7.6 /10 1 Votes
7.7/10 TV Country of origin United States No. of episodes 115 Final episode date 12 December 1997 Number of episodes 115 | 7.5/10 IMDb Created by Broderbund No. of seasons 2 First episode date 7 October 1996 Number of seasons 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Theme music composer Sean Altman
David Yazbek
Randy Vancourt (French Version) Opening theme "Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?" by The Engine Crew Starring The Engine Crew; Alaine Kashian; John Lathan; Owen Taylor (season 1); Jamie Gustis (season 2) Presented by Kevin Shinick, Lynne Thigpen Similar Where in the World Is Carme, In the Mix, Long Ago and Far Away, The Charlie Horse Mu, SeeMore's Playhouse | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? Is an American half-hour children's television game show loosely based on the computer game of the same name created by Brøderbund Software. Just like its predecessor, the show was produced by WGBH and WQED. The program lasted two seasons on PBS, consisting of 115 episodes, which ran from October 7, 1996 to December 12, 1997, with reruns airing until October 2, 1998. The show starred Lynne Thigpen as "The Chief", Kevin Shinick as "ACME Time Pilot Squadron Leader" and "The Engine Crew" as various informants. The show replaced Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, and was recorded entirely at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York City.
Contents
- Gameplay
- Round One
- Round Two
- Bonus Round The Trail of Time
- Episodes
- VILE gang
- Prizes
- Production
- Awards
- French Canadian version
- References
Gameplay
Before the show begins, the viewing audience sees Carmen Sandiego in her V.I.L.E. headquarters (In Season 1, Carmen appears in a Fourth wall type of narration; whereas in Season 2, a surveillance nano-probe films Carmen's lair unnoticed) complaining to herself and plotting to steal the historical "seed" of her complaint. Carmen then tells one of her V.I.L.E. henchmen and henchwomen what to steal and where to go. (In Season One, she shines an 'Info-Beam' to give the details of the object in question; whereas in Season Two, she gives the thief a 'Loot Orb' or 'Cybersphere' to contain it). The Chief then tells the audience that Carmen's chosen henchman has stolen something, which must be recovered to prevent Temporal paradox. The show then begins with the Engine Crew preparing the ACME Chronoskimmer (a flying saucer capable of time travel) for launch, and introduces host 'Kevin Shinick'.
Round One
Three players (ages 10–14) known as "Time Pilots" compete, each given 100 'Power Points' to begin. The Chief identifies the stolen object and its source, and various skits give clues to the location. After the skit, three possible answers or locations are shown to the pilots. The viewer can see the individual choices represented by an individual color (pink, green, or blue). Any pilot with the correct answer scores 10 Power Points; any incorrect answer leaves the score unchanged.
At one point in the game, Carmen's henchman would provide a clue from the viewscreen. The points in time visited follow the historical progression of the "seed" originally stolen. The typical course of the round is as follows:
There are also other ways to gain clues:
Round Two
With Kevin on command, the third-placed pilot withdraws from the contest, while the top two pilots activate the Loot Tractor Beam to capture the stolen artifact. The Chief then lists eight events, related to the artifact that was stolen, which the pilots must recite in reverse chronological order. The first pilot to do so, advances to the Bonus Round to capture Carmen and the day's villain, while the runner-up wins a CD player and Carmen Sandiego merchandise.
Bonus Round: The Trail of Time
The winning pilot has 90 seconds to answer questions at several "Time Portals", posed by Carmen, with each portal themed to a particular period of time. All questions are related to the artifact stolen in the day's show, and are dual-choice. If the pilot answers correctly, the gate will open automatically. Otherwise, the pilot must operate a device to manually open the gate. After the first two or three gates, the pilot captures the day's villain; whereas if the pilot passes through all six gates before time expires, it is permitted to capture Carmen and win a computer system. Otherwise, Carmen escapes and the pilot receives a 32-volume set of Encyclopedia Britannica and a portable music system with a collection of music (changed to an ACME Time Net mission pack and the music system in Season 2). The show always ended with Kevin, the pilot, and the Engine Crew saying: "At ACME Time Net, history is our job, and the future is yours!".
The Engine Crew always guides the pilot to the appropriate portal (which flashes to help them).
Episodes
Season 1 lasted 65 episodes and ran from Monday October 7, 1996 to Friday January 3, 1997. Season 2 lasted for 50 episodes and ran from Monday October 6, 1997 to Friday December 12, 1997. Reruns of the show continued on PBS until Friday October 2, 1998.
V.I.L.E. gang
Other than playing the Engine Crew, Owen Taylor, Jamie Gustis, Alaine Kashian, and John Lathan as well as James Greenberg (who was also one of the show's producers) and Paula Leggett Chase also portrayed Carmen's V.I.L.E. henchmen.
Prizes
The budget was smaller on this version of the show compared to World. As a result, the grand prize for a winning pilot captures Carmen was a computer system instead of a trip. Pilots on all levels received prize packs of varying sizes which consisted of one or more of the following: a baseball cap, T-shirt, a Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? board game, a Where in the U.S.A. Is Carmen Sandiego? board game, a plastic watch, and a set of the most recent Carmen Sandiego CD-Rom games (all of which also featured the Chief).
Production
The music on the show was performed by The Engine Crew. The music package included the theme song and the songs about clues in the engine room. The theme was played in the opening and closing sequences. When the contestant was heading for the trail of time, the theme was sometimes edited after the crew sang, "We're on the case" and the villains say, "And they're chasing us through history!" (used in first season). In the second season, when the contestant headed for The Trail of Time, the ending was normal instead of the villains singing the end part. The show's main theme song was written by Sean Altman of Rockapella and David Yazbek, and is sung by The Engine Crew.
The show was funded primarily by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (1996–1998) and by the annual financial support from the viewers/stations of PBS (1996–1998). Delta Air Lines (1996–1997) and the National Endowment for Children's Educational Television (1996–1997) both provided funding during the show's first season.
Awards
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego has been nominated thirteen times for awards. It also won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1998.
French-Canadian version
A French-Canadian version of the show, titled À la poursuite de Carmen Sandiego (In pursuit of Carmen Sandiego), was aired on Radio-Canada between 1998 and 1999, shortly after the original American version of the show ended, taped in Montreal using the same set as the American series, The French theme song was written and produced by Randy Vancourt. This version of the show stars Brigitte Paquette as "The Chief", Patrick Labbé as "ACME Time Pilot Squadron Leader", and Daniel Dô, Marie-Hélène Fortin, and Widemir Noumil as "The Engine Crew". Gameplay in this version stayed the same as the original, with each pilot going through all six gates and captures Carmen wins a grand prize package that included a mountain bike instead of a computer system.