, sometimes referred to as , is a 1997

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...

of the 1967 series of the same name (aired as '' Speed Racer'' in the U.S.) by Tatsunoko Productions, the original producers. The show aired in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in 1997 on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

and lasted only 34 episodes of a planned 52. In 1998, Speed Racer Enterprises planned to release an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

dub of the series in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as ''Speed Racer Y2K'', though the project did not succeed and only the third episode, "Silver Phantom", was dubbed. Another English adaptation, ''Speed Racer X'', was produced by

DIC Entertainment Corporation DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production comp ...

and aired in the United States on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

's short-lived action block, "SLAM!", in 2002. This show was quickly taken off the air (with only 13 episodes dubbed) due to a lawsuit between DiC Entertainment and the Santa Monica-based Speed Racer Enterprises, the company which owned the American rights to the franchise at the time. The series got a

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

release in Japan on April 21, 2017. Funimation released the series under the name ''Mach Go Go Go: Restart'' with English subtitles.

Differences from the original series

In this version, Rex Racer does not run away, but is presumed dead after an accident while testing out the Mach 5. His father, Pops, later rebuilds the Mach 5 with a new safety system called "Safety Seven", seven functions built into the car to protect the driver, marked by the letters A through G on the steering wheel. Rex's younger brother and Pops' second son, Speed, decides to follow up on his brother's footsteps. Trixie appears in this series as a reporter who befriends Speed, with Spritle being her younger brother (as opposed to being Speed's younger brother in the original). There are also differences that exist even in the original Japanese version. Aside from Gō's different surname (Hibiki), other characters were replaced entirely, but have similar roles. For instance, Mai Kazami is the "Michi Shimura" (the original Trixie) of this series, with her younger brother Wataru representing "Kurio Mifune" (the original Spritle). Although Pops is still called Daisuke, Mom Racer (Aya Mifune in the original) is now known as Misuzu. In Episode 20, a baby gorilla named Rocky joins the cast, taking the role that in the original series was held by Sanpei, or Chim-Chim in the English dub. Sabu, Pops' apprentice mechanic and friend to Go in the original series has been replaced by Takumi, who has the same role. The English dub uses the same names from the original ''Speed Racer'' English dub, though the family's team is still called "Hibiki Motors". The first 21 episodes form a story arc focusing on the Earth Grand Prix and the events leading up to it. The next 13 episodes formed a new story arc involving time traveling. When the Mach 5 hits 555 km/h, it sends Speed and his friends to the year 2555 where the world is ruled by a blue-skinned alien named Handler, who plans to use a device called the Ezekiel Wheel to rule time.

Voice cast

Japanese

* Kōichi Tōchika - *

Kazusa Murai is a Japanese voice actress. Notable voice roles Anime *Kamichama Karin (Miyon Yi) *Angelic Layer (Maria Shibata) * Boys Be... (Chiharu Nitta) *Digimon Adventure 02 (Jun Motomiya) *Devil Lady (Kazumi Takiura) *Full Metal Panic! (Dana) *Ginban K ...

- * Motoko Kumai - *

Minoru Inaba is a Japanese Voice acting in Japan, voice actor from Shizuoka Prefecture. He is affiliated with Ken Production. Inaba is best known for his roles in The Walt Disney Company, Disney productions (as Chip 'n Dale, Dale), ''Buzz Lightyear of Star C ...

- *

Yōko Sōmi is a Japanese actress and voice actress. She was born in Niigata Prefecture. She and fellow voice actor Akio Ōtsuka married on February 11, 2005, but they divorced three years later. Filmography Anime Drama CDs Video games Dubbing Li ...

- *

Toshiyuki Morikawa is a Japanese voice actor, narrator and singer who is the head of Axlone, a voice acting company he founded in April 2011. His name is also sometimes mistranslated as Tomoyuki Morikawa. In 2003, he and Fumihiko Tachiki formed the band "2Hearts", ...

- / * Kaneto Shiozawa -

English

* Dave Wittenberg - Speed Racer * Dan Woren - Pops Racer *

Tifanie Christun Tifanie Christun (born February 27, 1972) is an American voice actress. She is the daughter of Ray Lenhart and Cheryl Saban, the stepdaughter of Haim Saban, and the sister of Heidi Lenhart. She is also known as Tifany Lenhart and Tiffany Christun ...

- Trixie, Spritle *

Michelle Ruff Michelle Ruff is an American voice actress known for her work in anime and video games. In her early voice acting career, she used her mother's name, Georgette Rose, as a pseudonym. Some of her roles include Fujiko Mine in ''Lupin the Third'', C ...

- Mom Racer *

Joshua Seth Joshua Seth is an American voice actor, comedian, and author. Biography Seth was born in Kent, Ohio, and graduated from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. As a child, Seth attended several experimental programs at Kent State Universit ...

- Sparky * Richard Epcar - Racer X/Rex Racer

Episodes

Other media

A two-volume

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

adaptation was published on CoroCoro Comic in 1997. It is a kodomo manga aimed at a younger audience. A

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

based on the series was developed by TOSE and published by

Tomy Corporation is a Japanese entertainment company that makes children's toys and merchandise. It was created from a merger on March 1st 2006 of two companies: Tomy (founded in 1924 as Tomiyama, changing the name to Tomy in 1963) and long-time rival Tak ...

, exclusively in Japan for the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

. The game also has

Super Game Boy The is a peripheral that allows Game Boy cartridges to be played on a Super Nintendo Entertainment System console. Released in June 1994, it retailed for $59.99 in the United States and £49.99 in the United Kingdom. In South Korea, it is call ...

support.

References

External links

Anime Admirers
* * {{Tatsunoko Production Speed Racer 1997 anime television series debuts Japanese children's animated action television series Japanese children's animated adventure television series Japanese children's animated sports television series Action anime and manga Funimation Shōnen manga Tatsunoko Production Television series by DIC Entertainment Television series by DHX Media TV Tokyo original programming Animated television series reboots Animated television series about auto racing TV5 (Philippine TV network) original programming