Pineapple Race

Speed, Trixie, and Sparky study a map of the Southern Hemisphere Pineapple Grand Prix. A young woman named Eloisa hazard comes to the door. She asks Speed to lose the race so her brother, Hap, can win. Offended and angry, Speed orders her to leave and she faints. Speed drivers her home and turns Eloisa over to her brother.

Later, Eloisa confides in Trixie. The prize money is needed to help make her well. But elsewhere, Hap is interrogated. A thug demands to know where Hap has hidden the King's jewel, known as the Mammoth Diamond. Hap confesses: It's hidden inside one of the pineapples to be used in the race.

On race day, each driver must carry a pineapple with him during the entire race. If the fruit is not with the winner at the finish, he will be disqualified. The race begins. The thugs follow in an airplane. They fish the pineapples out of the racecars, slashing the fruit to find the stolen jewel. But time and again, they come up empty handed. Meanwhile, a gang of guitar-playing bandits attacks Speed. Hap accuses Speed of sending out men to steal his pineapple. Appalled, Speed reciprocates the accusation. The two men fight. Hap manages to steal Speed's pineapple. Determined to retrieve it, Speed chases him. Above, in her helicopter, Trixie begs Speed to let Hap win. Despite the plea, Speed accelerates and turns off the radio. Speed and Hap both get caught in a mudslide. Somehow the Mach 5 maneuvers out safely. Then, Speed tows Hap's vehicle. Suddenly, the thugs parachute to the ground and surround the racers. Speed and Hap fight them off. Speed retrieves his pineapple.bSpeed wins the race. Quietly, Trixie tells Chim Chim to take Speed's pineapple to Hap's car. The baffled Speed is disqualified. Hap is proclaimed the winner of $10,000 and a ten-year supply of pineapples. A thousand smaller pineapples fall out of a piñata. The thugs dive in to find the jewel. But Chim Chim, in a feeding frenzy, bites into the jewel, then spits it out. Before the thugs can grab it, a police officer retrieves it. Hap and Eloisa celebrate. Speed forgives Trixie for her prank.

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.