Once Upon a Time... Man
Once upon a time ... Man ( original title: Il était une fois ... l' Homme ) is a French animated television series, which was created in 1978 and deals with the history of mankind. It was invented by the French director and producer Albert Barillé. She had to entertain the target children alike and to teach and was embarking on a number of series under the title Once Upon a Time ...
Content
The main character is "Maestro" - a bearded, wise old man, who always in the background tells the matching stories, but often is also part of the story. Five billion years before our time shows Maestro the origin of the earth and explains the origin of life, the dinosaurs, Neanderthals and humans. The series always goes back to theories, which were current at the time of the creation of the series. Later they discuss important eras, events and persons in history.
Characters
The series tells the story of humanity from the perspective of a small group of people. The members always occur in this case as a typical representative of the current epoch. Sometimes they also take on the role of a famous person from history, provided they fit their character.
- Maestro - The wise old man. Maestro often represents an inventor, philosopher, or advisor and thus represents the progress in every era. Its distinguishing feature is a long white beard, who wrapped his entire body. In the German version of the series his voice is also the narrator.
- Adam - The Good. Adam often plays a simple man of the people. He is courageous and has a good character.
- Eva - The loving mother and / or companion. She is blonde and a strong woman - often Adams wife.
- Jumbo - The Strong. Jumbo is Adam's best friend and always available when it is confronted with physical violence. He has red hair and the stature and strength of a bear.
- Klotz - The Brutal with long red nose. He is not very smart, but very irascible, and always relates an adversarial relationship. Only Jumbo opposite he is very fast at small.
- The Disgust - The little redhead is insidious and often uses block to implement its evil plans.
- Memory - The Clock. It displays the current year and must also prevent the Maestro makes an invention or discovery ahead of time occasionally.
Production and publication
The series was produced by the French studio Procidis under the direction of Albert Barillé in collaboration with France régions FR3, Société Radio Canada, RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana, the Swiss Radio and Television Corporation SRG, Radiodifusion - Télévision Belge RTBF, Belgian Ratio en Televisie BRT, KRO Holland, Norsk Rikskringkasting NRK, Sveriges Radio AB SR, Televisión Española RTVE, Access Alberta and Tatsunoko Productions. The music was composed by Michel Legrand. In the music of the opening credits to French and German film version differ. In the original version of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565 sounds, while in the German version of the beginning of the song thousand years are but a day from Udo Jürgens is heard. Episode 13 ( The Hundred Years War ) was published in Germany only in a shortened to 13 minutes version. The programs were broadcast on the following stations; the series was released completely in German on DVD.
This series and its follow-up series were synchronized in almost all languages.