Once Upon a Time... Man

Once Upon a Time... Man 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.[1]

Characters

The episodes of Once Upon a Time… Man typically would follow one family, which most typically used the same set of archetypes that would be reused for the scenario. These same characters would later be used in the later additions to the Once Upon a Time... franchise, with some changes.

Although historical figures would typically appear as themselves, occasionally one of the archetypes would be used, like Maestro as Leonardo da Vinci.

Maestro (Roger Carel) – The wise old man. He usually serves as the head of the tribe, as a religious priest, as an advisor to the king, or as an inventor. Maestro's hair is white and so long that it completely covers his body, and only his facial features, arms, and feet are ever visible; he is also distinguished by two hairs on the top of his head that look like antennae. Maestro often keeps objects in his beard and is sometimes seen fiddling around in it to find the one he wishes to present. He also serves as a mentor to the children of the series.

Peter / Pierre (Roger Carel) – Another protagonist of the series, with brown hair, presented as an ordinary but likeable man. He is always married to Pierrette and is good friends with Jumbo. He is sometimes referred to as Pierrot. In some of the episodes set in the medieval era, Peter has blonde hair and is named Bert, but his personality and relationships are the same.

Jumbo / Le Gros (Yves Barsacq) – The strong young man with red curly hair, Jumbo is tall, somewhat clumsy, and very muscular. He prefers to solve problems with his fists, and his best friend Peter often needs to indicate for him not to attack.

Pierrette (Annie Balestra) – A kind blonde woman, typically married to Peter.

The Pest / Le Teigneux (Claude Bertrand) – A strong bully and one of two common recurring villains in the series (the other being the Dwarf). He is the major rival opposing Peter and Jumbo, and is either working against them or arguing with them.

The Dwarf / Le Nabot (Patrick Préjean) – The mastermind behind the Pest, the Dwarf is short and has red hair with three spikes pointing upward. He is often the only one who supports the Pest in his actions, and is often shown as a swindler.

The Clock – A rectangular box with eyes and hands, typically coloured red, the Clock most commonly simply shows the year that the events on-screen are occurring. Occasionally, the Clock does intervene in the series in a minor role, typically to either have some emotional response like surprise or sadness to an event on-screen, or else to correct Maestro in-series when he has ideas too advanced for his historical time period.

genre	Edutainment Animation
language	French
runtime	26 minutes
creator	Albert Barillé
composer	Yasuo Sugiyama
voices	Roger Carel Annie Balestra Patrick Préjean Claude Bertrand Yves Barsacq Vincent Ropion
narrated	Roger Carel
country	France Belgium Canada Italy Japan Netherlands Norway Spain Sweden Switzerland
company	Procidis France Régions Société Radio-Canada ACCESS Alberta Radiotelevisione italiana Swiss Broadcasting Corporation Radiodiffusion-Télévision Belge Belgische Radio en Televisie Katholieke Radio Omroep Norsk rikskringkasting Sveriges Radio Televisión Española Tatsunoko Production
network	FR3
first aired	September 30, 1978
last aired	April 14, 1979
num episodes	26
related	Once Upon a Time... Space (1982)

Once Upon a Time... Man

Music

Theme music

Score

Track listing

Track listing

Characters

Episodes

Home media

See also

External links

References