The Mysterious Cities of Gold: season 2 (2013)

"Who never wished to see the sovereign sun guiding his steps in the heart of the Inca country towards the richness and the history of the Mysterious Cities of Gold?"

Narrator

"Remember Esteban, the son of the sun, Tao, Zia looking for the legendary cities entirely built out of gold. This was every Wednesday after midday of the year 1982. A whole universe created thanks to a beautiful collaboration between French and of Japanese who knew each other already well at that time."

Deyriès

"We were in Tokyo producing Ulysses 31 and Jean Chalopin also sought to another production and Japanese of NHK proposed the Mysterious Cities of Gold."

Narrator

"The artists of the two countries thus could work together, French with the ideas, Japanese with the scenario and the drawing. However, when we look at the characters of the Mysterious Cities of Gold, the Japanese style is far from being obvious, but it is not fortuitous."

Deyriès

"NHK intended to do something of prestige, therefore had taken a very good studio in this purpose and the designers had the will not to do like the other Japanese productions, to ensure this production to be special."

Narrator

"It is true that when one looks at the graphics of a manga like Candy for example, one immediately notices his large eyes filled of light what is absolutely not the case of Zia for example, which eyes are summarized with a feature, a pupil with a small light, and that applies to the whole characters of the series. But this graphic design with European was not done in one day and the designers had to work a long time before finding the final aspect of the characters, as you can see it on these first sketches of Esteban. And among all the characters whom Esteban, Tao and Zia meet, there is one particularly attractive: the navigator Mendoza."

Deyriès

"It is nevertheless a bad character at the beginning, very interested, which gradually, becoming acquainted with the children, learns how to like them, to appreciate them and after will devote itself even until saving them. He was a concept which was absolutely not acceptable in the United States (I first worked in the US). In the United States, the cartoons for children are Manicheans worlds thus Mendoza could not exist. And that impassions us: he is a very rich character, who fascinated the public. I met young people, who said to me that Mendoza was their favorite character."

Narrator

"Apart from the characters, the mechanical vehicles also form integral part of the Mysterious Cities of Gold, like the fabulous Solaris vessel. At the beginning, this ship was to have mechanisms out of wooden, middle-aged standards, but French subtly insisted to center the technology of the vessel on solar energy."

Deyriès

"The solar energy is something which everybody knows today, so it will be a good thing for the children to find references of today; the heroes of the series do not understand what occurs because they leave at the 15th century, 16th century, and us, in the 20th, we understand, we know that the sun provides energy to make the machines move or fly."

Narrator

"The technology animating the wings of the condor was also more related to the sun, under the impulse of the French ... Today, when we remember the Mysterious Cities of Gold series, we remember also the short documentaries which concluded the episodes. They were carried out by the Japanese TV NHK which wanted to make profits with its teams of reporters around the world. Famous and appreciated all over the world, the Mysterious Cities of Gold series even were the subject of a film adaptation in Canada. Unfortunately, for the moment, the film remains a project. Here are the photographs of Esteban, Tao, Pizarro and Gaspard. The future of the Mysterious Cities of Gold series could be elsewhere: remember, at the end of the 39 episodes, Esteban and his friends finally discover one of these legendary city of gold. Knowing that there is 6 others all over the world, we have the right to expect a sequel."

Deyriès

"It was discussed 2 years ago, and since nobody does not speak about it any more. The sequel wold occur about a week after the end of the first series. The children, thanks to the great condor, were supposed to fly to North America where there they would discover an evidence of another city of gold, and crossing the Pacific, they would discover a second city of gold in Japan."

Narrator

"Wanting to know some more about this sequel, which never was born yet, we succeded in crossing the path of the famous Jean Chalopin during the Japan Expo french convention. He accepted to tell us a little bit more about a new character whom Esteban and its companions would meet during their new adventure."

Chalopin

"I imagined a character, whom they meet, which is an English adventurer, who has an encyclopaedia: the famous book of Mu. He has an encyclopaedia with him (at that time the encyclopaedia does not exist, we are during the 16th century), and they find him as they are in California, captive of Indians and they will be burned to death. He leaves in a village with some others adventurers people. He fled England because he was about to be burned as a wizard: he has great knowledge thanks to this book and people treat him as a wizard. He rescue them and leaves with them, aboard the condor. But at the end, it is a very ambiguous and mysterious character and he is dangerous for them."

Narrator

"Let us hope that one day, they will find the necessary gold to continue the adventures of Esteban, Tao and Zia. Goodbye and se you soon."