Speed Racer

I grew up watching this show as a kid in the US in the mid 70’s.  Lately I decided to see all 5 seasons worth of episodes, once and for all – partly out of youthful nostalgia.  Although it’s Japanese animation, there are no transforming robots, dragons, scantily clad school girls, etc. – just a bunch of fast cars and exotic locales.  I haven’t yet seen the live action film which recently came out, though I find that cartoons do a poor job of being translated into live action.

Speed Racer  The main character, youthful (undetermined age) though his father “forbids him to race until he has more experience” while recognizing his apparent natural ability.  Above-average looks, but not particularly bright or clever.  His forte seems to be an almost naïve devotion to “winning fair and square”.  From all the fights he gets into, but wins, it’s clear he has some skill in martial arts.

Trixie.  His girlfriend, although this being a children’s show, they are not intimate.  In one episode his code phrase to indicate he’s in trouble is to discuss engagement rings with her.  She typically gets jealous whenever an attractive female shows any interest in Speed – one time she actually disguised herself and came on to him, but he didn’t take the bait.  She can also fly a helicopter.

Pops Racer.  Loud, obnoxious, and aggressive.  He built and developed the Mach 5 (as well as other cars) but his own history doesn’t seem to enter the picture; I seem to recall his background is in engineering and not racing.  He seems to be fairly competent in car design despite a few aspersions thrown that way in some episodes (mainly “The Supersonic Car”).

Mom Racer.  Sounds just like Trixie.  Her job is to worry about Speed, Pops, etc. – and bake cookies for Spritle and Chim-Chim.

Spritle & Chim-Chim.  Count on the kid brother to hide in the Mach 5’s trunk along with Chim-Chim, and find some way to save the day with a slingshot, in exchange for his favorite reward, candy.  For all their mischief they’re often as valuable as anyone else.  In a two-part episode, Spritle is mistaken for a  prince of a kingdom, they are switched, and a “Prince & The Pauper” scenario develops.

Sparky.  The mechanic, who usually gets the raw deal, often knocked out as navigator in favor of Trixie.  Dependable and competent, however.

Racer X.  Yes, we all know that Racer X is really…Rex Racer, who ran away from home as a young, arrogant racer.  Now he’s a mysterious man of intrigue, dabbling in international espionage, looking over Speed and saving his ass in the most convenient way (“you gave your gas away to the cute chick competing against you?  No problem, here’s another tank.”).  In “The Trick Race” Speed finally gets a clue, but by the following episode he’s forgotten already and gone back to being merely suspicious.  Like Speed he drives a sports car (the yellow Shooting Star) which doubles as a sports car and a race car.

The Mach 5.  Speed’s implausibly versatile – but equally cool - car!  Not only is it a street car, it’s also competitive in Formula One racing against dedicated race cars.  Its many features:

            1.         Jacks spring out underneath it, allowing it to jump over ravines and obstacles;

            2.         Mountain tires allow it to grip rocky surfaces and scale almost sheer cliffs;

            3.         Razor saws allow it to cut through trees in forests instantaneously – fortunately for Speed, those trees invariably fall AWAY from the Mach 5 and not ON IT;

            4.         Its glass bubble allows it to become waterproof so the Mach 5 can travel underwater, with a modest oxygen supply (at issue when he found himself at the bottom of Niagara Falls);

            5.         It must have something similar to KITT’s “molecular bonded shell”, as it is bulletproof;

            6.         Homing pigeon which can deliver a message or piss off bad guys;

            7.         The engine is never described in any detail.  V8?  I6?  Rotary?  Supercharged?  Diesel?  Who knows.  For a car so fast, though, you’d think at some point someone would describe its engine in detail.  Too bad they couldn’t drop in the GR-X;

            8.         White with red interior, two seats, no A/C or stereo – or even windshield wipers.  A big red M on the hood (Mifune Motors), and a yellow 5 on red circle on the doors.  Supposedly this was the 5^th of Pop Racer’s designs (Rex Racer smashed an earlier one);

            9.         According to Acey Deucy, it can be faithfully copied in less than an hour – though for a price in clams;

            10.        As a kid I wanted a toy of this, but they didn’t make one, which I considered – even then – to be a huge marketing failure.  Hot Wheels made one called “Second Wind”, which I got, but it wasn’t a large car, which I thought was more appropriate.  Visiting a department store in Rio de Janeiro, sometime in 2000, I found exactly that toy, only by then I was 30 something and too old for it.  Thanks.

            Plots.  Actually, as an adult I found them to be somewhat simplistic and unrealistic, but entertaining nonetheless.  They’re really more on a kid’s level.  It’s unclear where he’s from, as he goes practically everywhere, including Japan, Africa, South America, Paris, the US, without any clear indication of what his home base is.  In a sense, he’s from anywhere and everywhere, so children from around the world can identify with him and share the magic, so to speak, without having to attribute him to any other country than their own. 

            There are always villains, and Speed always acts with courage, honor, and integrity.  Cheating in races is the exclusive province of villains, whereas Speed insists on winning any race “fair & square”.  Sometimes his rivals tend to be cocky and arrogant, but he helps them out anyway – and usually manages to win anyway.  Many of the villains are undone by their own pranks and stunts, so a sense of justice and karma pervades the series.  So not only are the shows fun to watch, but they also teach some good moral values.  Speed never drinks, smokes, or does drugs, and he’s consistently faithful to Trixie, although he’s frequently tempted to stray.  This is why I say, not only is the car cool, and the episodes simple enough in plot, but the value judgments and ethics of the show are appropriate for children.

Favorite episodes: I actually don’t have very many favorite episodes, as too many of them have the same plot over and over again.  Only three jump out at me:  (A) the one with the GR-X, the fastest car in the world.  It’s so fast, the driver has to be sprayed with a substance which makes him unbearable thirsty, yet if he drinks anything, he becomes terrified of driving.  The car itself was so fast, it sounded like a jet plane (awesome sound), (B) the one with the X3/Melange, the remote-driven dark purple car designed to wipe out the Three Roses team; and (C) the Trick Race, featuring the return of Captain Terror and the Car Acrobatic Team...and Racer X.