Motorcity (TV series)

Protagonists

Allies

• Claire (voiced by Dana Davis)^[8] is a valley girl who is Julie's best friend and confidant for her dual identities despite being uncomfortable in the slums of Motorcity.
• Dr. Hudson (voiced by Jim Cummings)^[8] is a scientist who was Jacob's student when KaneCo was "trying to help people, not exploit them". He was forced to make a supercharged power cell that threatened to annihilate all of Michagan.
• Rayon (voiced by Bumper Robinson)^[8] is the leader of a gang called the Skylarks, the owner of the Skylark Motel and a regular client of the Burners.
• Darr (voiced by Roshon Fegan)^[8] is Dutch's brother and new cadet to Kane.
• Tennie (voiced by Aimee Garcia)^[8] is an engineer and love interest of Dutch. She, her father Bracket and the Burners worked together to defend her home, the "Cablers' Settlement" against Kane's bots.
• Foxy (voiced by Jennifer Hale)^[8] is the Leader of the Amazons, an all-girl gang in Motorcity that specializes in fast high-tech vehicles that resemble Formula One Cars.

Villains

• Abraham "Abe" Kane (voiced by Mark Hamill)^[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, and plans to spread his empire by wiping out the Motorcitizen population. ^[9]
  • Tooley (voiced by Jim Breuer) is Kane's dimwitted but loyal right-hand man.
• Kaia (voiced by Laraine Newman)^[8] is the leader of an eco-terrorist resistance group called "The Terra Dwellers", who live in a village outside Detroit that was destroyed by KaneCo's waste dumping. They were originally allies of the Burners before they learned of their cruel nature.
• The Duke of Detroit (voiced by Dee Snider)^[10] is a flamboyant, self-absorbed collector and lover of cars who owns a palace filled with guards and mint condition automobiles.
  • #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.
  • Cyborg Dan (voiced by Dave Wittenberg)^[8] is a robot who works for the Duke.
• Red (voiced by Eric Ladin)^[8] is a ghost from Mike's past who was indirectly responsible for Mike coming down to Motorcity, and had trained to get his revenge, even forming an alliance with Kane himself.

Conception and development

According to series creator Chris Prynoski, he conceived the idea for the show in the early 1990s when he worked at MTV and "even made a trailer for it," adding that he showed it to development executive Eric Coleman, who was at Nickelodeon at the time; Coleman took a liking to 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.^[9][27]

Around 1999, Prynoski began development of Motorcity.^[28] It was planned to be a series of 26 episodes, each one lasting for 22 minutes.^[29] The project's production was shelved a year later, after he founded his T-shirt company and later the animation studio Titmouse, Inc., and began work at Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. Two pilots were produced, and he pitched the show to Disney investors in 2010. Eric Coleman would begin his tenure at Disney; during this time, he asked Prynoski whether he still had Motorcity,^[27] which he agreed to, partnering with Disney Television Animation to pick up production again, where it became the first intellectual property sold to them.^[30] Its production also started in October 2010.^[6][31]

For the production of the show, around 80 people worked on it, some from Europe and Japan, such as art director Antonio Canobbio and show director Juno Lee,^[27] vehicle designed Brandon Cuellar.^[32] As well, Robert Valley who worked on concept design.^[33] The first season was planned to have 20 episodes. Though it was not designed as a serial, Prynoski stated that "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."^[9][34]

Animation

Motorcity's animation 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.^[27][35][36] Additionally, for the production of the show, Prynoski's production company Titmouse, Inc. created Facinator, an exclusive custom plug-in tool, that allows for the manipulation of 2D rigged head models from a wide array of angles, to simulate 3D animation. The tool itself was made for Motorcity, to blend well with the rest of the animation.^[36][37]

International broadcast and streaming

On January 1, 2022, all episodes from Motorcity were made available on Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.^[51] The series premiered on Disney Channel in Latin American countries on September 16, 2023.^[52]

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".^[53]

Accolades

Planned toyline

A toyline for the show was planned while it was in development, but ultimately shelved. Artist Denis Canon's Tumblr reveals that the toyline was planned to have been made by Mattel. The only things made public of this toyline was a replica of Mutt's dog bobblehead.^[63][64][65]

Video game

Motorcity: Drive is a six-level, 3D racing shooter game that came out for mobile devices on March 26, 2012; it was released on iTunes and Disney XD's website,^[45] but it has since been delisted. Players control Mike's car, Mutt, as they battle Kane's army of robots with various weapons.^[66][67][68] Motorcity: Drive received mixed reviews from critics,^[69]