Mysterious Cities of Gold

There were a lot of children’s TV programmes in the 80s that I was passionate about, including Storybook International and Dungeons and Dragons.

Today, I’m going to talk about another great children’s series: Mysterious Cities of Gold. It was a 39-episode serial about three children’s search for – you’ve guessed it – cities of gold. The animation was great for its time and the storytelling was superb and compelling. It also had one of the most “sing-able” theme tune in the history of children’s TV which everyone who watched it couldn’t help but sing along to during the opening credits.

I can’t claim to have seen every episode but images from the serial have stayed with me over the years. I waited for the DVD since the format was introduced. Foreign language versions were commercially available from a couple of years ago but it was only last month that the English edition was given a limited released. I say “limited” because it’s only available in the UK for the time being and, until June, it’s exclusive to the HMV chain.

I didn’t rush out and buy it when it hit the shelves a couple of weeks ago. At £43, I found it to be expensive and told myself to wait until it was discounted (as most boxsets eventually do). Today, however, I couldn’t resist any longer. I went out at lunchtime with just one destination in mind: HMV. I bought the boxset even though a voice inside me said many times that money was tight and I would do well to control my retail desires.

The boxset contains six discs with a host of extras. I won’t bother listing them but suffice it to say that it will take me a long time to get through the 39 episodes themselves which means I probably won’t be able to enjoy the extras for a long while yet.

Why can’t they make TV programmes like they used to do?

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