Turbo Teen

Turbo Teen is an American animated television 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 in 1984.[1]

Turbo Teen
GenreCartoon series, Children's television series, Superheroes, Adventure
Created byRuby-Spears Productions
Developed byMichael Maurer
Voices ofT. K. Carter
Pat Fraley
Pamela Hayden
Michael Mish
Frank Welker
ComposerUdi Harpaz
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersJoe Ruby
Ken Spears
Running time20 mins (excluding commercials)
Production companyRuby-Spears Productions
DistributorWorldvision Enterprises
Release
Original networkABC
Original releaseSeptember 15, 1984 (1984-09-15) –
August 31, 1985 (1985-08-31)

The series was rerun on the USA Network's USA Cartoon Express programming block.[2]

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, along with his girlfriend Pattie (a freelance reporter), his best friend Alex (a mechanic who calls Brett "TT"), and his dog Rusty go on crime-fighting adventures together and solve other mysteries.[3]

A recurring subplot involves Brett's, Cardwell's, 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 in order to find the secret behind his abilities. Dark Rider is voiced by Frank Welker in a similar way to his voice performance of Dr. Claw in the Inspector Gadget series.[2]

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.[4]

Reception

In The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows, David Perlmutter writes, "This is perhaps the most absurd concept developed for television animation in the genre's history. Despite a basis in somewhat-plausible science, it was not produced competently enough to make its premise anywhere near believable."[5]

Episodes
Nº Title Story Original air date
1"Turbo Thieves"Mark JonesTBA
2"Dark Rider and the Wolves of Doom"Michael MaurerSeptember 8, 1984 (1984-09-08)
3"Mystery of Fantasy Park"Matt UitzSeptember 15, 1984 (1984-09-15)
4"No Show UFO"Evelyn A.R. GabaiSeptember 22, 1984 (1984-09-22)
5"Micro-Teen"Dennis MarksOctober 6, 1984 (1984-10-06)
6"The Sinister Souped-Up Seven"Matt UitzOctober 13, 1984 (1984-10-13)
7"Video Venger"Michael BrownOctober 20, 1984 (1984-10-20)
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"Michael MaurerOctober 27, 1984 (1984-10-27)
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"Matt Uitz,
Michael Maurer		November 3, 1984 (1984-11-03)
10"Daredevil Run"Cliff Ruby,
Elana Lesser		November 10, 1984 (1984-11-10)
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"Ted PedersenNovember 17, 1984 (1984-11-17)
12"Fright Friday"Matt UitzNovember 24, 1984 (1984-11-24)
13"The Mystery of Dark Rider"Michael MaurerDecember 1, 1984 (1984-12-01)

Cast

Additional voices

Crew

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.
  • In the Futurama episode "The Honking", Bender turns into a were-car. The transformation sequence is the same as in Turbo Teen.
  • The 2-part Teen Titans Go! episode "Teen Titans Vroom!" parodies Turbo Teen, when the Teen Titans suddenly turn into cars.

References
  1. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 875. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  2. Terrace, Vincent (10 January 2014). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010, 2d ed. McFarland. ISBN 9780786486410. Retrieved 4 October 2018 – via Google Books.
  3. TV.com. "Turbo Teen". TV.com. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  4. "Cartoon Car Spotlight: Creepy 'Turbo Teen' TV Show Should Stay Buried in the '80s". 31 March 2017. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  5. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 664–665. ISBN 978-1538103739.
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