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Road Rovers

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Road Rovers
Created byTom Ruegger
StarringJess Harnell
Tress MacNeille
Jeff Bennett
Kevin Michael Richardson
Frank Welker
Joseph Campanella
Jim Cummings
ComposersGordon Goodwin
Richard Stone
Country of originUSA
No. of episodes13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerTom Ruegger
ProducerBob Deucette
Running time30 minutes (with commercials)
Original release
NetworkKids' WB
ReleaseSeptember 7, 1996 –
February 22, 1997

Road Rovers is an American animated television series written and produced by Warner Bros. Animation that premiered on Kids' WB on September 7, 1996. After one season it ended on February 22, 1997. Reruns continued to air until September 6, 1997. It was then on Cartoon Network from February 7, 1998 until 2000.

The show follows the adventures of the Road Rovers, a team of five super-powered crime-fighting anthropomorphic dogs, known as "cano-sapiens".

Plot

In the town of Socorro, New Mexico (one year prior to the formation of the Road Rovers), Professor Shepherd forced to relinquish experimental transdogmafier technology to General Parvo in exchange for his lost dog, but instead Parvo gives him a bomb that destroys his laboratory. Next year, as normal dogs begin to mutate into monsters, Shephard, who miraculously survived the attack, takes measures to stop Parvo who is behind this.

Shepherd selects five different dogs and in his new, secret underground lab, he uses his new transdogmifier on the five, turning them into "Cano-sapiens".

Characters

  • Hunter (Jess Harnell): A Goldador from the United States and leader of the Road Rovers. He possesses super speed, and tends to list his own made up powers. He and Colleen have romantic feelings for each other, though Hunter's oblivious nature prevents it from progressing. He also really likes dog toy balls. Hunter is also noted as being the only Rover whose relatives appeared during the season; he visits his mother in "A Day in the Life."
  • Colleen (Tress MacNeille): A Rough Collie from the United Kingdom, and the only female in the group. Colleen is skilled in martial arts and medical aid. Colleen is known for being cheerful with a rapier wit, and she is also calm under pressure. She has a lively sense of humor, and is quite close to most of her teammates, the exception being Blitz.
  • Blitz (Jeff Bennett impersonating Arnold Schwarzenegger): A Doberman from Germany. Blitz is a team player but shows no proper respect to anyone but himself. His razor sharp teeth and claws can cut through almost anything. Though he puts on a brave face, he has many times of cowardice. He has romantic feelings for Colleen which doesn't work out for him.
  • Exile (Kevin Michael Richardson): A Siberian husky from Siberia. Exile is the master of fixing and unfixing things. His superpowers are heat, freeze and night vision, along with super-strength (though not as much as Shag). He also frequently mixes up common English phrases such as referring the term "May Day" as "April Day". He is apparently squeamish at the sight of blood.
  • Shag (Frank Welker): An Old English Sheepdog/Skye Terrier mix from Italy. Shag is a kind of fluke as far as the transdogmafier process goes. Instead of becoming a complete cano-sapien, he is stuck at someplace in between, able to walk on two legs and having human dexterity, but is unable to speak English (though the others can still understand him). Despite being the biggest coward out of the team, he is the team's weapon specialist, most often using a bazooka which he invariably aims the wrong way. His fur also has seemingly unlimited storage capacity which has on various occasions housed food, articles of furniture (some bigger than himself), and fellow Road Rovers.
  • Muzzle (Frank Welker): A Rotweiler. Muzzle was "Scout", Professor Sheperd's dog that was kidnapped. Though he was subjected to the transdogmafier, Scout's exposure to its energies did not mutate him, instead it rendered him insane, unstable and horribly ferocious. Rescued by Hunter prior to his recruitment, the two became close friends.
  • Professor William F. Shepherd "The Master" (Joseph Campanella): The geneticist behind the transdogmafier and the Road Rovers. He is the team’s boss and supplier for all their gear. He's always seen as a figure, apart from the episode "Let's Hit The Road" where we see him before his lab is blown up.
  • General Parvo (Jim Cummings): The Road Rovers' main antagonist who is out to destroy Professor Shepherd and conquer the world. He has a permanent cough. It was later in the series that General Parvo was at one time a Cat before being transformed into a "Felin Sapien", which resemble humans a great deal more than Shepherd's Cano-sapiens. He shares a very similar appearance to wrestler Hulk Hogan. The name Parvo derives from a canine disease which often kills puppies.
  • The Groomer (Sheena Easton): The Groomer is the mostly loyal assistant to General Parvo. She's generally armed with a portable hair clipper, though she uses other equipment when appropriate. She also provides Parvo with throat lozenges to calm his coughing fits.

Episodes

No. Title Original air date
1"Let's Hit The Road"September 7 1996
The Road Rovers meet for the first time.
2"Storm From The Pacific"September 14 1996
Disgraced Captain Zachary Storm seeks revenge on the United States for his court-martial.
3"A Hair of The Dog That Bit You"September 21 1996
Packs of werewolves take over London, and Exile seems to have gotten bitten (or scratched), which puts him under watch. Ultimately, it turns out Colleen was the one who turned into a werewolf, they seek help from the wise Confusus (Confuse Us) who gives them a riddle to cure a werewolf's bite.
4"Where Rovers Dare"October 12 1996
Eisneria and Katzenstok are preparing to go to war over an ancient scepter. This episode featured a reference to Disney at the end of the episode, complete with the silhouette of the head of Mickey Mouse.
5"Let Sleeping Dogs Lie"October 26 1996
The Road Rovers must protect ancient artifacts from unknown ninjas (belonging to Parvo).
6"The Dog Who Knew Too Much"November 2 1996
One dog has the answers to a rash of human and canine kidnappings, and becomes a temporary Road Rover so he can testify. However, Sport, the name of the dog, had somewhat of a big mouth and tried talking himself out of certain situations. This episode's title is a play on the title "The Man Who Knew Too Much".
7"Hunter's Heroes"November 9 1996
Parvo and his cano-mutants are at it again. This time, it's a high-tech, heavily armed concentration camp to keep thousands of dogs in captivity. This is for shipping armies of cano-mutants out to the major cities of the world so Parvo can take over militarily. The episode's title is likely a play on the old TV show Hogan's Heroes, which centered on American POWs held somewhere in Nazi Germany.
8"Dawn of The Groomer"November 16 1996
The Groomer gets delusions of grandeur involved taking over the world with cats, otherwise known as Felo-Mutants.
9"Still A Few Bugs In The System"November 23 1996
A biologist named Dr. Eugene Atwater does some research on the survival of bugs over the years of their survival. However, General Parvo turns his bugs for research into life-size giants using an attachment from his Cano-Mutator. The bugs now plan on making a nuclear winter, since they know that only they will survive it.
10"Reigning Cats And Dogs"February 1 1997
General Parvo builds a successful time machine so that he could stop Prof. Shepherd from creating the Road Rovers. An accident reverts him back to his original form of an alley cat, but the Rovers still have to follow him back to ensure their creation. As with "Hunter's Heroes" and "The Dog Who Knew Too Much", this episode's title featured a play on words, this time a reference to the old phrase 'raining cats and dogs'.
11"Gold And Retrievers"February 8 1997
Gold begins to flood the world's markets at an alarming rate. The source is traced to South America, where a blind boy named Luca leads them to an ancient golden pyramid. The episode's title is a partial pun on Hunter's breed of dog, the Golden Retriever.
12"Take Me to Your Leader"February 15 1997
Zachary Storm is back again, and hires alien-like recruits to start a nuclear war - off screen cameo from The Brain (from Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain).
13"A Day In The Life"February 22 1997
An ordinary day for the Rovers. "Ms. Flamial" (from Animaniacs) is mentioned in this episode.

Home Media releases

A DVD of the entire series was announced on February 4, 2015 by Warner Archive and was released on February 10, 2015.

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