Motorcity (TV series)

Motorcity
Genre	Action/Adventure Street racing Science fiction
Created by	Chris Prynoski
Developed by	David Bickel
Directed by	Chris Prynoski Juno Lee
Voices of	Reid Scott Nate Torrence Kate Micucci Kel Mitchell Jess Harnell Brian Doyle-Murray Jim Breuer Mark Hamill
Theme music composer	Brendon Small
Composer	Stephen Barton
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	20
Production
Executive producer	Chris Prynoski
Producer	Ben Kalina
Running time	22 minutes
Production companies	Titmouse, Inc. Disney Television Animation
Original release
Network	Disney XD
Release	April 30, 2012 (2012-04-30) – January 7, 2013 (2013-01-07)

Motorcity is an American animated television series^[1][2] created by Chris Prynoski.^[3] It is produced by Titmouse, Inc. and Disney Television Animation.

This show occurs in a fictitious futuristic Detroit, which is an elevated metropolis built over the old Detroit, classified as Detroit Deluxe. It is owned by evil billionaire Abraham Kane (Mark Hamill). Ruling the citizens under strict laws, and banning personal freedoms including automobile transportation, Kane now faces one last obstacle: a group of hot-rod wielding rebels who call themselves the Burners. Led by Kane's former cadet Mike Chilton (Reid Scott), the Burners rise to stop Kane from conquering Detroit's last oasis of freedom—an underground refuge dubbed Motorcity.

• Mike Chilton (voiced by Reid Scott) is the leader of the Burners and the main protagonist of the series. Mike is a cool, quick-witted, relaxed, funny, gutsy, kind, impulsive 17-year-old who does things his own way and usually has things under control. He takes very few things seriously, except for his mission of taking down Kane, and easily keeps his team ready for whatever Kane throws their way. He used to work as Kane's cadet before Kane's cruel nature drove him to quit and fight against him as a Motorcity rebel.
• Chuck (voiced by Nate Torrence) is Mike's best friend and computer expert for the Burners. Thanks to his large brain, Chuck can always find an escape route or a solution to whatever problem the Burners are in, and is usually improving the Burners' computer and security systems. Although he's usually terrified of whatever dangerous situation Mike has put him in, he's incredibly loyal. He's the only Burner who can't drive, and fears rejection from the others if they ever found out.
• Julie Kane (voiced by Kate Micucci) is the Burners' infiltration expert and inside connection to KaneCo., using her "internship" there to gather info on Kane's plots. She is highly skilled and has a strong sense of patience that allows her to see the best in people. Unknown to her Burner teammates, she is actually Kane's daughter, though she makes it no secret that she is against her father's wicked crusade.
• Dutch Gordy (voiced by Kel Mitchell) is the Burners' creative technological genius. Having escaped Kane's futuristic empire, Dutch is wary of Deluxe and hates to go back, even to fight Kane. He is initially mistrustful of others, but is likable after getting to know him and his knowledge and loyalty makes him a steadfast teammate. Dutch is an artist at heart and values solitude when pursuing his passion, but he's always ready to upgrade the Burners' hot rods with one of his latest weapons or gadgetry.
  • R.O.T.H. is Dutch's cube-shaped robot assistant who has helped the team on a number of occasions. He was one of Kane's attack bots until Dutch reprogrammed him as his helper. He has been shown to have a phobia of metal-destroying things, like miniature robots that disintegrate metal, though the attack bots are not made out of metal.
• Texas (voiced by Jess Harnell) is a violent, gung-ho powder keg who is dedicated to the Burners and his fierce determination usually makes him the first one on the battlefield when a fight breaks out. Texas is never the voice of dissent and tends not to think twice before charging in and smashing something with any body part that is armed and ready. He is noted to be Mike's self-appointed second-in-command and dreams of one day leading the Burners, but would never question Mike's authority without a reason. He often speaks in 3rd person and yells his name when attacking foes.
• Jacob (voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray) is a hippie or biker type in his mid-60s and Kane's former partner. He's full of scientific and technological knowledge, which is often buried under organic food talk.

• Claire (voiced by Dana Davis) is Julie's best friend and confidant for her dual identities. Claire is a sort of "valley-girl" who lives in Deluxe and has shown to be uncomfortable in the slums of Motorcity, considering it 'weird' and 'scary'. As of her second appearance, she states Chuck is the least weirdest thing about the Burners.
• Dr. Hudson (voiced by Jim Cummings) is a scientist who was Jacob's student when KaneCo was trying to help people. He stayed while Jacob left when Kane started pushing them into more "dangerous" experiments. After being rescued by the Burners and making amends with Jacob, Hudson now assumedly assists them in his new lab in Motorcity.
• Rayon (voiced by Bumper Robinson) is the Leader of a gang called the Skylarks, the owner of the Skylark Motel and a regular client of the Burners. Rayon believes the Burners to be his allies and trust them much more than some of the other gangs in Motorcity. He is always willing to give Mike information or help when it does not interfere with his business.
• Darr Gordy (voiced by Roshon Fegan) is Dutch's brother and new cadet to Kane. At first he planned on turning in the Burners, but after seeing Dutch save some Deluxians he reconsidered and was made a Burner...technically. He is now another inside connection to Kane.
• Tennie (voiced by Aimee Garcia) is an engineer and love interest of Dutch. She, her father, Bracket and the Burners worked together to defend her home against Kane's bots.
• Foxy (voiced by Jennifer Hale) is the Leader of the Amazons, an all girl gang in Motorcity that specializes in fast and high tech vehicles that resemble Formula One Cars. She is somewhat distrusting of the Burners but becomes more of an ally after befriending Claire even helping save them from the Duke.

• Abraham "Abe" Kane (voiced by Mark Hamill) 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. He is determined to take over all of Detroit, and plans to do so by wiping out the Motorcity population. People should never forget he absolutely loves his job. He has no regard for the citizens of Motorcity, shown as to go so far as to demolish a building with people inside.
  • Tooley (voiced by Jim Breuer) is Kane's dimwitted but loyal right-hand man. What Tooley lacks in competence or intelligence, he makes up for in strength, blind loyalty, and devotion to Kane and his agenda. He also appears to have a crush on Julie which she will at times exploit to gain information from him to assist the Burners.
• Kaia (voiced by Laraine Newman) is the leader of an eco-friendly resistance group called "Terra" who live in a village outside Detroit that was destroyed by KaneCo's waste dumping and fight using rapidly growing mutant plants as their weapons to take revenge on Kane as well as the Deluxe population. As a side effect of the dumping, the Terra themselves had been mutated and are forced to conceal their appearances behind gas masks and headbands. While allied at first, Kaia and her followers are now enemies of the Burners, primarily because of the Terra's attack on innocent Deluxe citizens.
• The Duke of Detroit (voiced by Dee Snider) is a self-absorbed collector and lover of cars who owns a palace filled with guards and mint condition automobiles. He instructs Mike that respect is conveyed through actions, and when Mike doesn't issue the Duke's kind of respect, he plots to take Mike's car Mutt as a means of payback. The Duke has occasionally put the Burners' rides at stake simply for his and others entertainment, going as far as putting the Burners' in a combat situation while they transported a large container with unstable chemicals with the safety mechanisms of said container compromised as part of a reality show staged by him.
  • #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. She speaks with a New York accent and is always chewing bubble gum.
  • Cyborg Dan (voiced by Dave Wittenberg) is a robot who works for the Duke. He seems to be very high up in the Duke's organization but his rank or how he became involved with the Duke is not known. The Duke used him to demonstrate a nuclear reactor for the Burners resulting in his face being melted off. He blames Mike for this despite it having absolutely nothing to do with him.
• Red (voiced by Eric Ladin) is a ghost from Mike's past who was indirectly responsible for Mike coming down to Motorcity. A year ago, he lived in a supposedly abandoned building complex until it was destroyed by an attack from KaneCo. led by Mike. Though Mike betrayed Kane, fought his own men, and rescued the people, he still blames Mike for leading the attack to begin with. He spent the next year training, forging armor, and plotting revenge against Mike; after losing against him, Red joined with Kane and serves as an elite soldier of his, now with upgrades to his suit and weaponry.

• Mutt is Mike and Chuck's retrofitted green '70s muscle car with four turbine tri-pulsor engines, a slew of energy weapons, a grip of gadgets and a 21st-century chopper hidden between the exhaust pipes.
• 9 Lives is Julie's modified yellow mid 21st century police cruiser. Her car can produce decoy hologram-cars to throw pursuers off her trail, cloak to near invisibility, and deploy smoke screens, oil slicks and electromagnetic pulse mines. 9 Lives also has a high precision Sniper Beam under the hood.
• Stronghorn is Texas' black and red six-wheeled race car that is cobbled from the best late 20th century Italian sports cars. Stronghorn is equipped with massive air-powered battering pistons, ram plates and hydro drills. Relies on physical weapons such as a roof-mounted grappling hook and the battering ram which is revealed by splitting open the front grille.
• Whiptail is Dutch's white and purple mid 21st century hot rod that's in a constant state of modification. Dutch is switching the color and welding new things onto it all the time. The speakers incorporated into Whiptail's body can transform into its "sonic spitter", that can shatter armor plating with ear-splitting sound waves. It has also been seen that Whiptail carries ROTH who helps with the car mods and field repairs. Whiptail was destroyed during an attack by KaneBots in the episode "The Duke of Detroit", but it was subsequently rebuilt.
• Blonde Thunder is Chuck's blue seldom-driven, custom-built sports coupe, which was in a state of disrepair until his friends souped it up for a race against the Duke. Unlike the other Burners' vehicles, Blonde Thunder does not have any known weapons or additional equipment, except for a turbo boost. It is unknown if Chuck will ever drive it again.
• Sasquatch is Jacob's blue 20th century chop top, jacked up on monster truck tires with a modified tow truck bed for a rear end.
• The Duke's Limos – The Duke of Detroit's limos are old fashioned cars that are stretched out to become limos. However, his primary means of transportation, a monstrosity that drives on massive tank treads, is so large that it fires stretch limos as ammunition.
• The Red Car – Red's car which is equipped with smoke bombs, a harpoon and machine guns, as well that Red is very good with car tricks, such as disappearing acts and jumping behind a car behind him. After joining with Kane, Red's car was rebuilt with Deluxian technology, specifically the kind used to build the Enforcer drones, allowing it to shoot powerful lasers and hover rather than ride on normal wheels.

• Motorcity is an underground refuge, consisting of what is left of Old Detroit, that the Burners are protecting.
• North, East, West and South side gates – These gateways are the only way up into Detroit Deluxe from Motorcity.
• Detroit Deluxe – This futuristic city is built on a giant platform that completely covers Old Detroit and the area that surrounds it, and it had the personal freedom of its citizens taken away, but almost nobody living there realizes it. It is most likely to have stemmed from Metro Detroit, spreading across part of southern Michigan.
• The Detroit Doom Jump – This jump has never been made because people regret going on it, then panic and slow down causing them to fall and die.
• Lake Erie – The Burners modified the shore line into a theme park.
• The Burners' Garage – The Burners HQ. It has all of the necessary equipment needed to complete a job or raise a kid.
• The Terra's Village – The home of the Terras. It was once a beautiful and fertile environment until the dumped waste from KaneCo mutated all life there. It is now filled with enormous mushrooms and spores the Terras use for their weapons.
• The Duke's Mansion – A overly large manor that sits atop a hill over a junkyard. It has an obstacle course somewhere nearby.

In October, 2010, a production of the show had started and at that time it was planned to come out on Fall in 2011.^{[22][23][24][25]} After been delayed in 2011, the series premiere were postponed for Christmas/Winter in 2012.^[26][27] Ultimately, on April 5, 2012, the show was announced to be released was on April 30, 2012, on Disney XD.^[28][29][30]

On November 5, 2012, Disney XD announced that it would not renew Motorcity for a second season, due to leaks and low ratings that same year,^[31][32][33] Despite beginning a production for said second season.^[34] On March 11, 2013, the series was cancelled after 1st season.

According to series creator Chris Prynoski that when he had working at MTV, he came up with the idea for the show in 1991 and “even made a trailer for it,” he recalls. “I showed it to Development executive Eric Coleman who was at Nickelodeon at the time, and he loved it.”^[35]

Around 1999 to 2000 Chris Prynoski began development of Motorcity. It was planned to have a series of 26 episodes, each one lasting for 22 minutes (including most of the setting, cars and characters with their early lineups).^{[36][37][38][39]}

Plans fell apart after MTV's cancellation of Prynoski's earlier work Downtown. His team moved on to Cartoon Network to create Megas XLR. Prynoski had attempted to pitch the show to Adult Swim, the Adult equivalent to Cartoon Network, but without luck.

In 2009 Disney Television Animation picked up the show for their then-unreleased Disney XD block. The show was picked up since Disney had seen success with Pixar's Cars series in popularity and financial gain. The company hoped for similar success with a television Series for a teen audience.

Brandon Cuellar and Robert Valley would join the team as the vehicle and character designers respectively. George Krstic and Craig Lewis would also write for the show with Prynoski and Juno Lee directing the episodes.

Other names for the series were considered if Disney couldn't get the rights to the name "Motorcity" which were "Burnercity" and "Undercity Overdrive".

Animation for the series was made with a combination of 2D and 3D elements and effects, using softwares like Adobe Flash, After Effects, Maya (for 3D and CGI elements like vehicles) and Photoshop for creation of elements and backgrounds.^[40]

Additionally, for the production for the show Titmouse, Inc. made a Facinator, a exclusive custom plug-in tool, that allows to manipulate 2D rigged head models to manipulate position from a wide array of angles, which not only make some of the specific angles of the characters easier, but also to make them look like they were animated as a 3D model. The purpuose and creation of Facinator for Motorcity was to blends CGI and characters well with the rest of the animation.^{[41][42][43][44][45]}

The series debuted on Disney XD from April 30, 2012 at 9 p.m. In Canada the series on premiered on May 26.^[46] In Japan the series premiered on September 22.^[47] The show premiered on Latin America countries in July 2021.^[48] On January 7, 2013, (and in other countries) after 20th episode, the show was stop airing on Disney XD.

Motorcity did got a rerun marathon on Disney XD in United States, airing on July 27, 2020, from 3am to 6am.^[49]

On January 1, 2022, all episodes from Motorcity are available on Disney+ Hotstar^[50] in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.^[51]

All episodes of the show are also available in other platforms for to watch or digital purchese on iTunes Store, Apple TV,^[52] YouTube TV^[53] and Google Play.^[54]

The series premiered on Disney Channel in Latin American countries on September 16, 2023.^[55]

On April 29, 2013, crew member George Krstic posted a tweet that the studio Titmouse, Inc. was having a meeting on bringing back Motorcity and Megas XLR.^[56] From that point to now, no meeting and none of the idea was confirmed.

A toyline for the show was planned as far back as 2009, while the show was in development. The line was planned to have been made by Mattel, as evident in the only piece of evidence behind the line's existence in Dennis Canon, who previously designed packaging art for Mattel's toylines based on Pixar's Cars and Disneytoon's Planes. The only things made public of this toyline was a replica of Mutt's dog bobblehead.^[57][58][59]

Motorcity: Drive (iOS/Unity) is a six-level, 3D racing, shooter game, that came out on March 26, 2012.^[60]

Players takes control of Mutt and his goal is to shoot down and destroy Kane's evil bots, while Mike and Chuck are attempting to outrun them. Player can obtain weapons like the Gatling laser, Plasma Blaster or Pulse Bomb, to help him out (a skilled player will also be able to unlock special bonus weapons).

Game was available on App Store, iTunes on iOS and online at DisneyXD.com. The game as of now (iOS Version) is no longer available, thought Unity one still can be played.^[61]

Motorcity: Battle For Detroit (Flash game) is a 2D platformer, that which was released on DisneyXD.com somewhere in 2012.

Player takes control over Mike Chilton and the goal is to the spark burners and get a many of parts to upgrade mutt's car to take down kane and his conquering Detroit's last oasis of freedom.

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".^[62]

• Motorcity at disneyxdmedianet.com
• Motorcity at IMDb