There is something pretty fantastic about sliding back into the popular cartoons of the 60’s. Speed Racer had so much going for it, much like it being a Japanese anime dubbed over in English and brought to the mainstream. Want to learn more?
1. Spritle was named as such because Peter Fernandez, voice director and writer, felt that it would be a fun name for kids and it fit because he was sprite-like.
2. People are constantly casting confusion on Trixie for the fact she’s a teenager who can afford not just lavish vehicles but also her very own helicopter. This comes down to the fact her Father owns Shimura Aviation, so Trixie definitely isn’t hurting for cash.
3. Tatsuo Yoshida claimed that Elvis Presley was a huge inspiration for the look of Speed Racer, right down to the neckerchief and the colorway of his clothing and car. Back in the 60’s, Elvis Presley was a taste maker in regards to bad boy heartthrob culture, so it makes sense!
(Funimation)
4. Trixie’s original name in the Japanese version of Speed Racer is Michi Shimura. This is why she’s got that M on her top, which, you’d think would need some retcon work to make it fit, but folks just shrugged it off. They do this quite often and even Speed had a name change from Go to Speed, which is why the G is on his top. Letters confuse everything!
5. You can always expect dramatic pauses in the titles for Speed Racer and that comes down to finding a clever way to integrate the English dub over the Japanese animation.
6. There were several iterations of the Mach 5 and that usually played into episodic story arcs, like one being made that was to frame Speed in which he found out it could fly, another that was only used in one race and was seemingly just a paint swap, etc. Let’s just say that the Mach 5’s reproduction is obviously very easy to the Racer family.
(Funimation)
7. There’s a love for early American vehicles that was obvious in the Japanese animation in the 60’s even so far as to show steam cars being driven by Pops Racer in the ending credits.
8. The voice director for Speed Racer, Peter Fernandez had only two days to get the scripts prepared and recorded for the English dub of the show. Because plots were complicated, this meant the characters talked incredibly fast in order to get EVERYTHING in the episodes and fitting proper over the original Japanese animation.
