Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? is an American half-hour children's television game show loosely based on the computer game of the same name created by Broderbund Software. It is the second competition show to be based on the Carmen Sandiego franchise. Just like its predecessor, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, the show was produced by WGBH Boston and WQED Pittsburgh. However unlike the predecessor show, in which questions were strictly geography based, "Where In Time" focused more on history, social studies, and pop culture. The program ran for two seasons on PBS, consisting of 115 episodes (65 in Season 1 and 50 in Season 2), which ran from October 7, 1996 to December 12, 1997, with reruns airing until May 7, 1999. The show starred Lynne Thigpen as "The Chief", Kevin Shinick as "ACME Time Pilot Squadron Leader" replacing Greg Lee and "The Engine Crew" who is considered a replacement for Rockapella as various informants. It was recorded entirely at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York City, which is also remarkably the longtime home of Sesame Street.
Format Opening/Intro In Season 1, Before the show began, the viewing audience would see Carmen Sandiego in her V.I.L.E. headquarters. (the gang being recognized by a giant letter 'V'). Speaking in fourth wall narration, Carmen would complain about a circumstance, invention, or situation, in past history, which improved society and the future for the better. She would then make it her mission to travel back in time, and steal a souvenir or symbol related to this event referred to as "the loot".
However Carmen would ask for help/an accomplice to help her steal the loot; from one of her V.I.L.E. friends (in which Carmen's assistant, would randomly change and alternate each episode) from Jacqueline Hyde (a psychopathic/split personality manipulative young present day valley girl), Sir V.I.L.E. (a very dangerous and violent knight from the Middle Ages), Baron Wasteland (a 19th Century, British selfish aristocrat/con-man), Medeva (an evil voodoo witch), and Dr. Belljar (a mad scientist, that's half human man, half robot/cyborg).
After Carmen sent her V.I.L.E. associates to grab that episodes loot, The Chief then told the audience that one of Carmen's chosen henchman had stolen something from the past. She tells them to recover the loot in 28 minutes (the length of each episode) to prevent temporal paradox. In order for history and time to be saved, three contestants/time pilots, must restore and save the loot Carmen and one of her henchmen just stole. The Chief would then introduce the Chronoskimmer (a UFO looking spaceship in which most of the episode took place inside), and the Chronoskimmer Captain/leader/host, Kevin Shinick. Shinick would then introduce the time pilots/contestants competing in that day's mission. Shinick would then introduce the audience to his assistants/helpers "The Engine Crew", (similar to the Boyband Rockapella, in "Where In The World"), who were a group of urban hip-hop dancers, which helped the Chronoskimmer run smoothly, and helped the contestants throughout the episode.
In Season 2, the introduction was slightly different, a surveillance nano-probe from ACME filmed Carmen in her lair where it went unnoticed. Likewise with Season 1, she would be complaining to herself and plotting to steal the historical "seed" of her complaint. Also likewise with before, Carmen then would summon of her V.I.L.E. henchmen. However, Baron Wasteland for an undisclosed reason, was removed from the roster, and was replaced by Buggs Zapper (an Italian-American Mafia mob boss). Dr. Belljar returns, however his appearance was heavily modified and changed from a scientist, to look more like a present day computer geek.
Round One Three players (aged 9–14, who all lived in the New York, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, or Boston area.) known as "Time Pilots" competed. Each was given a consolation of 100 'Power Points' to begin. Time pilots were situated in front of the Chronoskimmer dashboard, which would keep their individual scores, and also their "controllers" which had three different colors/options (pink, green, blue), to correspond to questions Shinick would give. With the viewers at home being allowed to see what answers the time pilots chose (with an LED light appearing on the dashboard next to the time pilot/contestant), but not the other contestants.
To start the mission off, The Chief briefs Kevin and the Time Pilots by identifying the time and place of the crime, as well as some background information on the loot. However The Chief would intentionally not say or hint as to what exactly Carmen and the V.I.L.E. gang stole or disrupted. Shinick would then quiz the contestants, based on the information the Chief just explained, asking what item/object/situation Carmen and her assistant stole or tampered with. If the time pilots answered correctly, they would receive 10 points. No penalty for an incorrect choice.
From this point forward, how things happened in round 1 varied greatly. However, it consisted of several skits. (In which four to five skits were done per episode during round one).
Skits include the following: Data Boost: Kevin gave the pilots a choice of 2 or 3 answers and then read several questions (about five or six) on a given subject using those answers (e.g., listing terms and asking whether they were cars or facial hair; listing people's names and asking if they were already dead or not yet born in the year they've traveled to; simple true/false questions; etc.). The first pilot to buzz in and guess the correct answer scored 5 Power Points, but lost 5 Power Points if they gave a wrong answer. The Data Boost happened twice per episode in Season One and once per episode in Season Two; in Season One, the first time was because they ran out of Fact Fuel after a warp and the second time was due to the villain sabotaging the Chronoskimmer. In Season Two, it was always the villain's sabotage. After the first Data Boost, Kevin always said, "Just a reminder: all our fact fuel/data is verified by Encyclopædia Britannica." Global Pursuit: Immediately after a warp, the villain begins "globe-hopping" to try shaking off the time pilots. The time pilots looked at a map with certain areas circled on their screens and Kevin read clues about the locations, with three answer choices displayed alongside the map. Like the Data Boost, correct answers scored 5 Power Points while incorrect answers lost 5 Power Points. This round occurred once per episode and played similarly to the Chase round of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? In Season 1, pilots could ring in during the question, as was the case on World. In Season 2, pilots could only ring in after Kevin had finished reading the question. Cluefinder: The Cluefinder was an alarm identifying a clue, either leading into one of the other skits below, but it usually meant a visitor was coming onboard the ship. It was commonly a historical figure, civilian/human from the past, or object to appear aboard the Chronoskimmer to reveal more clues. The person brought aboard could be a famous figure such as Elisha Gray or Ada Lovelace or a normal ordinary person caught in a famous event, such as a Navajo Code talker or the opening of Coney Island. V.I.L.E. Villain: The show's villain was shown revealing a clue, ostensibly against his or her intention. When this happened, Kevin often exclaimed "We're losing communications!" if the villain was taking over the ship. On other occasions, the ship's nano-probes would film the villain reporting to Carmen, still giving the clue to the contestants. Collision Alert: Kevin conversed with a possible 'future' version of himself, to acquire clues. Parallel Universe: Clues were given by Commisaar (an evil Chief) and an evil Kevin from ACME Slimenet, the evil version of ACME Timenet. Omnicia: On certain occasions, when Kevin ran out of clues, he would ask the Chief to contact an omniscient informant known as Omnicia. According to the Chief, contacting Omnicia took a lot of power, and she always cited the risk of crippling the Chronoskimmer before using a computer secured in a briefcase to input the enabling codes. Engine Crew's Clues: The Engine Crew sang the clues from the Engine Room. On other occasions, the Engine Crew were in the Chronoskimmer's cafeteria conversing with Libby the Cafeteria Robot (portrayed by Thigpen) as other passengers dine in the background. One episode where Kevin interacted with Eleanor Roosevelt during the "Cluefinder" skit had him stating that the cafeteria is for the Engine Crew and some other people he doesn't know. Intruder Alert: The Intruder Alert alarm alerted Kevin to an intruder in his bedroom, which was Sector 5, where a figure identified as his mother revealed the clue. Millenia: "The world's oldest woman;" Millenia (portrayed by Thigpen) ostensibly had been around for almost everything. Sitting on a rocking chair on her front porch, she recalls a memory relevant to the current case. Elephant Guy: A businessman (portrayed by Owen Taylor) being chased through a jungle by an elephant gave clues to the time pilots, displayed in black and white. The Unknown Explorer: An old bearded sailor riding on a raft provided a clue. Portrayed by John Latham. ACME Street Entertainers: Three street entertainers (portrayed by The Engine Crew) performed in front of some of the studio audience members and gave out a clue. Molecular Generator Clue: Kevin found clues inside the Chronoskimmer's Molecular Generator. TIMENET Weather Report: A weather woman with a southern accent (portrayed by Alaine Kashian) gave clues during her weather report. Engine Room Alert: A siren would sound and Kevin responded. Then, one of the Engine Crew members in the engine room on the viewscreen would indicate to Kevin and the pilots that they've picked up a signal from one of the other sketches saying that they have some important clues. Then, the sketch would eventually be put up on the viewscreen.
The final skit was always an Ultimate Data Boost: (in which about six or seven questions were asked) and with the value of the questions doubled to ten points, however the penalty for answering incorrectly has also been doubled, to ten points.
The two pilots with the highest scores after the first round advanced to the second round, while the third-placed pilot was eliminated from the game. If there was a tie between two pilots for second place or a three-way tie for first place, Kevin asked a tiebreaker question, which was always identifying a President of the United States.
Round Two: The Flight Plan With Kevin in command, the two remaining pilots fast forward to the present day (or near–present day) and activated the Loot Tractor Beam to capture the stolen artifact. The time pilots now had to restore the item from present day where it was recovered, back to the initial time and place the situation originated from. The Chief then listed eight historical and pop culture events, related to the day's theme that the pilots had to recite in reverse chronological order, with the final item being the day's loot; whichever pilot had the higher score from Round One chose who went first, with a coin toss as a tiebreaker. If a time pilot said an event out of sequence, they would temporarily forfeit their turn, and their opponent would then attempt to put the events in correct sequential order, in which if they were incorrect as well, this setup loops. The first pilot to recite the events in the correct order, restored the loot to its proper place in time and advanced to the Bonus Round to capture Carmen and the day's villain.
Bonus Round: The Trail of Time