Ulysses 31

Ulysses 31 - October 1981 to April 1982

This animated sci-fi retelling of the Greek poet Homer's epic poem, "The Odyssey", was a French-Japanese co-production originally produced in 1981, with animation from premier Japanese animation studio TMS (Tokyo Movie Shinsha). The series was originally envisaged as being 52 episodes long, but production difficulties cut back the number of episodes to 26.

The show was written by the French writing team of Nina Wolmark and Jean Chalopin, before being animated by TMS in Japan. Many of the show's key Japanese staff came from the very popular (in France as well as Japan) anime, Rose Of Versailles (Lady Oscar), although the original director, Tadao Nagahama died after production of the first episode, leaving the remaining directors to carry on in a similar style. Some of the show's mechanical designs were also created by Shoji Kawamori and Studio Nue, the famed creators of Macross.

Although the show's worldwide debut was on September 12 1981, on Luxembourg's RTL channel, France's FR 3 (the first 'official' home of the series) was not far behind in showing the series. In the mid-1980's the show was given a very respectable and mature English dub by DIC, courtesy of Jean Chalopin and the cast and crew at Multidub International in Montreal, Canada. In the USA, the show was shown in syndication from September 13 1986 as part of Kideo TV a DIC-produced package of animated series such as The Get-Along Gang, Popples and Rainbow Brite (which Ulysses later replaced). The show was also shown on the UK's BBC and Channel 4 networks. Ironically, for a show co-produced by the Japanese, Ulysses 31 wasn't shown on Japanese television until February 6 1988, when a run of twelve episodes was shown there under the title of Space Legend Ulysses 31.

Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds

Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds - October 1981 to December 1981

Dogtanian is a cartoon version of the classic Alexandre Dumas story of d'Artagnan and The Three Musketeers. Most of the characters are anthropomorphisms of dogs, hence the title of the cartoon. Exceptions to this are the temptress Milady (a cat); Pip, Dogtanian's sidekick mouse; the avian jewel thief Blue Falcon; Planchet (a bear), Dogtanian's main servant; and some random townspeople and guards of the Cardinal.

The cartoon was created by Spanish studio BRB Internacional and produced in Japan by Nippon Animation. It was first broadcast in Spain (D'Artacan y los tres mosqueperros) and Japan (ワンワン三銃士) (Wanwan Sanjushi) in 1981 (while the show aired in Japan first, the initial dub was Spanish). There was also an Afrikaans adaption that was broadcast on SABC during 1985 and the early 1990s. The name was changed to "Brakkenjan", which has become a popular name for dogs in South Africa. The voice for Brakkenjan in his earliest years, was done by Gerben Kamper during his time of working for SABC.

The partnership between BRB and Nippon Animation worked so well, that they collaborated in another successful animated series two years after Dogtanian called Around the World with Willy Fog in 1983.