The Mysterious Cities of Gold

Classic eighties cartoon with a killer theme tune

They don't make kids shows like this any more.
Being a parent these days I am frequently subjected to the generic, lifeless, cgi rendered pap that passes for children’s television these days. Whatever happened, I pondered, to those wonderful anime series that I watched as a kid, like Battle of the Planets, Thundercats, Ulyses 31 and the all-time classic, The Mysterious Cities of Gold.

A quick scour of my favourite file sharing forums, a little downloading, and I now have all 39 episodes to watch in all their Technicolor glory. Unfortunately the transition to digital format on a widescreen HD TV didn’t go so well and the show looks like it is running on a broken VHS in super-pixel-o-vision. I’m reliably informed by my brother-in-law that the recently released DVD box set suffers the same problem which is a little disappointing – I’m always amazed how badly old shows look on modern TVs.

Never mind, turn down the sharpness, smear some Vaseline over the screen and squint your eyes a bit and its just about watchable. And what a watch it is too – the Mysterious Cities of Gold is an absolute cracker! Set in the sixteenth century, this epic tale tells the story of two young children, Estaban and Zia who take up with some Spanish sailors and set off on a journey to South America to search for the legendary Cities of Gold. Soon joined by a third child Tao, and his sidekick parrot Cocopetal, the children take part in a fantastic adventure that leads them through dense forests, crocodile infested swamps, mysterious trap-filled temples and of course the eponymous hidden Cities of Gold.

The gold in question turns out not to be the shiny metal sort, but more the colour of the stones when the sun shines on it. This doesn’t seem to bother the children too much, but is a constant source of frustration to Pedro and Sanchez, the comedy double act who follow the children as they are clearly too dull-witted to work out the clues themselves. The party is completed by the brave Mendosa, a navigator and all round tough dude and hero type who looks out for the children and saves their skins on several occasions.

There are treasures to be found however, including a fantastic solar powered ship called the Solaris and the even more fantastical Golden Condor, a mechanical aircraft built by the ancient Mayans. These super-powered creations give the story an almost sci-fi twist and provide great action sequences and breath-taking flight scenes.

I vividly remember watching the whole series when I was about ten and the quality of the original series shines through, despite the poor video conversion. The attention to detail in the backgrounds and animation is stunning and the whole series is set to some wonderfully atmospheric music, and preceded by one of the catchiest, theme songs ever. Hit the play button below for a quick sing-along then head on over to the Retroshop to get your copy now!

Mysterious Cities Of Gold - Theme tune