Turbo Teen
| Turbo-Teen | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Cartoon series, Children's television series, Superheroes, Adventure |
| Created by | Ruby-Spears Productions |
| Voices of |
T. K. Carter Pat Fraley Pamela Hayden Michael Mish Frank Welker |
| Composer(s) | Udi Harpaz |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Joe Ruby Ken Spears |
| Running time | 20 mins (excluding commercials) |
| Production company(s) | Ruby-Spears Productions |
| Distributor |
Worldvision Enterprises (original) Warner Bros. Television (current) |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | September 15, 1984 – August 31, 1985 |
Turbo-Teen was an animated series about a teenager with the ability to transform into a sports car. It aired on Saturday morning on the ABC Network for thirteen episodes during the 1984–85 season.[1] The series was once a rerun on the USA Network's USA Cartoon Express programming block.[1]
Plot
Turbo Teen is about a teenager named Brett Matthews who swerves off a road during a thunderstorm and crashes into a secret government laboratory. There, he and his red sports car are accidentally exposed to a molecular beam invented by a scientist named Dr. Chase for a government agent named Cardwell. As a result, Brett and his car become fused together. Brett gains the ability to morph into the car when exposed to extreme heat and revert into his human form when exposed to extreme cold. With this new superhero power, Brett and his girlfriend, Pattie (a freelance reporter) and his best friend, Alex (a mechanic who calls Brett "TT"), and Brett's dog Rusty go on crime-fighting adventures together and solve other mysteries.[2]
A recurring subplot involves Brett, Cardwell, and Dr. Chase's search for a way to return Brett to normal. Also, a recurring villain is the mysterious, unseen "Dark Rider" who drives a monster truck and seeks to capture Brett Matthews in order to find the secret behind his abilities. Dark Rider is voiced by Frank Welker and is similar to how he performs the voice of Dr. Claw in the Inspector Gadget series.[1]
Production
The show was produced by Ruby-Spears Productions with animation supplied by Toei Animation and Hanho Heung-Up. It was broadcast during the growing popularity of the Knight Rider television series and mirrors much of it, even down to very similar-sounding theme music. The car that Brett turns into looks like an amalgam of a Third Generation Chevrolet Camaro and its sister car, the Pontiac Trans Am; the later model Knight Rider's KITT is based on. Neither of those, though, have turbochargers.[3]
Episodes
| Nº | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Turbo Thieves" | TBA |
| 2 | "Dark Rider" | September 8, 1984 |
| 3 | "Mystery of Fantasy Park" | September 15, 1984 |
| 4 | "No Show UFO" | September 22, 1984 |
| 5 | "Micro-Teen" | October 6, 1984 |
| 6 | "The Sinister Souped-Up Seven" | October 13, 1984 |
| 7 | "Video Venger" | October 20, 1984 |
| Various war machines from an arcade game come to life when Brett and his friends discover the game is a training program for a real planned invasion of Washington D.C. | ||
| 8 | "Dark Rider and the Wolves of Doom" | October 27, 1984 |
| Dark Rider captures Monique's father Dr. Fabro and his formula that can cause dogs to regress to their primitive state in his latest plan to capture Brett Matthews. | ||
| 9 | "The Curse of the Twisted Claw" | November 3, 1984 |
| 10 | "Daredevil Run" | November 10, 1984 |
| Brett, Alex, and Pattie enter a cross-country race as cover while escorting a girl named Paula to court so that she can testify against a jewel thief called "The Dragon." | ||
| 11 | "The Amazon Adventure" | November 17, 1984 |
| 12 | "Fright Friday" | November 24, 1984 |
| 13 | "The Mystery of Dark Rider" | December 1, 1984 |
Cast
- T. K. Carter – Alex
- Pat Fraley – Eddie, Dr. Chase
- Pamela Hayden – Pattie
- Michael Mish – Brett Matthews/Turbo Teen
- Clive Revill – Cardwell
- Frank Welker – Rusty, Dark Rider, Flip
Crew
- Alan Dinehart - Voice Director
- Howard Morris - Voice Director
Parodies
- Turbo Teen was parodied in the Robot Chicken episode "Rabbits on a Roller Coaster" with Brett Matthews voiced by Seth Green, Alex voiced by Tom Root and Pattie voiced by Katee Sackhoff.
- A webcomic named Teen Boat ran for a short time, with a teenager who could turn into a small yacht.
- A commercial for The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV in July 2009 includes a man similarly transforming into a red sports car, a Mazda Miata. The man is wearing a wardrobe similar to Brett Matthews' wardrobe.
- The Rick and Morty episode The Ricks Must Be Crazy parodies Turbo Teen, revealing that Morty can also transform into a car (and ultimately does, in a similar-looking fashion).
- In the "Simpsons Comics" story "Con-nukah!" a toy called "Turbo Poochie Teen" appears on Bart's wishlist.
References
- 1 2 3 Terrace, Vincent (10 January 2014). "Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010, 2d ed". McFarland. Retrieved 4 October 2018 – via Google Books.
- ↑ TV.com. "Turbo Teen". TV.com. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
- ↑ "Cartoon Car Spotlight: Creepy 'Turbo Teen' TV Show Should Stay Buried in the '80s". 31 March 2017. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
External links
- Turbo Teen on IMDb
- Turbo Teen at TV.com
- Episode guide at the Big Cartoon DataBase