Mysterious Cities of Gold
So what is The Mysterious Cities of Gold?
Airing on Nickelodeon, this was one of my favorite TV shows as a child. Right between my Flintstones / Jetsons / Thundaar the Barbarian phase and getting into Robotech - after which I considered myself too old for kiddie stuff like cartoons. (Fortunately, I'd grown out of that nonsense well before Avatar the Last Airbender came along.) It was also one of my first experiences with networks canceling my show! I seem to remember that Nickelodeon just stopped airing it at one point with no explanation. Probably lost their syndication rights or something, but try explaining that to a ten year old.
(They always cancel my shows; it's my lot in life. I should start watching trash TV in the hopes of putting it out of everyone's misery.)
What Happened
The story follows little Esteban, who was rescued from a sinking ship by a Spanish sailor named Mendoza and brought to Spain. When Mendoza returns to the New World years later to help Pizzaro search for the Cities of Gold, he thinks the little boy and the gold medallion he carries may be special in some way and takes Esteban along.
Also on board the ship is an Inca girl named Zia, who has a matching medallion and the ability to decipher some of the clues guiding everyone. After their ship sinks, the group is introduced to Tao, the last of the Hiva people, who possesses even more cryptic clues and a glowing jar that winds up being pretty important. So everyone wanders the deserts and jungles and mountains of South and Central America (the geography gets a bit garbled) looking for the Cities of Gold.
What Did I Think?
It's got a similar feel to Last Airbender: little kid destined to save the world wanders about with a couple of sidekicks in tow. Eventually, he solves the all the mysteries and puzzles and unearths the Big Secret Thingie. Then, there is a fight scene, the kid wins, and everyone goes home happy. There is even a matching preponderance of Daddy Issues.
MCoG is a far more plot-driven show than Last Airbender, with a bit of an "and then and then and then" structure to the narrative. It's not as sophisticated in it's character development, though Mendoza's fluid morality hints at something deeper. If Tao falls into caricature, it's more to the bookish, nerdy Spock side of things than a racial stereotype. Part of that, however, is that everyone is far too busy running around yelling about how they have to figure out where they are going to have any breath left for character moments. And I have to admit that re-watching the shows as an adult, I was dismayed to see how many times Zia managed to get herself kidnapped. Would it have killed the writers to have her take a swing at someone instead of just screaming?
Like Last Airbender, the setting of MCoG is very much not-Caucasian. Though the story skips most of the details of just how badly the native tribes of America were slaughtered, sickened and otherwise trashed by the Europeans, it's clear that the conquistadors are the bad guys. It's also pretty clear that the main European advantage was that they are really really good at blowing things up. It's a technological edge that wins the day, not some sort of moral imperative. (Also cue some skepticism regarding religion running through it all.) Given that the show was a joint Japanese-French venture, there's probably an essay in there on why it all comes down to radioactive aliens in the end, but the main theme of mankind's reliance on the destructive power of technology biting him in the butt comes through loud and clear.
(For more information, see the Wikipedia article on The Mysterious Cities of Gold)
There weren't really "seasons" to this show, so I pretty much separated the episodes into groups of ten. I'll post the first batch tomorrow, so check it out!