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 Broderbund Software. Just like its predecessor, the show was produced by WGBH Boston and WQED Pittsburgh. The program ran for two seasons on PBS, consisting of 115 episodes (65 in Season 1 and 50 in Season 2), which ran from October 7, 1996 to December 12, 1997, with reruns airing until September 25, 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 Rockapella 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, the longtime home of "Sesame Street". Gameplay. Before the show began, the viewing audience would see Carmen Sandiego in her V.I.L.E. headquarters (in Season 1, Carmen appeared in a fourth wall type of narration; in Season 2, a surveillance nano-probe filmed Carmen's lair unnoticed) 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. (In Season One, she would shine an 'Info-Beam' to give the details of the object in question; in Season Two, she would give the thief a 'Loot Orb' or 'Cybersphere' to contain it.) The Chief then told the audience that Carmen's chosen henchman had stolen something, which had to be recovered in 28 minutes (the length of each episode) to prevent temporal paradox. The show then began with the Engine Crew preparing  the ACME Chronoskimmer (a flying saucer capable of time travel) 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 (ages 10–14) known as "Time Pilots" competed. Each was given 100 'Power Points' to begin. The round was divided into four sections, each  consisting of an informative skit, a question, and then a warp through time to pursue the villain. The first skit was always the Chief identifying the stolen object and its source. After a skit, Kevin would present three possible answers to the pilots. The viewer could see the individual choices represented by an individual color (pink, green, or blue). All three pilots answered the question, and anyone with the correct answer scored 10 Power Points, with no penalty for incorrect answers. Skits that gave clues in the other sections include the following: Other events during the round are: 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, always about a President of the United States. Round Two. With Kevin in 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; whichever  pilot had the higher score from Round One chose who went first, with a coin toss as a tiebreaker. The first pilot to recite the events in the correct order restored the loot to its proper place in time and advanced to the Bonus Round to capture Carmen and the day's villain. Bonus Round: The Trail of Time. The winning pilot had a total of ninety seconds to answer questions posed by Carmen at several "Time Portals", 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 not, he/she was forced to perform a small manual task to open the gate (spinning a wheel, turning a crank, pulling a rope, etc.). Once through the second or third gate, the pilot captured the day's villain and began chasing after Carmen. The pilot had to pass through the sixth gate before time ran out, then take what was called a capture crystal, and place it into what was called the "chronolock chamber" in order to capture her. 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 September 25, 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 (who was also one of the show's producers) and Paula Leggett Chase also portrayed Carmen's V.I.L.E. minions. Prizes. 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. The third-place player received an "ACME TimeNet Mission Pack." It contained a Britannica world atlas; a "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?" t-shirt, baseball cap, and wristwatch; and a collection of Carmen Sandiego CD-ROM games (all of which also  featured Lynne Thigpen as the Chief) and board games: "Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?", "Where in the U.S.A. Is Carmen Sandiego?", and "Where in Space is Carmen Sandiego?" The second-place player received a Mission Pack and a CD player. If the first-place player won the Bonus Round and captured Carmen, he/she won the grand prize of a complete multimedia computer system, a year of Britannica Online, a Britannica CD-ROM encyclopedia, and a 32-volume set of Encyclopædia Britannica. If Carmen escaped, the pilot received a portable music system in addition to a 32-volume set  of Encyclopædia Britannica (in season 1) or an ACME TimeNet Mission Pack (in season 2). 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 created 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!" (used in first season). 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 (and was accurate as of the date this program was recorded)." 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 ("Carmen Sandiego Live") was performed at 85 sites across the United States and Canada from 1993 to 1997. 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.