# Speed Racer: Film Industry keeps getting weirder **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2007, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181 "2007-05-31T13:18:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/1 "2007-05-31T13:18:59Z")
Apparently the Wachowski brothers are working on a live action version of the classic bad anime of our youth. Emile Hirsch (Lords of Dogtown) stars as Speed, with Christina Ricci as Trixie and Mathew Fox as Racer X. A real chimpanzee will play Chim Chim. This USA Today article features a picture of the Mach 5. No word yet on whether there will be a tie in promotional with a razor blade company. ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/2 "2007-05-31T13:24:25Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] Apparently the Wachowski brothers are working on a live action version of the classic bad anime of our youth. Emile Hirsch (Lords of Dogtown) stars as Speed, with Christina Ricci as Trixie and Mathew Fox as Racer X. A real chimpanzee will play Chim Chim. This USA Today article features a picture of the Mach 5. No word yet on whether there will be a tie in promotional with a razor blade company. [/QUOTE] I thought the reason Speed Racer is popular is due to the fact that it is so bad that it is funny ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/3 "2007-05-31T13:30:36Z")
I don’t think so. In its heyday, it was actually pretty sophisticated in comparison to the other cartoons on US airwaves. That was part of its appeal. Speed Racer showed that you can incorporate drama and pathos into a cartoon in a manner that children would appreciate. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/4 "2007-05-31T13:46:19Z")
Speed Racer rocked. Now, as a grownup, I enjoy because it is so bad that it is funny, but as a kid I was totally immersed in that fantasy. I remember being shocked by the little clip in the intro where they spun the guy in front of the car, frozen in pose. 3D, man! Maybe this is why the Wachows like it (and/or got inspired for their frozen camera spin thingamabob they do) ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/5 "2007-05-31T13:48:04Z")
I don’t see why you think this is so weird. The premise is no stranger than that of dozens of movies that come out each year. It’s even quite a bit less strange than _Spider-Man_ or the _Fantastic Four._ I have the first season of the cartoon on DVD. The animation was so rudimentary that all 15 episodes fit on a single disc. Matthew Fox as Racer X, huh? Interesting. You know…tell me if I’m crazy, but I’ve always thought Racer X bore a more than passing resemblance to Speed’s long-lost older brother Rex Racer. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/6 "2007-05-31T13:55:00Z")
Good God. Even as a kid, I thought Spped Racer was dumb. But if they’re making a Big Budget "Transformers: movie, I guess they can make a big budget Speed Racer movie. Is it too much to ask that they make at least one halfway decent science fiction film a year? I guess so. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/7 "2007-05-31T14:19:48Z")
[QUOTE=Fiver] Matthew Fox as Racer X, huh? Interesting. You know…tell me if I’m crazy, but I’ve always thought Racer X bore a more than passing resemblance to Speed’s long-lost older brother Rex Racer. [/QUOTE] How could you tell? Racer X wore a mask, bucko. Methinks you’ve just been fooled by the similarity of their names. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/8 "2007-05-31T14:24:20Z")
I just hope they get the sound track out of sync with the video just like the cartoons. Plus, they’ve got to get the really breathy vocal mannerism down so that the pauses are all in the wrong places and thenthedialoguespeedsupattheend. Oh, and the big anime-style eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/9 "2007-05-31T15:00:53Z")
Pauses? Did the \*\*ever \*\* pause!? ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/10 "2007-05-31T15:26:48Z")
[QUOTE=Fiver] I have the first season of the cartoon on DVD. The animation was so rudimentary that all 15 episodes fit on a single disc. [/QUOTE] I guess I don’t know how DVDs work. Why does rudimentary animation take up less space? I would have thought a frame takes up the same amount of space no matter what’s on it. Do DVDs work by recording only changed pixels or something? I think some recording technologies do that, right? But then, I’ve got some cartoons on DVD, and they’re all right around two hours per disk. You’d think if DVDs worked on the “changing pixels” method then you could usually fit more on a DVD of cartoons than you could on a live action DVD. Of course, the publishers might not always have an economic interest in cramming as much as they can on a DVD… -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/11 "2007-05-31T15:29:30Z")
“Do you get “SpeedRacer” here, eh?” The Hanson Brothers from the movie “Slapshot”. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/12 "2007-05-31T15:29:48Z")
By the way that’s a bad link in the OP. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/13 "2007-05-31T16:12:44Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] I guess I don’t know how DVDs work. Why does rudimentary animation take up less space? I would have thought a frame takes up the same amount of space no matter what’s on it. [/QUOTE] I think the complexity of the image has something to do with it as well, when the information is digitally stored. A frame from the “Battle of Helm’s Deep” sequence in _The Two Towers_ will have much more information in it than a frame from _Speed Racer,_ which was stingy with its backgrounds. Also, I’m pretty sure _Speed Racer_ had many fewer than the standard 30 frames per second. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/14 "2007-05-31T16:20:33Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] By the way that’s a bad link in the OP. -FrL- [/QUOTE] What? People go to the links? [Sorry](http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-05-30-speed-racer_N.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/15 "2007-05-31T17:02:02Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] I guess I don’t know how DVDs work. Why does rudimentary animation take up less space? I would have thought a frame takes up the same amount of space no matter what’s on it. [/QUOTE] DVDs use various forms of image compression (part of which is a sophisticated version of “recording only the changed pixels”). The more redundancy there is in a given block of data, the more it can be compressed – obviously, a minute of rudimentary animation has a much higher redundancy level than a minute of live video. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/16 "2007-05-31T17:48:55Z")
How hard this will suck will be in direct proportion to the ratio of Spritle and Chim Chim screen time to overall film length. Speed Racer film = potential for great coolness. Speed Racer film, heavy with Chim Chim = suckage of truly impressive magnitude. I’m not familiar with Emile Hirsh but he [looks the part](http://www.celebopedia.com/emile-hirsch/images/emile-hirsch.jpg). Matthew Fox playing it unironically and Ricci playing it deeply ironically should be fun. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/17 "2007-05-31T18:10:28Z")
This is a funny coincidence because of my post in this [thread=422975]thread[/thread]. I can’t say I’m surprised about this movie. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/18 "2007-05-31T18:11:11Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] I’m not familiar with Emile Hirsh but he [looks the part](http://www.celebopedia.com/emile-hirsch/images/emile-hirsch.jpg). Matthew Fox playing it unironically and Ricci playing it deeply ironically should be fun. [/QUOTE] He did a pretty good job in Lords of Dogtown. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/19 "2007-05-31T18:31:06Z")
[QUOTE=Fiver] Matthew Fox as Racer X, huh? Interesting. You know…tell me if I’m crazy, but I’ve always thought Racer X bore a more than passing resemblance to Speed’s long-lost older brother Rex Racer. [/QUOTE] Pssst… I’ll let you in on a secret. :: takes a deep breath :: _UnbenknownsttoSpeed, RacerXisreallyRexRacer, SpeedRacer’solderbrotherwhoranawayfrom homeyearsagoafteranargumentwithPops._ God I loved that show for the sheer crap-itude. Loved it! ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181/20 "2007-05-31T18:45:28Z")
[QUOTE=zweisamkeit_UnbenknownsttoSpeed, RacerXisreallyRexRacer, SpeedRacer’solderbrotherwhoranawayfrom homeyearsagoafteranargumentwithPops._[/QUOTE] _Oooohhhh!_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-racer-film-industry-keeps-getting-weirder/406181.md?page=2)