Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?

Host
Kevin Shinick
Co-Host/Announcer
Lynne Thigpen as "The Chief"
Engine Crew
Owen Taylor as Engine Crew #1 (Yellow) (Season 1) Jamie Gustis as Engine Crew #1 (Yellow) (Season 2) Alaine Kashian as Engine Crew #2 (Orange) John Lathan as Engine Crew #3 (Red)
Broadcast
PBS: October 7, 1996-December 12, 1997 (Reruns aired until October 2, 1998)
Packagers
WGBH Boston and WQED Pittsburgh

Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? was a short-lived, half-hour spinoff game show based on Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, following the same theme but with several differences to the format, not to mention the set had been updated to a more futuristic look.

Gameplay

Round 1

In the first season, after the opening credits, the Chief introduced Kevin (the show's ACME Time Pilot Squadron Leader) as he made his entrance from the left of the Chronoskimmer.

In the second season, after the opening credits, the Chief introduced Kevin as he goofed around in his room doing a certain activity, when the Chief said, "Kevin? KEVIN!". After that, he made his entrance from the right of the Chronoskimmer.

Three contestants ages 10-14, known as "Time Pilots", competed, and were given 100 Power Points to begin the game. The Chief then told them what was stolen and from what time it was stolen.

In the second season, the ship's Nano-Probes showed the time and place where Carmen sent her henchman, so the team warp-traveled through space, straight to the time of the crime. Once they got to their time target, the Chief would give them their briefing. Sometimes, the ship arrived upside-down or sideways, but would always right itself.

Various skits were performed that gave clues to the location the villain went to (based on the Cluefinder from World), that was locked-in to someone from the past or the future. After the skit, three possible answers or locations were shown to the contestants. They simultaneously chose their answers, then showed them to Kevin. The viewer could see the individual choices represented by an individual color: pink, green, and/or blue, and which choice the pilots made by the lights in front of them, before they actually told their answer. Any contestant with the right answer got 10 Power Points; otherwise, their score would still be the same.

At one point in the game, Carmen's henchman would provide a clue from the viewscreen; in the second season, they would appear in front of the players in a projector tube, on the ACME Time Net Nano-Probe, or, if delivering a message to Carmen (which was also shown on the ACME Time Net Nano-Probe), would appear on her monitor. The points in time visited followed the historical progression of the "seed" that was originally stolen and it was repeatedly emphasized that all the history traveled through was erased unless the artifact was returned. Therefore, the final point in time would always be the present or else very near the present. The typical course of the round would be as follows:

Data Boost

At two points during the game (one in the second season), there was a Data Boost. The first one happened when the ship's Fact Fuel was low after warping to the time of the crime (used in the first season only); the second happened after Carmen's henchman attacked and damaged the ship or did strange things to engine crew (which was shown on the ACME Time Net Nano-Probe in the second season). It happened when Kevin announced that the only fuel/solution was by activating the Data Boost. It also happened when in the second season, the ship's Engine Crew reported what was going on and told Kevin, "Better do a Data Boost!" (Ex: the time-probes launcher malfunctioning, the Engine Crew being teleported to Times Square, engine problems, etc.) Kevin asked questions about a given subject and gave the players a choice of two or three answers for example, "Bill Cullen - game show host or pilot?". The first pilot to buzz in with the right answer scored 5 Power Points; if they were incorrect, they would lose 5 Power Points. The example above, however, is a trick question - Cullen flew airplanes and even owned an airport briefly during his career as a game show host. If such a question were used, however, the answer accepted as correct would be "game show host".

Several questions like this were asked according to time. As Kevin said with a salute, "All our fact fuel/data is verified by (ding) Encyclopedia Brittanica!"

Sketches Used

One of the sketches in the second season had the Chronoskimmer being pulled into a parallel universe, which seemed to be quite similar to Star Trek’s Mirror Universe. There, ACME was evil and V.I.L.E. was good. On at least one occasion, a future Kevin would give clues to himself three episodes in the past (the current episode). The fictional contestants in the future episode usually had scores in the 500s or higher, though the highest possible score was 260. Other skits were:

Omnitia – On occasion, Kevin would run out of clues and ask the Chief to contact the spiritual informant known as Omnitia
Engine Crew's Clues – The Engine Crew sang the clues of the year from the Engine Room. On other occasions, the Engine Crew were in the Chronoskimmer's cafeteria and talking with Libby the Cafeteria Robot.
Intruder Alert – The Intruder Alert alarm alerted Kevin to an intruder in his bedroom. When he got there, he found his mother that gave him info about a specific point in Kevin's life.
Nano Probe Intercept – This was the ACME Time Net equivalent of the Phone Tap on Where in The World is Carmen Sandiego. Sometimes the Nano Probes would Intercept a message to Carmen from one of her gangsters.

Global Pursuit

Butttttttttttt — Global Pursuit in progress

After one skit was performed, the Global Pursuit round was played (in the second season, this replaced the second regular Data Boost). This was based on "The Chase" round, for a series of questions with three possible answers (all places in the world) were asked. Only one player could buzz in, for 5 Power Points, up or down. This came before the Data Boost in some Season 1 episodes.

Ultimate Data Boost

This series of questions were the final ones for the round. For the end of Round 1, the team had to make one last jump through time. To do that, they needed all the Fact Fuel to generate, by answering this final round of questions. This was similar to a normal Data Boost, but the questions were worth double (10 Power Points), and again, several questions were asked according to time. The two pilots with the highest score moved on to Round 2, and the third-place pilot would be eliminated, but would receive the official ACME Time Net Mission Pack. In case of a tie for second place, Kevin read clues about a famous person or place. The first person to buzz in with the right answer moved on to Round 2. Like in World, the last clue, if needed, would contain the correct answer.

Afterwards, in the second season, the eliminated pilot waved goodbye to the contestants as they went back to Time Net Command the present via the teleporter, with Kevin and the other two contestants doing the same.

Round 2: The Chronological Order Game

With Kevin on command, the two remaining pilots warped to the present day or near-present day, where they had to activate the Loot Tractor Beam to bring back the stolen artifact away from the day's villain and make them upset (shown in the ACME Time Net Nano-Probe in the second season) and place it safely on board. The Cybersphere that the loot was in could be seen glowing in the center of the big HyperSpin wheel in the engine room. The Chief then listed eight events, related to the artifact that was stolen. The events appeared on a board, and the pilot leading after Round 1 had the option on who would go first. If there was a tie between the pilots, a coin toss was decided who would choose(the coin toss was shown in the second season). Whoever went first had to list the eight events in reverse chronological order thus, starting with the most recent event, and finishing with the least recent event. As long as the current pilot continued to list events in chronological order, they could continue playing. If the pilot chose an event that broke chronological order or took too long, that contestant’s turn ended, and the opponent had to start again from the beginning.

The first contestant to successfully list all eight events in reverse chronological order saved history, retrieved the artifact (in the second season, the contestant activated a transporter to automatically transport the loot back from whence it was stolen), won the game, and played the Final Round to catch Carmen and that villain, while the eliminated player was sent to pilot the Chronoskimmer back to the present day, and got the Time Net Mission Pack and a portable CD player.

Final Round: Trail of Time

In the first season, the Chief told Kevin and the contestant to go to the escape pod and head for the final round, as he warned and he said, "Look out, Carmen! We're on our way!" In the second season, Kevin and the contestant would go to the escape pod on their own and warned Carmen. Either way, this was followed by the Engine Crew performing the theme song from the engine room to the final round set. Sometimes in the first season, the song was shortened and edited after the crew sang "We're on the case" and the villains would say, "And they're chasing us through history!" (used in the first season only). In the second season, when the contestant headed for The Trail of Time, the ending was normal rather than the villains singing the end part. Then, everyone would race across the studio to the starting point of the round.

The contestant (with a bicycle helmet on in the first season, and without a bicycle helmet on in the second season) had 90 seconds to pass through six gates by answering a history question on each gate posed by Carmen herself on The Trail of Time, which went from the past to the 20th Century.

The Engine Crew used stage hands to point the pilot to the next gate along the trail. All questions were related to the artifact that was stolen in that day's show and dual-choice; on several occasions, each question used up six seconds of the player's time to ask.

Following the Engine Crew's directions, the contestant ran to the first gate and pressed a button to activate the question. If the contestant answered correctly (indicated by a ding), the gate opened automatically. If the contestant answered incorrectly (indicated by a buzzer), they would have to operate a device (pulling a rope, turning a wheel, etc.) to manually open the gate, using up time. They then ran to the next gate and the process was repeated. After the first three gates (sometimes two), the contestant captured the villain that stole the artifact from the beginning of the show.

If the contestant could get through all six gates before time ran out, they energized the Capture Crystal, took it over, and placed it in the Chronolog Chamber at the edge of the studio, catching Carmen Sandiego and winning a new multimedia computer. If the contestant failed, Carmen escaped, and the contestant would win a set of encyclopedias and a portable music system with a collection of music. In the second season, the encyclopedias were replaced with a Time Net mission pack.

The set looked slightly confusing, and required the engine crew and stage hands to be on-stage to wave the player to the next gate by using airport-style marshaling wands. Despite this, contestants would occasionally arrive at the wrong gate, wasting precious time. It should be noted that almost all contestants getting five out of six questions right won, and contestants answering four correctly could complete the run if they operated the gate devices rapidly enough. Some contestants got a perfect score.

In the first season, Carmen was captured in a spherical cage with a clock in the background, while in the second season, she was captured in a Capture Crystal.

In the first season, the episode's winning time pilots always wore bicycle helmets. In the second season, the helmets were removed.

At the end of the show, Kevin, the contestant, and the Engine Crew got ready to head back to the present day by saying, "At ACME Time Net, History is Our Job; And the Future is Yours!". Then they all went back to the present day and the closing credits were shown with the show's theme song playing over various shots of the empty set (mostly used in the first season, but by the second season, shots of the empty set were shown after the Engine Crew performed for a period of time). In the second season, the Engine Crew was seen on the Trail of Time set, often seen with open gates, dancing and performing the theme song.

Villain Cast

Carmen Sandiego
Janine LaManna (Season 1)
Brenda Burke (Season 2)

Sir Vile
John Lathan (1996-1997)

Baron Wasteland (Season 1 only)
James Greenburg (1996-1997)

Buggs Zapper (Season 2 only)
James Greenburg (1997)

Jacqueline Hyde
Alaine Kashian (1996-1997)

Medeva
Paula Leggett Chase (1996-1997)

Dr. Belljar
Owen Taylor (Season 1)
Jamie Gustis (Season 2)

Production

The program was recorded at Kaufman Astoria Studios, in New York City, home to its previous incarnation, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and another hit PBS show, Sesame Street. Just like in World, contestants were required to live in the NYC metropolitan area.

Directors: David Turner and Dean Gordon
Producers: Charles Norlander, James Greenburg, and Dana Calderwood
Executive Producers: Kate Taylor and Jay Rayvid
Writers: James Greenburg, Susan M. Clarke, Andrew Todhunter, and Fern Feller

The set design was by Hank Liebeskind, Eric Cheripka, Laura Brock, James Fenhagen, and Erik Ulfers.

Rating

Music

1st Season

D. Norman Yazbek & Sean Altman

2nd Season

Robert D'Agnello

Theme Lyrics

Open/Final Round

We're on the case and were chasing her through history.

Chronoskimmer, engine's hot.
Vile villains, evil plot.

Our brave squadron leader will help us defeat her,
And bring back the loot to its rightful place in time.

Tell me, where in time is Carmen Sandiego?
Stop her crime, and solve this mystery.
Tell me, where in time is Carmen Sandiego?

We're on the case and we're chasing her through history!

Close

We're on the case and we're chasing her through history.

Throttle open, thrusters on,
Chronoskimmer, gets us gone.

Pack extra socks, and we'll all beat the clock,
From the stone age, the middle age, the space age and back.

Tell me, where in time is Carmen Sandiego?
Stop her crime, and solve this mystery.
Tell me, where in time is Carmen Sandiego?
We're on the case and we're chasing her through history!

Nero's fiddle, Lincoln's beard,
Newton's apple, disappeared.

The finest tea from the Ming Dynasty,
And the Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria, we've got to get them back.

Tell me, where in time is Carmen Sandiego?
Stop her crime, and solve this mystery.
Tell me, where in time is Carmen Sandiego?
We're on the case and we're chasing her through history!