Tooned
Tooned is a cartoon by McLaren starring Jenson Button, Sergio Pérez and comedian Alexander Armstrong. It is aired on Sky Sports F1 before the start of each race. The first series, which starred former McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton aired from the 2012 British Grand Prix onwards. The second series will air from the 2013 British Grand Prix onwards.` It can be seen on YouTube and the Sky Sports website any time after the premiere. The episodes are a little more than 3 minutes long.
Development
Tooned was developed from the extensive media research carried out by John Allert, the McLaren Group Brand Director which was analysed by Ron Dennis.[1] The show is written, directed and animated by visual effects house Framestore.
Characters
Main characters
- Season One (2012)
- Lewis Hamilton as Lewis, one of McLaren's star racing drivers. He loves racing, finds engineering and testing boring, and rarely listens to Professor M. He appears in episodes 1-7, picture appearance in episode 8, 9-10, makes his final appearance in episode 12.
- Jenson Button as Jenson, McLaren's other star driver. Like Lewis, he loves racing and is bored by testing, and is amused by Lewis's antics. He appears in episode 1-10 and 12.2.
- Alexander Armstrong as Professor M, McLaren's head of engineering. He has little patience for Lewis and Jenson, and is completely oblivious to the way they find his testing programmes boring. Armstrong described M as a blend of Steve Jobs and Q but not anyone specific.[2] He appears in every episode of the series.
- Season Two (2013)
- Jenson Button as Jenson, now McLaren's star driver following the departure of Lewis Hamilton to Mercedes.
- Sergio Pérez as Sergio. He will join the team and the cast of Tooned from 2013. Lewis' departure to Mercedes and replacement by Pérez was written into the final episode of the first season.
- Alexander Armstrong as Professor M, McLaren's head of engineering. He has little patience for McLaren's drivers, and is completely oblivious to the way they find his testing programmes boring. Armstrong described M as a blend of Steve Jobs and Q but not anyone specific.[2] He appears in every episode of the series.
Other characters
- The Mechanics appear in almost every episode. They are always kept occupied by Professor M, but never speak. The head mechanic is Charlie. They appear in episodes 1-11.
- The Tour Guide appears in the first four episodes of the first season, showing tour groups around the McLaren team headquarters. She often shows off memorabilia from some of the team's famous drivers.
- Baron von Richtmacher was Professor M's rival when M was racing. While von Richtmacher was the faster driver, M's intelligence and appreciaton for engineering saw him win. He appears in episode 5.
- The Mayoress of Woking is the mayor of Woking, the town in which McLaren is based. She appears as a little old lady, and Professor M wrongfully assumes that she knows nothing of engineering. She appears in Episode 6.
- MP4 RTD-1 (also known as the McLaren Project 4 Robot Test Driver) is a robot developed by Professor M to be the perfect test driver. RTD-1 appears in episode 7.
- Nyck de Vries as Nyck, a member of the McLaren driver development programme. He is young and eager to drive a Formula One car, but is often forced to sit through M's lessons, which he finds boring. Nyck appears in episodes 8 and 11.
- Mika Häkkinen as Mika, the 1998 and 1999 Formula One World Drivers' Champion. Mika insists that he is retired from racing, but it does not take much persuasion from Lewis and Jenson to convince him to start racing again. He appears in episode 10.
- Ron Dennis as Ron Dennis, the Executive Chairman of the McLaren group. He is styled as a faceless James Bond villain, with a talking parrot, Cosworth. He appears in episode 12.
Series overview
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | DVD release date | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere | Season finale | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | |||
| 1 | 12 | July 8, 2012 | November 25, 2012 | TBA | December 10, 2012 | TBA | |
| 2 | 12 | June 30, 2013 | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | |
Episodes
Season 1 (2012)
This season has 12 episodes.
| No. by series |
No. by season |
Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Wheel Nuts" | July 8, 2012 | |
| 2 | 2 | "Slicks" | July 22, 2012 | |
|
Lewis and Jenson get distracted testing the brand new safety features Professor M has been developing. After a fire extinguisher blows up in Jenson's face and Lewis is ejected from the building into a nearby lake, the team must make them presentable for an upcoming film premiere. | ||||
| 3 | 3 | "Track to the Future" | July 29, 2012 | |
|
Professor M shows off the future of Formula One. When Lewis takes the prototype car out for a test drive, M and Jenson have to find a way to bring him back to the base. | ||||
| 4 | 4 | "Beyond the Limit" | September 2, 2012 | |
|
Bored by another day of testing, Lewis and Jenson discover that their cars can travel at speed in reverse, much to Professor M's annoyance. | ||||
| 5 | 5 | "Lift Story" | September 9, 2012 | |
|
When their lift breaks down (on purpose by M to show drivers the importance of engineering), Professor M tells Lewis and Jenson tales from his time as a racer while they try to fix the lift and get to a race on time. | ||||
| 6 | 6 | "Gone with the Wind" | September 23, 2012 | |
| 7 | 7 | "The Rising Son" | October 7, 2012 | |
|
In Japan, Professor M shows off his latest creation: RTD-1, an android test driver capable of learning as he develops. M wants Lewis and Jenson to work alongside RTD-1, but Lewis and Jenson teach him how to race. | ||||
| 8 | 8 | "Lecture Circuit" | October 14, 2012 | |
|
While Lewis and Jenson are off doing charity work, Professor M takes McLaren's Young Driver Programme candidate Nyck De Vries for a four-hour lecture on engineering. When Nyck grows bored, he decides to sneak one of McLaren's racing cars out for a test drive. | ||||
| 9 | 9 | "Strictly Bollywood" | October 28, 2012 | |
|
With the team scheduled to provide the post-race entertainment for the Indian Grand Prix, Professor M shows off a Bollywood-inspired dance routine for the team to learn. | ||||
| 10 | 10 | "Photo Finnish" | November 4, 2012 | |
|
While doing promotional work, Lewis and Jenson convince former McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen to return to racing. | ||||
| 11 | 11 | "Side Tracked" | November 18, 2012 | |
|
Nyck De Vries returns to the team for another lesson, this time applying his knowledge to the circuit. When Nyck gets bored, he once again causes more mischief. | ||||
| 12 | 12 | "A Glitch Too Far: Part 1" | November 25, 2012 | |
|
Lewis and Jenson become trapped in the McLaren simulator and Professor M rushes to save them before it's too late. When the dust finally settles, Jenson escapes the simulator, only to find that somebody else has taken Lewis's place. | ||||
Season 2 (2013)
This season will have 12 episodes starting at the British Grand Prix, bringing the total number of episodes to 24.[3]
Promotion
The Tooned logo was added to the back of the McLaren MP4-27 and McLaren MP4-28's rear wings from the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix onwards. A DVD of series 1 was released on 10 December 2012.
Errors
In episode 3 Track to the Future, in the entrance lobby after Professor M, Lewis and Jenson pass through, there is a recurring joke of a tour guide showing visitors items in the trophy cabinets. In the long-shots, the white-suited American businessman is not present, but suddenly appears in the close-up shot at the end when the tour guide delivers the punch-line.
When Lewis scans Professor M through the futuristic helmet display, his own race statistics are displayed, not those of Professor M.
After sliding around on the oil and coming together setting off the helmet air bags, Jenson is to the right and Lewis to the left, When Professor M approaches them and the camera views them all from the other direction, Jenson is then to Professor M's left and Lewis to his right.
In episode 10, Lewis Hamilton's 2008 Championship winning car has Pirelli tyres, instead of Bridgestone tyres.
The blue and red karts exchange colours, briefly.
References
- ^ "McLaren launches "Tooned" animation series". formula1onlive.com. 7 July 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- ^ a b "McLaren Group announces launch of dynamic brand-new McLaren Animation media company". McLaren Group. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- ^ https://twitter.com/McLarenF1/status/332923267004391425