Maestro returns! Albert Barillé's 1994 educational cartoon "Once Upon a Time… The Discoverers" eps 1~5 on Blorptube @ 11 PM CET / 5 PM EST | ALSO: New Year's and plans for Wednesdays in 2026
※Remember to turn on your VPN and make sure you have a Hexbear account.
I didn't feel like delaying this any longer, so here we go!
::: spoiler New Year's and plans for 2026
New Year's Eve falls on a Wednesday this year, and given I usually spend time with family around midnight on NYE, I'm not going to host a watch party then. If anybody else would like to take over for me on that day then feel free to, but make sure that the other regular watch party organizers know about it.
Edit: Camden28 has volunteered.
As for Wednesdays in 2026… After Once Upon a Time… The Discoverers, I'm thinking I'll start showing The Boondocks and Squirrel and Hedgehog. I'm still pretty iffy on the idea of showing Once Upon a Time… The Explorers but Once Upon a Time… Planet Earth should be fine.
I will of course also be showing intermittent fanime and other things throughout 2026, as well as Fireman Sam when we've got some time to kill after the main feature.
I've got a pretty extensive list of things I could or would like to show. Aside from the aforementioned, there's also, sorted by how soon I'll be able to show them:
Things I could show with one day's notice
Title
Description
Status
Through Deaf Eyes
PBS documentary about the history of the Deaf community in Seppoland (USA).
Ready and fully subtitled.
Lupin III: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy
1970s live action film based on Lupin III manga, about the grandson of LeBlanc's gentleman thief keeping up the family legacy.
Ready and fully subtitled.
Who Killed Captain Alex?
Ugandan action film notable for its budget of $85.
Ready and fully subtitled.
Get Ready To Be Boyzvoiced
Mockumentary about a Norwegian novelty boy band.
Ready and fully subtitled.
Slave of Love
'70s Soviet romantic comedy drama taking place during the Russian Civil War.
Ready and fully subtitled.
Courier
'80s Soviet comedy drama about the problems of youth in the perestroika era.
Ready and fully subtitled.
An t-Eilean
Scottish Gaelic crime drama miniseries.
Ready and fully subtitled.
The Big Bang Theory
Frequently ridiculed Chuck Lorre sitcom about theoretical physicists.
Ready and fully subtitled. I only plan on showing the first few episodes as a bit, by the way, don't worry.
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Parody of '80s horror anthologies.
Ready and fully subtitled, but somebody else wanted to show it.
Das Kapital
Audiobook and study guide of Karl Marx's critique of political economy.
The audiobook is already uploaded but not the study guide.
Things I'll probably need up to two weeks to get ready
Title
Description
Status
Secret of Cerulean Sand (Nordub)
Jules Verne inspired anime series, dubbed in Norwegian.
Subs need to be retimed.
Let The River Flow
Movie based on the Alta conflict (late '70s Indigenous rights in Norway).
Subs need to be retimed.
The Kautokeino Rebellion
Movie based on a historical rebellion of the Sámi people against Norwegian authorities.
Subs need to be retimed.
Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated (Espodub)
Esperanto Scooby Doo fandub created using Retrieval-based Voice Conversion.
Subs need to be retimed. Also, somebody else wanted to show this one (in its original language).
Lars
Norwegian Sign Language film.
Needs to be translated.
Tegnsatt
Late '80s Norwegian Sign Language video magazine aimed at the Deaf community.
Needs to be translated.
Pokémon (Nordub)
Shorts and films from the Pokémon anime dubbed in Norwegian.
Engsubs need to be downloaded and possibly retimed.
Dragon Ball Z (Nordub)
Shorts from the popular shonen battle anime dubbed in Norwegian.
Engsubs need to be downloaded and possibly retimed.
Sonic X (Nordub)
Sonic the Hedgehog anime series dubbed in Norwegian.
Engsubs need to be downloaded and possibly retimed.
Bakugan (Nordub)
Anime series about kids battling with toyetic creatures called Bakugan, dubbed in Norwegian.
Engsubs need to be downloaded and possibly retimed.
Digimon (Nordub)
Anime series about kids protecting a "Digital World" populated by toyetic creatures, dubbed in Norwegian.
Engsubs need to be downloaded and possibly retimed.
LEGO Plane Go Boom
Long-running YouTube series about Megan and Doofy crashing their plane repeatedly.
I wanted to convert the episodes into longer compilations first.
Møkkakaffe
Norwegian Sign Language drama miniseries.
Needs to be translated.
Luftens Helter
Low-budget Norwegian comedy miniseries about old people starting a budget airline.
Needs to be translated.
Ante
Miniseries about a Sámi kid's experiences during the period of the Norwegianization policy.
Needs to be translated.
NRK news coverage of 9/11
NRK is Norway's public broadcaster.
Needs to be translated.
Things I'll likely need many months to get ready
Title
Description
Status
Memories of Phantasm (Nordub)
Fan-made anime series based on Touhou Project games, dubbed in Norwegian. Shows a shrine maiden and magician resolving anomalous incidents caused by mythical creatures in a fantasy land; most characters notably resemble human girls and women.
I have to make the dub first.
Azumanga Dekimurized
Edited version of Azumanga Daioh that completely gets rid of the pedo character. Azumanga Daioh is notable for pioneering the high school slice of life genre of anime.
I've made note of everywhere he appears or is alluded to but I'm yet to start doing the actual editing.
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions (AD)
Popular Kyoto Animation romance series with an autistic-coded lead, dubbed in English with audio description for the visually impaired.
I have to make the AD first.
Blazoner Narazen
Fanime about a teenage enby being transported into the future after running away from home, and needing to save the world from an evil machine in the planetary core, by using a telepathically talking heraldic shield that grants supernatural powers based on its changeable appearance.
I have to make the fanime first.
Delayed indefinitely
Title
Description
Status
Children of a Lesser God
Popular English-ASL romantic drama film.
Located but torrents are either seedless or apparently broken.
Son of Stone + Son of Stone and the Giant
Soviet animated short films based on Circassian mythology.
Located but no subtitles are available.
Argonavtebi
1980s Soviet Georgian movie about the Argonauts.
Located but no subtitles are available.
Children of Troubled Times
1930s Chinese film whose theme tune later became China's national anthem.
Located but only subtitled in Chinese.
Elling
Norwegian "black comedy" about a man with anxiety trying to live independently.
I have the DVD but no means to rip it, and I need to deal with the subtitles.
Bionicle 2 + 4
Science fantasy movies based on LEGO toys.
I have the DVDs but no means to rip them, and I need to deal with the subtitles.
Dorei Kojo
1960s Japanese film about a labor revolt in an ironworks.
Located but no subtitles are available.
Black Sand
American Sign Language horror film.
Not yet located.
The Monkey and the Mouth
Avant-garde musical film by Norwegian rap duo Karpe.
Not yet located.
Lars er LOL
Norwegian children's movie about a first grader with Down syndrome.
Not yet located.
Radiopiratene
Norwegian children's movie about kids taking over a radio tower.
Not yet located.
Spermageddon
Norwegian animated film about anthropomorphized spermatozoa.
Not yet located.
Technotise: Edit & I
Serbian animesque sci-fi film, notable for being made in a cramped apartment on a small budget.
Not yet located.
Næturvaktin
Icelandic comedy miniseries about workers in a gas station convenience store.
Ready and fully subtitled, but I wanted to watch it with my mom first.
Tesagure! Bukatsumono
Highly ad-libbed anime series created using the 3D animation program MikuMikuDance. About high school girls trying different random silly activities they come up with. From the same studio as Kemono Friends.
Subs on episode 2 need corrections, and my mom maybe wanted to watch this one with me first, anyways.
I want to say that my priorities among these are The Secret of Cerulean Sand, Lars, Møkkakaffe, Memories of Phantasm, and Blazoner Narazen. The first three of these, as said, I should be able to get ready in two weeks each, while the last two will take much longer to prepare.
But without further ado, onto our programming for tonight…
:::
What's the chef cookin' tonight?
Once Upon a Time… The Discoverers is the fifth of Albert Barillé's Once Upon a Time… cartoons, centered on the big-bearded Maestro. I have previously shown Once Upon a Time… Man from '78 (world history, albeit Eurocentric), Space from '82 (not actually educational; it's sci-fi set in the future), Life from '87 (human physiology), and The Americas from '91 (history of Abya Yala, surprisingly good). This time, in The Discoverers, Maestro will be telling us about famous inventors and scientists from antiquity to the present day.
As before, the episodes have a runtime of ~24 minutes each; the number of episodes is 26; and we'll be watching five episodes a week until the end when we watch the last six episodes and start half an hour earlier.
We'll be watching the following episodes tonight:
Ep 1: The Chinese, Our Ancestors
Ep 2: Archimedes and the Greek
Ep 3: Hero of Alexandria
Ep 4: The Measuring of Time
Ep 5: Henry the Navigator and Cartography
Content warnings and accessibility
Audio description: Not available.
Sign language: Not available.
Language of audio: English.
Captions: Not available.
Content warnings:
These are content warnings for Albert Barillé's Once Upon a Time... in general:
Death incl. murder
Sexual assault
Nudity
Animal gore
Racist caricatures
Religion presented as fact
Eurocentrism
Children getting serious diseases
Vanishing Indian myth
Problematic depictions of cops, slavery, and settler-colonialism
Problematic depictions of race and class issues in general
♫ Uniting nations at the speeeed of liiiiight ♫ [epic sax solo] ♫ Station of the '20s — TV☆3SIS! ♫
Erika3sis [she/her, xe/xem] - 2day
7½ hours to Inventor Maestro. Also, if anybody would like to substitute for me on NYE or help me prepare or decide on the stuff I want to show, more information on that is in the announcement post here.
From what I've seen, this show seems pretty good. I guess some things have probably changed or is wrong, since now we have new information about those things, but overall it seems good. Though it focuses more on European and Asian discoveries than on American or other places discoveries.
2
Erika3sis [she/her, xe/xem] - 2day
Albert Barillé being Eurocentric?! Unbelievable! Never happened before!
Erika3sis in movies
Maestro returns! Albert Barillé's 1994 educational cartoon "Once Upon a Time… The Discoverers" eps 1~5 on Blorptube @ 11 PM CET / 5 PM EST | ALSO: New Year's and plans for Wednesdays in 2026
blorp.bot.nu/o/visual_cuisine
※Remember to turn on your VPN and make sure you have a Hexbear account.
I didn't feel like delaying this any longer, so here we go!
::: spoiler New Year's and plans for 2026 New Year's Eve falls on a Wednesday this year, and given I usually spend time with family around midnight on NYE, I'm not going to host a watch party then. If anybody else would like to take over for me on that day then feel free to, but make sure that the other regular watch party organizers know about it.
Edit: Camden28 has volunteered.
As for Wednesdays in 2026… After Once Upon a Time… The Discoverers, I'm thinking I'll start showing The Boondocks and Squirrel and Hedgehog. I'm still pretty iffy on the idea of showing Once Upon a Time… The Explorers but Once Upon a Time… Planet Earth should be fine.
I will of course also be showing intermittent fanime and other things throughout 2026, as well as Fireman Sam when we've got some time to kill after the main feature.
I've got a pretty extensive list of things I could or would like to show. Aside from the aforementioned, there's also, sorted by how soon I'll be able to show them:
Things I could show with one day's notice
Things I'll probably need up to two weeks to get ready
Things I'll likely need many months to get ready
Delayed indefinitely
I want to say that my priorities among these are The Secret of Cerulean Sand, Lars, Møkkakaffe, Memories of Phantasm, and Blazoner Narazen. The first three of these, as said, I should be able to get ready in two weeks each, while the last two will take much longer to prepare.
But without further ado, onto our programming for tonight…
:::
What's the chef cookin' tonight?
Once Upon a Time… The Discoverers is the fifth of Albert Barillé's Once Upon a Time… cartoons, centered on the big-bearded Maestro. I have previously shown Once Upon a Time… Man from '78 (world history, albeit Eurocentric), Space from '82 (not actually educational; it's sci-fi set in the future), Life from '87 (human physiology), and The Americas from '91 (history of Abya Yala, surprisingly good). This time, in The Discoverers, Maestro will be telling us about famous inventors and scientists from antiquity to the present day.
As before, the episodes have a runtime of ~24 minutes each; the number of episodes is 26; and we'll be watching five episodes a week until the end when we watch the last six episodes and start half an hour earlier.
We'll be watching the following episodes tonight:
Content warnings and accessibility
Audio description: Not available.
Sign language: Not available.
Language of audio: English.
Captions: Not available.
Content warnings:
These are content warnings for Albert Barillé's Once Upon a Time... in general:
♫ Uniting nations at the speeeed of liiiiight ♫
[epic sax solo]
♫ Station of the '20s — TV☆3SIS! ♫
7½ hours to Inventor Maestro. Also, if anybody would like to substitute for me on NYE or help me prepare or decide on the stuff I want to show, more information on that is in the announcement post here.
::: spoiler The 'Glist (taglist) @Carcharodonna@hexbear.net @Ram_The_Manparts@hexbear.net @IvarK@hexbear.net @pr0kch0p@hexbear.net @tithonis@hexbear.net @AernaLingus@hexbear.net @Erika3sis@hexbear.net @corkboard@hexbear.net @Guamer@hexbear.net @Camden28@hexbear.net @BeanisBrain@hexbear.net @myceliumnetwork@hexbear.net @SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net
@CARCOSA@hexbear.net @Cherufe@hexbear.net @ClathrateG@hexbear.net @context@hexbear.net @DeathToBritain@hexbear.net @Dort_Owl@hexbear.net @Eco@hexbear.net @el_principito@hexbear.net
@GalaxyBrain@hexbear.net @Kaputnik@hexbear.net @marxisthayaca@hexbear.net @MelaniaTrump@hexbear.net @Mindfury@hexbear.net @PorkrollPosadist@hexbear.net @PurrLure@hexbear.net @Redcuban1959@hexbear.net @RNAi@hexbear.net @TankieTanuki@hexbear.net @Tervell@hexbear.net @ThisMachinePostsHog@hexbear.net @ultraviolet@hexbear.net @viva_la_juche@hexbear.net @WIIHAPPYFEW@hexbear.net @Wmill@hexbear.net @Yanqui_UXO@hexbear.net @Zoift@hexbear.net @wombat@hexbear.net
@thelastaxolotl@hexbear.net @WhoaSlowDownMaurice@hexbear.net @HarryLime@hexbear.net @Grebgreb@hexbear.net @iie@hexbear.net @Aryuproudomenowdaddy@hexbear.net @CanYouFeelItMrKrabs@hexbear.net
@Lussy@hexbear.net @plantifa@hexbear.net @Alaskaball@hexbear.net @Arahnya@hexbear.net @buh@hexbear.net
@FunkyStuff@hexbear.net @asa_red_heathen@hexbear.net @Vingst@hexbear.net @buckykat@hexbear.net @Wisp@hexbear.net @QuietCupcake@hexbear.net @autismdragon@hexbear.net @Lemmygradwontallowme@hexbear.net @gramxi@hexbear.net @Rom@hexbear.net @Ath3ro@hexbear.net @CommunistCuddlefish@hexbear.net @Sulvy@hexbear.net @halfpipe@hexbear.net @LeninWeave@hexbear.net :::
15 minutes to Inventor Maestro!
::: spoiler The 'Glist (taglist) @Carcharodonna@hexbear.net @Ram_The_Manparts@hexbear.net @IvarK@hexbear.net @pr0kch0p@hexbear.net @tithonis@hexbear.net @AernaLingus@hexbear.net @Erika3sis@hexbear.net @corkboard@hexbear.net @Guamer@hexbear.net @Camden28@hexbear.net @BeanisBrain@hexbear.net @myceliumnetwork@hexbear.net @SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net
@CARCOSA@hexbear.net @Cherufe@hexbear.net @ClathrateG@hexbear.net @context@hexbear.net @DeathToBritain@hexbear.net @Dort_Owl@hexbear.net @Eco@hexbear.net @el_principito@hexbear.net
@GalaxyBrain@hexbear.net @Kaputnik@hexbear.net @marxisthayaca@hexbear.net @MelaniaTrump@hexbear.net @Mindfury@hexbear.net @PorkrollPosadist@hexbear.net @PurrLure@hexbear.net @Redcuban1959@hexbear.net @RNAi@hexbear.net @TankieTanuki@hexbear.net @Tervell@hexbear.net @ThisMachinePostsHog@hexbear.net @ultraviolet@hexbear.net @viva_la_juche@hexbear.net @WIIHAPPYFEW@hexbear.net @Wmill@hexbear.net @Yanqui_UXO@hexbear.net @Zoift@hexbear.net @wombat@hexbear.net
@thelastaxolotl@hexbear.net @WhoaSlowDownMaurice@hexbear.net @HarryLime@hexbear.net @Grebgreb@hexbear.net @iie@hexbear.net @Aryuproudomenowdaddy@hexbear.net @CanYouFeelItMrKrabs@hexbear.net
@Lussy@hexbear.net @plantifa@hexbear.net @Alaskaball@hexbear.net @Arahnya@hexbear.net @buh@hexbear.net
@FunkyStuff@hexbear.net @asa_red_heathen@hexbear.net @Vingst@hexbear.net @buckykat@hexbear.net @Wisp@hexbear.net @QuietCupcake@hexbear.net @autismdragon@hexbear.net @Lemmygradwontallowme@hexbear.net @gramxi@hexbear.net @Rom@hexbear.net @Ath3ro@hexbear.net @CommunistCuddlefish@hexbear.net @Sulvy@hexbear.net @halfpipe@hexbear.net @LeninWeave@hexbear.net :::
One hour to Inventor Maestro!
::: spoiler The 'Glist (taglist) @Carcharodonna@hexbear.net @Ram_The_Manparts@hexbear.net @IvarK@hexbear.net @pr0kch0p@hexbear.net @tithonis@hexbear.net @AernaLingus@hexbear.net @Erika3sis@hexbear.net @corkboard@hexbear.net @Guamer@hexbear.net @Camden28@hexbear.net @BeanisBrain@hexbear.net @myceliumnetwork@hexbear.net @SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net
@CARCOSA@hexbear.net @Cherufe@hexbear.net @ClathrateG@hexbear.net @context@hexbear.net @DeathToBritain@hexbear.net @Dort_Owl@hexbear.net @Eco@hexbear.net @el_principito@hexbear.net
@GalaxyBrain@hexbear.net @Kaputnik@hexbear.net @marxisthayaca@hexbear.net @MelaniaTrump@hexbear.net @Mindfury@hexbear.net @PorkrollPosadist@hexbear.net @PurrLure@hexbear.net @Redcuban1959@hexbear.net @RNAi@hexbear.net @TankieTanuki@hexbear.net @Tervell@hexbear.net @ThisMachinePostsHog@hexbear.net @ultraviolet@hexbear.net @viva_la_juche@hexbear.net @WIIHAPPYFEW@hexbear.net @Wmill@hexbear.net @Yanqui_UXO@hexbear.net @Zoift@hexbear.net @wombat@hexbear.net
@thelastaxolotl@hexbear.net @WhoaSlowDownMaurice@hexbear.net @HarryLime@hexbear.net @Grebgreb@hexbear.net @iie@hexbear.net @Aryuproudomenowdaddy@hexbear.net @CanYouFeelItMrKrabs@hexbear.net
@Lussy@hexbear.net @plantifa@hexbear.net @Alaskaball@hexbear.net @Arahnya@hexbear.net @buh@hexbear.net
@FunkyStuff@hexbear.net @asa_red_heathen@hexbear.net @Vingst@hexbear.net @buckykat@hexbear.net @Wisp@hexbear.net @QuietCupcake@hexbear.net @autismdragon@hexbear.net @Lemmygradwontallowme@hexbear.net @gramxi@hexbear.net @Rom@hexbear.net @Ath3ro@hexbear.net @CommunistCuddlefish@hexbear.net @Sulvy@hexbear.net @halfpipe@hexbear.net @LeninWeave@hexbear.net :::
From what I've seen, this show seems pretty good. I guess some things have probably changed or is wrong, since now we have new information about those things, but overall it seems good. Though it focuses more on European and Asian discoveries than on American or other places discoveries.
Albert Barillé being Eurocentric?! Unbelievable! Never happened before!