After seeing a few reviews for this version of Carmen Sandiego, I decided to start watching it in-between other programmes, and quickly found myself more than a little charmed. Whilst the individual elements of Carmen Sandiego rarely rise above the level of competent, the complete effect is rather excellent and the overall progamme highly engaging. Having been raised on a secret island university for criminals, "Black Sheep" flees when she fails the final exam, takes the name "Carmen Sandiego" from a coat and starts to fight her previous colleagues. Yes, in this version, Carmen steals from thieves, only to return the valuable historical artifacts later as she attempts to bring down V.I.L.E. (Villainous organisation for Intrigue Larceny and Evil) and stay ahead of the law herself. Helping Carmen out are Player, a teen genius hacker, and a two-person Bostonian brother and sister racing team, both of whom seem to have a massive crush on Carmen, but we won't be doing any of that, because this is for the kids.
VILE is made up of a faculty of semi-retired master thieves and a cadre of younger criminals all of whom have a theme and gimmick; like "Neil the Eel" who wears a friction-less suit, "The Goat" who does Parkour or "Crackle" who has a shock stick. In this, VILE isn't wholly dissimilar to something like HIVE or Crossbones' crime school from mainstream comics, though Carmen's team definitely has more of a "Ocean's 11" vibe with a splash of The Avengers (the British one). The formula of Carmen Sandiego is pretty set, with a new item to be stolen each episode and an explanation of the history and culture of the the place the team is headed to, many of which are actually pretty interesting. For example, the intro to Australia actually covers our strict biosecurity laws and the reasons behind them, which is almost never covered in popular media. Though Carmen does just visit the Outback and the Sydney Opera House, so I wasn't too excited.
The narrative through-line, such as it is, concerns Carmen searching for her family, and whilst the story comes across a little rushed in the last season, I was never disinterested in what was happening. Again, nothing in Carmen Sandiego is exemplary, but every element is done with a great deal of competence and the final product is both highly engaging and visually excellent. If you're looking for a criminal organisation a tad more grounded than Hyrda or AIM, VILE may well fit the bill, and even if not, Carmen Sandiego is a decent binge for a slow weekend that doesn't outstay its welcome or try to be anything more than it really needs to. Whilst I won't be actively seeking a 28mm Carmen for my games, should I happen to stumble across something suitable, she would at least make a fun little table "Easter Egg", like my TARDIS, Madagascar Penguins or Batsignal.
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