80's cartoons. No one can accuse them of being original, but at least they manage to take the same tired old themes, ideas and formulae, add an awesome theme song, and somehow make it all work.

Such is the case for this absolute gem.

Homer's Odyssey -- how can we make it cooler? How can we make it appeal to a generation that's discovered the digital watch? Put it in space! Space makes everything cooler. (Take war veteran cowboys, put them in space and suddenly you have Firefly.)

The basic premise: Ulysses is a famous space explorer (in the 31st-Century... hence the "31") who's been zipping around the universe generally being cool. But, tired of the same old workaday life, he decides to head home and see the missus. Unfortunately right about now the Cyclops (in this case an evil one-eyed space robot) kidnaps Ulysses’s son (and a bunch of other kids). Our hero vanquishes said robot, rescuing everyone before they're brutally sacrificed.

Just when they’re all about to breathe a collective sigh of relief and head homeward, the ancient God Zeus rocks up… huh? Yeah: Zeus is still kicking around, now in space, so even cooler than before (and slightly less shiny than Liam Neeson's version of the same character). Less than impressed by Ulysses slaying the Cyclops, Zeus goes a little postal. How does a god get revenge you ask? Lightning? Plagues of locusts? Worldwide flooding… nah. In this case Zeus puts the crew of the Odyssey (Ulysses trusty ship) into stasis, and wipes the location of Earth from the ship’s computer.

The only way to fix everything is to find the kingdom of Hades… all the while fighting various mythological critters... with the appropriate amount of "futurizing" and dodging "the trident", Poseidon's lackeys.

Yup -- Homer's Odyssey… in space. Awesome.

All in all it's 26 episodes made by a Japanese animation studio, in French, then dubbed into English.

Again, we can't accuse the 80's of being original, but man, practically everything that came out of assorted animation studios at the time is just pure gold! If you haven't seen it, and enjoy shows like M.A.S.K, Centurions, Bravestarr, etc., see this. If you don't know of these shows, rectify that. Immediately. Take a week of sick leave if necessary. Any of you that don't enjoy these shows… go and try to find an online store that sells "taste". Purchase it. In bulk.

   -- Jason Murdoch