Recap: The Great Plan, Parts 1 and 2

Hello everyone, and welcome to another installment of “From Humble Beginnings!” I did say earlier this year I wanted to cover something from the 1960s, so in honor of the 50th anniversary of Speed Racer being broadcast in the US; this first of many Christmas presents to myself and you all this month will be a recap of the first two episodes! Let’s open up “The Great Plan: Parts 1 and 2!”

The opening theme, as I pointed out in my “Top 13 Anime Openings,” is an ideal intro to this anime that needs very little introduction; so I’m just going to link to it before I start part 1.

We see Speed, voiced by the late, great Peter Fernandez; racing his custom-built car around the local race track: the Mach 5! It’s honestly one of my favorite movie and TV cars overall, every bit a symbol of the 1960s as the George Barris Batmobile. It turns out key influences on the style of the anime were the original Sean Connery James Bond films as well as the classic Elvis Presley film “Speedway,” according to the special features on my DVDs (which I watched so much I wore the discs out).

Much like in my look at “Ghost Nighter,” Speed gets numerous offers to join the big leagues of racing; but he wants to wait for what his father has planned next. 

On that note, we cut to his dad, “Pops” Racer; voiced by the late Jack Curtis, unveiling a new engine prototype to the company he works for. The engine can accelerate up to 30,000 RPM; which is pretty impressive for that time. From both the perspective of 1967 and 2017, my ideal fantasy car would be a mixture of beefy performance and sleek gadgetry; a good blend of both muscle and concept designs.

However, the board of directors scoffs at the idea; least of all an appropriately-named executive known as Ramrod. This causes a rift that has Pops leave the company with his design to start working independently.

Ramrod, of course, has an ulterior motive; and after Speed picks up his dad, he sends a group of thugs on motorcycles to steal the plans! You gotta love the logic of some of these villains: “I could use my power and money to market his prototype legitimately, but stealing it is more fun!”

The motorcycle hoods attack Speed and Pops, but they’re not about to let their plans go without a fight! Speed is actually pretty capable outside his car as he is in it; and Pops apparently was a former wrestler in college; something that was actually worked into the 2008 live-action film by the Wachowskis. That will come up again later, but I will try to stay focused on these first couple episodes for the most part.

I am also well aware the animation and dubbing have aged, but I will give them some leeway as it was 1967. Some of the bits are kind of amusing, such as this scene where Pops gets hit with a wrench and pink Snitches start flying out of his head. Guess they’re not golden yet. 

One of the hoods tries to make one last move on the plans, but one half of his motorcycle breaks off and he rides it down the mountain like a unicycle.

Ramrod, disappointed that his men failed; then hires another spy and his henchmen to steal the plans: Ace Deucey, voiced by the late Jack Grimes. While at first angered at Ace demanding $5,000 to do the job (roughly $36,000 and change in today’s money); he does agree to his terms. 

Back at Racer Motors, while Speed and their family mechanic; Sparky work on the Mach 5, Speed laments that his father will need money to perfect his design. Sparky then holds up a newspaper with a race on Sword Mountain; with a purse of $5,000 going to the winner! Convenient that Ace and Speed are both vying for exactly the same amount of cash they need.

Ace then breaks into Pops’ office, and demands the plans for the engine at gunpoint. Yeah, in 1967; there wasn’t much distinction between “kids’ anime” and anime in general; and for obvious reasons, there’s no way we could get away with this now. It’s a similar reason why I’m just now working on my 13 Things Wrong With Danganronpa: The Animation (which I want to have done by the end of the year so I can put it behind me and move on).

Ace is unable to find the plans, and is even polite enough to leave when Speed comes in to see what the fuss is about! Pops has also hidden the plans on a windshield, writing them in invisible ink that can only be seen under infrared UV light!

The next day, while Speed is able to qualify for the Sword Mountain race; another racer that’s after the prize money runs Speed off the track: Skull Duggery! Based on the naming conventions of the time, I wonder if these guys know Dick Dastardly or Snidely Whiplash.

Still, Speed is unharmed, and with the help of Sparky, his younger brother Spritle; their chimpanzee Chim-Chim and Speed’s lady friend Trixie; they decide to fine tune the Mach 5 before the race tomorrow!

They’re able to install the grip tire belts that allow better traction on certain terrain (we’ll get to that more in part 2); and Spritle and Chim-Chim are able to replace the windshield that was broken earlier.

However, not only does Spritle almost spill the beans about Speed entering the race against his father’s wishes; they realize it was the windshield with the plans written on it! Ace catches wind of this, and even jumps through the window and onto his motorcycle! He’s determined, I will give him that.

The day of the race comes, and while Pops does warn the official about the spies; they’re unable to stop the race in time! Much like in the opening, some of the racers suffer crashes! I guess they never saw the signs of life, but that intrusive police officer at the Dixon farm didn’t help.

Mike Nelson: Stop the near insanity!

In addition to Duggery, Speed must contend with Ace and his men being planted in the race and bumping off the other drivers as we enter part 2.

Picking up on part 2, before we rejoin the story; we hear Speed talk about some of the special features of the Mach 5: A, which was just shown before the cliffhanger, is for the Aero Jack: jump jacks that can be used to work on the car as well as to give a boost over gaps.

B is for the Belt Tires; which can used to get better traction on certain terrain.

C is for the Cutter Blades, a pair of saw blades that can be used to cut through obstacles in Speed’s path.

D is for the Deflector, which which is bulletproof, crushproof and watertight.

E is for Enhanced lights, which can help give brighter views and a wider range of vision.

F is for Frogman, which can turn the car into a small submarine, about a decade prior to the submersible Lotus from The Spy Who Loved Me. Miss you, Roger Moore. Anyway, this gives the car a small supply of oxygen in the sealed cockpit; and there’s also a periscope inside to see around the area! I also think the use of Tatsunoko’s logo on the view screen is a nice touch.

G is for a homing robot, which can send images and messages via a remote control in the car’s dashboard; and the homing button can send the robot back home by pressing H on the dashboard.

As the race continues, Speed not only is one of the only racers besides Duggery to survive Ace and his hitmen; but he realizes the plans for the engine are on his windscreen, so he lets Trixie know that he will protect them! You gotta love Speed just casually using a 2-way radio while he’s driving in 1967, we just passed new laws against distracted driving; so hopefully I won’t have to put up with people tweeting behind the wheel much longer.

Speed and Duggery decide to take another road to elude Ace’s gang; which ends up taking them on a direct path to Sword Mountain! Ace’s men then start shooting at Speed, but Trixie is able to distract them with smoke pellets, which Ace mistakenly calls “smoke flares.” You have to love the camp of the swinging sixties sometimes.

Further evidence is a sign on a fork in the road gives the distance around Sword Mountain in kilometers; and one of the signs in an earlier scene showing the true name of Racer Motors, “Mifune Motors.” Based on the liner notes of my DVDs, it turns out that Speed’s Japanese name is “Go Mifune,” and Go is also a way of reading “five” in Japanese, hence the “G” on his shirt and one of the multiple meanings of the title “Mach GoGoGo.” His lady Trixie is also called “Michi” in Japan, hence the “M” on her top. They couldn’t very well paint them out in 1967 when whatever computers they did have were on college campuses and they took up far more space than the MacBook Pro I’m typing this on.

Also, wouldn’t you know it, Sword Mountain is a volcano! That’s one way to add more danger to the situation!

Ace then shoots down Trixie’s plane; and says that they’re even! Wow, that’s a bit of a stretch; even for that time frame and villainous logic. “I just got smoke bombs thrown at me, let’s commit attempted murder!”

Trixie thankfully is able to parachute out before her plane crashes into the mountains. Nice try, fellas.

Duggery narrowly falls into the volcano, but Speed is able to rescue him! Now that’s a quality I like from a character like him: even if he’s a rival, he still wants to defeat him for real instead of letting him die!

Speaking of which, Ace and his men have taken Trixie hostage; and demand the plans from Speed or she gets it! Ace’s thugs also take a shot at Duggery, but then Spritle and Chim-Chim start throwing rocks at them all!

A fight scene ensues, and Ace’s men are taken out! Even stealing the Mach 5 isn’t as easy as he expected!

Speed confronts Ace, and a fight breaks out over the plans! He not only uses his helmet as a weapon; but cracks the windshield with it to prevent the plans from falling into Ace’s hands! Not the most desirable course of action, but it had to be done. Also, while it turns out that safety glass did exist in that time frame; it also turns out that it wasn’t mandatory until years later.

Ace, angered that Speed wrecked the designs, tries to fight him again; and gets knocked out when he falls off the cliff! 

Speed is able to win the race; but because of interference from Deucey and his gang, the results are null and void! Figures: nothing like cartoon super villains to rescind a victory, just like the Lumiose Conference! Honestly, if that can of worms was any bigger, I could go fly-fishing with it; but I daresay I’m getting off track.

While Pops is disappointed Speed disobeyed him and broke the windshield, he is glad he won; and the plans are safe in his mind. So, we close on Speed continuing to race; and Pops deciding to continue to perfect his work on his automotive designs! Well, that was crazy; but I had a lot of fun writing about it.

“The Great Plan, Parts 1 and 2,” despite being products of their time; have a good flavor of 1960s camp that was perfect for me. The series, despite being just another anime in its native Japan; became something of an institution when it was brought here. It has been rerun and rereleased for decades, as well as spoofed on countless Western animated series such as Dexter’s Laboratory, The Fairly Odd Parents and Robot Chicken. So, I am glad to share my experiences with you all as I celebrate with more content this Christmas. Bang.