I've just seen Mysterious Cities of Gold

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gotanypostits

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Thanks to Hulu, I've been able to see all 39 episodes of Mysterious Cities of Gold in a row. I've heard of the show before and knew it was on Hulu, but Martianinvader's glowing recommendation of it on his website inspired me to seek it out and actually see it.

MCOG just missed me; I was born the year before it was taken off Nickelodeon (but my older brother has recollections of seeing it and liked it). Now that I've seen all the episodes I have some thoughts:
  • I can see why Peter and others speak so highly of the scope and complexity of the show. The first dozen episodes or so have enthralled me like no other cartoon.
  • It took 36 episodes of a 39-episode show to actually reach the cities of gold? Filler is an ugly thing.
  • What was the point of the European doctor and the chick he was with? They pretty much fall out of sight by the time the Olmecs get to the city and contribute nothing to the climax. Plus given how lousy MCOG is with antagonists, they're pretty much redundant.
  • Solar-based fighter jets, tanks, and weapons capable of a Hiroshima-sized explosion. In pre-Columbian (possibly even pre-Christ) civilization? Give me a freakin' break.
  • No one will agree with me, but I'm just a little upset that Zia and Esteban's daddies drop dead the instant they reunite with their children. For Gods' sake, the Peanuts universe isn't that cruel.
  • Mendoza salvaging a little bit of gold for himself, Sancho and Pedro was very satisfying. And in light of what boy scouts Esteban and co. were throughout the show, the moral ambiguity of it is just awesome.
So in general, I liked it, but I kinda wish it was 13 episodes longer.
 
What? you never saw any show with super advanced ancient civilisations? Usually the mythological tech only shows up in our era, it was a nice change of pace to have the Solaris and the Great Condor in that era. Atlantis and Mu stories usually run on that big time. Heck its what the Stargate shoes are all about!!

Its also pretty clear that the 'power of Sun' mentionned near the end is actually nuclear power. The thing that sunk Mu and Atlantis was probably a sort of thermonuclear holocaust. .



Except it was written by french guys and animated in Japan :p not very American.
 
I understood that the Power of the Sun was supposed to be nuclear, hence my comparison to Hiroshima. It's almost as if the Mu-Atlantis war as envisioned by the creators was supposed to invoke the attacks on Japan.


Well, in other similar media there's at least a certain drop of plausibility behind such tech (and the Golden Condor, to an extent). But the the Mu-Atlantis war in MCOG just overstretched my willing suspension of disbelief. It felt like the Flintstonization of the end of World War II.
 
"Pre-Christ?"

I own the DVD, and as I recall, "It is the 16th century", according to the opening narration.

Also, it's not meant to be a realistic portrayal of life back then. The solar-powered vehicles you mention (namely the Solaris and Golden Condor) are strictly science-fiction. It's not meant to be a historical drama.

I've mentioned this before, but the only part of the show I really didn't like was the ending. If anything, that's the real point of contention here:

Esteban finally finds his father, but he doesn't know it's his father. In his disguise, the father tells Esteban that he needs to "find his own star". Afterwards, he, Zia and Tao set off in the Golden Condor to find the other Cities of Gold (which makes up the show's "no-ending"). However, Esteban will now have to live the rest of his life never knowing that he had found his father. You see, searching for his father was the reason he went on this trip in the first place. The father might as well have been killed off if they were going in that direction.

That's the really the only thing I didn't like. That, and the issue with Zia and her father...

EDIT: Oops. How did I miss that. I'm so sorry...
 
I understand the show takes place in the 16th century, but the exposition for the Mu-Atlantis war says that it took place hundreds of years before the present. So BC or early AD.

You guy probably misunderstand. I don't have a problem with all of the historical inaccuracies of the show; that's why there's such a thing as "willing suspension of disbelief." I just, personally, think that the people of Atlantis and MU having access to recognizably 20th century tanks and aerial craft (not the Condor) and the ability to harness nuclear energy for doomsday devices just overtaxes mine.
 
I think show itself says in some way that the Mu-Atlantis war takes place thousands of years ago not hundreds of years ago. The earliest known civilization, the Sumerians, dates around 5000 BC. I'm guessing that war came a few thousands of years before that civilization.

Maybe those questions might answered with the forthcoming sequel. I'm also interested in where Esteban's father came from, which I hope the sequel answer that question as well.
 
Not exactly unique to this show. The idea of Mu, Lemuria, and Atlantis being these advanced civs with lots of high tech (usually based on crystals) has been floating around for a while. Some people actually believe it to be true too, sort of a more human centric version of ancient astronaut pseudoscience, although that sort of thing was more prevalent in the 60's and 70's.
 
I know about that site. That's where I got most of the music from show from. As I recall, the some of the French voices will have to be recast because they can't use them for various reasons, like some have died, some retired, etc.

There was an interview on the English DVD by one of the creators that lays out the plot to the sequel, maybe a little too much information. It does continue the tradition of being edutainment and visiting other countries.
 
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