Mysterious Cities of Gold at the Cartoon Archive!
The Mysterious Cities of Gold was a Japanese Anime cartoon made in collaboration with the French. The cartoon was originally aired in Japan in 1982, then France and finally Britain and the US. The cartoons were 39 half hour episodes and as with Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds, they were made up of one continous story. This gave the characters and stories added depth, which combined with the great anime style makes this a real cartoon classic.
The story is based in part on the novel ‘The King’s Fifth’ by Scott O‘Dell, essentially in the year 1952 Esteban an Orphan joins a group of Spaniards in search of one of the Mysterious Cities of Gold. Esteban hopes to find his father during this quest, he also makes friends with an Inca girl named Zia and a boy named Tao. The Seven Cities of Gold hold ancient Inca, Aztec and Atlantean legends in their libraries and artefacts, some of which such as the Solar Powered ship the Solaris and the Great Golden Condor are discovered throughout the cartoon.
This is one of the cartoons from my youth that I can still easily while a few hours away watching today. It has a beautiful soundtrack and animation, combined with an entertaining and relatively convoluted story-line, it has certainly stood the test of time. |
Esteban
Esteban is just 12 years of age when he bumps into Mendosa. Mendosa tells him that he rescued him at sea (the Pacific Ocean) when he was a baby. Esteban now lives in Barcelona, but Mendosa tells him that he originally came from El Dorado, one of the Mysterious Cities of Gold in the New Americas.
The story follows Esteban as he searches for his father and the cities of gold. Along the way he meets Sia and Tao
The people of Barcelona believe that Esteban has the power to make the sun appear, and on numerous occassions in the story line it appears that this is the case.
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Sia
Sia has know Esteban since they were children. Mendosa kidnapped her fom he homeland (Peru) at the request of the Spanish King. Sia, like Esteban has a medallion of the sun and moon (we later find that these medallions are keys to the cities of gold).
Sia is the daughter of an Incan high-priest and her experience of being kidnapped means that she never really trusts Mendosa or his two henchmen. One of Sia's main roles in the story is that she can read the Quipus (a golden Incan artefact or knots and cords) that provides the group with numerous clues pointing to the location of the cities of gold.
Sia is being chased by one of the villains of the cartoon, Commander Gomez, he is under orders from the Spanish King to capture and return Sia to Spain, as the King wants her to read the secrets of the quippa to him. |
Tao
The group find Tao when they are ship-wrecked on the Galapagos Islands. He is the last survivor of the Hiva empire (which has now sunk beneath the Pacific). It was Tao's people that built the cities of gold and the Golden Condor. Tao is able to use most of the technology that his ancestors left behind and he carries a book (like an encyclopedia or text book) round with him that contains lots of knowledge from his descendants.
Tao also has a pet parrot and between the two of them they generally provide the comic relief for the show.
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Mendosa
Mendosa is the Spaniard that both rescued Esteban and kidnapped Sia. He helps the children travel to the new world and claims he was trained by the Spanish navigator Magellan.
Mendosa is a bit of a strange character in that he does appear to care for the children and uses his sword to protect them on many occassions. However at the same time he is fixed on finding the Cities of Gold, for the wealth they will bring, which is sometimes at odds to the honorable intentions the children have.
Mendosa also has two comic henchmen Sancho and Pedro. However the real villains fo the show are Commandr Gomez (mentioned above) and his captain - Captain Gaspar (who has a score to settle with Mendosa). |
The Mysterious Cities of Gold: Lyrics
Narrator:
'It is the 16th century. From all over Europe great ships sale West to conquer the new world, the Americas. These men eager to seek their fortune, to find new adventures in new lands. They long to cross uncharted seas and discover unknown countries. To find secret gold on a mountain trail high in the Andes. They dream of following the path of the setting sun that leads to Eldorado, and the Mysterious Cities Of Gold'.
Singers:
Children of the Sun, see your time has just begun,
Searching for your way through Adventures every day.
Every day and night with the condor in flight
With all your friends in tow we search for the Cities of Gold
CHORUS:
(Ahhhh) Wishing for the Cities of Gold
(Ahhh) Someday we will find the Cities of Gold!
(Ahh) Cities of Gold
Children of the Sun, someday soon you're gonna find
That your destiny holds the secret, holds the key
CHORUS
(Ahh)
Cities of Gold
Cities of Gold
(Ahhh) Someday we will find the Cities of Gold! |
The Mysterious Cities of Gold: Resources
A very chilled out tour of the Mysterious Cities of Gold World:
The pictures on this page were taken from :
This is a fantastic fan-site with lots of clips, sounds and info on the show, well worth a look!
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The Mysterious Cities of Gold Theme Tune 
