Biker Mice from Mars explained

Creator:Rick Ungar
Director:Tom Tataranowicz
Composer:William Kevin Anderson
Country:United States
Language:English
Num Seasons:3
Num Episodes:65
List Episodes:List of Biker Mice from Mars episodes
Producer:Tom Tataranowicz
Network:Syndication

Biker Mice from Mars is an American superhero animated series created by Rick Ungar. The series premiered in syndication the week of September 19, 1993.[1] It consists of three seasons of 65 episodes, with the final episode airing in syndication the week of February 24, 1996.[2]

The show follows three anthropomorphic mice motorcyclists named Throttle, Modo, and Vinnie who escape a war on their home planet Mars before arriving to rebel on the Earth against the species that destroyed their homeland (the Plutarkians) and to one day return to Mars.[3] The mice's signature weapons consist of a cestus and a laser pistol (Throttle), a bionic arm with built-in laser blaster (Modo), and flares (Vinnie). Despite the frequent battles, no blood is shown, and many villains are monsters, aliens, and robots.[4] [5] [6]

Ownership of the initial Biker Mice TV series passed to Disney in 2001 when Disney acquired Fox Kids Worldwide, which also includes Marvel Productions.[7] [8] [9] [10]

Plot

On the planet Mars, there existed a race of anthropomorphic mice who enjoyed motorsports and had a very similar culture and society to that of human beings. At some point in time they were all but wiped out by the Plutarkians, alien fish-like humanoids who plunder other planets' natural resources because they have wasted all of their own. Three survivors, Throttle, Modo and Vinnie, manage to escape on a spaceship, but are shot down by a Plutarkian warship and crash-land 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 steal its natural resources.

The Biker Mice investigate the crumbling ghetto of the windy city and soon discover that Chicago's leading industrialist, Lawrence Limburger, is actually a Plutarkian who disguises himself as a human, plotting to ransack Earth's resources to send to his own dying planet. Limburger enlists two henchmen, mad scientist Dr. Karbunkle and the idiotic Greasepit, to help him steal Earth's natural resources and send them to Plutark with the help of some supervillains that they transport from another location in the galaxy. The Biker Mice become destined to stop Limburger's schemes. The most frequent sign of victory is destroying Limburger's tall tower, forcing him to constantly spend money and time to rebuild it by the next episode.

Characters

Protagonists

Supporting characters

Antagonists

Supervillains

In most episodes, Limburger orders Karbunkle to use the transporter to bring into Chicago one of the very powerful supervillains in the universe. Generally each of them have one special ability which is useful for Limburger's plan in hand. Most of them seem to use an asteroid station called Black Rock as their main hideout when they are not summoned by those willing to pay for their services. On one notable occasion in the episode "A Scent, a Memory, a Far Distant Cheese", Limburger and Karbunkle accidentally got sucked into the transporter and appear at the Black Rock where all the villains up to that episode confront him for not paying them as they asked for. The episode "Diet of Worms" shows that the other Plutarkians can use the same supervillains.

The following supervillains are listed in order of appearance:

Episodes

See main article: List of Biker Mice from Mars episodes.

Broadcast

The series has been aired from 1993 to 1996 in the United States on many first-run syndicated affiliates.

The series has been aired on the YTV/Fox Kids (English) and Le Canal Famille (French) channels in Canada.

In the United Kingdom from 1994 to 1997, the series was aired on Channel 4 and from 1998 to 1999 on its youth strand T4. CITV on ITV2 re-ran the series at 07.55 Monday to Friday for a 10-week strip from early September 2006. It was repeated on ITV2 at 08.25 Monday to Friday for 10 weeks from March 27, 2007.

The cartoon was broadcast in the Republic of Ireland on RTÉ Two on weekday afternoons from 11 September 1995 to 1996.

United Kingdom/US

2006 revival

See main article: Biker Mice from Mars (2006 TV series). The Biker Mice from Mars returned to television in 2006. The 2006 Biker Mice from Mars series is a continuation of the story, while giving more airtime to another character, General Stoker.[12]

The new 28-episode series began airing in the United Kingdom on Toonattik on GMTV on August 26, 2006.[13] However, due to production problems at the studio in the Philippines the series was not finalized until late 2007, resulting in the launch in the United States and many other countries being delayed until 2008 as it still needed to be dubbed.

The series was largely influenced by the major toy line that was manufactured by Italian giant Giochi Preziosi in 2005. GP retained Pangea as developers of the toy line, working in tandem with creator and executive producer, Rick Ungar. Characters, vehicles, and weapons used in the series were first developed by Pangea and turned over to G7 Animation for integration into the series. The team of Ungar, G7, and Pangea collaborated in order to maintain consistency between the intellectual property and the execution of the primary toy range, as the GP licensing monies were utilized to set in motion the series development.[14]

Reboot

On July 21, 2023, Ryan Reynolds announced that he and his company Maximum Effort were co-producing a reboot of the series with The Nacelle Company and Fubo.[15]

Other media

Video games

An LCD game of same name was released for Tiger Electronic Game on 1993.

A Biker Mice from Mars video game was released by Konami for the Super NES in 1994. The PAL version features extensive advertisements for Snickers candy bars. A Biker Mice from Mars game was also planned for Sega Mega Drive but it was never released.[16] [17]

In 2006, another Biker Mice from Mars video game was released based on the 2006 revival in Finland, Australia and the United Kingdom for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 platforms. The game did not receive any major positive ratings although it was a major sales success throughout Scandinavia.

In 2015, a Biker Mice from Mars mobile game was released by 9thImpact for iOS and Android devices through the App Store and Google Play Store. The game is divided into episodes, each with a different storyline which unfolds as the player completes the levels.[18] Commenting on the new game, series creator Rick Ungar said that Biker Mice fans would enjoy the snappy banter, classic catchphrases and irreverent satire that they would expect from the series, in addition to the non-stop action.[19]

Comic books

Marvel Comics published a three-issue series in the early 1990s. A fourth issue was solicited on the reader's page.Marvel UK published its own series. The whole American series and portions of the British series were published in Germany (also by Marvel UK) in 7 magazine-sized issues from 1994 to 1995.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Perlmutter . David . The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows . 2018 . Rowman & Littlefield . 978-1538103739 . 80–81.
  2. Book: Crump . William D. . Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film . 2019 . McFarland & Co . 9781476672939 . 46.
  3. Book: Erickson . Hal . Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 . 2005 . 2nd . McFarland & Co . 978-1476665993 . 139–141.
  4. News: Roll Over, Michelangelo, It's The Mice. Newsweek. 2010-03-03.
  5. News: 3 Mice From Mars A Cause For Hype, Hope . Chicago Tribune. 1993-09-19. 2010-08-28 . John . Schmeltzer.
  6. News: The locally conceived 'Biker Mice From Mars' series is seen in more than 50 countries. The stars make a live appearance Saturday.. The Los Angeles Times. 1994-08-19. 2010-08-24 . James E. . Fowler.
  7. Web site: U.S. Copyright Public Records System .
  8. Web site: 'Biker Mice From Mars' Creator Doesn't Know Why Disney Won't Stream It. 9 Fox Kids Shows In The Disney Vault - StreamClues . 7 July 2021 .
  9. Web site: Disney+ and Missing Saban Entertainment & Fox Kids-Jetix Worldwide Library - StreamClues . 14 September 2022 . 2 October 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221226042740/https://streamclues.com/disney-and-missing-saban-entertainment-fox-kids-jetix-worldwide-library/ . 26 December 2022.
  10. Web site: Liste - BVS Entertainment | Séries .
  11. News: Cartoon-voice Actor Is All Talk . Chicago Tribune. 1994-11-08. 2010-08-28 . Ross . Forman.
  12. Web site: Bikermice.tv . Bikermice.tv . 2016-07-22 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160818083845/http://www.bikermice.tv/story.html . 2016-08-18 .
  13. Web site: Children's TV . CITV.co.uk . 2016-07-22.
  14. Web site: Biker Mice return to GMTV | News . C21Media.net . 2005-05-22 . 2016-07-22.
  15. Web site: Ryan Reynolds To Co-Produce Nacelle's Biker Mice From Mars Animated Series. Deadline Hollywood. Bruce. Haring. July 21, 2023. July 21, 2023.
  16. News: The Mice From Mars. Computer and Video Games. 146. EMAP. January 1994. 8. 2021-01-01. 2020-12-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20201205004633/https://retrocdn.net/index.php?title=File%3ACVG_UK_146.pdf&page=8. live.
  17. Power News: Power Date. Mega Power. 16. Paragon Publishing. November 1994. 7.
  18. Web site: Biker Mice from Mars . 9th Impact . 2015-07-10 . 2016-07-22.
  19. Web site: Biker Mice from Mars Land on iPhone, iPad and Android . Prnewswire.com . 2015-12-14 . 2016-07-22.