Les Conquérants (lost original dub of partially found French animated series; 1993): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:11, 7 October 2024

Title screen on the Brazilian VHS transfer.

Status: Found (Brazilian dub); Lost (French dub)

Les Conquérants ("The Conquerors") is a French series of animated shorts that was worked on as late as 1993.

No official trace of its existence has been listed in any official records. The cartoon is barely even mentioned in the filmography of any of the listed staff members.

However, strangely, it has been distributed and dubbed in Portuguese in Brazil on VHS under the title of As Aventuras de Frank e Cia ("The Adventures of Frank & co"). The footage has all been put together in one movie. The tape was produced by Lloyds Home Video.

The discovery of this tape led to the discovery of this French cartoon that nobody knew about for decades.

The animation studio that worked on the cartoon is credited as SAVEC, of which very little trace of its existence still persists.

It is still unknown why the cartoon never got distributed, screened or aired in its native France.

Premise

The translated text from the VHS describes the plot as:

"Every year, Franck, Anne and Julia, together with their parents Jacques and Marie and their dog Cartoon, go on vacation aboard "LE CONQUÉRANT", a 30-foot sailboat. This year, however, their vacation won't be exactly the same. Franck invited his Indian friend Satya to accompany them on this adventure. Thanks to the young man, our friends will learn to look at things from a different perspective and fully appreciate the life they lead and the love of their parents. They will return from this trip more mature and self-assured, and will never forget this summer, during which they were "The Conquerors".

From the visible footage, the characters are uncolored in black and white, drawn in rough pencil in a manner close to a pencil test. However, the backgrounds are painted and there is music.

It's been assumed from this that Les Conquérants had been cancelled and scrapped, but the rough animation cut was repurposed for an exclusive Brazilian distribution. However, at least one former animator said that the black-and-white pencil design was a deliberate artistic choice.

Staff

The opening and closing credits of the VHS list several names and companies. Very few of those people have mentioned Les Conquérants in their resume.

Original screenplay and dialogues: Claude Cobast
Adaptation and direction: Michel Gauthier
Original music: Bruno Bontempelli
Storyboards and layouts: Nadia Dicks, Guy Quelquejeu, Josette Zagar
Backgrounds: Marisa Musy
Animation: Josette Zagar, Véronique Madelenat, Jean Noël Manthe, Véronique Denoyelle
Animation assistants: Sophie Rivière, Zick, Nadia Dicks, Pierre Ralli
Inbetweeners: Lionel Allaix, Claude Sauvion
Executive producer: Marie Pierre Journet
Gouache art: Franck Miyet, Françoise Gillot, Marie Agnès Bey, Dominique Rimbert, Brigitte Pardon, Lionel Robe
Intertitles: Francis Pronier
Laboratories: Neyrac Films
Sound effects: Philippe Penot
Voice acting: Karina Films
Sound editing and mixing: Patrick Larue
Image editing: Bertrand Manzano
Assistant director: Pascal Cheve
Production director: Maryvonne Perrichot
Animation studio: Savec

Possible extra footage?

Marisa Musy, the background artist, mentions in a 2007 blog post that she did work for six animated shorts directed by Michel Gauthier. It is likely that these are all the intended shorts that were worked on that constitute the Brazilian VHS cut, but is possible that more footage was worked on.

French dub

In the untouched French credits, dubbing/post-production audio company called Karina Films is mentioned. This strongly implies that an original French dub made, even though no voice actors are listed.

However, no trace of the original French dub is known about to this day.

Gallery

The Brazilian VHS release containing the only known available release of Les Conquérants, under the title As Aventuras de Frank e Cia.

Video

VHS transfer of the cartoon, dubbed in Portuguese.