Taiyô no ko Esuteban

This program is everything that represents my childhood and I dare say more so than my all time favorite The Transformers. The Transformers had the best toys, however The Mysterious Cities of Gold was special; it was animation magic.

This was a multinational effort by France, Japan and Canada where the English dub was recorded. Together they made something wonderful and unforgettable.

This story follows the adventures of three children who are in search of the Cities of Gold along with three Spanish sailors. Each is searching for these mysterious cities for their own reasons. There are many mysteries they have to solve along the way, including the mysterious circumstances of the main character's past.

I give thanks to my mother who encouraged me to sit down and watch this while it was airing on Nickelodeon in the late 1980's.

Few people here in North America are aware of this gem in animation. Kudos to you if you are a fellow MCoG fan; we are kindred spirits.

Children of the sun, see your time has just begun, searching for your

way through adventures everyday... I remember when I was 5 years old

watching every episode, enthralled by what I saw. Recently, I discovered

that a friend had taped every episode back in the late 80s and allowed

me to copy all of them - talk about a find! I hear that the series is

now available on VCD thanks to collectors (on eBay). Nickelodeon will

never re-air the show, as Saban, the company who owned the American

rights to it, had a fire which their episodes were lost in. My friend

also had a copy of the French soundtrack (!) which I copied. It's great

to relive memories when you can :-)

I probably watched all of about two or three episodes in total of this French-Japanese animation as a child but thanks to the beautiful animation, stunning visuals and the beyond epic theme song it has stayed permanently embedded in my psyche ever since.

Now as I have the chance to watch every episode from the beginning, there are two things that stand out to me; (1) I was shocked to learn that it originally aired in it's entirety before I was even born and (2) I am only about eight episodes in and already I can see why this resonated so deeply with many eighties kids, like myself; not only is the animation beautiful, but the story, which centres around Spanish exploration of the Americas in the 16th century, is very mature and the characters incredibly engaging and complex for a children's show.

While the adult characters are driven by very 'adult' motivations of seeking fortune and notoriety in finding 'The Mysterious Cities of Gold', the children are driven by much 'purer' motivations; Esteban, a young Spanish boy who lived his whole life believing he was an orphan learns from a man named Mendosa that he is a 'Child of the Sun' and that he was rescued at sea by Mendosa himself and his real father may still be alive, somewhere in The New World, close to where he was rescued.

Zia, a young Incan girl, who was taken from her family and captured against her will by Spanish explorers, wants to reunite with her people but is conflicted because in doing so she will lead her captors straight to them.

And lastly, Tao, who joins the story a little later, is the last remaining member of a technologically advanced race who believes he will discover the secrets of his people in the Mysterious Cities of Gold.

If I had to nitpick anything, it would be that while Esteban, Zia and Tao are all implied to be around the same age, in the English dub, Esteban sounds notably younger than Zia and Tao, who both sound like the preteens they're supposed to be. Esteban sounds like he's about eight years old. But that's a really tiny nitpick.

I wish I could could say it's my age making me say 'they don't make them like this anymore', but they really don't.

I have been on this earth for 20 years, and I have yet to see any cartoon that even matches this one!!! EVERYTHING about this cartoon is the best. The plot, characters, even the intro music is the best!!! I can still remember the golden days when I was a little kid and watch this cartoon on Nickelodeon. Those were the days!!! If it was still on, I would watch it faithfully everyday!! I can't say enough glorious comments about this cartoon. Hands down, the best cartoon. In my opinion, some honorable runner-ups are Cyber Cops, The Adventures of Tintin, The Real Ghostbusters, and Danger Mouse. As great as those are, they can't hold a stick to "The Mysterious Cities of Gold" My only regret is that when the show was on TV, I was old enough to figure out how the VCR worked.

This has to be one of the most thrilling, captivating cartoons I have ever watched.

Set in the 16th century, it focuses on a Spanish ten-year-old boy called Estaban, who is the Child of the Sun and holds the key to opening the fabled Cities of Gold located in the Andes. He meets three men who offer to help him search for his long-lost father in return for him helping them to find the Cities. Accompanying them is a young girl Zia, who also owns a medallion to open the Cities, and a Hiva boy named Tao who they meet on the journey to the still unexplored South America. Pursing them are three men determined to harness the Cities of Gold and its powers of the Sun for themselves and a strange alien race who need the powers to ensure the survival of their race.

Although I couldn't have been more than four or five when I first saw 'The Mysterious Cities of Gold', I still relish memory of the wonderful series and its equally enchanting soundtrack. The characters- both the children and adults- were strongly portrayed and the entire story was solid and involving. I remember spending many days playing the story out, pretending to be Estaban or Zia, and forcing my poor mum to look for the medallion in shops (in vain, unfortunately!).

I wish that either BBC (even one of their rubbish digital channels) or Nickelodeon would repeat this. I'm sure children today would enjoy this as much as myself and my friends did. It's certainly a crime that it's not been put out on DVD yet.