Once Upon a Time... Space | |
---|---|
Created by | Albert Barillé |
Developed by | Procidis |
Voices of | Roger Carel Annie Balestra Vincent Ropion Alain Dorval |
Composer | Michel Legrand |
Country of origin | France Japan |
No. of episodes | 26 |
Production | |
Running time | 26 minutes |
Production companies | Procidis Eiken |
Original release | |
Network | FR3, Fuji TV (Japan) |
Release | 2 October 1982 2 April 1983 | –
Related | |
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Il était une fois… l'Espace (Once Upon a Time... Space) is an animated science fiction television series from 1982 until 1983, directed by Albert Barillé. It is part of the Once Upon a Time... franchise.[1]
The show was animated in Japan by the animation studio Eiken, and is thus considered to be anime as it also aired on Japanese television, albeit not until 1984, under the title Galaxy Patrol PJ[a]. In contrast to the show's success in the West, the series' Japanese broadcast was consigned to an early-morning time slot and attracted little attention. Though it did gain a cult following in Japan in the following years. The Japanese dub for the anime is considered to be a lost media due to it never having a home release and only re-aired on AT-X during the summer of 2006.[2]
Unlike the rest of the Once Upon a Time... titles, Once Upon a Time... Space revolve around a fictional premise rather than an edutainment theme. The series still has a handful of educational information (such as an episode discussing the rings of the planet Saturn) but nowhere as prevalent as its predecessor Once Upon a Time... Man nor its successor Once Upon a Time... Life.
The series succeeds Once Upon a Time... Man. It reprises almost all of the characters from the past series and adapts them into a science-fiction context.
The story is about the confrontation between several galactic powers. Among them there is the Omega Confederation (of which Earth is a member), the military Republic of Cassiopeia (led by General The Pest) and a powerful supercomputer which controls an army of robots. A group of super powerful creatures called the Humanoids later appear in the series.
The show follows the adventures of space police members Pierrot and Mercedes (aka Psi). Pierrot is the son of Colonel Pierre and President Pierrette. The series has a more egalitarian message than its predecessor as the supreme leader of the protagonists is a female President and Psi is a co-protagonist. The previous series instead focused on male protagonists.
The scenarios of several episodes adapt elements of Greek mythology, other mythologies, and European legends. Among them are the Apple of Discord, Atlantis, David and Goliath, the Olympian Gods, and Prometheus. Other episodes deal with the existence of God, the relationship of man with modernity and machines, the limits of technology, comparisons between armed peace under the rule of a dictator and the difficulty of maintaining order in a democracy, higher spiritual beings encountered at the beginning and the end of the series etc. Some planets visited by the characters are replicas of the Earth at a specific era in its history, thus allowing some didactic interludes over the nature of these eras.
The series contains little to no violence, the heroes mostly use non-lethal stun weapons in combat. The exception is the use of disintegrating laser beams against wild animals.
The Earth does not play a central role in this series. The capital of the Confederation is on the planet Omega, far from Earth. The Confederation consists of multiple allied powers: Aldebaran, Auriga, Cassiopeia, Hydra, Scorpio, and Vega. The Confederation has a democratically elected government and a President.
The French illustrator Philippe Bouchet (better known as Manchu) worked on some of the spacecraft and set designs.[3][4][5]
Omega Confederation:
Cassiopeia:
Earth:
No. | Title | Original air date |
---|---|---|
1 | "The Planet Omega" "(La planète Oméga)" | 9 October 1982 |
2 | "The Saurians" "(Les Sauriens)" | 16 October 1982 |
3 | "The Green Planet" "(La planète verte)" | 23 October 1982 |
4 | "Towards Andromeda" "(Du côté d’Andromède)" | 30 October 1982 |
5 | "The Cro-Magnons" "(Les Cro-Magnons)" | 6 November 1982 |
6 | "The Revolt of the Robots" "(La révolte des robots)" | 13 November 1982 |
7 | "The Planet Mytho" "(La planète Mytho)" | 20 November 1982 |
8 | "The Long Voyage" "(Le long voyage)" | 27 November 1982 |
9 | "In Cassiopea" "(Cassiopée)" | 4 December 1982 |
10 | "A Planet Blown to Pieces" "(La planète déchiquetée)" | 11 December 1982 |
11 | "Shipwrecked in Space" "(Les naufragés de l’espace)" | 18 December 1982 |
12 | "The Giants" "(Les géants)" | 25 December 1982 |
13 | "The Incas" "(Les Incas)" | 1 January 1983 |
14 | "In the Land of the Dinosaurs" "(Chez les dinosaures)" | 8 January 1983 |
15 | "The Rings of Saturn" "(Les anneaux de Saturne)" | 15 January 1983 |
16 | "The Unstoppable Menace" "(L’imparable menace)" | 22 January 1983 |
17 | "Earth" "(Terre!)" | 29 January 1983 |
18 | "Atlantis" "(L’Atlantide)" | 5 February 1983 |
19 | "The Strange Return to Omega" "(L’étrange retour vers Oméga)" | 12 February 1983 |
20 | "The Revenge of the Robots" "(La revanche des robots)" | 19 February 1983 |
21 | "The Humanoids" "(Les Humanoïdes)" | 26 February 1983 |
22 | "An Hostile World" "(Un monde hostile)" | 5 March 1983 |
23 | "City in Flight" "(Cité en vol)" | 12 March 1983 |
24 | "The Great Computer" "(Le grand ordinateur)" | 19 March 1983 |
25 | "The Battle of the Titans" "(Combat de titans)" | 26 March 1983 |
26 | "The Infinity of Space" "(L’infini de l’espace)" | 2 April 1983 |
The series features the following characters.
Country | Television broadcasts |
---|---|
France | FR3 **, Télé-Québec |
Finland | MTV3 |
Australia | SBS |
Canada | CBC Television, Télévision de Radio-Canada ** |
Italy | RAI ** |
Greece | ERT |
Spain | Televisión Española (TVE) ** |
Netherlands | Kindernet, Katholieke Radio Omroep (KRO) ** |
Switzerland | SSR (French) |
Belgium | RTBF, BRT |
Argentina | Crustel S.A. */** |
Japan | Eiken Co. Ltd., aired on Fuji TV */** |
Norway | TV2 |
West Germany | WDR, SWF |
Austria | ORF |
Sweden | SVT |
Portugal | RTP |
Republic of Ireland | RTÉ |
Iceland | Sjónvarpið |
United Kingdom | Channel 4 |
United States of America | The History Channel |
Israel | Logi |
Poland | Telewizja Polska (TVP), TV Puls |
South Africa | SABC |
Taiwan | Taiwan Television (TTV) |
Hungary | Minimax |
Czech | ČT1 |
Denmark | DR1 |
* Production company
** Contributing co-producer