Carmen Sandiego (TV series)

Carmen Sandiego is a Canadian-American Netflix animated action-adventure series with educational elements, based on the media franchise of the same name created by Broderbund. The series is produced by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt with DHX Media serving as the production company, and contains a "serialized look at Carmen’s backstory that is told from her perspective". Serving as an origin story for the fictional thieving villain of the same name, it is the fourth Carmen Sandiego television show after the PBS game shows Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? and Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?, and the Fox animated series Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?; it is also the first Carmen Sandiego show since the end of Where on Earth in 1999.

The first season was released on January 18, 2019. A second season has been greenlit by Netflix.

Premise
"Carmen is a modern day Robin Hood, traveling the globe, stealing from V.I.L.E. and giving back to its victims. Cloaked in red, she is accompanied by her hacker Player, and her assistants Zack and Ivy. Carmen is publicly perceived as a criminal by most law enforcement agencies – correction, make that a master criminal due to the sheer scale and theatricality of her heists. We will follow her escapades and get to determine not only where in the world but “who” is Carmen Sandiego?"

A recurring theme is that both V.I.L.E. and A.C.M.E. make mistaken assumptions about Carmen's actions.

Main

 * Carmen Sandiego (voiced by Gina Rodriguez) - The eponymous heroine seeking to dissolve V.I.L.E. and donate their stolen funds to humanitarian causes. This Carmen is notably different than previous incarnations, who were leaders of V.I.L.E. and lady thieves. Carmen was found by Shadow-san as a baby abandoned on the roadside of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She takes her name from the tag in her hat, since her code name "Black Sheep" was the only name she previously knew. At a young age, she used to be a student at V.I.L.E. Academy until she left when she didn't want to take the life of anyone who gets in her way after stowing away on a mission and seeing what really goes on in V.I.L.E.
 * Player (voiced by Finn Wolfhard) - A white-hat hacker from Niagara Falls, Ontario who helps Carmen plan her heists.
 * Ivy (voiced by Abby Trott) - A Bostonian girl helping Carmen with her younger brother Zack. She joins Carmen after helping on the heist of a Donut shop which was a V.I.L.E. front.
 * Zack (voiced by Michael Hawley) - A Bostonian boy helping Carmen with his older sister Ivy. He joins Carmen after helping on the heist of a Donut shop which was a V.I.L.E. front, serving as her wheelman/getaway driver.

A.C.M.E.
A.C.M.E. (short for Agency to Classify & Monitor Evildoers) is the organization that often combats V.I.L.E., and in this iteration seeks to find proof and dissolve the criminal organization.


 * The Chief (voiced by Dawnn Lewis) - Head of A.C.M.E. and supervises all of the organization. She is inspired by the Chief from the PBS game shows, played by Lynne Thigpen.
 * Chase Devineaux (voiced by Rafael Petardi) - A French Interpol Agent turned A.C.M.E. Detective. He, along with Julia, is one of the only two officers to get close enough to see Carmen's face.
 * Julia Argent (voiced by Charlet Chung) - A British Interpol Agent turned A.C.M.E. Detective. She usually does the logistics and fact finding that Chase would otherwise overlook or disregard. She, along with Chase Devineaux, is one of the only two officers to get close enough to see Carmen's face.

V.I.L.E.
V.I.L.E. is short for Villains' International League of Evil (under cover of Valuable Imports, Lavish Exports). They make their headquarters on V.I.L.E. Island and use the V.I.L.E. Academy to train their new recruits.


 * Professor Gunnar Maelstrom (voiced by Liam O'Brien) - A member of the head faculty at V.I.L.E. teaching psychological manipulation. Unlike the 1994 animated series, Gunnar Maelstrom is a member of V.I.L.E.
 * Coach Brunt (voiced by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn) - Carmen's "mama bear" when she was growing up, and a member of the head faculty at V.I.L.E. teaching combat and physical training. She was Carmen’s favorite teacher, and she had a soft spot for Carmen. Carmen always thought that Coach Brunt was the one who found her, so the two shared a good relationship. Brunt, like the other faculty members, was quite upset over Carmen’s betrayal. However, it seems that Carmen still has a soft spot for Coach Brunt. This is thought when Carmen gets altitude sickness and mistakes Dr. Pilar as Coach Brunt, saying that she always knew it was Coach Brunt who found her as a baby (however, it is revealed that it was Shadow-san who found Carmen). Although, Brunt denies still having a soft spot for Carmen, saying that Carmen was dead to her after she left. It is still unknown if what Brunt said was true or not.
 * Shadow-san (voiced by Paul Nakauchi) - A master thief, skilled swordsman, and a member of the head faculty at V.I.L.E. teaching stealth and covert thievery. He gave a test where students had to find and steal a dollar from his coat when Carmen was still in school, and (unknown to Carmen, although she was very suspicious) emptied his coat so she wouldn’t be able to find the dollar, which caused Carmen’s need to outdo Tigress. In the last episode, Shadow-san revealed that he was really on Carmen’s side the entire time, and that he was the one who found her in Argentina when she was baby, although he returns to V.I.L.E to work as a double agent (he proved this after handing Carmen another flash drive of V.I.L.E’s next crimes for the semester).
 * Dr. Saira Bellum (voiced by Sharon Muthu) - A mad scientist and one of V.I.L.E.'s head faculty and master inventor; teaching technology and science. She is willing to destroy the food supply of Indonesia just to shill in a market for an artificial commercial brand. She is of Urdu ancestry in this incarnation.
 * Countess Cleo (voiced by Toks Olagundoye) - A wealthy Egyptian debutant and one of V.I.L.E.'s head faculty teaching culture and class. She seemed to not really care that much about Carmen, and always tried to use her etiquette lessons to get rid of Carmen’s rebellious streak.
 * Dash Haber (voiced by Troy Baker) - Countess Cleo's personal assistant.
 * Graham (voiced by Michael Goldsmith) - Also known as Gray or Crackle, Graham is Carmen’s former best friend and older brother figure at V.I.L.E. However, after a failed mission, Graham had his memories erased by Bellum. He returned to Australia where he met up with Carmen once again (only this time, he didn’t remember her) and asked her out on a date. However she left before she even got there, because she thought that Gray had a chance to start over, and that ‘Carmen Sandiego’ would ruin all of that.
 * Cookie Booker (voiced by Rita Moreno) - V.I.L.E.'s bookkeeper and financier. Rita Moreno was the voice of Carmen Sandiego in the 1994 animated series, a connection subtly referenced when it is revealed that Carmen stole her trademark hat and coat from Booker.
 * Paper Star (voiced by Kimiko Glenn) - A psychopathic master of origami weapons and a V.I.L.E. agent; she is Maelstrom's favorite pupil.
 * Tigress (voiced by Kari Wahlgren) - Also known as Sheena, Tigress is a spy with a cat-suit and mask, who is particularly antagonistic toward Carmen, even while at the Academy. Carmen felt like she needed to prove she was better than Tigress at pickpocketing, due to Tigress acing a test set by Shadow-san that Carmen failed (however, this is only because Shadow-san cheated so Carmen could fail).
 * El Topo (voiced by Andrew Pifko) - Also known as Antonio, El Topo is a Spanish spy with streamlined powerful digging gauntlets; partners with Le Chevre. He used to be in Carmen’s group of friends before she left.
 * Le Chevre (voiced by Bernardo de Paula) - Also known as Jean Paul, Le Chevre is a French spy with incredible parkour skills; partners with El Topo. He used to be in Carmen’s group of friends before she left.
 * Mime Bomb - A silent spy and snitch; dresses as a mime artist for public camouflage. He is usually used by the faculty to spy on the students, which is also how the faculty found out that Carmen had stowed away. However, they sometimes wonder if it was a good idea to hire a mime as a spy since they can’t really understand what he’s trying to say.

Production history
On April 14, 2017, Hollywood insider information site The Tracking Board reported that they had exclusively learned of an animated Carmen Sandiego project at Netflix, that Gina Rodriguez as the voice of the titular character. The site reported that the 20-episode series would aim to be "as educational as it is entertaining", in keeping with the style of the franchise. It was later confirmed that the series will be called Carmen Sandiego. Rodriguez confirmed the story via her Twitter feed the following day in response to a Hypable story, which compared the news to that of a Kate McKinnon-led revival of The Magic School Bus. Carmen Sandiego was set to appeal to a wider audience (ages 6–11), plus the parents of those kids and fans of the original series. On April 18 and 19, the news began to be published by reputable news sites, where it was confirmed that Netflix had rebooted the franchise on TV by ordering twenty 22-minute episodes of Carmen Sandiego, which would premiere in 2019 and with Gina Rodriguez in the starring role. Rotoscopers noted that this was "more than most Netflix Originals receive". The Hollywood Reporter noted that Rita Moreno, who voiced Carmen in the FOX animated series Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?, had recently guest-starred on Rodriguez's show Jane the Virgin. The new series was described as having "thrilling adventure and intrigue", while offering an "intimate look into Carmen's past" and what inspired her career choices, essentially answering the question "Who in the world [is] Carmen Sandiego?" while simultaneously following her on her thieving escapades.

Caroline Fraser, Head of HMH Productions, is the Executive Producer of the series. Duane Capizzi, known for Transformers Prime and the Batman, is the showrunner and Co-Executive Producer. Kevin Dart serves as visual designer. It is a production by DHX Media, providing animation, and Chromosphere, providing the design work. DHX Media is the current owner of the library of DIC Entertainment, the animation studio which produced the Earth animated series. The series is produced by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, who own the rights to the franchise after their corporate predecessor Riverdeep acquired the property in 2002. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the series followed in the wake of Bill Nye Saves the World and Julie's Greenroom. Finn Wolfhard is signed on to lend his voice to the character Player, who is described as Carmen's chief accomplice and friend. Another character called "Player" was featured in Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?, but this character was a fourth wall-breaking live action boy who bookended the show and interacted with Carmen, implied to be the player of a video game featuring her. E Online reported that the new series would be called, simply, "Carmen Sandiego".

Rodriguez, who had first learned about the series through the PBS gameshow Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, asserted that the new Carmen Sandiego origin series was "tight", "well written", "really, really good", and "unbelievable". She mentioned that Netflix was a home for great programming and that the show had partnered with talented illustrators. She added that despite being entertaining, the show would still provide geographic and historical education.

Andy Yeatman, Netflix director of global kids content, noted “We think there’s a huge benefit of having a program that parents remember fondly and grew up with. We are giving them the opportunity to introduce it to their kids and spark a conversation", noting that while the service pitched reboots of many '80s and '90s shows, Carmen Sandiego was one that "made sense" and "really stood out". They responded to the fact that this is not a show that is perennially rebooted, as the last Carmen Sandiego series ended 20 years before this new series would premiere, and that there are interesting ways to retell the story.

In March 2018, Netflix also ordered a live-action film of Carmen Sandiego, once again with Rodriguez as the titular character.

On February 15, 2019, it was announced that Netflix had renewed the series for a second season.

Pre-release
The announcement saw a positive response by the media, who appreciated the throwback, and a return for the Carmen Sandiego franchise to the small screen. TVShowsOnDVD wrote "It's awesome to see this franchise return to television". The Rolling Stone thought the TV series' origin story subject matter offers what was once one of "golden age of television's favorite thematic trappings". Commenting "children of the 90's rejoice", Maxim suggested that Netflix enlist the talents of World game show theme song performers Rockapella to provide music for the show. ScreenRant noted that "those who still hold fond memories of the property" would be intrigued as to what type of shape the new series will take; adding that it has a "storied legacy" to live up to and will likely take some inspiration from Earth. Dark Horizons expressed sadness that the show was two years away. WXIA-TV's Michael King said the news "has the Internet buzzing wildly". Toonzone wondered if the new show would maintain the established backstory of the red fedora-wearing villain, which in mid-to-late ‘90s canon involved Carmen Sandiego beginning as an A.C.M.E. agent before finding the work too easy so wanting to outsmart her former colleagues. Gizmodo thought the new series would "bring the character's trademark blend of edutainment to new audiences". Mashable said "fans demanding the series NOW". Pedestrian thought the trend toward series such as this was a sign that producers were aiming to " trap people in a downwards vortex of nostalgia ". Fortune suggested that the new show offered Netflix "huge merchandizing potential", and that the company could follow in the footsteps of Disney by creating a merchandising arm to support its shows. Rom-Game saw this as a sign that Netflix was "indirectly interested in gaming heritage". MiscRave mentioned how much potential the franchise with its interactive edutainment in a compelling package it previously had. NerdHQ noted that the new series offered an opportunity to resuscitate the "once-dormant" and "dying" franchise.

Post-Release
The show currently holds a 93% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 14 reviews, with the sites consensus reading, "Vivid animation and creative reconstruction of the Carmen Sandiego backstory elevates this property beyond its edutainment roots."