Carland Cross (TV series)
Carland Cross was a 1996 animated detective television series developed with the collaboration of Belgian, French and Canadian broadcasters. It spanned 26 episodes (each 26 minutes in length) and was based on the comics The Adventures of Carland Cross, by Belgian natives Olivier Grenson and Michel Oleffe. Carland Cross tells the story of a fictional British private investigator specializing in curious and inexplicable cases. The series aired late 1996 under the French-language title "Carland Coss" and in other markets, such as Spanish, as Las aventuras de Carland Cross. Of the 26 episodes, only 3 stories  of the original print comic were used: 'The Golem', 'The Monster Under Sea' (The Tunnel), and 'The Mysteries of The Loch Ness'. Although the television series remains unknown in international television, the animated television series was a success in the late 1990s to early 2000s in European countries such as Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland. However, it was also popular in South America, especially in Argentina. Background. Plot. Carland Cross, a typical British private detective from the 1930s era, is called upon to investigate cases of the strange and mysterious. Cross attempts to solve cases involving ancient ruins, forbidden regions , strange inexplicable murders, criminal Satanic curses, deserted cities and an array of unimaginable monsters. The central storyline is set in the United Kingdom, mainly London, which is depicted as a mysterious drowned city of fog where crime is prevalent, and with it, apprehension and danger. Characters. Protagonist. Carland Cross: A calculated and methodical British private investigator from Baker Street in London, working alongside the police officials. He shares his investigations with his pupil, Andy White, the aristocrat fervent admirer Medwenna Simpson, and is often helped by the Superintendent Marmaduke Wingfield. Conception and history. Carland Cross's crime comics, created in  1990, were inspired by works of well-known authors of the time, such as Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, William Hope Hodgson and Jean Ray. In 1994, Olivier Grenson had the idea to make a computer animation of Carland Cross. With a friend, owner of the studio ASAP, he began to select a series of images in albums and edit them into a short sequence in which he added some effects and a soundtrack to a text by Michel Oleffe. After contacting the Belgian animation professional studio ODEC-Kid Cartoons, they started the filming. They quickly decided to produce an  animation pilot. Michel Oleffe provided a scenario from the "Mystery of Loch Ness". The pilot was presented at a congress of animation, the Azores, in 1995. Given the interest generated by the pilot, a financial arrangement was concluded quickly and Odec-Kid Cartoons with French and Canadian partners got into production. Olivier Grenson and Michel Oleffe, the creator and the publisher, later released their comics in a rare 3D animated series for kids and adults that contained influences from the crime, suspense, and supernatural genre, as well as some cryptic themes. The series, which had 26 episodes of 26 minutes , was completed in 1997. DVD releases. It was released on DVD only in Spain between 1999 and 2000 in a slim-lined box set.