Pole Position (TV series)

Pole Position is an animated action and science fiction series produced by DIC Enterprises^[1] and MK Company. The series aired for one season in 1984 and appeared in re-runs for a few years thereafter. The series is loosely based on the arcade racing video game series Pole Position by Namco, though the game and the television program have very little in common beyond the basic concept of auto racing and two cars from the game being featured in the series.

Pole Position
Genre	Animated series
Created by	Jean Chalopin
Based on	Pole Position by Namco
Developed by	Michael Reaves Jean Chalopin
Directed by	Bernard Deyriès Ginny McSwain (voice director)
Creative directors	Gary Selvaggio Mitsuki Nakamura
Voices of	David Coburn Lisa Lindgren Melvin Franklin Darryl Hickman
Composers	Shuki Levy Haim Saban
Country of origin	United States Japan
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producers	Jean Chalopin Andy Heyward
Producers	Mitsuru Kaneko Koichi Ishiguro
Cinematography	Kenichi Yoshizaka
Editor	Harutoshi Ogata
Running time	25 minutes
Production companies	DIC Enterprises MK Company
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	September 15 (1984-09-15) – December 8, 1984 (1984-12-08)

Plot

The show features the Darretts, a family of stunt-driving crime fighters, who investigated and thwarted wrongdoing while operating under the front of a traveling show known as the "Pole Position Stunt Show", which was sponsored by the United States government in order to give cover for their investigative activity and provide maintenance for the high-demand vehicles.^[2] The Darretts had two adult children and a third child who was much younger in age. A road accident ended the life of the parents, and the father's younger brother, known as Uncle Zack, took charge of the stunt show. He said that now that the patriarch and his wife were dead, it was incumbent upon the two adult children, Tess and Dan, to continue their parents' dangerous and proud work.

The vehicles feature numerous hidden gadgets like water skis and hover jets. The vehicles' computers themselves are portable and can be removed from the dashboards and carried around using handles—thus they are often referred to as "the modules". The modules are characters appearing as talking computer-drawn faces displayed on video screens.

Characters

• Tess Darrett is an older sister of Dan and Daisy and the de facto leader of the group who drives Wheels. Tess is voiced by Lisa Lindgren.^[3]
• Dan Darrett is Tess's hot-headed younger brother who drives Roadie. Dan is voiced by David Coburn.
• Daisy Darrett is the younger pre-teen sister of Dan and Tess. Daisy is voiced by Kaleena Kiff.
• Dr. Zachary Darrett: A wheelchair-using engineer and uncle of the Darrett kids, he runs the Pole Position operation and vehicle development. He is voiced by Jack Angel.^[4]
• Kuma: Daisy's pet, Kuma is a strange genetic hybrid between a raccoon and a monkey. Kuma is voiced by Marilyn Schreffler.
• Wheels: A red and black 1965 Ford Mustang driven by Tess, Wheels's AI computer is more careful than Roadie. Wheels is voiced by Melvin Franklin, who was a member of The Temptations.^[5]
• Roadie: A more futuristic-looking light-blue coupe driven by Dan, Roadie's AI computer is very smart and keeps Dan out of trouble. Roadie is voiced by Darryl Hickman.

Crew

• Story editors: Michael Reaves and Jean Chalopin
• Writers: Marc Scott Zicree, Chuck Lorre, Ted Pedersen, Rowby Goren, Michael Reaves
• Director: Bernard Deyriès
• Voice Director: Ginny McSwain

Production

This show was produced by DIC Audiovisuel's American branch DIC Enterprises (who licensed the Pole Position name from Namco) in association with Japanese studio MK Company. The animation services were provided by Artmic, Mushi Production, and K.K. DIC Asia. The character designs were provided by Filipino cartoonist Jesse Santos, and the mechanical designs were provided by Artmic's co-founder Shinji Aramaki.

Broadcast

Pole Position ran for 13 episodes on CBS in 1984 as part of its Saturday morning children's programming line-up, continuing in reruns through September 1986. The show also aired in reruns for a few months as a Showtime in 1986, 1987 and 1988 ^[6] followed by a run on The Family Channel (now Freeform) from the late 1980s through the early 1990s.

It was also shown in the United Kingdom during the 1980s, at first on Saturday Superstore in 1986 and in the CBBC strand, then was repeated in the early 1990s on Saturday mornings as part of Going Live! on BBC1.

Episodes

No.	Title	Original release date
1	"The Code"	September 15, 1984 (1984-09-15)
A rogue Pole Position agent by the name of Greg Dumont, a love interest of Tess, is hired by a criminal mastermind by the name of Alex Vance to steal the control codes to Roadie and Wheels in an attempt to get his hands on the high-tech cars and use the A.I.s to destroy Pole Position.
2	"The Canine Vanishes"	September 22, 1984 (1984-09-22)
The team goes to the Florida Everglades looking for Pandora, a lost dog that is carrying an important vaccine. They must find the dog before enemy agents gets their hands on her.
3	"The Chicken Who Knew Too Much"	September 29, 1984 (1984-09-29)
The team protects a chicken, given to them as a gift from an archaeologist, but when a bad guy shows up to abduct the fowl, the team must figure out the bird's link to finding a hidden treasure.
4	"Strangers on the Ice"	October 6, 1984 (1984-10-06)
The team is assigned to deliver satellite equipment to a mountain research station but the equipment is stolen, and a snowstorm thwarts the kids' attempts at getting it back.
5	"The Race"	October 13, 1984 (1984-10-13)
The team enters a race suspected to be used to smuggle a computer chip out of the country.
6	"The Thirty-Nine Stripes"	October 20, 1984 (1984-10-20)
The team is assigned to protect museum paintings that are being mysteriously vandalized; the cut pieces secretly contain a diagram for an advanced computer chip.
7	"The Thirty-One Cent Mystery"	October 27, 1984 (1984-10-27)
Kuma uncovers a plot to steal an Indian totem hidden somewhere at Mount Rushmore. He tries to warn the others with a quarter, nickel, and a penny (31 cents) all of which have the same presidents as the monument: Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln.
8	"Dial M for Magic"	November 3, 1984 (1984-11-03)
The team gets stuck in a weird town controlled by a strange illusionist.
9	"The Bear Affair"	November 10, 1984 (1984-11-10)
Daisy receives a talking teddy bear which is pointing out mysterious clues about a factory. Tess and Dan investigate the factory hoping to discover clues.
10	"To Clutch a Thief"	November 17, 1984 (1984-11-17)
Dan and Tess are invited to their hometown to celebrate a queen's pageant where Tess is made carnival queen, but the queens amulet she wears is a fake made of candy as the real one goes missing. Clues lead to a jealous woman who makes the candy amulets and holds a grudge that she wasn't chosen as queen every year and finds out her son stole the actual amulet for her.
11	"The Secret"	November 24, 1984 (1984-11-24)
The team is stranded in an unfriendly town and harassed by the local sheriff. The unwelcoming treatment leads the team to suspect criminal activity at the town's gold mine and that the sheriff may be involved, only to be beat to the punch when Tess is arrested with a gold nugget on her.
12	"Shadow of a Trout"	December 1, 1984 (1984-12-01)
Uncle Zach is missing, and the kids find out they are suspects in his disappearance.
13	"The Trouble with Kuma"	December 8, 1984 (1984-12-08)
The kids go to an island threatened by a tsunami to rescue Dr. Lungo (Kuma's creator). They find that Lungo's shady assistants are trying to kill him and steal his genetic research.

Principal cast

• Lisa Lindgren – Tess Darrett
• Kaleena Kiff – Daisy Darrett
• David Coburn – Dan Darrett
• Jack Angel – Dr. Zachary Darrett
• Marilyn Scheffler – Kuma
• Mel Franklin – Wheels
• Darryl Hickman – Roadie

Additional voices

• Neilson Ross
• Paul Kirby
• Phillip Clark
• Jered Barclay
• Brian Cummings
• Irv Immerman
• Steve Schatzberg
• Barry Gordon
• Derek McGrath
• Tony Pope
• Hal Smith
• Bob Towers

DVD release

Brightspark Productions released a 4-disc box set containing all 13 complete episodes of the series on DVD in the UK on April 21, 2008.^{[7][better source needed]}

Mill Creek Entertainment released 10 of the 13 episodes of the series in a combo pack with 10 episodes of C.O.P.S. and 10 episodes of Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors on January 10, 2012. Later in October 2016, Mill Creek released TV Toons To Go, a 10-disc compilation of various cartoons owned by Cookie Jar Group, now by WildBrain, and the 10th disc of that set contains the remaining 3 episodes of Pole Position that weren't included on the combo pack DVD set.