News
More Mysterious Cities of Gold in Production
posted on by Andrew Osmond
The thirty-year old story of Mysterious Cities of Gold is continuing, according to a French report on the 'Voix d'etoiles' animation festival which was held in October 2014. The report, posted on the allodoublage website, quotes director Jean-Luc François (who directed the second season) as saying he has finished post-production on part 11 of the third season, which will run 26 episodes. Broadcast dates are still unconfirmed.
The original Mysterious Cities of Gold (39 episodes) was a French-Japanese co-production, broadcast on children's BBC in the 1980s. In Japan, it was shown on NHK as Taiyo no Ko Esteban or Esteban, a Boy from the Sun. Set in the sixteenth century, it chronicles the adventures of three children, the boys Esteban and Tao and the girl Zia (plus the parrot Kokapetl), as they seek the legendary cities of gold in South America.
In 2012, a French-made second season (26 episodes) continued the story, taking the children to China. This series was made by Blue Spirit Animation in partnership with the French TV channel TF1 and Movie Plus. Movie Plus is an international producer-distributor founded by Jean Chalopin, who co-scripted the original Cities of Gold, as well as co-creating another French-Japanese animation, Ulysses 31. The production was in the French town of Angoulême.
The second series ended on a cliffhanger. In a contemporary press release for the spinoff game, Mysterious Cities of Gold: Secret Paths, director Jean-Luc François said that a further season had been greenlit by the French TV channel TF1, but that he was waiting to see the results of international broadcasts of the second season.
At the same time, he also said that the children's journey would take them to Japan next.
Via lescitesdor forum.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history