SF Signal: Speed Racer's Mach 5

Speed Racer's Mach 5

All you Speed Racer fanboys can commence drooling (let me get my handkerchief). USA Today has a first look at the Mach 5 that will be used in the upcoming Speed Racer movie.

I confess, I watched Speed every afternoon after school. My most favorite Hot Wheels car was my Mach 5. I even have the first two issues of the Speed Racer comic released by Wildstorm in 1999. Yes, I like Speed Racer. I mean, who doesn't like a giant truck made out of solid gold? Just think of the power needed to move that!

I had heard there was a movie in the works, but knowing the Wachowski brothers were directing gave me some pause. Although Speed Racer will be a family film, producer Joel Silver says:

And it will have great effects like the Matrix, just with the car.

Plus, most of the car effects will be done with CGI and the model you see above will be in a wire-fu setup. Please, please, please don't screw this up. There's a lot of possibilities with the car, just think about those retractable saw blades, but how much will they tone it down?

As if the Mach 5 isn't enough, the last sentence is:

"They're using a real monkey," Hirsch says. "Just don't call him that. He's a chimpanzee. He gets upset if you call him a monkey."

A real chimpanzee. Sweet. I'm almost convinced to be there in the theaters. But I still have doubts. Check out the cast: Emile Hirsch (who?) as Speed, Christina Ricci (Wednesday Adams?!) as Trixie and Matthew Fox (Jack! He got off the island! But did his dad?) as Racer X.

But dang, that is one cool looking car. Maybe Detroit ought to make those for mass market consumption.

Someday I have to find English subtitled versions of the original episodes produced in Japan that weren't done in English because they weren't suitable for US audiences. I had always heard that the blades on the front of the car were used for crowd control in one episode, but now fear that was just an urban legend.

Posted by scottsh on Monday June 04, 2007 at 2:33 PM