The series
Once Upon a Time... illustrated the various subjects (as listed above) from the point of view of a group that is always composed of similar recurring figures that represent different archetypal roles: •
Maestro (
Roger Carel) – The wise old man. He usually serves as the head of the tribe, as a religious priest, as an adviser to the king and as an inventor. Maestro has long white hair, a pair of antennal growths and a beard that covers his entire body. He is seen to stash things away in this beard, sometimes fumbling quite a bit to find the object he wishes to present. He serves as the mentor to the children, telling them about the various subjects. •
Peter / Pierre (Roger Carel) – The courageous and handsome young man. He represents the image of the good person and he is father of Pierrot and Little Pierrette. •
Jumbo / Le Gros (
Yves Barsacq) – The strong young man. Jumbo is Peter's best friend. A quite large person, with red hair and great physical powers. At times he tends to be a little clumsy, but he is very strong. He often defends Peter, Pierrette (and Psi in the spinoffs) from the bullies. • Jumbo and Peter have also young counterparts (Little Jumbo and Pierrot (Vincent Ropion) and their development is usually followed from
childhood to
adolescence, Peter has a daughter too named Little Pierrette). •
Psi – The good young girl. A black-haired Brazilian woman who serves mostly as Peter's girlfriend, or as Peter's wife. •
Pierrette (Annie Balestra) – The good young woman. Blonde-haired, serves mostly as Pierrot's and Little Pierrette's mother, or as Peter's wife. •
Little Pierrette – She is Peter and Pierrette's daughter, as well as Pierrot's younger sister. She is not very important in the series, and never has been a core character. Her style changed in all the series. (In "Man" she has blond and long hair, In "Life" she has got very short hair, in "Discoverer" she has a ponytail). •
The Pest / Le Teigneux (
Claude Bertrand) – The big bully, friend of 'The Dwarf', a large and strong bully that enjoys picking on others or attacking them. He is strong, but Jumbo is stronger. •
The Dwarf / Le Nabot (
Patrick Préjean) – The little bully, friend of 'The Pest', weak but shrewd and an intriguer. He has a malicious giggle. Both he and his friend display downright negative characters (portraying traitors, spies, conspirators, murderers, or at least skeptics or hypocrites). They are the ones to generally start up a conflict between the circle of children. •
The Clock – Displays the year when the events occur. Sometimes it has a character and reacts to what the screen shows. For example, it complains when narration proceeds many years forwards or glares at the scenery when something interesting is shown. Some of them had historical roles. For example, Pest as
Goliath and Pierrot as
David. Maestro had the role of
Leonardo da Vinci and mostly of benevolent or enlightened rulers (amongst these, he surprisingly represented Kublai Khan). ==References==