Once Upon a Time...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Once Upon a Time… ("Il était une fois…") is a French educational animation franchise, created by Albert Barillé for his animation studio Procidis.[1][2][3] There are seven distinct series, each focusing on different aspects of knowledge.[4] Once Upon a Time… has been shown in a hundred different countries, and 150 million video cassettes and DVDs have been sold around the world, as well as 250 million tie-in books.[5]
There are seven series in all.[6] These are mostly historical, with Once Upon a Time… Man being focused on the overall history of mankind.[7] Most of the others are more focused on specified historical fields, such as the lives and exploits of the explorers or inventors,[8] except for Space and Life. The former was a science fiction series,[9] while the latter featured an explanation on the workings of the body. All feature the same stock characters, in similar archetypal roles. "Life" is the only one to not feature the children as grown-up or adolescent archetypes of said characters, but as parts of the human organism.[10][11]
Most of the series are in the animated documentary genre and teach in an expository style.[12]