History Series / WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego

** There is at least one episode where the gumshoe hits the last mark in the Map Round ''just'' after time runs out.

Instead of playing for cash, the young "detectives" played for points, here called "Acme Crime Bucks". Halfway through the show, the lowest scorer was eliminated. The two remaining children played a game akin to ''Series/{{Concentration}}'', looking for the loot, the warrant and the crook, in that order. The winner of that round played the end game, placing markers on a large floor map, hoping to arrest Carmen herself and win the grand prize of a trip anywhere in the 48 contiguous United States. In the second season, this was expanded to all of North America; presumably, Hawaii was never an option.[[note]]Geographically speaking, Hawaii is not considered to be part of any continent.[[/note]]

'''Greg''': [[HeyThatsMyLine Go away.]] ''[flees the office]''

* NonLethalWarfare

-->'''Chief:''' All these people want to know...
-->'''Rockapella:''' ''Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?''

-->''Back to back, belly to belly''\\
''Well, I don't give a damn 'cause I'm stone dead already''
* PunnyName

* RogerRabbitEffect: As {{Lampshaded}} by Greg Lee's "father"[[note]]Unlike in "Tango Mysterioso," which featured a cameo by Greg's actual mother, this was not his real father[[/note]] in "Mining Crime Station":

* SesameStreetCred: Back when he was a senator, future U.S. Vice President and President UsefulNotes/JoeBiden [[http://youtu.be/XFNE6lbD_b4 called Greg in a 1993 episode]].

-->'''Rockapella''': ''(after a wrong pick)'' Nothing!
-->'''Greg''': Thank you!
-->'''Rockapella''': Save it!

''Do it, Rockapella!''

* NintendoHard: The SurpriseDifficulty was in the bonus game, where the contestant carried around posts and marked off countries on a giant floor map — starting from the north side, which made the map appear upside-down to the contestant. Even if you knew all the answers, the fact that they needed ''exact'' placement (seriously, the posts didn't work if they weren't perfectly on top of the target), the actual shuttle running and keeping the things from falling over, coupled with a brutal time limit, made it extremely hard to win. Usually, one double-miss meant Carmen could safely escape.
** And also when they [[MovingtheGoalposts changed it from seven to eight markers]] necessary to win. One of the reasons was apparently that PBS, being PBS, really couldn't afford to keep paying for many grand prize wins.
*** Ironically, every season after they changed to 8 markers had more grand prizes awarded than Season 1 (even when they added bodies of water as potential locations in Season 4).
** The Africa map in particular is generally believed to be the hardest of the maps, due both to its high country tally and the fact that many kids are simply ''not'' that familiar with its geography compared to the other continents. Victories on the Africa map ''did'' happen, but they were rare.

* EasterEgg: In Season 2 (1992), the shows would begin with the Chief in her office talking about the crime. If you looked over her shoulder at the crook files, you could amaze your friends by predicting who did it: the crook of the day was inevitably on the far left, over the Chief's shoulder. ([[FridgeBrilliance Of course it was:]] wouldn't that be the file the Chief would be studying for the crime of the day?)

* FallOfTheHouseOfCards: Happens at the end of the sketch in the Chief's office in the episode "Tattoo Snafu".

%% * GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* SnarkToSnarkCombat: Done between Greg and Rockapella on one Round 2 instance:

* BonusRound: Here's a map of a country or continent. Place these markers on seven (eight starting in season two) locations within 45 seconds (60 seconds for two episodes with the Asia map in Season 1) to arrest Carmen and win a trip. If it's correct, the sirens will sound. If it's incorrect, the buzzer will sound. If the contestant places the markers in the incorrect place twice, another location will be read.

* RuleOfThree: In the "Detective Academy" segment at the end of the episode "The Great Wall Haul", the Chief calls 3 different potential future contestants/ACME recruits to her office one at a time to ask each of them a question. The first 2 each get their respective questions right and get a Carmen Sandiego sweatshirt while the third answers his question wrong and is given an atlas to help him brush up on his geography knowledge.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: The Chief was fond of this. Some episode titles had it, like "The Heinous Hockey Heist."

* CatchPhrase:

* CelebrityEdition: The second season premiere had celebrity gumshoes including Creator/MayimBialik (''Series/{{Blossom}}''), Tatyana M. Ali (''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir''), and Creator/JeremyMiller (''Series/GrowingPains'') playing alongside regular gumshoes.

* SuddenDeath: If there is a tie in 2nd place after the final clue of round 1, They would go for it. The correct answer will advance to 2nd Round.

** The Season 2 finale "Gotta Get A Yeti" had a geographic error at the end of the first round on the final clue - the Adriatic Sea was mislabeled as the Aegean Sea on the map. The final clue's answer was in fact the Aegean Sea, but it was counted as the Mediterranean Sea. Gumshoe Tahare Campbell, who had lost the game due to the geographic error, was invited back in Season 3's "The Glacier Erasure" and made it all the way to catch Carmen in Asia.

** Malaysia also had its iteration of the game, with a whole different story. ''Di Mana Joe Jambul'' (''Where Is Pompadour Joe'') is about the titular Lupin the Third {{Expy}} (with a pompadour, too) and his cohorts who do regular crimes instead of stealing landmarks. Two teams of three kids help the detective (and her police badge mascot) hunt down the goons. Most of the ''[=WitWICS=]'' gaming elements are there, including the map-marking bonus round, each episode featuring a different continent/region of Earth.

* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: When then Senator Joe Biden made a cameo, he said he was trying to get Greg named Detective of the Year, but it got taken all the way down to Somewhat Notable Detective of the Next 12 Minutes.

* ConsolationPrize
* CoolOldLady: Nana Raps.
* {{Corpsing}}: Rockapella's Round 2 snarkery (see below) would sometimes make Greg have to stifle his laughter as he would continue to move the round along.

* NiceHat: Greg and the contestants usually came in wearing some cool hats. Hats and detectives just go together.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: The episode "[=ABCee=] You Later" has a gumshoe named Takenya Battle.

** In the episode ''The Case of the Lifted Lines'', a clue was given by X the Owl and Henrietta Pussycat from [[Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood The Neighborhood of Make-Believe]], to which Greg replied with a "Thanks, neighbor." In real life, both shows were co-produced by Pittsburgh PBS station WQED - and yes, that was Creator/FredRogers holding the puppets!

[[caption-width-right:350:Sing it, Rockapella!]]

* RecycledTitle Two Season 1 episodes fall victim to this. The first one was "The Taking of the Tower", in which The Contessa stole the Eiffel Tower. The second was "The Taking of the Tower''s''", in which Double Trouble made off with [[FunnyAneurysmMoment the Twin Towers]].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/where_in_the_world_is_carmen_sandiego.jpg]]

* RealLifeRelative: Each episode would feature an informant providing clues via television, which was often a way to shoehorn in some celebrity cameos. In one episode, however, the informant was ''Greg's mother''. The subtitles even identify her as "Greg's Mom (Really... No Kidding!)" The producers pulled this as a prank on a delighted Greg, who had no idea his mom would be appearing on the show and can be seen discreetly wiping away some ManlyTears afterward. See it [[https://youtu.be/OVVkSlXl41Q?t=1209 here]].
-->'''Greg:''' Can we please have a nice round of applause for the ''finest'' informant ever on this show?

* RogerRabbitEffect: As {{Lampshaded}} by Greg Lee's "father"[[note]]Unlike the previously mentioned cameo by Greg's actual mother, this was not his real father[[/note]] in "Mining Crime Station":

Much of the show's memorability can be attributed to the terrific cast: host Greg Lee, Creator/LynneThigpen as DaChief and "house band" Rockapella[[note]]Sean Altman, Scott Leonard, Elliott Kerman and Barry Carl[[/note]], who provided an a-cappella soundtrack (including the famous theme song, not to mention all the wacky sound effects and ad-libbed quips).

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Chief was fond of this. Some episode titles had it, like "The Heinous Hockey Heist."

* BlackBossLady: Lynne Thigpen as The Chief of course.

* {{Blooper}}: In "Crook Snatchez Natchez", the Warrant sign accidentally fell off, causing Rockapella to sing "Low budget" for everything, ''including'' the Warrant. This led to Greg making jokes about PBS Pledge Drives.

* BonusRound: Here's a map of a country or continent. Place these markers on seven (eight starting in season two) locations within 45 seconds (60 seconds for two episodes with the Asia map in Season 1) to arrest Carmen and win a trip. If it's correct, The sirens will sound. If it's incorrect, The buzzer will sound. If the contestant places the markers in the incorrect place twice, another location will be read.

* CelebrityEdition: The second season premiere had celebrity gumshoes including Creator/MayimBialik (''Series/{{Blossom}}''), Creator/TatyanaAli (''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir''), and Creator/JeremyMiller (''Series/GrowingPains'') playing alongside regular gumshoes.

** In the episode ''The Case of the Lifted Lines'', a clue was given by X the Owl and Henrietta Pussycat from [[Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood The Neighborhood of Make-Believe]], to which Greg replied with a "Thanks, neighbor." In real life, both shows were co-produced by Pittsburgh PBS station WQED.

** The Season 2 finale "Gotta Get A Yeti" had an Geographic error at the end of the first round on the final clue, the Adriatic Sea was mislabeled as the Aegean Sea on the map. The final clue's answer was in fact the Aegean Sea, but it was counted as the Mediterranean Sea. Gumshoe Tahare Campbell who had lost the game due to the geographic error, was invited back in Season 3's "The Glacier Erasure" and made it all the way to catch Carmen in Asia.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* LimitedAnimation: All animated segments, involving the villains or otherwise, were done very cheaply. But, of course, we kids were too caught up in the antics of Greg, the Chief, Rockapella, - oh yes, and learning geography- to really notice or care all that much.

* MonumentalTheft: On the low end, Carmen and her crew took things like the ''Titanic'', the Pyramids of Giza, and the Great Wall of China. It’s a lot less egregious here since they show how V.I.L.E. managed to perform these thefts, but it still required some suspension of disbelief (like Eartha Brute and Double Trouble both managing to steal the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center without any equipment) Watch the show to see the high-end {{Monumental Theft}}s.

** The Africa map in particular is generally believed to be the hardest of the maps, due both to its high country tally, and the fact that many kids are simply ''not'' that familiar with its geography compared to the other continents. Victories on the Africa map ''did'' happen, but they were rare.

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: For many years, there were rumors among fans that there was an unaired episode 66 from the second season, titled "Auld Lang Gone", in which Patty Larceny stole the New Year's Ball from New York City. The claim had been that a contestant fell and broke her arm while attempting the Europe map, and the runner-up that day was brought back to complete the map. Among the other claims were that Marc Summers was filling in for an ill Greg Lee that day, that Greg was filling the role of the Chief, and that Gene Wilder made a walk-on appearance. [[http://buzzerblog.com/2020/08/23/gone-but-not-forgotten-exploring-the-myth-of-the-lost-carmen-sandiego-part-1/ As told in this story,]] producer Howard Blumenthal said that they only made ''65'' episodes for each season, and Marc Summers himself (who, remember, was said to have been the host for that episode) stated that the episode does not exist, and that his only involvement was to assist in giving the first clue of one episode. The author of the story went on to say that a cursory search of social media did not turn up any potential results.

* RogerRabbitEffect: As {{Lampshaded}} by Greg Lee's "father" in "Mining Crime Station":
-->'''Gus Lee:''' Listen, son, I've been meaning to talk to. Are you aware that this, uh, [[AccidentalMisnaming "Carmine Santiago"]] lady you've been chasing around is...she's a cartoon, son. She's not a real person. You're aware of that.\\

** Then there's the Detective Academy segment at the end of the episode "Chunnel Channel Caper" when all 3 potential recruits get the questions asked of them wrong.

-->'''Rockapella:''' [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Warp factor 8, Captain!]]

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: Due to the show being recorded during a time when maps were changing rapidly thanks to the collapse of the Soviet Union and other such geopolitical changes, they ended up adding the following disclaimer at the end of each show starting in season 2: "All geographic information was accurate as of the date this program was recorded."

** The gumshoes started off with 125 points, and a correct guess would cost them 10 while an incorrect one would cost them an additional 5. The wagering for the final clue was 0-5-10-15-20-25 instead of 0-10-20-30-40-50.

* BonusRound: Here's a map of a country or continent. Place these markers on seven (eight starting in season two) locations within 45 seconds (60 seconds on the Asia map in Season 1) to arrest Carmen and win a trip. If it's correct, The sirens will sound. If it's incorrect, The buzzer will sound. If the contestant places the markers in the incorrect place twice, another location will be read.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Worldcast_3805.png]]

** A failure in the last round is indicated by a newspaper graphic with Carmen on the front page and the headline "Carmen Escapes Again!" In the final two seasons, Carmen's head will disappear, leaving a white shadow behin d.