Once Upon a Time… Man
This tv show originated in France as Il était une fois… l’homme. It’s the first of seven series that were in the franchise. This one covers the evolution of man, and the history of western civilisation. The same recurring characters live their lives in each time period of interest.
My kids enjoyed watching the series with the dramatic opening music (Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor) and the familiar characters popping up in each episode. It gives a great overview of a large part of history. It is, however, very dated when it comes to sexism, racism etc. A lot of this will go over the heads of younger children. I had to point out to my eldest son all the things that concerned me, like the limited female characters and their treatment.
Despite some obvious flaws, it worked as an introduction to our past and gave my son a loose timeline of historical events. We will revisit the various time periods using different media.
You can find Once Upon a Time… Man on Youtube
- And Earth was created…
- Neanderthal Man
- Cro-Magnon Man
- The Fertile Valleys
- The First Empires
- The Age of Pericles
- The Pax Roman
- The Conquest of Islam
- Carolingians
- The Age of Vikings
- The Cathedral Builders
- The Travels of Marco Polo
- The Hundred Years War
- The Quattrocento
- The Golden Age of Spain
- Elizabethan England
- Golden Age of the Low Countries (Dutch Golden Age)
- Great Reign of Louis X1V
- Peter the Great
- The Age of Reason
- America – American Civil War
- The French Revolution
- The Awakening of the People
- The Beautiful Era
- The Crazy Years (Roaring Twenties, Great Depression, World War II)
- Once Upon a Time the Earth.. and Tomorrow