Blaze and the Monster Machines

Blaze and the Monster Machines is an American CGI-animated children's television series with a focus on teaching about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). The series premiered on Nickelodeon on October 13, 2014.

Blaze and the Monster Machines
GenreAdventure
Science fiction
Musical
Action
Created byJeff Borkin
Ellen Martin
Developed byClark Stubbs
Jeff Borkin
Ellen Martin
Starring
Opening theme"Blaze and the Monster Machines Theme", performed by Kyle Gordon, Mason Rather and JP Rende
Ending theme"It's Blaze", performed by Scott Krippayne (Instrumental version, 2014)
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes94 (93 counting double length as two parts) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)Jeff Borkin
Ellen Martin
Running time22 minutes
Production company(s)WildBrain Studios
Nickelodeon Animation Studio
DistributorViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks
Release
Original networkNickelodeon
Picture formatHDTV 1080i
Original releaseOctober 13, 2014 (2014-10-13) –
present
External links
Website

The series revolves around a monster truck and human driver duo, Blaze and AJ, as they have adventures in Axle City and learn about various STEM concepts which help them on their way. Joining them is the human mechanic Gabby and their monster truck friends Stripes, Starla, Darington, Zeg and Watts, as well as their rival Crusher and his sidekick Pickle.

Plot

The show focuses on Blaze, a red monster truck, and his smart young driver, AJ. They live in a world that involves many living monster trucks called "Monster Machines". Their friends include their truck friends, Starla, Stripes, Zeg, Darington, and Watts (as of Season 3), as well as a girl named Gabby, who is a mechanic who can fix anything and later on Watts' Monster Machine driver and close friend (as of Season 3). Each episode also features Crusher, a sneaky blue truck who cheats in races. Crusher is always accompanied by a small truck named Pickle, his goofy sidekick.

Each episode has Blaze and AJ go on various adventures and solve problems along the way, normally three per episode, with "assistance" from the viewing audience. Blaze might also transform into a different vehicle or artifact depending on the situation. Blaze may sometimes get a task done with the help of his Blazing Speed, a special power that allows him to go super fast.

Animals in this monster machine world have blended windows (which have been removed as of Season 5) and wheels; however AJ and Gabby are humans. In some episodes, Blaze, AJ and their friends are in a race against Crusher. During the race, Crusher cheats, usually with the help of his gray robot parts. However, Blaze and AJ manage to get through his traps, and they always beat him in time.

Some episodes do not involve races, but still have Blaze competing against Crusher, sometimes by racing against him to get an item. Other episodes involve helping a truck friend such as Starla, Zeg, Darington, Stripes, Watts, or even Crusher and/or Pickle.

Each episode features two or three original songs usually performed by Blaze and AJ offscreen, when they're setting off on their adventure or demonstrating the episode's STEM concept.

Episodes
Main article: List of Blaze and the Monster Machines episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
120 (19)October 13, 2014 (2014-10-13)February 18, 2016 (2016-02-18)
220 (19)September 25, 2015 (2015-09-25)April 17, 2017 (2017-04-17)
320October 10, 2016 (2016-10-10)February 22, 2018 (2018-02-22)
420March 26, 2018 (2018-03-26)September 9, 2019 (2019-09-09)
520August 16, 2019 (2019-08-16)TBA

Characters

Main
  • Blaze (voiced by Nolan North) is the show's host and central character, an orange-red monster truck with blue eyes and a flame emblem, who is good-hearted, loyal, and brave. He is Axle City's number one racer, especially with help from his Blazing Speed which is initiated by saying "Let's Blaze!". At the start of Season 2, Blaze becomes the newest member of the Axle City Fire Department, and Season 4 has him join the Axle City Police Department to help Officer Anna. He and his friends would also visit VelocityVille (where they turn into Race Cars to take part in adventures and Race Car Events), and Animal Island (to visit their animal friends and transform into animals for competitions or to take care of problems and/or obstacles). As revealed in Season 3, Blaze's Blazing Speed engine is not only what he uses to unleash his Blazing Speed, but it is also what allows him to drive around in general. As of Season 3, starting with the "Wild Wheels" episodes, Blaze's design has been slightly upgraded to have the addition of taillights, coinciding with the series' upgraded animation. Blaze, along with his Monster Machine friends and Gabby's ATV, also have additional features as well, such as grappling lines to tow fellow Monster Machines out of trouble and Speed Lights to illuminate themselves in the dark and race in the dark in one of Axle City's outdoor race tracks. He has flame patterns on his tires.
  • AJ (voiced by Dusan Brown in Season 1, Caleel Harris in Season 2 through Season 3, Ramone Hamilton in Season 4 to present; singing by Jacquez Swanigan in Season 1 through Season 2, Reed L. Shannon in Season 3 through Season 5) is the show's co-host and Blaze's human best friend and driver, a Filipino eight-year-old science and technology expert with medium skin, brown eyes and brown hair, and wears a white and red racing suit and helmet. AJ's racing suit technology includes his Visor View in his helmet which allows him to see things no one else can, his skywriting gloves which allow him to draw pictures in mid-air (which has been mostly abandoned since Season 3), and a wrist-com video watch worn on his left arm to call others. His uniform can also undergo minor changes in appearance, such as when Blaze transforms into a race car, and Blaze using his speed lights. As the show progressed, AJ become the one to describe the STEM concept instead of Blaze in earlier seasons.
  • Crusher (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) is a deep blue monster truck with a lighter blue lightning bolt motif, and Blaze and AJ's rival. He cheats in most episodes just to get his way. He constructs various cheating gadgets from parts that he keeps in a bag on his chassis. A running gag of the show is where Crusher gets himself into trouble in various situations, especially when he crashes into something and ends up dizzy or messy. Crusher often stars in his own subplots along with Pickle which are separate from the main story, in which he constantly messes up doing something that Pickle is trying out. While he is known for his cheating and mischievous ways, he is not all bad and not really evil. In fact, there are times where Crusher is still good at heart at times. Examples of are shown when Crusher is willing to help Blaze save the Christmas Presents, and when he admits that he'd never steal anyone else's birthday cake when he realizes that it was Darington's birthday cake that he was trying to take. Once, Crusher even ran a restaurant to serve spaghetti with big meatballs. In addition, Blaze and his friends are even willing to help Crusher in some instances, such as helping him find his toy truck "Little Trucky", Gasqautch saving him by sneezing away a thundercloud and then bringing him down from Mud Mountain, Gabby fixing his muffler / exhaust pipe when it got broken, and Blaze helped convince Crusher not to cheat when they've teamed up in a Team Truck Challenge in "Defeat the Cheat". In fact, in that race, Crusher (along with Blaze) has finally scored himself his first ever win fair and square, and it is also the first time where Crusher's running gag does not end with Crusher disgusted, but actually ends with Crusher being happy (as Crusher did bump into an ice cream cart and ended up messy, but happy about his win, he happily eats the dripping ice cream as he says, "Tastes like Winning!"). He has lightning bolt patterns on his tires.
  • Pickle (voiced by Nat Faxon) is a small green singing monster truck based on Ford Pinto with darker green stripes and bumps on his sides, who is Crusher's sidekick despite Crusher's indifference towards him, although the two are known to be close friends most of the time. He tends to look on the brighter side of things and is quite goofy and has an extremely high pitch voice. Although he is by Crusher's side, Pickle has is actually quite friendly towards Blaze and his friends. He has wavy line patterns on his tires.
  • Gabby (voiced by Angelina Wahler in 2014 through 2017, Molly Jackson in 2018–Present) is a knowledgeable 9-year old human mechanic with light skin, blue eyes and purple hair in a ponytail, and wears a white shirt with blue overalls, though she switches to a white and blue racing suit and helmet with goggles when riding with Blaze. She fixes up the trucks when they are damaged, and sometimes rides with AJ and Blaze to take part in some of their adventures. Gabby's uniform and helmet undergoes changes like AJ's, but so far, it has only happened once (when Gabby's ATV uses Speed Lights). Gabby usually drives a purple ATV, but as of Season 3, Gabby, like AJ, is now a Monster Machine driver, driving with her new close friend, Watts. This makes Gabby the first female Monster Machine driver, the second Monster Machine driver in general (with the first being AJ), and both the first female Monster Machine driver AND first Monster Machine driver in general to be partnered with a female Monster Machine (in this case: Watts). When Gabby competes in a Monster Machine event with Watts, she wears a white and magenta version of her racing suit.
  • Stripes (voiced by Sunil Malhotra) is a yellow-orange and violet striped truck with the abilities of a tiger such as a high sense of smell and retractable spike-claws in his tires. In Season 3's "Wild Wheels" episodes, when Blaze transforms into a Lion Monster Machine, he shares his engineering powers to transform Stripes into Super Tiger Stripes. He lives in a treehouse in a jungle outside the city. He has stripe patterns on his tires.
  • Starla (voiced by Kate Higgins) is a purple pickup truck with a sparkly silver cowboy hat, who's a roping expert and speaks with a thick Southern accent. She runs a farm outside the city. She has horseshoe patterns on her tires.
  • Darington (voiced by Alexander Polinsky) is a clumsy yet fearless starry blue and white monster truck with a gold star motif, helmet and cape-like spoiler, who loves stunts. His catchphrase is "Daringtooooon!". In "The Chicken Circus", it reveals that Darington can speak chicken. He has star patterns on his tires.
  • Zeg (voiced by James Patrick Stuart) is a light green half-triceratops, half-monster truck with brute tendencies. He has a short vocabulary and tends to refer to himself in third person. He lives in a prehistoric cave outside the city. He has rock patterns on his tires.
  • Watts (voiced by Melanie Minichino) is a magenta Monster Machine powered by electricity who speaks with a South American accent and is the latest of Blaze's Monster Machine friends as of Season 3 (as shown from the updated standard Opening Sequence with the upgraded animation as of "Race for the Golden Treasure"). Watts is also the second female Monster Machine to both be part of the main cast and be part of Blaze's Machine friends, with the first female Monster Machine to do so being Starla. Watts' features include her electric engine and her special yellow electric tires, both allowing her to drive fast, and her Electric Charge which allows her to give anything electricity so it can work. When Watts met Blaze, AJ, and Gabby for the first time, Watts happily asks Gabby to be her driver, saying that she never had anyone driving her before. Gabby happily accepts Watts' offer, saying that she has never been a Monster Machine's driver before. Since then, Gabby is now a Monster Machine driver for Watts (just like AJ is Blaze's Monster Machine driver), and the 2 are now very close friends (just like Blaze and AJ are close friends). This makes Watts the first female Monster Machine capable of being driven by a human, the second Monster Machine in general to do so (with the first being Blaze), and both the first female Monster Machine AND first Monster Machine in general to be partnered with a female Monster Machine driver (in this case: Gabby). She has lightning bolt patterns on her tires just like Crusher.

Supporting

Minor
  • Reece (voiced by Kate Higgins)
  • Debris (voiced by James Patrick Stuart)
  • Clive (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson)
  • Rudy (voiced by Jeff Bennett)
  • Ferris (voiced by Jeff Bennett)
  • The King (voiced by Charlie Adler)
  • The Royal Knights
    • Green Knight and Yellow Knight (voiced by Jeff Bennett)
    • Purple Knight (voiced by Cree Summer)
    • White Knight (voiced by Charlie Adler)
  • The Moose
  • Lucy (voiced by Grey Griffin)
  • Brodie (voiced by Kate Higgins)
  • Robbie (voiced by Charlie Adler)
  • Little Girl (voiced by Cate Gragnani)
  • Little Boy (voiced by Jack Fisher)
  • Littlest Girl (voiced by Destiny Ochoa)
  • Dance Truck 1 (voiced by James Patrick Stuart)
  • Dispatch (voiced by Nolan North)
  • Traffic Trucks (all voiced by Kevin Micheal Richardson, Jeff Bennett, Kate Higgins and Nat Faxon)
  • The Animals
  • Monkey (voiced by Amber Hood)
  • Bunny (voiced by Hynden Walch)
  • Bunny 2 and Panda (voiced by Stephanie Sheh)
  • Frog (voiced by Nolan North)
  • The Sneaky Fox (voiced by Tara Strong)
  • The Litter Critter (voiced by "Weird Al" Yankovic)
  • Sea Star (voiced by Cristina Vee)
  • Oola (voiced by Kaitlyn Robrock)

Special Guest Stars

Locations
  • Axle City: Axle City is the main location of the series, and where Blaze, AJ, Gabby, and all of the Monster Machines live. The most well known locations of the area include the Monster Dome (where many Monster Machine events are held, especially Monster Machine Racing), Mud Mountain (where the Monsters Machines, especially Gasquatch, hold Mud Fest), a land of Medieval Monster Machines, and much more, including nearby islands. Monster Machines race events include Stuntmania, the Axle City Grand Prix, and the Race to the Top of the World. Monster Machine friends, both in Axle City and other areas of the Monster Machine world, include the Great Sphinx, Pegwheel Pete and his Pirate Crew (though antogonistic in Race to the Top of the World, but happily congratulates Blaze and his friends for winning and become their friends in some adventures), Bump Bumperman, Gus and Joe, Gasquatch, and the Light Thief (a talking Kangaroo).
  • VelocityVille: VelocityVille is the location for the "Race Car Adventures" episodes. To reach VelocityVille, Blaze and his friends travel to it with help from their friend, Swoops, whom Blaze and AJ first met before he offers them a ride on their very first visit to VelocityVille. Where Axle City is inhabitted by Monster Machines, VelocityVille's inhabitants are Race Cars. This is where Blaze transformed into a Race Car for first time to save his new friends of Velocityville, and since then, he, his Monster Machine friends, and even Crusher and Pickle transform into Race Cars whenever they visit VelocityVille. As a result of the Race Car Transformation, AJ's racing suit also undergoes some slight changes, such as his racing helmet having white detailing instead of black. Blaze, AJ, Gabby, and the other Monster Machine's Race Car friends include Rally, Fender, Dash, Mark-Set-Go, and other Velocityville residents like Becky Checkerflag and Spencer (formerly a rival who wants no one to be faster than him, but now a friend who believes that all race cars, including him, should be fast). In VelocityVille, Race Cars happily drive around the city at incredible speed and velocity thanks to their aerodynamic shapes, and Race Car events take place, such as the Race to Eagle Rock, the Polar Derby, and the Hundred Mile Race.
  • Animal Island: Animal Island is a location in the Monster Machines' World where animals of all kinds reside, including insects. Animal Island is also the location for the "Wild Wheels" episodes. Unlike the animals in Axle City and VelocityVille, all of the animals in Animal Island are capable to talk like humans and Monster Machines, in addition to their usual animal noises. The main residents of the island and Blaze, AJ, Gabby, and the Monster Machines' animal friends include Bunk the Elephant, Bam the Gorilla, Skyler the Falcon, Nelson the Rhino, and Tooks the Toucan. Blaze and his friends travel to Animal Island by raft, or, Swoops. When Blaze and his friends visit Animal Island, instead of STEM Concepts, the "Wild Wheels" episodes teach viewers educational facts about all kinds of Animals.

Production

The first season consisted of 20 episodes.[1] On June 15, 2015, the series was renewed for a third season which premiered on October 10, 2016.[2] On June 21, 2016, it was renewed for a fourth season which premiered on March 26, 2018.[3] On May 22, 2018, it was renewed for a fifth season which premiered on August 16, 2019.[4] On February 19, 2020, the series was renewed for a sixth season.[5]

Broadcast

Blaze and the Monster Machines premiered on Nick Jr. in the United Kingdom and Ireland on March 6, 2015[6] and on Nick Jr. in Australia and New Zealand on March 9.[7] The series is also airing on Nickelodeon and Treehouse TV in Canada[8] and Nick Jr. in Africa.[9] It premiered on Nicktoons in the United Kingdom along with Ryan's Mystery Playdate on 6 January 2020.[10]

DVD releases
Title Region 1 Episodes
Blaze of Glory: A Mini Movie February 17, 2015 "Blaze of Glory" & "The Driving Force"
High-Speed Adventures August 11, 2015 "The Bouncy Tires", "Stuntmania!", "Epic Sail" & "The Team Truck Challenge"
Rev Up and Roar February 16, 2016 "Zeg and the Egg", "Dino Dash", "Gasquatch!" & "Dragon Island Duel"
Fired Up! July 12, 2016 "Fired Up!", "Five Alarm Blaze", "Trouble at the Truck Wash" & "Sneezing Cold"
Race Into VelocityVille February 14, 2017 "Race Car Superstar", "Race to Eagle Rock", "Sky Track", "The Wishing Wheel", "The Hundred Mile Race" & "The Polar Derby"
Wild Wheels: Escape to Animal Island September 19, 2017 "Animal Island", "Toucan Do It!", "The Big Ant-venture" & "Falcon Quest"
Heroes of Axle City February 13, 2018 "Tow Truck Tough", "Light Riders", "Rocket Ski Rescue" & "Race to the Top of the World"
Blaze Saves Christmas November 6, 2018 "Monster Machine Christmas", "Breaking the Ice", "Catch That Cake!" & "Ninja Blaze"
Robot Riders February 5, 2019 "Robots to the Rescue", "T-Rex Trouble", "Meatball Mayhem" & "Robots in Space"
Ninja Blaze August 27, 2019 "Ninja Blaze", "Ninja Soup", "Pickle Power", "Defeat the Cheat" & "The Super-Size Prize"
Knight Riders February 11, 2020 "Knight Riders", "Knighty Knights", "Royal Rescue" & "The Flying Lion"

Mobile streaming

On August 31, 2017, the first two seasons and the first half of the third season were added to the Noggin app.

References
  1. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140313005909/en/Nickelodeon-Debut-100-Episodes-Brand-New-Educational-Preschool#.VFGaZvnF98E
  2. http://kidscreen.com/2015/06/15/nick-boosts-preschool-with-sid-and-marty-krofft-pick-up-more-blaze/
  3. http://kidscreen.com/2016/06/21/more-blaze-paws-shimmer-for-nickelodeon/
  4. https://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/nick-greenlights-new-seasons-of-four-pre-k-faves/
  5. Patrick Hipes (February 19, 2020). "'Are You Afraid Of The Dark?', 'All That', 'Top Elf,' 'Blue's Clues', The Casagrandes' & 'PAW Patrol' Among Slew Of Nickelodeon Renewals". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  6. "Prepare for Monster Truck Adventures in Blaze and the Monster Machines". Viacom UK & Ireland Press Centre (Press release). London: Viacom International Media Networks. February 12, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  7. Knox, David (March 9, 2015). "Airdate: Blaze and the Monster Machines". TV Tonight. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  8. "CORUS Kids June/July 2015 Highlights". Corus Entertainment (Press release). May 25, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  9. Ferreira, Thinus. "BET and two new channel2014". Channel 24. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  10. "Proof of the Nicktoons UK airing". Retrieved 1 January 2020.
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