Carmen Sandiego Trailer, My Thoughts

In 1985, American company Broderbund, having already had success with the games Choplifter, Lode Runner, Karateka, and Prince of Persia, had released a little computer game called Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? In the game, you played as a rookie member of the ACME Detective Agency, tasked with capturing the members of V.I.L.E. (Villains' International League of Evil) and its head, gentlewoman thief Carmen Isabela Sandiego. Yes, Carmen is considered Hispanic...despite the character being inspired by Brazilian singer/actress Carmen Miranda.

The game was famously packaged with a copy of the World Almanac and Book of Facts, which could be used as a reference to help the player solve cases in the game. It would be regarded as one of the greatest "edutainment" games of all time, managing to be one of the very few such games that managed to be both educational and genuinely fun to play.

The success of the games would lead to a big franchise that produced other games that focused on Carmen thieving through the United States and even throughout history. The game's success would lead to a game show with an iconic theme song sung by Rockapella. It also featured the late Lynne Thigpen as the Chief. Her performance was so popular, she reprised it in later editions of the games. She also returned as the Chief in its successor series. It would also lead to an animated series focusing on a pair of ACME agents named Zack and Ivy chasing Carmen around the world. Rita Moreno voiced Carmen herself in the cartoon.

For me, Carmen Sandiego was part of my childhood. I played the original game, I watched the game show and cartoons, so yeah, it was a part of my life. So, I admit, I was excited when it was announced that Netflix was doing a new series focusing on the globetrotting thief, with Gina Rodriguez voicing the title character. And there's a trailer for it, so let's take a look!

Choo choo! All aboard the last train to Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Cuc...a-monga!

The animation reminds me of those Erin eSurance commericials they used to do.

So V.I.L.E. here is an academy for thieves in training. Interesting twist. What're the odds some of those students aren't there willingly?

The thing about Carmen is, she's a thrill-seeker. She really only steals for the thrill and challenge of it, not out of any real desire to hurt anyone. Nice to see that aspect of her character is acknowledged.

Carmen being more of an anti-hero in this version does make sense, considering that again, she steals or the challenge. Also, the more anti-heroic alignment is nothing new. The Where on Earth animated series played with it as well.

Looks like we'll get plenty of globetrotting in this series. That's good. The entire game's whole point was educating players about geography. This series has an opportunity to do the same. Hope they remember that.

I got a better one for you, Mr. Policeman, Why in The World is Carmen Sandiego? :P

I'm sure you could carry our tools in a vest, Carmen.

Well, this looks pretty neat. My only complaint is that they didn't include the Rockapella theme somehow. That would have been awesome. But still, I'm excited for this new take on Carmen, and I can't wait to see where she goes off to.