Siamo Fatti Così

Siamo Fatti Così (Mediaset title) or even Exploring the human body (DeAgostini title), or Once upon a time there was a life: the fabulous story of the human body (first version translated into Italian appeared in Canton Ticino in 1987), whose title original is: Il était une fois ... la Vie, is a French educational television series, with animated drawings, dedicated to the functioning of the human body, conceived by Albert Barillé with music by Michel Legrand.

## Description of the television series

Created by Albert Barillé, the series consists of 26 episodes lasting 24 minutes and was broadcast for the first time in 1987 by France 3 in France and in the same year in Switzerland by the Italian-speaking Swiss radio and television. In Italy it aired for the first time on Italia 1.

The cartoon, intended for an audience of children and adults, illustrates, with the help of animated characters, the structure and functions of the human body, using anthropomorphic figures to represent its microscopic components, from white blood cells to vitamins, passing through the DNA components. Among the characters that have a central role there is a group of red blood cells formed by some individuals, among which, the young Globina and Emo, and an elderly red blood cell, Globus, who acts as Cicero to the group, explaining from time to time , during each episode, the main aspects of human biology.

The series is part of a set of six products named Once upon a time ..., created for educational purposes by Albert Barillé: it is the best known, but curiously the only one that Italy has not co-produced, much 'it is true that it does not appear in the list of nations that have cooperated in its realization (the list can be viewed in the French version of the opening theme, sung by Sandra Kim). The Italian abbreviation of the same name was engraved by Cristina D'Avena and written by Alessandra Valeri Manera and Massimiliano Pani. On the other hand, the series was co-produced by the French-speaking Swiss Television and the Italian-speaking Swiss Radio and Television, whose dubbing in Italian was performed by the studios in Milan.

As a result, the series appeared in Italian in 1987 originally only in Ticino with the title Once upon a time in life: the fabulous story of the human body, which kept the original theme sung by Sandra Kim unaltered. In Italy, on the other hand, he made his television debut in 1989, with a dubbing faithful to the French one, which adds a female voice to the original dialogues, and an order of the episodes that varies according to the publisher.

From this cartoon was born the children's work "Exploring the human body" edited by De Agostini, which over the years has changed its appearance several times.

The music is by Michel Legrand, a composer who was awarded numerous awards for soundtracks and songs, who also created the soundtrack for At the Edge of the Universe. Some music was in fact taken from this series and also used here and in the subsequent Great men for great ideas. The arrangements are handled by the musician and composer Michele Centonze (at the time also Jovanotti's guitarist).

## Characters

The characters are made up of sick children, or children who ask their parents or grandparents for information; and each of them has a "microscopic" alter ego that represents an element of anatomy.

Pierrot, child (and boy in some episodes) protagonist of the series, has a lymphocyte equivalent, captain Pierrot.

Pti (in the French original and in the volumes Kira), a child (and a girl in some episodes, Pierrot's girlfriend) also has a lymphocyte equivalent, Lieutenant Pti.

Grosso has its polynuclear equivalent in the homonymous lieutenant-chief of polynuclear white blood cells.

Pierrette, usually the smallest of the group, with blond hair (Pierrot's sister, Grosso's girlfriend). It has no direct "microscopic" equivalent, but it resembles the red blood cell Globin.

The bearded and long-haired white-haired Master, who represents the "boss" who directs operations (for example in the cell or in the brain), also appears in the outside world as a handyman doctor, or like any other intellectual figure.

The villains (in the original Nabot and Tignoso in the volumes and in the credits, sometimes also mentioned as Birba and Tigna, but never mentioned directly in the cartoon): their age is indefinite, since sometimes they appear as the repetitors of the class, others times as two adults driving a car recklessly, or as two smokers and alcoholics. This duo, of which the first is very thin and the second sturdy, arranges jokes towards others, causing damage or injuries which later become the object of scientific explanation. They too have their alter egos in the world of anatomy: the leader of the viruses is a skinny yellow worm (with variants depending on the type of virus) with the face of Naboth, while the leader of the bacteria is a scaled down version of Tignoso with the blue and robust body, always with variations.

Metro, the leader of antibodies, presented here as insects with prehensile feet and four wings (taken from the previous series).

Colonel Pierre, the white blood cell chief in charge of training young recruits for the defense of the human body, has a human counterpart as the father of Pierrot and Pierrette, who never speaks in that form.

In the aforementioned group of red blood cells, they can be recognized once again (in red blood cell version) Grosso in the role of Emo, a red blood cell that always complains about his condition especially when there is to carry carbon dioxide; the Master in the role of Globus (easily identifiable by the antenna-shaped hair and by two protuberances at the basal level, one front and one rear, reminiscent of the Master's long hair and beard).

Furthermore, the secondary characters have a specific shape depending on the role they play: the mineral salts are represented as salt shakers with salt inside, sugars as anthropomorphic candies and fats as bizarre yellow horses. White blood cells are presented as the security department: polynucleated people (except for Grosso) are typically plump-looking, white-skinned, and armed with a white truncheon, but their real weapon is their wide-open mouth. excess and with which they swallow viruses or bacteria; lymphocytes, on the other hand, are presented as policemen aboard circular spacecraft from which they release antibodies; the basophils are the female wards presented as the equivalent of the polynucleated, with the only difference that instead of the baton they have a basket from which they launch histamine bombs; macrophages are waste disposal units, presented as vehicles that resemble the head of a frog or toad. Bacteria are presented in various forms, often as malevolent blue monsters with certain characteristics depending on the species (for example, Streptococcus mutans, the microbes of the teeth, are presented as weak beings that become hypertrophic with sugar; the bacteria of salmonellosis are centaurs with very short legs, the microbes responsible for tetanus as beings with a slender body that can close into a ball), the only exception are the Escherichia coli, presented as hairy beings of brown color with many legs.

## Italian edition

Starting from Saturday 5 November 2016, on Italia 1 the restored edition of the series was broadcast every weekend (at the beginning with two consecutive episodes, then with only one per day) inside the morning container "Latte & Cartoons ". This new edition preserves the second Italian dubbing of the 90s, however the video is completely restored, passing from the 4: 3 to 16: 9 ratio. The theme song kept the same song by Cristina D'Avena, in the same duration of about a minute and a half, but renewed the editing of the images and the writing of the title. The episodes of the new Italian edition follow the original order of the French one (except the second episode, which was broadcast as the last one due to small sexual elements) and also the translation of the titles is more faithful to the original.