Mysterious Cities of Gold! · 8:34pm Oct 6th, 2013
Something else that has no relation to ponies...
This week I bought the brand new Mysterious Cities of Gold, season 2 episode 1-13 on DVD!
Those of you who have never heard of the Mysterious Cities of Gold must be wondering why it's such a big deal that I'm making a blog post about. After all, DVD sets come out all the time right? First let me quote the synopsis from TVTropes as I think it makes a good presentation of the serie:
The year is 1532, a time of exploration (and exploitation) of the New World. The prize foremost in the mind of every Spanish Explorer is the Mysterious Cities of Gold, said to lie deep within the heart of the South American continent. Of course, none of this means anything to Esteban, a young orphan currently living in Barcelona under the care of the Church.
The boy knows very little about his past — his only connection to it being a strange, crescent-shaped locket he's had since being brought to Barcelona as a baby and a mysterious ability to summon the sun on cue (thus earning him the nickname "The Child of the Sun.")
But all that is about to change...
One day, when Esteban is out and about in the city, a charismatic explorer named Mendoza crosses his path. He later claims to be the man who brought Esteban to Spain from the New World after rescuing him from death at sea. To prove this claim, he produces a round ornament that fits perfectly into the boy's locket. Mendoza offers to take Esteban on his next journey of exploration to the New World where the boy will presumably get the chance to learn more about his birth parents. Of course, Mendoza's intentions aren't entirely altruistic and in the boy's interests, as it's the explorer's belief that Esteban's locket and strange powers are somehow connected to the Mysterious Cities of Gold, which he hopes to find.
Esteban accepts the Call to Adventure and heads for the New World, but he quickly learns that Mendoza may not be entirely worthy of his trust. Proof of this lies in the fact that Mendoza has kidnapped an Incan girl (who had been taken to Spain and given to the Queen years before) and stowed her away on the ship they're currently travelling on. The girl, named Zia, has the ability to read knotted strings called quipu — an ability which Mendoza and his employers hope will come in handy on their quest for the Mysterious Cities. Esteban quickly bonds with Zia after discovering, to his amazement, that she has a locket that looks identical to his. Could she somehow have a personal connection to the Mysterious Cities of Gold as well?
During his journey to the New World, Esteban meets many more interesting people, including Mendoza's servants, the Plucky Comic Relief duo, Sancho and Pedro, and Tao, an island boy whose ancestors were (he claims) an advanced civilization capable of great magical and technological feats. The trio also come across The Golden Condor, a solar powered, gold-plated, bird shaped airplane built by an ancient civilization. Esteban also encounters some fearsome enemies, like the Spanish military commander Francisco Pizarro and the Olmecs, a tribe of elf-like humanoids who want to use the power of the Mysterious Cities of Gold to Take Over the World. The trio of kids must use their wits, skill and bravery, along with Mendoza's Badassness to unlock the secrets of those mysterious Cities of Gold and their relations to them.
Well, the reason why it's a big deal is that the first episode of the first season originally aired in 1982 and the first episode of the second season... December 2012. THIRTY YEARS! I've essentially been waiting all my life for this!
And it's a SEQUEL. Not a reboot, or a remake, it doesn't even have a clip show, no, a proper sequel! It picks up one year after episode 1 of the original series and goes on from there! Resuming the search for the other six cities of gold! The old 1982 series still drew in ratings whenever it aired, even 30 years later, and kids of today still enjoy it. It's actually a wonder it took this long.
I'm halfway through the set (which came with a pretty cool full storyboard of E207, which is pretty nifty) and it's pretty great. Animation is some fluid 3D cell shading stuff with gorgeous landscapes, the Condor has a really good redesign to make it look more like an actual condor (and gets a much needed mean of entering the cockpit beside climbing its slick metallic surface) and there's this new character who I think is just awesome! He's a French Alchemist and the dude is pretty much a gnome :p short, spiky hair and crazy inventions! Writing is competant, altough I feel there is a little spark missing with the mystery aspect, although the new villain, who is pretty much 16th century Spain Darth Vader adds a nice element of menace to it. I kinda pity the script writers for this show, that's some HUGE shoes to fill.
The original Mysterious Cities of Gold is available in English, and on Netflix apparently, so I suggest you go check it out. The new series should be available in English next year.
Let's compare opening for fun here:
(The new design for Zia is totally cuter too)
I already had another stupid birthday. I didn't need this to make me feel a billion years old all over again.
1400232 *pats your shoulder* You aren't alone there. Not by a long shot.
That said, even though I was very young when the first season of this show aired, seeing mention of it is a HUGE nostalgia bomb. I have so many fond memories of that series, considering I'm pretty sure I haven't seen it in at least twenty years. And the new series is actually continuing the story without rebooting it?
What glorious madness is this?!
WANT.
1400344 You should wait for the new serie's english dub by rewatching the old series then :D
1400232>>1400344 There's a trailer for the English version too, it's a teensy bit spoilery but not too much:
It shows the new characters, the alchemist and mysterious villain Zares.
1401577
I tried to put the original series in my Netflix queue, but couldn't. Probably because demand is higher than the number of discs they have available. To Amazon!
1401653 You mean like physical Netflix discs?! Just watch it on the Netflix streaming service. If you're from outside the US you can use like...a Google Chrome module thingie to trick the website into thinking you're from the US and access their service from your usual IP address.
1401763 I would, but it wasn't available on the streaming service when I checked. *looks again* Nope, not available for streaming on my end.
1401768 Hmm odd... well god luck getting the DVDs!
I think I remember watching the orginal on Nickelodeon as a kid. I seem to recall enjoying it, but not much else specific.
1401851 Let me tell you, it holds up extremely well. And the sci-fi elements are even cooler as an adult.