Trivia / Il Était Une Fois...

• All-Star Cast: In a production sense, the design of the characters and spaceships in Space was made by some big names of European animation and Franco-Belgian Comics, like René Borg, Philippe "Manchu" Bouchet and Jean Barbaud.
• Banned in China: The franchise was modified and censored in some form when it was released in Spain and Latin America. Because the episodes were broadcast in countries where there were still military dictatorships, they were modified and censored in order not to show social events and things that could be uncomfortable for the Catholic Church, an institution with lots of influence during those times.
  • In Argentina and Chile, Once Upon a Time... Man had some episodes were modified and censored so that they do not show content related to the theory of evolution, among other things. Educational supplements were also censored and modified to include Catholic propaganda. In Argentina, they even released an additional supplement, drawn in a similar art style as the creators, talking about the good work of the Catholic Church throughout history. These changes were also exported to other countries like Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia.
  • The opening for Once Upon a Time... Man was changed in Spain and some Latin American countries for unknown reasons, possibly censorship depending on your source. In Spain, the opening theme was replaced with an original song (one with a verse about God thrown in, of course) performed by child music group Caramelos, and this modification was exported to Latin America in case any of their TV stations wanted to use it (although, bizarrely enough, what they got wasn't Caramelos's song, but a version made by another Spanish child group, Los Chiquitines, with a videoclip by yet another Spanish child group, Parchís).
  • In a similar vein, the opening song for Once Upon a Time... Space was changed in Spain by a original one by the child music group Parchís, which was also used as the credits song for the last episodes.
  • Episode 15 of Once Upon a Time... Man wasn't aired by Spain's TVE (Televisión Española) for, according to its then vice-chairman Eduardo Autrán, giving a view of the Spanish colonization of the Americas that was deemed as belonging to the Spanish Black Legend. This happened in 1979, when Spain had just come out of the Francoist dictatorship (its current democratic constitution had been proclaimed the previous year) and some attitudes towards censorship were still very alive. The episode was later broadcast in a re-run in 1983, and regardless of its historical quality or lack thereof,^note The complainer has a point, as it would be disingenous to claim that the episode is objective or doesn't have obvious sympathies. It suspiciously avoids to include all the historical elements that would refute the Black Legend, like the Spanish Inquisition's true judiciary workings, the conquistadores' alliances with native civilizations, and the Mesoamericans' most brutal customs. Credit where it is due, however, it doesn't go out of its way to make a political statement either, and several other episodes in the series are also given similar slanted reframings. this time there was no controversy whatsoever.
  • It's also been often claimed some Once Upon a Time... Life episodes were censored in Spain because of the nudity. This seems to be just an urban legend, as the series was released in 1987, when the franchise's popularity and the changing of mindsets in Spain would have made any attempt of censorship very difficult (especially after the release of Spain's own production A Thousand and One... Americas in 1989, which features frequent instances of National Geographic Nudity).
• Dueling Works: With Meme.
• Edited for Syndication: The German dub cuts certain scenes from all the episodes of Once Upon a Time... Man. The most jarring example is Episode 13 (the Hundred Years War), which is so extremely truncated it amounts to less than half its original length and even cuts out the scene with the Black Death!
• Follow the Leader: While very much its own thing in some ways, it's hard not to see very strong parallels between certain elements of Once Upon a Time... Space and of the original Star Wars trilogy. Perhaps most striking is the trio formed by Pierrot-Luke, Psi-Leia, and especially Metro, who behaves in many ways like a blend of C-3PO and R2-D2 (a similarity made all the more obvious by Metro's voice actor being the French voice of C-3PO).
• International Coproduction: Once Upon a Time... Man, Space, and Life are co-productions of Procidis with several TV companies of different countries, having been animated in Japan by Tatsunoko Production and/or Eiken — so it's actually anime as much as western animation.
• The Merch: There were collectible Once Upon a Time... Life books about the human body as well as plastic organs coming with them.
• Missing Episode: Several episodes were censored as mentioned above, although some have been released in video and DVD since.
• No Export for You: The earliest series were all done in co-operation with other European TV channels. After Once Upon a Time... the Americas though, the amount of TV channels co-operating along diminished.
• Referenced by...: Once Upon a Time... Life is the inspiration behind Project Remedium, a video game set entirely within the human body. The creators openly admits that Life is their childhood cartoon, and the game which is set entirely in the human body draws inspiration from the animated show.
• Science Marches On:
  • In one episode, Maestro said that someone lacked vitamins after seeing white spots on his fingernails. This has since been debunked. White spots are not caused by the lack of vitamins, but are caused by a trauma on fingernails.
  • Likewise, white blood cells have been discovered since the cartoon was produced to have another way to kill antigens besides eating them.
• Uncredited Role: None of the voice actors for the English dub of Once Upon a Time... Man were credited.

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