Es war einmal... der Mensch

I used to watch that show back in the 1980s along with its successor "Once Upon A Time in Space". I still love the show for its combining quality entertainment with an educated look in the history of life in planet Earth from the birth of the first cell organism to the 1970s environmental concerns.

Instead of presenting a "black/evil vs white/good" depiction of human history, each featured group of cultures and states have their own motivation, ambitions, fears, prejudices and obvious similarities to both their allies and their enemies.

Several historical figures are prominently presented as exemplars of their time. Including but not limited to Alexander the Great, Gaius Julius Caesar, Muhammad, Charlemagne, Peter I "the Great" of Russia. Others make significant cameos such as Cheops, Ramses II, Moses, Samson and many others. Its a good introduction to them and places them in their historical context.

I still wonder why this show is mostly unseen in modern television schedules and unavailable in video or DVD. It is easily better than the rather formulaic "good vs evil" sagas of modern animation.

Hey, this is a good deal! Children can watch this "cartoons" while learning human History. Well, that's what I did.

Characters are quite funny and the scenario is respectful of the real History (from the first cells in oceans to the 20th century).

In the same collection, you'll find: "Il était une fois la vie" (1986) with the same characters but in the human body... and yes, this is to learn biology... and this is a must!

I used to watch this a lot as a kid. Today I use it when i teach.

I liked the way the female commentator mentioned dates and names and events and there was a small screen at the top with arms and stuff where the dates appeared. That was nice. And some times the screen creature disagreed with the commentator.

Anyways. I also liked that it was chronological. It started with the stone age, where we got to see people hunting mammoth, fishing and so on. It was in many ways my favorite episode. I am very into fishing, and found it interesting that they made line and hooks from animal parts and also that they used crickets for bait.

Another good episode I remember was the one about the Mongol hordes. I liked the way they depicted Djenghis Kahn. They drew him with skulls inside his eyes and fire inside his eyes, laughing and smiling.

The old, bearded inventor was also very nice.

I don't like the way the wannabe leader and his red haired crony always got beaten up by the kind muscle guy. It was too easy and violent and quite frankly not nice.

Other than that the series was very good.

"Es war einmal der Mensch" (German) / "Once Upon a Time... Man" (English) is just about the next best children's program/series after "Es war einmal das Leben" (German) / "Once Upon a Time... Life" (English). History is a dry topic and as someone who always found it boring throughout school, even I like watching episodes of this series with our children and fondly remember seeing it as a kid when it originally aired.

The series is very well made, does not show its age, and our kids at various ages really like to watch it. At the same time, they gain knowledge about history us parents didn't have until way, way later. The series covers everything from the birth of the universe (assuming the Big Bang theory is correct), through evolution, prehistoric times, all centuries, to the last episode looking towards the future of humankind. While most episodes are great, some, around the dark ages, need the support of the fun characters as these times are really just a string of people's conquests, rebellions, new leaders, etc. (hence "only" 8 out of 10). The evolution is covered in a sensitive way, leaving some scope for interpretation of this topic which may be contentious with some people, and similarly, episodes covering religious events such as the birth of Jesus and Islam look only from a historic angle.

Throughout the series, familiar characters give a personal context to history. The topics covered are well balanced, globally speaking, and chosen for their significance. The last episode, looking towards the future of humankind one of the best, pondering increasing environmental destruction, pollution and wars and while presented for children's viewing is very worthwhile to watch for adults as well.

This is one of the best ever children's programs - I would say it's a must see for every family with kids!

Even though the show played a bit fast and loose with actual historical facts and events, it did it, I believe, only in as much as to make it interesting for a child to start caring about the history of mankind and what makes our species so terribly magnificent.

In the series, we're generously shown man's greatest achievements, and also, a tad more discretely, our greatest horrors too. Still, it doesn't shy away from the less glamorous parts of our past or gloss over problematic issues. ONCE UPON A TIME... MAN is entertainment, first and foremost, but it is also a remarkable tool and a historic document in itself now, forty odd years later.