10 Times Carmen Sandiego Was The Coolest

Let’s take a moment to reminisce about our favorite criminal mastermind of computer game and television fame. In the eighties and early nineties, we chased Carmen around the globe, inadvertently learning world geography and culture along the way. Recruited personally by ACME, we also got our first taste of playing detective. Maybe we should add gumshoe to our resume? Here’s to you, Carmen, for being a teacher, a style icon, and being so darn hard to find. **Celebrate geography and it's leaders every third week of November! Find out more at www.GeoWeek.org

1. She Accessorized on the Fly

Our notorious world traveler mixed style with practicality, donning her matching red trench coat and fedora. She always had a supply of red outfits at the ready – including a winter parka for trips to Antarctica. Come to think of it, with all that red, why was she so hard to find again?

2. She Tricked Us Into Learning

She taught us geography, history, math, and so much more. Most importantly, she did it while looking cool. Here she is making an escape a la Leonardo Di Vinci’s flying machine.

3. Rockapella

This quartet of male a cappella singers is arguably the best part of the “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” game show. I mean, a comic-relief house band is always a great idea. The group appeared daily on the half hour show for five seasons. And did you know Rockapella was a band outside of the television show? They’ve released 18 albums total. Aca-awesome.

4. The Chief

Broadway and television actress Lynne Thigpen played the dead pan ACME chief who kept us in line and hot on the trail for Carmen. The Chief was out for justice and used so much alliteration. A sample gem: “That felonious feline is never far from a crime.”

5. The Sheer Amount of Braces on Contestants

Oh our pre-teen years. How we’d like to burn the photos that still exist. Unfortunately though, some of us also have embarrassing video footage that will never die. But not our friend Stephen – Stephen’s got a great fedora.

6. Her Henchmen

Eartha Brute. Top Grunge. Robocrook. Wonder Rat…Carmen hung out with some curious characters But, I guess if your name is “Patty Larceny” or “Vic the Slick,” your job options are limited.

7. Her Soul Mate is Clearly Where’s Waldo

Carmen Sandiego and Where’s Waldo would be perfect for each other—they both like to wear the color red, have a penchant for world travel and tend to disappear. If only they could find each other!

8. Her Fondness for Tacos

Carmen is an enigma—we know so little about her. And yet it’s a documented fact that the girl loves to grab a taco in between heists and eluding the law. Can we blame her?

9. Her Theme Song was Terrific

Carmen’s theme song is one of the best and it will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day – if it isn’t already from reading this post. And with lyrics like, “She put the Miss in misdemeanor when she stole the beans from Lima” you can’t help but smile.

10. She was the greatest thief/ geographer ever.

Carmen stole: 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 George Washington faces from the $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…you get the point.