racer x

"Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer. He's a demon on wheels." -- The beginning lyrics to the theme song of Speed Racer.

In this week's installment of 'Saturday Morning' we take a break from our regularly scheduled coverage to talk about a cartoon near and dear to many readers' hearts. A cartoon that, while not the first anime to reach the shores of America of the 60s, it was certainly the most influential.

Even though it was never part on any official network schedule, Speed Racer was on somewhere at sometime during the era of Saturday morning cartoons. And, why wouldn't it be? It had everything that a child hopped up on sugar-coated, chocolate-filled cereal could want: action, drama, comedy, mysterious heroes, villains, gadgets, cars, and a boy and his chimp. It also featured animated characters with more natural characteristics than those previously seen on American television. Plus, it had a kick-ass theme song that dug into your brain.

Much has been written on the history of Speed Racer since it premiered over four decades ago. However, with the new Speed Racer live-action film now in theaters, it's a good time to revisit the origins of Speed, Trixie, Pops, Racer X, and the rest of the players. So, if you have your Mach 5 model kit in front of you, let's Go, Go, Go!

I've been posting a lot about the upcoming Speed Racer movie, but so far it's mostly been casting news and not a lot of information on what the actual movie will look like.

Of course, we've been able to venture some guesses as to what we might expect, since the movie is being helmed by Matrix creators Larry and Andy Wachowski.

Matthew Fox of Lost has joined the cast of the upcoming Speed Racer movie as Racer X.

FOX joins previously cast Christina Ricci (Trixie); Emile Hirsch (Speed); and John Goodman and Susan Sarandon (Speed's parents). The new movie will be helmed by the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix), and will begin shooting this summer (while Lost is on break) for a May 2008 release.

I'll admit I don't pay as much attention to movie scuttlebutt as I do television, but based on the rumblings about this movie I've caught here and there, it sounds like it could be pretty cool: an amplified, effects-laden version of the '60s cartoon. I imagine that, not unlike the Matrix movies, it'll be something that needs to be seen on the bigscreen.