Once Upon a Time... Space

Once Upon a Time... Space
DVD box set cover art
French	Il était une fois… l'Espace
Genre	Science fiction Animation
Created by	Albert Barillé
Developed by	Procidis
Voices of	Roger Carel Annie Balestra Vincent Ropion Alain Dorval
Composer	Michel Legrand
Country of origin	List France Argentina Canada Italy Japan Netherlands Spain
Original language	French
No. of episodes	26
Production
Running time	26 minutes
Production companies	List Procidis France Régions Société Radio-Canada Radiotelevisione italiana Katholieke Radio Omroep Televisión Española Crustel Eiken
Original release
Network	FR3
Release	2 October 1982 (1982-10-02) – 2 April 1983 (1983-04-02)
Related
Once Upon a Time… Man (1978) Once Upon a Time… Life (1987)

Once Upon a Time... Space (French: Il était une fois… l'Espace) is a science fiction animated television series created and directed by Albert Barillé. It is the second series in the Once Upon a Time... franchise. It reprises almost all of the characters from its predecessor, Once Upon a Time... Man, and adapts them into a science fiction futuristic context.

The series was produced by French studio Procidis in co-production with France Régions (FR3, France), Société Radio-Canada (Canada), Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI, Italy), Katholieke Radio Omroep (KRO, Netherlands), Televisión Española (TVE, Spain), Crustel (Argentina), and Eiken (Japan) who was the one who made the animation. The series premiered in France on FR3, between 2 October 1982 and 2 April 1983, and it was subsequently broadcast on the channels of the rest of the broadcasters that participated in the production dubbed into their own language.

The show was animated in Japan by the animation studio Eiken, and is thus considered an anime as it also aired in Japan on Fuji Television, albeit not until 1984, under the title Galaxy Patrol PJ. In contrast to the show's success in the West, the series' Japanese broadcast was consigned to an early-morning time slot and attracted little attention. Though it did gain a cult following in Japan in the following years. The Japanese dub for the anime is considered to be a lost media due to it never having a home release and only re-aired on AT-X during the summer of 2006.

Synopsis

Unlike the rest of the Once Upon a Time... titles, Once Upon a Time... Space revolve around a fictional premise rather than an edutainment theme. The series still has a handful of educational information (such as an episode discussing the rings of the planet Saturn) but nowhere as prevalent as its predecessor Once Upon a Time... Man nor its successor Once Upon a Time... Life.

The series succeeds Once Upon a Time... Man. It reprises almost all of the characters from the past series and adapts them into a science-fiction context.

The story is about the confrontation between several galactic powers. Among them there is the Omega Confederation (of which Earth is a member), the military Republic of Cassiopeia (led by General The Pest) and a powerful supercomputer which controls an army of robots. A group of super powerful creatures called the Humanoids later appear in the series.

The show follows the adventures of space police members Pierrot and Mercedes (aka Psi). Pierrot is the son of Colonel Pierre and President Pierrette. The series has a more egalitarian message than its predecessor as the supreme leader of the protagonists is a female President and Psi is a co-protagonist. The previous series instead focused on male protagonists.

The scenarios of several episodes adapt elements of Greek mythology, other mythologies, and European legends. Among them are the Apple of Discord, Atlantis, David and Goliath, the Olympian Gods, and Prometheus. Other episodes deal with the existence of God, the relationship of man with modernity and machines, the limits of technology, comparisons between armed peace under the rule of a dictator and the difficulty of maintaining order in a democracy, higher spiritual beings encountered at the beginning and the end of the series etc. Some planets visited by the characters are replicas of the Earth at a specific era in its history, thus allowing some didactic interludes over the nature of these eras.

The series contains little to no violence, the heroes mostly use non-lethal stun weapons in combat. The exception is the use of disintegrating laser beams against wild animals.

The Earth does not play a central role in this series. The capital of the Confederation is on the planet Omega, far from Earth. The Confederation consists of multiple allied powers: Aldebaran, Auriga, Cassiopeia, Hydra, Scorpio, and Vega. The Confederation has a democratically elected government and a President.

Cast

• Colonel Pierre ... Roger Carel
• President Pierrette ... Annie Balestra
• Lieutenant/Captain Pierrot ... Vincent Ropion
• Psi (Mercedes) ... Annie Balestra
• Positronic brain android Métro ... Roger Carel
• Commander Jumbo ... Alain Dorval
• Petit Gros
• Grand Ordinateur
• Professor Maestro ... Roger Carel
• 20th century Maestro
• General The Pest ... Alain Dorval
• The Dwarf ... Roger Carel

Spacecraft

The French illustrator Philippe Bouchet (better known as Manchu) worked on some of the spacecraft and set designs.

Omega Confederation:

• Flea
• Hummingbird
• Spider
• Dragonfly
• Blue bird
• Omega Cruiser
• Omega Shuttle
• Cosmopolitan

Cassiopeia:

• Nautilus
• Murene
• Battle cruiser

Earth:

• Ursus

Episodes

No.	Title	Original air date
1	"The Planet Omega" "(La planète Oméga)"	9 October 1982 (1982-10-09)
2	"The Saurians" "(Les Sauriens)"	16 October 1982 (1982-10-16)
3	"The Green Planet" "(La planète verte)"	23 October 1982 (1982-10-23)
4	"Towards Andromeda" "(Du côté d’Andromède)"	30 October 1982 (1982-10-30)
5	"The Cro-Magnons" "(Les Cro-Magnons)"	6 November 1982 (1982-11-06)
6	"The Revolt of the Robots" "(La révolte des robots)"	13 November 1982 (1982-11-13)
7	"The Planet Mytho" "(La planète Mytho)"	20 November 1982 (1982-11-20)
8	"The Long Voyage" "(Le long voyage)"	27 November 1982 (1982-11-27)
9	"In Cassiopea" "(Cassiopée)"	4 December 1982 (1982-12-04)
10	"A Planet Blown to Pieces" "(La planète déchiquetée)"	11 December 1982 (1982-12-11)
11	"Shipwrecked in Space" "(Les naufragés de l’espace)"	18 December 1982 (1982-12-18)
12	"The Giants" "(Les géants)"	25 December 1982 (1982-12-25)
13	"The Incas" "(Les Incas)"	1 January 1983 (1983-01-01)
14	"In the Land of the Dinosaurs" "(Chez les dinosaures)"	8 January 1983 (1983-01-08)
15	"The Rings of Saturn" "(Les anneaux de Saturne)"	15 January 1983 (1983-01-15)
16	"The Unstoppable Menace" "(L’imparable menace)"	22 January 1983 (1983-01-22)
17	"Earth" "(Terre!)"	29 January 1983 (1983-01-29)
18	"Atlantis" "(L’Atlantide)"	5 February 1983 (1983-02-05)
19	"The Strange Return to Omega" "(L’étrange retour vers Oméga)"	12 February 1983 (1983-02-12)
20	"The Revenge of the Robots" "(La revanche des robots)"	19 February 1983 (1983-02-19)
21	"The Humanoids" "(Les Humanoïdes)"	26 February 1983 (1983-02-26)
22	"An Hostile World" "(Un monde hostile)"	5 March 1983 (1983-03-05)
23	"City in Flight" "(Cité en vol)"	12 March 1983 (1983-03-12)
24	"The Great Computer" "(Le grand ordinateur)"	19 March 1983 (1983-03-19)
25	"The Battle of the Titans" "(Combat de titans)"	26 March 1983 (1983-03-26)
26	"The Infinity of Space" "(L’infini de l’espace)"	2 April 1983 (1983-04-02)

Characters

The series features the following characters.

• Colonel Pierre. He is the head of the Omega Space Police and the husband of the President of the Confederation. He is a happily married man, strict and highly moral.
• Pierrette. President of the Omega Confederation, wife of Pierre, and mother of Pierrot. She is a smiling figure and a skilled politician. She governs by building consensus among Council members.
• Pierrot . He is the son of Colonel Pierre and President Pierrette. He joined the Space Police of the Omega Confederation after completing his studies. He finds himself in command of a dragonfly-type vessel. He starts the series with the rank of lieutenant, and he later becomes a captain. His promotion is a reward for his bravery in saving the Earth from an attack by a remote-controlled rocket. He is a kind, brave man with a curious mind and a thirst for discovery.
• Mercedes, nicknamed "Psi". She is a young Hispanic woman, calm and involved. She is particularly intuitive, precognitive, a telepath, and a skilled hypnotist. She tries repeatedly to convince Pierrot that her precognitions are both relevant and accurate. He initially distrusts her visions, a source of conflict among them. Gradually, Pierrot comes to trust her more. The characters are love interests to each other. She is very unwilling to kill, preferring to use her weapons to stun and paralyze enemies. She has great respect for living things. However, she is aware of the malice and deceit of Naboth. Psi is of South American, and especially Brazilian descent according to the official website of the series as stated in the Once Upon A Time... Planet Earth section. At many times, the character said herself what she has a specialization into geology.
• Metro. A robot, specifically an "android positronic brain". He is the robotic equivalent of Professor Maestro, that is to explain, he is a scholar among the robots. He manages to defeat opponents by cunning. He was created by Maestro, but Metro thinks (rightly) that he is both more resourceful and intelligent than its creator. He has the same personality as his creator, he is whiny, classic, doting and with great curiosity to know the functioning of humanity. He accompanies Pierrot and Psi in their patrols and helps out in perilous situations. He was destroyed in a crash and would be recreated. He is a great help for the police officers as he highlights the peculiarities of visited worlds.
• Commander Jumbo. He serves under Colonel Pierre. He is direct and impulsive, preferring a good fight than endless discussions. He doesn't hide his aversion to members of the Cassiopeian government.
• Professor Maestro. He is a scholar, the dean of the Omega Confederation. He has an advisory capacity to the council. Doting, grumpy. He is the voice of wisdom but tends to give overly technical statements. Consequently, he is often cut off when speaking. He is the creator of Metro, which he made in his image. There is some amusing tension between creator and creation. The main Omega Fleet vessels are also created by the Master.
• Little Jumbo. He is the best friend of Pierrot. They followed the training course of the Police Academy together, and they know each other for a long time. He is the son of Commander Jumbo and he inherited the same temperament as his father, namely a preference for fights. He has a non-standard physic, and incredible strength. He is somewhat unbalanced, but kind at heart.
• Pierrot's sister . Called Little Pierrette in the French dub. Despite featuring in the end credits, she mostly gets minor appearances. She is actually paired with Little Jumbo.
• General The Pest. He is the supreme head of the constellation Cassiopeia. He is an aggressive, authoritarian, stupid, and narrow-minded man. He lacks in common sense and wants above all to annex the rest of the universe. He is the archetypal villain. Although he managed to rise to power by election, he does not respect the rules of democracy and dismisses the members of the council when they oppose his decisions. He believes he manipulates the forces of the Great computer, while it is indeed he who is manipulated. He represents a member state of the Omega Confederation, but President Pierrette has to devote great efforts to keep him in check. She switches tactics between diplomacy and intimidation to reason with him.
• The Dwarf. He is the consul of Cassiopeia and representative of the General The Pest to the Omega Council, until the departure of Cassiopeia from the Confederation. He is the chief advisor to The Pest, but he is smarter than his master. He manipulates his leader and pulls the strings. He understands that Psi has strange powers and wants to keep her activities monitored.
• The Great Computer. He appears towards the end of the series (ep.21). He is the mastermind of the Humanoids. He is a villain with noble motives, as he wants to prevent humans from making war. But he pursues this goal beyond the point of reason and imposes a totalitarian dictatorship. He was created by an Earth scientist who was tired of conflicts. At the end of his life, the scientist programmed his creation to pursue this goal. Never questioning this goal, the Computer uses radical means to trigger the greatest disaster of the universe. He is the symbol of the cold methodical machines, which cannot properly replace human judgment.
• Maestro of the 20th century. He is an Earth man who was placed under hibernation at the beginning of the 21st century. He stays like this for about a millennium and then wakes up in planet Omega.

Broadcast information

Country	Television broadcasts
France	FR3 **, Télé-Québec
Finland	MTV3
Australia	SBS
Canada	CBC Television, Télévision de Radio-Canada **
Italy	RAI **
Greece	ERT
Spain	Televisión Española (TVE) **
Netherlands	Kindernet, Katholieke Radio Omroep (KRO) **
Switzerland	SSR (French)
Belgium	RTBF, BRT
Argentina	Crustel S.A. */**
Japan	Eiken Co. Ltd., aired on Fuji Television */**
Norway	TV2
West Germany	WDR, SWF
Austria	ORF
Sweden	SVT
Portugal	RTP
Republic of Ireland	RTÉ
Iceland	Sjónvarpið
United Kingdom	Channel 4
United States of America	The History Channel
Israel	Logi
Poland	Telewizja Polska (TVP), TV Puls
South Africa	SABC
Taiwan	Taiwan Television (TTV)
Hungary	Minimax
Czech	ČT1
Denmark	DR1

* Production company
** Contributing co-producer

See also

• List of French animated television series

External links

• Official website by Procidis, the series' producer
• French theme song
• Hello Maestro at YouTube
• Once Upon a Time... Space at IMDb
• Revenge of the Humanoids at IMDb
• Ginga Patrol PJ (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia