×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Speed Racer (TV)

Have you seen this? want to / seen some / seen all

Go back to Speed Racer main page

Trivia:

the name "Go Mifune" was chosen to tribute Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune.

The title is a pun: the first "Go" is "Five", the second is the English word, and the third is the protagonist's given name.

Parodied in a short known as "Fast Driver", featured in Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation.

Creator Tatsuo Yoshida drew inspiration for Mach Go Go Go from the Elvis Presley film Viva Las Vegas and the James Bond 007 film Goldfinger - both of which were released in 1964. The character of Go/Speed was patterned after Elvis' character Lucky Jackson; hence, the use of a neckerchief and pompadour hairstyle. The Mach 5 was inspired by James Bond's gadget-laden Aston Martin DB5.

Speed Racer is known for its unusually fast dialogue. This was due to an effort to squeeze the complicated plot lines into the existing lip movements.

The letters used on key elements of the anime have different meanings on the original Japanese version. The large "M" on the Mach 5 is the logo for Mifune Motors (as opposed to being assumed to meaning "Mach 5" on the English version). The "G" on Go's (Speed's) shirt is his first initial (it is unclear what it means on the English version). The "M" on Michi Shimura's (Trixie's) blouse is also her first initial.

TV Guide magazine ranked the episode "The Trick Race" as one of the most memorable moments in TV history. This was where Racer X revealed his identity to Speed.

Corinne Orr reprised her role as Trixie on Volkswagen and GEICO Insurance commercials featuring the anime.

Through out the series, Speed has been abducted more times than any other character.

According to the manga counterpart, Trixie’s father(who was never seen or referred to in the anime) is the president of Shimura Aviation. This explains why Trixie was depicted as being a skilled helicopter pilot from the very beginning of the series.

Trixie’s Japanese name Michi Shimura was based on Japanese actor Takashi Shimura’s name. Who had collaborated with Toshiro Mifune on several film productions.

The first 13 episodes of the anime were dubbed in German for broadcasting on German television in 1972 but broadcasting was stopped after three episodes because the content was considered as not suitable for children. Two more episodes did air on TV about a year later, but the remaining 8 episodes were left unaired to this day.

At the beginning of each episode there was a dramatic pause. In the original Japanese version, this pause is where the episode's title appeared; the English dub instead has the episode's title against a red-yellow checkerboard title before the episode begins.

In episode 3, one of the competitors who drives a car baring #2 is named Zoomer Slick. This racer is clearly the same character who appeared as Skull Duggery in the previous episode. Whether this was an oversight or not is entirely up to interpretation.

In episode 7, was the only episode in the English version to have the episode title during the “dramatic pause” instead of the red-yellow checkerboard title cards like the other episodes.

The plot in episode 7 and 8 was Peter Fernandez‘s favorite story arc.

The plot in episode 9 along with the two episodes that followed it was the only story arc that ran as a three parter.

The Car Acrobat Team who were introduced in episode 9, originally appeared in the manga counterpart of the “Challenge of the Masked Racer” story arc. That manga story arc ended up being adapted into a different set of episodes early on, while the Car Acrobat Team would eventually get their introduction in this episode except they were portrayed as the prominent bad guys.

In episode 12, for reasons unknown the engine sounds of the Mach Five has a different sound for this episode along with the follow up episode. It was incorporated into the story by having Trixie remark that the car has a new engine, but the original sound returned in the next story arc, "The Desperate Desert Race," and all subsequent stories.

In episode 17, during the Fire Race, there was a stature of a quadruped monster with a long neck which resembles the Giant Behemoth from the 1959 film.

While recording her lines in episode 24, Corinne Orr's vocal cords began to bounce. After consulting a Doctor, Orr had to refrain from speaking for an entire day.

Saccharin, the Eastern kingdom featured in episode 24 and 25; is also the name of the sweet-tasting synthetic compound used in food and drink as a substitute for sugar

The plot in episode 26 marks as the first stand alone episode that was not followed up with an additional episode.

The villain in episode 33 is named Francisco Fransco, after the Spanish leader Francisco Franco.

You can contribute information to this page, but first you must login or register
This encyclopedia is collaboratively edited by the users of this site
DISCLAIMER add information report an error lookup sources