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Once Upon a Time... Man

Overview

Once Upon a Time...Man is a French animated TV series from 1978 directed by Albert Barillé

Albert Barillé

Albert Barillé was a French television producer, creator, screenwriter, cartoonist, and founder of Procidis. He is the creator of the puppet animated series Colargol, and the series Once Upon a Time......

. 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.

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 their website.

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Encyclopedia

Once Upon a Time...Man is a French animated TV series from 1978 directed by Albert Barillé

Albert Barillé

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 their website. The DVD series was produced in French, English (not sold in UK, US or Canada), Finnish, German, Hebrew, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish.

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
Roger Carel
Roger Bancharel, better known by his stage name, Roger Carel, is a French actor and voice talent, best known for his recurring film roles as Asterix or the French voice of Star Wars C3PO and the French voice of Winnie the Pooh. He used to voice Wally Gator, Mickey Mouse or Woody Woodpecker in French...

) - The wise
Wise
Wise or WISE may refer to:* The adjectival form of wisdom-Media:*WISE , a radio station licensed to Asheville, North Carolina, United States...

old man
Old man
-Roles:*Father*Husband*Captain of a merchant ship or a warship *Any male amateur radio operator-People:*"Old Man" of La Chapelle-au-Saints, a skeleton...

. He usually serves as the head of the tribe, as a religious priest
Priest
A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities. Their office or position is the priesthood, a term which may also apply to such persons collectively.Priests and priestesses...

, as an adviser to the king
King
King may be a title for a head of state.King may also refer to:-Places:* King, Ontario, Canada* King, Indiana, United States* King, North Carolina, United States* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin, United States...

and as an inventor
Inventor
An inventor is a person who creates or discovers a new method, form, device or other useful means. The word inventor comes form the latin verb invenire, invent-, to find...

. 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 (Roger Carel) - The courageous and handsome young man. He represents the image of the good person.
Jumbo / Le Gros (Yves Barsacq
Yves Barsacq
Yves Barsacq is a French film actor. He has appeared in over 150 films since 1957.He was born in Paris, France.-Selected filmography:* Angélique, Marquise des Anges * Play Time * Elise, or Real Life...

) - 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.
- Jumbo and Peter have also young counterparts (Little Jumbo and Pierrot (Vincent Ropion)) and their development is usually followed from childhood
  Childhood
  Childhood is a broad term usually applied to the phase of development in humans between infancy and adulthood.-Age definition of a child:...
  
  to adolescence
  Adolescence
  Adolescence Adolescence Adolescence (lat adolescere, (to grow) is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development that occurs between childhood and adulthood. This transition involves biological (i.e. pubertal), social, and psychological changes, though the biological or...
  
  .
Psi - 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
Bully
Bullying is repeated acts over time that involves a real or perceived imbalance of power with the more powerful child or group attacking those who are less powerful. Bullying can be verbal harassment, physical assault, or other more subtle methods of coercion such as manipulation. Bullying can be...

that enjoys picking on others or attacking them. He is strong, but Jumbo is stronger.
The Dwarf / Le Nabot (Patrick Préjean) - The little bully, friend of 'The Pest', weak but intriguer and shrewd. He has a malicious giggle. Both he and his friend display downright negative characters (traitors, spies
SPY
SPY may refer to: * SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire* SPY , a U.S...

, conspirators, murderers), or at least skeptics or hypocrites.They are the ones to generally start up a conflict between the circle of children.
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

David

David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Bible. He is depicted as a righteous king, although not without fault, as well as an acclaimed warrior, musician and poet .The biblical chronology sets his life c.1037–970 BCE, his reign over Judah c.1007–1000 BCE,...

. Maestro had the role of Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....

etc.

Episodes

And Earth was created...
Formation and evolution of the Solar System
The formation and evolution of the Solar System is estimated to have begun 4.6 billion years ago with the gravitational collapse of a small part of a giant molecular cloud...
Neanderthal Man
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal , or ), also spelled Neandertal, is an extinct member of the Homo genus that is known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia. Neanderthals are either classified as a subspecies of humans or as a separate species...
Cro-Magnon Man
Cro-Magnon
The term Cro-Magnon refers to one of the main types of early modern humans of the European Upper Paleolithic. Current dating of Cro-Magnon bones point to more recent date 17,000 years. The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon like humans are dated to 30,000 radiocarbon years...
The Fertile Valleys
Neolithic Revolution
However, the Neolithic Revolution involved far more than the adoption of a limited set of food-producing techniques. During the next millennia it would transform the small, mobile and fairly egalitarian groups of hunter-gatherers that had hitherto dominated human history, into sedentary societies...
The First Empires
Empire
The term empire derives from the Latin imperium. Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy...
The Age of Pericles
Pericles
Pericles was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age—specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars...
The Pax Romana
Pax Romana
Pax Romana was the long period of relative peace and minimal expansion by military force experienced by the Roman Empire in the first and second centuries AD. Since it was established by Caesar Augustus it is sometimes called Pax Augusta...
The Conquest of Islam
Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests , also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad...
The Carolingians
The Age of Vikings
Viking Age
Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the eighth to eleventh centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...
The Cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

Builders
The Travels of Marco Polo
Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a merchant from the Venetian Republic who wrote Il Milione, which introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, voyaged through Asia and met Kublai Khan. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for...
The Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne, which was vacant with the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings. The two primary contenders were the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known...
The Quattrocento
Quattrocento
The cultural and artistic events of 15th century Italy are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento...
The Golden Age of Spain
Spanish Golden Age
The Spanish Golden Age period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political rise and decline of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty...
Elizabethan England
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was associated with Queen Elizabeth I's reign and is often considered to be the golden age in English history. It was the height of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of English poetry, music and literature...
The Golden Age of the Low Countries
Dutch Golden Age
The Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world.- Causes of the Golden Age :...
The Great Reign of Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , popularly known as the Sun King , was King of France and of Navarre His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days, and is the longest documented reign of any European monarch.Louis began personally governing France after the death...
Peter the Great
Peter I of Russia
Peter I the Great or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov ruled Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his weak and sickly half-brother, Ivan V....

and his Times
The Age of Reason
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment, or simply The Enlightenment, is a term used to describe a time in Western philosophy and cultural life, centered upon the eighteenth century, in which reason was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for authority....

(18th)
America
Americas
The Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere or New World, comprising the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. America may be ambiguous in English, as it is more commonly used to refer to the United States of America...
1789–1814 (The French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...

)
The Awakening of the People (Revolutions of 1848
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout the European continent...

)
The "Belle Époque
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I...

" (1900 to 1914)
The Crazy Years
Roaring Twenties
Roaring Twenties is a phrase used to describe the 1920s, principally in North America, that emphasizes the period's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism...
Once Upon a Time... the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the fifth largest of the eight planets in the solar system, and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in terms of diameter, mass and density...

(and tomorrow?)

Broadcast Information

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...

ORF
France France France France , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...	FR3 France 3 France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
Canada Canada Canada Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...	CBC Television CBC Television CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.-Overview:CBC Television provides a complete 24-hour network schedule of news, sports, entertainment and children's programming, in most cases feeding the same programming at the same local times... , Télévision de Radio-Canada Télévision de Radio-Canada Télévision de Radio-Canada is a Canadian French language television network. It is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, known in french as Société Radio-Canada. Headquarters are at Maison Radio-Canada in Montreal, which is also home to the network's flagship station, CBFT... , Access TV Alberta Access (TV channel) Access is a Canadian English language, privately owned educational television channel in the province of Alberta. It is owned by CTVglobemedia....
Belgium Belgium Belgium The Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...	RTBF RTBF RTBF or Radio télévision belge de la communauté française is the national broadcasting organisation of the government of the French-speaking southern part of Belgium, the counterpart to the Dutch-speaking VRT in the northern part of the country... , BRT Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep , or VRT, is a publicly-funded broadcaster of radio and television in Flanders ....
Chile Chile Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...	TVN TVN (Chile) National Television of Chile is Chilean state-owned television station. Its inaugural transmission took place on 1969. TVN is owned, but not funded, by the state, and it functions independently from it; a very particular case of public television in South America...
Iceland Iceland Iceland The Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...	Sjónvarpið Sjónvarpið Sjónvarpið is the television channel of the National Icelandic Broadcasting Service , launched in 1966. The channel broadcasts primarily news, sports, cultural programs, children's material, American & British films and entertainment programming... (RÚV)
India India India India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...	Doordarshan DoorDarshan Doordarshan is the public television broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati, a public service broadcaster nominated by the Government of India. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in the world in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters... (DD)
Israel Israel Israel Israel officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...	Israeli Educational Television Israeli Educational Television The Israeli Educational Television is a state-owned public television network which used to concentrate on producing and broadcasting programs for schoolchildren. The first Israeli children's show, featuring Kishkashta, aired on Channel 1 in the 1970s and '80s... **
Italy Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...	RAI RAI Rai , known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by parliament. RAI is the biggest television company in Italy...
Japan Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	Tatsunoko Production Tatsunoko Production , often shortened to , is a Japanese animation company founded in 1962 by acclaimed anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida along with his brothers Kenji and Toyoharu... *
Mexico Mexico Mexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...	XHGC-TV XHGC-TV XHGC-TV , commonly known as Canal 5, is a TV station owned by Televisa, broadcasting from Mexico City, with affiliates and repeaters throughout Mexico.-History:... (Televisa Televisa Televisa is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate, the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world. It is a major international entertainment business, with much of its programming airing in the United States on Univision, with which it has an exclusive contract... )
Netherlands Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...	Katholieke Radio Omroep KRO KRO, or Katholieke Radio Omroep , is a Dutch public broadcasting organization founded on 23 April 1925. Broadly Catholic in its spiritual outlook, KRO broadcasts the bulk of its television output on the Nederland 1 channel. KRO is also responsible for managing broadcasts made by the Catholic Church... (KRO)
Norway Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...	Norsk Rikskringkasting Norsk Rikskringkasting The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation , which is usually known as the NRK, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest media organisation in Norway... (NRK)
Poland Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...	Telewizja Polska Telewizja Polska Telewizja Polska Spółka Akcyjna is Poland's public broadcasting corporation.... (TVP)
Portugal Portugal Portugal Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...	RTP Rádio e Televisão de Portugal Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, S.A., commonly known as RTP and Rádio e Televisão de Portugal , is the Portuguese public service broadcasting corporation... **
Ireland Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland Ireland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...	RTÉ
Spain Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...	Televisión Española Televisión Española Televisión Española is the national state-owned public-service television broadcaster in Spain. TVE's activities are financed by a combination of advertising revenue and subsidies from the national government, but it'll become only supported by the national subsides by january 2010.TVE belongs to... (TVE)
Sweden Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...	Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio AB – Sweden's Radio Ltd – is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. The Swedish public-broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics... (SR)
Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...	SSR Télévision Suisse Romande Télévision Suisse Romande is a TV network with 2 channels: TSR 1 and TSR 2. They are the main French language channels in Switzerland, part of SRG SSR idée suisse... (French)
Turkey Turkey Turkey Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...	TRT Turkish Radio and Television Corporation The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation also known as TRT, , was founded in 1964, it is the national public broadcaster of Turkey. Around 70% of TRT's funding comes from a tax levied on electricity bills and a sales tax on television and radio receivers... (TRT) **
United Kingdom United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...	ITV ITV ITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
Germany West Germany West Germany West Germany is a common English name for the period of the Federal Republic of Germany between its' formation in May 1949 to German reunification in October 1990, when the German Democratic Republic was dissolved and the five states on its territory joined the Federal Republic of Germany,...	WDR Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD... , SWF
Finland Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...	YLE
Hungary Hungary Hungary Hungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...	Minimax Minimax Minimax is a decision rule used in decision theory, game theory, statistics and philosophy for minimizing the maximum possible loss. Alternatively, it can be thought of as maximizing the minimum gain...

* Production company
** Originally broadcast in B/W; color not yet introduced in these countries

External links

Web site for Procidis, the series' producer