It is not recognized whether or not “Ulysses 31” was on Christopher Nolan’s radar in his teenage years, but it surely’s intriguing to assume it might have influenced the director’s choice to tackle Homer’s “The Odyssey”.
This animated house opera, a French/Japanese co-production, delivered a crash course in Greek mythology to a era of children who grew up within the ’80s. And, though it appears extra like “Star Wars” than Homer’s authentic story, it had an honest stab at transferring the Classics to the thirty first century (the clue actually was within the title), years earlier than the Coen brothers took “The Odyssey” to the Deep South in “O Brother, The place Artwork Thou?”
The cartoon’s core premise could be acquainted to any Greek scholar, regardless that purists would absolutely bristle on the hero going underneath his Roman pseudonym, Ulysses, slightly than the unique Greek Odysseus.
At coronary heart, it is that outdated story of a ship’s captain racing to get residence from Troy (on this case, a starbase) earlier than his spouse, Penelope, marries one other man. That voyage is quickly waylaid, nevertheless, when Ulysses’ son, Telemachus, is kidnapped to develop into a sacrifice to an enormous robotic Cyclops.
Ulysses shortly lives as much as the promise of his well-known theme music — “All the time preventing all of the evil forces, bringing peace and justice to all” — by vanquishing the one-eyed menace and rescuing Telemachus together with Yumi and Numinor (a pair of blue alien Zotrians who, so far as we are able to inform, do not characteristic within the authentic Homer).
Sadly for Ulysses and his crew, he messed with the unsuitable big robotic Cyclops, as a result of this one occurred to belong to the Greek sea god Poseidon, who’s now taken up residence in outer house. The deity is so irritated on the puny mortal’s impudence that he will get his brother, Zeus (aka the top honcho in Olympus), to inflict divine retribution.
Ulysses is subsequently sentenced to “journey amongst unknown stars” (his ship, the Odyssey, has its navigational databanks purged) whereas his crewmates — referred to, in what now feels like modern company jargon, as “companions” — are put right into a perpetual slumber. If he will make it residence to Penelope, he’ll want to seek out the Kingdom of Hades earlier than his 26-episode run involves an finish.
It is much less an replace of Homer than a riff on his best hits, with a number of different notable classics of the Classical interval thrown in for good measure. Along with slaying the Cyclops, Ulysses follows in OG Odysseus’s footsteps when he meets the Sirens and Lotus Eaters.
However he additionally ventures past the confines of Homer’s narrative when he encounters Sisyphus (fated to dedicate his whole life to a repetitive, pointless activity), Orpheus (en path to Hades to rescue Eurydice, the love of his life), and three-headed canine Cerberus, reinvented as an interceptor satellite tv for pc with, sure, three heads.
Lots of the character names are additionally acquainted. Priam, the commander of the Troy starbase, shares his identify with Troy’s final king in antiquity, whereas Nestor, Ulysses’ second in command, is an advisor within the authentic story. Shirka, the pc on Ulysses’ ship, takes her identify from Circe, a sorceress.
However the present additionally adopts a reasonably liberal strategy to the supply materials. Homer’s model of Telemachus spends a lot of the story separated from his dad, whereas “Ulysses 31″‘s is a continuing presence. Whereas Odysseus’s shipmates principally wound up useless, right here they’re plunged right into a state of literal suspended animation, lifelessly floating within the ship’s maintain.
And Ulysses is already conscious of the Greek gods earlier than he makes first contact — in a single episode, he even travels again 1000’s of years in time to fulfill his well-known namesake.
If this feels like writers sanitising the story for youthful audiences, effectively, it did not really feel that approach in the event you watched the present as a child. At occasions, “Ulysses 31” is genuinely freaky, from these levitating lifeless our bodies to some actually grotesque monsters. The gods themselves are additionally an unnerving presence, omnipresent beings of colossal energy who see people as their playthings and consider Ulysses’ toils as some twisted spectator sport.
Moreover, in contrast to “Masters of the Universe” and most of the different greatest sci-fi cartoons of the ’80s, the great guys weren’t all the time assured to win. Being Ulysses — a single dad guiding his son and adopted daughter Yumi by means of the cosmos — wasn’t simple.
Now 45 years outdated (although it did not discover its approach onto British and American TV screens till the mid-’80s), “Ulysses 31” is displaying its age. The animation is usually rudimentary, notably in outer-space scenes which are successfully a cut-out of a starship being dragged throughout a stellar background. The dialogue, in the meantime, is performed hilariously straight — good luck discovering fun amongst these uncharted stars — and infrequently consists of somebody shouting one other character’s identify. “Telemachus!” “Father!” “My son!” “Yumi!” and many others. Telemachus’s small crimson robotic pal, Nono, is up there with essentially the most irritating “cute” sidekicks of the period — fairly the achievement in an especially aggressive area.
However there’s additionally lots to love. As static as they generally look, the spaceship designs have the texture of a basic house opera guide cowl, notably Ulysses’ eye-shaped craft, the aptly named Odyssey. The collection additionally borrows closely from a extra trendy piece of mythology, particularly the “Star Wars” saga. Ulysses is probably not a Jedi (so far as we all know), however his gun/laser sword weapon appears loads like a lightsaber. A few of the incidental music even apes John Williams’ rating from a galaxy far, distant.
Which brings us on to the soundtrack, the principle purpose this present lives on within the collective consciousness of a era.
The work of Denny Crockett, Ike Egan, and, on chosen tracks, Shuki Levy and Haim Saban (the latter duo additionally composed for “Masters of the Universe”, “Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors,” and plenty of extra cartoon classics), the music is a minimize above. “The Curse of the Gods” chorus is loaded with menace, completely residing as much as its portentous title, after which there’s that theme music.
Severely, to individuals of a sure age — even those that bear in mind nothing else concerning the present — listening to the identify “Ulysses” is sufficient to get them singing “Ulysee-ee-ee-ee-ees” advert infinitum, an earworm actually worthy of the gods of Olympus.
Homer’s tales should be remembered 1000’s of years after he wrote them, however you possibly can assure he did not have a tune fairly like that.
“Ulysses 31” is not on any main streaming service, however there are fan uploads on YouTube if you wish to expertise the present for your self.
