Il était une fois... l'homme 

A comprehensive animated survey of the evolution of humanity and the history of predominately Western Civilization.

Creator:

Albert Barillé

Stars:

Annie Balestra, Albert Barillé, Yves Barsacq

Cast

Series cast summary:
Annie Balestra	...	Pierette 26 episodes, 1978
Albert Barillé	...	Narrator 26 episodes, 1978
Yves Barsacq	...	Le Gros 26 episodes, 1978
Claude Bertrand	...	Le Teigneux 26 episodes, 1978
Roger Carel	...	Maestro / ... 26 episodes, 1978
Patrick Préjean	...	Le Nabot 26 episodes, 1978

Storyline

In this series, the history of humanity and Western Civilization is surveyed. To illustrate this in an entertaining way, a cast of specific characters are recast in each episode as they live their lives in each major historical period of focus.

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Plot Keywords:

cult favorite | cult tv | evolution | civilisation | religion | 

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Drama | Family | History | War

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first episode, dealing with prehistory, presents many thoroughly outdated theories originating from the early 20th century. While widely accepted when the show was made, they have been overturned by scientific advancements beginning from the 1980s. Among other inaccuracies, it depicts herbivorous dinosaurs as swamp dwellers, proposes the unsubstantiated idea that carnivorous dinosaurs were afraid of water, and claims that crocodiles descended from dinosaurs. Brachiosaurus is said to have been the largest land animal at 50 tons, but modern-day estimates are significantly lower and many larger dinosaurs have since been discovered. The Anatosaurus is nowadays called Edmontosaurus, and while more recent findings suggest it did have a head crest, it probably wasn't as big as the cartoon version. The Elasmosaurus is incorrectly shown with a bendy neck and Tylosaurus has a ridge on its back and no tail fluke. Furthermore, the extinction of non-bird dinosaurs isn't given an explanation, only depicted as a large earthquake and droughts, because the show was produced years before evidence of an asteroid impact came to light. One of the more forward-thinking theories presented is the now-accepted fact that birds came from dinosaurs, though the animation falsely shows Archaeopteryx (long regarded as the "first bird") descending from generic thecodonts instead of dinosaurs (the term "thecodont" is not in use anymore, these days they would be called archosaurs).

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Alternate Versions

Aspect Ratio is changed from it's original 1.33:1 to 1.66:1 in remastered versions for TV and Digital Plaforms.

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Connections

Referenced in Matzav Ha'Uma: Episode #2.6 (2010)

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Soundtracks

Tausend Jahre sind ein Tag
Music by Udo Jürgens
Lyrics by Siegfried Rabe
Performed by Udo Jürgens
(main theme: German version)

User Reviews

Good way to learn about history

I used to watch this a lot as a kid. Today I use it when i teach.

I liked the way the female commentator mentioned dates and names and events and there was a small screen at the top with arms and stuff where the dates appeared. That was nice. And some times the screen creature disagreed with the commentator.

Anyways. I also liked that it was chronological. It started with the stone age, where we got to see people hunting mammoth, fishing and so on. It was in many ways my favorite episode. I am very into fishing, and found it interesting that they made line and hooks from animal parts and also that they used crickets for bait.

Another good episode I remember was the one about the Mongol hordes. I liked the way they depicted Djenghis Kahn. They drew him with skulls inside his eyes and fire inside his eyes, laughing and smiling.

The old, bearded inventor was also very nice.

I don't like the way the wannabe leader and his red haired crony always got beaten up by the kind muscle guy. It was too easy and violent and quite frankly not nice.

Other than that the series was very good.

Details

Official Sites:

Procidis [France]

Country:

France Canada Italy Switzerland Belgium Netherlands Norway Sweden Spain Japan

Language:

French

Release Date:

1978 (France)

Also Known As:

Il était une fois... l'homme

Company Credits

Production Co:

Procidis, France Régions 3 (FR3), Société Radio-Canada

Technical Specs

Runtime:

25 min (26 episodes) 25 min (30 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1