Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?

1st Season Intro:

"Time Pilots, (name of villain) just stole something from the past! You've got 28 minutes to get it back, or history will change forever! Initiate Chronoskimmer launch sequence! Boot up the chrono computer! Power up the engines! Extend the temperal sequencer! Now get going!"

2nd Season Intro:

"Time Pilots, (name of villain) just stole something from the past! You've got 28 minutes to get it back, or history will change forever! Boot up the chrono computer! Launch the time probes! Power up the engines! Now get going!"

Rest of Intro (after theme song):

''Chief Lynne: "And here's the/your time pilot squadron leader, Kevin Shinick! (Season 2: Kevin? KEVIN!)" (audience applauds while Chief is saying it in first season, but in the second season, the audience applauds after Kevin is prompted by the Chief to do the show)  Kevin: "(Hey!) Welcome aboard, everyone. I want you to hang on tight because we've got a very big mission but very little time! So let's begin our journey by meeting today's Time Pilots! Starting with (insert players)!"''

Rest of Spiel:

Early-Mid SEASON 1: "Kevin: Okay, time pilots, just so you know, we depend on fact fuel to power the Chronoskimmer and you guys will be generating that fuel/power with your answers. Now each of you is equipped with 100 power points! (zing) Let's check in with the Chronoskimmer Engine Crew, shall we? (insert engine crew dance) All right! They look ready and rarin' to go! So let's begin our pursuit of (insert villain of the day) Chief, what's our mission profile?

''Chief Lynne: Squadron, your time target is (insert year)! Destination, (insert destination)! (insert explanation of time and its history)''"

Late SEASON 1: "Time squadron, you've heard the mission from the Chief. Let's check with the Chronoskimmer Engine Crew. Crew, you ready? (insert engine crew dance) They look ready and rarin' to go! All right, just so you know, Time Pilots, we depend on fact fuel to power the Chronoskimmer and you'll be generating that fuel/power with your answers. So each of you is equipped with 100 power points! (zing) So let's begin our pursuit of (insert villain of the day). Chief, what's our mission profile? (insert chief's explanation and information for time pilots)"

Season 2: "Kevin: Welcome aboard, Time Pilots! You've heard the mission from the Chief! We're gonna start by equipping each of you with 100 power points! (ding) Okay, our nano-probes have revealed the time and place where Carmen has sent (insert villain of the day). So, let's get started! Bridge to engine crew! Let's warp to the time of the crime! (insert warp) Chief, we've reached our destination/made it (insert strange way)... uh... safely! What's our mission profile?

''Chief Lynne: Squadron! You've time travelled to (insert year)! Location, (insert location)! (insert explanation of time and its history)"''

A spin-off from 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.

Round 1
In season 1, at the start of the show, the Chief introduced Kevin as he entered from the left of the Chronoskimmer. In season 2, 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 from what time it was stolen.

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, that pilot's 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 after warping to the time of the crime (used in the first season only); the second happens after Carmen's henchman attacks and damages the ship or does strange things to engine crew (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, engine problems, etc.) 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, he/she loses 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/data is verified by (ding) Encyclopedia Brittanica!"

Sketches Used
One of the sketches 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. Other skits include:


 * Amnitia: On occasion, Kevin would run out of clues and ask the Chief to contact the spiritual informant known as Amnitia.
 * Engine Crew's Clues: The Engine Crew sang the clues of the year from the Engine Room. On other occasions, the Engine Crew are in the Chronoskimmer's cafeteria conversing with Libby the Cafeteria Robot.
 * Intruder Alert: The Intruder Alert alarm alerted Kevin to an intruder in his bedroom. When he gets there, he finds his mother there who gives him info about a specific point in Kevin's life.
 * Nano Probe Intercept: This is the ACME Time Net equivalent of the Phone Tap on Where in The World is Carmen Sandiego. Sometimes the Nano Probes would Intercept a message to Carmen from one of her gangsters.

Global Pursuit
After one skit is performed, the Global Pursuit round is played ( in Season 2 this replaced the second regular Data Boost). 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 (10 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 to the pilot as they head back to Time Net Command (the present) via the teleporter, with Kevin and the other two pilots doing the same.

Round 2 - 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 making him/her upset(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 he/she takes too long, that pilot’s turn ends and the 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 plays the Bonus Round to catch Carmen & that day's villain, while the eliminated player is sent to pilot the Chronoskimmer back to the present, and receives the Time Net Mission Pack and a portable CD player.

Bonus Round - Trail Of Time
In Season 1, the Chief tells Kevin and the pilot to go to the escape pod and head to the bonus round, as he warns, "Look out, Carmen! We're on our way!" This is 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 either shortened or edited after the crew sang, "We're on the case" and the villains say, "And they're chasing us through history!" (used in first season). In the second season, when the contestant headed for The Trail of Time, the ending was normal instead of the villains singing the end part. 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 or stage hands 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. If the pilot answers correctly (indicated by a ding), the gate will open automatically. If the pilot answers incorrectly (indicated by a buzzer), he/she 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, he/she energizes the Capture Crystal, which that pilot takes over and places in the Chronolog Chamber at the edge of the studio, catching Carmen Sandiego and winning a new multimedia computer. Otherwise, Carmen escapes, and the pilot wins a set of encyclopedias and a portable music system with a collection of music (In the second season the encyclopedias were replaced with a Time Net mission pack)

The set is slightly confusing, and requires the engine crew or stage hands be on-hand to wave the player to the 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 pilots 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 with a clock in the background, 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!" They then all head back to the present and the end credits are shown with the ending theme song heard.

Villain Cast
Carmen Sandiego

Janine LaManna (1996-1997) Brenda Burke (1997-1998)

Sir Vile

John Lathan (1996-1998)

Baron Wasteland (Season 1 only)

James Greenburg (1996-1997)

Buggs Zapper (Season 2 only)

James Greenburg (1997-1998)

Jacqueline Hyde

Alaine Kashian (1996-1998)

Medeva

Paula Leggett Chase (1996-1998) Dr. Belljar

Owen Taylor (Season 1) Jamie Gustis (Season 2)

1st Season
D. Norman Yazbek & Sean Altman

2nd Season
Robert D'Agnello

Open/Bonus Round
We're on the case and were chasing her through history.

Chrono Skimmer, engine's hot.

Vile villains, evil plot.

Our brave squadron leader will help us defeat her,

And bring back the loot to its rightful place in time.

Tell me, where in time is Carmen Sandiego?

Stop her crime, and solve this mystery.

Tell me, where in time is Carmen Sandiego?

We're on the case and we're chasing her through history!

Close
We're on the case and we're chasing her through history.

Throttle open, thrusters on,

Chrono Skimmer, gets us gone.

Pack extra socks, and we'll all beat the clock,

From the stone age, the middle age, the space age and back.

Tell me, where in time is Carmen Sandiego?

Stop her crime, and solve this mystery.

Tell me, where in time is Carmen Sandiego?

We're on the case and we're chasing her through history!

Nero's fiddle, Lincoln's beard,

Newton's apple, disappeared.

The finest tea from the Ming Dynasty,

And the Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria, we've got to get them back.

Tell me, where in time is Carmen Sandiego?

Stop her crime, and solve this mystery.

Tell me, where in time is Carmen Sandiego?

We're on the case and we're chasing her through history!

repeat

Where in time is Carmen Sandiego?

Inventor
Based on the computer game by Broderbund Software

Also a spinoff of its previous incarnation Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Merchandise
A CD-ROM of the same name as the show that was released in 1997 when Time aired its second season. This version of the CD-ROM featured the Chief and the voices of the villains from the hit TV show. The theme was also heard in the game as well.

A toy camera

Watch and T shirts

In popular culture

 * In an episode of Robot Chicken, the Mission Profile was to get back the Brooklyn Bridge. When Kevin (who also works for Robot Chicken as co-producer & creative director) receives a phone call from his wife about a jacket, he tells everyone in the studio that they had to retrieve a lost jacket, but all did not go well for Kevin.
 * Kevin Shinick guest-appeared on the Nickelodeon show Kenan and Kel, in the episode "Attack of the Bugman", in which he played the Bugman.

International Versions
There was a Canadian French version of Where in Time that lasted from 1998-1999, just after the PBS version got cancelled. Patrick Labbé was the Time Pilot Squadron Leader and Brigitte Paquette as the Chief. The Engine Crew members were Daniel Do, Marie-Hélène Fortin and Widemir Normil. Unlike the winning contestant getting the computer as a grand prize, the grand prize for this version was mountain bikes as well as a prize package. The Canadian French version was titled as À la poursuite de Carmen Sandiego?

Catchphrases
"Chief, what's our mission profile?" - Kevin Shinick (1996-1998)

"(We're ready, Chief!) Look out, Carmen, we're on our way!" Kevin Shinick - (1996-1998)

Taglines
"Remember, at ACME Timenet, history is our job; the future is yours!" - Kevin Shinick (1996-1998)

Fundings
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (1996-1998)

Viewers Like You (1996-1998)

The National Endowment for Children's Educational Television (1996-1997)

Delta Air Lines (1996-1997)

The opening variant for Season 1 is "Today's mission is fueled by The Corporation For Public Broadcasting, Viewers Like You, the National Endowment For Children's Educational Television, and (insert Delta Air Lines funding spot)".

The closing variant for Season 1 is "This program was produced by WGBH Boston and WQED Pittsburgh." Then a male voice says, "Carmen's journey through time was propelled by: (insert Delta Air Lines funding spot)." Then the Chief says, "And, the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, Viewers Like You, and the National Endowment for Children's Educational Television. This is Lynne Thigpen saying until our next flight, over and out from mission control!". Early in Season 1 the Chief said, "This is Lynne Thigpen saying so long for now, time pilots!", at the end instead. Other variants were, "This is Lynne Thigpen saying Mission Accomplished! So long for now." and "This is Lynne Thigpen saying Good Luck on your next mission!"

The opening variant for Season 2 is "Today's mission is fueled by The Corporation For Public Broadcasting and Viewers Like You!"

The closing variant for Season 2 is "This program was produced by WGBH Boston and WQED Pittsburgh." Then the chief says, "Carmen's journey through time is propelled by The Corporation For Public Broadcasting and Viewers Like You! This is Lynne Thigpen signing off from mission control!" Sometimes the chief might salute the viewers for a mission well done (VO offscreen) after she announces the fundings.

YouTube Videos

 * Kid Capturing Carmen Sandiego in a Season 2 episode
 * The Slinky Song
 * Free All Slaves

Full Episodes
Series Premiere
 * Part 1
 * Part 2
 * Part 3

Second Episode
 * Part 1
 * Part 2
 * Part 3

A Season 2 Episode
 * Part 1
 * Part 2
 * Part 3


 * Another Season 2 episode

Intros & Credits

 * Season 1 Intro
 * Season 1 Intro Better Quality with Season 1 Credits (missing part of intro)
 * Season 2 Intro High Quality
 * Season 2 Credits
 * French Canadian Ending