space racer

Posted in: sport in hamoo2009's Blog

Speed Racer is an English adaptation of the Japanese anime Mach GoGoGo (マッハGoGoGo, Mahha GōGōGō?) which centered on automobile racing. The series is an early example of an anime becoming a successful franchise in the United States.

The characters and storylines originated in Japan as the manga and anime series Mach GoGoGo, from the anime studio Tatsunoko Productions.

Mach GoGoGo was first created and designed by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida (1932–1977) as a manga series in the 1960s and made the jump to TV as an anime series in 1967. The central character in the anime and manga was a young race car driver named Gō Mifune (Mifune Gō). Yoshida selected the names and symbolism in his creation very carefully. The large red M on the hood of the Mach 5, which in North America was assumed to stand for "Mach 5," is actually the emblem of Mifune Motors, the family business. That is also the origin of the "M" on Gō's helmet. This was an homage to Japanese film star Toshiro Mifune. His given name, Gō, is also a Japanese homophone for the number 5 (the number on his race car). This is also represented by the yellow letter G embroidered on his short-sleeve blue shirt.

The name of the series, Mach GoGoGo is actually a triple entendre: as mentioned, it stands for the number 5, i.e. it is the name of the car, the Mach 5; it is the name of the main character; and it contains the English word "go." Taken together, the program's title thus translates as, "Mach 5, Gō Mifune, Go!" The names themselves constitute a multi-lingual wordplay of the kind that had started to become part of the Japanese popular culture of the time.

Yoshida got his idea for Speed Racer after seeing two films that were very popular in Japan at the time, Viva Las Vegas and Goldfinger. By combining the look of Elvis Presley's race-car driving image, complete with neckerchief and black pompadour, and James Bond's gadget-filled Aston Martin, Yoshida had the inspiration for his creation.

The English rights to Mach GoGoGo were immediately acquired by American syndicator Trans-Lux. The main character Gō Mifune was given the name "Speed Racer" in the English version. A major editing and dubbing effort was undertaken by producer Peter Fernandez, who also provided the voices of many of the characters, most notably Racer X and Speed Racer himself. Fernandez was also responsible for a rearrangement of the theme song's melody and subsequently wrote its English lyrics.

In a 2008 interview with Chicago Tribune DVD columnist Louis R. Carlozo, Fernandez recalled that he landed the job working on "Speed Racer" after ghost-writing scripts for "Astro-Boy" and "Gigantor." Simultaneously with "Speed Racer," Fernandez also voiced the main character and wrote scripts for another anime series, "Marine Boy," sometimes taping both shows in the same day in New York City. Fernandez also said he could not possibly have predicted "Speed Racer's" lasting appeal at the time or in the decades that followed. Reflecting on the series' staying power, he commented: "There was the family relationship. You knew about Speed's family, you knew them well. They were all involved in each race. And we all play with cars as little kids, we love cars. The Mach 5 was a hot car, and there all sorts of cars throughout all episodes. I still think the Mach Five is ahead of its time."

In an effort to squeeze the complicated plotlines into existing lip movements, the frenetic pace of the dubbing made Speed Racer famous-—and famously parodied-—for its quirky "fast" dialogue.

In the early 1990s the series made a comeback as reruns on MTV broadcast in the early morning hours. Several years later, Cartoon Network would broadcast the series in late afternoon (and later on in late night/overnight) programming. The series was distributed in the 1990s by Group W's international unit, but with all mentions of Trans-Lux Television deleted from the show's opening sequence.