Welcome to part 1 of my CS19 colourscript analysis! WOOOO!
I've had this sitting in my drafts over on @confetti-smoker for a good while, haven't had the time to finish them, but I figured I should post the first one since it's the most interesting! Moved to this account since it fits better.
Here is THE colourscript for season 1 & 2, from the Chromosphere website, aka the guys who did the art development for CS19! They did a fantastic job at documenting their process working on the show and as someone who wants to go into that field of design (early production for cartoons) It's fascinating stuff!
Wow that's a big image! Let's cut it down to episodes, click to keep reading :>
Episode 1 (Becoming Carmen Sandiego, Part 1)
"Hey, this isn't the full episode, where's her training at the academy? Or ditching the Isle?" You know the first 2 episodes were meant to be 3, right?
Netflix was, according to Duane (the showrunner of CS19) 'Very excited to get Carmen off of VILE isle', they cut down the 3 episodes of 'becoming Carmen Sandiego' into a tighter 2 episode runtime to keep audience engagement for streaming, and possibly to make the first 2 episodes more 'important' looking since they're slightly longer than the standard 22 min runtime. It's better explained here.
The 3 episode format exists anyway on random Canadian cable channels. Some lovely fans found it a while ago! But it's French. English version is lost to time until someone Canadian records it on Wildbrain when it airs once every billion years.
Anyway! I don't have much to say about this one, very pretty, very impressive, but nothing really changed. Except that one shot of Black Sheep sitting with the rest of her class is so funny to me why is she so SMALL.
She is 3 berries tall.
Episode 2 (Becoming Carmen Sandiego Part 2)
Now I can start talking about things! Of course there is the Black Sheep title card that inspired all this, but there are some other changes as well!
The script plays out just like the episode until we get to- this?
whagt.
I think this is a case of when you look at an image too much and just can't tell what it is? Because I have no concrete idea of what that is.
My wild guess is this is the 'Eye of Vishnu' being unearthed? It looks like rocks with a gem inside. Maybe this was footage and would cut to the faculty rubbing their hands together and going "hmmmm yes I want to steal that later". I'm really not sure? Perhaps I'm blind, you guys help me out here what is that.
EDIT: Some lovely people have pointed out this is likely the aftermath of Bellum shooting the crackle rod! Check out a cool reblog that explains it here
The showdown between Tigress and Black Sheep that is cut from the Netflix version is here! Some amazing people found that and you can watch it here!
Sheena's evil smile here is so funny. Grown ass woman.
It's not very important but since we're going in depth I'll mention it, this shot of the gang ziplining down is scripted to be after the showdown? That's not how it plays out in any version, it should be in the training montage? Weird!
Here is Black Sheep's title card, which is the reason I even made this analysis because this is so cool and very few people know about it?
I have a little context to pull from the book, I assume the title card would have been after this line?
That line is so tragic by the way. Man.
Though that line doesn't read as "dramatically posing on a lone pedestal" to me, I feel like she should be saying something badass, not something straightforward? I don't think we'll ever know what she said unless someone can get their hands on the original script.
After Black Sheep's title card we get something I am very confused by.
For a while I was unsure what this was? But the wonderful @https-rediation pointed out that it's from Le Chevre's intro! Here it is in the show!
So. This is another case of things being scripted out of order. I'm unsure how this one would even be intentional, as this leads directly into Le Chévre's title card. They may have wanted the whole VILE gang to fit into one row so they moved this one down? That's my hunch.
Graduation! They're all wearing those stupid graduation hats that's so funny. The figures standing off to the side are The Cleaners!
You'll see in the next episode the same "graduation" from the final show is here as well. So what's this?
Loremaster Confetti here. So in the book "Who in the World is Carmen Sandiego", the novelisation of the origins, There is both a "graduation" and a "senior seminar",
The "senior seminar" is the meeting where everyone gets gathered in the faculty room and gets told "we're evil by the way", it's for the operatives that are willing to- well the show says 'go to any lengths'- basically it's for bitches willing to kill.
Which implies there are some bitches not willing to kill? What happens to them? What happens if you graduate but don't go to the senior seminar? The answers are probably "you just don't find out" or "YOU DIE!" which is boring + a waste of VILE's time to train someone only to have to kill them?
I'm glad the 'graduation' was removed, it's just a waste of time. We already establish Black Sheep is sad she didn't graduate and that she thinks it was unfair when she demands a 'do-over' with Shadowsan.
Speaking of Black Sheep being sad, it looks like she made her choice to sneak away whilst sulking outside in this version!
I was confused what those particles were but I think they could be the silhouettes of the VILE gang heading out on their mission, with Black Sheep shown perched on the rock watching them?
Overall a few changes from the final! Nice! Moving on
Episode 2.5 (Becoming Carmen Sandiego Part 3)
This one is another victim of lost content, the little bit at the start is a scene where Black Sheep goes wandering around Casablanca, you can watch it here!
Aside from that and the beautiful art? Things play out the same until we get to the fight:
Man. Why does Gray and Carmen's fight look a million times better here?
The HUGE explosion that lights the whole carriage in blue-ish-green, the fact Devineaux is driving past and sees it (though, it would have been a funny bit if a whole ass explosion goes off but Devineaux is SO focused he doesn't see it) and the red lights as we see them fight from outside?? This is so much better???
Compare it to what we got real quick: (apologies for the poor gif quality, I think they're good enough to prove my point?)
If I have to compare the vibes, the version in the show feels like someone is trying to kill Carmen, the version in the colourscripts feels like someone important is trying to kill Carmen.
The lightning is much more powerful looking in the colourscripts? Why did they change it? Maybe it was too scary/ too lethal looking? I doubt it was "too hard to draw" because artists can pull off anything if you pay them enough. Man.
Interestingly the lightning is more blue-ish in the colourscripts, I like that! It feels unique. I feel like Gray should've had his own custom crackle rod that was cooler than everyone else's, how is he the special electricity guy if all the grunts have crackle rods later on? Hell, Neal and Maelstrom get their own compact crackle- uh- zappers? As well?
I think these little zappy things are like- the dagger to the crackle rod's sword? Same thing but smaller/ you gotta hit people a few times to kill them.
If everyone at VILE has the zappy thing I think we should just give Graham Calloway a gun.
Here's a fun change:
Gray doesn't learn the backstory of her name in this version! The scene where she names herself after the hat is scripted for after their fight.
Once again, Loremaster Confetti here, I assume this is the same as the book. Carmen uses the question of "Wait don't you wanna know how I got my new name?" To catch Gray off guard in the fight.
This means book-Gray never learns the origin of her name, which is kinda tragic to me since that's the main reason they're having a conversation in the first place? For him to learn the story behind her new identity? And he doesn't even learn the origin of her name?
I think that's pretty cool, I like that he learns it in the final show, but I think him hesitating here because he wants to learn it shows more of his turmoil towards Carmen's betrayal. Like yes he's trying to kill her right now but it's complicated™
I also like how they 'tie' and Carmen has to outsmart him, I like when she has to get out of a situation by being smart rather than just winning! Winning is boring!
The way Carmen wins in the book is Gray getting distracted by Devineaux flying a whole ass plane next to the train. I would get distracted too man what the hell. Devineaux is DEDICATED.
"What the blazes" is an understatement, my guy.
Then the episode ends as normal, origins are over!
Tumblr maxes out at 30 images per post so I'll continue my rant in the next part, covering the first few episodes of season 1!: in a Part 2
You're here / Part 2 / There will be a lot of parts to this due to Tumblr's image limits! I'll post them as I finish them, which will take a while, busy as always </3
Part 2 isn't done as of now (26/10/25), It'll be done eventually!
mime bomb lowkey nonbinary but he has shit to do so he isnt too worried about that (unlabelled sexuality, nonbinary not in denial just too busy to care)
gray is cisbi and stupid and i hate him. (joke)
• after years of dating, they can understand mime without fail. he doesnt need to sign or make gestures they just have this spidey sense
• tigress has aspdnpd (projecting) and those two are the only people in this world she can feel empathy for
• tigress has tiger-like striped scars on her face (paperstars fault- too much to get into there) and she has tufts of hair that puff out that give her a cat-ear like silhouette
• lighting scars on grahams face (they trail down to his chest) (partially carmens fault- she feels bad.)
• under the makeup, mime has freckled and smile lines. he is happy about them, he likes to smile:D
