Hell's Calculated Evil

Speed and Trixie are competing in the Monte Carlo Rally. On an icy mountain road, an old man driving an old-fashioned car catches up to the Mach 5 and shoots at them. Speed skids to a halt. Later, Speed and Trixie look through mug shots at the Monte Carlo police headquarters. Although the search proves fruitless, Trixie spots their attacker in a newspaper article about a Mr. Flashbucks, a heavy winner at roulette. Police Inspector Anton Dubious, along with Speed and Trixie, pay Flashbucks a visit at his gaming table. Of course, he denies the accusation.

Later that night, Speed visits the gambler in his hotel room. Flashbucks admits he lied to the police. Speed kicks him and grabs his gun. A fight ensues. Running through the hotel, Speed is shot at but somehow escapes. Speed calls Inspector Dubious, confirming that Flashbucks is the criminal who attacked them. Before he can finish the conversation, he is knocked unconscious.

The next day, at the Grand Prix, Trixie, Spritle, and Chim Chim wait for Speed to show up. However, the race is canceled when the gas tanks suspiciously blow up. Flashbucks tells Speed, who is strapped to a wall, about his plan to blow up all the world's oil refineries. This would force everyone to ride trains and his investments in train stocks would soar.

Meanwhile, Sparky, Trixie, Spritle, and Chim Chim set out to rescue Speed. On a mountain road, they come to an enormous snow sculpture of the gambler. At his hideout, Flashbucks reiterates his scheme. Trixie sends the homing robot to knock a small bomb out of Flashbuck's hand. It is gobbled up by Chim Chim. Spritle releases Speed. The group escapes in the Mach 5. Speed grabs the bomb from Chim Chim's mouth and throws it out of the car. It explodes, destroying the hideout.

Go Mifune, Daisuke Mifune, Aya Mifune, Kurio Mifune, Sanpei, Michi Shimura, Sabu, Masked Racer/Kenichi Mifune, Detective Rokugo.

US Character Names: Speed Racer, Trixie, Spritle, Chim Chim, Sparky, Racer X/Rex, Pops Racer, Moms Racer

The episode scripts were written in Hollywood, with animation produced in Japan. Other American producers followed the lead of this series in farming out animation.

Daisuke Mifune's (Pops Racer's) team is Mifune Motors in the original Japanese version, but is unnamed in the U.S. version.

Writer/voice actor Peter Fernandez had the job of toning down the original Japanese series for release in the United States. He changed scripts so that no villain was ever killed. Instead, shots were inserted of shocked villains with cartoon stars and planets circling their heads.

Many Speed Racer fans thought that this was an American series from the moment it first aired in the United States in 1967. The series was revived on MTV, leading to a remake by Fred Wolf Films of the 13-minute "The New Adventures of Speed Racer" (1993). This was, in fact, an American show.

A live-action feature film was proposed, but plans were not carried out.

"Speed Racer the Movie" was released in 1994. This 80-minute video compilation consisted of two series episodes, padded out by an episode of "Colonel Bleep" and classic 1960s animated TV commercials.

Speed Racer appeared in a Ghost-Face Killah music video and a Volkswagen commercial.

In 1997, Tatsunoko produced a "30th anniversary" remake series, running for 34 25-minute episodes, for TV Tokyo. Pops was renamed Daisuke Hibiki, while new characters included Mai Kazami and her brother Wataru Kazami. In the final season, the racing theme was eclipsed by time travel, with a new villain, Handler, introduced.