Dead Parents, Knight Rider & M.A.S.K. - The Story of Pole Position
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- Опубликовано: 17 фев 2021
- Pole Position is a 13 episode 1984 animated series produced by DIC Audiovisuel that first aired on Saturday mornings on CBS.
The name Pole Position was used under license from Namco, who held the rights to the name due to the video game Pole Position. The show sought to capitalize on the popularity of the video game. However, there is almost nothing in common between the game and the show.
Pole Position came and went in the blink of an eye but was quite possibly the genesis of a much more popular property: M.A.S.K.
Pole Position Playlist on the WildBrain RUclips channel: • Pole Position - Full S...
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Развлечения
I worked in a convenience store for nearly 25 years. Shortly after our state banned poker machines, I asked the amusement company that had serviced our stores for 50+ years if they still had any regular video games. Our rep said he didn't think so, but he'd check the warehouse. He came in a few days later, grinning like a fool.
He had 2 games on the back of his truck. A newer PacMan/Galaga combo machine, and an original Pole Position Game console. He found it buried in the back of the warehouse and spent a whole day getting it running. The two machines brought in $500 a week. Not poker machine money by any stretch, but still great income for $50 a month in power.
Executive: "We need a cartoon based on game Pole Position."
Designer: "What that racing thing?"
Exec: "Yup."
Des: "Does it have characters? Or a plot?"
Exec: "Nope."
Des: * ingests something questionably legal *
Des: "Alright... Dead parents. AI car. Stunt show."
Exec: "This is supposed to be a cartoon. For kids."
Des: "I'll throw a monkey raccoon hybrid in; they'll love it."
Yeah, I'd definitely question whatever it was that designer ingested when he came up with that idea for the monkey/raccoon thingy.
I did !! Loved the show as a kid, still do at 48. Always thought Kuma was part opossum too.
To be fair, this is how I would like to see my tax dollars spent. More transforming crime-fighting cars please!
_...Brought To You By NASA!_
Hey kids! Be sure & check out the Pole Position/StarCom split!!
Used to think Rodie was the coolest car ever when I was a kid. Now, I prefer Wheels.
One thing that hasn't changed: The theme song for this show was absolutely legendary!
I really liked the theme song for Pole Position
One of the greatest 80s theme songs of all time.
@@jokarpinski22 wholeheartedly agree... it's amazing for a cartoon intro song... so is mask though
I sing WandaVision to the tune of pole position. I was literally telling my friend about it today😂
@@Kwolat1 there are some awesome covers of the song too, hard to stop listening to it
Definitely. I have it and the themes of several of my favorite 80s 30 minute toy commercials on my default playlist on my phone.
One of the most memorable theme tunes out....always wanted a toy of the cars.
One of my favorite arcade games!
That;s what I immediately thought when I saw they were covering this show - I loved the theme song!
I could see someone make life-size cars like this, with spots for the tv dock
Yup. I wanted the toys of the cars.
Me too... Specifically, I wanted the people that made the MASK toys to release a Wheels and Roadie that was the same size and sophistication.
Man this took me way back. I havent seen this cartoon since 1984, yet still remember the words to the theme song. Before M.A.S.K., there was Pole Position.
"From now on, like your parents before, you are the secret force of Pole Position.." "Let's go Dan!" "Ok Sis!"
Nice to see Pole Position get some attention. Another bit of musical trivia: Wheels was voiced by Melvin Franklin of The Temptations.
The command modules thing is a really good idea. It allows the cars to get all banged up or even destroyed, as long as the module survives. It also lets the characters exist inside of buildings, which is what i always wanted from Kitt from night rider
Watch the Knight Rider 2000 TV movie (1990). In that film KITT’s old Trans Am body has been destroyed, and Michael has to carry around KITT’s computer module until he can install it in another car - first a 57 Chevy Bel Air and later a futuristic Pontiac concept car. Hmm, I guess that movie borrowed a lot from Pole Position.
The K R episode" Soul Survivor" used that idea in a way. KITT s CPU was taken out when the Trans Am was stolen and installed in a portable TV, much to KITT s eternal chagrin.
@@bustyrandit That sounds like a classic. I'll have to check it out. Thanks!
_LOVED_ this show - this was back in the day when DIC was _on fire_ making great cartoons. I made sure my butt was out of bed by 6am every Saturday morning, because this was the first thing on in the 6-12 lineup and one of my must-watches.
Yep. People love to rag on DIC for their 90s crap, but between 1981-88 they were on a roll: Ulysses 31, Inspector Gadget, Pole Position, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, MASK, The Real Ghostbusters, Starcom, and COPS.
@@Desslar All great stuff. I was a _huge_ MASK fan, and prior to this review I hadn't made the connection between that and Pole Position. Thanks, Dan Larson! 🏎😎👍
“...and Chuck Lorre, who would later go on to produce such shows as ‘The Big Bang Theory.’”
Did Dan just gloss over Chuck Lorre’s greatest - or at least, most relevant - achievement: writing the TMNT theme song?
Pole Position. Come for the transforming cars and stunts, stay for the kids coping with the death of their parents.
I watched this as a kid in the '80s, but had absolutely no idea that it was licensed from the Pole Position arcade game. The fact the show doesn't have Formula 1 cars or even used the game's logo probably solidified that. 🤔 I only figured it out years later seeing Namco's name in the copyright.
Then again I had the same thing with the Matchbox RoadBlasters toyline, the toys looked nothing like the car in the game. But the adverts did use the games song.
I used to play the arcade game as a kid but never knew the tv series existed until much later.
Mattel's Roadblasters were a great set of diecast road warrior style cars. I've tried looking for specific ones online but woof, hard to get the really nice ones at all.
How could you not know they weren't related. They did this to us as kids constantly with cartoons/toys like the Ghostbusters show with that gorilla... Little did I know that that was based off is something else. They'd take a name you already had familiarity with and slap some B.S. plot around it and turn it into something to sell us.
Nice information. I'm glad you you too noticed that logo for the company. Not just the relation with the video game because of the name.
@@christophermoody6840 Ghostbusters is a bit of a mess. There was a live action TV series from Filmation in 1975 called "The Ghost Busters", then in 1984 Columbia came out with the movie "Ghostbusters", but had to license the name from Filmation. In 1986 Filmation came out with a cartoon series based on the live action TV series called "Ghostbusters" (no space in the name this time), and five days later with got "the Real Ghostbusters" cartoon based on the movie.
Saturday morning cartoons were so awesome in the 80’s, I still remember they even played different commercials on Saturdays and they were actually awesome.
The theme song is still stuck in my head all these years later
The Pole Position theme song definitely slaps, and yes it has been stuck in my head all these years. What’s worse is that the pre-race jingle from the arcade game has _also_ been stuck in my head, along with the female announcer saying “Prepare to qualify!” in all the murky, low-bit audio quality that only ‘80s video games could offer. I hope someday the sweet release of oblivion will finally rid me of these relentless earworms 😐
Pole position was my favorite Saturday morning cartoon! Of! All! Time!
I played Pole Position: The Game. I watched Pole Position: The TV Show.
Me 2...
P R E P A R E T O Q U A L I F Y
Was that before or after you tried taking Muffy, Buffy and Biff Jr for a Sunday drive and a voice yelled "OH NO YOU AIN'T! YOU'RE PLAYING POLE POSITION!" ?
I was 9 when the cartoon hit, and the game kicked my ass but it was so much fun back then
Thanks now I have the theme song stuck in my head and I haven’t even watched this yet
gota love the intro song to pole position
Hi there! I am Mike Piccirillo the lead vocalist on the original Pole Position theme TV song. It was written by my friend Shuki Levy at Saban Studios and in those days I sang a lot of their theme songs...like this one, and Saturday Supercade, Getalong Gang, Heathcliff and some others. The lead vocalist on the chorus was Chuck Francour, (because it was a little high for me--lol ) Sweet memories !
i can not articulate how much i have needed you to do this one. its like remembering something no one else thinks exists.
That's the way a lot this channel's episodes are. Love it.
This is another of those shows that seemed to be on for years and years when I was a kid, and then it turns out there's only 13 episodes. I have no idea if it made that much of an impact on me or if I saw each episode a dozen times when it ran alongside Transformers and Go-Bots and other much longer-lived cartoons
I think it's more likely that since we were all 7-10 years old at the time, something that lasted 6 months to a year was a large percentage of our lives. I'm amazed watching these history of cartoon videos just how short lived most of them were. They definitely seem like they lasted longer in my memory.
"Pole Positioooon!" That into was no joke!
Wow, this one hit me in the nostalgia feels like Drago hit Apollo Creed. One of the 2 Saturday morning carton theme songs that I will unconsciously sing out loud when I'm focused on work.
The other is Gummi Bears.
"The man's tongue didn't come through customs" 😋
I missed out on it as a kid, so when I checked out this cartoon as an adult I was smacked in the face with pure, concentrated 80s. Might still be one of the best game toons besides Castlevania Netflix and Sonic SatAM.
100% agree. The Ruby Spears MegaMan series also belongs on the list of best video game based cartoons imo.
I watched this one growing up. I only remember the plot of one episode but I still know the theme song word for word.
This is one of my absolute favorite cartoons from when I was a kid. Best theme song! Loved the cars!
The moment you realise you're part of a global cult, worshipping the 80's cartoons of your childhood. 😄
All hail Saban, DiC, Harmony Gold, J. Michael Straczynski, Hasbro and Mattel.
Too bad most of that childhood nostalgia is false and you slowly begin to realize as you grow up that the vast majority of cartoons in the 80's were steaming piles of banal, vapid, corporate, mass-produced assembly line garbage with absolutely no artistic merit whatsoever, and that the television animation industry wouldn't pull itself out of it's dark ages of shambling undeath until everything was revitalized via a full renaissance in the 90's.
@@the-NightStar There's the heretic! GRAB HIM! 😅
the intro music gets me so hyped everytime
This show's creators shoulda done a Spy Hunter cartoon, too. Imagine the possibilities!
Imagine a Spy Hunter movie starring a famous wrestler. Now, imagine that same wrestler popping up in a shitty theatrical dumpster fire series fighting spies that won’t EVER end. >_
The SpyPosition Shared Universe! Err... The PoleHunter Shared Universe! Um.
@@konstantinkoverchenko9587 I heard a few years ago Dwayne Johnson was attached to a Spy Hunter movie.
@@leyenda6149
Yeah it was the weirdest thing it got an exclusive PS2 game to a series that otherwise never existed.
Starring both the lightness and voice of Mr. Johnson back when he was still doing garbage like The scorpion King if you can find it it's a fun little game based on a movie that never was.
@@JohnDoe-wq5eu i hadn't heard about it. Gonna try to find clips on YT to see if it was any good for its time
I loved this show because it reminded me of Knight Rider
this is another one of those show that I remember and no one else seems to. so glad you made this.
STILL GOT MY DVD BOXSET AND WATCH IT FROM TIME TO TIME. THAT THEME TUNE HAS BEEN STUCK IN MY HEAD SINCE 1986
two things: 1: all I remembered about this show was the theme song. 2: got real stoked when you said "Evangelion."
I wanted these cars with convertible hovercraft & hydrofoil modes!
My memories of this show were too vague, but now that I've seen this episode to freshen them, it seems to me that the driving game "Sonic Transformed" stole that idea and raced with it.
It's true about the theme, it is stuck in my head. I can't remember a dang thing about the show except the theme.
Since I didn't remember what it was about, I assumed it was just a show about running into a Dig Dug sign and blowing up over and over.
clicked like button before Dan even began the intro
Dan, your channel is a wonderful trip down memory lane. Lol, i thought i was the only dude who remembered Pole Position.
Every now and then this song pops into my head, and I catch myself singing it. It was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid.
I always felt like this was the Father of M.A.S.K. in theory
I was so obsessed with video games as a kid that I watched this one religiously despite the fact that it had nothing to do with the game or even F1 racing in general. I've had the theme song getting itself stuck in my head on and off ever since.
Wow. I had completely forgotten about this show! It's all flooding back into my mind.
I loved this show so much and adore the theme song/intro... the music mixed with the opening dialogue just moves me.
Suddenly MASK's last episodes made sense........finally :D
One of the greatest cartoon intros out there. Thank you for covering this series.
Dude that theme song is one for the ages.
I loved this cartoon. I watched it all the time. I think it was on at 1130am on CBS towards the end. I have the DVD set as a result, simply for nostalgia. Good times!
...and Sega's Turbo was first. Just not as popular.
If they do end up making a MASK movie, how cool would it be to work in the pole position story or characters somehow?
It would not be cool. Have you seen the Transformer movies? Or Battleship? Take that, but with a lower budget (because the market interest is smaller), and a more coked-out writing and directing team, put it in a blender, and...
A cameo or nod (like a poster for the stunt show) would be cool.
Yes, I was waiting for this show to get a little recognition. It was one of my favorite cartoon shows from the 80s! It had one of the coolest intro theme songs and I loved the fact that Tess drove a red Mustang although I preferred Roadie a little bit more. I was very disappointed they never had a toy line.
I am always heartened by Dan's continual correct pronunciation of 'ZX Spectrum'.
Loved this show! So much so that I got the “LaserForce” car/tank thing cause it looked like the futuristic Pole Position car.
I never heard of that vehicle, but I just googled it & it is pretty awesome. I'm tempted to find one for a reasonable price to customize it into Wheels, or is it Roadie?
@ComicFiction Thank you so much for identifying the Laser Force vehicle! I had one as a kid for my GI Joes but never remembered what it was from 😀
Talk about a shared universe, Pole Position meets M.A.S.K. and G I.Joe.
I think IDW did something like that. Waiting for them to get to MLP/GI Joe.
Matt Trakker is part of GI Joe.
gijoe.fandom.com/wiki/Specialist_Trakker
C.O.P.S. (the cartoon) also has a character who is a descendant of a Joe. Isn't DiC part of Hasbro now, too? And if that's correct, hey, now Power Rangers can also be part of that universe. (Just imagine the Rangers and Joes go to a Jem concert after an adventure or something, the Pole Position kids race against the Transformers, etc )
Didn t Hasbro acquire Kenner Toys too? If so.. A Knight Rider/Pole Position cross over could work. I recall a fanfic that explained April s departure from FLAG and for Bonnie s return.
Basically, April left to become a tech for Roadie and Wheels.
It coulda worked.
Ah the sound of the 'Pole Position' theme. The sound of Saturday mornings! :)
Truly one of the finest channels on RUclips. I remember when M.A.S.K. came out thinking this reminds me of something I used to watch. This was it! Fantastic work like always!
Thank you very much and happy to solve that mystery for you
I've watched 10 of your videos in a row and it's already making me wish I could relive the 80's over and over
Oh yes. I had totally forgot about this show. Once again you bring out the nostalgia buried so far back in the brain you haven't thought about it for years. Thanks Dan.
Well done! I LOVED Pole Position the cartoon as a kid and I just recently picked up the Pole Position the game in the Namco Museum game cartridge for my N64. I used to have the game on my Atari 5200 back in the day but until you play an actual arcade port of the game you are missing out on how smooth and vivid the game graphics really are. To this day I would love to own an officially licensed 1:18 scale high quality model of Wheels and Roadie. Even the cartoon show stood out due to its amazing animation quality which puts many "modern" cartoon series to shame. Again, well done.
My favorite Supercade show. Great theme song. One of those short lived things like Orbots I vaguely but fondly recall from being a kid in the 80s.
"...young enough to be considered an accident herself..." -- Damn.
Me, if I had a daughter with that mindset: "Well, at least she's not thinking about boys for the time being."
Pole Position was my favorite short-lived show back in the day. It use to be the last action cartoon CBS would show before college sports.
There’s a lot of great car animation in that cartoon. Cars are one of the hardest thing to animate by hand because the rigid shape is so unforgiving.
This was a great Sat. morning show from my childhood.
Never forgot the theme song.
Even when reading a book with a car chase in it, the beginning would often.pop into my head.
I don t recall much being stated about their folks other than an episode where they returned to their hometown during a festival.
Daisy teared up a bit as they drove past their old home, and Tess was a parade queen like her mom had been. One thing I remember is they never saw Uncle Zachary in person, only getting assignments over a video com until a later episode when they finally met him and found out he was in a wheelchair. Pole Position, being a cartoon, was able to do things Knight Rider couldn t do then due to real world limitations, although I do remember a K R episode where KITT did have a hydrofoil mode of a sort, bit only that episode.
I see influences of H B s 1970s. "Devlin" with the P P crew being a traveling stunt show and getting involved in mysteries and crime fighting. Even at 48, I still have fond memories of P P. now I just gotta find the DVD. Sorry so long winded. Thanks for the great retrospective.
Keep up the great work.😁
Watched the "Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors" video last week , and then searched for a Pole Position one to no avail. And then! BOOM! Here it is! Now you have to do Hot Wheels, which I also remember watching.
I remember watching this, I built both cars in LEGO forms back then as well, along with LEGO versions of MASK. And the theme tune is catchy. 😁
I think Pole Position and M.A.S.K. converged in my mind in the decades since I watched them.
Thanks for covering this! Pole Position was a guilty pleasure when I was a kid. I enjoyed this show a lot!
Never my favorite show but that pole position song is very stuck in my head to this day.
Brilliant- such a good theme tune, always the best, used to play the playground at school😂.. always want the toys but could never find.
Thank you for doing this! I loved this short-lived cartoon as a kid, and whenever I mentioned it, I always got blank looks when I asked. And yes, that song was always stuck in my head too. I didn't know it shared a lineage with MASK tho! And yes, I played the original Pole Position in the arcade (Local one had a stand up, but I'd been to a few with the sit-down machine as well).
Ulysses 31, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Pole Position, Thundercats and Silverhawks had the best rocking intros to the start of the cartoon in the 80's so to some extent Lions verion of The Transfromers and Stand Bush You got the touch are still my top favourite 80's cartoon soundtracks
Hahahahahahaha as soon as this vid posted, I started singing the theme !!!! Loved this show. It kicked off every Saturday morning at 600am, bowl of cereal and squinty eyes🤣🤣🤣🤣!!!!
Loved the game and the series. I still sing that chorus! Interesting to hear it's like a pilot series to MASK.
Finaly about Time that you do a History of this Show
amazing timing!!! i have had this theme song stuck in my head all week!
I'm just happy that othe people remember this show.
Knocked it out of the park again, Dan. The 80's was a Wonderful time to be a kid on Saturday mornings!
I am blown away that M.A.S.K. is a spiritual successor to Pole Position. I played the game, watched the cartoon (even though I didn't know they were related in away other than both using the the racing term.), but the fact that the prodcuction team was exactly the same as M.A.S.K is the one that really got me. Had the toys and loved the cartoon. I miss being a kid in the 80s...
Team Pole Position would have made billions if they signed Truckasaurus to be part of their stunt show.
Maybe should have signed Bigfoot, since he was a sentient cartoon already.
Bones heal
Chicks dig scars
And America has the best Doctor to Daredevil ratio in the World!
@@drewneedsmoresleep6680 words of wisdom from Lance Murdoch!
@@apex2000 I remember Bigfoot from Bigfoot and The Muscle Machines, and also part of Power Team, was he in anything else?
We never got to see this in the UK until around ‘88 (well I never, anyway). I loved this show so much. The theme song. The premise. The cars. Just a fantastic show!
This was the very first game I remember playing and I loved it. I was 3 and couldn't reach the pedals. LOL.
Curse you, Cookie Jar Entertainment! Only offering 10 of the 13 episodes in the US on DVD.😓 I had to import the UK set and a modded Blu-ray player (worth it!!).
Shinji Aramaki also did the iconic mechanical designs for Bubblegum Crisis!
Once again ANOTHER cartoon of my childhood I’ve forgotten about.......thanks for allowing me to realize just how old I’ve gotten...
ONE OF THE GREATEST THEME SONGS OF ALL TIME!!!!
Why this hasn’t had a live action movie is beyond me... the only thing I would change is the fact the cars both change into hovercats. They should be different. Flying car and submarine car maybe??
The local pizza place had an arcade which included Pole Position. I sunk many a quarter into the upright cabinet version. I also watched the show. The theme song is fantastic. Haim Saban really had/had the magic touch when it comes to that.
"The 'Pole Position' Board Game: It's just like the arcade game, only without all the speed and excitement!"
Further down the rabbit hole!! Apparently, I'm just gonna watch a bunch of your stuff today. Knowing the singer of the theme songs is incredible! Thanks again!
That commercial at 6:20! Oh man, I watched all of them! The nostalgia feels!!!
I loved Pole Position when I was a kid. It was one of those Japanese collaborative shows that grabbed me with its animation. I was a huge Speed Racer fan too. As a kid I wasn't aware how bad the dub was lol.
This was one of MANY of my FAVORITE shows growing up. I grabbed a DVD set that had a bunch of the season on a few discs a few years ago. Thanks for another great video!
I love you guys....This was one of my favorite shows and games... Wooh.. Keep 'em comin'
Yes, I did watch the Pole Position series when it originally aired. I played the game at arcades and may have also seen others play it. No, I didn't play Pole Position to show off.
Loved this show as a kid!
"Daisy on the other hand, is old enough to be considered an 'accident' herself"
This had me spitting my lungs on the floor.🤣🤣🤣🤣
Seriously, I love you guys. Take that however you want to.
Still one of the best op theme songs ever
This one had an awesome theme song that I still enjoy today! Thanks for the history of this show. I always wondered what happened to this show. Thanks for the heads up on the channel that has the series to watch! I remember watching another video where i think you said that the guys who wrote this theme song made almost all of the catchy 80s cartoon theme songs....props!
Wow... Jayce, MASK, and Pole Position are three of my top 5 favorite theme songs! The singer is my favorite part of all 3, and I knew they sounded similar, but had no idea it was the same guy!
One of the best theme songs ever...it's glorious 80's sound aesthetic to the max
That game though..."Hey kids - smoke Marlboro and drink Martini"
Ah, the glory of the 1980s....