This may sound quirky to many of you, but the aspect of the westernised version of Speed Racer---the version that we all saw on a UHF station forty years ago, if we could keep the TV antenna positioned right---that entertained me most was the closing credits.
You can find a clip of them on YouTube, if you have a mind to do so. For those who don't want to bother, it went like this: the credits were shown over a constant parade of mechanised vehicles, driven and/or ridden in by the show's principals. (Mrs. Racer actually gets more face time here than she does in most of the episodes proper.) But the hook is, it's a history of motorised travel. The vehicles go from right to left across the screen, beginning with the earliest steam conveyances and going in developmental order through history to the then-modern era and finally ending in a projection of what we will be driving in the future. Each sequence is a brief, entertaining vignette in itself.
From the days when I saw this as a youth, until now, it has always struck me that this was the proper way to incorporate learning into children's entertainment. Kids know when they are being preached to, and American cartoons never grasped how not to preach. The lessons always hit you over the top of a head, like trying to ring the bell at the top of the column with a mallet. I learnt---and more important, retained---more about the history of the automobile in that sixty-second tableau than I ever would have from a cartoon that so obviously, and awkwardly, inserted the same info in some speech by one of the characters.
(And, I will confess, I am a sucker for the end of the sequence, in which the camera closes in on a spinning tyre then pulls back to reveal the underside of the Mach 5, which then lowers to reveal the entire cast waving at the audience. Sequences that break the fourth wall like that always grab me.)
I am embarassed that I would not have identified Peter Fernandez without Rich telling me. But I am saddened at his passing. Certain voice actors make certain certain characters their own. Peter Fernandez was Speed Racer, just like Alan Reed was Fred Flintstone and Thurl Ravenscroft was Tony the Tiger. They can always draw more cartoons of Speed and Fred and Tony, but they will never again be the same characters.
You know, it's been so long since I've seen Speed Race, I couldn't tell you what his voice sounded like. But in every show -- probably several times in every show -- Speed would see something that would astonish or distress him (such as when someone threw a live scorpion into the front seat of the Mach 5), and he would gasp. And that gasp has embedded itself into my brain as the * perfect * cartoon gasp. No other can compare.
...it has always struck me that this was the proper way to incorporate learning into children's entertainment.
Amen, brother!
Rob Staeger said:
You know, it's been so long since I've seen Speed Race, I couldn't tell you what his voice sounded like.
Ah, you’d know it if you heard it. Even as a kid while watching a Godzilla movie dubbed into English I thought, “Hey! That’s Speed Racer!” I can hear his voice still.
Y'know, I still haven't bothered to watch the live-action Speed Racer movie -- it always seemed to me like one of those things I was supposed to do but didn't really want to do -- but around the same time I bought the DVD, I found a DVD set of the animated show's first season. It's about the closest thing one can get to a time machine; to see those shows puts me back in that time of life when you would come home from school and have the afternoon to watch stuff like Speed Racer, Astro Boy, Marine Boy, Ultraman ...
... and yes, it is sad to lose Mr. Peter Fernandez, and the life he gave to Speed Racer.
I can still hear Earl Hammond's narration in my mind . . . .
"Using the beta capsule, Hayata becomes . . . Ultraman!"
"The tremendous energy Ultraman gets from the sun diminishes rapidly in Earth's atmosphere. The warning light begins to blink! Should it stop completely, it will mean Ultraman will never rise, again!"
And then, of course, from the character himself . . .
The live action movie was over-rated as an action flick yet under-rated as a family film. The Racer family dynamics made it enjoyable and Racer X made it dramatic!
ClarkKent_DC said:
Y'know, I still haven't bothered to watch the live-action Speed Racer movie -- it always seemed to me like one of those things I was supposed to do but didn't really want to do -- but around the same time I bought the DVD, I found a DVD set of the animated show's first season. It's about the closest thing one can get to a time machine; to see those shows puts me back in that time of life when you would come home from school and have the afternoon to watch stuff like Speed Racer, Astro Boy, Marine Boy, Ultraman ...
... and yes, it is sad to lose Mr. Peter Fernandez, and the life he gave to Speed Racer.
Commander Adam is right! That panorama at the end of Speed Racer was a lot of fun. The closing shot was GREAT - I loved that pin-up type shot.
Oh, sure, the cartoons were PURE cheese - but they were cheesy and entertaining, so I would usually give 'em a pass.
And I thought the movie was great. I think it was a little too "over the top" for a lot of people, but considering the nature of the cartoon, I think they caught it well. Bright lights, flashing and strobing colors, exaggerated cars and characters - and underneath it was some very solid character acting and a real story,
Replies
I love those old Speed Racers. (And I loved the recent movie too -- GREAT fun!)
Ditto!
This may sound quirky to many of you, but the aspect of the westernised version of Speed Racer---the version that we all saw on a UHF station forty years ago, if we could keep the TV antenna positioned right---that entertained me most was the closing credits.
You can find a clip of them on YouTube, if you have a mind to do so. For those who don't want to bother, it went like this: the credits were shown over a constant parade of mechanised vehicles, driven and/or ridden in by the show's principals. (Mrs. Racer actually gets more face time here than she does in most of the episodes proper.) But the hook is, it's a history of motorised travel. The vehicles go from right to left across the screen, beginning with the earliest steam conveyances and going in developmental order through history to the then-modern era and finally ending in a projection of what we will be driving in the future. Each sequence is a brief, entertaining vignette in itself.
From the days when I saw this as a youth, until now, it has always struck me that this was the proper way to incorporate learning into children's entertainment. Kids know when they are being preached to, and American cartoons never grasped how not to preach. The lessons always hit you over the top of a head, like trying to ring the bell at the top of the column with a mallet. I learnt---and more important, retained---more about the history of the automobile in that sixty-second tableau than I ever would have from a cartoon that so obviously, and awkwardly, inserted the same info in some speech by one of the characters.
(And, I will confess, I am a sucker for the end of the sequence, in which the camera closes in on a spinning tyre then pulls back to reveal the underside of the Mach 5, which then lowers to reveal the entire cast waving at the audience. Sequences that break the fourth wall like that always grab me.)
I am embarassed that I would not have identified Peter Fernandez without Rich telling me. But I am saddened at his passing. Certain voice actors make certain certain characters their own. Peter Fernandez was Speed Racer, just like Alan Reed was Fred Flintstone and Thurl Ravenscroft was Tony the Tiger. They can always draw more cartoons of Speed and Fred and Tony, but they will never again be the same characters.
Rest in Peace, Mr. Fernandez.
Amen, brother!
Rob Staeger said:
Ah, you’d know it if you heard it. Even as a kid while watching a Godzilla movie dubbed into English I thought, “Hey! That’s Speed Racer!” I can hear his voice still.
... and yes, it is sad to lose Mr. Peter Fernandez, and the life he gave to Speed Racer.
I can still hear Earl Hammond's narration in my mind . . . .
"Using the beta capsule, Hayata becomes . . . Ultraman!"
"The tremendous energy Ultraman gets from the sun diminishes rapidly in Earth's atmosphere. The warning light begins to blink! Should it stop completely, it will mean Ultraman will never rise, again!"
And then, of course, from the character himself . . .
"Shuwatch!"
ClarkKent_DC said:
Oh, sure, the cartoons were PURE cheese - but they were cheesy and entertaining, so I would usually give 'em a pass.
And I thought the movie was great. I think it was a little too "over the top" for a lot of people, but considering the nature of the cartoon, I think they caught it well. Bright lights, flashing and strobing colors, exaggerated cars and characters - and underneath it was some very solid character acting and a real story,
Go, Speed Racer, GO!
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