History WesternAnimation / SpartakusAndTheSunBeneathTheSea

** There's an episode about mice and children which is obviously based on Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin
** Given that they were both French-involved, the "Temple of the Condor" episode may have been a vague nod to Anime/TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold, or at least inspired by it.

* PirateSong: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtBWrAiWBLc The Pirate Dance]]" is sung every time the Pirates appear in a scene, being in general a BigLippedAlligatorMoment.

* DemotedtoExtra: Shangor, one of the children of Arkadia. [[and possibly implied to be Shangora's brother]] He had a pretty big part in the first episode, but after that, he was usually only seen in clips of the first episode whenever Arkana was explaining her mission, or in the background.

''Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea'' is the English title of the French animated series ''Les Mondes Engloutis'' ( or "The Engulfed Worlds"), best known by American viewers as that trippy little series that ran on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} for two years (1985-1987, and rerun until 1990). You know, the one with the opening theme song sung by Music/{{Menudo}} in Season 2.

The series concerns a lost city named Arkadia, whose ancient civilization escaped a great cataclysm by moving underground. Today, most Arkadians don't even know that life continues on the surface (thanks to the machinations of the ancients), and they would get on just fine under the light of their artificial sun Tehra (Shagma in the original French) - except that said sun is dying. [[OhCrap Oh bugger]]...

With no other choice, a few Arkadian children defy the laws and enter the archive, using the knowledge about the surface they find there to create a messenger, Arkana, and send her for help. Together with the two talking pangolins Bic and Bac, she makes it to the surface in [[LivingShip Tehrig]], and finds two ordinary human children, Matt (Bob in the original) and Rebecca, willing to go back with her. Unfortunately, Tehrig (Shagshag in the original) is captured by the Pirates of the Seas before reaching the portal back. They are eventually freed with the help of the wandering warrior Spartakus, but by then they are hopelessly lost, and have to wander the various worlds beneath the sea to find a way to Arkadia before it's too late.

* AerithAndBob: The protagonist quartet is Arkana, Spartakus... and Rebecca and Matt (Bob in the original French). Justified in that Arkana was named by her Arkadian creators, Spartakus is from one of the interior worlds, and the two kids are from the surface world.

* ApocalypseHow: Arkadia escaped one cataclysm by moving underground. Now they're on the verge of another one.

* ArtificialHuman: Arkana herself.

* DubNameChange: Easy enough to understand why they changed "Shagma" and "Shagshag" to "Tehra" and "Tehrig."
** The main quartet of pirates have names that are punny in French, but don't really translate well, save for Massmedia, which actually means the same thing in both languages. So Mattymatte became Mighty Matt, Maxagaze became Nasty Max, and Seskapil became Sleazeappeal. This is justifiable in the third instance, as his name is pronounced "sex appeal."

* {{Leitmotif}}: Several, though of course the pirates' song and the Flashbick are the most notable, functioning as character songs for the pirates and Bic and Bac, respectively.

** Also much is made about Spartakus being the finest gladiator ever to roam the strata, but his combat skills are almost never used to solve a problem. Probably justified though. Spartakus fled his world to escape being a gladiator. If you were an ex-gladiator, and forced to fight to the death for the amusment of others for years of your life, wouldn't you be sick of violence?

* SidekickSong: The Flashbick, the happy-go-lucky theme song of Bic and Bac.

* VerbalTic: Spartakus has a mild one, reliably avoiding the use of contractions.

* XtremeKoolLetterz: They're Greek. They can have all the K's they want in their names.

* GladiatorRevolt - Spartakus (as might be guessed from his name) is an ex-gladiator who escaped slavery following a revolt.
* HollowWorld - The various "worlds of the strata" are just that. Entire worlds with skies, rivers, cities and people existing below the surface of the earth itself. What's more disturbing is that historical figures from our past actually live here as well (it is noted at the end of season one that time in the strata passes differently then on the surface).

* CompletelyDifferentTitle: The English dub goes from ''Les Mondes Engloutis'' ("The Engulfed Worlds") to ''Spartakus and the Sun Beneath The Sea,'' elevating Spartakus to main character.
** If you compare the intros in the French and English versions, it look likes this a side effect of the decision to do [[TranslatedCoverVersion translated cover versions]] of the original songs plus the desire to move the title card from the end of the intro song to the beginning. The new position featured Arkadia and the Shagma/Tehra so, the sun had to be mentioned. What probably happened was the translator was stabbing around for something that vaguely kept the sense of the first lines of the refrain "Suis les mondes engloutis/Jusqu'au creux de la Terre" (something like "Follow the engulfed worlds/in the heart of the Earth", despite what Google Translate says), the second line became "to the Sun beneath the sea" and they then realized "Go follow Spartakus," fit in for the first line. And suddenly, they had their English language title.

** The main quartet of pirates have names that are punny in French, but don't really translate well, save for Massmedia, which actually means the same thing in both languages. So Mattymatte became Mighty Matt, Maxagaze became Nasty Max, and Seskapil became Sleazeappeal.

** And then there's Bob, who was renamed Matt in the English dub, despite Bob being a perfectly normal name in English (though probably not one geared for a child character). It also breaks the OneSteveLimit with Mighty Matt.

** And then there's Bob, who was renamed Matt in the English dub, despite Bob being a perfectly normal name in English (though probably not one used for a child character). It also breaks the OneSteveLimit with Mighty Matt.

** And then there's Bob, who was renamed Matt in the English dub, despite Bob being a perfectly normal name in English (though probably not exactly one for a more child-minded audience). It also breaks the OneSteveLimit with Mighty Matt.

** And then there's Bob, who was renamed Matt in the English dub, despite Bob being a perfectly normal name in English. It also breaks the OneSteveLimit with Mighty Matt.

''Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea'' is the English title of the French animated series ''Les Mondes Engloutis'' ( or "The Engulfed Worlds"), best known by American viewers as that trippy little series that ran on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} for two years (1985-1987). You know, the one with the opening theme song sung by Music/{{Menudo}} in Season 2.

* WomanInWhite: Arkana.

** And then there's Bob, who was renamed Matt in the English dub, despite Bob being a perfectly normal name in English.

* PlayingWithFire: Bic and Bac have the ability to,among other things, create fire by rubbing their noses together.

** If you compare the intros in the French and English versions, it look likes this a side effect of the decision to do [[TranslatedCoverVersion translated cover versions]] of the original songs plus the desire to move the title card from the end of the intro song to the beginning. The new position featured Arkadia and the Shagma/Tehra so, the sun had to be mentioned. What probably happened was the translator was stabbing around for something that vaguely kept the sense of the first lines of the refrain "Suis les mondes engloutis/Jusqu'au creux de la Terre" (something like "Go to the engulfed worlds/in the heart of the Earth", despite what Google Translate says), the second line became "to the Sun beneath the sea" and they then realized "Go follow Spartakus," fit in for the first line. And suddenly, they had their English language title.

* LeitMotif

* DubNameChange: Easy enough to understand why they changed "Shagma" and "Shagshag" to "Tehra" and "Tehrig," and since the Pirates all have pun-based names in the original French, it's no big surprise that they were changed as well (apart from Massmedia, whose name works equally well in both French and English).... but why did they change "Bob" to "Matt"?!

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Semi-averted with The Pirates of the Seas. They ''will'' jump on you and loot your stuff... just as soon as they finish singing in their music video. The pirates also have a rival group of ruffians (who do not have their own song), lead by Ringnar, who also occasionally try to do something but fail.
** Also much is made about Spartakus being the finest gladiator ever to roam the strata, but his combat skills are almost never used to solve a problem.
*** Probably justified. If you were a gladiator, and forced to fight to the death for the amusment of others for years of your life wouldn't you be sick of violence?