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MPEG Video
Realvideo episodes

Relive MCoG memories in glorious sound and vision!

MPEG Videos
The Opening Sequence
"It is the 16th century..."  Classic stuff, super zoom sequence through the universe, galaxies, light tunnels and finally to the Cities of Gold,  accompanied with a very cool voice over.

Musical Introduction
"AAAAHaaaaAHHaaaAHH..." The brilliant opening sequence continues with an incredible dive from Esteban, panning shots of the Solaris and of course - the golden condor flying into the sunset.  Be warned though - by viewing you risk walking around for days humming the tune! :-)

End Credits
If you remember scenes which you thought were from the introduction but aren't then chances are they're in the end credits.  For instance; one clip of Zia turning around is cut back to 3 times by the directors!  The end credits also contain an extra "Holds the secret, Holds the key" verse not heard in the introduction.

French Opening Music
This was recorded this year off France 2.  I would have included the whole sequence except "Donkey Kong TV", which MCoG is shown under chops their programs up to make way for filler (just like gmtv over here).  Definitely worth downloading if only for the French remake of the theme tune.  Quality is outstanding too - it was sourced from a live satellite broadcast!  Especially the music quality, you can hear shakers and tambourines in the background that I didn't notice before.
MCoG in French
So what did it sound like?  I've also included a small realvideo scene where all the main characters speak.

The Golden Condor
This scene consists mainly of just flybys of the condor accompanied with some excellent music.  The animators liked doing all these panning shots... and with reason too - they were great!

Golden Condor attacking boats!
Esteban "stirs up" a bit of trouble after flying a bit too close to the 1532 Oxford/Cambridge boat race.  Another scene similar to the one above with some more great music!

Soundbite Commercials
A couple of very brief MCoG commercials; one French, one American - pasted together by me.  Download for completism only.

Why are the opening credits split?
Two reasons: 1. Uploading, downloading and encoding large files can be difficult.  2. The second half of the introduction can also be played in winamp (of course with just the sound).  So you can add the mpeg to your playlist without having to download a separate mp3 file.
How do I play MPEG?
Chances are you already can, just select the file you downloaded in your documents menu and mediaplayer or whatever should start automatically.  If not then visit Microsoft, search for Mediaplayer and download the latest version.  If you've avoided Realvideo somehow then go here...
Is it really stereo?
My tapes are stereo, however I don't think the music is.  If not the pseudo-stereo mpeg format with remove any mono echoing.

Realvideo Episodes

Was MCoG really as good as I remember it?  Well decide for yourself as I've put up some whole episodes in realvideo format.  Relive the amazing "MCoG experience"!
The trade-off however is quality, or to be more precise - 9.7k a second (80kbs realvideo).  This isn't too bad, the sound sounds pretty good and the video has been captured in sharpest mode.  The size will also expand too fill whole screen, so if you sit back it should look quite good.

Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8 and Episode 9.
Four episodes which are all linked together surrounding the ship Solaris.  One of my favourite segments of the whole series.

NOTE:  I highly recommend downloading both parts of an episode before viewing.  I don't think the creators ever envisaged MCoG having 30 minute "download breaks".  I guarantee part 1 always ends on a cliff-hanger! ;-)

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