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vi
@v-i.dev

Interesting discovery: At some point in the late 80s, Harmony Gold was distributing Speed Racer for Trans-Lux in the UK. This is a fascinating discovery, because it may provide the missing link for how Speed Racer Enterprises came to be (1/5)

vi
@v-i.dev

In 1991, Trans-Lux would sell the rights to John Rocknowski, who would establish Speed Racer Enterprises, and would control the rights to the series into the 2010s. What I didn't mention was that in 1991, Rocknowski was an employee of Harmony Gold! (2/5)

vi
@v-i.dev

While I've certainly not read every single interview and feature that SRE ever put out, I was never able to figure out how the rights to Speed Racer just fell into Rocknowski's lap, but these UK tapes serve as the missing link! His employer already had UK rights, so when Trans-Lux... (3/5)

vi
@v-i.dev

Either was looking to sell or decided not to renew their license, of course Tatsunoko would go to Harmony Gold first. As for why they passed on US rights, I'm not sure, but I have heard that the attempts to sell the series in the UK didn't exactly take off, so maybe they passed? (4/5)

2 reposts7 likes

vi
@v-i.dev

Rocknowski recognized that unlike the UK, the US actually had some nostalgia for Speed Racer that could be exploited, and thus, SRE came to be. Of course, if anyone has any other good sources on the foundation of SRE, please let me know! It's anime history! (And I may be obsessed)

vi
@v-i.dev

Additionally,if anybody knows which episodes are on these UK-market VHS tapes, and if Harmony Gold edited them in anyway, I'd greatly appreciate it. #1 and #2 are 88 minutes, #3 and #4 are 65 minutes. I'm attempting to document the home video history of Speed Racer, and it's slowly driving me insane

vi
@v-i.dev

My assumption is that the 65 minute ones are The Most Dangerous Race (eps 9-11), but I have no idea if Harmony Gold edited it down for time. As for the 88 minute ones, I have no idea. That would cover The Great Plan and Challenge of the Masked Racer (eps 1-4), so maybe it's those?