Biker Mice from Mars
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| Biker Mice from Mars | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Animation, science fiction |
| Created by | Rick Ungar |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 65 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | UPN |
| Original run | September 18, 1993 – February 24, 1996 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Biker Mice from Mars (2006 TV series) |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Biker Mice from Mars is an animated television series created by Rick Ungar that began airing in 1993 in the United States and lasted for three seasons before it was cancelled. It is about three anthropomorphic mice motorcyclists named Throttle, Modo, and Vinnie who escaped a war on their home planet Mars. They eventually end up crash landing on Earth in the city of Chicago. There they meet a charming female mechanic named Charlene "Charley" Davidson and discover that the Plutarkians have come to Earth to exploit its natural resources. The Plutarkians are a smelly humanoid fish-like race who exploit other planets for natural resources because they have wasted all of their own. The Plutarkians have already caused massive devastation on Mars that resulted in the death of most of the Martian mice population and the near-destruction of Martian flora and fauna. The biker mice discover that Chicago's leading industrialist, Lawrence Limburger, is actually a Plutarkian who disguises himself as a human. Limburger enlists the aid of villains like the sadistic mad scientist Dr. Karbunkle and the idiotic Greasepit to help him steal Earth's natural resources and send them to Plutark. However, he witnesses the eventual foiling of his plans (and the destruction of his building) by the biker mice at the end of almost each episode.
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[edit] Characters
[edit] The Mice
- Throttle
The leader-figure of the trio with tan fur. Like Vinnie and Modo, he drives a motorcycle. His vision was severely damaged in the same incident where Modo lost his arm and Vinnie's face was damaged. As a result for seeing he wears green Sunglasses. His sight does not appear to have been completely removed though, as he removed his glasses to see through a telescope in one episode. As he said at least once, "In this wild and woolly universe, there are three things you can count on: your brains, your bros and your bike!" Voiced by Rob Paulsen.
- Modo
The gentle giant of the three with gray fur and an eye-patch (which suggests that his eye may have been damaged). He has one biological arm. His new robotic arm has a built-in laser gun and it also increases his physical strength. When angry, his right eye flashes red. He is prone to fits of rage when the situation calls for muscle, and is infuriated whenever he is referred to as a rat. Voiced by Dorian Harewood.
- Vinnie
Self-proclaimed lady-killer with white fur. The right side of his face was burned off. As a result he wears a metal face-plate. He rides a red racing Sport bike. Moreso than the others, he is a thrill-seeker, often volunteering for the most dangerous tasks, and enjoying the rush and subsequent glory. Voiced by Ian Ziering.
The Mice are always backed up by Charley, a human mechanic of her Last Chance Garage. She's a headstrong woman, and is always ready to go into battle, except the Biker Mice try to keep her out of those types of situations. Aside from being the target of Vinnie's flirtations (which she playfully blows off), she's also responsible for a lot of upgrades for the Biker Mice and is a high-tech genius in her own right. Voiced by Leeza Miller McGee.
[edit] The villains
- Lawrence Limburger
The main antagonist of the series, Lawrence Limburger hails from Plutark and has an odd fascination for Earth's criminal society of the 1930s. He wears a mask in order to look human, and a purple suit at most times. He attempts to mine out Chicago (and other parts of Earth, occasionally) of various resources, varying from random earth, dirt, rock, to snow, metal and oil, depending on the episode. His headquarters is located in Chicago as well, in Limburger industries. Unfortunately for him, his tower is brought down by the Biker Mice in almost every single episode, usually at the episode's climax. Voiced by William Morgan Sheppard.
- Karbunkle
A thin, sly scientist, Karbunkle used to work for Limburger's superior, Dominic T. Stilton, until Limburger bribed him to his side. Karbunkle's main task is to think of machines and robots in order to either battle the Biker Mice, gather resources from Earth, or he looks up the villain of the week with his dimensional transporter. What is known is that during the War of Liberation on Mars, he was one who gave Modo his bionic arm, Stoker his bionic tail and Throttle his malfunctioning bionic eyes. Karbunkle was also the one who build the Mind Bender Beam, which was successfully used on Stoker to brainwash the Freedom Fighter leader to obey the Plutarkians. Karbunkle is, in one word, a sycophant. He is often seen admiring Limburger and praising him to the stars. But in reality, Karbunkle's top one priority is Karbunkle. He cares little about his coworker Greasepit, and has traded Plutarkian employers many times. Karbunkle is also very sadistic and is known to enjoy torturing people. He wears a white labcoat, boots, and has a green pair of goggles which he never takes off. And once in a while, we see that he wears red underwear. He's often seen torturing Fred the Mutant. His full name is Benjamin Boris Zachary Karbunkle. Voiced by Susan Silo.
- Fred the Mutant
Fred has a happy lot in life. He thrills at the thought of receiving pain, and that's his purpose as well, being the subject to many of Karbunkle's testings and physical abuse by Limburger. He's a midget, with clothing similar to most portrayals of Quasimodo. He's bald, has three pink eyes (with black irises), a bushy tail, and a tentacle instead of a right arm. Also voiced by Rob Paulsen.
- Grease Pit
The stereotypical cartoonish bungling bad guy sidekick. He's usually in charge of whatever project Lawrence Limburger is running at the time, fails a lot (which is often considered into Limburger's planning after a while.) and rides a tri-cycle into battle against the Biker Mice whilst leading his Goons. He wears a pair of gardening trousers, very similar to a mechanic's, and a red hat. And for some odd reason, he keeps oozing oil, causing him to fall over a lot, or drop things very often. He was the first villain Limburger ever hired, though his advert was a bit "spiced up" to make him seem more capable than the bungling goof he is. Voiced by Brad Garrett.
- Lord Camembert
Limburger's higherup, and the person he has to bear responsibility to most often, (though in some cases this is the entire council of Plutark's government) usually resulting in Limburger being in panic for whatever task he's been assigned to now. Voiced by Jeff Bennett.
[edit] Other recurring characters
- Napoleon Brie
Limburger's chief Plutarkian rival from Detroit. Except for the fact that Brie usually seems to be rather successful at what he's doing. He and his "Number one" (A gun for hire with a big red beard and sunglasses) basically have Detroit in the palm of his hand. Despite this, Brie's attempts at taking out the Biker Mice are just as futile as Limburger's himself. His efforts are not helped by his frequently going after Limburger at the same time. He is small of stature and owns a large variety of facial masks, but wears only one, with a crazy eye. He also speaks with an accent very similar to Elmer Fudd.
[edit] 2006 revival
Much like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' return in 2003, the Biker Mice from Mars returned to tv screens in 2006. But although the 2003 TMNT series is a remake of the 1987 TMNT series, the 2006 Biker Mice From Mars series is a continuation rather than a remake of the story.[citation needed]
The new 28 episode series began airing in the UK on Toonattik on GMTV (now known at weekends as CITV) on August 26, 2006. [1]The third episode was the highest rated show on the Channel on its launch weekend. The show has been GMTV's highest rated show of the autumn season. On two of the weeks to November 11, the show looks to have been the UK's highest rated kids show on any channel.
CITV on ITV2 re-ran the original 1990s series at 07.55 Monday to Friday for a 10 week strip from early September 2006. They played again on ITV2 at 08.25 Monday to Friday for 10 weeks from March 27, 2007.
The series launched in Finland on MTV3 and in Australia on Channel Ten in October 2006. The series launched in the Nordics/Scandinavia on Cartoon Network on March 5, 2007. Many other countries will see the new series in the fall of 2007 including all of The Middle East & Denmark. A full length 13 minute introductory trailer to the new series is on Google Video[2]. Trailers for each new episode in the UK, Finland and Australia appear on YouTube each week.[3]. The series launched on KTV in South Africa on October 8 2007.
Plans for the new series release in the United States have not yet been announced, reportedly due to difficulty finding a network to air it.
[edit] Plot
The mice return but this time, they battle forces who seek to destroy them and steal their valuable assets. In this series, the new antagonists are the evil Catatonians, a cat-like race of creatures who desire the greatest prize on Mars, The Regenerator.
[edit] Video games
A Biker Mice from Mars video game was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System by Konami. The European version features extensive advertisements for Snickers candy bars [4].
In 2006 Biker Mice From Mars was released based on the 2006 Revival in Finland, Australia & The United Kingdom for the Nintendo DS & Sony PS2 consoles, but none of these games received any major positive ratings.
[edit] DVD
The biker mice are available on DVD in the UK[5]
