Speed Racer
Series History
Introduction and Foreward
Speed Racer was a unique series to watch and listen to. It was reminiscent of a Disney feature film and highly artistic in nature. The camera angles, plots, visual and sound effects and the overall realistic appearance was far superior to American cartoons. The attention to detail was excellent and surpassed the American cartoons by a big margin. There were many camera angles used that were reminiscent of Hitchcock's filming techniques to achieve a dramatic effect. There was no silly music or laugh track in the background. Rather, the exotic, exciting and martial-sounding thematic music was used to accentuate the overall cinematic experience.
The attention paid to the scenery in the series was unique. The sun sparkling on the ocean, the reflection of the sky on a lake, the sea gulls flying close to the Mach Five. Who could forget when Speed drove to the Acropolis in the final episode? Or when the Mammoth Car melted, revealing that it was made of pure gold? And when Speed and Racer X drove right through the skeleton of a giant dinosaur in the mountains of Kapetapek?
The mountain scenery was highly detailed in any episode it was seen in. The rain and snowfall was seen and looked so real. The rising sun would cast its light and shadows on the snow-capped mountains that was seen in the Great Alpine Race. The deserts of Sandoland and the Sahara were ablaze from the hot sun, without any water and there was no relief in sight. The desert in Arizona wasn't as severe, but was full of deadly automobile and motorcycle bandits that ruled its barren wastelands.
The dense jungles of Africa and South America were full of intricate details. The animals that inhabited the regions were so realistic in appearance. Even the fish that lived in the oceans were very lifelike. Many of the creatures were given the cute and wide-eyed look with the smile. The mother hippo and her babies enjoying themselves in a pool of water. The deer and wildlife that populated the flatlands. However, there were monster-sized gorillas that could instill the fear in a child, who was viewing a particular show.
The characters in Speed Racer were very important and good family members. The audience at home could identify and care about them. Speed would never instigate a fight, but when attacked, he would defend himself. He would stand up for anything he believed that was the right thing to do. He and the other characters were just as real as we are. A venerable and genuine bond was felt with Speed and the good qualities of those who were around him. What child didn't want to be a secert agent, a race car driver or helicopter pilot?
Yet another important factor in Speed Racer was that its stories were juxtaposed with morality and the lessons of life that were an integral to it. The villains and their cohorts were evil people who set out to do harm to the good people. The bad guys paid the price to the fullest extent in every episode. The topic of good and evil was defined in every storyline. Speed was the first young man in filmed television who was given power on a realistic level, but he wasn't a superhero.
Themes were explored such as honesty, courage, trust, selflessness and friendship, along with the intentions of the greedy, evil, unscrupulous and selfish individuals in every storyline. While the series contained excessive violence, it was created for a constructive purpose. Sadly, there were parents of the 60's and 70's, who didn't allow their little children to watch the show, but there were just as many parents who did allow their childern to watch the show. The stories were set in exotic locales, with intrigue, excitement and fast racing cars. What little boy or girl didn't want to become part of this? In a sense, Speed Racer was created by the children of America. It became a cult hit and later, a worldwide phenomenon.
Speed Racer
Series History, Part I
Speed Racer was created in 1966 by Tatsuo Yoshida. The original name of the anime series was Mach Go Go Go, which centered on car racing. Initially, the credit must be given to the talented men who made the series in the Far East. Tatsuo Yoshida was born on March 6, 1932. He was the oldest of three brothers who were born in Kyoto, Japan. He was a self-taught artist who showed extraordinary skill even as a youngster in grade school. His middle brother, Kenji Yoshida, was born in January 1, 1935. The youngest brother, Toyoharu Yoshida, was born on January 1, 1940. All three brothers fell in love with Superman comics that were brought to their country by the occupying U.S. forces.
In 1954, Tatsuo Yoshida was hired as an illustrator for a local newspaper. His first job came when he worked with Ikki Kajiwara to draw the art for a new wrestling comic, Iron Arm Rikiya. Yoshida's workload increased, so he called for the help of his brothers, who moved to Tokyo in 1955. Kenji became the business manager of the group, while Toyoharu became a highly prolific artist and began working on his own comics. In 1956, he adopted the pen name of Ippei Kuri, when his first solo project was published, Rampaging Tengu.
The Yoshida brothers became recognized for their comic stories that covered many subjects such as martial arts, wrestling, war stories, historical drama, costumed heros, baseball and science fiction. In 1959, Tatsuo became the artist for the Superman comic series produced in Japan. Tatsuo Yoshida and his brothers decided it was the right time to establish their own studio to produce their work at. So, on October 19, 1962, Tatsunoko Productions was founded.
In January of 1963, the Yoshidas were inspired by Osamu Tezuka, the founder of Mushi Productions. He had created a comic strip named Mighty Atom (Astro Boy) and it was adapted and made into an animated series on Fuji Television. Tatsuo and his brothers were considering making the switch to an animated studio, but the costs of hiring artists and equipment would be too much for them to afford. However, Tezuka and his new series, Mighty Atom, proved that this limited type of animation techniques did work.
Hiroshi Sasagawa insisted Tatsuo and his brothers to go after their dream to launch their own animation department. Hiroshi was a comic artist and assistant to Tezuka and was hired as his storyboard artist to work on the animated Mighty Atom series. Tezuka had learned his animation skills at Toei Doga Laboratory, a leading animation company in the feature film animation industry. The Yoshida brothers hired on at Toei, so they would be able to learn the ups and downs in the animation industry. Incidentally, the Yoshida brothers had an admiration for Walt Disney's animation.
The brothers continued to work on their comics and worked at Toei and learned all they possibly could if they were to become successful in the animation industry. But things didn't work out and their contract at Toei went sour and they were released. The Yoshida brothers decided to go into business for themselves and looked in newspaper ads and assembled a team of artists and animators from throughout Japan.
In 1965, Tatsunoko produced Space Ace, with the hopes it would find its place in the marketplace and gain capital. But the Yoshidas were still without a sponsor when they were assembling the first episode. So, they decided to finance the program with their own money and borrowed funds by using their house as collateral. Of course, they continued to work on their comics for magazines to make money. When they almost went bankrupt, the Yoshidas received word that Fuji Television would air their production. The secured Kanebo, a firm that made cosmetics and toiletry as their sponsor. Space Ace aired on May 8, 1965.
The series was about Ace, a young boy from an alien world, who was lost in space and made the Earth his new home. He had special powers that allowed him to fight the evil villains that were on the Earth. The series lasted for 52 episodes, ending on April 28th, 1966. Tatsunoko Productions was now an official animation studio. The first man who joined the studio was Hiroshi Sasagawa, who had set them on the road that had led them to this direction. The second man they hired was director Seitaro Hara. Tatsuo and his brothers met him while working at Toei.
The Tokyo-based animation studio is where Mach Go Go Go was created at. It became one of the leading animation studios in Japan. In the Japanese language, Tatsunoko means "seahorse." This is the studio's cartoon emblem that is seen on the Mach Five's TV monitor in the second episode of the series. Translated, it means "Tatsuo's Company." In 1967, it came to the United States for television syndication, but that was only the first step in what is known as Speed Racer.
The pivotal character was a young race car driver named Go Mifune (Speed Racer). Tatsuo Yoshida was careful with the naming and symbolism in his creation. The large red M on the hood of the Mach 5, was assumed by U.S. viewers to stand for the Mach 5. In reality, it is the emblem for Mifune Motors, the family business. The same can be said of the M on Go's helmet. This was a homage to Japanese movie actor, Toshiro Mifune. His first name, Go, is a Japanese homophone for the number 5 on his car. It is also observed by the yellow letter G that is stitched on his shirt and blazers. The name of the series, Mach Go Go Go, is really a triple meaning of the number 5; it represents the main character, the English word "go", and stands for "Mach 5, Go Mifune, Go!" These names represent multi-lingual wordplay of this type, which became part of the Japanese popular culture at the time.
Yoshida's adoration for American films is clearly visible in Speed Racer; the wipes, dissolves, flashbacks and chapter recaps that he made a staple part of the series' looks. His younger brother, Ippei Kuri recalls, "Mach Go Go Go was based on our all-out adoration of America. A defeated people witnessed American GI's driving about comfortably in their jeeps. American movies showed a life of abundance in the American household. Refrigerators were stuffed with food and fresh milk. It was absolutely unbelievable, like the Superman comics."
Middle brother, Kenji Yoshida recalled, "Not many people know this, but the 'Mach Go Go Go' manga is based on another of my brother's manga called 'Pilot Ace.' It was also about a car, and the characters were similar to those in Mach Go Go Go. The 'Mach Go Go Go' manga was well received and we decided to adopt it for television. Also, at the time, auto racing was pretty popular in Japan."
Mach Go Go Go comics first appeared in the June 1966 issue of Shueisha's Shonen Book. Many of the stories and others would later be adapted from manga that was originally created for Pilot Ace (1960-64) and Mach Sanshiro (1960-61) by Tatsuo Yoshida. He also created Hayabusa Q (1961-63) and Speed Bun-chan (1962). Mach Go Go Go ran for two years, with the final chapter published in the May 1968 issue of Shonen Book. Fifty-two chapters of the manga were adapted for a new color television series of the same name.
The Yoshida brothers were no strangers to the sport, since they created all of these comic strips about car racing. Mach Go Go Go would be turn out to be first television series to focus on the sport. Car racing in Japan was very popular at the time. The look of the characters in Pilot Ace would be carried over to Mach Go Go Go, along with its best elements, and those from Mach Sanshiro. A straight adaptation was ruled out, because the characters in previous racing comics were developed in other directions that wouldn't tie in with the formula of the new series. The comic series was successful and Tatsunoko was able to attain sponsorship and found its home on Fuji Television. The company had previously made Space Ace, which aired in 1965-66. The series was based on the manga created by Yoshida. At the time, Fuji Television was still utilizing black and white broadcasting, but the studio wanted Mach Go Go Go in color.
Tatsunoko had to convert the equipment and their animation techniques to color before making the series. The studio had to do a good amount of research to make certain the color balance was correct, so they would survive the transition. The premiere of Mach Go Go Go was delayed until spring of 1967. The reason was because of all the time and effort to make the transition to color animation and gain sponsor approval.
Tatsunoko didn't wait for sponsorship backing and needed more time to work out the problems with the new processes. The resulted in the first 13 episodes that were produced in the second half of 1966. They started working on the first batch of episodes in July and were finished in November. The studio took a four month hiatus, from December of 1966 through April of 1967. They obtained sponsorship and a place on Fuji's TV schedule.
On Sunday, April 2, 1967, Mach Go Go Go made its debut on Fuji Television at 6:30 pm. Take Flight! Mach, (Beginning) set the pattern that would present the stories in two parts. Producing continued stories of this type wasn't a common practice in the Japanese animation business at the time. They're reminiscent of American movie serials, with the chapter recaps, flashbacks, wipes, dissolves and cliffhanger endings. The series had much greater depth than a usual show in a 30-minute time slot.
Part of the formula for Mach Go Go Go's episode title would employ the usage of a dramatic pause during an action shot in every episode. After the original Japanese opening animation concluded, this cliché would be seen about three minutes into the story. The episode title would appear in red letters and the action scene briefly paused for 5 seconds.
The original music scores were composed and conducted by Nobuyoshi Koshibe. He was born on August 21, 1933 and was the musical director of the Japanese orchestra for every episode of Mach Go Go Go. Koshibe composed the theme song and the lyrics were written by Tatsuo Yoshida and Akira Ito. The new theme song broke the mold because it was unlike the other title music used in Japanese anime series. The other shows used elementary songs or school marches.
Koshibe's song starts with a wild drum solo and segues into a jazzy song that set the style for the series. Even today, it's still very popular and is a staple request on late-night radio programs heard in Japan. The exotic and exciting theme was one of Koshibe's best efforts in Japanese film music. The martial-sounding music themes that he wrote and conducted for Mach Go Go Go are exceptionally brilliant. He wrote the cues in different guises, derived from the main title music, covering a wide range for scenes and characters. Incidentally, a good portion of the main title was tracked over for the final scenes in The Greatest Race in History, (Conclusion).
In numerous cases, selected theme cues were tracked over from the music tapes to save on production costs during the music editing. In one example, the method of recycling music would be edited, along with newly scored music themes to complete the film score in some episodes. In another example, tracked music would be used almost entirely to make a complete film score, but usually down the stretch, after the music library had numerous cues to select for juxtaposing in the score. Some of Koshibe's credits for Tatsunoko are Kurenai Sanshiro (1969), Animentary Decision (1971), Mock of the Oak Tree (1972), Kerokko Dementan (1973), Balloon Girl Temple-chan (1977), Mysterious Thief Lupin-The Riddle of 813 (1979).
Mitsuki Nakamura was the talented animator who created the Mach Five. He worked on Space Ace for Tatsunoko in 1965. He had an interest in cars and asked Yoshida if he could make the design. Nakamura drew on his creative imagination as his guide and didn't need any outside resources for the car. He had to create a car that was easy to animate and made certain that no excess linework was in the design.
Nakamura got the design of the car looking good, but the other animators saw his design and complained the subtle lines and curves would be difficult to animate. To prove his design could work, Nakamura took the liberty to animate the final scene in the opening credits of the show. It's the complicated shot that had the Mach Five driving toward the camera and stopping, with Go Mifune jumping out of the car, and the camera angle moves from a front view to a side view. Nakamura made it work right and a few minor tweaks were quickly applied, so it would flow correctly. He made the final change and the familiar design of the car was established.
The series went into full production and the staff got to work. Hiroshi Sasagawa was a member of the Tatsunoko staff. He served as Chief Director for Mach Go Go Go, a position he held for Space Ace. His job was to oversee the entire production, giving the final approval for every aspect of the series. Yoshida and Sasagawa continued to work hard and made sure their animation was at the best quality. They looked further to get some assistance from Tama Productions, an independent animation house to help with the animation work in Mach Go Go Go. The firm sent Masami Suda, a highly talented animator who was hired as Chief Animator for the series. One of his greatest abilities to improve the look of the series was by using an airbrush in the animation.
Disney and a few other companies used airbrushing to some extent at the time. The airbrush was used to detail the Mach Five. Reflections were added on the windshield glass and shadows were added on the body. The airbrush was applied for other objects in Mach Go Go Go. Shadows were added to Go Mifune's helmet and reflections on the visor. The attention paid to detail in Mach Go Go Go became one of its trademarks.
Mitsuki Nakamura was praised for his involvement in developing the series and was hired as Art Director for the show. At the time, Nippon Television wanted full color programming, but the majority of television sets were still in black and white. This resulted in much of his job to make sure the color balance was correct. This included the color quality to look good, even on black and white television sets.
Jinzo Toriumi was in charge of planning Mach Go Go Go. A talented and creative writer who had authored screenplays for movies. He joined the animation business as a screenwriter to compose Mighty Atom stories for Mushi Productions. However, he left Mushi and joined Tatsunoko Studios when Space Ace was being aired on Fuji Television. Toriumi had written 10 scripts for the black and white series. The development in Toriumi's planning would be revealed as the series was being made. Two noteworthy differences that had no inkling were the Mach's special devices and Kenichi's reoccuring presence as the mysterious Number 0-X, later called the Masked Racer. This would become an integral part of Mach Go Go Go.
Toriumi and Yoshida merged their talent and elements for the comics into Mach Go Go Go. Toriumi also served as Chief Writer for the series because he was considered the best man for the job. A highly prolific writer, he set the style for the stories in Mach Go Go Go. Of the 52 stories, he wrote 28 and co-wrote 15 more. Toriumi was a natural at writing fast-moving action stories and the setting of the series gave him the opportunity to let his imaginative style have free reign in creating stories.
The Tatsunoko staff made numerous visits to the newly completed Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka to help capture the feeling of car racing and to observe the atmosphere. The staff labored hard to introduce numerous and different locales where Go Mifune had to race at. They put in the extra effort to make the exotic locations as realistic as they could on film. World travel was just starting to occur, so the staff used this part of Mach Go Go Go to serve as a doorway for exciting travel outside the homeland.
Hisayuki Toriumi joined the series when it was well into production. Initially, he was a member of the studio's writing department in February of 1966. An excellent writer in all respects, but he was an extremely gifted director. The first story he directed in the series was episode #34, Reckless Driving! Record Car. He could quickly inspire the animators to accomplish the best work and had a great talent for taking action scenes and making them highly realistic. For the series, he directed a total of 9 episodes including the final 3 episodes in the series. Incidentally, he wasn't related to Jinzo Toriumi. In order to avoid confusion, the younger Hisayuki was given the nickname of "Kotori" (Little Bird) and the older Jinzo was called "Otori" (Big Bird).
The voice of Go Mifune was provided by a young actor named Katsuji Mori. This was his first lead role and for unknown reasons, he decided to work under the pseudonym of Setsuya Tanaka. He dropped the name after he worked in his second lead role in Toei's television series, Cyborb 009 in 1968. His youthful voice was full of passion and he was the image of goodness as the animated action hero. Mori's acting career became very successful and he worked lead roles in two other series that were produced by Tatsunoko. He was Ken, the Eagle in Gatachaman and Joji Minami in Tekkaman.
The role of Go's girlfriend, Michi Shimura, was given to Yoshiko Matsuo. For unknown reasons, she only provided the voice in the first episode of the series. Her replacement was Ikuko Sugita, who began to voice Michi in the second episode. But she left after the eleventh episode due to other work duties. The third actress who provided the voice of Michi was Michiko Nomura. Her voice was heard in the twelfe episode through the end of the series.
Kinya Akawa was the voice of 0-X, later known as the Masked Racer. He was the only actor of the cast who had worked in Space Ace. Aikawa, a veteran voice actor, made his debut when he dubbed the voice of Jimmy Olsen in the Japanese version of Superman, the series that starred George Reeves. He provided the voice of comedic reporter Yadokari in Tatsunoko's early television series.
Production of Mach Go Go Go was completed in December of 1967. The final two episodes, The Greatest Race in History, aired on the evening of March 31, 1968. The merchandise that was made, from toy binoculars to models and toys of the Mach Five were still selling very well in the country. The series was still extremely popular in syndication for the homeland and in foreign markets. Soon after, black and white television sets fell from popularity and were replaced by color sets. Mach Go Go Go stayed on the air for many years. Its vibrant colors were one of the reasons for its longevity and popularity. When the series was over, the staff and cast held a wrap party at a restaurant near Tatsunoko Studios in Kokubunji.
Tatsuo Yoshida's brilliant career was cut short when he was diagnosed with liver cancer. He died on September 5, 1977 at the young age of 45. Following Tatsuo's passing, Kenji Yoshida took over control of the studio. During his term as President, he produced the Gatchaman series and the feature film of the same name. Despite their success, Kenji handed control of the studio to Toyoharu for some time. Kenji returned to Tatsunoko sometime later and was involved with its new productions. The 1997 remake of Mach Go Go Go was one of them.
Tatsunoko began television production in 1965 and Toyoharu Yoshida's talents began to blossom. To differentiate himself from his famous brother, Tatsuo, he adopted the pen name of Ippei Kuri in 1956. His talents ranged from writing, producing, character design, series planning and more. Back in the 80's, he took the position of President at Tatsunoko. Since then, he is Vice-President and is involved in producing and planning new series. He still presents showcase illustrations for special projects.
Hiroshi Sasagawa has been a staple part of Tatsunoko since 1965. He brought many creative strengths to the studio, including the "Gag" or comedy style of animation. He loved this style and it became successful at Tatsunoko. He was highly regarded as one of the studio's most important employees. Sasagawa was just as successful in other genres and when he directed action and hero shows. Among his many credits include the creative and directing of such series as the original Mach Go Go Go and its remake. In the way of more credits include Kurenai Sanshiro, Tamagon, Casshan, Gatchaman II, the Time Bokan series and many others. He's still at Tatsunoko helping to plan and develop new series.
   
Speed Racer
Series History, Part II
Tatsunoko was faced with a problem during the production of Mach Go Go Go. The budget of the series was the issue. By making the conversion to color, the cost of each episode almost doubled from what it cost for an episode of Space Ace. The cost of a single episode was around 1,800,000 yen, where an episode of Mach Go Go Go would cost around 3,500,000 yen. The sum in American currency was approximately $4,970 per episode compared to $9,660 per episode at 1967 exchange rates.
The money from sponsors helped to pay for a good deal of the deficit, but it would not cover all of it. The Yoshidas thought of an idea to gain more financial support they had initially discussed while Mach Go Go Go was in development. They looked to sell the series to foreign markets and America was their first choice. At the time, Japanese anime series had successfully been sold to America for syndication.
Mushi Productions had exported Mighty Atom, Wonder 3 and Jungle Emperor to America. They were seen under the U.S. names of Astro Boy, Amazing Three and Kimba the White Lion. A Japanese anime studio named TCJ had success in exporting 8 Man and Iron Man 28 to America. They were renamed for U.S. syndication under the titles of 8th Man and Gigantor. Tatsunoko wanted to have their series exported to America. They tried to sell Space Ace, but it didn't make it past the English language pilot episode. Fate had better plans for Mach Go Go Go.
Tatsunoko didn't have any experience in international business to correctly promote and sell Mach Go Go Go abroad, so they used K. Fujita Associates to manage those arrangements. K. Fujita had worked with other Japanese series in the past. They sold the live action Ninja Squad Gekko series to Australia as Phantom Agents. It was based on a comic that was created by none other than Tatsuo Yoshida, entitled Boys Ninja Squad Gekko.
In the spring of 1967, the North American rights to Mach Go Go Go were acquired by Trans-Lux Corporation in New York. They knew the Japanese series had potential for the U.S. audiences, so they contacted Zavala-Riss to work on the editing. Peter Fernandez was working for Titra Studios at the time. For the new adaptation, Trans-Lux instructed him to "Americanize" the series. Peter had to retranslate the Japanese scripts into English, but their quality was poor. He was given free reign to rename the characters, episode titles and anything else in the adaptation. The one thing he didn't have to rename was the Mach. He added in the number 5 on the side of the car and you have Mach 5.
Peter was no stranger to Japanese anime series. He had previously worked translating the scripts from Astro Boy and Gigantor into English for U.S. syndication. In Mach Go Go Go, the image of Go Mifune's family was based on the stereotypical U.S. family. He also benefited from the Western style atmosphere in Mach Go Go Go, which had inspired the Yoshidas when they enjoyed American comics in their youth.
Peter was a highly skilled voice actor and provided the voices for Speed and Racer X. He needed a cast of six voice actors. There was a young lead, his girlfriend, his friend the mechanic, a little boy, the monkey, his father, a narrator, the villains and everyone else. Zavala-Riss told Peter he could hire only three voice actors because that's all the budget would allow.
Peter renamed Mach Go Go Go to Speed Racer. The name was catchy and sounded good. His three co-stars that he hired were Jack Grimes, Corinne Orr and Jack Curtis. The quartet had worked with each other in the past and were all good friends. The working situation was a monumental job for Peter and the voice cast.
Zavala-Riss had a second series, Marine Boy, on the production line. Peter and the voice cast had to work on this show while they were preparing Speed Racer. For this series, the voice dubbing was recorded first and the tracks would be flown to Japan to be added to the animation. This procedure was done opposite from how Speed Racer was made. Tatsunoko Productions would take the 35mm negatives and reprint them on 16mm interpositives that were flown to Zavala-Riss on a monthly basis in 1967. The film editing of the series was applied lightly for time and content. Peter and the voice cast at Titra worked on the voice dubbing at the same time.
Since the shows were dubbed, Peter had to match the dialogue to the characters' mouths and make sure all the words were spoken in a short amount of talking time. This resulted in another iconic Speed Racer trait; the characters' quirky staccato diction.
Peter Fernandez recalled, "The dubbing was all done in loops. We were working from a 16-millimeter print, and we would have a white grease pencil and mark off in the script what would be a loop. Having been actors for years, we wanted the loops as short as possible so that only one or two lines would go by. Once in a while, there was a long speech in which there didn't seem to be any breaks. You'd have to memorize each line so you could take your eyes off the page, look at the screen, and fit yourself into that loop. Sometimes it became rather challenging to memorize a long speech and match it to the finished product."
Tatsunoko Productions made the first 13 episodes of Mach Go Go Go in 1966. This helped the Speed Racer staff by giving them a large amount of time to begin working on the series than normal conditions could offer. This can be observed when looking at the broadcast dates of both
series. The 1966 copyright notice is visible in the opening credits
of Speed Racer.
The newly dubbed series in syndication began airplay in September of 1967, just five months after Mach Go Go Go began airplay in Japan. The production of the series was completed in December of 1967. The final two episodes made was Race Around the World, which aired on March 15, 1968 in America. The Japanese episode title was The Greatest Race in History, which aired two weeks later on March 31, 1968.
The original Japanese opening animation sequence is 1 minute and 42 seconds long. It starts off with an overhead view of the Mach Five. The angle tilts downward to reveal a side shot of the car. Speed comes into frame, runs to the Mach Five and jumps in the driver seat. He starts the engine and hits the accelerator. It then cuts to the tire spinning, with the Mach Go Go Go title in Japanese letters that was superimposed on the film. The following series of scenes are of Speed driving and waving his hand and he keeps on driving. Next are shots of the racing track with the Mach Five and other cars in frame. The scenes that start it off last for 47 seconds. Some of these shots are seen in Challenge of the Masked Racer.
For the next 42 seconds, the opening animation sequence continues with scenes of Speed racing the Mach Five in the lush jungle of Africa. Two elephants are seen from the driver's seat in Mach Five and Speed auto-jacks over them. The big elephant raises its trunk as the car passes overheard. Then we see a variety of exotic animals flanking the Mach Five as Speed is driving in the jungle.
The opening sequence continues with Speed being pursued by a trio of black sports cars that are shooting bullets at him in the Arizona desert. He then drives into a cave tunnel and sees a deserted city and skillfully drives through the middle of a huge dinosaur skeleton. The Mach Five makes it to the other side and the skeleton crashes to the ground with Speed looking back on it.
The sequence continues with a vista shot of soldiers on their camels watching Speed and other drivers racing in a desert region of the Middle East. In the final 13 seconds, we see the grid of cars that are driving across the map of the world. It then dissolves to the final shot of the yellow and red checkered background, with the Mach Five driving up. Speed Racer jumps out and strikes his famous pose in a 90-degree pan that's so 3-dimensional!
The U.S. opening sequence differs quite a bit from the original Japanese version. It starts off identical to the Japanese version, with the first 47 seconds left intact. Zavala-Riss had to cut out 42 seconds, which begins with the elephants and through all the various shots that lead to the grid of cars on the map and the checkered flag with Speed and the Mach Five. The final 13 seconds from the Japanese version were kept intact for the U.S. version.
Peter Fernandez had personally written a new theme song entitled Speed Racer. But his theme fell short of the original Japanese animated sequence, so that's why Zavala-Riss had to cut out the 42 seconds of scenes. In preparation for the U.S. version, the opening and closing sequences of Mach Go Go Go were reprinted on 16mm film stock by Tatsunoko, so Zavala-Riss could apply the new U.S. titles.
The Japanese main title was in red letters, where the English title was stenciled and painted in white letters. The 16mm print and the transparencies were superimposed by the optical printer and a composite was made. It was than reprinted to be used in the final assembly of every Speed Racer episode. For the new U.S. version, the main title letters, Speed Racer, would spin out of the black tire and dissolve after so many seconds. The titles were the same color for the closing animation that concluded the show. The theme music recorded for the end titles sequence matched its duration and no edits were made to the film. The end animation sequence that closes out the episodes shows a motor parade that is quite memorable. Speed and his family are driving 20th century vehicles that alternate with futuristic automobiles in the sequence. The final shot is a still of the Racer family with the Mach Five.
The original Japanese episode titles were stenciled and painted in red letters on transparencies and filmed. The original 35mm negatives of the episodes have no titles at all. The rough cut is finished and the editor takes the master negatives out of the cans and edits them exactly how the rough cut was assembled. The original 35mm negatives were reprinted on 16mm interpositives for broadcasting on Fuji TV, Channel 8. The filmed Japanese episode titles were superimposed and printed on the 16mm film by the optical printer.
For the U.S. titles, Zavala-Riss had to edit the new episode titles immediately after the Speed Racer title music. They were stenciled and painted in white letters and superimposed on the red and yellow checkered background. For the U.S. version, the only episode that follows the original Japanese sequence is Race Against the Mammoth Car, (Part 1). No doubt this was done to showcase the impressive entrance of the Mammoth Car's undercarriage in the filmed storyline.
Musician Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass were contacted by Fernandez, the arrangement was worked out and the music was recorded for the series' title music that opens and closes the show. The original Japanese melody was kept intact for the English title music under Peter's supervision, to ensure its continuity with the Japanese theme cues that are heard in the series. The brief theme that accompanies the episode title with the checkered flag background was tracked from the main title's opening music.
The sound effects used in Speed Racer episodes were provided by Ishida Sound Productions. They specialized in gathering sounds for Japanese film and television productions. The sounds were obtained from the engines of cars, trucks, boats, airplanes, trains, motorcycles, helicopters and other types of machinery for sound recording and editing in the final mix of the soundtrack. Many other types of sound effects were used in general that covered a wide range of vehicles and objects in the series.
The first generation engine sound for the Mach Five is the high revving and powerful motor heard in the first 11 episodes of the series. For episodes 12 and 13, the second generation engine is heard, since Pops had installed a new supercharged engine for the Race at Danger Pass. It had even more power than the first engine and is very memorable. The third generation engine sound that was used is lighter in tone and quieter than the previous two engines heard before it. But the sound of the Mach Five's final engine used can still mesmerize one's hearing when listening to it. It's heard in episodes 14 through 52.
The animal sounds used in Mach Go Go Go (Speed Racer) were all recorded from real, live animals by Ishida Sound Productions. In the case of Chim Chim, his sounds were provided by voice actor Horishi Otake and sound effects in the Japanese version. In the U.S. version, it was skillfully provided by Jack Grimes. In conclusion, the "organic" sound effects used in Speed Racer, were a major factor in enabling the soundtrack to have a realistic quality.
Speed Racer made its debut on American television on September 23, 1967. The audience at home was quick to catch on to its complicated plotlines, that involved evil conspiracies, meglomaniacs, and mad scientists who are hell-bent on conquering a certain region of the Earth. Juxtaposed in the plotlines are hard-driving racing, violent characters and soulful characters with sparkling eyes. In an attempt to fit the complicated plotlines into existing lip movements, the fast pace of the voice-over dubbing made Speed Racer famous for its fast, quirky dialogue.
By the late 1970's, the new wave of American cartoons was slowly forcing Speed Racer off the air, not to mention the inclusion of anti-violence groups, including organizations such as the PTA and Parents Magazine. The other problem for Speed Racer was its short run of 52 episodes for airplay. For syndication, 65 episodes is the minimum requirement to be aired on a quarterly basis, five days a week. By 1979, the series drove off into the sunset for good. In March of 1993, Speed Racer was acquired by cable channel MTV. They selected 26 episodes to rerun and no editing was applied until sometime later that spring.
And now, a little corporate history. Trans-Lux Corporation owned the distribution rights to Speed Racer in 1967. They also held the rights to The Mighty Hercules, Felix the Cat and Gigantor. In 1969, Trans-Lux sold the animated library to Alan Gleitsman and his independent company, Alan Enterprises, for television syndication. In 1986, he sold the film library to Color Systems Technology, a firm that colorized B&W films.
Later in 1986, Color Systems filed bankruptcy and General Electric Pension Trust held onto the library as security. In 1989, Broadway Video acquired the library from General Electric through 1991. The final change of hands was in 1992, when John Rocknowski acquired the ownership rights to Speed Racer. He established his own company, Speed Racer Enterprises in Santa Monica, California. By this time, Trans-Lux Corporation had gone out of business.
In February of 1994, Speed Racer returned to cable and it was acquired by the Cartoon Network. In house duplication replicated the series, but employed time compression to every episode. The recording speed was around 5%, which made the show run very fast, so they could fit the commercials in a 30-minute time slot. Viewers that grew up with the show also noted the original main title had been replaced with a new one.
The reason for this move was because Trans-Lux had closed their business two years before and the show's titles had to be replaced by Speed Racer Enterprises. In 1992, the Santa Monica based firm had purchased the rights to the series. The new title was similar to the original, but purists still objected. The original U.S. episode titles and end titles were also replaced when all 52 episodes were digitally remastered to digital Betacam from the 16mm interpositives. Speed Racer's run on Cartoon Network ended in 1998 and it was handed to Boomerang, its sister network. In 2005, it was picked up by SPEED Channel.
In totality, Speed Racer proved to be of excellent quality for American audiences since 1967, when it became a cult hit. The series is still embraced with great passion in the 21st century. Mach Go Go Go wasn't received with the same sentiment when its syndication run began in Europe, during the early 1970's and beyond. In Germany, a local station was forced to pull it off the air, just after the third episode was seen. Irate viewers called in and complained about the excess of violence.
The Japanese version contains a lot of it. People get shot (sans the blood), cars crash in a spectacular fashion, things get blown up with fatal results and the villains are even nastier. The relationship with Go (Speed) and Michi (Trixie) is much more obvious, unlike the U.S. version. Daisuke (Pops) indulges in smoking on rare occasions. Not too many words are spoken in English. One small exception is when Go Mifune yells, "Go!" every 5 minutes or when he does a feat that is neat or dangerous while driving.
Speed Racer
The Characters
Speed Racer (Go Mifune) is a young man who is 18-years-old and is beginning his career as a race car driver. In fact, the youngest driver in the international racing circuit. Intelligent and good-looking to the young ladies, but contains perfect morals. Speed's natural skills and reflexes come in handy along with his strong courage in many situations he becomes involved in. Speed believes in doing the right thing.
Not a bad loser, since he's had to sacrifice winning a race at some point to the benefit of something that is more important than a win. In the planning for the series, Go Mifune (Speed Racer) is an expert fighter and wrestler. This element wasn't thrown in the series at random opportunity, rather because Go's father was the captain of his wrestling team when he was a student. This is the reason why he is so proficient in a fight.
Speed's younger brother named Spritle (Kurio Mifune), along with his pet monkey, Chim Chim (Sanpei) would always get into trouble by hiding in the trunk of the Mach Five and in other vehicles. Their slapstick routine was a dual-combination in favor of their antics. But in times of dire straits, the two have come in handy for the benefit of Speed and company. Not to mention, the duo will eat any given amount of candy that comes their way!
The company's top mechanic is Sparky (Sabu), and Speed's best friend. The letter S on his shirt matched both the original Japanese name and U.S. renaming. Loyal to the company, Sparky will go out of his way to make sure the Mach Five will perform in any given race, despite the odds. Speed's father, Pops Racer (Daisuke Mifune), was a former professional wrestler-turned race car owner and builder. His sweet-natured and loyal wife was Mom Racer (Aya Mifune). She was able to cook a warm meal faster than anyone else.
Speed's female companion and girlfriend was Trixie (Michi Shimura). The letter M on Trixie's blouse stands for Michi. She would fly around in her helicopter during a race and advise Speed, via a radio link in the Mach Five. In the anime, it isn't specified in Michi's first manga appearance, that she is introduced as the spoiled and willfull daughter of the lead executive of a rival car company, who at first, meets Go Mifune when she is sent to spy on Mifune Motors. When her and Speed fall in love, the plan is circumvented. Trixie is 17-years-old and her background as a rich girl explains why she owns an expensive helicopter and Mercedes-Benz. She is also an expert at navigation and similar to Speed, highly skilled in martial arts.
Racer X is the most intriguing character, who reoccurs throughout the course of the series. He drives the Shooting Star No. 9, a superior race car in all respects. Racer X's mysterious personality is also presented and entangled with elements of a heroic, selfless, sympathetic and, of the brooding soldier of fortune, whose secret identity is Rex Racer (Kenichi Mifune). He is Speed's older brother. He had a falling out with Pops in the past after wrecking the first car his father built. Rex's accident predates the series going six years into the backstory.
When Rex was advised by Pops that he was not ready to compete in a professional race, Rex defied him and entered the race at the Sunny Downs Track. With less than one lap to go, Rex had passed up all the competition and was cruising towards victory. He waved to Pops as a symbol of celebrating his victory, but lost control and crashed, totalling the new car.
Pops burst into anger and berated Rex for his lack of experience behind the wheel and that his beautiful new car was all smashed up. Still defiant, Rex told Pops that he would have to become a racer without his help, so he left right on the spot and would never come back home. Rex vowed to become the greatest racer in the world and then chose to assume the mysterious identity of Racer X, also known as the Masked Racer, to pursue his own racing career. He met a race car driver named Kabala, who tutored him while he was driving "tortured roads and broken trails". Kabala became Rex's mentor, which gave him the expertise and enabled him to become a professional racer.
Both Speed Racer and Pops acknowledge that Racer X is the superior driver of the two and the greatest driver in the racing circuit. But perhaps the least understood driver, because of his feared opponents who have tried to ruin his good reputation by blaming him for car crashes in races that weren't his doing. Speed Racer was suspicious of Racer X's identity and motives because he would continuously sacrifice winning a race to protect Speed from other drivers with intent to harm or kill him. Racer X's career as a race car driver is also a cover for his occupation working for the Paris-based International Police.
With Racer X's assistance, it nearly led to Speed winning a race, with Racer X coming in second place. After the race was won, Racer X would congratulate Speed on his victory and would quietly slip away, receding ino his own secret life. Speed does suspect Racer X may be his estranged, older brother in Challenge of the Masked Racer, but cannot prove it. In fact, the second part of this story has Racer X revealing, in his thoughts, that he is Speed's older brother and takes off his mask, but for no one to see him in doing so.
Racer X is seen sans the mask in The Secret Invaders, The Dangerous Witness and The Trick Race. In the latter episode's climax, Speed is firmly convinced that Racer X is his older brother. In Speed's mind, his conviction appears to be strong enough, but since he didn't see Racer X unmask himself during that particular moment in question, rather to awaken, find his mask on the ground and Racer X had vanished once again.
A few moments before Speed regains consciousness, Racer X delivers a brisk, sucker punch in the stomach that renders Speed unconscious just after he asked Racer X, "Are you my brother?, Are you my older brother, Rex?" Captain Terror, the Car Acrobatic Team's leader, is able to discern that he is Speed's brother and maintains he can even see the resemblance under the mask. Racer X then vows he can't go home again and will spend much of his time as a secret agent without a name or country, looking out for Speed's welfare in the future.
Speed and his party run in the same direction and call out, "Rex, where are you!", and there is no one in sight. Speed looks up at the sky, and vows he will do everything he can in the racing world to make Rex proud of him and bids a tearful farewell. This deeply touching scene was picked by TV Guide as one of the Top 50 moments in television history.
Speed Racer
The New Adventures of Speed Racer (1993)
In 1992, Speed Racer was revived by Fred Wolf Films. There were legalities that had to be sorted through at the onset for the new series. Fred Wolf had to license out the rights from Speed Racer Enterprises in order to make it. The animated series was titled, The New Adventures of Speed Racer. It made its debut on September 13, 1993. However, the new series was quite unlike the 1967 classic.
The characters didn't look or sound like their counterparts in the original series. The only exception was Racer X, who still looked like the original character. The new Mach Five looked more like a Toyota and this didn't go over well. The storylines used were contemporary in this adapation and bore no resemblance to the original series. U.S. distribution was handled by Group W for the majority of television markets. The overseas distribution was by Westinghouse International. They were able to sell it to several countries for foreign airplay.
The 30-minute series lasted for only 13 episodes and was canceled. It was much too detached and contemporary in form. It lacked the artistic tone and style, unlike its 1967 counterpart. The music and sound effects used were inferior to those in the classic series. The titles employed a new rock n' roll theme song. The 1967 Speed Racer classic piece by Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass wasn't used because of legalities.
Fred Wolf also wanted to use a new theme song, since the 1967 original was a classic, campy piece and he thought it wouldn't be appropriate in this updated 90's version of Speed Racer. Kenji Yoshida, who originally produced Mach Go Go Go in 1966 and is the president of Tatsunoko Studios, was asked about the updated version of the classic and wouldn't speak about it.
Speed Racer
Mach Go Go Go (1997)
In 1997, Tatsunoko Studios begun its quest to make a new Mach Go Go Go series. Fifty-two episodes were ordered to be made by the original studio who made the series 30 years before. The majority of the episodes were in two parts. The anime was the best for any television series of its kind. The new and updated Mach Go Go Go was visually complicated, with great details and fluid animation in its entirety. The original characters bore a close resemblance to their 1967 counterparts.
Mach Go Go Go made its debut on January 9, 1997. The series was aired weekly by the Tokyo Broadcast System on Channel 12 at 7:00 p.m. Some of the original character names were changed for the new series. The storylines were detailed and dramatic in tone, which was similar to the original. The Mach Five and its special devices were improved. The series concluded its airplay on September 24, 1997. Production for the U.S. adaptation of the series began in 2001.
Speed Racer Enterprises had to compose and score a new rock n' roll theme song that would replace the original Japanese theme for the U.S. adpatation. The names of the characters were the same, just as in the English adaptation in 1967. American voice-over actors for all the characters in the series were hired. The original actors such as Peter Fernandez, Corinne Orr and Jack Grimes weren't asked to sign aboard. The U.S. title of the series was Speed Racer, of course. Sadly, the promising new series came to a screeching halt after 34 of the 52 episodes were completed for airplay in 2002.
Speed Racer Enterprises and DiC got into a bitter lawsuit and the show was taken off the Nickelodeon cable channel. No prior notice was given in this event. Its air date history is brief, with the first episode aired on August 25th. Just over two months later, the twelfth episode was aired on November 10, 2002. One may only ponder if DiC, an international film and television company in Burbank and Speed Racer Enterpises in Santa Monica, will settle the legal disputes. If they did, the promising series would be able to return in its entirety on the airwaves and DVD.
Speed Racer
Speed Racer: The Next Generation (2008)
 
In 2007, plans for a new and updated version of Speed Racer was announced. Lionsgate Entertainment and Animation Collective began working on the new animated series to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original Speed Racer series. The U.S. rights were licensed out by Speed Racer Enterprises in Santa Monica. In past years, there were two revival series which failed in the process. The new series is the third attempt and most likely, it has a good chance of succeeding and renewing interest in the 1967 classic series.
Speed Racer: The Next Generation is the title of the new animated series. The first episode is entitled The Beginning and is 66 minutes long. The storyline is based on the classic series by centering on Speed Racer's orphaned son. He must tolerate the daily hassles of life at the Racing Academy, but is also revealing unknown secrets behind the disappearance of his father, Speed Racer, Sr.
Speed's friends are Lucy and Conor, who has a robot monkey named Chim Chim. He lives up to his name and becomes the new guy to beat in the driver's seat. Speed and his friends work together to uncover the secrets behind his father's disappearance and together, the trio build the ultimate driving machine, the Mach Six. The new Speed Racer animated series uses cutting-edge and artistic animation that was inspired by the 1967 original series. The storylines are driven by hot-topic plots, renewable resources and the pursuit of a car with a gasless engine. Nicktoons Network acquired Speed Racer: The Next Generation for weekly airplay in 2008.
The 66-minute pilot episode airs on Friday, May 2, 2008. The first season consists of twenty-six episodes that will be broadcast over the course of the year. Weekly airtime is at 7:00 p.m., EST. The voice of the original Speed Racer, Peter Fernandez, has signed aboard to voice a middle-aged Spritle, who is a headmaster at the Racing Academy. The DVD video of The Beginning will be available on May 6, 2008. Bonus features will include an interactive racing game and a featurette entitled, "Creating the Next Speed Racer." The first season of Speed Racer: The Next Generation will eventually be released by Lionsgate in volumes, as they did with the original series.
|
