Motorcity (TV series)

Protagonists

Allies

• Claire, voiced by Dana Davis,^[6] is a valley girl, and Julie's best friend and confidant for her dual identities despite being uncomfortable in the slums of Motorcity.
• Dr. Hudson, voiced by Jim Cummings,^[6] 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 Michigan.
• Rayon, voiced by Bumper Robinson,^[6] 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,^[6] is Dutch's brother and former cadet to Kane when Dutch left Deluxe.
• Tennie, voiced by Aimee Garcia,^[6] 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,^[6] is the leader of the Amazons, an all-girl gang in Motorcity that specializes in fast high-tech vehicles.

Villains

• Abraham "Abe" Kane, voiced by Mark Hamill,^[5][6] is the billionaire owner of Detroit Deluxe and 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.^[8]
  • Tooley, voiced by Jim Breuer,^[5] is Kane's loyal right-hand man.
• Kaia, voiced by Laraine Newman,^[6] 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. The group was originally allies of the Burners before learning of their cruel nature.
• The Duke of Detroit, voiced by Dee Snider,^[5][9] 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,^[6] is a devoted assistant of Duke.
  • Cyborg Dan, voiced by Dave Wittenberg,^[6] is a robot who works for the Duke.
• Red, voiced by Eric Ladin,^[6] is a ghost from Mike's past who was indirectly responsible for Mike coming to Motorcity, and had trained to get his revenge, even forming an alliance with Kane himself.

Development

According to series creator Chris Prynoski, he conceived the idea for the show in the early 1990s when he worked at MTV. He added that he showed the pitch 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.^[8][26]

Around 1999, Prynoski began development of Motorcity.^[27] The project's production was shelved after Prynoski made a trailer for the project, began work at Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, and founded his T-shirt company and the animation studio Titmouse, Inc.^[26] A pilot episode was produced and screened in March 2010.^[28] Eric Coleman would begin his tenure at Disney; during this time, he asked Prynoski whether he still had Motorcity. Chris Prynoski agreed to partnering with Disney Television Animation to pick up production.^[26]

Production began later that October.^[3][29] Around 80 people were involded, some being from Europe and Japan, such as art director Antonio Canobbio, show director Juno Lee,^[26] vehicle designer Brandon Cuellar, ^[30] and concept designer Robert Valley.^[31] 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."^[8][32]

Animation

Motorcity's animation was made with a combination of 2D and 3D elements and effects, using software such as Adobe Flash for 2D animation, Autodesk Maya for 3D models and animation, and Adobe Photoshop for background creation. Nepal-based studio Incessant Rain also provided visual effects using Adobe After Effects.^[26][33][34] Additionally, for the series' production, Prynoski's company Titmouse, Inc. created Facinator, a custom plug-in tool for Adobe Flash, that allowed the manipulation of 2D rigged head models from a wide array of angles, to mimic CGI rigged animation.^[34][35]

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". Yet, she argued that "it's rare to find an action-adventure cartoon that illustrates underlying social messages promoting awareness and activism". She also argued that the series is a "great jumping-off point for talking about everything from politics to current events and issues".^[51]

Accolades