Il était une fois... l'homme

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.

This series is a very European one, in the sense that it's unheard of in the States while kids all over the Euro-Asia area probably know the Bach's Toccata and Fugue No. 525 simply as this series tune. In Hebrew it was called "Once Upon A Time" and it reigned in the kids' most loved animated shows for a few good years. This one should be offered to be downloaded in the Internet as it is a helpful tool to study history. Excellent stuff.

a great series, i loved it on television when i was a kid and now i bought it on DVD and enjoyed it also as an adult. it should be a standard school material and showed to all kids: a fine example that education can be entertaining. a pity that in spite of being really an epic work, some parts of the history were skipped or presented shortly - i could watch it for... well like forever 8). i can only recommend it to everyone from kids to parents, i think that its not only more informative but also funnier than modern robots-fight-monsters kind of cartoons. ps: my colleagues niece rejected to watch shrek 2, she wanted to watch this 8)))

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.

Quite educational, good for those who want to learn a lot about the history of the world. One of the best educational series ever. Highly recommend for children.