Road Rovers
| Road Rovers | |
|---|---|
| Created by |
Tom Ruegger Jeff Gordon |
| Written by |
Tom Ruegger Mark Seidenberg |
| Directed by | Herb Moore |
| Starring |
Jess Harnell Tress MacNeille Jeff Bennett Kevin Michael Richardson Frank Welker Joseph Campanella Jim Cummings |
| Theme music composer | Richard Stone |
| Composer(s) |
Gordon Goodwin Don Harper |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 13 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Tom Ruegger |
| Producer(s) | Bob Doucette |
| Running time | 30 minutes (with commercials) |
| Release | |
| Original network | Kids' WB |
| Original release | September 7, 1996 – February 22, 1997 |
Road Rovers is an American animated television series 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 was 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 Golden Retriever Labrador Retriever mix 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 is also kind hearted and very protective over his team. 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): 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. So even though he is very self liked of himself, he is still a huge help to the team.
- 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): A Old English Sheepdog from Switzerland. 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 Rottweiler. 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 is 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 | Directed By | Written By | Original Air Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Let's Hit The Road" | Herb Moore | Tom Ruegger & Mark Seidenberg | September 7, 1996 |
| The Road Rovers meet for the first time. | ||||
| 2 | "Storm From The Pacific" | Jon McClenahan | Earl Kress & Tom Ruegger | 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" | Scott Jeralds | John Ludin & Mark Seidenberg | 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" | Herb Moore | Brian Chin & Tom Ruegger | October 12, 1996 |
| The nations of Eisneria and Katzenstok (named after the CEO's of Disney and Dreamworks) 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" | Blair Peters | Nick Dubois | October 26, 1996 |
| The Road Rovers must protect ancient artifacts from unknown ninjas (belonging to Parvo). | ||||
| 6 | "The Dog Who Knew Too Much" | Jon McClenahan | Earl Kress & Tom Ruegger | 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" | Scott Jeralds | John Ludin & Mark Seidenberg | 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" | Herb Moore | Mark Seidenberg | 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" | Brad Neave | Nick Dubois | 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 research subjects 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" | Herb Moore | Tom Ruegger & Mark Seidenberg | February 1, 1997 |
| General Parvo builds a successful time machine so then 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" | Jon McClenahan | Jeff Kwitny & Tom Ruegger | 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" | Brian Chin & Scott Jeralds | Nick Dubois & Mark Seidenberg | 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" | Scott Jeralds | Tom Ruegger | February 22, 1997 |
| An ordinary day for the Rovers. "Ms. Flamial" (from Animaniacs) is mentioned in this episode. Song: Russian Names Song | ||||
Home Media releases
A multi-region DVD of the entire series was announced on February 4, 2015 by Warner Archive and was released on February 10, 2015.
External links
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