The Mysterious Cities of Gold

- Season 1

(1982)

After his caretaker dies, Esteban, a mysterious boy rescued at sea as a baby, embarks on a voyage to the New World to find his real father.

The ship Esperanza departs from Barcelona with Esteban, Mendoza, Zia, and the rest of the crew. After a long voyage across the Atlantic it arrives to the dangerous Strait of Magellan.

The ship crosses the Strait of Magellan and reaches the Pacific, but a new, unexpected danger lurks ahead.

As the tornado destroys the ship, the officers run away on the only lifeboat, and Esteban, Zia, Mendoza, Sancho, and Pedro find themselves stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean.

The heroes are marooned on an island they think is deserted, until they discover it has one strange inhabitant.

Mendoza and his men follow Esteban and Zia to the second island where Tao lives. With Tao's reluctant help they discover the ancient secret hidden inside the island.

Esteban and his friends depart to South America on the Solaris. A danger lies in their path, but the Solaris is more powerful than it would seem.

Our heroes arrive to South America, where they are caught by a ruthless Spanish governor, who wants Zia to help him find the Cities of Gold. Her only chance to save her people is to attempt a daring escape.

Esteban and his friends have hardly left the bay when they meet the Saint Miguel, a Spanish warship under the command of Gomez and Gaspard, which begins to fire at them. Our friends believe that all is lost, when Esteban pulls a lever next to the wheel by mistake. Suddenly the Saint Miguel bursts into flames and Tao finds the explanation in his book: "Behind the solar sail is a reflective panel which has accumulated a fantastic energy. Once this panel is aimed, it is as if all the power of the sun were contained in a cannon". After this episode, Esteban and Zia notice...

Overcome by the loss of the Solaris, our friends decide to go to Zia's village. But in order to get there, they will have to go through the fort of Tumbes, where Pizarro and his soldiers are stationed. In the fort, they must find an ancient priest, Pacha, who is the only living man to know the way to Zia's village. Learning from Gaspard that the children are fleeing through the underground drains, Pizarro remembers the Inca temple under the fort where he is holding an old man prisoner. This man, at lest 100 years old, had been to the Cities of Gold but refused to tell...

Esteban, Zia and Tao walk through the mountains in the direction of Zia's village. They are being followed by two men, both of whom are strangely dressed, wearing clothes such as Zia has never seen any Inca wearing before. They shake the two men off their trail, however, and arrive at last at Zia's village. But to their great distress, they realize that it is deserted. No one comes to greet them except for Zia's condor Pattu, who flies off abruptly when he feels the presence of soldiers. In fact it is Gomez and Gaspard who have also been following Zia on Pizarro's ...

Esteban, Tao and Zia, led by Vaina and Ketcha, are heading towards the Old Peak when they realize that they are being followed by Gomez and Gaspard, accompanied by Mendoza, Sancho and Pedro. However, the children soon reach the fort of the Black Eagle where they are warmly greeted by Chief Yupanki. No Spaniard has ever ventured this region before so Chief Yupanki, who guards the Old Peak, has never seen or even heard of rifles. In addition to this, the Incas never fight at night because "only the protection of the sun allow us to win", as they explain to Esteban. But ...

No one in Machu-Pichu knows where the City of Gold is. Tao finds a blazon, engraved in a stone, representing the sun, at the bottom of a well, but no one knows what it means except perhaps Mayucca, an old man who knows a multitude of the Inca legends. The children set of to find him, hoping that he will also be able to tell them something about Esteban's father. Mayucca tells them a story: Twelve or thirteen years ago, a man who came by boat over the great ocean to the west, is said to have had a child by a young Inca girl, who was a vestal, one of the servants of the...

Esteban and his friends now know where the City of Gold is, but first they have to get back Mendoza's half of the pendant. So the three children set off for the Fort of the Black Eagle, accompanied by Vaina and Ketcha. For their part, Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho want to get to the Old Peak, but without Gomez. With a moment's inattention by the guards, they seize their opportunity and steal Gomez's cannon. Pursued by the Spanish soldiers, Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho run into Vaina and Ketcha, who lead them to Yupanki in the Fort of the Black Eagle. Mendoza tries to tell ...

Esteban and his friends are now trapped with Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho in the Fort of the Black Eagle, surrounded by Gomez's men. Our friends attack the Spanish twice. First they draw up the stolen cannon, but the ammunition runs out very quickly. They then begin to use vases filled with gun powder as cannon balls. These unexpected attacks take Gomez's men by surprise and they draw back but, determined to take the Fort, they prepare for a second attack. Mendoza and Yupanki advise the three children to flee to the Old peak. But Gaspard almost catches them and a long ...

At the old Peak, Esteban, Zia and Tao find Mendoza and his two companions with Chief Kraka. Offering to guide them, Mendoza, Sancho and Pedro set off with the three children to find the Cities of Gold. But Kraka is wary of Mendoza and send Vaina along with several good soldiers to escort them. On the way the little group is attacked by the giant Urubus and their huge arrows of bronze, but they escape with the help of Vaina and his soldiers. Pressing on, the children come across a girl who has fainted on the ground. This is Lana, who is from the village of Totola and ...

Heading for the mountains of Pacha Mama Esteban and his friends come across Kuruga who has been wounded. He is laying on the ground, abandoned by his people because he failed in his attack on the village. Taking pity on him, the children give him their water. To thank them, Kuruga tells them that the Urubus are preparing to capture Zia, to offer her up as sacrifice to Pacha Mama. He advises them to escape through the Valley of the Dead where the Urubus never dare to go. The little group crosses the valley with difficulty but manages to escape from the clutches of the ...

Having fallen asleep beside the Great Condor, Esteban and his friends are awoken by an earthquake. While Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho head down below the temple to try to discover what is happening, Esteban and Tao climb up the condor in order to see the quip that Pichu has discovered in the giant bird's beak. Suddenly overcome by dizziness, Esteban falls into a cavity which turns out to be the control cabin of the Condor. In the meantime, Zia has deciphered the message of the quip: "A danger is closing in on town. All the inhabitants have already left for the land of ...

Esteban and his friends are flying on board the Great Condor but they have no idea of how to pilot the bird. Terrified, they eventually realize that it is following the course of the sun. At last the Condor lands on the deserted plain where Esteban sees gigantic animals etched to the ground. While the three children and Mendoza set off to examine the strange designs, Pedro an Sancho try to undo the emblem of the sun in the control cabin. In so doing, they set off a mechanism which causes a snake-like lever to appear. After pushing and pulling it, they realize that his...

Esteban and his friends fly towards the Old Peak, where Esteban is hoping to tell Kraka everything that has happened on the mountain of the goddess Pacha Mama and to show him the Great Condor. Mendoza for his part hopes that Kraka will show them the way to the land of the Maya. Flying over the Old Peak, our friends see that Gomez and his men have built a bridge over the valley and are preparing to attack the Fort of the Black Eagle. With the help of the Great Condor, the children destroy the bridge and cause the Spaniards to loose the cannon with which they were ...

The Great Condor is flying over the Amazon forest. Esteban makes the bird fly low so that they can all admire the river. Suddenly the sky is covered with clouds that hide the sun. The Condor, no longer finding any energy on which to fly, comes lower and lower, in spite of Esteban's efforts at the controls. Finally it crash-lands in the jungle. In vain, Esteban tries to make the Condor take off. "If we don't get out this forest", says Mendoza "we will be the prey of wild beasts". At that moment a giant snake throws itself out of the water at the Condor with such force ...

In the palace of the Queen Sabbat, our friends are well looked after. However, the Priestess Omuro is very hostile towards them. She tries to persuade the Queen that Esteban and his friends having failed to be executed, they would have to sacrifice Morka, the Queen's favorite to the Rain God. Morka takes refuge with Esteban and begs him to save her. She tells him how Omuro has sought to overthrow Sabbat for many years and how she is untouchable because only she has the power to speak to the Rain God and cause it to ran when she wishes. In the temple where Omuro speaks...

The Great Condor flies over the sea towards the land of the Mayas. Suddenly the bird loses height. It flies down to the ground and into an immense grotto. The nose of the bird goes down to pierce an opening in the rocks, revealing a staircase that our friends proceed to climb. They come out of the grotto to find a ruined town. Esteban wonders who on earth could have built these wonderful monuments. Pichu signals that he has found something. Our friends realize it is a statue of a winged serpent, bearing an inscription which resembles the writings of the Mu people. Tao...

In spite of the previous day's adventures, Tao goes back into the underground grotto to study the mystery of the jade mask. Putting his face to the eye of the mask, Tao makes out some inscriptions that he can read. He presses on the stones indicated by the inscriptions and suddenly the ground rises up, showing a stone sarcophagus. Inside the children find a manuscript that Tao takes to read with the help of his ancestors' book. Coming out of the ruins, the children are taken prisoner by a strange couple, Dr Fernando Laguera and Marinché, who are also searching for the...

In their flight, Esteban, Tao and Zia arrive before a lake with what appears to be gold lining the bottom. To investigate, the children draw near and are soon taken by a group of Indians led by the Doctor and Marinché. The children have desecrated the holy source and must be sacrificed in a ceremony of purification. From a young Indian girl who secretly brings them food, Zia learns that her father Papacamajo has passed this way. He asked the chief Tarashingo to show him the manuscript and then continued his travels, in search of the City of Gold. Tao realizes that ...

Under a burning sun, Esteban and his friends inch forward over the plain of the land of the Mayas. They are looking for the Swamp of the Rain God that is mentioned in the manuscript. However, the Doctor and Marinché have followed them and are now trying to overtake them by following a mountainside path when suddenly they are attacked by an eagle and fall into a ravine. Esteban and his friends also come to the mountainside and are attacked by the same eagle which the Doctor shoots and kills. He then demands in return for his favor that Mendoza help him and Marinchè out...

Having found the statue of the winged serpent, our friends continue into the forest. They hear a dreadful noise coming from the wind on the enormous cliffs that they find when they emerge. Suddenly a large rock falls from high up, just missing Mendoza, followed by many smaller ones. They escape from this avalanche and Zia then notices the entry to a grotto. Led by Esteban, our friends enter and continue till they come out into a ruined city where they find a statue. "This is certainly the city built by the winged serpent", says Tao. With no warning a huge stone falls ...

On their way to the forest of stone statues, our friends spot the Doctor and Marinchè in the company of Teteola who must have freed them in the meantime. Mendoza suggests leaving them alone as they are ignorant of the second manuscript. Sancho and Pedro stop for a few moments to rest when Pichu sees something unexpected. The children follow the parrot to a huge river. Mendoza suggests that they build a raft and follow the river which seems to be flowing in the direction they want to take. Our friends float peacefully downstream until they come to some rapids. The raft...

Heading through the jungle, Esteban and his friends spot the mountain they are seeking. They are surprised that it is neither shaped like a shield nor smoking. Suddenly Tao's vase begin to gleam, then the light around the mountain loses its glare and the vase goes dull again. Esteban wants to approach the mountain to discover the solution of this mystery. Mendoza agrees because he knows that the vase is closely linked to the Cities of Gold. The little group enters a grotto but realizes that is leads nowhere. Suddenly a torrent of water comes flooding in their ...

Inside the Olmeque base again, the friends learn that the crystal tower has properties of combining natural heat and light to produce energy. They are told that by increasing the power supply to the heart of the crystal, the Olmeques could cause the volcano to erupt and change the entire climate. Tao has heard of a similar device in the manuscripts of his people and warns the other to beware of the Olmeques. Our friends are led in front of Menator, the chief. E orders them to tell what they know of the Cities of Gold. Maina, a young Indian girl, enters with Pichu, ...

Our friends are fleeing from the Olmeques but are surrounded. Suddenly a shower of arrows attacks the Olmeques, who scatter. The little group's saviors are Wanacocha, Maina's fiancée, and his men. Wanacocha's tribe, Maina explains, is the only one to have sworn to oppose the Olmeques by any means. They call themselves the "New Hear of the Mayas". Wanacocha is suspicious of the three Spaniards, but Maina vouches for them. Wanacocha leads them all to his village. Maina explains that her father chose the site of the village to be safe from the Olmeques. She adds that ...

The Olmeques, armed with torches, head for Wanacocha's village to attack it. The children are separated from Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho in their flight. In the jungle they come across Gomez and Gaspard, whom they believed to be dead. These two have left Pizarro and are searching for the Cities of Gold themselves. The children tell them that Mendoza has been killed by the Olmeques. To revenge him, the two Spaniards suggest that they go and retrieve the Great Condor. Mendoza and his two friends have returned to Wanacocha's village. When they learn that Zia is ...

The Great Condor lands at the village of the tribe of the New Sun. A crowd has gathered around Papacamayo and Mendoza tells the children that the chief is wounded. Recognising her father, Zia falls into his arms. Papacamayo tells her that he will now reveal the secret of the Cities of Gold. First he tells how all began when Pizarro discovered the golden quip. Searching for the High Priest who could interpret it for him, Papacamayo, Pizarro had the old man's village attacked and the people massacred. Zia was carried off by the soldiers and only Papacamayo escaped. ...

At dawn the Mayas attack. Tao and Esteban in the village prepare the Great Condor to do battle too. Things are going badly for the Mayas at the Olmeque base when Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho arrive with their two hastily constructed combat towers, such things as none there has ever seen before. The Mayas take heart and join their allies the three Spaniards in the towers. The battle continues. Meanwhile, Gaspard and Gomez arrive at the village and spot the Great Condor. They try to force the children to fly them to the City of Gold but are outwitted by the children and ...

Esteban, Zia and Tao are waiting outside the base when Gaspard and Gomez take them by surprise and demand to be taken to the Cities of Gold. Meanwhile, Wanacocha arrives to announce their victory to Mendoza, but the latter becomes very anxious when he cannot see the children anywhere. The three children and their two captors have in face entered the base in search of Menator. Gaspard and Gomez believe that he can show them the way to the Cities. Mendoza lures them all deeper and deeper into the base until they reach the hibernation room. At last, Mendoza, Pedro and ...

As the Olmeque war machine rises into the air from the depths of the temple, the Maya soldiers flee, terrified. It begins to wreak havoc with its beams of powerful light. Esteban, Tao and Mendoza hurry back up towards the Great Condor, determined to free Zia even though they still have no idea how, with their unarmed Condor against the Olmeque machine. An unequal combat is engaged in the air between the two flying machines. The condor then flies overhead of the Olmeque machine and Esteban and Tao drop down on the top of it, where they manage to find an entrance so ...

Mendoza, having crash-landed the condor, has escaped to find Pedor and Sancho. He explains to his two friends how he has spotted an island in the lake at the exact spot indicated by Papacamayo as the site of the City of gold. But Menator too has spotted the island. Esteban and Zia reach the island after escaping from the Olmeque craft and they are welcomed by the Indians there. A masked High Priest explains how they were expected and leads them to the Gate of the City. Gaspard and Gomez meanwhile, set out to swim to the island. Mendoza, Sancho and Pedro have had the ...

Menator orders the separation of the Olmeqque machine. One segment destroys the outer Gate of the City of Gold. Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho seize their opportunity to enter. Inside the city, Kalmeque demands the secret of the Great Olmeque Inheritance. Fighting beaks out between the Olmeques and the children, but Mendoza comes to the rescue just in time to hold Kalmeque off the brave young people, Through treachery, however, Kalmeque knifes the High Priest in the back. Menator arrives and together the villains seize the Great Olmeque Inheritance, a vase like Tao's, set ...

Menator and Kalmeque regain their base and set up the vase, the Great Olmeque Inheritance, as their eternal source of power. In the City of Gold, the Hight Priest is most anxious. He knows that the Olmeque's Great Inheritance has been treated wrongly and that as a result all life will be destroyed. The only way to prevent such disaster, he tells our friends, is the vase. They make a stretcher for the Priest, so seriously wounded by Kalmeque, and the children then bear him to the Mountain of the Smoking Shield. Already the ill-effects of the Heritage are to be seen as ...