The Mysterious Cities Of Gold: The Complete Series BBC (Slimline version) [DVD] [1982]

Absolutely loved sharing this with my own children, we watched every single episode together over the Christmas holidays and by the end my children were singing the theme tune and quoting the characters.A few outdated references that amused us all, such as Mendoza chastising an Amazon woman threatening him by saying “that’s quite enough my dear” and pushing her into a lake, and a few slightly to brutal clips in the educational documentary that plays after each cartoon episode discussing the history in a slightly more upfront manner that kids are taught now, there also is a scene of a hunter in one of the documentary’s with doesn’t cut away during, like it probably would now. After a while we got ready for the documentary that plays after each episode with the remote control ready to forward if needed, it’s really not that bad but some thing to be aware of. You could always just skip the documentary that plays after for very young kids, though it’s very educational and taught me also as a grown up a lot.

This show was produced in the year I was born, and was one of the shows that stood out from my childhood.Even twenty years after watching it I could still sing the themesong!So when I saw that there was a DVD release of this show, that I had seen hide nor hair of since the 80s ended, I hit the the 'add to basket' button faster than the speed of light!And when I recieved the boxset I was certainly NOT disappointed.The series itself is successful because of it's memorable characters, it's intelligent and thought out storyline and it's willingness to break the barriers of children's TV and create a show that appeals to a wider audience. Due to it's lingering popularity with the original fans of this show (and the recent trend of 80s animation making cult comebacks), Fabulous Films could have probably gotten away with throwing all the episodes on DVDs and leaving it at that.But this boxset is well packaged, comes with a lovely information book and every disc comes with some bonus materials (including missing scenes, concept art, interviews etc.). It's been lovingly restored (even though nothing short of complete reproduction is going to make the 28 year old animation look perfect, it still looks great to watch) and the sound and music sound wonderful, too.So I not only have to congratulate the original production staff for creating a great series but I also have to congratulate Fabulous Films for producing a fantastic release.

According to an internet search this series was first aired in the UK in 1986 so I must've been 12 years old when I first saw it. Often I look back on programmes from childhood with rose tinted spectacles on. Then I watch them again many years later and realise they weren't half as good as I remembered. This is certainly not the case with The Mysterious Cities O G. After watching the series again recently I thought it ticked every box. The storyline is epic, the music and animation are really nice (and dramatic) and the characters are well developed. I particularly like the way the children interact with each other. The way that children behave has been very well observed. Companionship, loyalty, bashfulness, bickering, playfulness, clumsiness, imagination, fear, bravery and so on. It's all there in the child characters.The live action documentaries at the end of each episode are interesting and educational and any Brit buying this DVD set may be seeing them for the first time because I think they were edited out when the series aired in the UK. Why they were cut?, I don't know. Perhaps the British censors thought the reference to sacrifice and very brief scenes of nudity, bull fighting and chicken slaughter were unsuitable for children. The scenes are brief and in my opinion there is nothing graphic enough for parents to worry about their children seeing. This view seems to be backed up by the number of 5 star reviews and lack of complaints.

I used to watch this with my son when he was a small boy and didnt realise it was on dvd. I have watched a couple of discs but then took it to my son to watch. I am hoping to get it back in March so that I can watch the whole series.It bring so many memories that I think it is great , but the sound quality wavers in the songs/Every episode has a recap of the story up to that point, then it goes on with the story. Towards the end there is a documentary about South America and particularly Peru explaining baout things that are relevant mainly to the story. Then there are a few pointers to how the next programme is going to evolve.I think its great and am glad I purchased it , perhpas i will watch it with my grandchildren eventually.

I remember I loved this in the 80s so decided to give it another look. I marathoned all 39 episodes in a week so it's safe to say I wasn't disappointed!The characters are nicely believable and develop well as the series progresses. At times the animation is a little primitive by modern standards and the sound is a little shaky in places but this doesn't distract from what is still a well made series. It gets a little silly near the end when they meet the Olmecs and I'd forgotten what a trail of dsestruction they left behind as they progressed, but overall it was worth buying and watching again. I will probably watch it through yet again at some point soon.This also has a 5 minute documentary at the end of the episodes which describes events and history of the subjects in the episodes that us Brits didn't get on the TV run. While I wasn't offended by it, there was some tribal nakedness and a live chicken beheading that I admit would be a bit much for 80s BBC to show to children.Anyway, worth a look!

A MUST for every 'The Mysterious Cities Of Gold' fan!