"A Fascinating Enigma: My Response to the Animated Carmen Sandiego" 

By "Belle Book"

When I first learned of the upcoming appearance of an animated
version of the Carmen Sandiego computer games, I had played
several of those computer games, and been viewing the PBS version
of "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?". In both cases, I had
found the chase of Carmen and her henchmen exciting. So, naturally, I
was really excited to learn of an animated version of the computer
games coming to TV. Little did I know how intriguing this animated
version would be.

The first "Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?" episode I saw was
"The Stolen Smile", which may not have been the best introduction to
the animated Carmen Sandiego. She was more a traditional villainess
whom the detectives (Ivy and her younger brother, Zack) were
supposed to catch. Still, one thing I saw that was different was that
Carmen would steal things herself and didn't rely solely on her
henchmen.

However, "A Higher Calling", the next episode, was the beginning of
my real interest in the series -- and in the animated Carmen. In this
episode, Carmen stole various astronomically related items from
Stonehenge to the Arceibo telescope, in an attempt to contact aliens.
This really intrigued me, for I began to see Carmen as a woman
interested in more than just a limited range of subjects. I began to see
a bit of myself in her, for I have a wide range of interests. Later
episodes, such as "By a Whisker" and "The Play's the Thing", further
convinced me of Carmen's wide range of interests. Therefore I first
began to relate to Carmen as a woman who wanted to learn about
many subjects, the beginning step to my fascination with her.

During the first season, however, I not only saw Carmen as a woman
with a vast range of interests. I also began to see her as a woman who
loved to challenge herself and the detectives. I first saw this side of
Carmen in "The Good Old Bad Old Days", where Carmen first
undertook a high-tech robbery just to prove to herself that she could do
it, and then undertook a low-tech crime to prove to the Player that she
could steal objects with or without high technology. Further evidence of
Carmen's interest in stealing objects to satisfy her need for challenges
came in episodes such as "Split Up", "Moondreams", the two-part "A
Date with Carmen", and "Chapter and Verse". Moreover, during the
episode "Rules of the Game" I saw something very unusual (to my way
of viewing criminals) happen: Carmen actually tried to save Ivy's life!
When Ivy slipped from Carmen's grasp, Carmen cried, "Ivy!" in a tone
of real fear. I was scared for Ivy, too, so at first I missed it, but this was
my first glimpse of Carmen as a person who won't kill the detectives
who are chasing her, and only added to my admiration of her.

In "Hot Ice", I learned something that really gave me a glimpse into the
personality of Carmen Sandiego: she was once an Acme detective
before turning to a life of crime. Naturally, I was very curious. Why would
she leave an excellent career and turn to a life of crime? I never really
learned why, though I began to suspect maybe her love of challenges
had something to do with her becoming a criminal. I got further
possible evidence to support my suspicions when, in "Deja Vu",I(and
Ivy and Zack) met Suhara, her senior partner when she was in Acme,
and heard Suhara say maybe her life as a detective didn't give her
enough challenges. He also told her later in that episode that she was
fatally attracted to danger, which may refer to her current career, but
also can refer to her personality. Her success as a detective is refered
to both in "Deja Vu," and in the two-parter "Boyhood's End", where she
calls herself the best detective in Acme history.

But along with the revealation of her prior career as an Acme detective,
I also saw the development of challenges to her excellence as a thief. In
"All for One", the challenge came from two of her henchmen, who tried
to pull off a caper without her knowledge, only to ruin the whole caper
with their bickering. Then in "When it Rains", her best henchwoman,
Sara Bellum, went mad (possibly out of jealousy) and tried to prove she
was better than Carmen, even going so far as to lock up Carmen and
pretend to be her! Finally, in "Boyhood's End", Carmen successfully
lured Lee Jordan, the immature ace Acme detective, into a partnership
with her, only to have him try to prove himself to be better than her.
These situations did add a degree of vulnerability to Carmen and add
to her complexity. So I would say that by the end of the second season,
I had begun to see Carmen as a fascinating enigma, one whom I would
love to get to know more about. I had also begun to like Carmen, and
think of her as a nice person, despite her career as a thief.

The third season was one where I began to see a lot more of Carmen
than I had seen in earlier seasons. It all began with the season opener,
"The Tigress". For the first time, I saw Carmen being beaten as a thief
by somebody else. Carmen, however, was mostly philosophical about
it with a totally new Player, as she said that "competition can make you
stronger, Player." When asked who said that, Carmen said, "Me!" That
made me laugh at her audacity. When it turned out that the Tigress was
really Ivy, working with Zack in an attempt to capture Carmen, and
Carmen was captured, I looked forward to her escaping, which was
somewhat new for me.

After "The Tigress", came "The Remnants", an episode which gave me
a look into Carmen's background that I never expected to see. I
learned that Carmen was an orphan, that she was given a home at
Acme by the Chief, and that she was stealing stuff connected to "The
Wizard of Oz" because that was her favorite story as a child, and that
she planned to steal her old home, the orphanage where she had once
lived. I really empathized with Carmen in this episode. Another episode
where I empathized with Carmen was "Shaman Spirits". In this
episode, I saw that she had a conscience (although I wasn't certain
whether the nightmares she had were just her conscience or if a Native
American spirit really was behind them), and that she could be
frightened. I wanted her to be freed from her nightmares, which is proof
that I had come to care for Carmen.

The last episode I saw, "The Trial of Carmen Sandiego", was a very
important episode in terms of my evolving response to the character of
Carmen. When she was "captured", I was really worried, and hoped
Carmen could get out of whatever situation she was trapped in. This is
because I had come to like Carmen a lot. The ending was a real
surprise, however, as I realized that Carmen had faked her own
kidnapping! Carmen here showed an ability to surprise me, which may
have been new, since in earlier episodes, I wasn't totally surprised by
anything she did.

"Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?" revolutionized my ideas of
Carmen Sandiego. For the first time I saw a woman that, while a thief
and a criminal, I could really admire and like. I also saw a woman that I
wanted to get to know better, and who would continue to fascinate me
even after the series was apparently taken off the air. Carmen's desire
to know more about various subjects such as extraterrestrial life, her
love for challenges, and her occasional vulnerability combined with the
things I learned about her background to create the image I have of a
fascinating enigma which I hope to get to know better someday.