Should Carmen Sandiego return to the airwaves? – Clacking in Color

You guys, a lot has happened to me this past week. I was terminated from my day job. I nearly drowned doing back strokes in an indoor pool. Oh, and my computer decided to become infected by malicious malware. Ah, well. Such is life. Still, it certainly helps to know that fond memories from your childhood can take your mind off such taxing concerns.

Yes? No? Maybe? Am I alone here? I certainly hope not.

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s face facts — the ’90s were the bomb …  just don’t utter that on a plane. As a kid, I used to get a real kick out of some of the cool children’s programming that aired back in the day, especially one show in particular, an intriguing program entitled Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? Hell, I didn’t know where the chick was. I just knew she was awesome. As a master thief and certified lover of large red sun hats, Carmen first made her appearance in 1985 in a string of children’s computer games before landing her very own hit cartoon in 1994 on Fox Kids … not to mention two live action game shows — Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and, my personal favorite, Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? — airing on PBS. It seemed there was such a thing as Carmen mania and I remember being hooked like phonics.

Even today, I’m still a fan of that enigmatic woman in red. Seriously. There was just something rather elusive about that damn Carmen. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Perhaps that’s because she was just so gosh darn hard to find. Or maybe it was because she sported the color red better than Jason, the Red Power Ranger. Either way, I liked her.

However, you know what I really liked about the Carmen Sandiego character? I liked the fact that she was of Hispanic descent. I don’t think I realized her ethnicity as a kid. Quite frankly, it didn’t even matter. However, as I got older, I liked the fact that there was a television show with not only a woman as the lead … but a woman of a darker shade. That’s two for the price of one, folks. You couldn’t find a better deal at your local supermarket!

With that being said, I feel it’s high time that Carmen Sandiego returns to the airwaves. Surely she hasn’t stolen every artifact in the world. I’m thinking that Paris wouldn’t miss the Eiffel Tower so much. I say put her on Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network and lets get this show on the road. There’s a slew of youngsters that need to be treated to a show that helped make the 90s so awesome.

You see, not only was Carmen entertaining, but she actually taught kids something … which is a lot more than I can say for some of today’s children’s programming. Hell, I didn’t know where the Leaning Tower of Pisa was until Carmen actually stole it. The game shows promoted and encouraged learning which was something that made my parents smile. I don’t know what it says about Carmen being a thief and being Hispanic though. There are some that may frown at that, but the way I see it is that you have to be pretty damn smart to be able to go back in time and mess crap up. Carmen was all of that and more.

And she rocked that damn hat like nobody’s business.

Clacked by Jaylen Christie
on Jul 10, 2012 @ 10:00 EST5EDT