Go, Speed Racer, Go.
August 21, 2002 10:56 AM   Subscribe

Go, Speed Racer, Go. The official web site, with Mach 5 specs, character profiles, and leather jackets "by renowned jacket guru Jeff Hamilton." Coming soon: an interactive Mach 5. (See also: Brunching Shuttlecocks ratings of the Speed Racer characters.)
posted by kirkaracha (8 comments total)
 
Thanks, Kirk! I watched Speed racer religiously as a kid. I was enchanted by the whole mythos. Watching it recently, though, I couldnt help but cringe at the low animation quality - apparently I didnt even notice this as a kid, entranced as I was.

Still, Racer X remains the epitome of cool.
posted by vacapinta at 11:01 AM on August 21, 2002


Don't forget the Real Mach 5!
posted by briank at 11:29 AM on August 21, 2002


Such fond memories: Speed Racer was the first cartoon I remember seeing where you kind of had to pay attention for more than five minutes if you wanted to follow what was going on. Also, people died sometimes, which is really cool when you're a precocious eight year old who has already figured out that people rarely even get hurt in American toon land (looney toons style anvil drops aside).

Can one of our correspondents in Japan tell us if Mach Go Go Go has the same kind of nostalgic remembrance and cache in its homeland? Or is this just a US thing?
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 11:30 AM on August 21, 2002


Hey, Speed Racer fans! Nick TV is going to have a NEW Speed Racer starting Sunday at 4pm. I'm always very skeptical about such things, but the commercials I have seen seem to indicate that they maintained the style and spirit of the original while also updating the look and feel. We shall see...
posted by quirked at 12:10 PM on August 21, 2002


caught this on tv recently, wondered what the hell it was as i've never seen it before. I thought - according to roger rabbit - and folklore that it was impossible to kill a toon. However this episode i caught, some poor guys car was collided into and off a cliff and he blew up . I was mortified
posted by monkeyJuice at 2:03 PM on August 21, 2002


Awesome. Didn't discover Speed Racer myself until university, where it was only on at 3:30am. Be that as it may, I watched it a lot, in a grassed-out haze, of course. My favourite bit, which it seems I have memorized:

Car Hater: All cars are weapons on wheels. I hate them! They should be destroyed, every last one.
Car Hater's Daughter: He gets this way whenever he thinks of cars.
The car hater, of course, is riding a horse, and likes to gallop around whipping motorists. Speed Racer: Japanese auto industry propaganda par excellence!

There's incidentally a DVD available, with only three episodes (including Car Hater) but featuring audio commentary by the dubbers, which I would just love to hear.
posted by D at 2:55 PM on August 21, 2002


Hahaha! The Car Hater! I had a friend in high school who had an impersonation of that guy nailed. Never failed to crack us all up.
posted by MrBaliHai at 3:29 PM on August 21, 2002


I can confirm that any mention of Maha go-go-go! in Japan gets a knowing smile from someone of the appropriate age group.

I didn't know that it came from Japan, tho, when I was a kid in California, and I didn't know until I went to the site a few minutes ago that it was from here in Kyoto. Nintendo, originally a playing card maker, is from here.
posted by planetkyoto at 5:17 AM on August 22, 2002


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