From the few episodes of this I watched a few years ago I thought it had a surprising amount of depth. You never know what happened to their parents. (It's like they were in M.A.S.K.!) Those cars are cool, and it was really innovative to have computers in cars way back in the early 80's! And the best thing about this show is how believable all three main characters are despite the outlandish plots!
Great review. Back in the day, I was the only kid I knew that liked Pole Position. Well developed characters, talking robot cars, strange mysteries...but all my friends thought it would have been better if it had been more like Wacky Racers. Philistines, one and all....
I LOVE this show when they aired it alongside MASK. I always thought that both shows existed in the same universe, how awesome would it have been if they had a crossover! I liked this show the same way I liked The Real Ghostbusters and Galaxy Rangers because they didn't dumb down for kids AND they have awesome female characters. (Janine is still my most favorite of them all- at least the first few seasons version of her)
Love that theme song! One of the best of Levy's. There was a band named La Roux who made a song a few years ago called "In For the Kill" that was influenced by the Pole Position theme. The music video for the song has a Pole Position feel too.
I watched that in early 90s in Poland with Polish dubbing. I can't believe they made only 13 episides... I was wondering in years what happed to their parents... That was 30 years ago, damn it. I will never forget the song.
Another great video. I barely remember this cartoon and I don't remember watching it but your overview really got me up to speed and I kind of wish I had given it a chance back in the 80s. It sounds like a real hidden gem of retro goodness. Thanks for giving it a feature, I really enjoyed it.
JamesKenobi1138 You're welcome! Thanks for watching! We're really ramping up for 2015 with more of these videos since we ran on a slight feature deficit last year what with the convention appearances.
It's actually pretty amazing just how many cartoons in the '80s really took the time to present strong, well-developed women. Tess is probably the savviest of the lot, since most of those other shows have the strong female lead as a sort of "Hero 1A" to the hero with whom they are romantically linked. Here, though, Dan is a straight-up parody of these types of heroes, right down to being a strapping blonde man (just like He-Man and Duke from G.I. Joe), and there's no denying that Tess is the star of the show. It's really a shame that CBS buried it from the start. Sure, it doesn't compare in quality to what The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour or Dungeons & Dragons had on tap that season, but it never deserved to be buried at the end of the day, after The Get-Along Gang of all things.
I remember this show being on in a Saturday morning arcade cartoon block with this , donkey Kong, pacman and Q bert. I always wanted to see Q bert but they seemed to only have maybe 6 episodes of that and they always showed this and pacman the most. Great memories though.
This show was a classic. Never knew the studio behind Tenchi Muyo in the 90's made the interior animation to this show. There should have been a second season.
+RetroBlasting ~ "He's like Charlie from Charlie's Angels." ~ You mean he's like Devon Miles... from Knight Rider. And Pole Position is like The Foundation for Law And Government. And both Roadie and Wheels are like KITT, there's even an episode of Knight Rider where KITT's body gets stolen and Michael has to walk around with him in some kind of portable TV box thing, kinda like what Road and Wheel's "brains" are in on the front cover of that DVD box set in your intro. Who the heck cares about Charlie's Angels.
Slight correction; KITT from Knight Rider actuallly did have a mobile unit box that enabled him him to be removed from the car. Though, it was only used in about 2 episodes or so.
mazinkaizer0 Not exactly. It was in some little electronic devices yes but only because the car was all destroyed and they had to rebuilt all. Not to be remove on purpose.
I have huge love for this show and have since I was a kid when it originally aired for 5 main reasons - because of Rhodey, Wheels, Tess, Kuma, and that AMAZING theme song. I appreciate that you hit on all 5 of those reasons as strong suits. Thank you!
For those who said this series should be more racing based, I put it this way. I think of Pole Position as a precursor to MASK, specifically towards the elements of Roadie and Wheels. But what did MASK do for its final season? That's right, changed the episodes to more of a racing theme, which didn't work as well as the original format.
Kuma is the Japanese word for bear (and can generically refer to other mammals) but also sounds kinda like "coon", and between his eye fur and manual dexterity he somewhat resembles a raccoon (but mostly looks like a cat). The Japanese word for raccoon is araiguma, the "guma" being "kuma" when placed after a vowel. He doesn't need to be a specific species though, it's enough to look at him and see that he's cute.
Another awesome trip back through time, I totally remember watching this show, but I think I ended up watching another channel halfway through the series because my grandma's TV didn't tune it in. That intro song though is burned into my brain!
It’s so funny how we critique these cartoons that our kids shows it’s meant for kids not for adults. Not to mention, it’s an 80s cartoon. I loved Pole Position back in the day and still love it! I never knew that was Otis from the Temptations now I love it even more because I’m a Temptations fan!!!!! I thought his voice sounded familiar!
I WATCHED THIS WHEN IT CAME OUT IN THE 1980’s. I THINK IT WAS ON SATURDAYS AT 11:00 AM CHICAGO TIME. IT WAS REALLY FUN TO WATCH AND I LOVED THE THEME SONG. I SHOWED IT TO MY KIDS AND THEY LOVE IT TOO!
5:23 - Devon Miles / Edward Mulhare - the guy who sends Michael Knight / David Hasselhoff out on missions and contacts him via the screen on KITT's dash.... -. -
I remember waking up at the ass crack of dawn on Saturdays to start my cartoon watching...I believe this show was on around 7-730 am on CBS...I used to really love it - what young kid wouldn't want a talking car?!
I agree that there should have been merchandise for this show. I vaguely remember it and I thought the blue car was the kewlest thing on wheels at the time.
Since a lot of other things have been re-made from the 80's (transformers, thundercats, GI Joe etc). It surprises me that they haven't tried to remake this show.
I know that I'm really late to the discussion here, but I noticed that Daisy's character model looks similar to Penny, from Inspector Gadget. They were both by DIC Entertainment, so I guess that makes sense.
Something I just thought of: In a solid number of 80s cartoons, the guy is usually a brunette and the girl a blonde. Not the case with this cartoon. Dan is the blonde(With him falling into the dumb blonde trope) and Tess having black hair.
My memory is very vague with this show. I know I watched it because it was in between Saturday Supercade and Dungeons and Dragon, but its been so long that I don't remember. I also would occasionally change the channel that half hour to Alvin and the Chipmunks. It looks interesting enough to go after though and the video resparked some old memories, what Retroblasting does best! Spent plenty of times with Pole Position II which came with my Atarti 7800 a couple of years later.
Sweet! A Melinda review, I love your takes on the vintage stuff (more ponies please). That said, I only have the vaguest of memories of this show. What I remember are just the quick shots of the car computers and the helmets, so I think I may have only ever seen the into to it and not actual episodes. Too bad I missed it, as it sounds like it treated the female characters well. I don't remember Kuma, but Kuma seems far less annoying than other '80s sidekicks.
I remember & rather liked the Pole Position cartoon. It was rather good. Tess & Uncle Zach were my fave characters- and Tess Darrett was very pretty! Hope you'll also do videos on the G. I. Joe cartoons of the 1980s from both Marvel & DIC.
Interesting to see what we missed over here in germany. If we really miss it is something entirely different of course. The best animated series ever in my opinion is still, foremost and forever CAPTAIN FUTURE!
I love seeing a woman's point of view on video games, cartoons, and anything retro. I dont feel there are enough. Perhaps I've not found more yet. Zero Page Homebrew is a nice couple, like you two. Subbed!
I would watch the opening just for the music and animation and youtube has the French opening always makes me smile, the smart possum use to creepy me out.
Another great review, guys. Also, I can't wait for the pay-off for the Vader gags. Not to sound like a creep but Melinda is always adorable but more so here.
I’ve rewatched this review so many times like most of your stuff. Just so dead on. Although I didn’t like the little thing running around. Reminded me of snarf or orko or all those little creatures in every show. Hell I LOVED the wonder twins but I despised gleek. Grab the bucket from nowhere.
Pole Position had one of te best theme music just under Silverhawks. I love this show and I have it on DVD but I think I have a different version than the ones you showed.
Highly underrated cartoon. I am amazed though at how many cartoons from my childhood only lasted 20 or so episodes. I felt there was tons of some shows. I guess I just watched them over and over. :)
This review never gets old. Glad someone else enjoys this show as well when it aired. In its own way it holds up. I'm developing a tribute to this show. Google 'Qualify' 'animatic' . Hoping this show gets not a reboot but a continuation. And rename the cartoon. What are your thoughts?
LOL at the beginning. Hey B.V. send me your address and I'll sneak in steal the arms from Mike & Melinda and fix you myself! I'm in your corner bubba! LOL
This was a childhood secret.... I loved it but I can not remember talking about it to anyone. It was on for a short time in the uk, early (unsure what day). I think I liked the cars more than anything in the show .. but on the back of this video I watched M.A.S.K. and Pole Position. I had a lot of MASK toys and tbh PP has aged much better. It actually feels character led and nuanced, and seems remarkably not sexist (early episode the character assume the scientists is a man and turns out to be a strong, intelligent older woman). It's a shame this didn't have more episodes... Like Bagpuss and Firefly , some of the best things come in 13s. One correction for the video.... Not sure why you missed this.... But the easy code being given out by the uncle in the pilot episode was the part of the plot. It was intended to allow them to capture the Roadie and Wheels so they could attack the criminals computer systems. But great for the reminder. And more Melinda!
Tess sounded a little too flat while she was speaking but she was better than a lot of other '80s female characters so I can let that slide. Kuma got on my nerves but not nearly as much as Dan. Dan was straight up *insufferable* at times! Daisy was pretty competent for an '80s kid character and surprisingly helpful at times. Uncle Zachary was just... there. He didn't do much beyond giving missions and exposition to Tess and Dan until the second-to-last episode. Wheels and Roadie were uninronically my favorite characters. Their banter, *especially* with each other, was actually pretty funny! 😆
Do you remember or will you review any of the electronic toys of the 80s, like Rom the space knight, starbird avenger or even the "computer controlled" vehicles like 255 computer control corvette or the brain buggy? I had all of these toys and they were pretty popular.
Thanks for the upload, and creation of this video, as I kid, I never caught this show, but was curious about it, and it's knight rider type tech within in the cars, but I think i was still busy with dungeons and dragons, I didn't know the show only had a single series, that's too bad, seemed like the series was good...
+RetroBlasting ~ 8:03 - "except that KITT's core CPU wasn't something portable that you could just carry around like a Tom Tom." (it took me a second to realize you meant the old GPS thing, and not the drum...) ~ Actually, yes, in the episode Soul Survivor, they have to do exactly that, because some lady drugged Michael and made him give up the authorization codes so she could steal KITT's body, and she also cons some nerdy computer whiz-kid into helping her use KITT's built-in laser to rob some truck or something.
You guys should played the intro song it's one of the best in 80's cartoon line up. but youtube arrghh they would flagged it most likely. but anyone look it up it's a great song. Great vid as always.
***** Thank you for the review. As a fellow 80s child I wanted something work-relevant to listen to while at the desk- and this review did the trick. I've been working on some 80s anime tributes- including Pole Position- since 2009. Sending you a message right now. And I'm subscribing.