The Top 5 Carmen Sandiego Adaptations
And by adaptations, I strictly mean mediums in which you as a player serve no function, you are only here to observe. Therefore not the computer games, nor the board games, nor the choose-your-own-adventure style books. Just the shows, chapter books, and comic books.
Honorable(?) Mention: The DC Comics Series.
This only lasted four issues before being cancelled, and honestly? I can see why. I like the idea behind this series, which is compositing the various versions of Carmen Sandiego into one (the older games, the newer games, the PBS gameshow...had it continued we may have gotten stuff from the syndicated animated series.) The problem is that there is way too much going on in almost every panel. It's the equivalent of an obnoxious children's show that thinks constant movement and loud noises is the only way to keep its young viewer's attention. Beyond that, the main character Evan and his sidekick Bazooka Mel aren't that interesting or likeable, and Carmen herself barely shows up or does anything. It was a nice try, but it failed.
5: Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
This PBS gameshow was the successor to Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, lasting for two seasons and a total of 115 episodes across 1996 and 1997. For comparisons sake, its predecessor lasted for five seasons across five years, with a total of 295 episodes. And that kind of says it all. I like things about this show - having people play historical figures and interact with the contestants is fun, the villains, also depicted by real-life actors, are a good balance of wacky and intimidating especially with the creepy effects around them and their willingness to attack the contestants directly, and much like its predecessor the final solo challenge is always exciting to watch. The problem is that it just doesn't feel like Carmen Sandiego. ACME is suddenly this hard sci-fi oriented group feeling more like the Federation from Star Trek than a detective agency, Carmen is a cackling supervillain out to make people miserable rather than a classy master thief, and while Lynne Thigpin's Chief is as delightful as ever, she and Kevin Shinick just lack the chemistry she had with Greg Lee....heck, Shinick himself is a major step down from Lee in just about every way. I think he was funnier in the Robot Chicken sketch about the show than he ever was on the show itself! I feel as though if this show was its own thing, totally removed from Carmen Sandiego, it would work better.
The recent Netflix series has a wonderful two-part pilot, "Becoming Carmen Sandiego", that shows exactly how this incarnation is going to differ from previous ones - namely with Carmen being an anti-hero going against V.I.L.E with the help of "Player" rather than the leader of V.I.L.E who "Player" is trying to catch - and with a lot of interesting possibilities on the horizon, particularly with its somewhat darker tone and reinventions of characters from several separate past continuities. And it's all downhill from there! OK, that's a bit harsh, but as I've noted recently the show really did squander its potential more and more with each passing season, culminating in a finale that made it crushingly clear that the developers did just seek to keep Carmen an anti-hero the whole way rather than go through the villain origin story that was logically being set up. It never felt like it truly knew what it wanted to be, and almost every character and plotline ended up suffering as a result. It's got great visual style and superb voice-acting, and I appreciate the attention it brought back to the otherwise dead property, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as a first experience with Carmen Sandiego.
3: The Carmen Sandiego Mysteries
This series of juvenile chapter books had a total of six installments: two representing World, two representing USA, and two representing Time. And it's a shame that's all we got, because these were pretty damn good! Maya and Ben are likable leads, Carmen is a competent and even somewhat threatening villain while still maintaining her own personal code of ethics, and it does what a good adaptation should in keeping the feel and style of the computer games while also making allowances for the medium shift. I especially like "Take the Mummy and Run", which includes some legit emotional drama and a non-Carmen villain.
2: Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?
Pretty similar to the Carmen Sandiego Mysteries books in that it features a young boy/girl duo of detectives hunting down a similarly characterized Carmen. But this being a syndicated animated TV show rather than a book series, it lasted longer - 40 episodes total, and even got its own spinoff computer game Carmen Sandiego: Junior Detective Edition. There's also more of an action-y feel to it despite the network censors preventing anything overtly violent from happening, siblings Zack and Ivy are even more charismatic protagonists than Ben and Maya, and the great Rita Moreno just is Carmen; her alluring voice probably sticks out in most people's memory when thinking about the character. I do question why an AI Chief was used rather than a human one, as that just feels weird, but thanks to Rodger Bumpass' voicework he gets a lot of laughs so I can let it slide. The one thing that drags this show down is the educational aspect, as it manifests in a lot of ham-fisted monologuing from characters that grinds the pacing of each episode to a halt every time. Guys, you're in a 22-minute TV episode, not Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors! You're kind of pressed for time here! It's the one thing I think the Netflix show actually did better, as while there were still lines here and there serving as educational the series usually focused on showing rather than telling as should be expected of the animation medium. However...this theme song goes way harder than it needs to, so maybe that balances things out. And speaking of stellar theme songs....
1: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
This legendary PBS gameshow simply IS Carmen Sandiego distilled into a compact form easily transmitted via airwaves. It's got the thrill of the chase while learning more about the world down perfectly, it's got the old-school detective vibe and the quirky humor, and it's got a stellar cast of characters - not only is this the first time Carmen herself displayed any real personality, but we've got a truly memorable Rogues Gallery of V.I.L.E operatives serving her. And even if the different kid contestants opposing them each episode do nothing for you, we still have Lynne Thigpen as THE Chief of ACME, Greg Lee as one of the funniest and most energetic gameshow hosts you could ask for, and of course - ROCKAPELLA! It's easy to see why this show endured for as long as it did and while it's still fondly looked upon even now.
