Ulysses 31

Before they produced The Mysterious Cities Of Gold, DIC had teamed up with the Japanese for the first time for their series Ulysses 31. The series was distributed almost worldwide and was a major success in the UK and France.

Pilot promotional leaflet

Since it was the first collaboration between several countries, a pilot was made. Animation was to be made in Japan, the French would write the stories and the music would be composed and recorded in the USA.

That pilot was directed by René Borg who planned it so it could be used as the first episode in the series in case of approval. TMS, the Japanese animation company, wanted a Japanese co-director with him but Borg would not share his directorial duties. He eventually left the project over a disagreement with what he considered poor quality in the animation of a couple of shots. Young Bernard Deyriès took over.

Cast (final design)

Ulysses and Nono in the pilot episode

In the meantime, the pilot episode remained unreleased. Characters and settings were completely redesigned for more complex and more European looks. It is interesting to see how characters were originally supposed to look like many characters of others anime of the time despite René Borg's influence. The design of the spaceship was made in an effort to use computer animation for the first time in a TV show. However, the results were largely unimpressive (basically a moving ring) and the final design of a ship (traditionally painted on a cel) with an iris looks much better.

The Odyssey in the pilot episode

Here is a peek at this unaired pilot episode:

Once the first episode was finalized, the main title was designed with a song composed and sung by composer Denny Crockett. Although that theme was in English, it was only used when the show first aired in Japan. The ending theme was an instrumental piece.

Odyssey's final design

In that country, the show was only broadcast through the then-new satellite technology so its success was moderate at best. There was a 1991 rerun for which a new soundtrack was recorded. The main and end titles were new Japanese songs (Ginga Densetsu Odyssey & Ai Toki no Kanata ni by Tomoaki Taka). Interestingly, the ending song features a new montage unseen in any other version. The score was also replaced by one composed by Kei Wakakusa (with snippets of the original) and the dialogs recorded by a new cast. The same thing happened to Mysterious Cities of Gold in Japan, so it is possible that it was done for the same reason: destruction of previous masters.

Shyrka

The international version is a different story. Just like Cities of Gold, the master version for all foreign countries except Japan would be the French version. And for that one, two new themes were composed by Shuki Levy and the opening one was translated in all languages. Shuki also composed a few additional tracks in the score so that his theme would find its way in the core of the episode, along with Denny Crockett and Ike Egan's iconic music. Here is the theme in English:

As if there weren't enough versions, for the 1983 French rerun, he composed yet a new theme called "Ulysse revient" (Ulysses comes back) which replaced both the original opening and ending themes.

The English version of the theme was shortened for the DVD release. Here is the new version:

Recently, a renewed interest in the series saw the release of several projects related to the show and its music. First of all, you can buy the series on DVD. Even after thirty years, it's perfect for your kids. The complete series is available in the UK, but you can get sample episodes from Cookie jar.

About the soundtrack, in Japan, the rerecorded tracks have been available on LP and CD for a long time.
In the rest of the world, at the time the show aired, tie-in records contained the themes and the tracks composed by Shuki Levy.
In 2001, a CD was released from the music and effects tracks with

Crockett and Egan's tracks. The quality was not exactly perfect but it was a first attempt to get the full score on disc.
Last year, Télé 80 released a CD with the tracks from the original LP.
Eventually, a fan called David Colin not only rerecorded the entire score (released on LP and CD) but he also found the original tapes in the hands of the composer and the CD has come out. I highly recommend it.

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That's all for today folks!