The New Adventures of Speed Racer is a 1993 update of the Speed Racer animated series. This new Americanized version was designed as a single 13-episode season (the first episode was entitled “The Mach 5’s First Trial”), with the intent of launching a feature film adaptation.
Issues with Warner Bros. having the live action rights (which resulted in the 2008 release) forestalled negotiations and investments for the film and the series ended accordingly, though it did provide a massive merchandising reboot for the intellectual property, which found a resurgence thanks to a major toy line. The series concept was born out of a pitch from PANGEA to then property-owners, John and James Rocknowski of Speed Racer Enterprises, Inc. Fred Wolf of Fred Wolf Films, had also pitched the notion of rebooting the franchise. PANGEA, having worked developmentally with Playmates Toys in association with Fred Wolf Films on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, worked with Speed Racer Enterprises on the series development, including the merchandising, which included a toy line from Ace Novelty Toys, comic books by NOW Comics, and novelties by NJ Croce. The series also proved to be popular with the Russian audience. A new theme song was written.
The “New Adventures” part of the title comes from official documents used for TV listings. The show itself is referred to onscreen as simply “Speed Racer.” Coincidentally, Speed Racer X is known in Brazil as “As Novas Aventuras de Speed Racer,” which literally translates into “The New Adventures of Speed Racer.”