Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea
Encyclopedia
Note: In some cases the names of characters, places, and things were changed for the English version. The original name appears in parentheses.

Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea is the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 title of the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 animated series Les Mondes Engloutis ("The Engulfed Worlds", also known as Shagma and Arkadia in other languages) created by Nina Wolmark. The series consists of 52 episode
Episode
An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...

s, each between 20 and 25 minutes in length, divided into two 26-episode seasons.

Opening narration

Ever since the time of the Great Cataclysm, the Arkadians have lived deep in the center of the Earth. They believed they were the only survivors of this great devastation. Their civilization thrived under the power of their sun, the Tehra...until it began to fail. In desperation, the children of Arkadia broke the law and entered the forbidden Archives, searching for a solution. What they discovered gave them hope. Anxiously, they used their special powers and created a messenger to the people above. They named her Arkana...

Synopsis

The lost city
Lost city
A "Lost City" is a term that is generally considered to refer to a well-populated area which fell into terminal decline, became extensively or completely uninhabited, and whose location has been forgotten. Some lost cities whose locations have been rediscovered have been studied extensively by...

 of Arkadia (named for Arcadia
Arcadia (utopia)
Arcadia refers to a vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature. The term is derived from the Greek province of the same name which dates to antiquity; the province's mountainous topography and sparse population of pastoralists later caused the word Arcadia to develop into a poetic byword for an...

) resembles a small Alderson Disk
Alderson disk
An Alderson disk is an artificial astronomical megastructure, like Niven's Ringworld, or a Dyson sphere. The disk is a giant platter with a thickness of several thousand miles. The sun rests in the hole at the center of the disk. The outer radius of an Alderson disk would be roughly equivalent...

, and is home to an ancient civilization which escaped a Great Cataclysm
Disaster
A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment...

 by relocating deep within the Earth's crust. Unaware that life continued on the Earth's surface, and hoping to keep their people safe, the elders sealed all records of their past in the city's Archives.

Arkadia survives by the light of an artificial sun, the Tehra (Shagma), which is dying. A group of Arkadian children defy the law and enter the Archives. With information about the world above, they create a messenger, Arkana, and send her above to find help.

Arkana encounters two children from the surface, Matt (Bob) and his sister Rebecca, and brings them back through the underground strata
Stratum
In geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers...

 to save Arkadia. They travel in a living spaceship
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....

 called Tehrig (ShagShag), along with Spartakus (a mysterious wanderer) and Bic and Bac (a pair of pangolin
Pangolin
A pangolin , also scaly anteater or Trenggiling, is a mammal of the order Pholidota. There is only one extant family and one genus of pangolins, comprising eight species. There are also a number of extinct taxa. Pangolins have large keratin scales covering their skin and are the only mammals with...

-like creatures), Arkadia's mascots.

Main characters

Arkana : The Arkadian children created her out of stone with the help of the Tehra's rainbow light. As she was made in the image of the surface dwellers, having legs, unlike the Arkadians themselves. She is a well-meaning but naïve magician, capable of telekinetic feats and projecting illusion
Illusion
An illusion is a distortion of the senses, revealing how the brain normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. While illusions distort reality, they are generally shared by most people....

s. Her mission is to seek help from above in repairing the Tehra. She is referred to by the show's villains as the "supergeophysical gal."

Bic and Bac : Among the oldest living things in Arkadia, these two happy little animals are the best of friends, and enjoy dancing to their song, the "Flashbick." They are a kind of pangolin anteater, but unlike their real-life relatives, they have no scales or claws. They are affectionate, clever and playful, and can make fire by rubbing their noses together.

Matt and Rebecca : Brother and sister, these children from above ground join Arkana and Spartakus on their quest to save Arkadia. Matt (Bob) is the older of the two, and tries to protect his overeager sister, whom he affectionately calls "half-pint."

Spartakus : Formerly a gladiator in the city of Barkar, this young man escaped slavery following a revolt. His gauntlet
Gauntlet (gloves)
Gauntlet is a name for several different styles of glove, particularly those with an extended cuff covering part of the forearm. Gauntlets exist in many forms, ranging from flexible fabric and leather gloves, to mail and fully articulated plate armour....

 conceals a magic crossbow and grappling hook, and can cause reactions when in close proximity to Arkadian artifacts. He remembers very little about his past, but often hums the songs his father taught him. His character is based on the historical Spartacus
Spartacus
Spartacus was a famous leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable...

.

Tehrig : The only creature allowed free access to the Archives was Tehrig (ShagShag), an intelligent robotic vehicle vaguely shaped like a giant trilobite
Trilobite
Trilobites are a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period , and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before...

. It secretly helped the children of Arkadia gain entry to the records and serves Arkana and her friends as a transport. Though its computer brain dates back to before the Great Cataclysm and possesses an encyclopedic database, there are large holes in its memory. It also contains a number of tiny robots called Triggies (Shaggies) that it can mobilize to distract enemies or repair itself.

The Pirates of the Seas : Members of the Interstrata Marine Pirate Federation, these "punk
Punk fashion
Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewelry, and body modifications of the punk subculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including...

 pirates" roam the strata seeking helpless voyagers to rob or enslave, and they frequently show up to menace the show's heroes. Their appearance is marked by a recurring theme song and dance performance. Their society is structured in the guise of a democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

 controlled through mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

.
  • Nasty Max (Maxagaze pun with "Masque à gaz" (gas mask
    Gas mask
    A gas mask is a mask put on over the face to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Some gas masks are also respirators, though the word...

    )) has a large blue mohawk
    Mohawk hairstyle
    The mohawk is a hairstyle in which, in the most common variety, both sides of the head are shaven, leaving a strip of noticeably longer hair...

     and leads the vicious band.
  • Mighty Matt (Mattymatte), a simple-minded pirate with a small red mohawk, is Max's sidekick
    Sidekick
    A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...

    .
  • Massmedia is Max's girlfriend and broadcasts station
    Radio station
    Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

     FIPIRATE from her radio craft. Her mohawk is blonde.
  • Sleazeappeal (Seskapil pun with "sex appeal"), a sophisticated pirate with a green mohawk.

Recurring characters

Brigands of the Fjords: The Pirates of the Seas' rivals throughout the series. The only identified member is their leader, Ringmar, who frequently competes with Nasty Max for leadership of the nested worlds' rogues.

Shagmir and Loria: Are the two of Arkadia's elders. Arkana was presented to them and sent on her quest to the surface world. They tended to not believe the existence of any life on the surface.

The Inquisitors of the Living Crystal: This three-person tribunal of blue-skinned judges is first seen in the second episode of the first season, "Le cristal vivant" (The Living Crystal). They try to make Galileo renounce his claims of a world beyond the Living Crystal. They have the group captured and psychologically tested to convince them that they are beings who were caught in the Living Crystal and are suffering "a deformation of time". They are even prepared to re-crystallize Tehrig if Galileo does not renounce his beliefs. They are seen again in the second episode of the second season, "L'échiquier des mondes" ("The Most Dangerous Game").

Arkshag: Spartakus's arch-nemesis and guardian of the Prisoners of the Lost Time.

Minor characters

Emperor Qin The ruler of a Chinese-like empire within the strata. He marched out to conquer Arkadia. He was eventually killed amongst his army of clay robot-like warriors.

Galileo A strata version of the real-world Galileo; he lives in the Living Crystal. When he discovers the group imprisoned in a crystallized Tehrig, he breaks them free. Their existence proves the prohibited theory that there is life outside of the living crystal. After being forced to deny the truth, he was allowed to leave with the group, but at the last moment returned home.

Gog and Magog two monstrous creatures sharing the same body. They are unintentionally released to rage havoc by Arkana, who is misled by the Phoenix into using her powers. In the end they are both forced back to their own world.

Demosthenes A famous spokesman, kidnapped by Nasty Max in order to help him learn the art of speaking and thus win election as leader of the Interstrata Pirate Federation. He was banished from his country because he did not have the walls repaired.

The Mogokhs A nomadic warrior people who oppress and steal from others. They are notable for their invincibility. They never get down from their mounts for fear of being trampled to death.

Méo and Myra A grandfather and his granddaughter who live in a village pillaged by the Mogokhs. They seek aid from the group, who help them overcome the Mogokhs.

Starkus A scientist and Star Healer on board a space ship, he investigates and tries to "cure stars". He met with Rebecca and Matt (Bob) and welcomed them. Upon hearing that they were accompanied by Spartakus and Arkana, he immediately disappears. Later, when the group returns to their own time and place (in the episode "Star Healer"), he contacts them via Tehrig (Shagshag) and informs the surprised Arkana and Spartakus that they are his ancestors.

Thot A strange creature that lives in the ancient ruins of a long-destroyed city. He kidnaps Arkana, but without intending to hurt her. He is shot by Spartakus when he tries to protect Arkana, but is only slightly wounded.

Rainbow Spartakus's younger brother, he grew up in luxury as the adopted son of the Lanista (trainer of gladiators) of Barkar. Unlike his brother, Rainbow is cruel and nihilistic. After the Lanista was overthrown, Rainbow began to wander the nested worlds.

Releases outside of television

  • The show's popularity in France led to the songs being released on several records
    Gramophone record
    A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

     in the 1980s.
  • In France, a set of DVD
    DVD
    A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

    s was released of the program around 2000.
  • On August 8, 2010, Nina Wolmark reached an agreement with Lions Gate Entertainment
    Lions Gate Entertainment
    Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...

     for the movie production company to begin development of a script which could be made into the first film within a trilogy. Tentative schedule is for script to complete review by 4th quarter 2011. Film would commence pre-production in 2012. The first film is to focus on the early life and person of Spartakus and will be a prequel to the events which take place in the animated show.

Versions

The English version aired on the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

 network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...

 Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

 from 1985 to 1987 and in reruns on early Sunday mornings through 1990. In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, the Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

 broadcast the series. It also aired on YTV in Canada around 1989. The Menudo
Menudo (band)
Menudo was a Puerto Rican boy band that was formed in the 1970s by producer Edgardo Díaz, releasing their first album in 1977. The band achieved much success, especially during the 1980s, becoming the most popular Latin American teen musical group of the era....

 closing song was never used for this version.

The show also had the following versions:
  • A Hungarian
    Hungarian language
    Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

     translation (Az elsüllyedt világok, "The Submerged Worlds"). It originally aired on Magyar Televízió
    Magyar Televízió
    Magyar Televízió is the Hungarian national public service television company, with three TV channels, called m1 , m2 and m3....

     in 1990, and was rebroadcast in 2005 on the children's television channel Minimax
    Minimax (TV channel)
    Minimax is a Central-European cartoon channel which has been broadcast in Hungary since 1999; Romania since 2001; Czech Republic and Slovakia since 2003 and Serbia since 2007. Earlier, since 1999 - 2004 it has been broadcast in Poland. In Hungary, as of April, 2007, it shares the channel slot with...

    .
  • A Czech
    Czech language
    Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...

     translation (Spartakus a podmořská slunce) of the first season.
  • A Japanese
    Japanese language
    is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

     translation (Onigiri Arkadia Monogatari, おにぎり・アルカディア物語).
  • A Korean
    Korean language
    Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...

     translation (title unknown).
  • A Latin-American Spanish
    Spanish language
    Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

     translation (Espartaco y el Sol Bajo el Mar).
  • A Spanish translation (Los Mundos Sumergidos, reaired as Shagma 2000).
  • A Turkish
    Turkish language
    Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

     translation (Kayıp Dünyalar, "Lost Worlds").
  • A Greek
    Greek language
    Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

     translation (Σάγκμα, "Shagma").
  • A Romanian
    Romanian language
    Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

     translation (Spartacus şi soarele de dincolo de mări), premiered in 2005 on the Romanian Minimax, simultaneously with the Hungarian re-runs. Until January 2010, only the first season was dubbed.
  • A Polish
    Polish language
    Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

     translation (Szagma albo zaginione światy, "Shagma or the lost worlds").
  • An Italian
    Italian language
    Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

     translation (I mondi sommersi).
  • A Zulu/Xhosa translation in 1999

Name changes

  • Since the names of the pirates were all based on puns, these were changed in every version to names that fit the languages to which they were translated.
  • The English version had a large number of name changes. Since the word shag found in most of the characters and terms associated with Arkadia (e.g. Shagshag, Shagmir, the Shagma, etc.) has a meaning in British slang
    British slang
    British slang is English language slang used in the UK. Slang is informal language sometimes peculiar to a particular social class or group and its use in Britain dates back to before the 16th century...

     of sexual intercourse, new names were invented for these. For similar reasons, the pirate Seskapil's name was changed to Sleazeappeal.
  • In the English version, Rebecca's brother Bob was renamed to Matt. The reason behind this change is unknown.
  • The MacGuffin
    MacGuffin
    A MacGuffin is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction". The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is...

     magical metal was called orichalcum
    Orichalcum
    Orichalcum is a metal mentioned in several ancient writings, most notably the story of Atlantis as recounted in the Critias dialogue, recorded by Plato. According to Critias, orichalcum was considered second only to gold in value, and was found and mined in many parts of Atlantis in ancient times....

     (orichalque) in the original version, but "auracite" in the English version.
  • The songs were translated and re-sung by the voice actors in each version.
  • In the U.S. and Latin-American versions, a new theme song was featured in the second season. The new song was performed by the boy band
    Boy band
    A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...

     Menudo
    Menudo (band)
    Menudo was a Puerto Rican boy band that was formed in the 1970s by producer Edgardo Díaz, releasing their first album in 1977. The band achieved much success, especially during the 1980s, becoming the most popular Latin American teen musical group of the era....

     in English for the U.S. version and in Spanish for the Latin-American version.
  • Cypriot
    Cyprus
    Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

     singer Anna Vissi
    Anna Vissi
    Anna Vissi , known as Anna Vishy in Cypriot Greek, is a Greek-Cypriot recording artist and actress...

     performed the theme song of the Greek version.
  • When the Hungarian version was rebroadcast on television in 2005, Minimax used the original dub from the archives of Magyar Televízió. As of January 9, 2010, this same channel premiered the second season, dubbed in 2009. While the first season was translated from the original French, the second season uses English titles and source script, which produced certain changes in translations of certain names of characters and concepts from the show.

Season 1

  1. The City of Arkadia
  2. Living Crystal
  3. Between Two Worlds
  4. Arkana and the Beast
  5. The Pirate Klub
  6. The Law of the Mogokhs
  7. Night of the Amazons
  8. The Capture of Demosthenes
  9. Tada and the Royal Insignia
  10. The Icy Web
  11. The Pirate Convention
  12. Out of Control
  13. Children...and Mice
  14. The Gladiators of Barkar
  15. The Emperor Quin and the Eighth Kingdom
  16. The Dark Hole
  17. The Drummer
  18. Rebecca, Pirate of the Sea
  19. Star Healer
  20. The Prisoners of Lost Time
  21. Emergency Landing
  22. The Court of Miracles
  23. Interstratas War
  24. The Defeat of Gog and Magog
  25. Dr. Test
  26. The Secret of the Auracite

Season 2

  1. Prophecy of the Auracite
  2. The Most Dangerous Game
  3. Cyrano
  4. The Tightrope
  5. The Twisted Rainbow
  6. High-Risk Highrise
  7. The Boy Pharaoh
  8. The Floating Casino
  9. Prince Matt
  10. The Land of the Chameleons
  11. The Token of the Manitou
  12. The Master of the Tongues
  13. The Land of the Great Spider
  14. The Ransom of Peace
  15. The Triangle of the Deep
  16. Uncle Albert
  17. Tehrig's Nightmare
  18. Rainbow's End
  19. Holiday Fever
  20. Dodo
  21. The Shadow of the Tehra
  22. The Temple of the Condor
  23. Mama Thot
  24. Gateway to Dawn
  25. The Path of Light
  26. The Return of the Prisoners of the Lost Time

External links

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