I swear this happened...maybe my memory will spur someone else's to chime in and agree. I was watching the "Loot, Warrant, Crook" part one afternoon, and due to some sort of technical difficulty, Greg had to keep saying "Rodeo Drive" or whatever over and over again. The little sign refused to flip. When it finally did, Rockapella rang in with, "Low budget. Really low budget!" Greg totally started cracking up and was like, "Oh, we're having fun on Carmen Sandiego today!"

I had Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego for my AppleIIGS, and I primarily remember that when you logged in to play, you had a different ranking. You started with Gumshoe. I don't remember anything else, but I liked the world "gumshoe" quite a bit at the time.

That's too funny! I wish I saw that...or maybe I did, but I totally forgot it. I swear, I watched almost every ep. after school...

We played that CS game on the AppleIIe's also in elementary school! But really, an hour is not enough time to get high rankings in that game.

Carmen Sandiego day and Oregon Trail day at computer class - both equally fun!

ooh God. I LOVED this show. I was a first grade social studies nerd, and I would come home from school on Fridays or whenever the show came on (I want to say it came on everyday but I specifically rememeber it on Fridays) and watch it. I wanted to be on there SO bad and get the jackets that they had.

I had a MAJOR crush on the guy with the longest hair in Rockapella. I was such a strange child. And Lynne Thigpen was so cool as the Chief! I loved her and Greg Lee--didn't he show up on Ghostwriter too?

And I had the "Where in the US is Carmen Sandiego?" game. Fun times.

Yes, my name is Readster. And I am a "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" fan. I would watch it ever day after school too and yes, it help me win an award in 7th grade geography, truth be told. I loved when Rockapella would do their anerisms for the loot over and over agian. I remember when the Lockness Monster was stolen. The lines: "A fictional creature" and "Tonight on Unsolve Mysteries" had me rolling. I remember when the Hollywood Bowl got stolen, they found it on the first try and kept going and going trying to find the Warrent and Double Trouble. One line was: "Once again the Hollywood bowl" followed later by: "You know what it is by now."

Yay! Carmen Sandiego! I remember being highly amused with all the names that were actually phrases skewed to sound like names. It make me feel pretty smart to figure those out - especially in the aforementioned Apple IIe game version. There were suspects like Ken Hartley Reed and Polly Esther Fabrique. I even had one of those Carmen Sandiego books! It had weird punch-out cards with suspects on them or something, and a choose-your-own-adventure format. Anyway, props to this thread.

When I was in the seventh grade the entire school had to watch this show every morning during homeroom. It was awesome. I remember the alien Nimoy who I'm assuming was named after Leonard. I'll never forget the song when Nimoy stole the hummingbirds. "Stop the alien. She's got the hummingbirds." Me and my brother still sing this song to each other.

I thought this was a thread for the cartoon, with the cool theme song. My bad.
I don't really remmeber much about the game show.

I'll leave now.

A Carmen Sandiego cartoon? Where was I when that was on?

Apparently there is a Carmen Sandiego movie in the works for 2006. Interesting.

Oh, jcpdiesel, you missed out. The cartoon was about this pair of siblings (Zach and Ivy) who pursued Carmen across the world (and after the show jumped the shark...through time). They also had a chief, but instead of a sassy black woman, it was a weird, computerized, almost Ed Grimleyish projection. All of Carmen's crimes had a theme (she would steal literary objects, objects that were given as gifts, etc.), and she'd leave clues behind for Zach and Ivy to find. In the end, they'd foil her caper, but she'd get away. I watched it obsessively.

Yeah, she always had interesting schemes. I particularly remember the episode where she planned to emblazon her likeness on the face of the moon.

Justin Cognito - Is your name an homage to Carmen Sandiego? I vaguely remember a character being named that :)

I remember when Where on Earth did their tribute to Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego in both seasons. The first time caused history to start getting alterted and Zack and Ivy had to really had to fix those problems. One thing that bothered me was that Carmen never thought about stealing things in time will screw up the present. She finally got it in the second season when she almost wiped herself out. You think for the world's smartest thief, she would figure that when you alter history you are most likely going to screw yourself in the process. More like dumbass when it comes to time travel.

I had a plan like that once...

Now that I think about it, it's pretty spectacularly difficult for kids around 10 to jump around a huge map and figure out where all the European countries are, isn't it? It's hard enough for me to determine which nation is which when the map's up on my computer screen, but I imagine much harder when one is standing on the map and doesn't have the advantage of seeing the whole picture. I doubt I could do that even now, and I'm due to graduate from college in a few months. Supposably.

It was my fourth grade dream to be on this show. I'd sit around and study geography so I could kick butt when I got on. Anyways, like Readster, I also won a middle show geography bee because of this. I think the show also inspired me to buy the board game.

I also remember the cartoon, although I can only recall the plot of one episode.

Although I'm a little late on this, I think Carmen's henchman was Justin Case, not Justin Cognito

One of the episodes of cartoon that I remember was when Carmen had captured rare white lion cubs and two priceless diamond necklaces to be their collars. I also remember the episode where Ivy was about to actually die, and Carmen freaked out, but Ivy still tried to capture her. Kinda bummed me out.

I loved Carmen Sandiego!

I liked Where In Time best because I was old enough to understand all the clues that were given during the show for the Carmen chase.

If they released these on DVD I would so buy them.


I loved the cartoon too.


Who was your favorate crook? Mine was Robocrook.

I have to agree that Robocrook was the shit.

I always liked Patty Larsonee. She stole George Washington's teeth. Then came Top Grundge.

My favorite villain was Jacqueline Hyde from Where in Time...? The pun of her name amuses me the most, especially since she had that nice/mean split personality thing going on.


I remember that episode! She also stole a desert which she intended to use as a giant litter box for the rare cubs. You just gotta love that kind of thinking/planning.

I can barely remember the names of the crooks.

Other than the ones mentioned I remember Ertha Brute and Double Trouble.

I loved Double Trouble and the Contessa. Those were my favorites.

Ok, is it wrong that I burned the "Where in the World" theme song on a CD and play it in my car sometimes?

DO IT, ROCKAPELLA!!

Robocrook was the shit. I think if he wanted too, he could have taken Carmen down and led V.I.L.E.

All my friends used to think I was a geek because I would watch the show. They weren't laughing when I got A's on my geography test.

I always called Lynne Thigpin The Chief, no matter what she did. And I had almost all the computer games. *Dork*

Oooooh, memories. I was completely addicted to everything Carmen Sandiego from the age of 3 to 10. I watched all the game shows, the cartoon, had most of the board games, and the computer games. Kinda sad, yeah, but that's what helped me to become a geography whiz (I finished 11th in the state of Oklahoma in 7th grade... 1 tie-break question away from the final round with the top 10 people for a chance to go to nationals- i didn't know what TVA stood for then. Heh.)

I would love if they put out a DVD of the original "World" game show. I remember having a crush on Patty Larceny. Hee.

This series probably inspired us all to be geography scholars. I remember feeling like shit when my 8th grade Geography Bee got cancelled because one of the teachers forgot to send in the proper paperwork. And I was a real geek about it, too. Ah, well.

Carmen Sandiego is the reason I always got a good grade in social studies and history. I won my class geography bee in 8th grade, but placed 4th in the school bee. I ALWAYS wanted to be on that show. Where was it taped, anyway? I know I would have won. I loved that show. I still remember the theme song. "Where In Time" wasn't the same, but I watched it anyway. I have the old computer games "WITWorldICS", "WITUSAICS", AND "WITimeICS" for Commodore 64. I also have the CD-Rom version of Where In The World from the late nineties. I like it, but it lacks the cheesy, primitive charm of the original. The 2000 version of Where In Time was so easy a five year old could win. Pathetic. It was more like "Find the hidden object" than pretending to be a detective. I always liked detective stuff. Guess that explains why I still read Nancy Drew novels.

I know it inspired me! I remember rocking geography in 8th grade. I even had all of the countries of Africa nailed down at one point. I could have totally won the final round on the show by matching the lights to the countries!

Did anyone else feel kind of cheated when in the final round, the contestant had to match up the lights and the continent was North America, and they had to do the states? I was always like "Boo... states are easy!"

Then I laughed when they mixed up Oklahoma and Texas and ended up as a loser. My brother and I would throw things at the television in protest that such geography boons got to be on the show and we didn't.

And Rockapella...I've seen them twice in concert. Honestly, they rock. Soooo great. They always end the show by singing the Carmen Sandiego theme. Even though the big bass guy from the show has been replaced by another big bass guy, it brings back all the memories...the whole audience shouting back "Where in the world is...Carmen Sandiego?"

If you get a chance, check out Rockapella's website and where they'll be going on tour. You won't regret it. And man, that lead singer...can he move. Mmm.

I used to watch this all the time with my mom as a kid. I used to be so entertained because she would get SO ANGRY with the kids at the end for not running fast enough.

Same here. 1986 was when I first played the computer game at school on our Apple IIe dinosaurs. Our sixth grade class was divided into teams and we had a morning-long competition. My team kicked ass. Our prize? Ice cream party. Good times... Then I made my mom buy the game so I could play it at home all summer.

Oh wow, Carmen Sandiego, now this brings back some good memories. - Greg, the Chief, the Gumshoes, Rockapella...especially Rockapella. I've still got a tape of them lying around somewhere.They have a website?! Whoah! Aw, but they don't have the jackets and the cool hats they wore on Carmen Sandiego.

Favorite villains - I'm not sure, but as people name them, (Double Trouble, Eartha Brute), it all comes rushing back.

I don't think I was old enough to benefit from the geography questions. I was able to answer very few of them, and by the time I got to the upper grades (when it would have been useful), it was off the air. It didn't matter - my siblings and I were still excited when it came to the last round, especially if the map was Asia. We were always screaming and jumping around if the kid won everything.

Yes, there was indeed a cartoon show. It aired on Fox, and didn't have nearly as cool a theme as it's gameshow predecessor. The only episode I remember is the one where Carmen Sandiego faked her death to see who could figure it out first. Zack and Ivy beat out all the power-grabbing minons, so ta-da, Carmen tells them they'll inherit her crime syndicate. Which somehow didn't seem like a good plan - you're going to hand over the organization to the people trying to stop you?

Hey all! I can't believe that anyone remembered this show. I was wondering if anyone remembered what game system you could play this on? I was thinking it was the N64, but it might have been something else. I am trying to figure out if I have the right system to play the game. Thanks!

I really liked this show as a kid, and I loved everyone from the Chief to Carmen to Rockapella. I think it was the reason I loved geography the most even though I later found out I was better at history, and by then, the show wasn't as interesting.

I had the CD ROM game from the 90s. It's still in my house, and I played that game to death. I remembered all the answers and the factoids about the countries, and it was very easy for me to predict Carmen's location. A lot of the time, I just flew to the countries and daydreamed and harassed locals.

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego effing owned. Where in Time and the cartoon were total ripoffs, nothing beats the original. Though I still had to watch Where in time...

Ok, so Chief died in real life, that's sad :(

Loved this show. From the opening song to Chief, it was all great. Except, Rockapella got less cool when my school started playing their version of O Canada every morning. Ugh.

I always remembered the last round being really hard and people rarely winning...or maybe this was because I was in Canada and didn't know all the States that it seemed hard.

Whoa. Best thread ever.

I always wanted to be on the show too, but not as a contestant. The regular cast always looked like they were having so much fun. Anyway, it must have been taped in New York City. There was always a "special thanks to P.S. 60" (or whatever number school they had in the audience that week) in the end credits. (I remember being really angry when I saw my old school in the credits, years after I had moved to Jersey. )

Does anybody else have the 'Where in the World...' soundtrack featuring Rockapella? I bought the tape when I was little, and went on a quest to find the CD last year, because that is some seriously good music.

Cool! Just reading this thread title gets that song rocking in my head.

I loved the game show! I was in college watching this show! Loved Rockapella and the, what would you call them, comments they sang.

The only thing that bugged me about the show was the grand prize game. It almost seemed to hard for the kids. I'm pretty sure I couldn't identify a country from that angle (standing on the map).


Yes, in 2003, very sad! And ita with whoever it was that said that to me Lynne Thigpen will always be "The Chief".

I remember watching this show while I was eating dinner(or while I was waiting for dinner to be done cooking). IT was awesome I loved the singing group and I LOVED Lynne Thigpen as The Chief. I also agree with whoever said that she would always be "The Chief." I wish that they would put it on re-runs (even if they are old episodes!) I miss this show!

Oh my god. I came home from college to discover that my little brother got a Carmen Sandiego game for our Gamecube through the scholastic (apparently not just) book orders (now) in school, and the game? Involves sneaking up on and attacking robots.

Fun game, as a somewhat mindless pastime, but not Carmen Sandiego. The game even FIGURES OUT WHERE YOU HAVE TO GO NEXT FOR YOU! (You collect compasses that represent GPS co-ordinates, and when you get all five at one location, Poof! You're off to the next!)

And the voice of the Chief in the in-game cutscenes(!) is obviousy trying to be the Chief from the game show, but she's just not the same.

I still know every country in Europe and their capitals and locations thanks to this game. I remember when I was 11 and was stoked that I was forced to retire because I was too good at it. That happens when you capture all of Carmen's cronies, then Carmen, then all of her cronies again.

When Rockapella sang "Eartha Brute," they always followed it with a manly "HUH!" right? That's how it sounds in my head.

I can still hearing them going, "The war-rant!"

The only thing I remembered from that game on Apple was that whenever you lost, a pair of eyes would appear from a trash can. Maybe this is just a figment of my imagination, but that is all I would remember. Does anyone recall how the game worked? It is killing me that I don't even remember the basic premise but I was in love with that program.

I LOVED this show. I hate myself that I never taped anything as a child including this. I would love for this to come on DVD in like a best of set or something. Actually I emailed Shout a while ago and begged them to do it. They would be great because of all the diffrent stuff they do an amazing job on.

You can find it here

http://www.virtualapple.com/whereintheworl...diegodisk.html¸

There are other classics as well, including Oregon Trail!

http://www.virtualapple.com/

Enjoy!

My cousin had the computer game as well. We were quite young at the time, so we never played it.

I loved the cartoon so much. I watched it everyday after school in grade 8 or 9.

OMFG, I LOVED THIS SHOW! I used to watch this show every fucking day when I was in elementary school.

Lynne Thigpen (may she rest in peace) was the shit.

Greg Lee was a pretty good host.

And Rockapella did the Al Capono (blame Nicole Parker's MAD TV take on Ashlee Simpson for that one) like no one else. Didn't they do their share of Folger's commercials after the last Carmen Sandiego series?

I remember Carmen's posse. The Contessa. Patty Larceny. Eartha Brut. My God, she was a bigger lesbian than Jo Polniaczek, Miss Hathaway, Alice the housekeeper, and Ellen fucking Morgan put together! No, really, she was.

I still remember the order on the board: THE LOOT. THE WARRANT. And THE CRIMINAL.

Are you sure it wasn't the CROOK?

When I was little, I always wondered how Carmen Sandiago managed to steal certain items, considering they were kind of hard to steal. (Liberty Bell, Great wall of China, the Pyramids etc.)

So when I was little, I was playing the where in the world is Carmen Sandiago with my friend. So what happens, whenever Carmen steals something, you always first travel to the country of the missing item. So if Carmen steals Taj Mahal, you first go to India....A ukranian egg, Ukraine...etc.

This time, Carmen stole the entire nation of Indonesia!

So the computer showed the airplane flying right into the water! (Indonesia was erased)

Yeah as the seasons progressed they started having increasing screwed up things as the Loot,(The freaking MOON comes to mind). I know that overthinking this show is generally a bad thing, buts sometimes you suspend your disbelief only so far before you say "oh come ON now".

I wonder if there was anyone obsessive enough to list which crook stole what item in every season?

I do know that Robocrook stole the Gateway Arch. Impressive.

The episode guide for the show at tv.com seems pretty decent.