Biker Mice from Mars is an American animated series, a revival and continuation of the show with the same name which aired from 1993 to 1996. One season of 28 episodes was produced. It ran from 2006–2009.
Jim Ward won a 2009 voice-actor Daytime Emmy for his performance as Eyemore in the episode "Manchurian Charley" and as the Crusher in the episode "Here Come the Judge". The series aired on the 4Kids TV block on FOX in the fall of 2008. In the UK, the series was picked up for a second window by CSC Media Group, who scheduled it to air on April 2, 2010, on the Kix channel.
Contents
Plot
Taking place a few years after the events of the original series, the Biker Mice return to Earth. In this series, the lead antagonists are the evil Catatonians, a race of cat-like creatures who desire the greatest prize on Mars and the Regenerator while also having been rivals of the Plutarkians. In the process of obtaining it, they destroy it leaving the Biker Mice (including Stoker – see below) to flee to Earth to build a new one.
Characters
Returning characters
The Biker Mice (Modo voiced by Dorian Harewood, Throttle voiced by Rob Paulsen, Vinnie voiced by Ian Ziering) - The Mice themselves are, character-wise, almost the same as before, except that now they have been properly formed into a special commando squad; as such, Throttle's leadership role has been formally recognized with the rank of Commander. There have also been minor changes in costume: Throttle has new sunglasses and a solitary green shoulder belt similar to Vinnie's under a new, shorter vest and his one powered glove has been replaced with twin powered gloves that also act as laser blasters, Modo has new boots and a cutting torch in his mechanical arm, Vinnie carries powered shuriken and powered gloves identical to Throttle's, and all three have new helmets.
Charlene "Charley" Davidson (voiced by Lisa Zane) - Charley sports a new, short haircut and a more contemporary outfit suited to motorcycling rather than mechanics. Although not present in every episode, she appears in the majority and plays a more prominent role than in the original series. Her relationship with Vinnie has been toned down for the new series, but (in true absence-makes-the-heart-grow-fonder fashion) Charley appears to reciprocate Vinnie's feelings towards her more readily than in the original series.
Carbine (voiced by Dina Sherman) - Carbine, revealed to be Stoker's niece, has gained a slight costume change and plays a substantially more prominent role than originally, even appearing on Earth several times. Her (strained) relationship with Throttle still exists, emphasizing the strain of the War and their relative military responsibilities.
Stoker (voiced by Peter Strauss in 2006, Jim Ward from 2006–2008) - The founder (and leader) of the Freedom Fighter movement, in the new series he has been missing in action for several years and is wrongly held to have turned traitor. He is the inventor of the Regenerator, a matter-conversion device crucial to produce the water needed for the survival of the Martian population. Some years earlier, he had been forced to build a second Regenerator for Ronaldo Rump. When the Martian Regenerator is accidentally destroyed, the Biker Mice are dispatched to Earth to recover Rump's machine. Stoker's alter-ego is Nightshift, a black-clad masked biker. The disguise was originally adopted when he was still regarded as a traitor, but is now used to protect him from sunlight, which (because of overexposure to radioactive tetra-hydrocarbons, the power source of the Regenerator) causes him to temporarily mutate into a wererat. Stoker is returned to normal by combining the Regenerator with Catatonian fur.
New characters
Spitfire (voiced by Dina Sherman) - The long-lost daughter of Stoker.
Catatonians - The Catatonians are cat-like aliens that seek to claim the Regenerator. The three-part episode "Once Upon a Time on Earth" revealed that they were rivals of the Plutarkians.
Hannibal T. Hairball (voiced by Rob Paulsen) - The Assistant Supreme Commander of the Catatonian Army who is very short and incompetent. Hairball escapes the Regenerator purge of the Catatonians, and alongside Dr. Catorkian joins up with the Nomad Rats.
Cataclysm (voiced by Clancy Brown in most episodes, understudied by Dorian Harewood in "Biker Mice Down Under" and "Once Upon a Time on Earth" Pt. 1) - While officially the second-in-command to his younger brother Hannibal, it is Cataclysm who really calls the shots in the Catatonian quest for the Regenerator.
Dr. Phineas P. Catorkian (voiced by Jess Harnell impersonating Boris Karloff) - A very tall and thin Catatonian mad scientist who is the force behind most of the inventions that Hannibal and Cataclysm use against the Biker Mice. Catorkian escapes the Regenerator purge of the Catatonians at the end of the series and alongside Hairball joins up with the Nomad Rats.
Catalina Catacall (voiced by Martha Madison) - A female Catatonian shapeshifter.
Ronaldo Rump (voiced by Jess Harnell) - A parody of Donald Trump and Ricky Ricardo, with an oversized butt, a large Toupée and a pencil mustache. Rump used to be a used car salesman who came across Stoker and the Regenerators in his possession. He uses a Regenerator to make himself more wealthy, but it is running out of power and he is trying to force Stoker to build a new one.
Production and broadcast
In 2005, Rick Ungar, who created the original Biker Mice from Mars, through his company Brentwood Television Funnies had partnered with Philippine animation studio PASI and Criterion Licensing a new Biker Mice from Mars series planned for 26 episodes. Character designs for the new series were provided by comic book artist Bernie Wrightson. Dorian Harewood, Rob Paulsen, and Ian Ziering reprised their roles from the original series voicing the Biker Mice Modo, Throttle, and Vinnie respectively. As the original show was a massive success in European markets such as France and Italy, this prompted an Italian toy manufacturer and the United Kingdom based Criterion Licensing to approach Unger about reviving the series which Unger was happy to do and even brought back supervising producer Tom Tataranowicz from the original series to oversee the new one.
Pre-production was started in May 2005 with United Kingdom broadcaster GMTV signed on.
Biker Mice from Mars aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and Finland, in 2006. It aired in the United States on Fox 4Kids TV block, beginning on August 9, 2008. Italia 1 began broadcasting the show in late 2008 with Mediaset doing a large merchandising campaign to support the show.
Broadcast UK history
CITV (August 26, 2006 – July 26, 2007)
Broadcast FI history
MTV3, C More Juniori, Fox
Home media
As of 2011, four volumes of Biker Mice from Mars DVDs are available in the UK through Abbey Home Media. Two volumes were released in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. Volume one was released in Bulgaria on October 17, 2008. Eight volumes have been released, but some have repeated episodes.
Merchandise
The series was largely influenced by the major toy line that was manufactured by Italian toy giant, Giochi Preziosi in 2005. Giochi Preziosi (GP) was selected as worldwide toy licensee and 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 then 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.
Home entertainment, merchandise, publishing and promotions agency for the series was Sharpe Company.
In 2006, a Biker Mice from Mars video game, based on the 2006 revival, was released in Finland, Australia and the United Kingdom, for the Nintendo DS and Sony PS2 consoles. While the game itself did not receive major positive ratings, it sold successfully throughout Scandinavia, where game performed well, placing number 2 in Finland and in the top 10 in other Scandinavian, Northern European, and African territories.