Turbo Teen

Turbo Teen
Genre	Animated television series
Created by	Ruby-Spears Productions
Voices of	T.K. Carter Pat Fraley Pamela Hayden Michael Mish Frank Welker
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producer(s)	Joe Ruby Ken Spears
Running time	20 mins (excluding commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	September 9, 1984 (1984-09-09) – August 31, 1985 (1985-08-31)

Turbo Teen was an animated series about a teenager with the ability to literally transform into a sports car. It aired Saturday mornings on the ABC Network for twelve episodes between 1984 and 1985. The series was once a rerun on the USA Network's now-defunct USA Cartoon Express block.

Plot

The series 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. Man and machine become fused together and as a result, Brett gains the ability to morph into the car when exposed to extreme heat and revert back into his human form when exposed to extreme cold. With this new super hero power, Brett and his friends Patti and Alex (who call him "TT") as well as Brett's dog Rusty go on crime-fighting adventures together and solve other mysteries.

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.

Production

The show was produced by Ruby-Spears Productions. 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.

Episodes

1. Turbo Thieves -
2. Dark Rider -
3. Mystery at Fantasy Park -
4. No Show UFO -
5. Micro-Teen -
6. The Sinister Souped-Up Seven -
7. Video Venger -
8. Dark Rider and the Wolves of Doom - 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 -
10. Daredevil Run - Turbo Teen, Alex, and Pattie must escort a girl named Paula to court so that she can testify against a jewel thief called "The Dragon."
11. The Amazon Adventure -
12. Fright Friday -
13. The Mystery of Dark Rider -

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

Additional voices

• Nelson Comer -
• Alan Dinehart -
• Ron Feinberg -
• Alejandro Garay -
• Linda Gary -
• Bob Holt -
• William E. Martin -
• Michael Sheehan -

Production credits

• Executive Producers: Joe Ruby and Ken Spears
• Director: John Kimball
• Story Editor: Michael Maurer
• Story Direction Supervisor: John Dorman
• Storyboard Supervisor: James Woodring
• Story Direction: Thomas L. Minton, Hank Tucker, Thom Enriquez, Dan Riba
• Character Design: Doug Wildey, Thom Enriquez
• Design Coordinator: Duncan Marjoribanks
• Starring the Voices of: T.K. Carter, Pamela Hayden, Frank Welker, Pat Fraley, Michael Mish, Clive Revill
• Additional Voices: Nelson Comer, Alan Dinehart, Ron Feinberg, Alejandro Garay, Linda Gary, Bob Holt, William E. Martin, Michael Sheehan
• Voice Direction: Howard Morris, Alan Dinehart
• Director of Production Design: Ric Gonzalez
• Models Supervision: Alan B. Huck
• Models: Patrick A. Ventura, Russell Hicks, Tom Hickson
• Layout Supervision: Cosmo Anzilotti
• Unit Supervision: Robert Givens
• Layout Artists: Fred Irvin, Larry Eikleberry, Tony Sgroi, Peter Alvarado, John Koch, Bruce Zick, Gianfranco Celestini, Jack Manning, Wallace Sides, Michael Oliva
• Unit Supervisor (XAM! Productions, Inc.): Roy Allen Smith
• Layout Artists: Greg Garcia, Gary L. Graham, Rick Graham, Lyle Johnson, David Kern, Vernon Murdock, Debra Pugh, Keith W. Sargent, Scott Strong, Clint Taylor, Giles Wallace, James Stuart Watson
• Background Supervision: Eric Semones
• Background Artists: Paro Hozumi, Dennis Durrell, Paul Julian, James Hegedus, Ron Dias, Winfield Hull, Eric Semones
• Background Layout Supervisor: David High
• Background Layout Artists: Alex Mann, Lisa Souza, Bruce Zick
• Color Key: Bunny Munns
• Animation Supervision: Colin Baker, Willard Kitchen
• Animation Checking Supervision: Marlene Robinson May
• Titles: Bill Perez
• Graphics: Iraj Paran, Tom Wogatzke
• Production Coordinator: Loretta High
• Coordinating Assistants: Paul Gorniak, Natalie Holt, Scott Smith, Tim Terusa, Tom Allen
• Studio Manager: Jeffrey M. Cooke
• Assistants to the Executive Producers: Melinda Diner, Stacy McLaughlin
• Production Assistants: Allyn Conley, Laura Rubenstein, Hildy Mesnick, Megeen McLaughlin, Debby Ruby, Susan Feldstein, Maria-Elena Guereca, Tracy Gillette, Lynne Pedegana, Lianne Woolley
• Executive in Charge of Post Production: Chip Yaras
• Associate Producers: Larry Huber, Michael Hack
• Music Composed and Conducted By: Udi Harpaz
• Music Supervision: Paul DeKorte
• Music Editor: Catharine Rose
• Effects Editors: Pete Grives, Tom Syslo, Don Higgins
• Negative Consultant: Mary Nelson
• Laboratory: C. F. I.
• Re-Recording: Warner-Hollywood Studios
• Re-Recording Mixer: James Aicholtz, C. A. S.
• (c) 1984 RUBY-SPEARS ENTERPRISES, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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 Patti 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.

External links

• Turbo Teen at the Internet Movie Database
• Turbo Teen at TV.com
• Theme song video intro at Retrojunk.com
• Video clip of part of a Turbo Teen episode