Here he comes, here comes…

I’m going to start this thing off by musing on Speed Racer.

This action-adventure anime series was on TV, on good old channel 52, when we were growing up in the 70s in Los Angeles, and it was like amphetamines for us as kids. We watched it religiously, rehashed the episodes over and over, acted it out with our friends and our collection of Hotwheels, and all secretly wanted to live it.

We all wanted our own Mach 5–the car that Speed Racer drove for his dad, Pops Racer, in various international races. We all wanted a brother like Racer X, who secretly helped Speed whenever he was in trouble.

And apparently, we weren’t alone in our love for Speed and the Mach 5, as the 1990s saw numerous revivals of the show, the appearance of a host of nostalgic items (I bought a replica Mach 5 matchbox car), and an additional series.

There’s even now slated to be a revival movie, made by the guys who made Matrix. Who knew back then? We were just kids who liked Speed.