Born into a family business of race cars, Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is one of the track's hot stars. Sitting at the wheel of his Mach 5, he consistently deflates the competition. When Speed turns.
Speed Racer is the tale of a young and brilliant racing driver. When corruption in the racing leagues costs his brother his life, he must team up with the police and the mysterious Racer X to bring an end to the corruption and criminal activities. Released May 9th, 2008, 'Speed Racer' stars Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman The PG movie has a runtime of about 2 hr 15 min, and received a score of 37 (out of 100) on. Speed Racer is the tale of a young and brilliant racing driver. When corruption in the racing leagues costs his brother his life, he must team up with the police and the mysterious Racer X to bring an end to the corruption and criminal activities. Speed Racer: The Movie (1993 film) In 1993, the episodes 'The Car Hater' and 'Race Against the Mammoth Car' were combined into a feature-length film and briefly released in theaters. It was later released on VHS and DVD, and has been available on Hulu. ’ Speed Racer’’ follows a young driver who is passionate about driving as he was a kid and living with the dream to become the champion of the racing world. With the support of his family and his high-tech Mach 5 automobile, he has to battle powerful racer to Mondragan who manipulates his careers in order to kill him.
Speed Racer | |
---|---|
Directed by | The Wachowskis[a] |
Produced by |
|
Written by | The Wachowskis[a] |
Based on | Speed Racer by Tatsuo Yoshida |
Starring | |
Music by | Michael Giacchino |
Cinematography | David Tattersall |
Edited by | |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| |
135 minutes[1] | |
Country | United States[2] Germany[2] |
Language | English |
Budget | $120 million[3] |
Box office | $93.9 million[3] |
Speed Racer is a 2008 sportsactioncomedy film written and directed by the Wachowskis[a] and based on the 1960s anime and mangaseries of the same name. Starring Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Matthew Fox, Roger Allam, Benno Fürmann, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rain and Richard Roundtree, it is an American-German venture produced by Village Roadshow Pictures, Silver Pictures, Anarchos Productions and Babelsberg Studio, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The plot revolves around Speed Racer, an 18-year-old automobile racer who follows his apparently deceased brother's career. His choice to remain loyal to his family and their company Racer Motors causes difficulties after he refuses a contract offered by E.P. Arnold Royalton, the owner of Royalton Industries.
The film had been in development hell since 1992, having changed actors, writers and directors until 2006 when producer Joel Silver and the Wachowskis collaborated to begin production on Speed Racer as a family film. Speed Racer was shot in and around Potsdam and Berlin from June to August 2007. Michael Giacchino composed the film's score.
Speed Racer premiered on April 26, 2008 at the Nokia Theater, followed by its general theatrical release on May 9, 2008. The film was a box office bomb, grossing only $93 million worldwide on a $120 million budget plus marketing. The film received negative reviews for its storyline, characters, dialogue and use of special effects, while also receiving praise for its score, its capacity to entertain the target audience and the performance of its cast. It was subsequently nominated in multiple categories at the Teen Choice Awards as well as the Golden Raspberry Awards. In the years since its release, Speed Racer has garnered a cult following with some commentators calling it an 'underrated' film.
- 3Production
- 4Release
- 5Reception
Plot[edit]
Speed Racer is an 18-year-old whose life and love has always been automobile racing. His parents--Pops and Mom--run the independent Racer Motors, in which his brother Spritle and his pet monkey Chim Chim, his mechanic Sparky, and his girlfriend Trixie are also involved. As a child, Speed idolized his record-setting older brother, Rex Racer. When Rex and Pops had a falling out, Rex ran away to race for other companies and gained a reputation for being a dirty racer and disgraced his family. Rex was apparently killed while racing in the Casa Cristo 5000 (AKA The Crucible) a deadly cross-country racing rally. Now embarking on his own career, Speed is quickly sweeping the racing world with his skill behind the wheel of his brother's Mach 5 and his own T-180 car, the Mach 6, although he is primarily interested in the art of the race and the well-being of his family.
E.P. Arnold Royalton, owner of conglomerate Royalton Industries, offers Speed an astoundingly luxurious lifestyle in exchange for signing to race with him. Though tempted, Speed declines due to his father's distrust of power-hungry corporations. Angered, Royalton reveals that for many years, key races have been fixed by corporate interests, including himself, to gain profits. Royalton takes out his anger on Speed by having his drivers force Speed into a crash that destroys the Mach 6 and suing Racer Motors for intellectual property infringement. Speed gets an opportunity to retaliate through Inspector Detector, head of an intelligence agency's corporate crimes division. Racer Taejo Togokahn supposedly has evidence that could indict Royalton but will only offer it up if Speed and the mysterious masked Racer X agree to race on his team in the Casa Cristo 5000, which could also substantially raise the stock price of his family's racing business, blocking a Royalton-arranged buyout. Speed agrees but keeps his decision secret from his family, and Detector's team makes several defensive modifications to the Mach 5 to assist Speed in the rally.
After they drive together and work naturally as a team, Speed begins to suspect that Racer X is actually his brother Rex in disguise. His family discovers that he has entered the race and agree to support him, though Pops is disappointed with Speed for entering without permission. With the help of his family and Trixie, Speed defeats many brutal racers, who were bribed by fixer Cruncher Block to stop him, and overcomes seemingly insurmountable obstacles to win the race, while Detector's team arrests Block. However, Taejo's arrangement is revealed to be a sham, as he was only interested in increasing the value of his family's company to profit from Royalton's buyout. Enraged, Speed hits the track that he used to drive with his brother, and confronts Racer X with his suspicion that he is Rex. Racer X removes his mask, revealing an unfamiliar face, and tells Speed that Rex is indeed dead, but encourages Speed not to let what had transpired change his idea of racing. Speed plans to leave to clear his mind but returns home where he is confronted by Pops. Pops does not prevent Speed from leaving as he is proud of Speed for his cause despite it being in vain, and acknowledges that it was his own stubbornness that drove his son Rex away. Taejo's sister Horuko arrives and gives him Taejo's rejected automatic invitation to the Grand Prix. The Racer family bands together and builds a new Mach 6 in 32 hours.
Speed enters the Grand Prix against great odds; Royalton has placed a $1,000,000 bounty on his head that the other drivers are eager to collect, and he is pitted against future Hall of Fame driver Jack 'Cannonball' Taylor. Speed overcomes a slow start to catch up with Taylor, who uses a cheating device called a spearhook to latch the Mach 6 to his own car. Speed uses his jump jacks to expose the device to video cameras, causing Taylor to crash. Speed wins the race, having successfully exposed Royalton's crimes. While Racer X watches, it is revealed in a flashbackmontage that he is indeed Rex, who had faked his death by detonating a bomb in his car in the caves and underwent plastic surgery to change his appearance as part of his plan to protect Speed and the sport of racing. He chooses not to reveal his identity to his family, declaring that he must live with his decision. The Racer family celebrates Speed's victory as Speed and Trixie kiss, and Royalton is sent to jail.
Cast[edit]
Emile Hirsch and Christina Ricci at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere
- Emile Hirsch as Speed Racer
- Nicholas Elia as young Speed Racer
- Christina Ricci as Trixie, Speed's girlfriend.
- Ariel Winter as young Trixie
- John Goodman as Pops Racer, Speed's father
- Susan Sarandon as Mom Racer, Speed's mother
- Matthew Fox as Racer X, a mysterious masked racer who is secretly Speed's older brother Rex
- Scott Porter as young Rex Racer
- Rain as Taejo Togokahn, a rookie racer
- Paulie Litt as Spritle Racer, Speed's younger brother
- Kick Gurry as Sparky, Speed's mechanic and best friend
- Chim Chim, Spritle's pet chimpanzee and best friend is portrayed by two chimpanzees: 'Kenzie' and 'Willy'.[4]
- Nayo Wallace as Minx, a scientist and Racer X's girlfriend
- Benno Fürmann as Inspector Detector, head of the Corporate Crimes Division, Central Intelligence Bureau
- Togo Igawa as Tetsua Togokahn, Taejo and Horuko's father, and a corporate rival to both Royalton and Musha
- Yu Nan as Horuko Togokahn, Taejo Togokhan's sister
- Roger Allam as E.P. Arnold Royalton, the corrupt owner and CEO of Royalton Industries
- Christian Oliver as Snake Oiler, a shady racer who wears snakeskin racing clothes
- Hiroyuki Sanada as Mr. Musha, president and CEO of Musha Motors
- Richard Roundtree as Ben Burns, a race commentator and former racing champion
- Ralph Herforth as Jack 'Cannonball' Taylor, a superstar racer sponsored by Royalton Industries
- John Benfield as Cruncher Block, a professional race fixer and gang leader
- Melvil Poupaud as Johnny 'Goodboy' Jones, a race commentator
Series original English dubbing artists Peter Fernandez and Corinne Orr appear as race announcers.
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
In September 1992, Joe Pytka announced that Warner Bros. held the option to create a live-action film adaptation of the 1960s Japanese anime and manga series Speed Racer, in development at Silver Pictures.[5] In October 1994, singer Henry Rollins was offered the role of Racer X.[6] In June 1995, Johnny Depp was cast into the lead role for Speed Racer, with production slated to begin the coming October,[7] with filming to take place in California and Arizona.[8] The following August, Depp requested time off to the studio for personal business, delaying production.[9] However, due to an overly high budget,[10] the same August, director Julien Temple left the project. Depp, without a director, also departed from the project. The studio considered director Gus Van Sant as a replacement for Temple,[11] though it would not grant writing privileges to Van Sant.[12] In December 1997, the studio briefly hired Alfonso Cuarón as director.[13] In the various incarnations of the project, screenwriters Marc Levin, Jennifer Flackett, J. J. Abrams, and Patrick Read Johnson had been hired to write scripts.[14]
In September 2000, Warner Bros. and producer Lauren Shuler Donner hired music video director Hype Williams to take the helm of the project.[15] In October 2001, the studio hired screenwriters Christian Gudegast and Paul Scheuring for $1.2 million split between them to write a script for the film.[14] Eventually, without production getting under way, the director and the writers left the project. In June 2004, Vince Vaughn spearheaded a revival of the project by presenting a take for the film that would develop the characters more strongly. Vaughn was cast as Racer X and was also attached to the project as an executive producer.[10] With production never becoming active, Vaughn was eventually detached from the project.[16]
Pre-production[edit]
The Mach 5 (shown on display at the 2007 Comic-Con International), although a fully-functioning automobile, was hung from a crane for the film's sequences and had its motoring effects computer-generated.[17]
In October 2006, The Wachowskis were brought on board by the studio to write and direct the film. Producer Joel Silver, who had collaborated with the Wachowskis for V for Vendetta and The Matrix Trilogy, explained that they were hoping to reach a broader audience with a film that would not be rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America. Visual effects designer John Gaeta, who won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for the Wachowskis' The Matrix, was brought in to help conceive making Speed Racer into a live-action adaptation. Production was set to begin in summer 2007 in European locations for a summer 2008 release.[18] In November 2006, the release date for it was set for May 23, 2008.[19] Producer Joel Silver described Speed Racer as a family film in line with the Wachowskis' goal to reach a wider audience.[20]
Casting[edit]
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shia LaBeouf and Zac Efron were originally considered for the role of Speed Racer, Hirsch eventually won the role.[21][22] Before Hirsch got prepared for the role, Hirsch watched every Speed Racer episode and visited Charlotte Motor Speedway (known as Lowe's Motor Speedway at the time), where he met with driver Jimmie Johnson.[23]Elisha Cuthbert, Kate Mara and Rose McGowan were originally considered for the role of Trixie, the role was eventually given to Christina Ricci.[21][24] Before Matthew Fox was cast as Racer X, Henry Rollins was originally considered for the role.[25]
Filming[edit]
In February 2007, the Wachowskis selected Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam, Germany to film.[26] In the following March, Warner Bros. moved the release date two weeks earlier to May 9, 2008.[27] The studio received a grant of $12.3 million from Germany's new Federal Film Fund, the largest yet from the organization, for its production in the Berlin-Brandenburg region.[28] The amount was later increased to $13 million.[29]Principal photography commenced on June 5, 2007 in Berlin,[20] and was shot entirely against greenscreen,[30] lasting 60 days.[4] The Wachowskis filmed in high-definition video for the first time.[31] With the camera, the Wachowskis used a layering approach that would put both the foreground and the background in focus to give it the appearance of real-life anime.[32] The film has a 'retro future' look, according to Silver.[17] Filming concluded on August 25, 2007.[33]
Music[edit]
In 2007, the Wachowskis purchased the rights to the sound effects and theme song of the television series for use in the film.[32] The film's soundtrack was composed by Michael Giacchino, performed by Hollywood Studio Symphony and released by Varèse Sarabande.[34][35] It was used along with orchestral score; Warner Bros. added an updated version of the 'Go, Speed Racer, Go' theme song, which plays during the end credits, and was produced by Ali Dee Theodore and Jason Gleed, and performed by Ali Dee and the Deekompressors.[35]Razor & Tie released this version was as a extended play on January 1, 2008 to promote the film's release, and as a single released along with film's soundtrack on May 6, 2008.[35][36][37]
Animal cruelty incident[edit]
During its production, animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) made allegations of animal cruelty against the film, reporting that one of the two chimpanzees used in the production was allegedly beaten after biting an actor.[38] The incident was confirmed by the American Humane Association (AHA) Animal Safety Representative on the set, who reported that the stand-in for the Spritle character portrayed by Litt had been bitten without provocation. The AHA representative also reported that 'toward the end of filming, during a training session in the presence of the American Humane Representative, the trainer, in an uncontrolled impulse, hit the chimpanzee.' The AHA Film Unit referred to this abuse as 'completely inexcusable and unacceptable behavior in the use of any animal.' The AHA has rated Speed Racer 'Unacceptable' chiefly because of this incident, with AHA noting 'the aforementioned training incident tarnishes the excellent work of the rest of production' and that it 'has no method of separating the actions of one individual in the employ of a production from the production as a whole.'[39]
Release[edit]
Marketing[edit]
The Los Angeles Times estimated that nearly 5,000 Speed Racer film-related products were licensed by Warner Bros.[40] The film was backed by multiple promotional partners with over $80 million in marketing support. The partners include General Mills, McDonald's, Target, Topps, Esurance, Mattel, Lego and Petrobras. The film also received support from companies outside of America in an attempt to attract international audiences. With early support before the film's release, the studio provided 3D computer models of the Speed Racer vehicle Mach 5 to the companies so they could accurately render the vehicle in their merchandise.[41]
Mattel produced toys based on the film through several divisions. Hot Wheels produced die-cast vehicles, race sets and track sets. Tyco produced remote-controlled Mach 5s and racing sets. Radica Games produced video games in which players can use a car wheel, along with a cross-promotion with the video game U.B. Funkeys. The products became available in March 2008.[42] Also, the Lego Company produced four Lego sets based on the movie.[43] As part of the General Mills promotional tie-in, during the 2008 Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400, part of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, the famous #43 Dodge Charger of Petty Enterprises was transformed into a NASCARSprint Cup Series version of the Mach 5, driven by Bobby Labonte.[44]
Warner Bros., through its Interactive Entertainment division, self-published a video game based on the film titled Speed Racer: The Videogame, which was released on May 6, 2008 on the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii and on September 16, 2008 for the PlayStation 2.[45] The original music for the Speed Racer video game was written by Winifred Phillips and produced by Winnie Waldron.[46] The game was released on the Nintendo DS and Wii in May with the film's theatrical release and was released on the PS2 in the fall to accompany the film's DVD and Blu-ray release. Due to a short development schedule, the studio chose not to develop games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.[47]
Home media[edit]
Warner Home Video released Speed Racer on DVD and Blu-ray on September 16, 2008. The three-disc set features the main feature and supplemental features on the first disc, the DVD game 'Speed Racer Crucible Challenge' on the second disc, and a digital copy of the film on the third disc—the last two being exclusive to the Blu-ray release.[48][49] The U.S. DVD sales reached $6,268,301 and 390,191 copies in the first week, with consumer spending of $14,277,546 and 900,361 copies sold by 2013,[50] and $23 million grossed as of 2018.[51] The Blu-ray version was re-released on May 18, 2010.[52]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Free Speed Racer Movie Download
Speed Racer premiered on April 26, 2008 during a $500,000-estimated event at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, where 4,000 people attended.[53][54] It was released in regular theaters on May 9, 2008, grossing $18,561,337 in its opening weekend from around 6,700 screens at 3,606 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking third at the box office behind Iron Man and What Happens in Vegas.[55] In its second weekend it grossed $8,117,459 and ranked fourth at the box office. The film closed its run on August 1, 2008 with $43,945,766 domestically and $93,945,766 worldwide.[3] Based on its total gross, it was considered a box office bomb.[56][57][58] The results were well below studio expectations,[59] given that the production costs of Speed Racer were estimated to be over $120 million.[3] Despite the low box office numbers, Warner Bros. remained optimistic about sales of associated products ranging from toys to tennis shoes. Brad Globe, president of Warner Bros. Consumer Products, expressed hope that 'We're still going to do very well with Speed Racer', acknowledging that 'a giant movie would have made it all a lot bigger'.[60]
Critical response[edit]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 40% approval rating based on 212 reviews, with an average rating of 5.15/10. The website's critics consensus says that the Wachowskis 'have overloaded Speed Racer with headache-inducing special effects, and neglected to develop a coherent storyline.'[61]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 37 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating 'generally unfavorable reviews'.[62] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of 'A−' on an A+ to F scale.[63]
Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Kirk Honeycutt called Speed Racer's visual effects 'stellar', but stated it 'proudly denies entry into its ultra-bright world to all but gamers, fanboys and anime enthusiasts'. He criticized that story and character were 'tossed aside' towards the 'wearying' races.[64] Todd McCarthy of Variety noted the target audience should be amused, but others might think the film 'a cinematic pile-up', citing its implausibility and the lack of identifiable peril in the driving sequences. While noted viewers interested in CGI would appreciate it, McCarthy said the frame sometimes resembled 'a kindergartner's art class collage'. He had praise for the cinematography, the musical score, and the cast.[65]Anime News Network's Zac Bertschy also praised the cast, while saying the story is 'as anyone would expect', adding 'the characters are all cardboard archetypes with Saturday Morning dialogue.'[66]Speed Racer 'sets out to honor and refresh a youthful enthusiasm from the past and winds up smothering the fun in self-conscious grandiosity', declared The New York Times'sA. O. Scott.[67]
Glenn Kenny of Premiere criticized the film's time-shifting narrative and multiple storylines, saying it 'yields heretofore undreamed of levels of narrative incoherence'. Kenny praised the film's look, saying the 'cheez-whizziness' that others had criticised was 'precisely the point'. He remarked the movie inspires even more thinking than The Matrix because of its 'blatantly anti-capitalist storylines'.[68] Similarly, The New Yorker's Anthony Lane said the film could still end up 'bleached of fun' due to the theme mooted in The Matrix that all of us are being controlled. In Speed Racer, Lane argues, this comes in the form of villain Royalton, who 'vows to crush [Speed] with 'the unassailable might of money.' He concluded some people may call it entertaining, but he 'felt [it] like Pop fascism'.[69] Jim Emerson, editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, wrote that Speed Racer 'is a manufactured widget, a packaged commodity that capitalizes on an anthropomorphized cartoon of Capitalist Evil in order to sell itself and its ancillary products'.[70] It was said to be 'the most tiresome piece of CGI (Computer Generated Idiocy [sic])' of the 'past couple of years' at the time of film's release by Philip French, a The Guardian critic.[71]
IGN's Todd Gilchrist gave a positive review, stating that Speed Racer 'is not merely the best film that it could be, it's pretty much exactly what it should be: full of exciting, brilliantly-conceived races, primary-color characterizations and an irresistible sense of fun'. He called Speed Racer 'a masterpiece of its kind', praising 'the special effects extravaganza' and 'the moment when the Wachowskis went from wunderkind directors to true auteurs'.[72]Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune described Speed Racer as 'buoyant pop entertainment and noted the Wachowskis respected 'the themes of honor, dishonor, family loyalty and Visigoth-inspired barbarism behind the wheel' of the original work. The cast is praised as being 'earnest' and 'gently playful'. However, he stated that 'it sags in its midsection' with unnecessary dialogue.[73] Although it was said to be among the worst films of the year by Rebecca Murray of About.com, she included Speed Racer on her list of 'Top 10 Action Movies of 2008', stating 'the action sequences are definitely eye-catching.'[74]Time magazine included Speed Racer on its list of 'The All-Time 25 Best Sports Movies' and 'Top 10 Movies of 2008'. It said 'Not every avant-garde FX masterpiece receives instant audience validation', described the film as 'a rich, cartoonish dream: non-stop Op art, and a triumph of virtual virtuosity.'[75][76]
Roger Allam's portrayal of Arnold Royalton was praised; Variety said he made 'a delicious love-to-hate-him villain'.[65]Time magazine critic Richard Corliss claimed that Allam was 'channeling Brit pundit Christopher Hitchens as his most pompestuous';[77] similar comparisons were made by several other reviewers.[78][79][68]
About the movie's reception, Christina Ricci said: 'I think I was aware of the disconnect that was going on at the time, and I was sort of watching and… Not that I expected that, but I knew that there would be problems, because I knew that people were expecting something very different than what was actually going to be delivered.'[80]
The film has appeared periodically on lists of underrated films. Speed Racer was elected the third most underrated film of the 2000s by Den of Geek's N.P. Horton, which called it 'a game-changing film which redefined and reconceptualised the film form as we know it.'[81] Nick Hyman, writing for Metacritic, included the film on its list of 'movies that critics got wrong' calling it 'a cult classic in the making'.[82] It was described as 'nearly unmatched [..] insofar as action/adventure/family films go' by Alejandro Stepenberg from JoBlo.com,[83] while Slate's Chris Wade named it 'an underrated masterpiece,' stating 'they [the Wachowskis] made a brilliant visual cartoon that dares to ask that you take it seriously.'[84]Annalee Newitz of io9 analyzed the ten reasons why she believes the film to be an 'unsung masterpiece'; among them, the visuals, the humor, and even its political themes.[85]Tor.com's Dexter Palmer considered the possibility that the film is a 'misunderstood art film', highlighting its color scheme that is a 'pleasure' and the fact it does not try to seem real. Palmer lauded it because he does not think films must imitate reality, and ultimately said it is 'an extreme reminder of what films, and especially fantasy and science fiction films, can place on screen' and that it is 'a refreshing change of pace' in film industry.[86]Collider's Kayti Burt ranked it at #30 of Best Hollywood Blockbusters of the 21st Century stating, 'While other blockbusters of the year (and the decade) worked to ground their fantastical premises in a gritty, realistic setting, Speed Racer leaned hard in the other direction.'[87]
Accolades[edit]
Speed Racer was nominated at the Golden Trailer Awards for 'Summer 2008 Blockbuster',[88] at the MTV Movie Award for 'Best Summer Movie So Far',[89] at the Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Award for 'Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects and Foley in a Feature Film',[90] at the Visual Effects Society Awards for 'Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Feature Motion Picture'.[91] At the 2008 Teen Choice Awards, Speed Racer was a nominee in the category of 'Movie: Action Adventure', 'Movie Actor: Action Adventure' and 'Movie Actress: Action Adventure'.[92] The film has also nominated for the 29th Golden Raspberry Awards in the category of Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel.[93]
Possible sequel[edit]
Variety discussed a possible sequel, saying it could happen if Speed Racer had a good box office performance.[41] In 2008, a possible sequel was contemplated by the Wachowskis when Rain asked them why his character is so happy for Speed winning, and they replied it could be explained in the next film. Rain said he was hired for three years, while noting that does not guarantee that a sequel will be released.[94] Christina Ricci also considered it a possibility; she stated 'When we [the cast] were all leaving, we were like 'write the sequel!' 'We want to come back'. And they [the Wachowskis] were like, 'I know. I know. We're going to. Don't worry'.', adding she would like more action scenes to her character.[95] The producer Joel Silver said that the Wachowskis 'have a great story idea for a sequel' but that it is 'a great idea for a sequel if it makes sense to make it.'[96]
Notes[edit]
- ^ abcCredited as The Wachowski Brothers.
- ^Credited as Andy and Larry Wachowski.
References[edit]
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- ^ ab'Speed Racer (2008)'. LUMIERE. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
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- ^ abBowles, Scott (May 31, 2007). 'First look: 'Speed Racer's' demon on wheels'. USA Today. Gannett Company. Archived from the original on June 10, 2014. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
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- ^ abLyons, Ben (May 11, 2007). 'Extreme Sneak Peek: Speed Racer Is Cast, Gassed Up and Ready to Go Go Go!'. E!. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
- ^http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/rose-mcgowan-zac-efron-speed-racer-film-article-1.245941
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- ^http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/rose-mcgowan-zac-efron-speed-racer-film-article-1.245941
- ^Matthew Gilbert (October 9, 1994). 'Workman's got the beats'. The Boston Globe. The New York Times Company.
- ^Roxborough, Scott (February 14, 2007). 'Babelsberg feels need for 'Speed''. The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on February 17, 2007. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
- ^McNary, Dave (November 3, 2007). 'WB speeds up 'Racer''. Variety. Penske Business Media. Archived from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
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External links[edit]
- Speed Racer on IMDb
- Speed Racer at the TCM Movie Database
- Speed Racer at AllMovie
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Speed_Racer_(film)&oldid=919293809'
Speed Racer | |
マッハGoGoGo (Mahha GōGōGō) | |
---|---|
Genre | Sports (auto racing) |
Manga | |
Written by | Tatsuo Yoshida |
Published by | Shueisha Sun Wide Comics Fusosha |
English publisher | NOW Comics Wildstorm Productions Digital Manga Publishing |
Demographic | Shōnen |
Magazine | Shōnen Book |
Original run | June 1966 – May 1968 |
Volumes | 2 (List of volumes) |
Anime television series | |
Directed by | Hiroshi Sasagawa Peter Fernandez(adaptation) |
Produced by | Tatsuo Yoshida Peter Fernandez (adaptation) |
Written by | Jinzō Toriumi Peter Fernandez (adaptation) |
Music by | Nobuyoshi Koshibe |
Studio | Tatsunoko Production |
Licensed by | Trans-Lux (originally) Funimation (currently) |
Original network | Fuji TV |
English network | ABC (1960s–1970s) Network Ten (1990s) First-run syndication CBS MTV Speed Channel Cartoon Network (1996-2000) CBBC (2006-present) and Disney XD (2016-present) |
Original run | April 2, 1967 – March 31, 1968 |
Episodes | 52 (List of episodes) |
Anime television series | |
Speed Racer X Mach Go Go Go: Restart | |
Directed by | Hiroshi Sasagawa Hiroyuki Fukushima |
Produced by | Kenji Yoshida Makiko Iwata Masatoshi Yui Minoru Ohno Yumi Murase |
Written by | Masaaki Sakurai |
Music by | Michiru Oshima |
Studio | Tatsunoko Production |
Licensed by | DIC Entertainment (former) Funimation (current) |
Original network | TV Tokyo (1997) |
English network | Nickelodeon (2002) |
Original run | January 9, 1997 – September 25, 1997 |
Episodes | 34[1](List of episodes) |
Manga | |
Mach GoGoGo! | |
Written by | Toshio Tanigami |
Published by | Shogakukan |
Demographic | Children |
Magazine | CoroCoro Comic |
Original run | January 1997 – October 1997 |
Volumes | 2 |
Related works | |
|
Speed Racer, also known as Mach GoGoGo (Japanese: マッハGoGoGoHepburn: Mahha GōGōGō), is a Japanese media franchise about automobile racing. Mach GoGoGo was originally serialized in print in Shueisha's 1966 Shōnen Book. It was released in tankōbon book form by Sun Wide Comics, and later re-released in Japan by Fusosha. Adapted into anime by Tatsunoko Productions, its 52 episodes aired on Fuji TV from April 1967 to March 1968. The anime was later re-broadcast on Tokyo MX from July 1 to September 25, 2008.
Selected chapters of the manga were released by NOW Comics in the 1990s under the title Speed Racer Classics. These were later released by Wildstorm Productions, a division of DC Comics, as Speed Racer: The Original Manga. In 2008, under its Americanized title, Speed Racer, Mach GoGoGo was republished in its entirety in the United States by Digital Manga Publishing and was released as a box set to commemorate the franchise's 40th anniversary, as well as serving as a tie-in with the 2008 film. The television series itself is an early example of an anime becoming a successful franchise in the United States, spawning multiple spinoffs in both print and broadcast media.
- 1Media
- 1.2Anime
- 2Development
- 3Characters
- 4Vehicles
- 5Manga and anime differences
- 6Speed Racer Enterprises
- 6.8Merchandise
Media[edit]
Manga[edit]
Tatsuo Yoshida's Mach GoGoGo manga.
Top Row: Volume 1, Volume 2
Bottom Row: Volume 1 (Reprint), Sun Wide Comics release
Top Row: Volume 1, Volume 2
Bottom Row: Volume 1 (Reprint), Sun Wide Comics release
Mach GoGoGo was first created and designed by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida (1932–1977) as a manga series in the 1960s and made the jump to TV as an anime series in 1967. The actual manga was inspired by Yoshida's earlier, and more popular automobile racing comics, Pilot Ace.[2] Pilot Ace's main storyline would form the structure for Mach GoGoGo, which followed the adventures of an ambitious young man who became a professional racer.
The characters’ designs in Pilot Ace would set the main ground for the character design in Mach GoGoGo. Yoshida got his idea for the story after seeing two films that were very popular in Japan at the time, Viva Las Vegas and Goldfinger. By combining the look of Elvis Presley's race-car driving image, complete with neckerchief and black pompadour, and James Bond's gadget-filled Aston Martin DB5, Yoshida had the inspiration for his creation. Soon enough, Mach GoGoGo hit shelves in the early 1960s. The central character in the anime and manga was a young race car driver named Gō Mifune (Mifune Gō).
The name of the series, Mach GoGoGo has a triple meaning: 'Mahha-gō' (マッハ号) is the name of the car; the name of the main character is Gō Mifune; and finally, it contains the English word, go. In the American adaptation, the Mach 5 stems from the number 5 on the door. Although, in Japanese, go (五) is the word for the number 5, the Kanji character gō (号) which is used in the car name actually means 'item number' (i.e. it is an ordinal suffix). In addition, gogogo, is used as a general Japanese sound effect for rumble. Taken together, the program's title means, 'Mach-gō, Gō Mifune, Go!' In the American version, this would translate into 'Go, Speed Racer, Go!'
The manga (compiled into two deluxe volumes for Fusosha's re-release) has several storylines such as 'The Great Plan,' 'Challenge of the Masked Racer,' 'The Fire Race,' 'The Secret Engine' and 'Race for Revenge' that were adapted to the anime. However, minor changes occur between both the original manga and the anime series, such as differences between back stories of several characters and places.
A few years after the volumes were released, Yoshida decided to release his manga series as an anime program, adding additional plots. 52 episodes aired in Japan, each one emulating the fast-paced action of the manga.
Selected chapters of the original Mach GoGoGo manga series were reprinted by Now Comics as Speed Racer Classics and by DC Comics/Wildstorm Productions as Speed Racer: The Original Manga.[citation needed] In 2008, a hardcover box set of the complete manga series was released by Digital Manga Publishing as Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go.[citation needed]
Anime[edit]
The manga spawned an anime adaptation which actually became a bigger success. 52 episodes were produced from 1967 to 1968. In 1997, Tatsunoko produced a modernized version of Mach GoGoGo which aired on TV Tokyo, lasting for 34 episodes. An English adaptation of this remake was produced by DiC titled Speed Racer X, which aired in 2002 on Nickelodeon. Only the first 11 episodes were adapted due to licensing disputes between DiC and Speed Racer Enterprises. Mach Girl was a web-based series by Tatsunoko Productions, created by Tatsuo Yoshida's daughter, Suzuka.[3]
English adaptation[edit]
The English rights to Mach GoGoGo were acquired by syndicator Trans-Lux (originally and still exists as an electronics manufacturer), and Speed Racer premiered on American television in the fall of 1967. In the series, Speed's full name was Go Mifune, in homage to Japanese film star Toshiro Mifune. His name, Americanized, became Speed Racer.[4] His adventures centered on his powerful Mach 5 car, his girlfriend Trixie, his little brother Spritle Racer, Spritle's pet chimpanzee Chim-Chim, and his mysterious older brother, Racer X,[5] whose real name was Rex Racer. For American consumption, major editing and dubbing efforts were undertaken by producer Peter Fernandez, who likewise not only wrote and directed the English-language dialogue but also provided the voices of many of the characters, most notably Racer X and Speed Racer himself. Fernandez was also responsible for a rearrangement of the theme song's melody, written and composed by Nobuyoshi Koshibe, and he subsequently also wrote its English lyrics.[6] The theme was performed, in the opening and closing titles, by Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass; however, Davis and the Nashville Brass were not credited on screen.
![Free Speed Racer Movie Free Speed Racer Movie](/uploads/1/2/5/0/125051123/463911298.jpg)
In a 2008 interview with Chicago Tribune DVD columnist Louis R. Carlozo, Fernandez recalled that he landed the job working on Speed Racer after ghost-writing scripts for Astro Boy and Gigantor.[citation needed] Fernandez also voiced the main character and wrote English-language scripts for another anime series, Marine Boy, sometimes taping both shows on the same day in New York City.[citation needed] Fernandez admitted that he could not have predicted Speed Racer 's lasting appeal at the time or in the decades that followed. Reflecting on the show's staying power, he commented: 'There was the family relationship. You knew about Speed's family, you knew them well. They were all involved in each race. And we all play with cars as little kids, we love cars. The Mach 5 was a hot car, and there were all sorts of cars throughout all episodes. I still think the Mach 5 is ahead of its time.'[citation needed] In an effort to squeeze the complicated plots into existing lip movements, the frantic pace of the dubbing made Speed Racer famous (and famously parodied) for its quirky 'fast' dialogue.[citation needed]
The series reached areas beyond the United States: at about the same time the American series was aired, a Latin American adaptation of the series, re-titled Meteoro, aired on Argentinian TV screens as well as in Mexico on Televisa's XHGC 5.[citation needed]
In the early 1990s the series made a comeback as reruns on MTV broadcast in the early morning hours. In 1993, the series was rebroadcast in syndication concurrently with a new American-created remake courtesy of the newly established Speed Racer Enterprises, with distribution by Group W's international unit.[citation needed] But in this version, all references to Trans-Lux were removed, with the opening sequence including a re-created logo, and the episode titles and closing credits were also re-created.[citation needed] The re-created closing credits include three typographical errors: Jack Grimes is misspelled Jack 'Crimes,' Hiroshi Sasagawa is misspelled Hiroshi 'Sasacawa,' and 'Yomiko' is misspelled 'Yumiko.'[citation needed] This version later aired on Cartoon Network in the late afternoon (and later on in late night/overnight), and is also the version of the series released on Region 1 DVD by Family Home Entertainment/Lions Gate Home Entertainment. FOX Cable Networks/Fox Entertainment Group’s motorsports-centric network, SPEED Channel, also aired this series during mornings, primetime and late-night prime time slots in 2003. Likewise, it could also be seen on the streaming video service Hulu, where the entire series had become available.[citation needed]
In addition, a Speed Racer daily comic strip written and drawn by Mort Todd ran in the New York Post from 2000-2001.[7] IGN ranked the original Speed Racer series at #29 on its 'Best 100 Animated Series' list.
At Otakon 2015, Funimation announced that it had acquired the license to Speed Racer from Tatsunoko and would release it on Blu-ray for the first time.[8] Funimation would give Speed Racer two separate home video releases: a standard release for the English version on May 30, 2017, and a collector's edition for the Japanese version with English subtitles on November 7, 2017, the first such North American release.
Development[edit]
Names[edit]
The large red M on the hood of the Mach 5, as well as on Gō's helmet, is the emblem of Mifune Motors, the family business, and an homage to Japanese film star Toshiro Mifune. In North America it was assumed to stand for Mach 5, and in the Latin American version, for Meteoro. His given name, Gō, is a Japanesehomophone for the number 5 (the number on his race car) which is also represented by the yellow letter G embroidered on his short-sleeve blue shirt. The tradition of symbolism on characters' shirts would also be used on Michi (Trixie) and Sabu (Sparky), who had the letter 'M' and 'S' on their shirts, respectively.
Audience[edit]
The overall purpose of the anime was to please a growing fan base worldwide with exciting stories that involved facing adversity on the race track and beyond.[9] There is some argument over how much was edited from the original series. Some[who?] say the original Mach GoGoGo episodes underwent minor editing to reach the form which aired in the US; others say it underwent major editing. Nevertheless, it was considered appropriate entertainment for the whole family.
Characters[edit]
From left to right: Chim-Chim, Pops, Mom, Spritle, Speed, and Trixie in the Mach 5
Racer family[edit]
- Speed Racer / Gō Mifune (三船 剛Mifune Gō)
- Voiced by: Katsuji Mori (Japanese); Peter Fernandez (English)
- The protagonist of both the anime and the manga is Speed Racer, originally Gō Mifune.[10] He is known for his love of racing and valuing his family. He drives the Mach 5 (as well as other cars, such as the Mach 6 in the movie) and always manages to wind up in extreme danger with either his younger brother or his girlfriend Trixie. Speed is shown to miss his older brother, Rex (secretly disguised as Racer X), in both versions. He is portrayed by Emile Hirsch in the 2008 film while his younger self is portrayed by Nicholas Elia.
- Off the track, he wears a blue shirt with an orange 'G' (standing for his Japanese first name, Gō) with a white collar, a red racing bandanna around his neck, white pants, red socks, brown loafers and yellow gloves. He is 18 years old, has a brown, almost black, pompadour, and his eyes are brown (in the anime version they are blue). In racing, he sports a white open-face helmet with an M (representing Mifune Motors) on top. In the anime, on special occasions, Speed wears a red blazer with a yellow 'G' embroidered on it. In the live action film, he wears a white leather racing jacket unzipped over his classic outfit. He wears his classic outfit (without the embroidered 'G') in the first half of the Casa Cristo 5000. To strengthen character back-story continuity between Speed and his older brother Rex, Speed's red socks were considered 'lucky socks.'[citation needed]
- Spritle Racer / Kurio Mifune (三船 くりおMifune Kurio) and Chim-Chim (三平Sanpei)
- Voiced by: Junko Hori, Hiroshi Ohtake (Japanese); Corinne Orr, Jack Grimes (English)
- Speed Racer has a younger brother named Spritle (Kurio Mifune in the Japanese original and Chispita in the Latin American version). Spritle has a pet chimpanzee, who responded to the name of Chim-Chim in the American version (Sanpei in the Japanese original and Chito in the Latin American version). Their rebellious attitudes often lead them to trouble. Often in Speed's way, their mischief somehow aids Speed away from danger. Spritle and Chim-Chim dress in identical jumpsuits and striped hats and often perform identical physical actions. They both have an extreme appetite for candy and they are usually bribed with dessert or other presents. Spritle and Chim-Chim often use a slingshot to combat any threats that come to both themselves and/or Speed.[citation needed]
- According to the Peter Fernandez's introduction in the American release of the Mach GoGoGo manga, Spritle got his name for being an energetic 'sprite.' Chim-Chim got his name because he was considered a chimpanzee. In the live action film, they are portrayed faithfully like they were in both the anime and the manga. Spritle was portrayed by Paulie Litt in the film.
- Pops Racer / Daisuke Mifune (三船 大介Mifune Daisuke)
- Voiced by: Teiji Ōmiya (Japanese); Jack Curtis (English)
- Speed's father, Pops, (Daisuke Mifune) is a former wrestler-turned race car owner and builder. After quitting his job in a corporate car manufacturing company, he founded his own company, Mifune Motors (In America, the company was changed to Racer Motors). He is portrayed as a hothead who is overprotective of his family. His eldest son, Rex (who would return as Racer X), ran away. In addition to Spritle and Chim-Chim, Pops' attitude brings comic relief in the anime series as well as the live action film. Overweight, he wears an athletic red shirt and a beige mechanic's cap. Despite his build, Pops is nearly unmatched in combat as he was once a champion heavyweight wrestler. His design skills allow him to create powerful engines, especially his (in the film) prized 'Mach' Series, giving them the ability to travel at high speeds while sustaining maximum performance. He is portrayed by actor John Goodman in the 2008 film.
- Mom Racer / Aya Mifune (三船 アヤMifune Aya)
- Voiced by: Ryōko Kinomiya (Japanese); Corinne Orr (English)
- Speed's mother, Mom Racer (originally Aya Mifune), is a side character in the series. She rarely appears in the anime or manga, having limited dialogue, and many episodes of the anime did not feature her at all. In the live action film, however, she is portrayed as an encouraging parental figure, portrayed by Susan Sarandon.
Racer X.
- Racer X (The Masked Racer) (覆面 レーサーFukumen Rēsā)
- Voiced by: Kinya Aikawa (Japanese); Peter Fernandez (English)
- A frequent recurring character, driving car number 9, the 'Shooting Star,' is the enigmatic Racer X (Fukumen Racer in the Japanese version and Corredor X in the Latin American version). Racer X is a mysterious, selfless, sympathetic, and often brooding soldier of fortune whose secret identity is that of Rex Racer (Ken'ichi Mifune in Japan), Speed's older brother. Six years prior, Rex had a falling out with Pops after Rex wrecked a race car that Pops had built. Pops had told Rex prior to the race that he was not prepared to compete at the professional racing level. With less than one lap to go, Rex was leading and cruising toward victory, but lost control of the car and wrecked it. Pops exploded with anger and berated Rex, and in response Rex exiled himself, vowing to become the world's greatest race car driver. In both Speed Racer X and in the 2008 movie, Rex is thought to have died in that accident. In the film, he is portrayed by Matthew Fox while his younger self is portrayed by Scott Porter.
- Pops and Speed always acknowledged that Racer X was the superior driver, and the greatest driver that they had ever seen, but Speed vowed to defeat Racer X. In the anime, Speed was often suspicious of Racer X's identity and motives because Racer X would sacrifice winning races to protect Speed from drivers who tried to harm him. The assistance from Racer X nearly always led to Speed winning races, while Racer X came in second place. Racer X always left the scene unnoticed, receding into his secret life.
Supporting characters[edit]
- Trixie / Michi Shimura (志村 美智Shimura Michi)
- Voiced by: Yoshiko Matsuo (eps. 1-4), Michiko Nomura (eps. 5-52) (Japanese); Corinne Orr (English)
- Trixie, or Michi Shimura (named after actor Takashi Shimura, who collaborated with Toshiro Mifune on several films), is Speed's girlfriend. The 'M' adorning her blouse stands for Michi. Trixie often flies around in a helicopter during a race, acting as Speed's spotter, a function she also serves in the live-action film during the Casa Cristo 5000. In the manga it is mentioned that her father is the president of Shimura Aviation, which explains why she owns her own helicopter. To add comic relief in the anime, Trixie becomes jealous if Speed pays too much attention to another girl or if she feels she is being ignored. In the 2008 live action film, she is portrayed by actress Christina Ricci while her younger self was played by Ariel Winter. She had an auburn bob cut with bangs; in the anime, her hair was dark brunette.
- Unlike most female characters in cartoons at that time,[original research?] Trixie is not portrayed as a helpless perpetual victim. Trixie often proves herself the equal of Speed when forced into physical altercations. While Trixie has been captured on occasion by the villains, she refuses to cower or plead for her release, more often giving the bad guy a serious tongue-lashing until she is either rescued or escapes on her own. On some occasions, Trixie has even been the one to rescue Speed or other male characters from their predicaments. In the spin-off Speed Racer: The Next Generation, she is assumed to be the mother of X and Speed Jr.
- Casually Trixie wears a pink blouse with the aforementioned 'M' on her left side. She also wears red pants. In racing events, she wears a white long-sleeve shirt underneath pink overalls, which also have the embroidered 'M.' During races she also wears a pink cap with racing goggles. On special occasions, Trixie wears a blue hat and dress.
- Sparky (サブSabu)
- Voiced by: Kei Tomiyama (Japanese); Jack Grimes (English)
- Other regular characters included Sparky, whose full name in the movie and in Speed Racer: The Next Generation is Wilson Sparkolemew (in the manga and anime, he is only called Sparky). In the Japanese original he was Sabu, and Bujía in the Latin American version. He is the company mechanic, a quirky young man who is a best friend of Speed and knows everything about cars. In the live action movie, he is portrayed as older than Speed but is still his close friend. He wears a yellow shirt which bears the letter S. He is portrayed by actor Kick Gurry in the live action film. He makes a cameo in Speed Racer: The Next Generation.
- The Car Acrobatic Team
- The Car Acrobatic Team (or Car Acrobats) is one of the original set of characters appearing in both the manga and anime. The 16 racers' uniforms are embroidered with a letter from the English alphabet. All of the cars in the team (automobiles numbered 11 through 26), except for number 11, look and act the same. The cars sprout wings from both sides, making them capable of jumping large gaps and gorges. The most notable of the team are Captain Terror and Snake Oiler (the latter being a character exclusive to the anime).
- Captain Terror, the leader of the Car Acrobatic Team, is shown as an arrogant driver in the manga, sabotaging races for his own benefit. His arrogance gets the best of him, and he gets severely injured in an explosion after not heeding Speed's warning about his car leaking oil. He has a 'Z' embroidered on his racing uniform, and has a face of skeletal features and a lone feather atop his helmet. He drives the number 11 car, the only car different in appearance to the rest of the Car Acrobatic team.
- In the anime, Captain Terror's character exists, but as a separate entity. A new character named Snake Oiler replaces Captain Terror in terms of hotheaded attitude. Embroidered with an 'S' on his uniform and tinted visor on his striped helmet, Snake Oiler drives the number 12 car, similar in appearance to the other cars in the Car Acrobatic Team. The role Captain Terror had in the manga was lifted onto the Snake Oiler character, therefore Captain Terror's role in the Alpine Race was replaced with Snake. Although Snake did not exist in the original manga, he was more notable in the West due to his appearance in the anime. Snake Oiler's name and acrobatic skills are an homage to Haro Bora.[11]
- In the next-to-last episode of the original series, the Car Acrobatic Team and Speed are tricked into racing against each other in a grudge race by a terrorist organization hoping to use the race as a means to kill Speed and Racer X. After the two sides learn of the deception (which involved planting time bombs in the Car Acrobatic Team's cars), they agree to a truce in order to foil the plan. The Car Acrobatic Team park their cars around the terrorists' secret headquarters and the explosion destroys the building and kills the leaders. After that, Speed and Captain Terror part amicably, with Terror wishing Speed the best of luck next time they meet. Snake Oiler does not appear in the episode.
- In the live action movie, Snake has completely changed in appearance. Since they never existed in the film, he is no longer part of the Car Acrobatic Team. However, in homage to the Car Acrobatic Team, Snake is leader of his own racing team, named 'Hydra-Cell.' He wears large sunglasses and sports a black pompadour. His racing uniform is made entirely of snake skin (complete with a yellow snake on his helmet) and his car is completely orange. Despite the change in appearance, Snake's car number and attitude are still intact in the film. He is portrayed by Christian Oliver.
- In Speed Racer: The Next Generation, Zile Zazic was seen wearing a racing outfit similar to Captain Terror's during the 'Comet Run' episodes, implying that Zile was Captain Terror. Stan, Zile's main henchman, also noted that Speed Racer had raced against Zile's racing team at one point.
Westernized appearance of characters[edit]
A noticeable feature of Speed Racer is the characters' westernized physical appearance, clothing, and, to some extent, mentality. This is partly due to Tatsuo Yoshida's affinity for the United States through portrayals of American life in numerous films, but it can also be seen as an example of mukokuseki ('statelessness'), though the term usually pertains to more abstract anime, and it can take unconventional forms.[12] This can be seen more readily in later anime of the fantasy and mecha genres, where characters might have hair with an unusual color (pink, blue, etc.), enlarged eyes, and dysmorphic humanoid bodies (such as Tetsuo and the Espers in Akira). Reasons for mukokuseki can be to diversify the character roster and to distinguish between individuals, but it can have cultural implications as well.[12] Traits such as disproportionately large eyes are also used to promote kawaii ('cuteness'), as seen in many shōjo anime.
Despite its Westernization, the series falls into the familiar manga-anime storyline, which is a form of Japanese expression.[13]Speed Racer embodies the typical manga characterization of a teenage boy with superior skills facing unreal adversity and a multitude of villains. Though always doing his best, he receives a helping hand from his superior brother (Racer X) whenever he falls short of his goals. This kind of continuing support can easily be identified in the episode “Challenge of the Masked Racer.” Another persistent manga component are the overreactions of many characters. The long, drawn out dialogues with no pauses are very distinct in Speed Racer, from Pops speaking his mind to Ace Deucey's thugs in 'The Great Plan' to Racer X's monologue of his thoughts to Speed after crashing in 'Challenge of the Masked Racer.'
Vehicles[edit]
A side view of the Mach 5
Many of the show's cars have special abilities in the series. *Note: The names of the cars that have appeared in both the manga and the original anime have been fitted with Bold Italics.
The Mach 5[edit]
The Mach 5, Speed Racer's car ('Mahha Gō,' or 'Mahha,' in the Japanese version), is a technological marvel, containing useful pieces of equipment. Gō Mifune/Speed Racer easily deployed these gadgets by pressing buttons marked 'A' through 'G' on the steering wheel hub (although there are buttons on the steering wheel in the manga, the letter designations are exclusive to the anime and the 2008 live action film). This uniquely designed car, built with a sleek Coke bottle bodystyle, has a white exterior with a large 'M' on its hood, the logo for the family business, Mifune Motors (changed to Pops Motors in the anime and Racer Motors in the live action film). The two-seat car had a mostly red-colored interior. The number 5 is emblazoned on both side doors of the car. In the manga and anime this is the car's racing number; in the film, it is because it is the fifth car built in Pops' 'Mach' series of racing vehicles. Although technically inferior to other racing vehicles such as the Mammoth Car and the GRX, the Mach 5 manages to win most races because of Speed's superior driving skills.
The Mach 5 has been stolen from Speed a few times, once when Cornpone Blotch took the car to add it to his car collection in the 'Girl Daredevil' saga. However, Speed always gets it back at the end of the episode. At one point, the car was replicated, functions and all, by Dr. Nightcall. However, this replica included other new abilities that would inspire later functions of the car in remakes of the show, one of which were the Aero-Jacks, used as a replacement for the Auto Jacks in Speed Racer X. In manga continuity, the Mach 5 was destroyed and rebuilt. See Manga and Anime Differences for more information on the Mach 5's manga continuity.
In both American comic and movie continuity, Pops is portrayed as having built a 'Mach' Series consisting of other variants such as the Mach 4 and Mach 6 in addition to Rex Racer's Mach 1 and the Mach 5.
The Shooting Star[edit]
The Mysterious Racer X and his vehicle, the Shooting Star.
The Shooting Star is Racer X's car, colored bright yellow with a black front bumper and numbered 9 on the hood and sides. The car's engine is located in the back, and it is a very agile machine, often displaying abilities akin to and even above those of the Mach Five. Many of its high-tech features allowed Racer X to keep an eye on Speed Racer, who is his younger brother.
In later comics written by Tommy Yune, Rex acquires the car that he names the 'Shooting Star' from Prince Kabala of Kapetapek. During his time training with the royal leader, Rex is informed that he is the ninth student of Kabala, hence the number 9. Rex also builds other cars numbered 9 with similar paint schemes and names them with variants like the 'Falling Star.'
In the 2008 film adaptation, the car makes an appearance but is not named. The car was the only car built in addition to the Mach Five for the movie, and features weapons like machine guns mounted above the cockpit and under the chassis. In addition to this car, Racer X also drives a car built for the competitions in the film, a T180. This car was entitled the 'Augury' in the film's video game counterpart. Like Racer X's unnamed street car, it features a number 9 and has the black and yellow color scheme, with a large black 'X' on the front bumper. The T180 only makes one appearance in the film, when Racer X competes to protect Speed in the Fuji race after he has rejected Royalton's offer.
The Mammoth Car[edit]
Appearing only in the anime, it is supposedly the largest racing vehicle in the world. Similar in design to an extremely long trailer truck, the Mammoth Car is mostly red and is built by Speed Racer villain Cruncher Block. The Mammoth Car was built almost entirely of $50,000,000 in stolen gold bars. This amount of gold, however, would actually occupy only 74 cubic feet, based on the then price of gold of $35 per ounce. By entering it in 'The No Limit World Race', Cruncher wished to smuggle the gold out of the country. The Mammoth Car's main engine has 7,500 horsepower (5,600 kW). Each wheel also has an engine with 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kW), giving it a total of 30,000 horsepower (22,000 kW). It can travel at 500 mph (800 km/h), on any kind of road or terrain. It makes screeching sounds reminiscent of Godzilla. It has magnetic brakes, and is over 200 yards (180 m) long, making the Mammoth Car one of the most interesting cars in the series. It was destroyed after it crashed into an oil refinery and melted into its original gold by the intense heat.
The Mammoth Car makes a small cameo in the 2008 film in the scene where Cruncher Block interrogates Taejo Togokhan (a character created just for the movie) after he resists Royalton Industries in the race fixing business. They were interrupted by Racer X, who battles the Mammoth and saves Taejo. The Mammoth Car in this movie is shown to have view ports for its drivers to shoot out of, just like in the original series, and is shown to fire missiles from its grill.
The Mammoth Car also makes an appearance along with Flash Marker Jr.'s X3 in Speed Racer: The Next Generation in the second and third episodes of 'The Fast Track' saga, as an enemy program of the show's virtual racing track. Although the Mammoth Car is rendered in CGI after its original anime design, the car is missing its grill and many other details that had appeared in the original anime. The Mammoth Car in this episode makes the same sound as it did in the anime. It pays homage to the original series by using its signature attack of surrounding and circling a rival.
The Melange and The X3[edit]
The Melange was a topless racing car numbered with a '3,' driven by Flash Marker. When investigating the mysterious car, Speed recalls the name Melange was the name of Napoleon's horse, who saved his life several times in battles. (The name was actually Marengo, but became Melange due to an erroneous transliteration from Japanese to English.) When Speed recalls his knowledge of French history, a rendition of Jacques-Louis David's painting of Napoleon Crossing the Alps, which depicts Napoleon riding Marengo, is drawn in the episode. Pops Racer, however, identified the name 'Melange' as a car driven fifteen years earlier by a young driver named Flash Marker. The Melange's chassis was colored with two shades of purple and had an exposed engine on its hood. During the 'Race at Danger Pass', the Melange, along with Marker, was finally destroyed in a crash caused by the Three Roses Club.
Since then, Flash's son, Flash Marker Jr, had plotted revenge on the Three Roses Club by building a car with a sleek, black body marked 'X3.' The car was driven through remote control and a robot dummy was placed in the driver's seat, broadcasting the phrases 'Melange still races' and 'Melange is alive' to haunt those of the Three Roses Club. The X3 was used primarily to deliberately crash into and kill those affiliated with the Three Roses Club, leaving behind a card marked X3 to haunt the remaining members. Speed, who had volunteered to help the police, was chasing down the X3 when it narrowly avoided colliding with a train, leaving the robot dummy hanging over the level crossing'sboom gate.
Speed noticed its robot “driver” and brought it back to the police for further investigation. Meanwhile, Flash Marker Jr. secretly brought back the damaged car and replaced its body with a replica of the original Melange, placing it over the X3 chassis in his secret underground car factory, to prepare for the next Race at Danger Pass. Since it is the same car with the chassis of the Melange, the car can still be controlled remotely. The new Melange is still numbered “3,” but it has the ability to be changed through remote control to “X3,” making the drivers of the Three Roses Club realize that the 'new Melange' is actually the X3. The car, controlled by Flash Jr. in his helicopter, was used to fatally crash into two Three Roses drivers before it was destroyed when it lost control and crashed into the final member of the Three Roses Club.
The GRX[edit]
The GRX was technically an engine, but it has become more identified with the gold-colored car that housed the engine in the series episode 'The Fastest Car on Earth.' The engine was designed by Ben Cranem, and was responsible for crashes and deaths of four test drivers and its inventor due to the impossible speeds it could attain. Cranem died and the GRX engine was buried with him, but Oriana Flub and her men exhumed the engine and placed it into the car with a sleek, golden, and markless body.
Oriana convinced Speed to test drive the car with the GRX and Speed was sprayed with a special serum known as the V-gas to artificially sharpen his reflexes. The V-gas causes its driver to become extremely thirsty and if the driver consumed any compound containing water, they would develop a strong phobia of speed. The car got a new driver, Cranem's son, Curly. Curly was given the V-gas and soon experienced its side effects. The GRX and its engine were destroyed when he fatally crashed the car due to Curly drinking water during a pit stop.
The GRX episodes mark one of the few continuity errors introduced by the English dubbing. In the first episode the GRX's speedometer with a maximum speed of 400 kilometres per hour (250 mph) on it is shown in the beginning of the episode, however, due to a continuity error in the Japanese animation, as Speed drives it, the speedometer tops out at 440 kilometres per hour (270 mph) This would make the GRX slower than the Mammoth Car by the English dialog.
In the 2008 film adaptation, the name makes an appearance as a car developed by Royalton Industries and driven by Jack 'Cannonball' Taylor. The car retains none of the back story from its anime counterpart. It is numbered 66 and colored purple and gold and was transformed from a two-seater to a single-seater. In the Grand Prix race that closes the film, the GRX is the main competitor for Speed in the Mach 6 and features a secret weapon called a 'spear-hook' that is illegal in professional racing. After Taylor deploys the device against Speed during the Grand Prix, Speed uses the Mach 6's auto-jacks to flip the cars and reveal the hook to the track cameras, automatically disqualifying Taylor and aiding the case built by Inspector Detector against Royalton.
Manga and anime differences[edit]
Like most manga series adapted to anime, changes occur in both timelines of the Speed Racer series. Besides the obvious Americanization of the original Japanese characters' names, other changes include character's backstory and new characters. (See Manga section for more information)
Continuity changes[edit]
- Most of the manga stories were slightly changed in the anime version. There are also stories never adapted into the anime series, thus making them manga exclusives.
- In the manga, Speed (Go Mifune) always wears his standard outfit, even on special occasions. In the case of the anime, however, Speed wears a special outfit, exclusive to formal occasions. The same is true of Trixie.
- The meeting between Spritle (Kurio) and Racer X occurs twice (once in each volume) in the manga along with other scenes preceding and following it. However, several dialogue changes are present and the outcome of each meeting is extremely different.
- The manga has a dramatically different ending than the anime. In the manga, Rex Racer (Kenichi Mifune) reunites with Speed, revealing to him that he was the mysterious Masked Racer, Racer X. In 'The Trick Race,' Speed confronts him, asking if he is his older brother, prompting Rex (as Racer X) to punch him in the stomach, knocking him unconscious, then declaring that he can never go home again. In both instances, Speed finally knows that his brother is the Masked Racer.
Character backstories[edit]
- It is mentioned in passing that Trixie's (Michi) father is the president of Shimura Aviation (Shimura is Michi/Trixie's family name in the Japanese releases). This is not mentioned in the anime.
- Some characters, such as Snake Oiler, are exclusive to the anime, which also contains some original stories not found in the manga.
- Prince Kabala was considered a separate character in the manga and is in no way shown affiliated with Racer X (in the anime, Prince Kabala dies and his guise was used by Racer X to help maintain his homeland of Kapetapek). Racer X, on the other hand, disguises himself as another person in the manga.
Vehicle backstories[edit]
- Although many of the Mach 5's special features are seen in the manga, including buttons on the steering wheel, they are not marked with letters, except for the large, central button, which is marked with an M (instead of G).
- In the manga, the Mach 5 is destroyed once. When it is rebuilt, the Mach 5 is fitted with gadgets that are technologically upgraded from the gadgets that were on the old Mach 5. The auto-jacks are superseded by the aero-jacks, which did not make an appearance in the original anime series. (This idea would be used in the 1990s Japanese remake, replacing the auto-jacks.) This new Mach 5 is also fitted with regenerating tires, called the auto-spare, which did not appear in the original anime. However, the concept of regenerating tires is used in the 2008 live-action film. The new Mach 5 is also fitted with small aerodynamic wings, to assist Speed in longer and farther jumps. This idea would later be adapted to the original anime version, although the reason behind the upgrade is different from that of the original manga.
- At the end of the manga, Rex Racer is portrayed driving the Mach 5 — a scene that may have inspired the backstory of the car in the live-action film, in which it originally belonged to Rex who relinquished ownership to his younger brother, Speed.
- A car, the E-RX, appears in a chapter of the manga but does not appear in the anime. It functions similarly to the anime's GRX, being portrayed as the fastest car in the world. Although it does not appear in the anime, the E-RX appears in many of the American comics.
Speed Racer Enterprises[edit]
The show's mainstream success in the United States spawned an ongoing Speed Racer franchise, ranging from comics, video releases, merchandise, a live-action film, and newer series either rebooting or continuing the original series. The franchise began in the early 1990s when a company, Speed Racer Enterprises, acquired rights to the original series.[citation needed] At the time when the series was originally released, very little merchandise was released in the United States. However, during the series' re-airing during the 1990s, Speed Racer Enterprises was responsible for the creation of actual Speed Racer merchandise, ranging from small collectible die-cast cars, to action figures, to home video releases of episodes from the original series. Speed Racer Enterprises was also involved in creating original American takes on the Japanese series such as The New Adventures of Speed Racer and Speed Racer: The Next Generation.[citation needed]
Due to Speed Racer Enterprises, the original 1967 series made a comeback through reruns on MTV, broadcast in the early morning hours.[citation needed] In 1993, the series was rebroadcast in syndication concurrently with a new American-created remake.[citation needed] Since all the rights were now under Speed Racer Enterprises, all references to the original rights holder, Trans-Lux, were removed.[citation needed] Therefore, the opening sequence included an entirely recreated logo, which most people are familiar with today; however when Speed Racer Enterprises authorized Volkswagen to use Speed Racer in a July 1996 GTI commercial, J.J. Sedelmaier faithfully replicated the look of the original episode title cards, including the original logo.[14][15]
This is the version that later aired on the Cartoon Network in the late afternoon (and later on in late night/overnight) programming, and is also the version released on Region 1 DVD. This version can also be seen on the streaming video service Hulu.[citation needed]
In December 2013, Tatsunoko gained all rights to the Speed Racer franchise, retroactively as to May 2011, as part of a settlement of lawsuits between Speed Racer Enterprises and the animation studio. Tatsunoko had claimed that SRE had exceeded its contractual rights in continuing to license the property after 2011.[16]
American comic adaptations[edit]
NOW Comics launched an American Speed Racer comic series in 1985.[citation needed] The series became a hit with the high production values of airbrush artist Ken Steacy. The comics continued for nearly 40 issues and included a spin-offRacer X series and crossovers.[citation needed] A miniseries adapting The New Adventures of Speed Racer was also released, which included art by Oscar González Loyo.[citation needed] NOW Comics also published a four-issue crossover between Speed Racer and the characters of Ben Dunn's Ninja High School in the 1990s.[citation needed]
In 1999, Wildstorm Productions released a new Speed Racer comic series, which became the #1 pick of industry publication Wizard magazine.[citation needed] The manga style of writer/artist Tommy Yune recaptured the look of the original anime which was soon followed by an industry-wide revival of comic adaptations of other classic animated series.[citation needed] The prequel comic storylines were also released as the graphic novelSpeed Racer: Born to Race[citation needed] and a Racer X miniseries featuring the artwork of Chinese manga artist Jo Chen.[17]
IDW Productions re-released the Wildstorm series as Speed Racer/Racer X: The Origins Collection[citation needed] and previously published issues from NOW Comics as Speed Racer Vol. 1-5. A new miniseries Speed Racer: Chronicles of the Racer was also produced.[18][19]
Seven Seas published an adaptation by Dwayne Alexander Smith in 2007 with art by Elmer Damaso.[20]
Latin American comic adaptation[edit]
Editorial Abril, an Argentine company of César Civita, published a Spanish-language comic book in 1970s,[21] soon after, his brother Victor Civita publish a magazine in Brazil by Editora Abril, In 2000, Editora Abril published a series of Tommy Yune.[22]
American TV series[edit]
In 1993 an American produced series called The New Adventures of Speed Racer had a much more contemporary art style.[citation needed] It was not a direct continuation of the original series; therefore, it is considered a reboot.[23] While the original series had more realistic themes such as gang violence and family ties, this series introduced science fiction themes such as robots and mutants. The series was off the air after only 13 episodes. Tatsunoko did not authorize the production of this series.[citation needed]
For the original series' 40th anniversary in 2006, a flash-based series of 'webisodes' entitled Speed Racer Lives was released.[24] This series was depicted as a continuation of the original series, taking place many years after it.[23] The series was made available on the Internet solely to promote a new line of toys made by company Art Asylum.[24]
In 2008, a new series was released entitled Speed Racer: The Next Generation, which airs on Nicktoons. Like Speed Racer Lives, this series was conceived as taking place years after the original. It focuses on the sons of the original Speed Racer. Its premiere coincided with the live-action feature film in May 2008. Peter Fernandez voices a middle-aged version of Spritle, Speed's younger brother from the original Japanese series. The show's protagonist, also named Speed, and one of Spritle's nephews, is voiced by New Jersey native Kurt Csolak. Larry Schwarz is the creator of the TV series, which is produced by Animation Collective, the creators of Kappa Mikey and Three Delivery. Like the 1993 remake, this series was not authorized by Tatsunoko.[citation needed] Pangea Corporation has been working with Speed Racer Enterprises for over 20 years and has created several new show iterations.[citation needed]
The original series was also revived on MTV for a short period of time in 1993, then moved to Cartoon Network in 1996, and again to its sister network Boomerang until 2005.[citation needed]
Film[edit]
The Wachowskis wrote and directed a live-action adaptation of Speed Racer, released on May 9, 2008.[25] It was not well received by most critics and was a box office failure, making just under $93 million worldwide against a production budget of at least $120 million (before prints and advertising).[26]
Speed Racer: The Movie (1993 film)[edit]
In 1993, the episodes 'The Car Hater' and 'Race Against the Mammoth Car' were combined into a feature-length film and briefly released in theaters. It was later released on VHS and DVD, and has been available on Hulu. The film also featured old commercials for Bondex ready-mix cementing, National Forest Service (featuring Smokey Bear), Flit insecticide spray, and Pure-Pak milk cartons (featuring Old King Cole), and a bonus cartoon, The Treacherous Pirate, starring Colonel Bleep.[citation needed]
One-act play[edit]
In 1994,[27] Pangea Corporation wrote and produced a one-act play entitled, Spritle: A One Man Show, which debuted at the San Diego Comic Con and was a huge success.[28] It chronicled what happened to all the Speed Racer characters after the show was canceled, following the conceit that the characters were real and had private lives. Spritle, Speed's younger brother, relates the tell-all confessional piece as a disgruntled grown-up who is now sour that his career floundered after his celebrity status on the show. It was cited by Wizard magazine as one of the top 10 best sessions at Comic Con 1994. The show was written by John Schulte and John Besmehn, produced, directed and moderated by Cheryl Ann Wong.[citation needed]
Other appearances[edit]
Sequences from the original TV show were used for the entirety of Ghostface Killah's music video for 'Daytona 500.'
Merchandise[edit]
Toys[edit]
The first major toy line of Speed Racer was developed in 1992 by Pangea Corporation for Ace Novelty Toy Company. Products focused on both the classic Speed Racer anime program from Tatsunoko, plus a whole new line based on the Fred Wolf series, The New Adventures of Speed Racer.[citation needed]Lego released new Speed Racer construction sets to coincide with the release of the Speed Racer film. These include a 242 piece Speed and Snake Oiler set, a 237 piece Racer X and Taejo Togokhan set, a 367 piece Racer X and Cruncher Block set, and a 595 piece Grand Prix set, which includes Trixie, Pops, Speed, Spritle, Chim-Chim, 2 racers, and a racing announcer.[citation needed]Mattel had the master toy license for the 2008 Speed Racer film, including action figures, related vehicles, and accessories. Mattel's Hot Wheels division produced miniature replicas of the Mach 5 called the Second Wind, and their Barbie Collector division released a collector doll set featuring Trixie and Speed as they appeared in the film. Also, a Mattel product called UB FunKeys got a new patch, which included a Speed Racer zone.[citation needed]
Jada Toys held the rights to produce die-cast replicas of the Mach 5 from the original animated series.[citation needed]
Playing Mantis released a wide range of the Speed Racer die-cast miniatures, including replicas of the villains' cars and mini-dioramas under their 'Johnny Lightning' line.[citation needed] A limited-edition release of the Mach Four from the Wildstorm comic series remains one of the hardest-to-find collectibles to this day.[citation needed] In 1998 Playing Mantis acquired the rights to the 'Captain Action' action figure line, a vintage line about a crusading adventurer who disguises himself as famous super-heroes. Playing Mantis had planned to produce new costumes of Speed Racer, Racer X, and Captain Terror for the revamp of the line, but they were never produced. Control art for the Speed Racer costume appears on the packaging of some figures, and pictures of the prototypes are available online.[citation needed]
Resaurus produced two series of five-inch (127 mm) action figures, rich with articulation and accessories; as well as a full-sized Mach V in 1999. A third series of figures and a full-sized Shooting Star were planned, but the line folded before this could happen.[citation needed]Toynami is currently releasing a large-scale version of the Speed Racer vehicles, including a Mach Five playset complete with all of its gadgets.[citation needed] The company Polar Lights is currently manufacturing two 1/25-scale (according to the box) model kits in standard 'glue' and snap-together variations (though the scale of the model inside is closer to 1/32). These can be built with or without the waterproof bubble canopy at the modeler's discretion. The kits feature a homing robot and separate jacks; and a rear engine (possibly a tip to NOW comics, which illustrated the engine in the rear).[citation needed]
RC ERTL has produced Speed Racer's Mach 5 in 1:18 Die Cast Form with many features of the animated car, including pop out saw blades, ion jacks, opening doors, hood and trunk. It includes Spritle Racer and Chim-Chim figures. Special variants were made with decals celebrating Racer X and other characters from the series as part of the 35th Anniversary Edition in 2001. A similar die-cast version of Racer X's Shooting Star was produced as well. It has now been retired from production and is a sought-after collectible.[citation needed]
Art Asylum made a line of toys consisting primarily of their block-figure Minimates in 2006.[citation needed]
Video games[edit]
In 1992, Accolade made Speed Racer in The Challenge of Racer X for DOS. Two years later, that company made Speed Racer in My Most Dangerous Adventures for SNES, Which developed by Radical Entertainment.[citation needed]
In 1993, Pangea Corporation created and authored a CD-Rom title that featured game elements, a video clip creator that allowed players to make a classic Speed Racer mash-up moment, along with other themed interactive content. It was marketed under the name 'The Compleat Speed Racer.'[citation needed]
Namco created a Speed Racerarcade game in 1995.[citation needed]
Speed Racer game was released for the PlayStation. It was published in Japan by Tomy (1996) and in North America by Jaleco (1998).[citation needed]
A video game based on the 1997 series, simply titled Mach Go Go Go, was released by TOSE and Tomy for the Game Boy (with Super Game Boy support) in Japan.
![Racer Racer](/uploads/1/2/5/0/125051123/129091654.jpg)
In 2006, a joint production of ironmonkey.com and blitinteractive.com, entitled Speed Racer — The Great Plan, was released to the Internet as a Shockwave game. The game stays very true to the original television show, with all the original voices, sounds, and Mach 5 controls.[citation needed]
A game based on the movie was created for the Wii, Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 platforms. Stars Emile Hirsch (Speed), Christina Ricci (Trixie) and Matthew Fox (Racer X) reprise their roles.[citation needed]
DVD releases[edit]
Artisan Home Entertainment/Lionsgate Entertainment (through Family Home Entertainment) released the first 11 episodes of the original series in DVD format in the US and Canada on April 22, 2003. This turned out to be the first in a series of five DVD re-releases of the show. The second volume, containing episodes 12 through 23, went on sale on May 18, 2004. The DVD came in a special package where one could push a button on the cover and the Mach 5's headlights would light up, while a portion of the show's English theme song played.[citation needed] Volumes 1 and 2 were re-released as a two-disc set on April 20, 2010. The third volume came out on May 24, 2005, with the discs packaged in a round metal box made to resemble the steering wheel of the Mach 5. It contains episodes 24 through 36. This volume was later released to promote the live action film in a standard keep case.[citation needed] Lionsgate Family Entertainment released the fourth volume, which featured episodes 37 through 44, on March 14, 2006; this volume included a die-cast toy Mach 5. The last episode, 'Race the Laser Tank', was time-compressed (in other words, sped up), similar to when Cartoon Network would air the series in the mid-1990s. Although nothing was removed from the episode, the higher-pitched voices of the characters and the diminished quality of the episode due to the time-compression upset some fans.[29] The fifth and last volume was released on October 31, 2006. This volume included the final eight episodes of the series and for a limited time it came with a miniature license plate with the inscription, 'Go-Speed Racer-Go!'[30]
The entire anime series was released in Australia on April 30, 2008 and in the United States later that year, on October 7. The U.S. release of the entire anime series is a repackaging of all five individually released volumes into a comic book style box set, in homage to the Mach GoGoGo manga. In addition, a bonus disc containing special featurettes and an episode of Speed Racer: The Next Generation is included. These discs, six in total, were packaged in an exclusive die-cast casing modelled after the Mach 5.[citation needed]
All previous DVD releases went out of print after Tatsunoko gained worldwide rights to the franchise.
After FUNimation garnered the rights, they released the English version on separate Blu-Ray and DVD sets on May 30, 2017. On November 7, they released a Blu-Ray + DVD Combo Collector's Edition of both the English and Japanese versions, as well as the Japanese version of Speed Racer X known as Mach Go Go Go: Restart on DVD. It has a bust of Speed Racer with sound effects, as well as a key chain and an exclusive interview with the voice actress of Trixie and Spritle, Corinne Orr.[31]
Footnotes[edit]
- ^作品データベース. Tatsunoko Production (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2010-04-07. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
- ^'Racers, Start Your Engines!', Sci-Fi Japan 20 April 2008.
- ^'マッハガール'. Tatsunoko.co.jp. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^'Return Laps for the First Voice of Speed Racer'. New York Times. May 10, 2008. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
- ^CD liner notes: Saturday Mornings: Cartoons’ Greatest Hits, 1995 MCA Records
- ^''Americanizing' a cartoon classic'. Japan Times. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
- ^'Stripper's Guide: 7/17/11 - 7/24/11'. Strippersguide.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^'Funimation Licenses Speed Racer, Noein Anime'. Anime News Network. 2014-07-25.
- ^'A Brief Description of the Racer Family/Go Team.' The Speed Zone. 29 November 2002. 19 October 2007.Archived June 18, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^'マッハGoGoGo キャラクター'. Web.archive.org. 2008-09-26. Archived from the original on September 26, 2008. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^'SnakeOiler.com'. SnakeOiler.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^ abNapier, Susan J.Anime: From Akira to Howl's Moving Castle. Updated ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.[page needed]
- ^Donahue, Ray T. Exploring Japaneseness: On Japanese Enactments and Consciousness. Westport, CT: Ablex Publishing, 2002.
- ^'Speed Racer Lives Again: An Interview With J.J. Sedelmaier'. Awn.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^'Sound file'. Awn.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^'Speed Racer Rights Revert to Tatsunoko With Lawsuit Settled - News'. Anime News Network. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^[1]Archived September 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^Speed Racer #1[permanent dead link]. Newsarama - 27 December 2007.
- ^Speed Racer: Chronicles of The Racer #1Archived 2009-07-03 at the Wayback Machine. Major Spoilers, 26 March 2008.
- ^Manry, Gia (January 2008). 'Speed Racer Vol. 1'. Newtype USA. 7 (1). p. 112. ISSN1541-4817.
Cha, Kai-Ming (March 31, 2008). 'Speed Racer Returns'. Publishers Weekly. - ^Oscar Edgardo Vázquez Lucio, Historia del humor gráfico y escrito en la Argentina: 1940-1985 Page 446, Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires, 1987, ISBN9789502303468
- ^Livros trazem mangá que inspirou desenho de Speed Racer
- ^ abLong, James (May 13, 2008). 'The Aftermath of Speed'. SciFi Japan. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
- ^ ab'Art Asylum Seeks an Alternative to Costly TV Ads'. ICv2. GCO, LLC. February 20, 2006. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
- ^Speed Racer May 9, 2008 Anime News Network - 10 March 2007
- ^Listing for Speed Racer at Box Office Mojo
- ^http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-comic-con-san-diego-timeline-htmlstory.html
- ^http://www.cbr.com/the-guide-to-the-guide-to-comics-wizard-37-september-1994/
- ^'Homestead | Get a site, Get found. Get customers'. Gospeedracer.homestead.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^Speed Racer DVD news: The Checkered Flag Waves For Speed Racer: Lionsgate Announces Vol. 5, Provides Hi-Res Box ArtArchived 2007-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, TVShowsOnDVD.com
- ^'Announced at Otakon 2017! - Funimation - Blog!'. FUNimation. August 12, 2017. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
References[edit]
- Johnson, Glen. 'Speed Racer.' Glen Johnson's 60's Anime. 3 April 2007. 19 October 2007.
- Patrick Macias and Tomohiro Machiyami. Cruising the Anime City: An Outer Guide to Neo Tokyo. Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press, 2004.
External links[edit]
- Mach GoGoGo at Tokyo MX (Japanese)
- Mach Go Go Go on IMDb
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