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Motorcity (TV series)
2012 American TV series or program From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Motorcity is an American animated television series[1][2] created by Chris Prynoski[3] and produced by Prynoski's studio Titmouse, Inc., Robin Red Breast, Inc.[4][5] and Disney Television Animation.[6] The series premiered on Disney XD on April 30, 2012, and concluded on January 7, 2013. The show is set in a fictitious futuristic Detroit Deluxe, an elevated metropolis built atop the old Detroit, owned by billionaire Abraham Kane. Strictly ruling over the citizenry and banning automobile transportation, Kane faces his last obstacle, a group of hot-rod wielding rebels called the Burners, led by Mike Chilton, Kane's former cadet, with the goal of stopping Kane's plans of conquest and protecting Detroit's last oasis of freedom— the underground refuge Motorcity.
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The idea of Motorcity was born in Prynoski's mind in the 1990s, when we worked at MTV. The influence of the project he cited from The Dukes of Hazzard, Star Wars along with his personal knowledge on car culture in Los Angeles. Prynoski had shelved the pitch of the show, after he founded Titmouse, Inc.
In November 2012, it was announced that the series would not be renewed for a second season due to Disney's mismanagment of the show. But crew was led to finish the first season concluding it with a two-part finale. Crew member George Krstic tweeted in April 2013 that the studio Titmouse, Inc. was considering bringing back Motorcity and Megas XLR.
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Synopsis
This show occurs in a fictitious futuristic Detroit, which is an elevated metropolis built over the old Detroit, classified as Detroit Deluxe. It is owned by evil billionaire Abraham Kane (Mark Hamill). Ruling the citizens under strict laws, and banning personal freedoms including automobile transportation, Kane now faces one last obstacle: a group of hot-rod wielding rebels who call themselves the Burners. Led by Kane's former cadet Mike Chilton (Reid Scott), the Burners rise to stop Kane from conquering Detroit's last oasis of freedom—an underground refuge dubbed Motorcity.[7]
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Characters
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Protagonists
The Burners
- Mike Chilton (voiced by Reid Scott)[5] is the leader of the Burners and the main protagonist of the series. Mike is a cool, quick-witted, relaxed, funny, gutsy, kind, impulsive 17-year-old who does things his own way and usually has things under control.[7] He takes very few things seriously, except for his mission of taking down Kane, and easily keeps his team ready for whatever Kane throws their way. He used to work as Kane's cadet before Kane's cruel nature drove him to quit and fight against him as a Motorcity rebel.[7]
- Chuck (voiced by Nate Torrence)[5] is Mike's best friend and computer expert for the Burners.[7] Thanks to his large brain, Chuck can always find an escape route or a solution to whatever problem the Burners are in, and is usually improving the Burners' computer and security systems. Although he's usually terrified of whatever dangerous situation Mike has put him in, he's incredibly loyal. He's the only Burner who can't drive, and fears rejection from the others if they ever found out.
- Julie Kane (voiced by Kate Micucci)[5] is the Burners' infiltration expert and inside connection to KaneCo., using her "internship" there to gather info on Kane's plots. She is highly skilled and has a strong sense of patience that allows her to see the best in people. Unknown to her Burner teammates, she is actually Kane's daughter, though she makes it no secret that she is against her father's wicked crusade.
- Dutch Gordy (voiced by Kel Mitchell)[5] is the Burners' creative technological genius. Having escaped Kane's futuristic empire, Dutch is wary of Deluxe and hates to go back, even to fight Kane. He is initially mistrustful of others, but is likable after getting to know him and his knowledge and loyalty makes him a steadfast teammate. Dutch is an artist at heart and values solitude when pursuing his passion, but he's always ready to upgrade the Burners' hot rods with one of his latest weapons or gadgetry.
- R.O.T.H. is Dutch's cube-shaped robot assistant who has helped the team on a number of occasions. He was one of Kane's attack bots until Dutch reprogrammed him as his helper. He has been shown to have a phobia of metal-destroying things, like miniature robots that disintegrate metal, though the attack bots are not made out of metal.
- Texas (voiced by Jess Harnell)[5] is a violent, gung-ho powder keg who is dedicated to the Burners and his fierce determination usually makes him the first one on the battlefield when a fight breaks out. Texas is never the voice of dissent and tends not to think twice before charging in and smashing something with any body part that is armed and ready. He is noted to be Mike's self-appointed second-in-command and dreams of one day leading the Burners, but would never question Mike's authority without a reason. He often speaks in 3rd person and yells his name when attacking foes.
- Jacob (voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray) is a hippie or biker type in his mid-60s and Kane's former partner. He's full of scientific and technological knowledge, which is often buried under organic food talk.
Allies
- Claire (voiced by Dana Davis) is Julie's best friend and confidant for her dual identities. Claire is a sort of "valley-girl" who lives in Deluxe and has shown to be uncomfortable in the slums of Motorcity, considering it 'weird' and 'scary'. As of her second appearance, she states Chuck is the least weirdest thing about the Burners.
- Dr. Hudson (voiced by Jim Cummings) is a scientist who was Jacob's student when KaneCo was trying to help people. He stayed while Jacob left when Kane started pushing them into more "dangerous" experiments. After being rescued by the Burners and making amends with Jacob, Hudson now assumedly assists them in his new lab in Motorcity.
- Rayon (voiced by Bumper Robinson) is the Leader of a gang called the Skylarks, the owner of the Skylark Motel and a regular client of the Burners. Rayon believes the Burners to be his allies and trust them much more than some of the other gangs in Motorcity. He is always willing to give Mike information or help when it does not interfere with his business.
- Darr Gordy (voiced by Roshon Fegan) is Dutch's brother and new cadet to Kane. At first he planned on turning in the Burners, but after seeing Dutch save some Deluxians he reconsidered and was made a Burner...technically. He is now another inside connection to Kane.
- Tennie (voiced by Aimee Garcia) is an engineer and love interest of Dutch. She, her father, Bracket and the Burners worked together to defend her home against Kane's bots.
- Foxy (voiced by Jennifer Hale) is the Leader of the Amazons, an all girl gang in Motorcity that specializes in fast and high tech vehicles that resemble Formula One Cars. She is somewhat distrusting of the Burners but becomes more of an ally after befriending Claire even helping save them from the Duke.
Villains
- Abraham "Abe" Kane (voiced by Mark Hamill)[7][8] is the billionaire owner of Detroit Deluxe who serves as the main antagonist of the series. Kane is a wicked, megalomaniac industrialist who was responsible for building the new Detroit called Detroit Deluxe atop the old one, now named Motorcity.[8] He is determined to take over all of Detroit, and plans to do so by wiping out the Motorcity population.[7][8]
- Tooley (voiced by Jim Breuer) is Kane's dimwitted but loyal right-hand man. What Tooley lacks in competence or intelligence, he makes up for in strength, blind loyalty, and devotion to Kane and his agenda. He also appears to have a crush on Julie which she will at times exploit to gain information from him to assist the Burners.
- Kaia (voiced by Laraine Newman) is the leader of an eco-friendly resistance group called "Terra" who live in a village outside Detroit that was destroyed by KaneCo's waste dumping and fight using rapidly growing mutant plants as their weapons to take revenge on Kane as well as the Deluxe population. As a side effect of the dumping, the Terra themselves had been mutated and are forced to conceal their appearances behind gas masks and headbands. While allied at first, Kaia and her followers are now enemies of the Burners, primarily because of the Terra's attack on innocent Deluxe citizens.
- The Duke of Detroit (voiced by Dee Snider)[4][9] is a self-absorbed collector and lover of cars who owns a palace filled with guards and mint condition automobiles. He instructs Mike that respect is conveyed through actions, and when Mike doesn't issue the Duke's kind of respect, he plots to take Mike's car Mutt as a means of payback. The Duke has occasionally put the Burners' rides at stake simply for his and others entertainment, going as far as putting the Burners' in a combat situation while they transported a large container with unstable chemicals with the safety mechanisms of said container compromised as part of a reality show staged by him.
- #2 (voiced by Tara Strong) is the Duke's Number 2, Not much is known about her except for the fact that she is extremely devoted to him and is very involved with his plans. She speaks with a New York accent and is always chewing bubble gum.
- Cyborg Dan (voiced by Dave Wittenberg) is a robot who works for the Duke. He seems to be very high up in the Duke's organization but his rank or how he became involved with the Duke is not known. The Duke used him to demonstrate a nuclear reactor for the Burners resulting in his face being melted off. He blames Mike for this despite it having absolutely nothing to do with him.
- Red (voiced by Eric Ladin) is a ghost from Mike's past who was indirectly responsible for Mike coming down to Motorcity. A year ago, he lived in a supposedly abandoned building complex until it was destroyed by an attack from KaneCo. led by Mike. Though Mike betrayed Kane, fought his own men, and rescued the people, he still blames Mike for leading the attack to begin with. He spent the next year training, forging armor, and plotting revenge against Mike; after losing against him, Red joined with Kane and serves as an elite soldier of his, now with upgrades to his suit and weaponry.
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Episodes
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Pilots (2000–12)
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Production
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Background
According to series creator Chris Prynoski, he got the idea for the show in 1991 and "even made a trailer for it," adding that he "showed it to development executive Eric Coleman, who was at Nickelodeon at the time, and he loved it." Prynoski had revealed that he grown up worshipping car culture in Los Angeles and his inspirations for Motorcity were The Dukes of Hazzard and Star Wars.[8][28]
Around 1999 and 2000, Prynoski began development of Motorcity.[29][30] It was planned to have a series of 26 episodes, each one lasting for 22 minutes.[31] Project were shelved after founding the T-shirts company and later animation studio Titmouse, Inc. and starting works at Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. Until, Eric Coleman had his gig at Disney, he asked Prynoski whether still had Motorcity.[28]
Development
After partnering with Disney Television Animation,[6] in October 2010, show's production was started, and was scheduled to come out in the fall of 2011.[32][33][34][35] After being delayed in 2011, the series premiere was postponed for winter 2012.[36][37] Ultimately, in April 2012, the show was announced to be premiering on April 30, 2012 on Disney XD.[38][39][40][41][42][43]
Prynoski had also revealed that about 80 people had worked on the show, consisting of people from Europe and Japan, such as Art director Antonio Canobbio and show's director Juno Lee,[28] and Brandon Cuellar as a vehicle designer.[44] The first season was planned to have 20 episodes, though it was not designed as a serial, Prynoski stated, "once the first few episodes set the stage, there will be more of a story arc. As the season unfolds, viewers can expect character-focused episodes that dig a little deeper into each of the Burners' personalities and backstories."[45][46]
Animation
Animation for the series was made with a combination of 2D and 3D elements and effects, using software such as Adobe Flash, Adobe After Effects, Autodesk Maya for 3D models, and Adobe Photoshop for creation of elements and backgrounds, provided by Nepal-based studio Incessant Rain.[28][47]
Additionally, for the production of the show, Titmouse, Inc. created Facinator, a exclusive custom plug-in tool, that allows for the manipulation of 2D rigged head models from a wide array of angles, which not only made some of the specific angles of the characters easier, but also to make them look like they were animated as a 3D model. The purpose of use and creation of Facinator for Motorcity was to blend CGI well with the rest of the animation.[48][49][50][51][52][53]
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Marketing
In order to promote Motorcity, Disney XD released a mobile game in March 26, 2012 called Motorcity: Drive.[54][55] In April, Hyundai Veloster sponsored the show alongwith it's partner Rhys Millen to compete in Global RallyCross Championship, piloted by Stephan Verdier.[5][56] At San Diego Comic-Con in July 13, the producers showed "never-before-seen" clips from then-new episodes of the show.[57][58][59]
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Broadcast
The series debuted on Disney XD in April 30, 2012.[5][38][39] In Canada, the series premiered on May 26.[60] In Japan, the series premiered on September 22,[61] and in Latin America countries in July 2021, after been premiered online in 2013.[62]
Disney XD aired a marathon of the series in the United States on July 27, 2020.[63]
International broadcast and streaming
On January 1, 2022, all episodes from Motorcity were made available on Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.[64] The series premiered on Disney Channel in Latin American countries on September 16, 2023.[65]
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Related media
Planned toyline
A toyline for the show was planned, while the show was in development. The line was planned to have been made by Mattel, as evident in the line's existence in Dennis Canon, who previously designed packaging art for Mattel's toylines based on Pixar's Cars and Disneytoon's Planes. The only things made public of this toyline was a replica of Mutt's dog bobblehead.[66][67][68]
Video game
A mobile game, Motorcity: Drive is a six-level, 3D racing, shooter game, that came out on March 26, 2012.[69][70][71]
Players takes control of Mike and fellow Burner Chuck attempting to outrun, maneuver and destroy Kane's evil bots. To do so, players take control of Mike's souped up racing car, Mutt, while also manning weapons like: Gatling laser, Plasma Blaster or Pulse Bomb.[69][70][71] Game had met with mixed reviews from critics,[72] and was available on App Store, iTunes on iOS and at DisneyXD's website. It's no longer available.
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Reception
Critical reception
Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the show 4 out of 5 stars; and described the series as "too dark and intense for young kids". But she argued that "it's a rare to find an action-adventure cartoon that illustrates underlying social messages promoting awareness and activism". And overall recurring theme of "residents freedom". She also argued that "series is intended for a slightly older audience, since name-calling and violence are routine, but are examples of positive problem-solving and critical thinking".[73]
Accolades
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Future
On November 5, 2012, it was announced that the series would not be renewed for a second season, revealed on the Fandom's Tumblr page.[80] Manly due to Disney's mismanagment of the series, which cased many changes in time slot, out-of-order airing, hiatuses, and leaked episodes in other countries due to airing differences. All led to ratings decline ultimamly making that descion.[81] Despite that the showrunners were able to finish the rest of the season in two-part finale.[82]
Attempted revival
On April 29, 2013, crew member George Krstic posted a tweet that the studio Titmouse, Inc. was having a meeting on bringing back Motorcity and Megas XLR.[83] No further news has been confirmed.
References
External links
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