Children of the late seventies and eighties, let’s see if this gets your nostalgia synapses firing: a symbolic medallion, a solar-powered Golden Condor, a young boy named Esteban… mean anything?
Those of you who heard a faint panpipe air start up as you read those words, followed by a chirpy eighties voice singing “Children of the sun, see your time has just begun…” will know exactly what we’re on about: Japanese-French animated series The Mysterious Cities of Gold.
Talk about your belated sequels… Indy, Rocky, and Jurassic Park really have nothing on this. Originally broadcast in Japan in 1982, season 1 of The Mysterious Cities of Gold was set in 16th century South America and told the story of young Esteban’s search for his father.
Now 30 years later comes series 2, the first of 3 planned new seasons from French animation company Blue Spirit, due to begin airing on French channel TF1 this September. Amongst other things, the new trailer features Esteban asking the truth about his priest-father and a mysterious hooded figure promising to pursue Esteban and co. to China, where the new season looks to be taking place.
A French-language trailer has popped up online, and if you skip to about 03:55 you can hear the new French version of that theme song.
