Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea 

Long ago, the mystical civilization of Arkadia was one of the most advanced places on Earth, until the end of the world came and forced the land and it's people underground. After that ... See full summary »

Creator:

Nina Wolmark

Stars:

Jeanine Forney, Chris Benard, Amandine Rajau

Cast

Series cast summary:
Jeanine Forney	...	Arkana 52 episodes, 1985-1987
Chris Benard	...	Bob 52 episodes, 1985-1987
Amandine Rajau	...	Rebecca 52 episodes, 1985-1987
Louis Arbessier	...	Shag-shag 52 episodes, 1985-1987
Marc Moro	...	Maxagaze 52 episodes, 1985-1987
Jacques Deschamps	...	Mattymatte, Arkshag 52 episodes, 1985-1987
Claude Dasset	...	Seskapile, Bic 52 episodes, 1985-1987
Albert Augier	...	Bac 52 episodes, 1985-1987
Jean Négroni	...	Narrator / ... 52 episodes, 1985-1987
Rebecca Forstadt	...	Rebecca 52 episodes, 1985-1987
A.J. Henderson	...	Matt / ... 52 episodes, 1985-1987
Rob Roy	...	Spartakus 52 episodes, 1985-1987
Howard Ryshpan	...	Bac 52 episodes, 1985-1987
Perrette Pradier	...	Massmédia 51 episodes, 1985-1987
Yves-Marie Maurin	...	Spartakus 45 episodes, 1985-1987

Storyline

Long ago, the mystical civilization of Arkadia was one of the most advanced places on Earth, until the end of the world came and forced the land and it's people underground. After that great cataclysm, the Arkadians lived deep in the center of the Earth and created an artificial sun called the Shagma (Tiera in the American version). But one fateful day years later, the Shagma began to fade out. In a desperate act, the Children of this unusual civilization and their ship with a mind of it's own broke into to the secret museum, which was considered forbidden, except for the creatures who are in charge of it.

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Plot Keywords:

alternate reality | surrealism | time travel | hidden civilization | lost civilization | 

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-Y7

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

11 September 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea

Company Credits

Production Co:

France Animation, Compagnie générale du jouet, France 2 (FR2)

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Quotes

[repeated line]
Bic and Bac: Aaaah, c'est shagmique!

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Crazy Credits

The ending credits of the French language version has Shag-Shag coming out of a dark portal, followed by some conceptual art of every character(s) by Nina Wolmark. In various international prints, it just shows some footage of the six main characters from various episodes. Also the show's theme song plays during the credits.

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Connections

Referenced in Chrono Trigger (1995)

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Soundtracks

Le Flashbic
(Ending song Season 2)
Music by Vladimir Cosma
Lyrics by Nina Wolmark & Roger Dumas
Performed by Les Mini-Star

User Reviews

Enlighting Journey

This show is another one of my favorite animated shows of all time, though sadly it's also an under the radar gem that like the ancient civilizations on the show has been forgotten. I watched this show when I was about seven years old on Nickelodeon and it blew me away. The 80's decade to me was a golden age for animation as the market was starting to become more open along with our culture; a lot of animated shows were coming in overseas. Seeing this show blew me away because I honestly never seen anything like it and to this day there hasn't been any other show like it. It's too bad that French Animation didn't become a big wave like Japanese Anime over time, I honestly would love to see what other animated shows they have that I have yet to see.

I really love the animation style; the character animation is pretty good I really like how each look unique which creates some diversity and was a bit of a novelty at the time. But it's mainly the background animation that impresses me the most, I really love the detail in each of the lands and the ancient civilizations which really have just this otherworldly and slightly post-apocalyptic quality from just how colorful, strange, and even slightly familiar they all look.

The characters serve their functions they're not deep characters though they have a bit of persona and there are bits of development as the adventure goes on. Arcana whom wears this unique almost Aztec dress and head gear. She's an evolved version of the Arcadia species as she has two legs and even her figure is shaped like any humanoid. But she is armed with their mind powers which are useful throughout the show.

Spartacus whom looks like a native American /Aztec which is cool seeing a hero of that nationality which I don't see often is sort of a Tarzan like character as he a man that has lived outside of Arcadia and knows about most of the underground world. He acts as a bodyguard for Arcana and the two human surface dwellers.

Supporting characters Bic and Bac are fun as they are these smart duck bill platypus/armadillos like creatures. Other than serving up comic relief their both useful as they both have some knowledge about things in the underground world.

Then there are the villains, the Pirates whom are this odd-looking bunch that look like characters from a "Mad Magazine" cartoon. They are constantly pursuing the characters trying to capture them for their own gain. Despite all their fancy toys they have one huge problem, their all idiots. Their also kind of comic relief characters as their always fumbling around in their plight.

But really, we're all in this show for the adventure. I love the story line, it's strange yet unique and easy to understand it honestly feels like it's one that came from another world; and I love that one of the joys of the sci-fi and fantasy genre is in different kinds of plotlines, most that think outside the box. It's a cool idea on a lost ancient civilization that resides under the earth and has an artificial sun for its people to live. It sort of makes me think of a lot of the other lost civilizations like Lemuria and Atlantis and what happened to them.

This show also to me also follows a lot of the pulp adventures stories which always put fun and adventure first and store logic in the closet. Like for example, how is there oxygen and atmosphere in the layers of the earth; let alone due to the earth's mass how is it possible each land overtops the other without collapsing, what the heck is holding them? But most importantly those stories always had this fascination with Lost Civilizations and the possibilities on what they were like. I really love those kinds of stories and there really aren't that many shows that do this except for "Stargate: Atlantis" and "Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water" another underrated gem.

By its nature the plotline in saving Arcadia is just a driving point as we're all in this show not so much for the destination but the adventure. And it's on hell of an adventure, I really love how the underground world is conceived as we see the characters going deeper and deeper in their journey back we discover new kinds of lands, creatures, and civilizations that once existed. Each episode was always something new, which added to the adventure feel of the show. It always made me excited wondering what is the next land their going to, what are we going to find there?

I love how in each of these lands and civilizations we discover lots of things from the customs of people, creatures, plant life, buildings and what they were for, technology and their function, you name it. The writing and the amount of depth to each of these episodes and lands are just great there are just full of creativity and color, the possibilities are as deep as the earth the characters descend down. We even learn a little more as we go along about the underground civilization Arcadia, where it's technologically advanced, they have some sort of pet droids along with some that act as ships, their humanoid but their have no legs they float which makes me wonder more about their anatomy. But I really like how it's a civilization that is devout to the powers of the mind as they seem to value knowledge and other things of intellectual value but also possess psychic abilities.

One other thing that stands out about the show is at time it turns into a musical as in some episode there are these musical numbers that appear, at times for no reason at all. But the highlight is the theme song itself which is just fantastic, it's one of my favorite theme songs of all time which fits as it has a mysterious and adventurous tone to it.

It's true that the only bad thing about this show is it didn't have a seasonal follow up, there were just a lot of plot threads/questions that never really got answered like Spartacus's origins which we never know about or why Arcadia's history is being covered up, could there be some dark conspiracy at work? Hopefully somewhere along the line, this will be another show that will return with a new season. In this era there have been a lot of shows that have came back after ending a long time ago with new seasons like "The X-Files" so why not. Or if not do a revival so that the questions can be answered, it's a thought anyway.

"Spartacus and the Sun Beneath the Sea" shines bright.

Rating: 4 stars