Line #2 YMMV/SpeedRacer


1	!! The Series
2	* AdaptationDisplacement: The anime is very, very far more well-known than the manga.
3	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The theme song, whether in Japanese ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YTq7AJm_GI Mahaa Go-Go-Go!]]) or English ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KphSPOi5Rw Go Speed Racer Go!]]), is incredible to hear.
4	* CommonKnowledge: In the original series, Rex Racer merely left home after an argument with Pops and never returned; he wasn't [[FakingTheDead presumed dead]] as later adaptations and the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' homage episode would have you believe.
5	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: While not exactly obscure in Japan, ''Mach [=GoGoGo=]'' is mostly known there for being popular in America. The original series' ratings averaged around 13-14% in Japan, which sounds impressive at first but was more along the lines of average for an anime series in that era. In fact, even the Japanese dub of the live-action film kept the American title and names of the characters and the 1997 remake was mainly made with the intention of dubbing it overseas.
6	* GoodBadTranslation: Who ''doesn't'' remember the {{Narm}}tacularly hilarious dialogue?
7	* HilariousInHindsight:
8	** The GRX from "The Fastest Car In The World" has a top speed of 250 mph and requires drivers to take a special drug to handle the speed. 250 mph is the approximate top speed of the Bugatti Veyron which has been driven that fast without any ill effects. In fact, when it was first shown on ''Series/TopGear'', the presenter who first took it to said top speed was James "Captain Slow" May.
9	** Speed's/Go's Japanese voice actor Katsuji Mori would later play [[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends another energetic character who likes being fast, and supports the number 5.]]
10	* ItWasHisSled: [[LukeIAmYourFather Racer X is Speed's brother]], mainly because the narrator ''always'' points this out. This was [[spoiler: almost convincingly]] subverted in TheMovie, [[spoiler:making the DoubleSubversion at the end all the juicier (and more heartbreaking)]].
11	* MemeticMutation:
12	** Everyone has parodied how every character in the show is a MotorMouth.
13	** In TheNineties (during its NewbieBoom) it was popular for kids to say "Go Eraser! Go Eraser! Go Eraser GOOOO!" with chalk/whiteboard erasers.
14	** While it's likely more a case of exaggeration, the abundance of [[{{Gasp}} pronounced gasping]], "Aahh!" and "Ooohh!" sounds characters [[VerbalTic sometimes make]] at the end of their sentences have become memes in their own right, usually when reading out something with no punctuation, such as in [[https://youtu.be/15nNY7uofNw?t=1m2s this video]].
15	** [[https://youtu.be/uQJBLaIq2dI "He's going over that cliff!]] '''''[[OhCrap AAAAAAGH!]]'''''" has become a pretty symbolic sequence, somewhat due to Speed Racer's... odd noises while trying to control his car, but primarily due to how shockingly realistic the scream is. Many have commented how it sounds like the actor was genuinely being murdered.
16	--->'''[=YouTube=] Commenter''': They killed this man live in the studio to get that scream
17	** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saM8Rn0ahFA A sound that normal humans make]]". The sound in question? "Oæp."
18	* MemeticPsychopath: Speed himself is one, due to a large amount of clips being posted showing moments of him that paint him in a less flattering light, to the point where it borders on BlackComedy, a very notable example being the scene where he's told Hap Hazard needs to win the race money to pay for his sister's medical treatment. Speed's response? Say it [[HonorBeforeReason wouldn't be fair to just let him win]], tune out Trixie, and ''[[CrossesTheLineTwice speed up to win the race.]]'' The smile he makes after winning the race really sells it. He later loses a race, and even with Speed going into UnintentionallySympathetic territory, his SoreLoser reaction has been described by one commenter described his reaction as ''"Trying to kill the siblings with his mind."'' And that's just the tip of the iceberg...
19	* {{Narm}}:
20	** Snake's about to beat Speed Racer, and [[TemptingFate says it out loud as if in disbelief that he's gonna win.]] One second later, his car engine catches on fire because he was [[ExplosiveOverclocking suffering an oil leak and pushing the car too hard]], and the entire vehicle explodes in five after that. ''Right before the finish line.'' It comes off as downright PlotArmor for Speed, and an insanely precise and convenient amount of LaserGuidedKarma on Snake.
21	** In ''Race for Life'', Speed just won a South American Grand Prix cup and is being serenaded with flamenco music and a dancer. Right after a brief comment with no animation from him, hellish screaming ensues as it cuts back to the dancer.. and just lingers on her for the next couple seconds as if no one heard it. It's hard to tell if it was a horribly misfire on dubbing a flamenco shout as agonized terror, or if it's the crowd reacting to a wounded José stumbling into the scene and everyone inexplicably has a huge DelayedReaction.
22	--->'''Speed''': Heheh.. Olé!
23	--->'''Dancer''': '''''AAAAAAOOOOUUUGGGGHHHH'''''
24	* NarmCharm:
25	** The English dub. It may make everyone a MotorMouth, and be full of all kinds of weird [[VerbalTic verbal tics]]... and yet, the show wouldn't be nearly as beloved as it is without the corny acting.
26	*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saM8Rn0ahFA Sometimes it doesn't even end up sounding like human language!]]
27	** The narration dramatically reveals Racer X's true identity (it's Speed's brother!!) practically OnceAnEpisode, which goes from [[ViewersAreGoldfish annoying and slightly patronizing]] to ridiculously funny after about the fourth or fifth time it happens.
28	* SignatureScene:
29	** The shot of Speed posing in front of the Mach 5 in the opening theme.
30	** Speed confronting Racer X about his true identity in ''The Trick Race.''
31	* SoBadItsGood: The English dub. Except it's so bad it's ''awesome''.
32	* SubbingVersusDubbing: Many people actually prefer the ''dub'' because, well, a lot of people grew up on it and it has its NarmCharm from being made in the 60s.
33	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Hap Hazard needs a race's prize money to get his sick sister the hospital treatment to save her life, and the show even goes out of its way to make Speed take his competitive nature to the logical extreme and [[JerkassBall ignore this fact for the sake of his racing pride.]] However, Hap Hazard had been kind of an arrogant {{Jerkass}} himself up to this point. Speed then loses anyway by a pure technicality, and Hap's response is to toss his sister in the air while loudly and cheerfully boasting to the world around him, "''I beat Speed Racer!''" Viewers seem to side more with Speed's SoreLoser tantrum than with Hap's "victory".
34	* {{Woolseyism}}: The "ninjas" were changed to "Assassins" in the dub. Which is actually correct, given their role in history.
35	* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: People [[KilledOffForReal die]] in this series on a regular basis[[note]]Including Speed himself sending a random green car over the wall into a fatal explosion in the ''opening credits!''[[/note]], and while there's no gore or explicit blood, it doesn't even attempt to disguise how horrible some of the wrecks and incidents are, nor disguises things like villains plummeting off cliffs and real guns shooting people quite a lot. No one [[NeverSayDie dances around the subject matter either]], which makes it all the more jarring to realize that an entire generation of kids were raised on a series that puts more controversial cartoons like ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' to shame. Today's audiences consequently suffer a case of ValuesDissonance when they look back on this and realize just how ''dark'' such an over-the-top and corny series can be thanks to its shonen roots.
36	----
37
38	!! The Film
39	* {{Anvilicious}}: The film is not subtle about its belief that [[MoneyDearBoy Big Money]] is a corrupting influence on everything it touches.
40	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The whole soundtrack, but especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9Ppk66I8J4&feature=PlayList&p=72D37D7679AAB793&index=7 Reboot]], played during the final race in which Speed [[spoiler: restarts his car from being burned out during the race and comes from dead last to first place]]. The track combines and recreates old pieces of the original ''Anime/SpeedRacer'' soundtrack with a more modern and high-tech feel, with a bit of chorus in the background, culminating in the ''perfect'' musical accompaniment for Speed's main SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
41	* CultClassic: See VindicatedByHistory below. In a nutshell, a defined group of fans has grown progressively less ashamed of adoring this movie.
42	* LoveToHate: Arnold Royalton is a cruel CorruptCorporateExecutive who will do anything to ruin the lives of the Racer family and racing as a whole, but Creator/RogerAllam's [[LargeHam powerful, menacing]] performance as well as him having some of the best lines of dialogue in the entire movie made for an outstanding villain, commonly being one of the high points of even the most scathing reviews.
43	* MagnificentBastard: [[BadassDriver Taejo Togokhan]] is a hotshot racer and the heir to Togokhan Motors out to help his family by any means necessary. Approaching Speed Racer and Racer X, Taejo promises to expose the crimes of [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Arnold Royalton]] and Cruncher Block if they prevent Royalton’s buyout of Togokhan Motors by winning the Casa Cristo race. When Block’s agents poison him and leave him unable to race, Taejo has Speed's girlfriend Trixie race in his place. Taejo then [[DisguisedInDrag disguises himself as his sister Horuko]] and captures Block when he tries to kidnap him. After the group wins the Casa Cristo, Taejo reveals that he wanted to raise the stock of Togokhan Motors so Royalton would be forced to pay much more for it and leaves without helping Speed or X. When Speed enters the WRL Grand Prix, Taejo cheers him on and [[ChangedMyMindKid decides to testify against Royalton to put him away]].
44	* MemeticMutation:
45	** Speed's infamous [[{{Narm}} "Get that weak]] [[PrecisionFStrike shit]] [[{{Narm}} off my track!"]] line [[spoiler:during his battle with Cannonball Taylor]] has become a somewhat popular catchphrase in the racing game and sim communities.
46	** A fanmade edit of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S18Hm1q0srE the grand finale race]] with the Eurobeat track "[[Manga/InitialD The Top]]" neatly dropped into the sequence became quite memetically popular in the fandom in general. Bonus points for the vocals (and the theme of the song in general) matching up perfectly and syncing to the scene.
47	* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: The Nintendo Wii video game is considered a pretty good ''VideoGame/FZero'' knockoff.
48	* PoorMansSubstitute: [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Cruncher Block]] for almost any character ever played by [[LondonGangster Tom Wilkinson]].
49	* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/ArielWinter as young Trixie, only a year before she became famous as Alex Dunphy on ''Series/ModernFamily''
50	* TheScrappy:
51	** Snake Oiler is one of the whiniest and most annoying villains to appear onscreen. Though granted, that's likely the point.
52	** Spritle and Chim-Chim aren't exactly popular to some fans, as they take up a lot of the movie's time with juvenile comic relief scenes.
53	* SignatureScene: The final race, where, [[spoiler:through sheer determination, Speed races all the way to first at the speed of a jet plane, grapples two racers so that they crash into each other, and basically give the laws of physics the finger.]]
54	* SoBadItsGood: Be it design or accident, it's a damn awesome movie if you're in the right mindset.
55	* SpiritualAdaptation: It's just as viable an adaptation of ''VideoGame/FZero'' as it is of ''Anime/SpeedRacer''.
56	* SpiritualSuccessor: The video game is the closest thing we'll get to ''VideoGame/FZero'' on the Wii and DS.
57	* VindicatedByHistory: As the years have gone on, the film has found several defenders and even a decent sized fanbase, with even Time Magazine, Den of Geek and [[http://observer.com/2018/05/looking-back-at-the-wachowskis-2008-masterpiece-speed-racer/ Observer]] looking back at the film as being underappreciated, and is sometimes even compared to works like ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'' and ''Film/PacificRim'' in terms of quality. [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/Egoraptor Arin Hanson]] has stated on numerous occasions that it's his favorite movie.
58	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Courtesy of Creator/DigitalDomain.[[note]] And Creator/SonyPicturesImageworks, Creator/CafeFX, Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic, Creator/RisingSunPictures, BUF [[Creator/FilmRoman and]] [[Creator/CompositeImageSystems other]] [[Creator/PacificTitle companies]][[/note]]

Context YMMV / SpeedRacer