Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? (game show)


Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? is an American half-hour children's television game show loosely based on the computer game of the same name created by Brøderbund Software. Just like its predecessor, the show was produced by WGBH Boston and WQED Pittsburgh. The program lasted two seasons on PBS, consisting of 115 episodes, which ran from October 7, 1996 to December 12, 1997, with reruns airing until October 2, 1998. The show starred Lynne Thigpen as "The Chief", Kevin Shinick as "ACME Time Pilot Squadron Leader" replacing Greg Lee and "The Engine Crew" who is considered a replacement for Rockpella as various informants. The show replaced Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, and was recorded entirely at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York City.

Gameplay

, the viewing audience would see Carmen Sandiego in her V.I.L.E. headquarters complaining to herself and plotting to steal the historical "seed" of her complaint. Carmen then summoned one of her V.I.L.E. henchmen or henchwomen and told him/her what to steal and where to go. The Chief then told the audience that Carmen's chosen henchman had stolen something, which had to be recovered in 28 minutes to prevent temporal paradox. The show then began with the Engine Crew preparing the ACME Chronoskimmer for launch and then singing the show's theme song while dancing. Afterwards, the Chief would introduce host 'Kevin Shinick'. In the first season, Kevin would enter from the left of the Chronoskimmer. In Season 2, Kevin was seen goofing around in his room until the Chief called him to do the show. He would then enter from the right of the Chronoskimmer.

Round One

Three players known as "Time Pilots" competed. Each was given 100 'Power Points' to begin. The Chief identified the stolen object and its source, and various skits give clues to the location. After a skit, three possible answers or locations were shown to the pilots. The viewer could see the individual choices represented by an individual color. Any pilot with the correct answer scored 10 Power Points, with no penalty given for an incorrect answer.
At one point in the game, Carmen's henchman would provide a clue from the viewscreen. The points in time visited followed the historical progression of the "seed" originally stolen. The typical course of the round was as follows:
The two pilots with the highest scores after the first round advanced to the second round, while the third-placed pilot was eliminated from the game. If there was a tie between two pilots for second place, or a three-way tie for first place, a tiebreaker question was asked.
There were also other ways to gain clues:
With Kevin on command, the two remaining pilots activated the Loot Tractor Beam to capture the stolen artifact. The Chief then listed eight events, related to the artifact that was stolen, that the pilots had to recite in reverse chronological order. The first pilot to recite the events in the correct order advanced to the Bonus Round to capture Carmen and the day's villain, while the runner-up won a CD player and Carmen Sandiego merchandise.

Bonus Round: The Trail of Time

The winning pilot had a total of ninety seconds to answer questions at several "Time Portals", posed by Carmen, with each portal themed to a particular period of time. All questions were related to the artifact stolen in the day's show and contained two choices each. If the pilot answered a question correctly, the gate opened automatically. If the pilot made the wrong choice, he/she was forced to perform a small manual task to open the gate.
Once through the second gate, the pilot captured the day's villain and began chasing after Carmen. The pilot had to pass through the sixth gate, take what was called a capture crystal, and place it into what was called the "chronolock chamber" in order to capture her.
If Carmen was captured, the pilot was given a computer system and a year of Brittanica Online. If she escaped, the pilot received a portable music system in addition to a 32-volume set of Encyclopædia Britannica or an ACME Time Net mission pack.
The show always ended with Kevin, the pilot, and the Engine Crew saying: "At ACME Time Net, history is our job, and the future is yours!", followed by the theme song being played again, as they all headed back to the present.

Episodes

Season 1 lasted 65 episodes and ran from October 7, 1996 until January 3, 1997. Season 2 lasted for 50 episodes and ran from October 6, 1997 until December 12, 1997. Reruns of the show continued on PBS until October 2, 1998.

V.I.L.E. gang

Other than playing the Engine Crew, Owen Taylor, Jamie Gustis, Alaine Kashian, and John Lathan as well as James Greenberg and Paula Leggett Chase also portrayed Carmen's V.I.L.E. minions.
The budget was smaller on this version of the show compared to World. As a result, the grand prize for a winning pilot capturing Carmen was a computer system instead of a trip. If the contestant did not win in the trail of time, he/she received a 32 volume set of encyclopedias and a stereo system. Pilots on all levels received the ACME Time Net Mission Pack, which consisted of: a baseball cap, a T-shirt, a Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? board game, a Where in the U.S.A. Is Carmen Sandiego? board game, a Where in Space is Carmen Sandiego? board game, a plastic watch, an Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, and a set of the most recent Carmen Sandiego CD-ROM games. The runner up in round 2 would receive a CD player.

Production

Conception

The series was created as a spin-off of the long-running geography game show, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?. Executive producers Kate Taylor of WGBH and Jay Rayvid of WQED wanted to refocus the show on history as a recent study had shown American children were weak in this area, and because Broderbund had already create a game in this field. Taylor noted that it was important to them to create something new and fresh and different for fans of the original show.
Around 10% of each half hour episode consisted of computer-generated animation and 3-D special effects, and the graphics/illustration for all episodes in a season were produced in around four months. The budget for each episode of the show' was $46,000. Animator David J. Masher spent $120,000 for animation equipment in his studio -he worked with a tight schedule and low budget. The question writers worked with the Encyclopædia Britannica and a panel of history teachers.

Educational goals

Rayvid noted that history can be more politically-charged than the more cut-and-dry geography, noting, for instance, how the nature of historical documents led to bias toward male white stories. Moving away from a pro-American bias, in a World War II themed episode, the show spoke candidly about American internment camps for Japanese-Americans, citing this as an example of how "We try to deal with controversy in a very straightforward, educational way". Another aim of the show was to give young viewers "a sense of time", in that things happened before they were born that influenced their current reality.

Production

The music on the show was performed by The Engine Crew. The music package included the theme song and the songs about clues in the engine room. The theme was played in the opening and closing sequences. When the contestant was heading for the trail of time, the theme was sometimes edited after the crew sang, "We're on the case" and the villains say, "And they're chasing us through history!". In the second season, when the contestant headed for The Trail of Time, the ending was normal instead of the villains singing the end part. The show's main theme song was written by Sean Altman of Rockapella and David Yazbek, and is sung by The Engine Crew.
Like its predecessor series, which faced outdated information during its run, the end of every episode had an audible disclaimer from Lynne Thigpen stating that "All historic information has been verified by Encyclopedia Britannica." with the recording date shown with the copyright information at the end of each episode.
The show was funded primarily by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the annual financial support from the viewers/stations of PBS throughout the entire series. Delta Air Lines and the National Endowment for Children's Educational Television both provided funding during the show's first season.
Scott Wells served as the 3-D animator while Raeford Dwyer was the animation producer; together they gave the show a style that mixed computer-treated video FMV performances computer-generated two- and three-dimensional animation and special effects.
A live version of the World and Time shows was performed at 85 sites across the United States and Canada from 1993-7.

Critical reception

The New York Times felt the show stood out among new afternoon series.

Awards

Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego has been nominated thirteen times for awards. It also won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1998.
AwardCategoryNomineeResult
1997 Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Children's Series
1997 Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Performer in a Children's SeriesLynne Thigpen
1997 Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Directing in a Children's SeriesDavid Turner
1997 Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Graphic Titles and Title Design
1997 Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Graphic Titles and Title Design
1997 Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Achievement In Costume Designing/StylingWendy Stuart
1997 Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Hairstyling
1997 Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Live and Direct to Tape Sound Mixing
1997 Online Film & Television Association AwardsBest Game Show
1998 Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Lighting DirectionDikran Hazirjian & Charles Noble
1998 Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Children's Series
1998 Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Performer In A Children's SeriesLynne Thigpen
1998 Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Directing In A Children's SeriesDavid Turner
1998 Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Multi-Camera Editing
1998 Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Costume Design/StylingWendy Stuart

International versions