The New Adventures of Speed Racer
A 1993 reboot of Speed Racer with merchandising resurgence.
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The New Adventures of Speed Racer is a 1993 update of the original Speed Racer animated series, produced as a single 13-episode season. It was designed with the intent of launching a feature film adaptation, though the film was not realized due to issues with Warner Bros. holding the live-action rights. The series provided a major merchandising reboot for the franchise, including a toy line, comic books, and novelties.
Background
The series concept originated from a pitch by PANGEA to then property-owners John and James Rocknowski of Speed Racer Enterprises, Inc. Fred Wolf of Fred Wolf Films had also pitched the notion of rebooting the franchise. PANGEA, having worked with Playmates Toys and Fred Wolf Films on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, collaborated with Speed Racer Enterprises on series development and merchandising. The show was designed as a single 13-episode season, with the first episode titled 'The Mach 5's First Trial'. A new theme song was written for the series.
The series proved popular with the Russian audience. The title 'The New Adventures of Speed Racer' comes from official documents used for TV listings; the show itself is referred to onscreen as simply 'Speed Racer'. Coincidentally, Speed Racer X is known in Brazil as 'As Novas Aventuras de Speed Racer', which translates to 'The New Adventures of Speed Racer'.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: The New Adventures of Speed Racer (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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