Taiyô no ko Esuteban

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.

Like most of the rest of you I agree that this was the best cartoon series made in the 1980s. I wanted to be Esteban, to fly the golden condor, to visit Machu Picchu, I also even made a gold mediallon and of course drove my parents insane by singing the theme song all day every day. However, I've noticed that this program provided a lot more than happy memories. It taught me a great deal about South American history, geography, and ancient civilizations.

I saw some of the series again recently and what struck me admist the attacks of nostalgia was the actual historical accuracy of certain images and scenes. Obviously it was an exploration of the lives of conquistadors such as Pizarro and Cortes, but the use of myth (ie - that Esteban was the child of the sun, that there was a 'El Dorado') was common amongst early explorers. Vital characters such as La Malinche - la chingada, the lover and translator for Cortes, who is seen as the black stain in Mexican history by many Mexicans - pop up all over the place and the portayal of ancient tribes such as the Incas and Amazons in their magnificent Peruvian/Brazilian backdrops is remarkably accurate. The greed of the Spaniards is conveyed well, as is their undeniable bravery, and the romance of the heralded 'explorer' such as Mendoza shines through. The children are clearly the most important characters, and they actually reminded me of Mark Twain's Huck Finn, a cool intelligent 12 year old boy with adventurous blood and an active imagination, who seems trapped in the moral dilemma of helping European concepts of civilizations to overcome native tribes and 'savage' peoples. The journey they take explores the whole Latin American continent and no-one can say that they didn't want to go to Machu Picchu and walk in Esteban's footsteps after seeing this cartoon!

Having studied a course in pre-Colonial Latin American history at Uni and having been to Latin America it is remarkable how much this TV series taught me. Perhaps given the average intellectual level of most cartoons nowadays, the present generation of kiddies should be treated to re-runs of this fantastic program, or even a sequel?!

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.

Ah, how I miss this series.

Yes, I have seen the French version of this series and I say, they did a great job (the creators of this also did Ulysse 31 and Spartakus). Though the story was based on a Scott O'Dell novel about a boy named Esteban and Pre-American history, there are also some mythic elements too, such as a flying condor made of pure gold and the allerged civilization of Mu as well.

I wish they would have this on again, instead of that teeny-bopping B.S. or sell-out shows claiming to be "educational" Like what are kids gonna learn from all that?

But hey, I heard this was released on DVD in Europe and French parts of the world. I might nail this too *L*

P.S. My favorites are Tao and his pet parrot. They were cute!

This was such a wonderful and inspirational series for children in the 80s. Now they're all grown up and the show still captivates them - In fact I enjoy it even more now (at 24) than I did when I was little! There is so much in it to love and appreciate - rich characters and scenery, and such a deep story rooted in historical accuracy and the culture of the South American people. This is the kind of series a person can become fully engrossed in, because the story is such a grand epic and the characters are so memorable. The juxtaposition of the three adult characters with the three children, each with their own unique gifts and personality, lends to a great humanity in this show.

Esteban and Zia are the children of the sun who set off from Spain to the new world in search of their parentage, but end up on a fantastic quest for the "Seven Cities of Gold," fabled to be hidden among the deserts and jungles of South America. They are accompanied by two bumbling sailors, Pedro and Sancho, and a boy named Tao, a descendant of the Heva, a people of remarkable insight and advanced technology. The unsung hero of the group is Mendoza, the dashing, cape-clad ship's navigator who seems solely bent on finding his fortune in gold, but eventually comes to care for the children and appreciate their special talents. (Even though he is often too proud to admit it!)

The entire cast is spectacular and fully believable. After this show left Nickelodeon, the voices of Mendoza and Esteban rang in my mind for an entire decade, as did the imagery of the magical golden condor and the gold medallions of the sun. It took me ten years to acquire this series on video, and now I get to watch it whenever I want and relive all the splendor.

The stories in this show are ultimately moral, as they are told from the child perspective. These are children in a time when Spanish soldiers are trying to conquer the native cultures of the New World, and Esteban and his friends think nothing of risking their lives to help these native people and fight alongside them. They see the world with an honesty and goodheartedness that withstands whatever trials they must endure. There is such loyalty and friendship, (sometimes unspoken) within the ranks of this unlikely group of adventurers, and they are so likable and sympathetic that you can't help but be drawn into their journeys. After 39 episodes, Esteban, Zia, Tao and Mendoza are not characters in a cartoon, but old friends you love and admire.

Shows like Pokemon and Spongebob are entertaining and well-crafted in their own right, but modern cartoons as a whole have nothing on a show like "The Mysterious Cities of Gold."

Kudos to the creators of this series, and especially to the cast voices who brought it to life for a generation of American children to relish. I hope they realize what good they have done and just how much they are appreciated. We the fans are grown now, adults who are better people for having watched "The Mysterious Cities of Gold." To the actors, artists, and producers, we say THANK YOU !!

Because of you, we all dream in gold.

Score: 10.0