Origin[]
As an infant, Saturnin was the only survivor of a shipwreck that stranded him on the island of Pomotu. The island was inhabited by monkeys and apes who raised young Saturnin. However, when he grew up, and did not develop a tail or other monkey traits, he was spurrned by the natives and forced to set sail from the island on a raft. The raft was soon picked up by a ship, and on the ship, Saturnin learned to speak English and quickly rose to the rank of ensign. Thirsty for knowledge, he quickly goes from primitive to the paragon of modern man. He meets a girl named Mysora, who he falls in love with and the two of them go on to have quite a few bizarre adventures around the world, under the sea and in the sky. Saturnin battled pirates, cannibals and a variety of dangerous animals. He eventually returned to the monkey island with Mysora to start a family. Saturnin was a strong fighter, often carried a gun and he could communicate with primates. He also developed a spiked "lion-proof" suit at one point.
Public Domain Appearances[]
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- The Extraordinary Voyages of Saturnino Farandola, in the Five or Six Parts of the World and in All Countries Known and Unknown to Mr Jules Verne (1879)
Public Domain Film Appearances[]
- The Extraordinary Adventures of Saturnino Farandola (1913)
Notes[]
- The novel is a parody of Jules Verne's Voyages extraordinaires, with Saturnin encountering characters from Verne's books like Captain Nemo, Phileas Fogg, Hector Servadac, Michel Strogoff and Captain Hatteras.
- The character predates characters such as Mowgli (1893) and Tarzan (1912).
- In Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Australia is referred to as Farandoulie, echoing Albert Robida's Les Voyages très extraordinaires de Saturnin Farandoul. In both works, this fictional version of Australia serves as a unique setting where intelligent apes and humans coexist harmoniously, presenting a utopian vision of interspecies collaboration.