Carmen Sandiego

About

Carmen Sandiego is the titular character of numerous video games and television series in which she is the central villain. The Carmen Sandiego video game series puts young players in the role of an ACME cop following Sandiego and her underlings at VILE around the world, thwarting their make grand and often impossible heists while learning geography. The series, which debuted in the 1980s, spawned multiple spinoffs and several television programs.

History

Carmen Sandiego debuted in the 1985 computer game Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?^[1] The character was developed by David Siefkin. There have been multiple computer games in the series, including Where in the USA Is Carmen Sandiego (1986, remake 1996), Where in Europe Is Carmen Sandiego (1988), Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego (1989) and Where In Space Is Carmen Sandiego? (1993)

In the games, Carmen Sandiego is depicted as hispanic and is characterized as a thief who engages in heists for the sport of it rather than malice. Her henchmen in the VILE (Villains International League of Evil) organization are usually goofily hapless with puns for names such as "M.T. Pockets" and "Rob M. Blind." The group often engages in impossible heists, such as stealing the pyramids of Giza or "the banks of the Nile."

Television Series

There have been multiple television series adapted from the series. A children's game show, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? ran from September 30th, 1991 to December 22nd, 1995.^[2] The show starred Lynne Thigpen as the ACME chief giving questions to contestants.

There was also an animated series titled Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego which ran from 1994-1999.^[3] In this version, Sandiego is a former ACME agent who got bored chasing criminals and began engaging in thievery for the challenge. However, she maintains a strong code of ethics, making ACME agents reluctant to arrest her.

Netflix Reboot

On January 18th, 2019, Netflix rebooted Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego? as an animated series wherein Sandiego is recast as a hero who uses her knowledge of thievery to retake stolen cultural artifacts from VILE. The series stars Gina Rodriguez as the title character. Critics described the series as a bit bland but enjoyable.^[4] A Netflix live action film also starring Rodriguez has been announced and is due for release sometime in 2019.^[5]

Search Interest

External References