Speed Racer Sing-Along

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DisneyVillain
April 20, 2008

In honor of the new movie, "Speed Racer," I'm doing a "YouTube Sing-Along" of the 1960s theme song. Here's the info: Speed Racer is the title of an English adaptation of the Japanese anime Mach G...

In honor of the new movie, "Speed Racer," I'm doing a "YouTube Sing-Along" of the 1960s theme song. Here's the info:

Speed Racer is the title of an English adaptation of the Japanese anime Mach GoGoGo (マッハGoGoGo, Mahha GōGōGō?) which centered on automobile racing. The series is an early example of an anime becoming a successful franchise in the United States.

The characters and storylines originated in Japan as the manga and anime series Mach GoGoGo, from the anime studio Tatsunoko Productions.

Mach GoGoGo was first created by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida (1932--1977) as a manga series in the 1960s and made the jump to TV as an anime series in 1967. The central character in the anime and manga was a young race car driver named Gō Mifune (Mifune Gō). Yoshida selected the names and symbolism in his creation very carefully. The large red M on the hood of the Mach 5, which in North America was assumed to stand for "Mach 5", is actually the emblem of Mifune Motors, the family business. That is also the origin of the "M" on Gō's helmet. This was an homage to Japanese film star Toshiro Mifune. His given name, Gō, is also a Japanese homophone for the number 5 (the number on his race car). This is also represented by the yellow letter G embroidered on his shirt. The name of the series, Mach GoGoGo is actually a triple entendre: as mentioned, it stands for the number 5, i.e. it is the name of the car, the Mach 5; it is the name of the main character; and it contains the English word "go". Put altogether, the title of the show means, "Mach 5, Gō Mifune, Go!" The names themselves constitute a multi-lingual wordplay of the kind that had started to become part of the Japanese popular culture of the time. Yoshida got his idea for Speed Racer after seeing two films that were very popular in Japan at the time—Viva Las Vegas and Goldfinger. By combining the look of Elvis Presley's race car driving image (complete with neckerchief and black pompadour) and James Bond's gadget-filled Aston Martin, Yoshida had the inspiration for his creation.

The English rights to Mach GoGoGo were immediately acquired by American syndicator Trans-Lux. The main character Gō Mifune was given the name "Speed Racer" in the English version. A major editing and dubbing effort was undertaken by producer Peter Fernandez, who also voiced many of the characters, most notably Racer X and Speed Racer himself. Fernandez was also responsible for a retooling of the theme song's melody and its subsequent English lyrics, provided by Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass. When the series debuted for U.S. TV audiences as Speed Racer, fans were quickly drawn to its sophisticated plots involving fiendish conspiracies, violent action, hard-driving racing, and soulful characters with sparkling eyes. In an effort to squeeze the complicated plotlines into existing lip movements, the frenetic pace of the dubbing made Speed Racer famous—and famously parodied—for its quirky "fast" dialogue.

In the late 1990s the series made a comeback as reruns on Cartoon Network in late afternoon (and later on in late night/overnight) programming. The series was distributed in the 1990s by Group W's international unit with the mention of Trans-Lux deleted from the show's opening sequence.

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TheTimJimshow (5 months ago) Show Hide

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.......... oh my god, it burns!!! My dad likes this show, he sings this song sometimes, but I like how my dad sings it.

dannygirl890 (5 months ago) Show Hide

-8

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cooluke (5 months ago) Show Hide

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I felt tng theme was trying to take itself to serious for what it was

AFIGARELLI (6 months ago) Show Hide

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this is my Daddy's user but he bought me alot of the Speed Racer episodes I LOVE SPEED RACER AND THE MOVIE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gatoneko (6 months ago) Show Hide

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There is the Transformers movies, but those are really a cartoon/anime that is based on a toy line. Then coming out sometime in the next couple years if not sooner are live action Cowboy Bebop and Live Action Robotech.

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YamiANGEL108 (7 months ago) Show Hide

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I like the dub for the regular Yu-Gi-Oh. But the other ones I can't stand.

YamiANGEL108 (7 months ago) Show Hide

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What deed have we've done to deserve this!?

...Oh well. Least the characters are hot.

DisneyVillain (7 months ago) Show Hide

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I still like Yu-Gi-Oh!

JusticeGunblade (5 months ago) Show Hide

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yeaah! game on! =)

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Speed Racer Sing-Along

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