The Quick 10: 10 Facts About Carmen Sandiego

By Stacy Conradt |

As much as I love the Wii, it's lacking a game I have been craving for a couple of years now: Carmen Sandiego. I spent a ridiculous amount of time on the old computer at the public library playing Carmen Sandiego on floppy disk until we finally got it for our home computer. And when the T.V. show came out? Amazing. Anyway, until Nintendo satiates my Carmen Sandiego needs, I'm going to have to make do with this list of Carmen Sandiego trivia.

1. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego was first released in 1985 for the Apple II.

2. An early version of the computer game had Henry VII running around England collecting treasures.

3. Maybe this is common knowledge, but I didn't know it: Carmen used to be an ACME agent before defecting to V.I.L.E. (the Villains' International League of Evil).

4. The list of improbable things stolen by Carmen and her V.I.L.E. Henchmen included the Ngorongoro Crater, the La Brea Tar Pits, the entire Great Wall of China, the Panama Canal, the Dead Sea, Paris' Fall Fashion Collection, the Great Barrier Reef, all of Idaho's potatoes, Old Faithful, all of the George Washington faces from $1 bills, the Vienna Boys Choir's voices, the Trojan Horse, the wigs of London's judges and barristers, the sun, Mardi Gras, the Internet and the Spanish letter ñ. Busy crooks!!

5. Carmen's middle name is Isabela.

6. The animated series Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego featured legendary actress Rita Moreno as the voice of Carmen.

7. One episode of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego was never aired, because the contestant fell down in the bonus round and broke her arm.

8. If you watched the show, surely you remember the phrase that kicked off the theme song at the end: "Do it, Rockapella!" In addition to Carmen Sandiego, Rockapella "did it" for lots of commercials, including Taco Bell, Coca-Cola, Doritos and Folgers.

9. The eleven members of Carmen's posse on the original show included Vic the Slick, The Contessa, Eartha Brute, Top Grunge, Robocrook, Patty Larceny, Double Trouble (twins), Kneemoi, Wonder Rat and Sarah Nade.

10. At one point, there were plans for a Carmen Sandiego movie. Sandra Bullock was going to star.

And, because I want you guys to have this stuck in your head for the rest of the day like I do, here are the lyrics to the song. You can thank me later.

Well, she sneaks around the world from Kiev to Carolina
She's a sticky-fingered filcher from Berlin down to Belize
She'll take you for a ride on a slowboat to China
Tell me: where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Steal their Seoul in South Korea, make Antarctica cry "uncle"
From the Red Sea to Greenland they'll be singing the blues
Well they never Arkansas her steal the Mekong from the jungle
Tell me: where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

She goes from Nashville to Norway, Bonaire to Zimbabwe,
Chicago to Czechoslovakia, and back!

Well she'll ransack Pakistan and run a scam in Scandinavia
Then she'll stick 'em up Down Under and go pickpocket Perth
She put the "Miss" in "misdemeanor" when she stole the beans from Lima
Tell me: where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Tell me: where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? (x6)
Watch your back