821. Speed Racer 49-52 The Greatest Racer in the World!

Here we have the finale of Speed Racer!  What do you think will happen?

814. Speed Racer 45-48 in review!

 Speed takes on a wide variety of miscreants and malefactors in this four episodes.

807. Speed Racer 40-44 review!

 

Yeah, this is a little long, but it is the last five-episode episode!  We only have two more about Speed, so enjoy!

800. Speed Racer 35-39, featuring Speedzan!

There are only thirteen episodes left after these five!  What a ride (hah!) it has been!

793. Speed Racer 31-34- Supersonic Ninja Cars!

 Wow, there are two episodes here that seem... less than stellar.  

786. Speed Racer 27-30!

There's a new interstitial in this episode, and lots of fun!

779. Speed Racer 22-26, now with more Mach 5!

Five more episodes, and we are halfway through the series!  It sure is action-packed!

772. Speed Racer 18-21, of Dangerous Daredevils!

                      These are two very enjoyable stories, and they are action packed. Also...

765. Speed Racer eps 14-17 review!

                      This cartoon was NOT for kids- it was for general audiences.  You can see why with these four episodes!

758. Speed Racer 09-13, Dangerous Revenge!

                    Speed Racer takes a lot of chances, and is occasionally a hot head.

751. Speed Racer vs. The Mammoth Car 05-08!

                       The series gets cooking here, and the tropes we will see all begin.  It is important to remember these cartoons were not meant to be watched more than once a day.

746. The 30th Anniversary Guide to Speed Racer!

                       Yes, it is sort of a redo, but it IS way better.  I have improved, how about that?  Who knew?

744. Go, Speed Racer, go! 01-04! Plans and Masks!

                    Here we start the new cartoon series- Speed Racer!  What a show!  It is probably the only "racing" show I have ever been interested in.

Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer!

 Starting tomorrow (Monday) we begin a new cartoon series, the 52 episode Tatsunoko show Speed Racer, AKA Maha Go Go go!

Speed Racer and more

 

I have covered the black and white Japanese cartoons that got imported over here pretty well now, so I think the color ones should get an issue or two.  Right now I have Kimba, the White Lion, Speed Racer and Gigantor all in the same issue, but I may split them up.  I also want to do an issue about Astro Boy, but there have been so many incarnations with that character he will get his own book.  That just might happen with all of them.  Speed already has a great book published some twenty years ago, though it is probably out of print by now.  Their 60th anniversaries are all coming up soon, so we will plan accordingly.

Japanese Sci-Fi Display at SFO

I got these pictures a few days ago (well, maybe a couple weeks now) from a friend of mine either on her way to or from Hawai'i.  I'm not exactly sure where this came from now, since all she said was what I titled this post as.  Still, it's pretty darn cool.

Speed Racer open and close

when Speed Racer debuted, this is what it sounded like. when Speed Racer was re-released later on in the 90s on VHS and then later on DVD, the credits were changed a bit. for one thing, the original song is a bit slower than what we get now. there's some other differences, you can see for yourself!

Speed Racer (2008)

OK, who's idiotic idea was it to make this movie 2 hours and 15 minutes long?  that was the biggest mistake ever.  it should have 80 or 90 minutes and it would have cost less, made more money and been a better movie.  the filmmakers just had to put too much on the screen, like five episodes worth of Speed Racer, and it's too much at one time.

the other big mistake was an over-reliance on green screen and cgi.  there's something moving in every pixel of the frame, it is sensory overload.  the movie is so true to the US version of the cartoon except that it misses the simplicity of the animation.  a breather for the eyes would be really nice here and there.

having said all that, I really do like the movie.  the cast is fun, they used a real chimp for Chim-Chim (amazingly enough) and there's plenty of action and even martial arts stuff.  it's all very enjoyable in about 3 doses, but not all at once.  you also get Peter Fernandez and Corinne Orr with cameos.  gotta like that.  but mostly it makes me want to watch the cartoons more than anything.

Speed Racer (1967)

when I would visit my relatives in WV in the summer (usually) WDCA Channel 20 showed the best kid vid ever.  "Speed Racer" was one of the many great shows they aired in the 70s.  it never aired in the 70s in Longmont, Colorado (or the greater Denver area), so the only place to watch it was back there, as far as I knew.