Ulysse 31

"Ulysse(s) 31" is a brilliant animated series from the early 1980's, a brilliant French-Japanese co-production. It is basically a science fiction re-telling of Homer's famous epic, with the noble & heroic titular character now lost in space, after having offended the Greek Gods, and looking for a way home.

Of course, adapting and updating such an old story would not work without some changes here and there, and so new characters and situations and setting were added. Even so, the series was, and is, a great way to introduce people to the great stories of ancient mythology.

The quality of animation is very good (for a product of its time, anyway) with a good musical score, catchy theme song included.

Highly recommended for fans of animation, SF fans, and anyone who is interested in mythology.

I'm a kid from the 80's and one of the things and there have been many things that have always had a place in my heart. Two of them I treasure the most are mythology and animation, this show has both. This is another one of my favorite cartoon from the 80's that I feel as time went on became a forgotten gem.

The premise I think is awesome, retelling Greek mythology in a space opera fashion was a great idea. Both the sci-fi and fantasy genre have always been a beautiful combination because the sci-fi element I feel broadens the fantasy universe more. There is magic but there is also science, swords but also laser guns. But most importantly just demonstrates how timeless the stories of myth are as they have successfully translated to the 80's era.

I really love the animation, it's true it might seem a little dated now but for it's time it was revolution. Character animation is good but what impresses me the most is in it's background animation and the rich universe it has created, which is surreal but fascinating at the same time. From the space station which looks almost similar to the space station in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", from it's circular shape to the all seeing eye. But what impresses me the most is the worlds they visit, my favorite one is no doubt the planet with the games, I'll talk about latter. Even some of the hidden metaphors and philosophy is intact.

The music score I think is great, the theme song is great and I think is a bit underrated, it's on my list of favorite theme songs; it's exciting really fits the sci-fi premise with a few of it's techno beats.

The protagonists Ulysses (whom looks like Jesus), Telemicus, and Yuli are decent, their not deep protagonists their all two dimensional. But then again so are the protagonists in myth, like them their mainly just doers, severe whatever purpose the story delivers to them. All three have a genuine motive which is simply to get back home and awaken their friends; which by it's nature is the typical motivation device just to take the protagonists on the adventures we want them to go. The only weak factor no doubt is that stupid robot Nono. That character I always felt was out of place and practically useless.

But like in all mythology stories, were really in it for the adventures. I really love how not just is the show retelling Greek Myth but also other myths from around the world. Which is great because it introduces kids to ones we've never heard about and shows how broad mythology truly goes. Two of my favorite episode are one the retelling of the Maze and the Minator, loved the design of that maze it was cool. Though my favorite has been the one in the planet of games, which was pretty much "The Most Dangerous Game" premise where Ulysess had to play and survive each challenge, the most notable is the giant chessboard with robots representing the Chess figures, it's awesome.

There's not much else for me to say, it would be awesome if there was some sort of revival to this show, with today's tech it should at least be considered, I'd personally like to see some sci-fi versions of other myths as well as figures in them like Hercules and Jason. Overall, Ulysses 31 is a great odyssey you wouldn't want to end.

Rating: 4 stars

But, well, France is known for its interesting artistic production. Ulysse 31 offered a very interesting futuristic take on Homer's Odyssey and was immensely successful and utterly enjoyable.

They did some excellent work.

Ulysses 31 is a lose adaptation of Homer's Odyssey and to be honest has copied many things from Star Wars like some of the weapons used in to a point that I was wandering if George Lucas had give them any lawsuit for plagiarism and when I check he surely did it.

In any cases the series is decent and it has good animation, though a bit cheap and dated for today and at times you feel that the plot is on repeat "Ulysses go to some adventure ,tries to win ,but the Gods do their thing and mess the whole effort". In any case as a kid series go is it good and it will make your children indirectly learn some ancient Greek myths.

And that is the best part of the series ,it very nicely fuses the sci-fi of the series with many of the most famous legends of the myths and I can't say that it was sloppily made for it seems the block of the work in the series was in that part and it was fine.

As for the music is cheesy as any eighties cartoon ,yet still is enjoyable and fits the tone of the series.

Over all it was an interesting experience and I want it to watch it because I wanted to see a different take to a familiar story and the final product wasn't bad at all.

I decided to watch one of the episodes of this series on FOX Kids, and here is what I think of the series after one episode; it's pretty good!

Ulysses 31, I think, uses a clever and inventive way of re-telling Greek mythology in this science fiction fantasy environment. It might be commonplace now for most kids' science fiction programmes today, but this might have been something different when it was first transmitted in 1981.

The dubbing is just adequate, but, as someone who is now used to watching foreign animation with sub-titles, I think that I might enjoy the dialogue more in its original French language, with English subtitles (hope that's one of the features on the upcoming DVD). The animation is just what you except from a TV animated series aimed at kids for from this era (watching Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors after this, the animation is pretty conventional). I do admire how they done the spaceship, when it is moving in space and remains quite static. Also, the attention on the spaceship is somewhat realistic (yes, I know it's a cartoon, but I pay attention to this sort of stuff!). Anyway, great work on the spaceship! I was skeptical on using this 2D cell animation for this programme, but, as I started to enjoy and progress further into the episode's narrative, it doesn't seem to bother me. Also, the music is pretty good throughout the programme too! Overall, pretty good series, but I will need to see more episodes to understand why this series is well celebrated.