Sinister: Ulysses, Cities of Gold, Bananaman...
From: Mark Smith <mark.smith2@christ-church.oxford.ac.uk>
On Wed, 3 Jun 1998, Mark Iles wrote:
I beg to differ. Ulysses 31 hardly used the novel as the basis for a linear derivative storyline. The characters were transposed into the 31st Century. Apart from having the same names and trying to get home, as Odysseus/Ulysses was, the storylines were good. And they certainly never gave the impression of being aimed at children.
I don't really think it's relevant to compare (the superb) Ulysses '31 with the likes of Dangermouse. Coming from different eras they catered for different stages in my development. Dangermouse was broadcast 1981-83
I'm sure it was on when I was in infants school, which I would have left when I was about seven, in 1981. I remember seeing it for the first time round a friend's house and being very impressed by it. Are you sure these aren't the dates it was shown in the US, or something?
(according to that "cream.tv" thing - cheers whoever it was - Rod?)
I must have missed this one. Could someone remind me of the URL...
Ulysses '31 catered for the typical 8-year-old desire for robots, monsters and space-ships, and took itself much more seriously than Dangermouse, in a similar vein to "Thundercats"... These (along with BOTP) were great at the time, but due to their po-facedness just didn't leave as much of an impression.
No, I always thought that Ulysses was quite different to Thundercats. Thundercats were definitely in the He-Man style, although very good. While Ulysses seemed to pay a lot more attention to detail with the aforementioned backgrounds and music - very atmospheric. Shame about Nono, that stupid jokey robot. For smart plotting you can't beat The Mysterious Cities of Gold (one of my all-time fave cartoons).
Ultimately it's just down to how old you were when these things were broadcast as to how strongly you feel about particular series...
True, I was a bit older when Ulysses was on...
PS - "Their bodies will remain as lifeless... as stone" ... "father, oh father" etc etc. Classic.
I always found that dead spooky. I loved that programme. And weren't the Gods mean bastards? He may have killed the cyclops, but it was in self defence Your Honour! Ulysses, Ulyssee-ees, flying through all the galaxiee-ees, in search of Earth, flying into the suuuun. Ulysseee-eee-eee-eee-eees no one else can do the things you do....
Bananaman yay! 13 Acacia Avenue! "When Eric eats a banana!" (etc etc)
Cool! And the voices were by the Goodies, who I used to think were top when i was little. Anyone remember the name of the alien baddy who looked a bit like a Vogon?
If anyone's getting sick of this whole cartoon thang, stop me oh-ho-ho stop me...
No way. I'm enjoying this. Mark ___________________________________________________________________________ Mark Iles, Tel: +44 (0113) 2065042 Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Fax: +44 (0113) 2340183 Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory, Ashley Wing, Email: iles@boreas.leeds.icnet.uk St James's University Hospital, Beckett Street, Leeds, "Libraries gave us power" LS9 7TF Manic Street Preachers U.K. ____________________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net . Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa -----------------------------------------------------------------------
On Wed, 3 Jun 1998, Mark Iles wrote:
(according to that "cream.tv" thing - cheers whoever it was - Rod?)
I must have missed this one. Could someone remind me of the URL...
It's at http://tv.cream.org but I must repeat Rod's caveat: if you're paying for the phone bill beware - or equally if you're likely to get caught by your employers... ;-)
Shame about Nono, that stupid jokey robot.
You can't dismiss Dangermouse as derivative and then harp on about the superiority of a "futuristic" spaceships-and-aliens adventure with a jokey robot side-kick.... Buck Rogers anyone? 'Lost in Space' for arse's sake!
For smart plotting you can't beat The Mysterious Cities of Gold (one of my all-time fave cartoons).
Yep, absolutely with you on this one. And the flying golden condor was the best. But possibly my best memory of this was the CBBC presenter at the time, Phillip Schofield (for it was he!) singing along to the theme tune one afternoon - I wonder whether his fellow actors in 'Joseph' or 'Dr. Doolittle' are aware of this classic performance and rib him about it? Oh, actually, maybe it was the theme to "80 days around the world" that he sang along to, but anyway, you get the picture :b Yours in nostalgia wonderland, Mark S. PS - Did someone mention "Trapdoor"....? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net . Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Iles wrote:
No, I always thought that Ulysses was quite different to Thundercats. Thundercats were definitely in the He-Man style, although very good. While Ulysses seemed to pay a lot more attention to detail with the aforementioned backgrounds and music - very atmospheric. Shame about Nono, that stupid jokey robot. For smart plotting you can't beat The Mysterious Cities of Gold (one of my all-time fave cartoons).
I always associated the Lost Cities of Gold with another show that was on around the same time in the US, Sparticus. Sparticus was probably my favorite from the time period. It was just plain STRANGE! Weirder than anything anyone's mentioned so far. The plot of the show was that there was this entire world beneath the crust of the earth. One of the countries inside, Arcadia, was adjacent to the core of the Earth itself, which was in fact a small sun. The inner sun was dying, so one of the Arcadians ventured out to try to find a way to cure it, with some friends. They ended up bringing along some kids from the crust, too. It was amazing and truly bizarre at times. Stranger yet, as a child I used to watch a program on USA called Night Flight. They showed lots of Avant Garde stuff. The strangest thing I ever saw on it was this odd French animation entitled Fantastic Planet. I still haven't seen it a second time. It's very similar-looking to Light Years, which I saw back then as well. Another interesting thing I saw on it was my first ever Anime, and probably the best animated movie ever done (it puts everything Disney has done to shame), Nausicaa. At the time I saw it, it was in the form of the American translation, which was changed a lot, and called Warrior of the Wind or Princess of the Wind or something like that. I was lucky enough to see a fan-translated version a while back. Amazing. The same director also did a wonderful piece called Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and the better known (and actually translated into English) Totoro. Well...hm, I could go on for hours about cartoons. One of my hobbies, in addition to music =) /"\_/"\_/"\ Mick McMick - mick@indiepop.com - ICQ#5056758 \ / Sandcastle Records - sandcastlerecords@indiepop.com | | Sandcastle Homepage - http://indiepop.com/sandcastle/ | | | | "Everyone has their own cup of tea. | | Some just happen to like a lot of sugar in it!" | | - Me! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net . Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa -----------------------------------------------------------------------
participants (3)
-
iles＠boreas.leeds.icnet.uk -
Mark Smith -
Mick McMick