History WesternAnimation / WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: In one episode, Carmen decides to play the ultimate game of chess, and sets out to steal the appropriate pieces. She steals the floor of the Citadel in South Carolina (famous for its red and white checkerboard pattern) for the board, and various statues for the pieces. However, what does she get for her rooks? '''Actual castle turrets''' that are way to big to fit on the gameboard (hell, the gameboard should have fit inside the turrets).

** This was lampshaded when the detectives travel to the future during Carmen's second time travel heist. After being dumped into yet another ridiclously precarious location, Zack complains that having been 100 years since they left, you'd think they could have worked out the kinks by now.

* TongueOnTheFlagpole: A variation; in "The Remnants", Zack is saved from sliding off an icy rooftop when he gets his tongue caught on the gutter.

** The Chief makes a reference to ''Series/TheTwilightZone'', complete with a SuspiciouslySimilarSong.

* AlasPoorVillain: Follow My Footprints".

* RoguesGallery: V.I.L.E, and the occasional outside evil force.

** In "The Good Old Bad Days", the player dares Carmen to try something ''without'' using any of her high-tech equipment. She agrees to this, and actually pulls it off, hijacking the Orient Express with only conventional tools. But as Ivy suspected, Carmen is GenreSavvy enough to keep an escape craft around to flee after she's made her point.

* CommonTongue: Regardless of the country, all the cop cars have "'''POLICE'''" emblazoned on the sides instead of the local equivalent.

** "Timing Is Everything": Mason Dixon steals a ride in Carmen's time machine, and screws up the past to the point where Carmen's just a second-banana sidekick member of V.I.L.E. with poor self-esteem. She even wears gray from thereonin like those of the South Confederate. And has a gray persona to match.

In this series, BrotherSisterTeam Zack (Creator/ScottMenville) and Ivy (Creator/JenniferHale) tracks Carmen (Creator/RitaMoreno), who gradually becomes more and more of a FriendlyEnemy than she ever was in the computer games. ''Earth'' seems to be set in an AlternateContinuity in relation to the rest of the series, although Brøderbund did include some characters from it (Zack, Ivy, Stretch, and the Chief) in ''Carmen Sandiego: Junior Detective Edition''.

* BadassLongcoat: While her appearance here is slightly different than her standard look, Carmen's still got her sexy red coat.

* BadassLongcoat: Carmen's got a sexy red one.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT3DtC1zcW0 Ever hear the "original" theme song?]] You'll be glad they changed it to the more soothing version we've become familiar with. Creator/ShoutFactory [[TitleSequenceReplacement replaced that with the newer intro]] on their DVD.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Ever hear the "original" theme song? You'll be glad they changed it to the more soothing version we've become familiar with. Creator/ShoutFactory [[TitleSequenceReplacement replaced that with the newer intro]] on their DVD.

* RiCreator/DiCEntertainmentulouslyHumanRobots: The Chief is effectively an OmniscientDatabase with an AI interface, but he's still capable of all the emotions a human is.

** This was lampshaded when the detectives travel to the future during Carmen's second time travel heist. After being dumped into yet another riCreator/DiCEntertainmentulously precarious location, Zack complains that having been 100 years since they left, you'd think they could have worked out the kinks by now.

* {{Expy}}: Russian ACME agent Tatiana bears an unmistakable resemblance to Russian [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers Planeteer]] Linka. They also share the same voice actor: Creator/KathSoucie. (This is likely because DiC made the first two seasons of ''Captain Planet'' before it switched to Hanna-Barbera, as well as this show.)

* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: The Chief is effectively an OmniscientDatabase with an AI interface, but he's still capable of all the emotions a human is.

** This was lampshaded when the detectives travel to the future during Carmen's second time travel heist. After being dumped into yet another ridiculously precarious location, Zack complains that having been 100 years since they left, you'd think they could have worked out the kinks by now.

In this series, BrotherSisterTeam Zack (Creator/ScottMenville) and Ivy (Creator/JenniferHale) tracks Carmen (Rita Moreno), who gradually becomes more and more of a FriendlyEnemy than she ever was in the computer games. ''Earth'' seems to be set in an AlternateContinuity in relation to the rest of the series, although Brøderbund did include some characters from it (Zack, Ivy, Stretch, and the Chief) in ''Carmen Sandiego: Junior Detective Edition''.

''Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?'' is a Saturday morning cartoon based on the ''Franchise/CarmenSandiego'' EdutainmentGame series. ''Where on Earth...'' ran on Creator/FoxKids in [[TheNineties the 1990s]]. It is ''not'' to be confused with the Creator/{{PBS}} GameShow by the similar name ''Series/WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego''

* DressingAsTheEnemy: Zack and Ivy end up dressed as V.I.L.E. henchmen a few times, and Ivy takes on the mantle of The Tigress to make Carmen jealous of a new thief in town.

* EasilyForgiven: In "When It Rains", [[spoiler:Dr. Sara Bellum]] committed a series of violent and destructive crimes, disguised as Carmen, so that if her plans failed, Carmen would take the blame. In later episodes, we see her working ''with'' Carmen again, and no mention of her previous treachery is made.

** Carmen's non-violent brand of thievery as contrasted with Maelstrom's and [[spoiler:Sara Bellum's]].

* MadScientist: Sara Bellum. [[spoiler:She eventually has a VillainousBreakdown stemming from a NoodleIncident that was never fully explained.[[note]]The closest explanation Sara herself provides is that she got tired of being Carmen's "main brain."[[/note]]]]

* MagicCountdown: In "Follow My Footprints", Zack and Ivy have 60 seconds to catch Sara Bellum on the Moon, and if the Chief missed with the C5 they'd all be stuck there. As the mainframe is going into its final countdown, the Chief pops up to have a BigDamnHeroes moment which takes longer than the 5 seconds remaining.

* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Maelstrom and Prof. Sara Bellum.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In "Follow My Footprints," as Zack and Ivy prepare to take the C5 to the Moon to stop Sara Bellum from stealing Neil Armstrong's footprint from the Apollo 11 landing site in the Sea of Tranquility, the Chief tries to talk them out of it, even up to when the C5 plots the departure location and the arrival location, to no avail, leaving him to lament what he has allowed them to do, bringing him out of his HeroicBSOD from mourning Carmen's supposed death.

* {{Not H|imself}}erself: Zack and Ivy wonder if Carmen has [[SanitySlippage lost her mind]] when some of her crimes border on pure destruction, especially with the theft of the Spruce Goose and torching the Amazon rainforest. They become even more suspicious with some of the clues they receive, saying it wasn't like Carmen to leave extremely easy clues. [[spoiler:It was actually Sara Bellum [[WigDressAccent impersonating]] Carmen, during the midst of a VillainousBreakdown.]]

* PunnyName: But of course; it wouldn't be V.I.L.E. otherwise. Sara Bellum, Ace Bandage, Claire E. and Cora Net, Paige Turner, Phill M. Critic, Al Loy, every one of Carmen's henchmen who wasn't a {{Faceless Goon|s}} had a job-specific name.

* SnapBack: Besides the fact that almost every episode or StoryArc is completely standalone, the CardboardPrison nature of the show goes [[UpToEleven even beyond Carmen herself]]. The writers never seem to keep track of who's been sent to jail and who evades capture, as various V.I.L.E. henchman are often seen alongside or mentioned to have done work for Carmen even if they were arrested in a previous episode. The most prominent example of this is [[spoiler:Sara Bellum]], who went full [[TheStarscream Starscream]] on Carmen in "When It Rains" and got captured at the end, and then is seen back in V.I.L.E. in "Follow My Footprints" as if nothing ever happened. [[spoiler:Lee Jordan]]'s breakout may be the only time they even attempted a HandWave at this.

* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:Sara Bellum]] in "When It Rains" and Mason Dixon in "Timing Is Everything".