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Anyone ever seen this show? It ran on CBS on Saturday mornings in 1984. It was (very loosely) based on the Namco video game series of the same name. They licensed the title and two of the race cars (one from each game) but had to make up the plot, since the games had none. It lasted one season of 13 episodes. I only recently learned about it, and I finished watching it tonight, so I figured I'd post about it.
The series follows Tess Darrett, her brother Dan, their little sister Daisy, and their pet Kuma as they travel the country. Tess and Dan are members of a government crime-fighting agency named Pole Position, and they're operating under the guise of a traveling car stunt show (also named Pole Position). Their parents were also Pole Position agents, but they died, so Tess and Dan took over. The opening theme song shows the scene where their Uncle Zachary, the head of Pole Position, makes them agents. Tess and Dan's cars (Wheels and Roadie, respectively) have computers with A.I. personalities, which can be detached from the car and carried around as modules. The cars are tricked out with various gadgets, Speed Racer-style. Tess drives a 1965 red-and-black Ford Mustang, and Dan drives a futuristic light blue coupe. Tess is the more level-headed one, and Dan prefers to practice his stunts instead of doing the mission (at least early on) and often underestimates the situation.
The series was produced by DiC (Do It Cheap) and features music by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban, so things should feel fairly typical for anyone that's consumed a decent amount of 1980s cartoon series. It is a bit more mature (or less stupid) in its storytelling than stuff like Transformers or G.I. Joe, though.
Episodes typically follow a formula of the team being sent somewhere by Uncle Zachary, and they have to solve a local mystery/crime (whether part of their mission or something that coincidentally happens to be going on in the area). The episode usually ends with Uncle Zachary explaining things and various characters laughing about something.
One noticeable shortcoming of the series is the lack of scope of the Pole Position organization itself. We see one agent other than Tess or Dan in the first episode, and that's it. Also, backstories go unexplained until episode 10 (Tess and, to a lesser extent, Dan), episode 12 (Uncle Zachary), and episode 13 (Kuma).
You can read more about the series here, and you can watch the entire series on YouTube:
The series follows Tess Darrett, her brother Dan, their little sister Daisy, and their pet Kuma as they travel the country. Tess and Dan are members of a government crime-fighting agency named Pole Position, and they're operating under the guise of a traveling car stunt show (also named Pole Position). Their parents were also Pole Position agents, but they died, so Tess and Dan took over. The opening theme song shows the scene where their Uncle Zachary, the head of Pole Position, makes them agents. Tess and Dan's cars (Wheels and Roadie, respectively) have computers with A.I. personalities, which can be detached from the car and carried around as modules. The cars are tricked out with various gadgets, Speed Racer-style. Tess drives a 1965 red-and-black Ford Mustang, and Dan drives a futuristic light blue coupe. Tess is the more level-headed one, and Dan prefers to practice his stunts instead of doing the mission (at least early on) and often underestimates the situation.
The series was produced by DiC (Do It Cheap) and features music by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban, so things should feel fairly typical for anyone that's consumed a decent amount of 1980s cartoon series. It is a bit more mature (or less stupid) in its storytelling than stuff like Transformers or G.I. Joe, though.
Episodes typically follow a formula of the team being sent somewhere by Uncle Zachary, and they have to solve a local mystery/crime (whether part of their mission or something that coincidentally happens to be going on in the area). The episode usually ends with Uncle Zachary explaining things and various characters laughing about something.
One noticeable shortcoming of the series is the lack of scope of the Pole Position organization itself. We see one agent other than Tess or Dan in the first episode, and that's it. Also, backstories go unexplained until episode 10 (Tess and, to a lesser extent, Dan), episode 12 (Uncle Zachary), and episode 13 (Kuma).
You can read more about the series here, and you can watch the entire series on YouTube: