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7th Mar '13 7:43:10 AM StFan

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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Carmen_time_859.jpg]]
Successor to ''WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego?'' on Creator/{{PBS}}, it challenged kids with history instead of geography. The action took place aboard The Chronoskimmer, a massive floating TimeMachine powered by knowledge and dancing crew members. The gumshoes were renamed "Time Pilots", host Kevin Shinick was their "Squadron Leader", and "The Chief" Lynne Thigpen from ''World'' had a much less prominent role. And for the first (and, to date, only) time, a live actress played the lady in red herself.

The format was virtually identical to that of ''World''. Three contestants answered trivia questions to earn "Power Points" (instead of "ACME Crime Bucks") and track one of Carmen's crooks through time. Eventually, the contestant with the lowest score was sent home with a ConsolationPrize package, and the remaining contestants played a mini-game that had them place historic events in reverse chronological order. The winner moved on to the BonusRound, "The Trail of Time", to try to capture Carmen and win the grand prize.

The show lasted for two seasons on PBS and a total of 115 episodes. New episodes aired from October 7, 1996, to December 12, 1997. Reruns continued on PBS until October 2, 1998.
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!!GameShowTropes in use:
* BonusRound: "The Trail of Time". The contestant went through six stations and answered a question at each one. For a correct answer, the door opened and the contestant moved on to the next station; an incorrect answer meant that the contestant had to open the door manually using a pulley, a pump, or whatever was there.
* GoldenSnitch: The reverse chronological order game. The contestant with the most Power Points got to choose who went first, but it was just a matter of luck and memory as far as who won. So a contestant could do poorly on the trivia rounds and still make it to the BonusRound by winning this game.
* LosingHorns: The time buzzer in the Trail of Time round was a type A. Carmen herself [[EvilLaugh laughed]] as well.
* Personnel:
** TheAnnouncer: Lynne Thigpen.
** GameShowHost: Kevin Shinick.
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!!This show contains examples of:
* AcmeProducts: Sort of. Acme Timenet appears to be a spiritual successor or branch of the Acme Detective Agency. 
* ActingForTwo: Due to budget constraints, most of the actors on the show portrayed more than one character, the notable exception being the two actresses who played Carmen Sandiego. 
* AmbiguousSyntax:
-->'''Jacqueline Hyde''': I was just playing catch with my uncle. ''[switches to Hyde mode]'' Boy, is he hard to throw!
* BlackBossLady: Lynne Thigpen.
* TheCameo: One episode had the ''World'' Chief suddenly appear on the ship as it traveled around 1991, and as you'd expect she wondered where Greg Lee and Rockapella were. Thigpen wore her ''World'' costume, and even got to speak with [[TalkingToHimself her equally confused future incarnation]]. (Considering that the whole reason ''Time'' existed was because ''World''[='s=] budget was slashed, this cameo may fall squarely into BitingTheHandHumor and/or SelfDeprecation.)
* CanonImmigrant: All the Season 2 villains appeared in the 1997 version of the video game, along with four additional villains (Baron Grinnit, Jane Reaction, General Mayhem, and Dee Cryption). Note Baron Wasteland isn't in the video game, but they put a different character with the title "baron" in it.
* CardboardPrison: You'd think they'd have fixed it by now with all that fancy technology.
* CardCarryingVillain: Carmen, as portrayed in the show's opening, as well as all her crooks. Very much the opposite of her portrayal in the ''WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego'' cartoon. (She didn't have any characterization to speak of in the ''World'' game show, aside from being [[SurroundedByIdiots annoyed by her crooks' incompetence]].)
* CartoonBugSprayer: Carried by Buggs Zapper. Perhaps a way to give him some kind of weapon [[FamilyFriendlyFirearms in lieu of an actual gun]]. He is a gangster, after all.
* CatchPhrase: "At ACME Time Net, history is our job! The future is yours!"
** Carmen: "There's something very special I want you to steal. Bring it back to me in this Loot Orb when you have it."
** The Chief: "Time Pilots, [a member of Carmen's gang] just stole something from the past! You've got twenty-eight minutes to get it back, or history will change forever!"
* CouchGag: What the thief-of-the-week says after being summoned by Carmen at the start of the show.
* DelayedRippleEffect
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Early contestants on the Trail of Time wore elbow pads and knee pads in addition to their helmets.
* EvilIsHammy: V.I.L.E. liked to ham it up.
* ExpositoryThemeTune: "Chronoskimmer, engine's hot, V.I.L.E. villains, evil plot! Our brave squadron leader will help us defeat her and bring back the loot to its rightful place in time!" That pretty much sums it up.
* TheFaceless: Carmen's face was always partly hidden by her hat.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: The "Global Pursuit" round always ended with Kevin telling the Time Pilots the crook left the final location just before they got there.
* [[GameOverMan Game Over Woman]]: When the clock hit zero in the Trail of Time, the viewers were treated to a scene of Carmen escaping with an EvilLaugh.
* IllNeverTellYouWhatImTellingYou: Usually at some point in the show in the second season, the villain-of-the-week breaks into ACME communications to [[EvilGloating gloat]] about how the Time Pilots will never find them. By describing the time period where they're hiding in great detail. Might also count as CriminalMindGames.
* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum: The Chronoskimmer runs on "fact fuel" generated by kids answering history questions. [[MST3KMantra It's a game show. Just take it.]]
* KickTheDog: In the MirrorUniverse skits, the ACME members did things like pouring acid on flowers.
* LargeHam: Pretty much the whole cast.
* LaughablyEvil: All of Carmen's gang, especially Baron Wasteland.
* LongBusTrip: Baron Wasteland, replaced by Buggs Zapper in Season 2. They were played by the same actor.
* MirrorUniverse: In one type of skit, the ACME Agency was evil and V.I.L.E. was good. Kevin always announced the skit by saying, "Oh no! We're being sucked into a parallel universe!"
* MonumentalTheft: It wouldn't be Carmen Sandiego without one.
* NintendoHard: The Trail of Time wasn't this in theory (stand in a gate, get asked a question with two possible answers; get it right, or perform a task like turn a wheel or pull a rope)...but in execution, it was painful. They scattered the gates in a big mess, and didn't put any type of trail on the ground (the Engine Crew would point them where to go with airport flashlights). It's led some to believe that PBS deliberately made the whole thing confusing to avoid paying out the grand prize.
* TheOmniscient: Omniscia.
* TheOtherDarrin: Engine Crew member #1 (who wore the yellow costume), switched from Owen Taylor to Jamie Gustis for Season 2. Since the Engine Crew were almost never named, it might not count. This also applies to Dr. Belljar (same actors) and Carmen herself (Janine [=LaManna=] in Season 1, Brenda Burke in Season 2).
* PunnyName: It wouldn't be a CarmenSandiego game without it, although a couple of the puns on the villains' names were less obvious in this show than in ''World''. Buggs Zapper, Baron Wasteland and Jacqueline Hyde were obvious enough. Dr. Belljar and Sir Vile were more obscure, and Medeva was an interesting three-layered pun of Madea, Medieval and Diva.
* RoguesGallery:
** AristocratsAreEvil: [[http://m.youtube.com/index?client=mv-google&desktop_uri=%2F&gl=US&rdm=4ozmbjp0z#/watch?v=vXPmYxuwOL4 Baron Wasteland]].
** JekyllAndHyde[=/=]SplitPersonality: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giSfAVG_l9g Jacqueline Hyde]].
** MadScientist: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ8tbKar3lg Dr. Belljar]].
** [[EvilSorcerer Evil Sorceress]]: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVkUCeVoYk0 Medeva]].
** KnightErrant: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-t_U5SJ8Os Sir Vile]].
** TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily[=/=][[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have to Be Bugs?]]: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN6WoRxhNXs&feature=related Buggs Zapper]].
* RhymesOnADime: Medeva. "Parsley, Rosemary, Thyme and Sage... What's up, boss? I got your page."
* ScreenShake: When the Chronoskimmer got hit by something.
* ShootTheFuelTank: The V.I.L.E. villains would sometimes do it to drain the Chronoskimmer's "fact fuel". Of course, it wouldn't explode.
* SpeedRound: While not timed, the "Data Boost" segments served this purpose. They consisted of either/or questions on the buzzers at 5 points each, up or down ([[DoubleTheDollars 10 points for the final, "Ultimate Data Boost"]]). Similarly, the "Global Pursuit" segment, which was triple choice for 5 points up or down.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Buggs Zapper, who replaced Baron Wasteland in Season 2. Justified, in that they were played by the same actor.
* TechnoBabble: A lot of it. What exactly is a "temporal sequencer"?
* TechnologyMarchesOn: The grand prize was a desktop computer with an 850 MB hard drive. Yes, 850 ''megabytes''. We have USB flash drives now with more space than that.
* TimedMission: The "Trail of Time" bonus round was played in 90 seconds. Between the fact that [[TimeKeepsOnTicking each question chewed up six seconds of your time]] and you had to work off any wrong answers by opening the gate manually, you needed 4 out of 6 to even have a fighting chance, and that's if you could work the device quickly enough. Five or six, on the other hand, more or less guaranteed a win...although see NintendoHard, above.
** The contestants ostensibly had 28 minutes to recover the object. Given that that's the length of an episode, it's more of a ContinueYourMissionDammit, because the structure of the show guarantees that they'll recover the object with enough time to spare to put it back, then attempt a Trail of Time campaign.
* TimeMachine: The aptly named Chronoskimmer, much larger than the version in ''WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego''
* TimePolice: ACME Timenet.
* TimeTravel
* TitleThemeTune: "Tell me where in time is Carmen Sandiego?"
* TransatlanticEquivalent: A French-Canadian version aired in about 1998 or so, which amusingly replaced their version of ''World''.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: Jacqueline Hyde's evil side.
* WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens: In the first opening sequence, two of the things The Chief orders the crew to do to get the Chronoskimmer running involve making something spin.
* WorldOfHam: Hoo, boy... A fun game for those at home might be "Pick the Hammiest Actor".
* YouALLLookFamiliar: Recycling the actors created this. It was especially jarring whenever Lynne Thigpen played a different character. Less jarring with the crooks since they were so worked over in post production.
* YouHave48Hours: Or 28 minutes, in this case.
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Successor to ''WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego?'' on Creator/{{PBS}}, it challenged kids with history instead of geography. The action took place aboard The Chronoskimmer, a massive, floating TimeMachine powered by knowledge and dancing crew members. The gumshoes were renamed "Time Pilots", host Kevin Shinick was their "Squadron Leader", and "The Chief" Lynne Thigpen from ''World'' had a much less prominent role. And for the first (and, to date, only) time, a live actress played the lady in red herself.

The format was virtually identical to ''World''[='s=]. Three contestants answered trivia questions to earn "Power Points" (instead of "ACME Crime Bucks") and track one of Carmen's crooks through time. Eventually, the contestant with the lowest score was sent home with a ConsolationPrize package, and the remaining contestants played a mini-game that had them place historic events in reverse chronological order. The winner moved on to the BonusRound, "The Trail of Time", to try to capture Carmen and win the grand prize.

The show lasted for 2 seasons on PBS and a total of 115 episodes. New episodes aired from October 7, 1996 to December 12, 1997. Reruns continued on PBS until October 2, 1998.

to:

Successor to ''WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego?'' on Creator/{{PBS}}, it challenged kids with history instead of geography. The action took place aboard The Chronoskimmer, a massive floating TimeMachine powered by knowledge and dancing crew members. The gumshoes were renamed "Time Pilots", host Kevin Shinick was their "Squadron Leader", and "The Chief" Lynne Thigpen from ''World'' had a much less prominent role. And for the first (and, to date, only) time, a live actress played the lady in red herself.

The show lasted for two seasons on PBS and a total of 115 episodes. New episodes aired from October 7, 1996, to December 12, 1997. Reruns continued on PBS until October 2, 1998. A {{revival}} is scheduled to premiere in January 2013.

1st Oct '12 3:12:18 PM cesario

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27th Sep '12 3:57:28 PM cesario

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17th Sep '12 4:46:29 AM Random888