Once Upon a Time... Man

Once Upon a Time… Man
Format	Animated television series
Created by	Albert Barillé
Voices of	Roger Carel Annie Balestra Patrick Préjean Claude Bertrand Yves Barsacq Vincent Ropion
Narrated by	Roger Carel
Composer(s)	Yasuo Sugiyama
Country of origin	France
No. of episodes	26
Production
Running time	26 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	FR3
Picture format	SECAM (576i)
Original airing	1978
Chronology
Followed by	Once Upon a Time... Space (1982)
External links
Production website

Once Upon a Time… Man (French: Il était une fois… l'homme) is a French animated TV series from 1978 directed by Albert Barillé. The series explains world history in a format designed for children. The action focuses around one group. The same familiar characters appear in all episodes as they deal with the problems of their time.

The show's introduction and ending famously use Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Shortening the piece to only 2 minutes in length, the introduction uses the very beginning, which jumps into the start of the middle section and finally the dramatic ending to coincide with the destruction of Earth at the end of the intro.

Regional releases

A DVD box set of all the episodes of the series has been produced by the French production company Procidis, and distributed locally by various distributors. The DVD series was produced in French, English (not sold in UK or US), Finnish, German, Dutch, Hebrew, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish. In 2011, an English language, Region 1 DVD box set is available in Canada and the United States. This set is produced and distributed by Imavision.

Characters

The series Once Upon a Time… Man illustrated the history of mankind from the point of view of a group that is always composed of similar recurring figures that represent different archetypal roles.:

• Maestro (Roger Carel) - The wise old man. He usually serves as the head of the tribe, as a religious priest, as an adviser to the king and as an inventor. Maestro has long white hair and beard that covers his entire body. He is seen to stash things away in this beard, sometimes loitering quite a bit to find the object he wishes to present. He serves as the mentor to the children, telling them about the various subjects.
• Peter / Pierre Carel (Roger Carel) - The young man, whom all goes well, commonly envied by his enemies. In the series, has a family, and is defended by Jumbo, which Pierre seeks to curb, and say the things he has done wrong.
• Jumbo / Le Gros (Yves Barsacq) - The strong young man. Jumbo is Peter's best friend. A quite large person, with red hair and great physical powers. At times he tends to be a little clumsy but he is very strong. He often defends Peter, Pierrette (and Psi in the spinoffs) from the bad bullies.
• Little Jumbo (Vincent Ropion)-Jumbo's son and Pierre's nephew, making it the cousin of Pierrot. Defends his cousin, Pierrot of all evil.
• Pierrot (Vincent Ropion)-
• Pierette - The good young girl. Dark haired woman, serves mostly as Peter's girlfriend, or as Peter's wife.
• Pierrette (Annie Balestra) - The good young woman. Blond haired, serves mostly as Pierrot's mother, or as Jumbo's wife.
• The Pest / Le Teigneux (Claude Bertrand) - The big bully, friend of 'The Dwarf', large and strong bully that enjoys picking on others or attacking them. He is strong, but Jumbo is stronger.
• The Dwarf / Le Nabot (Patrick Préjean) - The little bully, a friend of Pest, but smarter. Unlike Pest, patching their own actions such as murder, deceit, scams ... Despite being a friend of Pest, rivaling with him, which is fun for the circle of good (Pierre, Pierette ...).
• The Clock - Displays the year when the events occur. Sometimes it has a character and reacts to what the screen shows. For example complains when narration proceeds many years forwards or glares to the scenery when something interesting is shown.

Some of them had historical roles. For example Pest as Goliath and Pierrot as David. Maestro had the role of Leonardo Da Vinci etc.

Episodes

1. And Earth was created…, first broadcast on 1979-03-23
2. Neanderthal Man, first broadcast on 1979-03-30
3. Cro-Magnon Man, first broadcast on 1979-04-06
4. The Fertile Valleys, first broadcast on 1979-04-13
5. The First Empires, first broadcast on 1979-04-20
6. The Age of Pericles, first broadcast on 1979-04-27
7. The Pax Romana, first broadcast on 1979-05-11
8. The Conquest of Islam, first broadcast on 1979-05-18
9. The Carolingians, first broadcast on 1979-05-25
10. The Age of Vikings, first broadcast on 1978-04 as pilot, rebroadcast in series on 1979-06-01
11. The Cathedral Builders, first broadcast on 1979-06-08
12. The Travels of Marco Polo, first broadcast on 1979-06-15
13. The Hundred Years' War, first broadcast on 1979-06-22
14. The Quattrocento, first broadcast on 1981-09-05
15. The Golden Age of Spain, first broadcast on 1981-09-12
16. Elizabethan England, first broadcast on 1981-09-19
17. The Golden Age of the Low Countries, first broadcast on 1981-09-26
18. The Great Reign of Louis XIV, first broadcast on 1981-10-01
19. Peter the Great and his Times, first broadcast on 1981-10-08
20. The Age of Reason (18th), first broadcast on 1981-10-16
21. America, first broadcast on 1981-10-22
22. 1789–1814 (The French Revolution), first broadcast on 1981-10-29
23. The Awakening of the People (Revolutions of 1848), first broadcast on 1981-11-05
24. The "Belle Époque" (1900 to 1914), first broadcast on 1981-11-12
25. The Crazy Years, first broadcast on 1981-11-19
26. Once Upon a Time… the Earth (and tomorrow?), first broadcast on 1981-11-26

Broadcast Information

The series Once Upon a Time… Man and its sequel series were dubbed in nearly every single language.

Country	Television broadcasts	Title
Austria	ORF	Es war einmal… der Mensch
Belgium	RTBF ***, BRT ***	RTBF: Il était une fois l' Homme BRT Er was eens.. De Mens
Canada	CBC Television, Télévision de Radio-Canada ***, Access TV Alberta ***
Chile	TVN	Érase una vez... el hombre
Czech Republic	Československá televize (ČST), Česká televize (ČT)	Byl jednou jeden člověk
Finland	YLE	Olipa kerran ihminen
France	FR3 ***	Il était une fois... l'Homme
Greece	ERT	Μια φορά και έναν καιρό ήταν... ο άνθρωπος
Hong Kong	TVB
Hungary	Minimax	Egyszer volt az ember
Iceland	Sjónvarpið (RÚV)	Einu sinni var...Saga Mannkyns
India	Doordarshan (DD)
Israel	Israeli Educational Television **	היה היה - האדם
Italy	RAI ***	C'era una volta l'uomo
Japan	Tatsunoko Production */***
Jordan	[JTV]	كان يا مكان الحياة
Mexico	Canal 5	Érase una vez... el hombre
Netherlands	Katholieke Radio Omroep (KRO) ***	Er was eens... De Mens
Norway	Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK) ***	Det var en gang et menneske
Poland	Telewizja Polska (TVP), TV Puls	Był sobie człowiek
Portugal	RTP **	Era uma vez... o homem
Republic of Ireland	RTÉ
Slovakia	Československá televízia (ČST)	Bol raz jeden... človek
Spain	Televisión Española (TVE) ***	Érase una vez... el hombre
Sweden	Sveriges Radio (SR) ***	Det var en gång - tidernas äventyr
Switzerland	SSR *** (French)	Es war einmal… der Mensch Il était une fois... l'Homme C'era una volta l'uomo
Turkey	TRT (TRT) **
United Kingdom	ITV	Once Upon a Time... Man
West Germany	SWF, WDR, ZDF	Es war einmal… der Mensch

* Production company
** Originally broadcast in B/W; color not yet introduced in these countries
*** Contributing co-producer to the series

External links

• Home page for series with episode guide Procidis, the series' producer
• Once Upon a Time... Man at the Internet Movie Database