wait remember Speed Racer the Next Generation Well everyone knows Speed Racer the whole original show
is basically a meme these days but what about when it was time to give an older property
some new life and man in the early and mid 2000s things were bound to get weird aside from that
liveaction Speed Racer movie that is so weird it's good it's seriously underrated there was
another Direction an animated show that would update Speed Racer into a new art style for its
animation and give it the new title of the Next Generation minus p it was the age of the random
reboot and Speed Racer seemed like an interesting idea to try something new but familiar with or is
it a sequel that connects to the original lore around Speed Racer that takes the series into a
completely new Direction it's kind of both I guess today let's take a look at Speed Racer
the Next Generation and see if it can retain that oddly weird charm the original show had what it
ended up being all about and what happened to it welcome back to the 25 days of Fring Miss where
there's going to be brand wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait uh-uh ah double Fringe
miss a you only thought you were going to get 25 videos this year look at you you look silly but
I'm here to fix that cuz I'm going to give you not only 25 videos but I'm giving you 50 videos I have
two channels that's two Fringe misses each day there'll be a brand new video on both channels
for 25 days I haven't slept in months enjoy the content or don't speed here is the embodiment
of a hopeful future racer to live up to the the name of speed while here in the series we have
a lot of plot points dealing with the original Speed Racer and this speed being the son of him
clearly with him here entering a Racing Academy where he will face many challenges that get in
his way whether it be from his peers or from the bad guys in the show while the original show had
some great Stakes thanks to all the real danger the racers had and more importantly that speed
was always in this show finds a way around that with introducing the virtual world a way to race
not only in a more safe way but where the races can be in places that don't make sense or within
the world that the show establishes impossible especially being this connected sequel esque
series to the original allowing the show to have a virtual world for the races to take place it
gave the creators and animators the freedom to design the races in any way they want making
the courses more Dynamic weird or just fun to race on the extra benefit with that is them
actually not being hurt and just being pulled out of the virtual world but there is a catch
to this because the virtual world has the makeup of a computer making it all work and run so the
world is susceptible to things like viruses or malicious attacks that can do some real damage
to hurt those who are in the world at the time I will elaborate on this whole virtual world thing
in just a bit but as far as what the show is and what it has to offer we get a storyline
that follows Speed Racer Jr voiced by Kurt solok where he was originally hidden by speed senior
for everyone's protection from some nefarious people as he grows up in an orphanage and the
way he was raised the things he had to go through were completely different so when he's behind the
wheel he feels a real sense of belonging and in a way real Freedom spritle voiced by the original
Speed Racer Peter Fernandez and then later on Greg Abby is a character from the original series who
was the younger brother to Speed Racer senior and his back here is he's the one who runs the
academy giving him a close eye to both speed Jr when he arrives there as well as ex-racer voiced
by Robbie sablet and later on Brian Taylor with both of these characters playing into the story
of speed's family along with speed racer senior voiced by his original Self Peter Fernandez and
then later on Greg Abby having some attention put on to him as the series goes on it's a big family
affair but there is a solid friend group Here For Speed Jr with Connor voiced by Carter Jackson who
is the mechanic of the group and is a fanboy of the original Speed Racer who even has their own
Chum Chum sorry I mean chimchim a robotic chimp that is a play on the non robotic chimpanzee from
the OG series along with them is Lucy voiced by Sara melesi brings the brains to the group as
well as the Romantic lead for Speed Junior with a wider Supporting Cast of rival Racers revving
up their engines the show tried to really take in what made the original show a classic and be loved
by many but also bring it into the modern day with technology let's take a deeper look into the
show our good friend Larry Schwarz is back if you aren't familiar he's the one behind
the now no longer existing animation Collective where for Nick tun's network was a great partner
in producing so many weird interesting and unexplainable shows some of which we have
talked about here on the channel already with stuff like Kappa Mike and three delivery so
naturally it only feels right to bring up his company's Speed Racer adaptation using
a technique Larry calls painted CGI the show Blended 2D and 3D by creating the actual space
not just painted or 2D backgrounds where the main characters themselves are 2D animated well I will
get into the look of the 3D anim itself I will give the crew and Larry credit for the passion
that did go into creating the show wanting to pay respects to the original series as well as
utilize multiple animation styles to give it that nextg feel mixing 2D and 3D is not an easy task as
most times especially in this era of Animation can come out looking very jarring and be a big
off-putting thing for a lot of people including myself Nickelodeon really pushed for the 3D look
to it in general as it was easier to produce and there is more you can do with it but it was Al
cheaper to produce because of the time it took to work with it Larry was brought in with animation
Collective to work on this series because of the nice relationship that both Nick and AC had with
one another having multiple shows running at the same time from their teams so when there
was an opportunity to not have a pitch show get picked up but offered a show being commissioned
to make it happen for Nickelodeon it's a big deal especially when Larry was given the opening
to create the concept of what happens in the show itself following some guidelines of course as far
as We Know so it was time to get to work and to play with new technology for animation Collective
and see if Speed Racer the Next Generation could be the next big hit while I wouldn't consider
myself the biggest fan of Speed Racer I've always had fun with my time with the property in general
the original series is something to behold it truly is a product of whatever they could do
with it in terms of dubbing over it all but even stuff like Speed Racer X which genuinely hasn't
even wackier story that makes the liveaction movie look at least more normal and again I think the
Speed Racer live action movie is genuinely a fun time that is only aging better with time feeling
as much like a liveaction cartoon as possible but for this adaptation this 2D 3D hybrid for
Nickelodeon it really doesn't offer a whole lot of great things especially for the time that it
came out now regardless of the budget given to make a show like this animation Collective is
not a studio I'd say that went for the highest quality of Animation especially with stuff like
character movement having this level of stiffness to every character mixed in with minimum reactive
movements and repeating mouth speaking animations it's Charming in some cases where I enjoy Kappa
Mike for its mix of animation rawness with feeling more free in design and it also just mainly being
a comedy as for Three Delivery the aesthetic of the show looks great but stuff like the action can
take a massive hit where it's not really engaging the viewer thumb Wrestling Federation well it's
just actual thumbs this double Fringe Miss is brought to you by gamer Subs hi this is just
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with gamer Subs Speed Racer the Next Generation struggles to really adapt this 3D look when it
comes to the environmental backgrounds feeling noticeably empty and lacking of any real detail
something like this I can usually look past in 3D animation but more so in the very early on days of
3D animation stuff that was coming out around the turn of the century not so much shows that bleed
into the 2010s but it really is the racing itself being the most lacking part when it comes to the
use of the animation style look the original show is no champion of racing animation by
any stretch of the imagination but here it feels so Bland and uninspired I feel like I could look
at plenty of other shows around this time that truly handled racing animation well regardless
if we look at 2D or 3D animation examples it sadly just feels like a cheap production all around but
not for lack of anyone behind the scenes not working hard on it or having the love of the
Speed Racer property it really just seems like a budgetary issue mixed with deadlines working
with new programs unfamiliar by those using it but that's at least at first since the second season
it had taken quite a while to come out post the first one I get to the extent the show at first
was partially away to be this movie promotion something that can be on the air around the
same time that can hopefully push between them new viewers but but as far as what you get in
the show I feel like the story doesn't Faire much better when you put it against itself it is this
sequel series it has a level of previous things to build off from and pave its own way forward but
having the responsibility of also being a reboot it needs to reintroduce a lot of main Concepts
that make Speed Racer Speed Racer the story just doesn't let you figure stuff out and has some
poorly fleshed out characters making Speed Racer the Next Generation feel a little less exciting
for being the Next Generation having speed be the original Speed Racer son is one thing to build in
a secondary character in speed Junior's family being his mysterious older brother named X is
just being a little too lazy with it I hate to say that but it just feels like taking the exact copy
of the original and tweaking some of it into the worst things about it the original we have Racer
X who turns out to be Rex racer who is speed's older brother so then speed had some kids named
his first kid X instead of Rex and then his second kid speed well that's just kind of dumb again at
least in my opinion there's nothing wrong with having new characters or still having the main
character be the descendant of the original Speed Racer you can do so much with the term of the Next
Generation but instead it opts for a storyline that doesn't feel like it knows what it wants
holding on to much of what the past had and not allowing it time to breathe into something new
characters in The Supporting Cast are a pretty big issue as well and I mean that mainly with
the villains of the show their motivations to be the bad guys the things that they can do in and
out of races and just how they're handled none of them felt like actual threats the coolest villains
coming in the form of these two twin drivers whose car can split into two in a race which
yeah that is pretty cool I just wish it could have been turned into something more threatening or at
least more interesting even looking towards the cars themselves pretty much every car looks super
Bland thanks to the little detailed 3D animation but even when looking at the Mach 6 it only does
a few new things that are so randomly futuristic and having in this whole sci-fi mix of time travel
or other dimensions are portals to space wait what's going on here oh well yeah that's mainly
all thanks to the virtual world aspect you know the main thing for these races that both makes it
visually interesting but also less gripping I love that the virtual races are offering all of these
constantly changing Landscapes and moving pieces as it feels like a pretty cool idea and Visually
these were the most standout parts of the use of 3D animation in the series feeling like the
animators had a lot more fun being able to shape these realities into whatever they wanted but as
much as I liked this aspect of the show it takes away the akes of the races sure there is a threat
of being trapped in the virtual world by some bad guys but other than that at worst you just get
pulled out of the world and everything is okay a reboot or next Generation tagline is one thing how
they handle the legacy of the original Speed Racer is well less than favorable towards the character
which I have no problem where they take it it feels more so written in a way to give us this
random mystery of who speed Jr is the son of and what his relationship to a racer named X is and
what's his connection to spral but it all was way too obvious and again I'm not even the biggest fan
of the property it's just the context clues being more obvious than finding a blues clue Paul print
on everything but with all of that being said the show would have two seasons where season 2 would
come out nearly 2 years after the first season ended and from there take another two and a half
to fully release the remaining episodes let's take a look into what happened in the end for the
show August 25th 20133 Speed Racer the Next Generation would come to an end after 52 total
episodes throughout its two seasons spread across a total of 6 years that's quite a lot of time in
between something that relies on you finding out the story episode to episode season 1 had all 26
episodes come out in the span of a little over a year but to even get a season 2 and for it
to barely be around consistently yeah it's sadly no wonder why this show came to an end and it's
honestly surprising a season 2 even existed if we're going to be honest here if there was
an immediate interest that warranted a season 2 you'd think it would have come out sooner than it
did and less spread out than it was I do feel that there could be something great with this
property and that's not to say that the Next Generation couldn't have been great or that
it didn't have some good ideas or cool moments it certainly had some but having both this and
the movie coming out as this more copacetic brand you'd think they wouldn't be further
apart than they are one feeling like this big budget over-the-top anime come to life and the
other feeling like something made with basic computer Graphics that have little excitement
majority of the time Speed Racer is going to have another attempt at a series this time live action
for that Avenue through Apple TV plus with JJ Abrams Bad Robot at the helm and I hope that
what they do there is make a fun take on the franchise I want the best for Speed I like the
design of the Mach 5 there is some really cool things about this franchise that I do enjoy but
the Next Generation unfortunately isn't one of those things getting through the show felt more
like an obligation for our already watching as much as I did and I think for where we end up
it doesn't pay off it never felt worth it just a swing and a miss for this adaptation but there
is a charm to the other shows and projects that the team behind this show have done so whether
it was a lack of Direction a low budget or tight restraints from the property owners the show was
held back from being something greater heck even the animators producing the second season of the
show really weren't happy with how Next Generation handled the Speed Racer property going on to make
a concept that keeps the animation 2D and more line to respect the original Cannon of who the
Speed Racer characters are and how to bridge a gap to make more sci-fi elements work or at
least make the virtual track racing a lot more engaging if you love the show if you're a fan
of it I think that's great and I do think that the way it was broadcast from the network that
they should have treated you better so that you can actually get the full story released in a
way that was more cohesive I never go into any series or media with the thought of not liking
something or to come off as overly disliking something sure I haven't been this big fan of
the franchise already but I didn't enter this video with preconceived notions I'd have rather
been surprised and enjoyed it more than I did but it just didn't click with me heck it took me a
few viewings of the liveaction movie over the years before it really clicked with me so take
that for what it's worth speaking of worth your opinion what was it on this show were you a fan
of how this show handled the Speed Racer property or were you more in the field of where it wasn't
for you let me know in the comments below thanks so much for watching like And subscribe later