Les mondes engloutis

I used to watch this show when I was a little girl. When I think about it, I only remember it vaguely. If you ask me, it was a good show. The opening sequence and theme song are two things I only remember vaguely, too. In addition to that, everyone was ideally cast. Also, the writing was very strong. The performances were top-grade, too. I hope some network brings it back so I can see every episode. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that I'll always remember this show in my memory forever, even though I don't think I've seen every episode. Now, in conclusion, if some network ever brings it back, I hope that you catch it one day before it goes off the air for good.

I give this show full house in my voting, because I was very little when I saw it, and I loved it then, and so I have to think that I still might.

I would very much like to see this show again, or even better: buy it. But how?

It is available on French DVD, but there are no English subtitles - or in any other language, for that matter. Ergo, I can't buy the French DVD-version.

I therefore ask you, guys:

Is there a DVD version out there, with English subtitles???

French speakers will be pleased to watch the original version of these two seasons again, because cartoon series are not what they used to be ! The language used in the dialogue is brilliant, literary yet not pompous; so, parents who want their children to learn correct French should make them watch such series instead of today's superficial material.

And despite the very basic effects (it does look old, with faded colors and glitches), the atmosphere here is just lovely ! Every tableau, every place these guys visit aboard Shashag is eerie and beautifully made.

And to avoid taking itself too seriously (the main synopsis isn't exactly a walk on the beach), there are comic relief characters, like Bik and Bak, and those pirates with 80's rockers haircuts ! So cool !

The main theme is haunting and the other songs, even though they're repeated in almost every episode, are always fun to watch.

The world building is so very good. The story could only be described as "A Journey to The Center of the World" and "The Odyssey".

And this series was very much ahead of its time, what it explores in the 80s what we explored then and today. (War, power, philosophy, slavery, inequality, oppression and society)

It had a lot of influences too. In the show we see Stanley Kubrick's Monolith.

The show explores ideas of industrialism, natural disasters, isolationism, classism, science gone too far, religion gone too far, and so on. It pretty much did everything.

Having re-watched season 2, I can say that the series took a left turn after season 1. Season 2 seems much too long and the writers knee it too. We get the pirate dance to eat up a couple of minutes, now we have the Arcadia dance which eats up even more time.

It honestly feels like season 2 was too long. It could have ended in 36 episodes not 52.

That being said: I still think that the idea is very good and someone could easily make a remake of the original but with a mainline story. 40 episodes would be enough.

I remember whenever I was visiting relatives in Japan, I would always turn on this show "&Acirckadia Monogatari" (Les Mondes Engloutis' Japanese title) on every morning on NHK and I instantly fell in love with it and started my fascination with European animation as well as Asian!

It follows the adventures of two surface children (Bab and Rebekka), mysterious wanderer Spartakus, magical being Akana and two twin ardvark type creatures called Bik and Bak. The end of the world happened long ago, making the floating mystical continent of Arkadia fall beneath the oceans of planet earth. The Arkadian civilization mutate into legless people whom look part human, part jelly-bean and wear strange headdresses and lost memories of the surface world after the creation of their sun, the Shaguma. However, this sun, after many years, is fading away and something must be done, so the children of the Arkadian clan and their organic living spaceship go into the forbidden grottos of this civilization, research their ancestors and create a magical woman from the life force of the ancient Arkadians and named her "Akana".

That is the basic plot, but it gets deeper and deeper with every episode you watch of it, combining original storytelling, with time travel, paradoxes, some comedy, mythological elements and of course, a big cast of colourful characters.

I reccomend this animated series to you. It was a long time since it aired in Japan (have not seen the French version yet, want to though), but it maybe airing in other places, since LME seems to have a cult following in Europe.