Around the World with Willy Fog

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Around the World with Willy Fog
Genre	Animation
Running time	26 mins
Creator(s)	Jules Verne BRB Internacional Nippon Animation Claudio Biern Boyd
Developer(s)	Luis Ballester Fumio Kurokawa
Executive producer(s)	Claudio Biern Boyd
Starring
Opening theme	"La Vuelta al Mundo de Willy Fog" by Mocedades "Sky Way" by Keiko Han
Ending theme	"Sílbame" by Mocedades "Our 2 Watches" by Keiko Han
Country of origin	Spain  Japan
Original channel	RTVE/TV Asahi
Original run	1981–
IMDb profile

Around the World with Willy Fog (Original Spanish title La Vuelta al Mundo de Willy Fog) is a cartoon version of Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne in the same vein as Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds, and like that series produced by BRB Internacional. The characters are anthropomorphisms of various animals, Willy Fog himself being a lion and Romy (Aouda) and Rigadon (Passepartout) being cats.

The series was broadcast on TV Asahi in Japan in 1987, with episodes 14, 18, 21 and 22 deleted from the Japanese series run. The title of the series in Japanese is Dobutsu 80 Nichikan Sekai Icho ("Animals Around the World in 80 Days").

Contents 1 The basic story 2 Episode listing 3 The theme song 3.1 The original Spanish theme song 3.2 Other theme songs 4 Staff 5 Willy Fog 2 6 External links

[edit] The basic story

Willy Fog (Phileas Fogg) wakes up in Number 7 Savile Row at 8:00am on October 2, 1872 (just as he does every morning) and rings for his manservant. Only today, there is a small difference. He fired him the previous day and so he has to make it himself (after doing his daily exercises). He is expecting a replacement at 11:00am that morning and at 10:55am is sitting in the hallway waiting for his new manservant to arrive. Big Ben chimes 11 o'clock (as do all the clock in 4 Saville Row) and no manservant appears. The reason for this can be found outside as Rigadon (Passepartout) is involved in an argument with his best friend Tico. After they settle their differences, Rigadon rings the bell of Fog's house and is told in no uncertain terms that he's late! But after a nifty display of gymnastics (involving Mr. Fog's cane, a tray and a couple of glasses) Rigadon is employed as Mr. Fog's manservant and Mr. Fog goes off to the Reform Club.

At the Reform Club, a discussion ensures following the announcement that the Bank of England has been robbed. It's a sore point for Mr. Sullivan (the bank's owner) and he prefers it if it wasn't mentioned again but adds in passing that the thief is likely to be still in London. This gets the goat (literally) of Lord Guinness, the oldest member of the group, who states that given modern transport, it would be possible for the thief to reach India by the middle of the following week. This statement is in support of an article written by Ralph (a reporter on the London Chronicle) whose employer is also a member. During the ensuing discussion, Sullivan corners Lord Guinness into accepting that a trip around the world in eighty days (as highlighted in the report) is impossible. Fog springs to Lord Guinness' defence and accepts Sullivan's challenge and puts up £20,000 of his own money to prove that he can do it.

[edit] Episode listing

1. The Wager
2. Bon Voyage
3. The Mysterious Mademoiselle
4. The Temple of Doom
5. The Counterfeit
6. Bombay Adventure
7. The End of the Line
8. The Deadly Jungle
9. The Remarkable Rescue of Romy
10. A Present For Parsi
11. Guilty As Charged
12. Shipwreck
13. The Butler's Dilemma
14. En Route For Yokohama
15. Akita's Circus
16. Hawaiian Party
17. A Trip In A Balloon
18. The Showdown
19. Moment of Truth
20. Warpaint In The West
21. A Very Special Train
22. Below Zero
23. Destination Liverpool
24. Fire Down Below
25. Last Train To London
26. What A Difference A Day Makes

[edit] The theme song

[edit] The original Spanish theme song

The original Spanish theme song, called like the series "La vuelta al mundo de Willy Fog", was sung by the group Mocedades (Spanish lyrics), as if the song was sung by Willy Fog, Rigodon, Tico and Romy. They also sang the ending theme, "Sílbame" (Whistle to me) and several other songs featured in the series. All of them were released as cassette, LP and CD in 1984 [1].

[edit] Other theme songs

This theme song was the cause of celebration on "National Willy Fog Day" which took place on April 28, 1987, when Andy Crane (the presenter of Children's BBC) sent copies of the lyrics of the song to anyone who wanted them for a mass singalong of the theme tune. This song is not a translation of the original Spanish theme song.

Both the opening and ending themes to the Japanese version were sung by Keiko Han.

[edit] Staff

• Based on the Novel "Around the World in 80 Days" by: Jules Verne
• Produced by: BRB Internacional, Nippon Animation
• Collaboration: Televisión Española
• Music: Izumi Kobayashi, Susume Kikuchi
• Music Produced by: Guido & Mauricio de Angelis
• Music Published by: Cabum Magister
• Special Thanks: Iberia, the airline of Spain
• Directed by: Luis Ballester, Fumio Kurokawa, Eiji Okabe, Hiromitsu Morita, Toru Hagiwara, Yukio Okazaki, Tom Wyner
• Produced by: Koichi Motohashi
• Executive Producer: Claudio Biern Boyd
• Written by: Claudio Biern Boyd, Izumi Kobayashi, Ryuzo Nakanishi
• Storyboard: Fumio Kurokawa, Eiji Okabe, Hiromitsu Morita, Katsumi Endo, Ko Suzuki, Shigeo Koshi, Shigeru Ohmachi, Toru Hagiwara
• Character Design: Isamu Kumata
• Edited by: Soledad Lopez
• Special Effects: Luis Castro
• Music Subpublished by: Southern Pics Music
• Theme Sung by: Mocedades, Amaya Uranga, Keiko Han
• Recorded and Re-Mixed at: Intersound

[edit] Willy Fog 2

Due to the massive success of the first series, Willy Fog returned in Willy Fog 2 - this time it was a 30 part series comprising of two stories - again based on Jules Verne novels. The series was again made by BRB now in co-production with Wang Film Productions, and premiered in Spain. It was first shown in the UK in the mid-1990s.

The first was Journey to the Centre of the Earth and the second 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The first story was very similar in many ways to the first series. Again a bet was made with Sullivan - and he sent Transfer to cause havoc. This time, however, more people believed in Willy Fog, although all of them (apart from Lord Guinness) turned against him at times - when reports came back that the volcano they journeyed into was about to erupt. Romy, Tico and Rigadon went with Willy on the voyage again and were joined by Professor Lidenbrock - an expert in archeology and Hans - an Icelandic who acted as a general dogsbody. The team again made it - just in time to win the bet.

The second story was completely different to the other two. Willy was invited to help investigate strange goings on - several ships had been attacked by what seemed to be a sea monster. Willy, Romy, Rigadon and Tico went, although soon the ship they were on was invaded and they, alongside Ned the harpoonist (very like Hans from the previous story) and another Professor, were kidnapped by the mysterious Captain Nemo. After having adventures under the sea, they finally escaped.

As production occurred in Taiwan and Korea, Nippon Animation, the Japanese studio who made the first series, was not involved in Willy Fog 2.

The series has been shown several times the UK on Children's BBC and achieved top ten ratings many times^{[citation needed]}.

The first series, and both stories from the second were heavily edited and glued together to make three Willy Fog films released on DVD. Other merchandise such as an LP of some of the songs/incidental music was released, but only in Spain.

[edit] External links

• BRB Internacional website
• Andy Crane leading the singalong of the Around the World with Willy Fog theme tune (video clip)
• Willy Fog Online Forum (created November 16th 2006}