Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?

A revival of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?. It followed the same theme but with several differences to the format, not to mention the set had been updated to a more futuristic look.

In season 1, at the start of the show, the Chief would call for Kevin, who is goofing around in his room. Three players (ages 10-14), known as "Time Pilots", compete. They are given 100 Power Points to begin the game. The Chief then briefs them on what was stolen and what time it was stolen from.

In Season 2, the ship's Nano-Probes reveal the time and place where Carmen has sent her henchman, so the team warps (travels) through space, straight to the time of the crime. Once they arrive at their time target, the Chief gives them their briefing. Sometimes, the ship arrives upside-down or sideways, but it always rights itself.

Various skits are performed which give clues to the location the villain went to, like the Cluefinder from World which is locked-in to someone from the past or the future. After the skit, three possible answers or locations are shown to the pilots. They simultaneously select their answers, then reveal them to Kevin. The viewer can see the individual choices represented by an individual color (pink, green, or blue). You can see which choice the pilots made by the lights in front of them, before they actually reveal their answer. Any pilot with the right answer scores 10 Power Points. If he/she is wrong, their score remains the same.

At one point in the game, Carmen's henchman would provide a clue from the viewscreen; in season 2, he/she would appear either in front of the players in a projector tube, on the ACME Time Net Nano-Probe, or, if delivering a message to Carmen (which was also shown on the ACME Time Net Nano-Probe), would appear on her monitor. The points in time visited follow the historical progression of the "seed" that was originally stolen and it is repeatedly emphasized that all the history traveled through will be erased unless the artifact is returned. Therefore, the final point in time would always be the present or else very near the present. The typical course of the round would be as follows:

Data Boost: At two points during the game (one in the second season), there is a Data Boost. The first one happens when the ship's Fact Fuel is low (used in the first season only); the second happens after Carmen's henchman attacks and damages the ship (which was shown on the ACME TimeNet Nano-Probe in Season 2). It happens when Kevin announced that the only fuel/solution is by activating the Data Boost. It also happens when in season 2, the ship's Engine Crew report what's going on and tell Kevin, "Better do a Data Boost!" (Ex. the time-probes launcher malfunctioning, the Engine Crew being teleported to Times Square, or engine problems). Kevin reads clues in a given subject and gives the players a choice of 2 or 3 answers (for example, "Bill Cullen - game show host, or pilot?"). The first to buzz-in with the right answer scores 5 Power Points; if the player is wrong, they lose 5 Power Points. (The example above, however, is a trick question - Cullen flew airplanes and even owned an airport briefly during his career as a game show host. If such a question were used, however, the answer accepted as correct would be "game show host".)

Several questions like this are asked according to time. As Kevin says with a salute, "All our fact fuel is verified by Encyclopedia Brittanica!"

Global Pursuit: After one skit is performed, the Global Pursuit round is played (this replaced the second regular Data Boost in Season 2). This is played like "The Chase" round, for a series of questions with three possible answers (all places in the world) are asked. Only one player could buzz in, for 5 Power Points up or down. Ultimate Data Boost: This series of questions are the final ones for the round. For the end of Round 1, the team has to make one last jump through time. To do that, they need all the Fact Fuel they can generate, by answering this final round of questions. This is just like a normal Data Boost, but the questions are worth double the Power Points, and again, several questions are asked according to time. The two pilots with the highest score move on to Round Two, the third-placed player would be eliminated, but would receive the official ACME Time Net Mission Pack. In case of a tie for 2nd place, Kevin will read clues to a famous person or place. The first person to buzz in with the right answer moves on to Round Two. Like in World, the last clue, if needed, would contain the correct answer.

Afterwards, in season 2, the eliminated pilot waves goodbye as they head back to Time Net Command (the present) via the teleporter, with Kevin and the other two pilots doing the same.

Round Two - The Chronological Order Game With Kevin on command, the two remaining pilots warp to the present or near-present day, where they must activate the Loot Tractor Beam to bring back the stolen artifact away from the day's villain (shown in the ACME Time Net Nano-Probe in season 2) and place it safely on board. The Cybersphere that the loot is in can be seen glowing in the center of the big HyperSpin wheel in the engine room. The Chief then lists 8 events, related to the artifact that was stolen. The events appear on a board, and the pilot leading after Round One is given the option on who goes first. If there is a tie between the pilots, a coin toss decides who chooses (the coin tosses are shown in the 2nd season). Whoever goes first must now list the 8 events in reverse chronological order (thus, starting with the most recent event, and finishing with the least recent event). As long as the current pilot continues to list events in chronological order, they can continue playing. If the pilot picks an event that breaks chronological order, or if they take too long, their turn ends, and their opponent must start again from the beginning.

The first pilot to successfully list all eight events in reverse chronological order saves history, recovers the artifact (in season 2, the pilot activates a transporter to automatically transport the loot back from whence it was stolen), wins the game, and the right to play the Bonus Round to catch Carmen & that day's villain, while the other is sent to pilot the Chronoskimmer back to the present, and receives the Time Net Mission Pack and a portable C.D. player.

Bonus Round - The Trail Of Time The Chief tells Kevin and the pilot to go to the escape pod and head to the bonus round, followed by the Engine Crew singing the theme song from the engine room to the bonus round set. Sometimes in season 1, the song is shortened. In season 2, Kevin and the pilot go to the escape pod on their own before heading to the Trail of Time. Then, Kevin, the pilot, and the Engine Crew race across the studio to the starting point of the round. The pilot (with a bicycle helmet on in the 1st season) has 90 seconds to pass through 6 gates by answering a history question on each gate posed by Carmen herself on The Trail Of Time, which goes from the past to the 20th Century. The Engine Crew point the pilot to the next gate along the trail. All questions are related to the artifact that was stolen in that day's show, and are dual-choice (Kevin has, on several occasions, noted that each question used up six seconds of the player's time to ask). Following the Engine Crew's directions, the pilot runs to the first gate and presses a button to activate the question (during season 2, Carmen just read the question when the pilot arrived at the gate). If the pilot answers correctly (indicated by a ding), the gate will open automatically. If the pilot answers incorrectly (indicated by a buzzer), they must operate a device (pulling a rope, turning a wheel, etc) to manually open the gate, using up time. The pilot runs to the next gate and the process is repeated. After the first three gates (sometimes two), the pilot catches the villain that stole the artifact at the beginning of the show. If the pilot can get through all six gates before time expires, they energize the Capture Crystal, which they take over and place in the Chronolog Chamber at the edge of the studio, to catch Carmen Sandiego and win a new multimedia Computer. Otherwise, they win a set of encyclopedias and a portable music system with a collection of music.

The set is slightly confusing, and requires the engine crew be on-hand to wave the player to their next gate using airport-style marshalling wands. Despite this, pilots will occasionally arrive at the wrong gate, wasting precious time.

It should be noted that almost all pilots getting five out of six questions right won, and a pilot answering four correctly could complete the run, if they operated the gate devices rapidly enough. Some pilots got a perfect score.

In the first season, Carmen was captured in a cage, while in the second season, she was captured in a Capture Crystal.

The show always ended with either Kevin, the pilot, or both along with the Engine Crew saying, "At ACME Time Net, History is Our Job; The Future is Yours!" before the end credits are shown with the ending theme song heard.

Variations One recurring sketch in the second season had the Chronoskimmer being pulled into a parallel universe, which seemed to be quite similar to Star Trek’s Mirror Universe. There, ACME was evil and V.I.L.E. was good. On at least one occasion, a future Kevin has given clues to himself three episodes in the past (the current episode). The (fictional) contestants in the future episode usually have scores in the 500s or higher, though the highest possible score is 260.