 1986 and running through 29 June 1990.[citation needed] English dubbed episodes also aired in the United Kingdom on Children's BBC,[1][2] and in Australia, on the public broadcaster ABC in 1986.[3][unreliable source?] The series was translated and aired in France on Antenne 2.[4][5] The episodes have been released to both VHS and DVD in France, Belgium, Japan, Canada (in French) and Germany.[6] In 2007, Fabulous Films acquired the license to release the series in Region 2 (Europe), Region 1, and Region 4. All 39 unedited episodes of the series were released in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2008 as a six DVD set with the picture and sound restored. The DVD was released in Australia in August 2008. It was released in North America on 7 April 2009.[7] In 2013 the original series was released in on Blu-ray in France.[8]
In 1532, Barcelona, Spain, a young orphan boy named Esteban begins an adventure to the new world after he meets a mysterious navigator in a tavern named Mendoza who claims to have saved him from a sinking ship when he was an infant. Esteban's father was lost, but Mendoza believes he may still be alive and shows Esteban the missing piece of a sun amulet which Esteban always wears as proof that they met before. Mendoza sneaks Esteban aboard the sailing ship Esperanza, and once in the hold, he meets a kidnapped Inca girl named Zia who has a sun medallion nearly identical to his own.
The Esperanza sets across the Atlantic Ocean and Esteban gets to know Zia who tells him she was taken from her village when she was very young. Now the Spaniards are taking her back in hopes she will lead them to the legendary Cities of Gold. Eventually, the two are found by Gaspard, the captain of the guard, who believes they are stowaways. Mendoza defends the children which puts him at odds with Gaspard and his superiors, Captain Perez and Commander Gomez.
Mendoza uses his skills as an expert navigator to pilot the Esperanza through the treacherous Straits of Magellan, during which Esteban overhears a plot by Gaspard and Gomez to dispose of Mendoza once they have cleared the straits. Once the ship is through to the Pacific Ocean, Gaspard challenges Mendoza to a duel, but the ship suddenly encounters a typhoon and Captain Perez pleads for Mendoza to save the ship.
Battered by the typhoon, the Esperanza breaks up and Captain Perez and the rest of the crew abandon ship leaving Mendoza, his two associates Pedro and Sancho, and the children to fend for themselves. The five build a raft and escape from the sinking ship. While adrift, Esteban learns that Zia's father is an Incan high priest who may be able to help him find his own father. Eventually, the castaways make it to the shore of a mysterious island.
While exploring the island, Pedro and Sancho cross paths with a mysterious serpent-headed figure who Zia identifies as the Incan god Viracocha. At night, the figure returns and Esteban realizes that it is just a man in disguise and gives chase. When the figure encounters Zia, he carries her off in a canoe and Esteban swims after them. Later, Esteban washes ashore on another island and finds a village built in the branches of a giant tree. There he finds Zia and meets the mysterious figure – a native boy named Tao.
Esteban and Zia befriend Tao and his pet parrot Kokapetl. Tao explains that he is the last of the Heva people – a great civilization that once existed on a continent that sank into the Pacific Ocean. Before the cataclysm, they hid their advanced knowledge within the Seven Cities of Gold on the mainland. When Mendoza and his men show up, Tao runs away with Zia and takes her to a hidden temple. There, Zia translates a message in a knotted string called a quipu which leads to events that releases the Solaris – a golden sailing vessel.
Once aboard the Solaris, Tao uses his Heva encyclopedia to figure out how the ship works. He also reveals his mysterious gold jar which is another artifact of his people. Once underway, everyone's interest is drawn to a strange gold cube below deck that has no openings. Soon a Spanish galleon shows up with Señor Gomez and Captain Gaspard aboard. Tao and Esteban rush to figure out how the cube works and Esteban finds a hidden lever that deploys a metal sail from the main deck. The sail captures the sun's energy and powers a series of automated oars which allows the Solaris to outrun the pursuers.
Esteban and his friends finally make it to the mainland, but they are soon captured by Spaniards under the command of Governor Francisco Pizarro. Zia is brought to Pizarro's fortress and ordered to translate a golden quipu, but she refuses to read it. Mendoza promises to get her to cooperate, and in the meantime, Esteban and the others are locked up with a group of Incan prisoners. Mendoza later unleashes an escape plan to rescue everyone by setting fire to Pizarro's armory and slipping away amid the diversion.
Esteban and the others escape to the Solaris, but Gomez and his galleon appear. Tao learns that the solar sail can be used as a weapon and fires a heat beam at Gomez's ship setting it on fire. Tao uses another beam to drive off Pizarro's soldiers who are attacking a nearby village and then goes ashore to help the wounded. Gomez soon returns and captures the Solaris, but offers to exchange the ship for Zia. Zia surrenders, but once Gomez has her, he orders his cannons to fire upon the village. Tao sneaks back aboard the Solaris and overloads the solar weapon which explodes destroying both the Solaris and Gomez's ship.
The children set out to find Puna, Zia's home village, but to get there, they must go through a pass blocked by Pizarro's fortress which is built atop an underground temple. Sneaking into the temple, the children find an old priest named Pasha who helps guide them further, but Pizarro sets a trap for them. Pasha reveals a secret escape route through a puzzle room, which once solved, melts a pillar of ice that collapses the temple and likewise brings down Pizarro's fortress. During the collapse, the children become separated from Mendoza and his men.
Mini-Documentary: Incan architecture
11
"Messengers of the Region" Transliteration: "Makyô kara no shisha (Messengers From Wicked Men)" (Japanese: 魔境からの使者)
10July1982(1982-07-10) (NHK) 7 December 1983 (France 2)
As the children continue toward Zia's village, they discover they are being followed by two strange men dressed in panther skins. When they get to Zia's village, they find it abandoned and soon run into Gomez, Gaspard and their soldiers. There, Gomez threatens to feed Esteban and Tao to a nest of army ants unless Zia reveals the message of the golden quipu. She relents, saying that a City of Gold lies atop a nearby mountain peak which lies beyond a haunted forbidden zone. The children are eventually rescued by the two strange men, Wayna and Kecha, who explain that their great chief Kraka wishes to meet them.
Mini-Documentary: Village festivals, of Incan origin, in present-day Peru
12
"Secret of the Medallions" Transliteration: "Pendanto no himitsu (Secret of the Pendants)" (Japanese: ペンダントの秘密)
17July1982(1982-07-17) (NHK) 14 December 1983 (France 2)
Wayna and Kecha take the children to a stronghold called the Fort of the Black Eagle. Meanwhile, Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho arrive at Gomez's camp and Mendoza offers Gomez help in navigating the treacherous forbidden zone. Mendoza leads the Spaniards to the fort and Gomez plans to attack it at nightfall. Mendoza secretly tips off Esteban to the plan and Tao builds a giant flare which lights up the night sky and helps the Incas drive off the invaders. The next morning, Wayna takes the children to the City of the High Peak where they meet Chief Kraka who identifies the medallions the children wear as keys to the gates of the cities of gold.
At the City of the High Peak, Tao discovers a marker which bears a sun symbol similar to Esteban and Zia's medallions. Chief Kraka suggests that the children speak to Myuca, an old seer living on Machu Picchu who knows more about the artifacts. When they meet, Myuca tells Esteban a story of a white man who came from across the ocean and married an Incan priestess. They had a child together, but the sun god Inti was angered by this and plunged the land into darkness. The villagers sacrificed the priestess and banished the man and his child to the sea. Esteban wonders if the tale is about his parents.
Mini-Documentary: Andean music and Andean musical instruments
14
"Esteban's Medallion" Transliteration: "Futatsu no pendanto (The Two Pendants)" (Japanese: 2つのペンダント)
31July1982(1982-07-31) (NHK) 28 December 1983 (France 2)
Tao figures out that the marker points the way to the first city of gold, but before they can travel there, Esteban needs to have the sun symbol part of his medallion which Mendoza possesses. Outside the Fort of the Black Eagle, Gomez reinforces his men with a cannon that will surely destroy the fort, but Mendoza steals it and gives it to the Inca as a peace offering. The plan backfires however, and Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho are sentenced to be executed. Esteban shows up at the last second and asks the Inca to spare Mendoza because he came in order to give Esteban's sun symbol back to him. Mendoza reluctantly hands it over and Esteban completes his medallion.
Mini-Documentary: Incan graves, buried treasures and their symbolism
15
"The Subterranean Secret" Transliteration: "Saigo no dasshutsu (The Last Escape)" (Japanese: 最後の脱出)
7August1982(1982-08-07) (NHK) 4 January 1984 (France 2)
Gomez's army attacks the Fort of the Black Eagle and Mendoza uses the stolen cannon against them, but knowing that Mendoza has a limited supply of ammo, Gomez pushes his assault. Tao fashions a set of makeshift hand grenades out of clay pots with the left over gunpowder and buys some time to plan an escape. Eventually the Incas are forced to abandon the fort and the children sneak out through a secret cave. Gaspard's soldiers spot them and give chase, but the children give them the slip by swimming through an underwater cave.
The children meet back with Mendoza and set out to find the first City of Gold, but they come under attack by a hostile tribe of giant men called the Urubus. After escaping they find an injured girl named Lana, who takes them to her village which floats on an island of reeds upon the waters of Lake Titicaca. Soon, the village is attacked by the Urubus who want to sacrifice Lana to their deity, the Earth goddess Pachamama. Tao crafts a submarine out of two reed canoes and sneak attacks the Urubus' rafts. The Urubus flee, but their chief, Koruka, is captured. Koruka makes a deal to never attack the village again and provides a clue to reach the City of Gold – a place where Pachamama is said to stand guard.
Mini-Documentary: Lake Titicaca, its agricultural value and the mythology attached to it
17
"The Great Condor" Transliteration: "Ôgon no dai kondoru (The Golden Condor)" (Japanese: 黄金の大コンドル)
21August1982(1982-08-21) (NHK) 18 January 1984 (France 2)
On their way to Pachamama's mountain, the adventurers enter a desert where they encounter Koruka again. He explains that he was banished from his tribe for failing to capture the village and warns that his people are plotting revenge. He tells them to hide in the Valley of the Dead – a place where his people fear to go. When the Urubus find them, they flee into the valley which is lined with dangerous volcanic vents that cover their escape. Eventually, the light of the setting sun leads them to a statue of Pachamama, and placing Esteban and Zia's medallions onto the goddess' breasts triggers a wall to open which reveals the first City of Gold. The gold is only an illusion created by the glow of the setting sun on ordinary stone, but the children discover another treasure – a massive golden condor hidden inside a great temple.
The children examine the golden condor and Kokapetl finds a quipu stuck in its beak. Zia translates it by saying that a danger threatened the city and the people fled to the land of the Mayas. After a series of earthquakes, Mendoza realizes that the city is built atop a volcano which appears ready to erupt. Tao believes the condor is a Hiva-built vehicle, like the Solaris, that can help them escape, and when the volcano erupts, the condor is flung into the sky. With seconds before crashing, Esteban uses a sun disk he found in the temple to activate the controls and the incredible condor takes powered flight.
Mini-Documentary: The physical geography and the ancient monuments of South America
19
"The Nazca Plateau" Transliteration: "Ubawareta dai kondoru (Theft of The Golden Condor)" (Japanese: 奪われた大コンドル)
4September1982(1982-09-04) (NHK) 1 February 1984 (France 2)
The condor follows the setting sun and passes over the peculiar Nazca plateau which is covered with massive drawings that can only be seen from the air. When the sun sets, the condor powers down and lands in the middle of a condor drawing. Nearby, Spanish soldiers spot the golden bird and inform Governor Pizarro. The next morning, the children examine the Nazca lines while Pedro and Sancho fiddle with the condor and discover a control stick in the shape of a cobra that can manually steer the bird. Soon Pizarro arrives and captures everyone. He then demands that Esteban give a demonstration of the condor, or sacrifice his friends. Mendoza tells Esteban to go along with the idea, only to use the opportunity for everyone to escape.
The children fly back to the City of the High Peak to speak to Chief Kraka about the land of the Mayas. Along the way, they spot Gomez's army moving their cannon over a wooden bridge. Esteban dives twice, unsing the flying ship's wings to cut down the bridge. The cannon is, thus, lost in the river. Gomez's forces make it to a waterfall, which hides a secret entrance to the city, and use gunpowder to blast it open. The explosion, however, causes the waterfall to collapse which washes the rest of Gomez's men away. The children land on the city where the seer Myuca tells them to find the Papacamayo of Puna, a priest who journeyed to the land of the Mayas in search of a magical fountain. Zia realizes that the man Myuca speaks of is her father.
As the condor flies over the Amazon River, a storm appears and cuts off the sunlight causing the bird to lose power and crash into the jungle. Once down, the adventurers encounter a tribe of warrior women who take them prisoners. They are brought before the priestess Amoro who demands that they be sacrificed in order to appease the rain god. Mendoza explains that Esteban can command the sun to show itself and if he succeeds, their lives should be spared. Overwhelmed, Esteban tries to command the sun, but instead the storm intensifies. Before Amoro can give the order to kill them, the storm suddenly parts and the sun appears just as Esteban had asked.
The Amazon Queen praises Esteban for bringing out the sun, but Amoro still demands a sacrifice and chooses a young servant girl, named Morka. The children learn that Amoro uses a sacred "rain mask" to foretell storms, but Tao discovers that the device is really a barometer made with knowledge from the Hiva people. Tao sabotages the mask which causes Amoro to make a false prediction that a great tempest will come. When the storm does not arrive, Amoro flees the village in disgrace. Seeking revenge, Amoro returns with a hostile tribe of Indians from up the river. Esteban comes up with a plan to use the Queen's "Mirror of the Moon" to reflect sunlight upon the condor and give it power. He then flies the bird which frightens the hostile natives away.
Mini-Documentary: The Indian tribes from the Amazonian region and their way of life
23
"The Jade Mask" Transliteration: "Maya no kami no ikari (Wrath of the Mayan God)" (Japanese: マヤの神の怒り)
2October1982(1982-10-02) (NHK) 29 February 1984 (France 2)
While continuing to the land of the Mayas, the condor malfunctions and falls from the sky. It comes to a hard landing deep inside a pit where a hidden stairway leads to another ancient city. The ruins are abandoned, but Tao finds a statue of a mysterious winged serpent. The writing on the statue leads Tao to a room lined with hieroglyphs and a jade mask. He tries to read the writing which says that the winged serpent is a Mayan god who built a great furnace. Mendoza wonders if the furnace was used to melt gold. When Pedro and Sancho try to steal the jade mask, they unwittingly activate a trap of crushing blocks from which the group narrowly escapes.
Mini-Documentary: The Maya civilization — comparing Mayan building-style to the Incan one
24
"The Manuscript" Transliteration: "Hisui kamen no himitsu (Secret of the Jade Mask)" (Japanese: ヒスイ仮面の秘密)
9October1982(1982-10-09) (NHK) 7 March 1984 (France 2)
The children return the next morning to the room with the hieroglyphs and Tao finds writing hidden inside the eyes of the jade mask which leads them to a secret burial chamber. Opening the sarcophagus within, they find it only contains a torn piece of manuscript written by the serpent god. Returning to the city, the children find that Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho have been taken prisoner by an unscrupulous Spanish explorer named Dr. Fernando la Guerra, and his assistant Marinche. Marinche takes Tao's gold jar and the manuscript fragment of which she has the other half. With Kokapetl's help, Tao steals back his jar, and the children escape, but become separated again from Mendoza.
Mini-Documentary: The Mayans of today, in Guatemala
25
"The Lake of Gold" Transliteration: "Ôgon ningen no matsuri (Mystery of the Holy Spring)" (Japanese: 黄金人間の祭り)
16October1982(1982-10-16) (NHK) 14 March 1984 (France 2)
The children find a lake fed by an ornate fountain and Zia wonders if it is the one her father was searching for. The lake holds gold treasures at the bottom, and when Esteban tries to fish some out, an angry mob arrives, accusing them of sacrilege. The children are captured and locked up in a temple where they will be sacrificed the next day. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Marinche plot to poison the villagers' water supply and steal the treasures, but Mendoza and his men rig the levees in order to flood the village. The children escape from the flooding temple on an altar made from a boat, and Kokapetl manages to steal back the valuable manuscript for Tao.
Following the Serpent God's manuscript, the children continue their search for the cities of gold, but the evil Doctor, Marinche and their brute Tatiola are not far behind. When they enter a rocky gully, the Doctor's party is attacked by a giant eagle and falls into a ravine. Mendoza arrives to find the Doctor and his colleagues trapped and offers to help only after the Doctor surrenders his weapon. Afterward, everyone arrives at a prairie which the manuscript says they have to cross. Marinche claims to be too exhausted to continue on and stays behind – she knows however, that the adventurers are really entering a dangerous alligator-infested swamp.
Mini-Documentary: The persistent Mayan Pagan rituals and beliefs in modern times, despite the arrival of Christianity
27
"The Doors of the Night" Transliteration: "Toketa sha hon no nazo (The Manuscript's Riddle Solved)" (Japanese: 解けた写本の謎)
30October1982(1982-10-30) (NHK) 28 March 1984 (France 2)
Surviving the swamp, the adventurers discover a rock wall where winds howl through a narrow crack. Squeezing through, they come to a cave which leads to the second hidden city that Tao believes was built by the Serpent God. While exploring, Zia is captured by the Doctor and Marinche who then force Tao to translate writing found on a jaguar statue. The writing gives clues to reflect sunlight upon the statue which opens a secret passage to a room containing an idol holding a second manuscript. When the greedy Doctor goes toward the idol, he springs a pit trap and falls in. Tao also pushes Marinche in to join her associate. After reading the second manuscript, Tao learns that there is a third city hidden beyond a forest of statues.
On the search for the forest of statues, the adventurers fashion a raft and head down a river that ends in a dangerous waterfall. Surviving the spill, they find the forest of statues and a hidden cave behind the waterfall that leads to the third city of the Serpent God. Inside, Tao translates the hieroglyphics, but they make no sense and he becomes frustrated. Esteban however, notices that Tao's wet manuscripts now reveal hidden symbols that spell out another message; a city of gold lies beyond a mountain called The Burning Shield.
The adventurers find The Burning Shield, a mountain that emits a beam of energy and causes Tao's golden jar to glow, and inside they find a race of goblin-like humanoids who harness the power of a giant crystal with advanced technology. Soon the children are commanded to surrender by a voice that identifies itself as the "God of the Olmecs" and knocks them unconscious with blasts of energy. They wake up later in a laboratory surrounded by the creatures and meet their leader Menator, who wants cells from the children to help slow down his people's aging process. Mendoza comes to their rescue and, after fleeing the mountain, they come to a cliff overlooking the valley. There, Mendoza sees all the cities they have been to and realizes that they have been walking in circles, but he believes it means that the Cities of Gold must be nearby.
Mini-Documentary: Lake Atitlan, its agricultural value and the mythology attached to it
30
"The Escape" Transliteration: "Kesshi no dai dassô sakusen (The Great Escape)" (Japanese: 決死の大脱走作戦)
20November1982(1982-11-20) (NHK) 18 April 1984 (France 2)
The Olmecs capture Esteban and his friends again, and Kalmec, the Olmec commander, brings the children before Menator. When a slave girl named Myena brings in Tao's jar, Menator demands to know how to open it, but Tao does not know. Afterward, Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho are put to work in a sewage pit while the children are placed in suspended animation. Mendoza manages to overpower their guard and with Myena's help, he sabotages the Olmecs' crystal machine. During the chaos, he frees the children from the freezing chambers and they eventually reunite with Myena, who shows them how to escape from the mountain.
Chased down by the Olmecs, the group faces capture again, but the Olmecs are driven off by a band of Mayans led by Wynococha, Myena's husband-to-be. The Mayans take them to the Village of the New Sun where they are treated with suspicion and locked in a hut. At the Olmec base, three new prisoners are brought to Menator; Dr. Guerra, Marinche and Tatiola, who offer to find the Golden Condor if they are set free. Meanwhile, Myena tells her father, the chief of the village, about the Incan girl Zia and he realizes she is his daughter who was taken away by the Spaniards years ago. Myena runs to inform Zia, but is too late because the children sneak out after overhearing the news that the Olmecs have found the Condor.
Mini-Documentary: A ridiculous Pagan sacrifice in southern rural Mexico
32
"Attack of the Olmecs" Transliteration: "Kondoru dakkai sakusen (Reclaiming the Golden Condor)" (Japanese: コンドル奪回作戦)
4December1982(1982-12-04) (NHK) 2 May 1984 (France 2)
The Olmecs mount an attack against the Mayans, and Mendoza meets with Papacamayo (Zia's father) to lend assistance. Meanwhile the children stumble upon two old acquaintances; Gaspard and Gomez. The two do not show hostility and claim they no longer work for Pizarro. When asked about Mendoza, Esteban lies and says that the Olmecs killed him. The two men are surprisingly saddened by the news, saying that Mendoza was an honorable rival, and they also agree to help the children save the Condor from the Olmecs. The children reach the Condor, and with Gomez and Gaspard's help, they manage to lift off. The two men try to hang onto the wing but they fall off, landing in a tree. Esteban then dive bombs the Olmecs who scatter from the battlefield but in the chaos Papacamayo is Fatality Wounded.
The children land the condor and reunite with their friends, but Zia learns Papacamayo has been mortally wounded and she goes to him. On his deathbed, he tells the story of Pizarro invading his village and taking his little daughter as a gift for the Spanish Princess. He also reveals where to find the cities of gold; at the intersection of four lines connected by the three cities of the Serpent God and the Mountain of the Burning Shield. He also warns that there is a great treasure which must not fall into the hands of the Olmecs because they could use it to destroy the world. Elsewhere, Wynococha seeks help from other Mayan villages to form an army against the Olmecs.
Mini-Documentary: The traditional clothing-style and mask-making in rural Guatemala
34
"Revolt of the Mayas" Transliteration: "Orumeka kichi sô kôgeki (Attack of the Olmec Base)" (Japanese: オルメカ基地総攻撃)
18December1982(1982-12-18) (NHK) 16 May 1984 (France 2)
The Mayans continue to fight off the Olmecs, and the children fix baskets full of rocks to the Condor to dump on their enemies. Gomez and Gaspard arrive at the village and they try to seize control of the Condor, but the village women overpower them. Meanwhile Mendoza helps the Mayans build European-style siege towers and leads the charge at the base of the Olmecs' mountain. The children take off in the Condor just as Gaspard and Gomez escape from the village and cling to the bottom of it, but they fall off again when the Condor drops its payload of rocks. The surviving Olmecs retreat and the Mayans storm the base, but Menator has a trap waiting for them.
After landing the Condor, the children are again confronted by Gaspard and Gomez. Believing that the secrets of the cities of gold lie in the Olmec base, they force the children to lead the way inside. Once there, the party encounters a hologram of Menator who leads them into a trap, but soon Mendoza arrives and drives off the guards. During the scuffle, Kalmec abducts Zia and Menator threatens to kill her unless Esteban reveals the location of the Cities of Gold. Esteban reluctantly tells him, but Menator does not free Zia – instead the whole base begins to collapse as Menator escapes in a massive flying machine. The Doctor, Marinche and Tatiola apparently fall to their doom when the walls collapse in on them.
Menator has taken Zia aboard his flying machine and targets the Mayan warriors with a heat ray. Esteban, Tao and Mendoza take flight in the Condor and chase after him. As they close in, Esteban spots a hatch on top of the Olmec craft and makes a heroic leap for it. Tao follows, leaving Mendoza alone to pilot the Condor which he ends up crashing into the jungle. Menator orders his craft to land and his men rush out to search the Condor for survivors, giving Esteban and Tao a chance to slip inside and overpower the Olmec pilots. Tao figures out the controls and flies the machine while Esteban tries to rescue Zia. Once over a lake, Esteban shatters a window and he and Zia leap into the water to escape.
Esteban and Zia swim to an island in the middle of the lake. They are found by a mysterious high priest with a golden mask who claims that prophecy foretold of their coming, for they bear the medallions of the sun – the keys to the Cities of Gold. Soon the Olmecs arrive and threaten to kill Tao if they are not permitted into the cities. The priest explains that the cities were built underground in order to safeguard the knowledge of the Heva people, because a war was waged thousands of years ago between them and the people of Atlantis. Both cultures built great utopias powered by the sun, but for reasons long forgotten they went to war and destroyed each other with powerful solar weapons. Kalmec claims that the secrets of the cities are needed in order to save his people, but Esteban decides to open the gates in order to save Tao's life. He and Zia place their medallions on the doors which swing open finally revealing a massive City of Gold.
Mini-Documentary: The subjection of the Aztecs by Hernán Cortés
38
"The Great Legacy" Transliteration: "Ôgon toshi no kiki (The Great Treasure)" (Japanese: 黄金都市の危機)
29January1983(1983-01-29) (NHK) 13 June 1984 (France 2)
With the gates open, Menator has his flying machine split apart into separate sections – the claws pry the gates open wider, while the top drills a hole into them. When a gap is opened, Mendoza rushes inside and captures Kalmec setting Tao free, but once the gates are destroyed, Menator's machine flies in and reforms itself. Kalmec slips away and runs to find the treasure in the temple, but is stopped by the priest who knows that Kalmec wants the solar unit which powers the city. He offers it willingly but only if Kalmec stands down. Kalmec lowers his saber, but when the priest gets close he stabs him claiming that the Olmecs take what they want. Kalmec finds the solar unit and notices that a component which resembles Tao's golden jar is missing. When Kalmec removes the unit he sets off a security system which opens the dome over the city. A ring of solar panels is deployed which focusses heat beams from the temple onto the Olmec machine and destroys it. Menator survives, and he and Kalmec flee with the solar unit. Esteban and his friends help the wounded priest.
Kalmec helps his leader back to the Olmec base, and with the solar unit in hand, he connects it to the Olmec solar reactor and powers it up as Menator dies seconds later from his injuries. Something goes wrong, however, and a meltdown begins. Kalmec is killed in the ensuing upheaval. Earthquakes shake the City of Gold, and the high priest warns that the Olmec reactor must be shut down or it will burn a hole straight into the Earth. To stop it, Tao's golden jar must be inserted into the device. The children go off with the priest to the mountain, but in the meantime Mendoza learns that the priest is an impostor and that the real one died years ago. Instead, the masked man was a traveler who came from the sea, and Mendoza realizes that the man is Esteban's father. Reaching the mountain, the priest continues on alone after bidding Esteban goodbye. As the City of Gold crumbles, Gomez and Gaspard are killed trying to hoard gold. Elsewhere, the priest finds the reactor and inserts the jar. In a flash of energy the machine stops, but the priest's fate is uncertain. In the end, the City of Gold is destroyed, but the children still have the Golden Condor. Esteban, Zia and Tao decide to fly west to find adventure in the Pacific Ocean. In the meantime, Mendoza promises to see Esteban again – perhaps one day in the Barcelona tavern where they first met.
Last mini-Documentary: Recap of the New World's strangeness and exotic elements that fascinated the Europeans. The last explorer to search for the Lost City of Gold ("El Dorado") — Percy Fawcett.
1 2 3 When the series originally aired in the United States, episode 12 aired after episode 7 and before episode 8.
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Samurai Pizza Cats is an American animated television adaptation of the anime series Kyatto Ninden Teyandee, produced by Tatsunoko Productions and Sotsu Agency. The series originally aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from February 1, 1990 to February 12, 1991 for a total of 54 episodes. Saban Entertainment picked up the North American rights to the series in 1991 and produced a 52-episode English adaptation.
Naked Video is a BBC Scotland sketch show that was aired on BBC2 from 12 May 1986 to 18 November 1991. The show was created by Colin Gilbert who had previously created A Kick Up the Eighties and Naked Radio. The series originally starred Ron Bain, Gregor Fisher, Andy Gray, Elaine C. Smith, Tony Roper, Helen Lederer and Jonathan Watson, but they were later joined by Kate Donnelly and Louise Beattie. The series' producer was Colin Gilbert and its script editor was Philip Differ.
The Mysterious Cities of Gold, originally released in Japan as Esteban, Child of the Sun and released in France and Luxembourg as Les Mystérieuses Cités d'Or, is an animated series which was co-produced by DiC Audiovisuel and Studio Pierrot.
Ronin Warriors, known in Japan by its original title Legendary Armor Samurai Troopers, is a Japanese anime series created by Hajime Yatate and animated by Sunrise. The television series, co-produced by Nagoya TV, aired across Japan on the All-Nippon News Network from April 30, 1988, to March 4, 1989 for a total of 39 episodes. A manga adaptation was serialized on Kodansha’s Comic BomBom from November 17, 1988 to April 5, 1990 and the chapters collected into 2 tankōbon volumes.
X Bomber is a Japanese marionette tokusatsu TV series created by manga artist Go Nagai, and produced by Cosmo Productions and Jin Productions. The show aired on Fuji TV from October 4, 1980 to March 28, 1981, with a total of 25 episodes, and was billed in Japan as being filmed in "Sūpāmariorama" (スーパーマリオラマ), a puppeteering process similar to Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation works.
Sherlock Hound is an Italian-Japanese anime television series produced by RAI and Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Based on the character Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, almost all the characters are depicted as anthropomorphic dogs. The show featured regular appearances of Jules Verne-steampunk style technology, adding a 19th-century science-fiction atmosphere to the series. It consists of 26 episodes and aired between 1984 and 1985.
Robotech is an American 85-episode adaptation of three unrelated Japanese anime television series made between 1982 and 1984 in Japan; the adaptation was aired in 1985. Within the combined and edited story, Robotechnology refers to the scientific advances discovered in an alien starship that crashed on a South Pacific island. With this technology, Earth developed giant robotic machines or mecha to fight three successive extraterrestrial invasions.
Noam Kaniel, also known as Noam, is an Israeli musician, singer and composer, who has sold over 8 million records, and is known for composing or performing the theme songs of many television series including X-Men, Goldorak, The Mysterious Cities of Gold, Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats, Code Lyoko, Miraculous Ladybug, Digimon Fusion, Glitter Force, and Power Rangers.
Urusei Yatsura is a Japanese anime television series produced by Kitty Films that aired on Fuji TV from October 14, 1981, to March 19, 1986. It is based on the manga series of the same name by Rumiko Takahashi, produced by Kitty Films & Fuji Television and was animated by Pierrot until episode 106, and Studio Deen for the rest of the series. The series was licensed in North America by AnimEigo in 1992, and released the series English subbed on VHS in October that year. Their license expired in 2011, and is currently licensed by Discotek Media.
Maigret is a British television series made by the BBC and which – following a pilot episode broadcast in 1959 – ran for 52 episodes from 1960 to 1963.
The Water Margin is a Japanese television series based on the 14th-century book Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Made in two seasons of 13 episodes each by Nippon Television it was shown in Japan in 1973 and 1974 as 水滸伝.
Persona 4: The Animation is an anime television series based on Atlus' PlayStation 2 video game, Persona 4. The story revolves around Yu Narukami, a young teenager who moves to the town of Inaba, where a mysterious string of murders is taking place. Upon discovering a distorted TV World and acquiring a mysterious power known as "Persona", Yu and his friends decide to investigate the murders and save others from being killed.
The Mysterious Cities of Gold is an animated series. It is the sequel to the 1982 TV series of the same name. The fourth season premiered on RTS Un in Switzerland.
The Mysterious Cities of Gold: Secret Paths is a game developed by Neko Entertainment and published by Ynnis Interactive, relating the events told in the 2012 television series The Mysterious Cities of Gold.
References
↑ The Journal Nos. 43572 to 43820, 1 September 1986 to 22 June 1987.
↑ The Journal Nos. 44378 to 44528, 5 April 1989 to 28 September 1989.
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