Speed Racer--My first love
Aww, Speed Racer. My first techniqual anime show and my first HUGE obsession. And guess what everyone? Julie Sermak was six years old. The show came on every week night Monday-Friday, at 7:30PM, followed by Jonny Quest.
I would kick my brother/s or anyone else who was on at the time off ten to five minutes before Speed would start and sit in excitement.
Now, in my six year old mind, things were not as simple as just loving a show. Oh no, I also had my first "crush" if you will at that time in my life. I was infatuated with Speed Racer. I loved him and KNEW we were ment to be.
However, (minus him being a cartoon character) I had one HUGE problem. In the english version of this Japanese program I believed ( as a six year old) that they were doing a bit of false advertising.
In the English opening theme there are a few lines that were a bit off to me. Here is the passage:
"Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer, he's a DEMON on wheels. He's a DEMON and is ganna be chasin' after someone."
In my little kid brain this ment trouble. I thought of a Demon as a bad guy, a theif. And being a loyal fan to the show I KNEW Speed was NOT a bad guy. I mean, how could he be? He was Speed Racer. However, my parents DIDN'T know that. I thought them hearing that "He's a DEMON" passage would ruin in potential chance of a happy marriage life between me and my hero.
So, I would force my father or Mother out of the room insisting they couldn't come back until the show was over. ( I'm sure they thought I just really liked the song---which I do. I head bang to that awesome song even today!)
Why did I like this show so much? Speed Racer ( Original Japanese title Mach Go Go Go) in all logical reasoning has no reason to be as popular as it is today. Okay I take that comment back, considering it was one of the very first Anime productions from Japan to be released in the states I guess it does have it's reasons.
The original manga of Mach Go Go Go was released in Japan 1966, being turned into a 52 episode TV series one year later in 1967. So what does this tell us? For those of you who have watched old TV shows (cartoons especially) made before the 80's you know the animation sucks. Mach Go Go Go was no exception. The animation was choppy, characters looked different in almost every episode and the weirdo mistakes done by key animators moving and removing Speed Racer's ( Mifune Go) gloves for example makes this show almost comical due to it's lack of animated experience in the generation it was made in.
As far as characters go, it wasn't bad for it's time. The characters at time were a little inconsistant from time to time, but you had to tip your hat to them for making a character like Trixie. Now, I can understand hating her. The main female who happends to be Speed's girlfriend ( although it has never been CLEARLY stated in the show) at first glances seems to be your stereotypical (not blond) girl who follows Speed around almost all the time. But considering the time period, a tomboyish girl who risks her neck for her boy is definatly something that really needs it's own award for alone. Now-a-days a character like Trixie is nothing considering we watch something like GALS or Slayers and we wave Trixie good-bye.
It's translation....let's see. Well the name changes although odd I guess I can't really complain. This show was brought to the states (correct me if I'm wrong) late 80's early 90's and was shown for five years. The name changing shit didn't REALLY start stopping until recently so, even though it pains me to say so I guess I don't mind as much as I might otherwise.
I have not been able to get my hands on any of the ORIGINAL 1967 Japanese episodes so I can't REALLY tell you how good/bad the translations are, but I'm assuming by weird facial expressions in certain situations you can guess what that's like....( if you care)
So on that basis alone. What made this show so great? It's just a pretty boy with blue eyes who likes to race his awesome car around, right?
Wrong.
I didn't really notice this until I grew older and actually thought about it, but if you think about it, although yes the show does seem to focus around racing and the character development REALLY isn't that great, I still consider Racing to be a minor part of the actual goal behind the actual show.
Racer X ( Speed's secret older brother who ran away from home) clearly cares about the family even though he doesn't come home. He gives Speed the right pushes and information he needs to not kill himself and is ALWAYS around to save his kid bro when he's in a pinch. There's also Spritel ( Speed's younger brother) and his Chimp "Chim-Chim" ( Senpei). Spritel, although seemingly an annoying little boy who likes candy way too much for his own good, is actually very loyal to Speed and would do anything to help him out. And often will be the one through his mischeif save the day and help our hero Speed Racer more than we realise.
There is a love, or brotherly love in this series. ( no, I am not referring to anything icky) and a lot of family values that are tested.
The "Go Team" consisting of Speed's family (for the most part) their macanic Sparky, and Speed's girlfriend Trixie are a very close group that even though may be done pretty poorly at times, I believe their love and connection shows brightly when Speed is in a pinch and needs their support.
I don't believe the series main goal is to get kids to care about racing. I think it's suppose to teach doing the right thing over what your goal is and deciding what values come first. Sure Speed wants to be the best Racer he can be, and he wants to win, but even an 18 year old boy with a dream can realise that letting someone else win the race doesn't mean that you REALLY lost.
So all in all, what do I like about this show? I can't REALLY tell you. I can't imagine what I liked about it so much way back when in 1996, but I sure can tell you what I like about it now. :)
As most of you who may know due to my rantings and ravings they are making a liveaction (real people) Speed Racer movie that comes out in theaters May 9th, 2008. I am VERY excited about this whole thing.
Sure, I'm nervous, the people who made the Matrix are producing it for gods sakes. A Japanese cartoon show produced by Americans? Well...I guess we'll have to see.
So far I am happy with what I see though. The movie is going to focus more around character development over racing. ( probably a lot of Speed and Trixie moments) The Mach 5 will have a lot of special effects that goes into it. ( no Matrix moves, please)
And yes, they ARE using a real Chimp for Chim-Chim. (yay!)
They even picked a cute actor for Speed. His name is Emile Hirsch. I don't want too many normal movies but I will say I hope he can act.
I do have my doubts, being the hardcore Speed Racer fan that I am. But I am going to try and be open minded about the whole thing and not bash the movie into the ground before I've seen it with my own eyes.