Underplayed Gems

Once Upon a Time... Man (1978)

Once Upon a Time... Man poster
Original title
Il était une fois… l'Homme
Directed by
Albert Barillé
Genre
educational entertainment, children's television series, historical television series
Country
France, Japan
Length
1 season, 26 episodes
Rated
NR
Rating
8.3 of 10 from 140 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

This animated series teaches children about human history. A group of characters travels through different time periods and civilizations. The show explains major historical events from multiple points of view.

educationalinformativegentlenostalgiclightheartedpositivefamily-friendlycalm

What happens

Once Upon a Time... Man (French: Il était une fois... l'homme) is an animated educational television series created and directed by Albert Barillé. It is the first series in the Once Upon a Time... franchise. It explains human history in a format adapted for children, with the action focused around one group of characters which appear in every episode dealing with the problems of the period depicted. Although historical figures would typically appear as themselves, occasionally they inherit the appearance and some of the personality of one of the archetypes. The series is known for explaining historic events to children from different viewpoints as the main characters come from different civilizations. The series was produced by French studio Procidis in co-production with France Régions (FR3, France), Société Radio-Canada and ACCESS Alberta (Canada), Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI, Italy), the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SSR, Switzerland), Radiodiffusion-Télévision Belge and Belgische Radio en Televisie (RTBF and BRT, Belgium), Katholieke Radio Omroep (KRO, Netherlands), Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK, Norway), Sveriges Radio (SR, Sweden), Televisión Española (TVE, Spain), and Tatsunoko Production (Japan) who was the one who made the animation. The series premiered in France on FR3, between 30 September 1978 and 14 April 1979, and it was subsequently broadcast on the channels of the rest of the broadcasters that participated in the production dubbed into their own language. Once Upon a Time... Man was purchased by most public broadcasting channels in Europe later, and by many other broadcasters in other countries around the world, and is well-known by a significant percentage of the population. The show aired in the United States on the History Channel starting in January 1996. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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