Chief quotes from Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

Chief

Back when I was a little Chieflet, I used to take opera lessons. I practiced every evening, while I helped out at my father's China shop. (sings opera) Lamu. Lamu. La-MUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chief

But as soon as I started getting the hang of it, Dad made me give it up and take mime instead.

Chief

(about the Great Salt Lake) You couldn't sink in this water if you wanted to.

Chief

All geographic information were accurate as of the date this program was recorded.

Chief

Gumshoes, Carmen Sandiego's horde of harsh-hearted harpies has struck again. This time, they heinously ham-fisted their way into L.A. In a Los Angeles neighborhood called Watts stands a fantastic triple spires sculpture called Watts Towers. Two of the three towers rise almost 100 feet. Begun about 1921, the towers took 33 years to build. They're made of broken bottles, seashells, shards of tile and china, and all kinds of other scrap parts. Most people didn't recycle back then, but the sculptor was ahead of his time. He was an Italian immigrant named Simon Rodia, and he built them as his personal tribute to the land that took him in. To many residents of this mostly poor urban neighborhood, the towers symbolize hope. In the winter of 1990, Watts Towers was designated a national historic landmark. But now, the landmark is lost because Kneemoi, Carmen's close encounter of the criminal kind, wheezed into Watts, tipped the towers, and towed them away. She said they were just like the flowers on her home planet, Roddenberry. Your mission, gumshoes: neutralize Kneemoi, take back the towers, and then bring Carmen Sandiego to justice.

Chief

Gumshoes, Carmen Sandiego's crew of craven cretins has struck again. This time, it was a case of evil weevil in Enterprise, Alabama. This is a boll weevil, an insect that damages cotton by laying eggs in the young bud of a plant. A horde of these critters can destroy many acres of cotton. The last thing you'd build a monument to, right? Wrong. This Boll Weevil Monument was erected in Enterprise in 1919. Here's the story: Alabama used to have a one crop economy, and that crop was cotton. But in the early 1900s, the boll weevil got busy. For two years in a row, these hungry little critters ate huge portions of the cotton crop in Coffee County, Alabama before it could be picked. Did the farmers give up hope? Nope, they started raising other things like livestock and peanuts. The state developed a diverse and healthier economy, and wound up more prosperous than it was when they relied on just one crop. And Enterprisians thought it would be nice to thank those esteemed boll weevils for their help. But the insect inspired statue has been stolen. Kneemoi, Carmen's cosmological con artist, beamed into Enterprise, beamed up the monument, and whisked it away. Your mission, gumshoes: neutralize Kneemoi, return the weevil to Enterprise, and then capture Carmen Sandiego.

Chief

Gumshoes, Carmen Sandiego's gaggle of greedy goody grampers have grabbed once more. This time, it happened in Africa's most populous country, Nigeria. Nigeria's size and strategic location have made it a center of power in Africa for thousands of years. In recent years, its power and success have come from oil. In the 70s, oil production brought new highways, universities, and lots of new money to Nigeria. It also brought political corruption, pollution, and overcrowded cities. In fact, everyone got so busy with the oil industry that farming almost disappeared. But when oil prices crashed in the 80s, the country's economy crashed, too. Well, yesterday, Top Grunge created another problem. He stole all of Nigeria's oil wells. He likes to stay greasy, so he wants to best petroleum supply all to himself. Gumshoes, your job is to grab the greasy geek, return the oil and then arrest that heinous hooligan Carmen Sandiego.

Chief

Gumshoes, Carmen Sandiego's band of blasphemous black hearts has struck again. This time, they stole the musical soul from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Argentines have a rich cultural life reflecting both their European and Native American roots, but if you wanted to sum up their culture with one sound and sight, you might just choose the Tango. The dance and the sensuous brooding music that accompanies it began in the slums of Buenos Aires, and became internationally popular in the 1920s. The fad faded elsewhere, but Argentina developed the Tango into an art form. There are professional exhibitions, dance halls that cater to tangoing couples, and hits tango records. But yesterday, Kneemoi, Carmen's interplanetary instigator, TKO'd the Tango. Just one blast from her subatomic neutralizer and the top tangoers became complete klutzes. Your mission, gumshoes: wrangle the Tango from Kneemoi, return it to Argentina, and then bring Carmen Sandiego to justice.

Chief

Gumshoes, Carmen Sandiego and her posse of pugnacious poachers have pounced again. This time, they went out of this world. 600-15,000 miles above the equator, the Van Allen radiation belts surround the Earth. The donut-shaped vans are named for physicist James A. Van Allen, leader of a team that discovered them in 1958. They form a part of the Earth's magnetic field, and they trap charged particles thrown off by the Sun. Now sometimes, particles leak out and make their way into the upper atmosphere. There, they collide with gases creating a light show known as the Aurora. Or they did until Patty Larceny circumnavigated the globe and stole the belts. She foolishly thinks she can decorate her bedroom with the pretty colors of the Aurora. Your mission, gumshoes, is to pinch that pilfering Patty, put the belts back in place, and pack Carmen Sandiego off to prison.

Chief

Gumshoes, Carmen Sandiego's clique of clueless kleptomaniacs has struck again. This time, they burgled the beans from Colombia, South America. Now when it comes to a warming drink, the world loves a good cup of coffee. And Colombia is the second largest coffee grower on Earth after Brazil. The crop was first planted there as early as the 1700s, and it flourished in the rich soil and high altitude of Colombia's mountain regions. Since then, coffee has become vital to the country's economy. In most years, it makes up more than half of Colombia's agricultural exports. But now, the beans have been bamboozled. Top Grunge, Carmen's portly putrid prince of percolating pilferage, biked down to Colombia to get a hot cup of joe and some sinkers and hauled away the entire crop. Your mission, gumshoes: flatten Top Grunge's tires, bring back the beans to Bogota, and then capture Carmen Sandiego.

Chief

Gumshoes, Carmen Sandiego and her clique of reeking geeks have grabbed again. This time, they struck very close to home. It happened right in your pocket. George Washington's face has been on the US dollar since 1869. The picture, probably the best-known portrait in the United States, was originally done by the artist Gilbert Stuart in 1796. Today, 18 huge printing presses at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing turn out about 10 million dollar bills a day. There are over 5 billion $1 bills in circulation. But now, they've all been defaced. Kneemoi, Carmen's alien outlaw, took one look at the buck and fell in love with Washington's warm, friendly smile. So she swiped his image from every single dollar bill in existence. the repercussions of this crime are almost too horrible to imagine. Financial markets will fall. Economies will collapse. Coat check attendants won't get tips. Gumshoes, your mission is to exile the extra-terrestrial, find George's face, and then collar that crime boss Carmen Sandiego.

Chief

Gumshoes, Carmen Sandiego and her ragtag rabble rousers have ransacked again. This time, they attacked Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo Dome stadium is located near Tokyo's Korakuen Amusement Park. Japan's first covered stadium, it was completed in 1988. Known as The Big Egg, the stadium hosts baseball games between teams like the Yomiuri Giants and the Nippon-Ham Fighters. It also presents other big events like rock concerts and boxing matches. Or it did until yesterday when Eartha Brute took Tokyo by surprise and swiped the stadium. They'll be weeping in their wasabi all over Tokyo until their beloved egg is returned. Gumshoes, your mission is to bag the brute, return the stadium, and get Carmen Sandiego.

Chief

Gumshoes, Carmen Sandiego's swarm of swindling swine has struck again. This time, they poked their pilfering paws into Oslo, Norway. The Oslo International Museum of Children's Art is the most expensive children's art museum in the world. Opened in 1986 by Russian émigrés Rafael and Alla Goldin, it's devoted to artwork created by young people aged 2 to 18 from around the globe. The growing collection exceeds 100,000 pieces and includes everything from paintings to a scrap wire bike sculpture created by a boy from Rwanda. But now, this capital of kids creation has been copped. Top Grunge, Carmen's ogre of odious odors, reeled into Oslo, hooked the museum with his bike, and hauled it away. Your mission, gumshoes: put Top Grunge's stink in the clink, return the International Museum of Children's Art to Oslo, and then capture Carmen Sandiego.

Chief

Gumshoes, Carmen Sandiego's flock of flamboyant flakes has flimflammed again. This time, the crime happened in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1969, New Haven's prestigious Yale University received an unusual gift: a 24-foot high, two-ton sculpture called Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks. The giant lipstick was the work of famed pop artist Claes Oldenburg. Some people on campus didn't care for the sculpture and it was removed in less than a year, but then supporters rose to its defense and in 1974, it was placed in Yale's Morse Courtyard where it has remained ever since. Until today, that is when Patty Larceny, posing as an Avon lady, made tracks with a fully tracked lipstick. She plans on using the sculpture to promote her newest enterprise, The School of Criminal Cosmetology. Your mission, gumshoes: put the pinch on Patty, liberate the lipstick, and then bring Carmen Sandiego to justice.

Chief

Gumshoes, Carmen Sandiego's crew of criminal cronies has struck again. This time, they boosted a big old building in Giza, Egypt. In other words, a pyramid. Built as elaborate tombs for Egyptians pharaohs, the pyramid have stood for nearly 5,000 years. The largest one is called the great pyramid of King Khufu. Built around 2500 BC, it was originally about 480 feet high and weighed six-and-a-quarter million tons. The top portion has been gone for a while, lost to erosion or looted for construction in nearby Cairo. But today, Eartha Brute removed the rest of it. Carmen's burly bruiserette snatched up the great pyramid of Khufu and barreled off down the Nile. Now you might hear some people call this the Great Pyramid of Cheops, but don't let that throw you off the trail. Cheops is just the Greek name for the king that the Egyptians called Khufu. Your mission, gumshoes: bust Eartha Brute, put the pyramid back in place, and then bag that beastly bimbo Carmen Sandiego.

Chief

Gumshoes, Carmen Sandiego and her load of lily-livered louts have lashed out again. This time, they bagged a bull in Baghdad. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often called The Cradle of Western Civilization. Located mostly in Iraq, it was home to some of the earliest known human settlements, the ancient kingdom of Mesopotamia. It began around 5000 BC and at its peak, the Mesopotamian city of Ur was a rich metropolis. But empires have a way to crumbling to sand and all that's left of Mesopotamia are a few of its treasures. One of them is on display at the Iraq museum in Baghdad, a beautiful golden bull's head dating back to 2450 BC. It was unearthed this century from a royal Mesopotamian tomb. But yesterday, that elasticized alien Kneemoi stretched her way into the museum, bagged the bull's head, and bounded out of the country. She claimed the bull is the spitting image of her mother. Gumshoes, your mission is to nail Kneemoi, get the bull's golden head back to Baghdad, and cap Carmen Sandiego's career in crime.