It is the 16th century. From all over Europe great ships sale west to conquer the new world, the Americas. These men eager to seek their fortune, to find new adventures in new lands. They long to cross uncharted seas and discover unknown countries. To find secret gold on a mountain trail high in the Andes. They dream of following the path of the setting sun that leads to Elderado, and the Mysterious Cities Of Gold.

That my dear visitor was the introduction to probably one of the best programmes in the 80s – The Mysterious Cities Of Gold! (or MCoG as it’s known to many a fan).

If you’ve never heard of it then you must have been in a coma throughout the decade because running for 39 episodes it was on the box an awful lot.

The story follows the adventures of three children. Esteban, who is know as the child of the sun. Rumour has it that he has the ability to command the sun. Zia is a young Inca girl. They both have a strange medallion, which we find later are actually keys to unlock the doors to the Cities of Gold. And then there’s Tao, a descendant of the people of Heva, who until he meets with the other two children lived on a small island by himself.

They mission is to find the Cities Of Gold. Not for fame and fortune mind you, just for the adventure and the hope that Zia and Estaban can find their fathers. In tow are various greedy Spaniards, one of which is Mendoza who although his ultimate goal is to find gold, looks after the children and does his best to keep them out of trouble. Tagging along are Sancho and Pedro who between them have the IQ of a small Chipmunk and only have one thing on their minds – Gold.

You’ve also got the traditional bad guys as well, who although like Mendoza, Sancho and Pedro have an ultimate goal of grabbing the gold, they do not have a soul and will do anything necessary to stop others from finding it.

It’s an absolutely fantastic cartoon series. Perfectly drawn with some quite stunning scenery and incidental music. The storyline just keeps you begging for more. I really can’t do it justice. There are people who know what I’m talking about, and if you’ve never seen it, I suggest you do. Although it was never released on video, there’s lot of people out there who I’m sure if you ask them nicely can provide copies for a price. Unfortunately mine probably won’t survive another copy, so don’t ask.

As a wise man once said, “don’t try and do something that has already been done well”. So, I’m not. This section will hopefully bring back some great memories, but for something a lot more in-depth visit the dedicated sites out there. Some are listed on the links page.

MCoG rocks! It spits in the faces of other cartoons. In short, it rules! And I’m off now to watch the whole series again (for the 5th time now since I received the videos).