La vuelta al mundo de Willy Fog

Plot synopsis:
As with every morning since he moved into Savile Row, Willy Fog awakens at 8:00 am and rings for his servant, only to remember that he fired him the previous day for his inability to follow Fog's precise schedule. He has already arranged an interview for a replacement – former circus performer Rigodon, who is even now rushing towards Fog's house to make his 11:00 am appointment. Rigodon is accompanied by his old circus colleague Tico, who hides within his travelling bag, and prompts him through the interview, which gets off to a bad start when Rigodon arrives four minutes late. Nonetheless, Rigodon is hired by Fog as his butler and soon departs for the Reform Club.
At the club, the main topic of conversation is the recent theft of £55,000 from the Bank of England which was discussed till the bank's governor Mr. Sullivan arrives and requests a change of topic. Sullivan's off-hand remark that the thief is still in London causes the elderly Lord Guinness to bring up an article in the Morning Chronicle, detailing how it is now possible to travel around the world in eighty days. The article states that one departs London by train for Dover, where one crosses to Calais, and on to Paris. From there, it is a train journey to Brindisi, and the Suez Canal, all within a week. Having rounded the Arabian peninsula, one would arrive in Bombay on day 20 and then a three-day railway journey to Calcutta. Hong Kong is reached on day 33, Yokohama on day 39, and then a mammoth three-week crossing of the Pacific to arrive in San Francisco on day 61, a week-long train crossing to New York City and then finally a nine-day crossing of the Atlantic back to London making it possible to circumnavigate the globe in eighty days. The other members of the club laugh at Lord Guinness's suggestion that he would take on the challenge if he were younger, prompting Fog to defend his honor by taking up the task himself. Sullivan bets Fog £5,000 that it is impossible, and additional wagers by three other club members increase this amount to £20,000. He then stuns the club by announcing that he will leave that very evening and promises to return to the club by 8:45 pm on 21 December 1872.
Rigodon is less than thrilled to hear the news of their impending trip, having spent his life travelling with the circus. However, he dutifully accompanies his master as they set out, with Tico still in hiding. Little do they know, however, that they are pursued by three individuals determined to halt their progress. Inspector Dix and Constable Bully of Scotland Yard are convinced that Fog is the thief who robbed the Bank of England, and the wicked and conniving Transfer, a saboteur, was hired by Mr. Sullivan to impede Fog's journey in any way.

Tags: romantic

Review:
Another childhood favourite....
"Around the World with Willy Fogg" is basically just Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days" anime-style with one or two characters added and Fog's named changed to something easier on the tongue.
This is one of my favourite childhood tv-series'.
Everybody (oh well, next to everybody) know the story, and if you find this series watch it.
It's dated but despite the artistic licence with the story is true to Jules Verne's spirit of adventure.
The English version even has a great song.
You'd have to be very stuck-up not to like it.
Oh yes, everybody's animals too.
So this is a nice little anthropomorphic spin on the tale..
This cartoon is one of my favorite one.
This cartoon is one of my favorite one.
I saw it when a child at the Spanish TV in the eighties.
Of course, it is adapted from Jules Verne's novel with animals.
Phileas Fog is a lion, his wife a nice female cat and so on.
But the adaptation introduces new characters and in particular a gangster who will follow Willy Fog (Phileas Fog) to make him fail in his mission.
We also find a new character as a little mouse, who is Rigodon's friend (Rigodon is Passe-Partout in the novel).
This makes the cartoon even more interesting than the original novel.
Indeed, when I read the book I was highly disappointed!
Jules Verne should have seen the cartoon before writing his book.
Moreover, the cartoon also introduces very nice songs during all the series.
I heard these songs and the emotion is still the same..
A very memorable series.
This is such a fantastic animated series (for everyone, not just kids!) for a number of reasons.
Firstly, there are obviously the lovable characters, the way we see them develop throughout the series is a joy to watch.
Secondly, the story lines are enticing, you just have to know whats going to happen in the next episode- take the jungle episode and the evil worshippers approaching as a great example of how great this series was at cliffhangers.
Thirdly, the music score is really fun to listen to.
Although it is distinctly '80s' sounding, each tune really tends to capture the atmosphere of the moments in the series.
For just a cartoon series there are so many 'true to life' things in this series- like morals, the evolution of friendships, romance, financial problems and solving problems.
Not forgetting the enormous geographical value of this programme- how many places do they visit throughout the series?
Point proved.
The only thing I have to say against it is repetition.
How many times do we have to hear them say they're hungry or they're late for a train?
Mind you this recurrence amuses rather than annoys me..
An absolutely brilliant series!.
"La vuelta al mundo de Willy Fogg"("Around the world with Willy Fogg") is one of my all-time favorite cartoon-shows.
I first rented all the episodes way back in 1988, and I saw every single episode again in 1992, and I was lucky to catch many of the episodes recently on the Spanish tv-channel TVE("Television España").
Thank goodness I`ve learnt Spanish instead of French!The series is based on a novel by Jules Verne, which is called "Around the world in 80 days"(I don`t remember the original French title).
The main character in the series is Willy Fogg, who was called Phileas Fogg in the novel.We follow Willy Fogg & co.
on a fantastic journey around the world against the clock, because Willy Fogg has made a bet that he`ll be able to travel around the world in 80 days.I think the series has got great atmosphere, nice animation, great characters, great music and quite a few "scary"(for the kids) scenes too.**"Plot spoiler"**My favorite episode is without a doubt the one where Willy saves a princess from being sacrificed in India.
Sadly I missed that episode when I caught parts of the series on TVE.
There are 26 episodes which are on 5 tapes.
The tapes are very difficult to come by, so buy them when you see them.
I know that I will!.
Grand adventures.
Around the World With Willy Fog combines the artistic talents of a French author, a Spanish production company, Japanese animators and pop music - a strange combination of ingredients to be sure, but it just works.As an adaptation of Jules Vernes' classic adventure novel, this series is pretty faithful, though it manages to differentiate itself in a few positive ways.
While all major plot points remain intact and only names were changed, additions include a spirited sidekick for Mr. Fog's butler and a villain who constantly tries to thwart the heroes.
The backgrounds and scenery are gorgeous and detailed, and are well-utilized by the series' diverse locations, although the character animation lacks fluidity, which is unfortunately typical for anime.
It has a great soundtrack as well, composed by Mocedades, a prolific Spanish pop group, and it shows, as the opening and closing songs are particularly pleasant ear-worms.
(But strangely, for the English dub at least, any mid-episode song is of much worse sound quality.)