Pole Position

POLE POSITION
Made by: ?
Shown on: BBC
Years shown: 1982-86

Apparently based on an Atari motor-racing game, Pole Position boasted one of the essential components of any eighties cartoon - a guitar-driven power-rock theme, which bawled, “Pole Positioonnnnn!” in an admirable imitation of Def Leppard, or at least Don Henley. The wafer-thin plot involved brother and sister, Dan and Tess, whose parents were killed by an evil cabal. They worked for Pole Position, an implausible FBI-like organisation run by their uncle, Dr Zachary Darret. Their job entailed driving cars called Wheels and Roadie, who had minds of their own, and made smart-arse remarks, suspiciously like KITT in Knight Rider. Somewhere in this bizarre world was Darret’s young daughter Daisy, who in turn had an annoying pet monkey called Kuma. It was a primarily a crime-fighting caper and I thought it was great, but following the point of it all was a skill in its own right - and worryingly, I remember thinking that Dan and Tess were boyfriend and girlfriend, so perhaps this point wasn’t made explicit enough.

SQUARE EYES RATING: 4/10

(Thanks to www.80sanimation.com for the borrowed pic)