Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea
Main characters (title page without text)
Created by	Nina Wolmark
Written by	Nina Wolmark.
Directed by	Michel Gauthier
Composer(s)	Vladimir Cosma
Country of origin	France
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	52
Production
Running time	20-25 minutes
Release
Original network	Antenne 2
Original release	September 24, 1985 (1985-09-24) – March 26, 1987 (1987-03-26)

Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea (known in French as Les Mondes Engloutis, which means "The Engulfed Worlds") is a French cartoon show that first aired between 1985 and 1987. It was created by Nina Wolmark. The series has 52 episodes, each about 20 to 25 minutes long. These episodes are split into two seasons, with 26 episodes in each.

The story begins with a special message: "Long ago, after a huge disaster, the Arkadians made their home deep inside the Earth. They thought they were the only ones left alive. Their city thrived thanks to their sun, the Tehra. But then, the Tehra started to fade. Desperate, the Arkadian children broke the rules and went into the forbidden Archives. They were looking for a way to save their home. What they found gave them hope. Using their special powers, they created a messenger to send to the world above. They named her Arkana."

About the Show: Saving Arkadia

The lost city of Arkadia is a hidden place deep inside the Earth. It's home to an old civilization that escaped a huge cataclysm a long, long time ago. The Arkadians didn't know that life still existed on the Earth's surface. To keep their people safe, the elders locked away all records of their past in the city's Archives.

Arkadia depends on an artificial sun called the Tehra (or Shagma). This sun is slowly dying. A group of young Arkadian kids and teens decide to break the law. They sneak into the Archives. There, they learn about the world above. With this new knowledge, they create a special messenger named Arkana. They send her to the surface to find help.

Arkana meets two children from the surface world, a brother and sister named Matt and Rebecca. She brings them back through the underground layers of the Earth. These layers are like different worlds or even dimensions, with one being in the distant future! Their goal is to save Arkadia. They travel in a living, turtle-like spaceship called Tehrig. They are also joined by Spartakus, a mysterious traveler, and Bic and Bac, two pangolin-like creatures who are Arkadia's mascots.

Meet the Characters

Main Heroes and Friends

• Arkana: The Arkadian children made her from stone using the Tehra's rainbow light. She is like a special representative for all Arkadians. She looks like people from the surface world, with legs. The Arkadians themselves lost their legs sometime after the Tehra was created. Arkana is a kind but sometimes naive magician. She can move things with her mind and create illusions. Her main job is to find help from the surface to fix the Tehra. The bad guys in the show sometimes call her the "supergeophysical gal." She looks a lot like an Arkadian scientist from the past who helped create the Tehra.

• Bic and Bac: These two happy little animals are among the oldest living things in Arkadia. They are best friends and love to dance to their special song, the "Flashbic." They are a type of pangolin or anteater, but they don't have scales or claws like real ones. They are loving, smart, and playful. They can even make fire by rubbing their noses together!

• Matthew "Matt" (Bob) and Rebecca: These are the brother and sister from the surface world. They join Arkana and Spartakus on their adventure to save Arkadia. Matt is the older one. He tries to protect his eager sister, whom he lovingly calls "half-pint."

• Spartakus: He used to be a gladiator in the city of Barkar. He escaped slavery after a rebellion. His special glove hides a magic crossbow, a dagger, and a grappling hook. It's later found out that his gauntlet is made from a special metal called auricite. This metal reacts when it's near Arkadian artifacts. Spartakus remembers very little about his past. But he often hums or plays songs his father taught him on his mouth harp. His character is based on the real historical figure Spartacus. It's hinted that his ancestors were people who left Arkadia long ago, before the Arkadians lost their legs.

• Tehrig (ShagShag): Tehrig is the only creature allowed to freely access the Archives. It's a smart, time-traveling, spaceship that looks a bit like a giant trilobite. It secretly helped the Arkadian children get into the old records. Now, it serves Arkana and her friends as their transport. Tehrig's computer brain is very old, from before the Great Cataclysm. It has a huge database of information, but also some gaps in its memory. It also carries many tiny robots called Triggies (Shaggies). Tehrig can send them out to distract enemies or fix itself.

• The Pirates of the Seas: These "punk pirates" are part of the Interstrata Marine Pirate Federation. They travel through the different layers of the Earth, looking for helpless travelers to rob or capture. They often show up to bother our heroes. Their arrival is always marked by their catchy theme song and dance. Their society is set up like a democracy, but it's really controlled by mass media.
  • Nasty Max (Maxagaze): He has a big blue mohawk and leads this mean group.
  • Mighty Matt (Mattymatte): He's a simple-minded pirate with a small red mohawk. He's Max's sidekick.
  • Massmedia: She is Max's girlfriend. She broadcasts from her radio craft, running station FIPIRATE. Her mohawk is blonde.
  • Sleazeappeal: A fancy pirate with a green mohawk.

Other Important Characters

• Brigands of the Fjords: These are the main rivals of the Pirates of the Seas. Their leader is Ringmar. He often competes with Nasty Max to be the top rogue in the nested worlds.

• Shagmir and Loria: Two of Arkadia's elders. They were the ones who sent Arkana on her mission to the surface world. At first, they didn't believe that any life existed on the surface.

• The Inquisitors of the Living Crystal: This group of three blue-skinned judges appears in the second episode. They try to make Galileo give up his ideas about a world beyond their "Living Crystal." They capture the heroes and try to trick them into believing they are stuck in the crystal. They even threaten to re-crystallize Tehrig if Galileo doesn't agree with them.

• Arkshag: He is Spartakus's enemy and guards the Prisoners of the Lost Time. His job is to capture all Arkadians who have left the city and imprison them. It was meant to be temporary, so they could be brought back to Arkadia. But the prison's creator died, leaving them trapped forever.

• Galileo: This character is like a version of the real-world Galileo. He lives in the Living Crystal. When he finds the heroes trapped in a crystallized Tehrig, he frees them. Their existence proves his forbidden idea that there is life outside the living crystal.

• Starkus: A scientist who "heals stars" on a spaceship. He meets Rebecca and Matt and welcomes them. He is willing to help them after his mission. But when he hears they are with Spartakus and Arkana, he quickly disappears. Later, he contacts them and tells Arkana and Spartakus that they are his ancestors! He also helps them save Arkadia in the final episode.

• Rainbow: Spartakus's younger brother. He grew up living a rich life as the adopted son of the Lanista (a gladiator trainer) of Barkar. Unlike Spartakus, Rainbow is mean and doesn't care about others. After the Lanista was defeated, Rainbow started to wander the nested worlds.

Music and DVDs

• The show was very popular in France. Because of this, the songs from the series were released on several records in the 1980s.
• In France, a set of DVDs of the show was released around the year 2000.

Different Versions Around the World

The English version of the show was shown on the American cable television channel Nickelodeon from 1986 to 1987. It was also re-run on Sunday mornings until 1991. In the United Kingdom, Cartoon Network showed the series. It also aired on YTV in Canada around 1989. The Menudo closing song was not used in this English version.

The show was also translated into many other languages:

• A Hungarian version (Az elsüllyedt világok, "The Sunken Worlds").
• A Czech version (Spartakus a podmořské slunce).
• A Japanese version (title unknown).
• A Korean version (Jamgyeojin Segyedeul; 잠겨진 세계들).
• A Latin-American Spanish version (Espartaco y el Sol Bajo el Mar).
• A Spanish version (Los Mundos Sumergidos, later called Shagma in 1991).
• A Turkish version (Kayıp Dünyalar, "Lost Worlds").
• A Greek version (Σάγκμα, ταξίδι στο κέντρο της γης, "Shagma, journey to the center of the earth").
• A Romanian version (Spartacus şi soarele de dincolo de mări).
• A Polish version (Szagma albo zaginione światy, "Shagma or the lost worlds").
• An Italian version (I mondi sommersi).
• A Zulu/Xhosa version in 1999.

How Names and Songs Changed

• The names of the pirates were often based on puns (wordplay). So, these names were changed in each language version to fit the new language.
• In the English version, Rebecca's brother Bob was renamed Matt. We don't know why this change was made.
• The special magical metal was called orichalcum in the original French version. But in the English version, it was called "auracite."
• The songs were translated and re-sung by the voice actors in each different version.
• In the U.S. and Latin-American versions, a new theme song was used for the second season. The boy band Menudo sang this new song. They sang it in English for the U.S. version and in Spanish for the Latin-American version.
• The Cypriot singer Anna Vissi sang the theme song for the Greek version.
• When the Hungarian version was shown again in 2005, it used the original voice recordings. But for the second season, which was dubbed in 2009, they used English titles and scripts. This caused some names and ideas in the show to be translated differently.

Episode List

Season One (1985–1986)

• "The City of Arkadia" – September 24, 1985
• "Living Crystal" – October 1, 1985
• "Between Two Worlds" – October 8, 1985
• "Arkana and the Beast" – October 15, 1985
• "The Pirate Klub" – October 22, 1985
• "The Law of the Mogokhs" – October 29, 1985
• "Night of the Amazons" – November 5, 1985
• "The Capture of Demosthenes" – November 12, 1985
• "Tada and the Royal Insignia" – November 19, 1985
• "The Icy Web" – November 26, 1985
• "The Pirate Convention" – December 3, 1985
• "Out of Control" – December 10, 1985
• "Children...and Mice" – December 17, 1985
• "The Gladiators of Barkar" – December 24, 1985
• "The Emperor Quin and the Eighth Kingdom" – December 31, 1985
• "The Dark Hole" – January 7, 1986
• "The Drummer" – January 14, 1986
• "Rebecca, Pirate of the Sea" – January 21, 1986
• "Star Healer" – January 28, 1986
• "The Prisoners of Lost Time" – February 4, 1986
• "Emergency Landing" – February 11, 1986
• "The Court of Miracles" – February 18, 1986
• "Interstratas War" – February 25, 1986
• "The Defeat of Gog and Magog" – March 4, 1986
• "Dr. Test" – March 11, 1986
• "The Secret of the Auracite" – March 18, 1986

Season Two (1986–1987)

• "Prophecy of the Auracite" – October 1, 1986
• "The Most Dangerous Game" – October 8, 1986
• "Cyrano" – October 15, 1986
• "The Tightrope" – October 22, 1986
• "The Twisted Rainbow" – October 29, 1986
• "High-Risk Highrise" – November 5, 1986
• "The Boy Pharaoh" – November 12, 1986
• "The Floating Casino" – November 19, 1986
• "Prince Matt" – November 26, 1986
• "The Land of the Chameleons" – December 3, 1986
• "The Token of the Manitou" – December 10, 1986
• "The Master of the Tongues" – December 17, 1986
• "The Land of the Great Spider" – December 24, 1986
• "The Ransom of Peace" – December 31, 1986
• "The Triangle of the Deep" – January 8, 1987
• "Uncle Albert" – January 15, 1987
• "Tehrig's Nightmare" – January 22, 1987
• "Rainbow's End" – January 29, 1987
• "Holiday Fever" – February 5, 1987
• "Dodo" – February 12, 1987
• "The Shadow of the Tehra" – February 19, 1987
• "The Temple of the Condor" – February 26, 1987
• "Mama Thot" – March 5, 1987
• "Gateway to Dawn" – March 12, 1987
• "The Path of Light" – March 19, 1987
• "The Return of the Prisoners of the Lost Time" – March 26, 1987

See also

In Spanish: Espartaco y el sol bajo el mar para niños