Clémentine - The 1985 animated series
Clémentine is a 1985 French animated series (in co-production with Japan). The series consists of 39 episodes which tells the fantastic adventures of a 10 year old girl (Clémentine Dumat) who uses a wheelchair. The show was produced by “IDDH,” a company that originally began producing French-dubbed versions of Japanese anime. It originally aired on Antenna 2 (now France 2). The series was released on VHS in 1990 and on DVD in 2006. In Italy it was broadcast on Italia 1 in 1988.
History
Clémentine is the daughter of a famous French pilot and war hero Alex Dumat, who raised her alone with her brother Petit Boy. After losing the use of her legs in a plane crash, she travels the world with her family to find a cure that allows her to walk again. Meanwhile, in his nocturnal dreams, he can walk and his cat Hélice (French for "propeller") can speak and fly with the help of a helicopter-like apparatus on his head. Clementine wages a battle against the demon Malmoth, with the guidance of her guardian angel Héméra, traveling in a magical blue sphere. Occasionally, on these journeys through fantasy and time, he meets famous fictional characters such as Pinocchio, Aladdin and Oliver Twist. He also often meets historical figures, especially aviation pioneers such as Charles Lindbergh and Kateri Tekakwitha.
The creator of the series, Bruno-René Huchez, based the main plot on his personal childhood memories. When he was young, he became seriously ill and was confined to bed, and his mother told him all sorts of fairy tales to cheer him up. Those events, decades later, would become the basis of the show's main storyline.
Though barely remembered in the United States, the series is considered a cult classic in Europe (especially in Turkey, where it appears to be far more popular than it is in its home country of France).
Between 1990 and 1995 it was translated into Arabic in Lebanon, as well as into English, Chinese, Turkish and Latin American Spanish. It is also a classic around the world, as it is quite well known in China and Latin America.
Clementine is barely remembered in the United States, where the series never aired as it is, but was converted into a 2-movie compilation by Celebrity Home Entertainment (under their "Just For Kids" theme), titled (without accent):
"The enchanted journey of Clementine"
"Clementina: a young girl and her dreams"
Controversy
While very popular with devoted fans, some wonder if the tragic flow of events in the foreground and the frightening appearance of the main villain Malmoth, a demon made of flames, were appropriate for young children. Additionally, although Malmoth's envoys resemble ordinary humans during their Earth missions, often trying to kill Clementine, they are cursed men who regularly inhabit a hellish realm where they return after being killed in action. Their true form combines their human heads and faces with the bodies of creatures conventionally regarded as repulsive such as worms, insects and scorpions, etc. In the US compilation movies, some scenes have been deleted.
In her adventure in Egypt, Clementine ends up marrying Tutankhamun and later has to kill herself to travel to the land of the dead. She drinks poison and is judged by Anubis, but goes on without further problems as she is pure of heart. At the end of the Egyptian saga, at present times, his father's mechanical friend approaches saying that the tomb of Tutankhamun has been found. Clementine jokingly states that someone has finally found her husband's grave. Everyone laughs at hearing this when it turns out to be true. The date is wrong, however, as Tutankhamun's tomb was found in 1922, not 1925. In some foreign dubs, the poison was changed into a magical potion that would turn it into a spirit (as in astral projection) .
Technical data
Original language French
Country France
Author Bruno-René Huchez
Regia René Borg, Jean Cubaud
Film script Gilles Taurand, Olivier Massart
Char. design Pascale Moreaux
Music Paul Koulak
STUDIO IDDH
Network Antennas 2 today France 2
1st TV 2 October 1985
Episodes 39 (complete) 2 seasons
Duration 24 minutes
Italian networkItalia 1
1st Italian TV 1988
Double studio Italian. PV studio
Gender adventure
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/
