Road Rovers

infobox television
show_name = Road Rovers


caption = The Road Rovers, from left to right: Muzzle, Shag, Hunter, Colleen, Blitz, and Exile.
format = Animated series
runtime =30 minutes
creator = Tom Ruegger
rating = USA: TV-Y
starring = Jess Harnell
Tress MacNeille
Jeff Bennett
Kevin Michael Richardson
Frank Welker
Joseph Campanella
Jim Cummings
country = USA
network = Kids' WB
first_aired = September 2, 1996
last_aired = February 22, 1997
num_episodes = 13 |

"Road Rovers" is an American animated television series written and produced by Tom Ruegger that premiered on Kids' WB on September 2, 1996. It lasted one season and ended on February 22, 1997. Re-runs of the show continued for a short time on Kids' WB and then on Cartoon Network until 1999. Much of the humor contained in the show was derived from popular culture of the mid 1990s.

The show follows the adventures of the Road Rovers, a team of five super-powered crime fighting anthropomorphic dogs, known as "cano-sapiens". The leader of the rovers is Hunter, a golden retriever mix from the United States. The Rovers' boss is a scientist known as "The Master" who oversees their operations and supplies them with equipment from their subterranean headquarters.

Plot

One year prior to the formation of the Road Rovers, Professor Shepherd is attacked by a man named General Parvo, who demands the professor's experimental transdogmafier (a play on the term transmogrifier) technology in exchange for his pet dog. Shepherd gives in but is tricked by Parvo, who gives him a bomb that destroys his laboratory. The next year, as normal dogs begin to mutate into monsters, Shepard realizes it is Parvo who is behind it and decides to stop him.

Shepherd selects five dogs from around the world to combat this new threat. Once they arrive at his new, secret underground lab, he uses his new transdogmifier on the five, turning them into cano-sapiens. Cano-sapiens look like normal clothed humans except that they have retained all the trademark aspects of the dogs they came from, such as a tail, fur, distinctive ears and head, etc. Their personality before the transformation also remains intact. They can also speak English and possess super abilities that normal humans do not.

Professor Shepherd (or "The Master" as the new Road Rovers would call him) briefs them on their situation, and agrees to turn them back into their normal forms if they succeed in their mission. After hearing of the dangers inherent in their first mission, the Road Rovers are hesitant to help Shepherd, but he reassures them and gains their trust by offering them meals and weekly baths.

Their first assignment is to stop General Parvo from obtaining a Molecular Stabilizer that will allow him to make the effects of his cano-mutator permanent. The Rovers nearly succeed in their task but are forced to hand over the stabilizer to Parvo in exchange for one of their own. As Parvo delights in his victory he realizes the stabilizer has been exchanged for a bomb. The bomb destroys Parvo's ship but he vows to continue fighting.

Back at Road Rover headquarters, the Master keeps his end of the bargain. He returns the five back to their normal canine forms and places them in the homes of the leaders of their country of origin; Hunter goes to the President of the United States, Colleen to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Blitz to the Chancellor of Germany, Exile to the President of Russia, and Shag to the President of the Swiss Confederation.

It is later discovered that many of the events in the past were caused by Parvo's time machine. These include Parvo's appearance in the past (as a cat named Boots), Parvo's failed attempt at construcing a transdogrifier causing Scout to become Muzzle, Boots becoming Parvo with Groomer's help, Muzzle meeting Hunter, and Shag saving Shepherd's life by informing him of the bomb that will blow up his lab.

Song controversy

Regardless of its short run on television, Road Rovers did have one notable controversial incident. During the episode "A Day in the Life", Exile reveals his full Russian name. This launches the Rovers into a song, which explains how Russian names work. The source of the controversy doesn't appear until the last three lines, in which they demonstrate middle names and their paternal source. Using the name "Sonov" as an example, they add "-ovich," creating "Sonovovich," a homonymic pun on the phrase "son of a bitch." The Russian Name Song only appeared in its initial airing.

Cancellation

In February 1997, WB canceled the show citing its low ratings. It has also been said that when the FCC passed a law in the fall of 1997 requiring there to be three hours a week of educational children's programming on every station, "Road Rovers" was canceled to make room for "Channel Umptee-3" and "Captain Planet". Reruns were shown until September of that year. Fans launched a letter campaign in an effort to save the show targeting top executive at WB, included with the letters were tennis balls (Hunter's favorite chew toy). But the campaign was unsuccessful as the show left the air in September of that year. Reruns were then shown on Cartoon Network for the next two years.

Characters

*Hunter (Jess Harnell) – A Golden Retriever mix from the United States; Hunter is the leader of the Road Rovers. His naivete and literal thinking aside, he is a confident and serious leader who finds time to add humor to a situation. His primary superpower is super speed, though he also lists such abilities as super generosity, super forgiveness, and super "super" luck. In addition, at the end of "Reigning Cats and Dogs," Hunter (in canine form) displays the ability to spit a tennis ball with the force of one of their blasters. His two main catch phrases are, “I would not have predicted this,” and, “Yet another unexpected twist,” which he uses during plot clichés. He seems to understand both Shag and Muzzle.
*Colleen (Tress MacNeille) – A rough collie from the United Kingdom, and the only female in the group; Colleen’s skill of the martial arts is unparalleled whether in humanoid or canine form. She, like Hunter, throws in quips during a fight. Colleen has also displayed keen medical abilities. There are hints of a relationship between her and Hunter while at the same time she receives endless confessions of love from Blitz, whose name and even existence she seems to be constantly forgetting. This is later revealed to be done for the pure sake of annoying Blitz, as she does call him by his proper name in the series finale "A Day in the Life". Also during "A Day In The Life" Colleen confesses to having failed paper training.
*Blitz (Jeff Bennett) – A Doberman from Germany; Blitz is the most combative member of the team. His super sharp teeth and claws can cut through anything, but his courage (or lack thereof) often causes problems for them all. He screams like a girl. Blitz is quite vain and has an uninhibited fondness for Colleen, whom he believes he can impress despite all indications. During one mission, the team is nearly killed and he confesses his love to her. (Unfortunately, he did not look at the person to whom he was speaking and the message is instead directed at Exile, whose response is, “Please get therapy!”) He also has an obsession with peppermint milkshakes and “biting tooshies.”
*Exile (Kevin Michael Richardson) – A Siberian husky from Siberia; Exile is the master of fixing and unfixing things. His superpowers are heat, freeze and night vision, along with super-strength (though not as much as Shag). He does, however, have a tendency to completely butcher everyday American expressions, often three or four at a time. He frequently tells Blitz, “Don't be a weird boy.”
*Shag (Frank Welker) – A sheepdog from Switzerland; Shag is a kind of fluke as far as the transdogmafier process goes. Instead of becoming a complete cano-sapien, he is stuck at someplace in between. Shag cannot speak English clearly and is only vaguely humanoid. He has super-strength and stores equipment (among other things, including weapons, lunch, furniture, and on at least two occasions even fellow Road Rovers) in his copious fur, but is also a complete coward. He has an unfortunate tendency to hold his rocket launcher backwards, leading Hunter to remark at one point, “This is precisely the reason they don't normally give bazookas to dogs.” In one episode, Hunter reminds Shag to turn the launcher around before he fires it, causing him to hit his target.
*Muzzle (Frank Welker) – Formally Professor Shepherd’s pet Rottweiler, Scout, a failed experiment with the transdogmafier turned him into the mad and foaming mess he is today. He is always restrained in a strait jacket and mask, and is only let out as a last resort (with the catch-phrase “Let's Muzzle 'em!”). While his fighting always takes place off-screen with implications of extreme violence, the result is usually beneficial to the Rovers at the same time making them disgusted. He was rescued from animal control officers by Hunter, who was also in the pound. The two have since been friends. In addition, he seems to have a good understanding with Shag as he would hang with him beside Hunter; as well a converse with each other. He holds a degree of respect for Exile and Colleen and flat out hates Blitz. In once instance, Muzzle attempts to bite Blitz.
*Professor William F. Shepherd (Joseph Campanella)– The geneticist behind the transdogmafier and the Road Rovers. He is the team’s boss and supplier for all their gear. He is known as “the Master” to the Rovers. He always appears before them as a figure with glowing eyes, something he attributes to “Special effects”. In "Reigning Cats and Dogs," his past self refers to his kids, revealing the fact that he had a family.

Villains on the show include:
*General Parvo (Jim Cummings) – The Road Rover’s main antagonist who is out to destroy Professor Shepherd and conquer the world. He was once a cat, and often requests lozenges from the Groomer for hairballs. Parvo actually coughed one up during the course of the series. Parvo and his assistant the Groomer (see below) set in motion the events that caused the formation of the Road Rovers. They also became part of a time paradox in which Parvo after revealing himself to be part cat to the Groomer, is transformed "back" into his feline self, and transported back in time during an attempt to prevent the Rovers from being created, where he soon lost his original memories, was taken in by Professor Shepard, catnapped by Shepard's assistant, and became Parvo all over again when exposed to a prototype of the transdogmafier. The Groomer followed Parvo back in time and they again set into motion the events which occur in the first episode. (no explanation however, is given for Parvo's apparently cybernetic hand and leg, or why he would have had the need to reveal to Groomer that he was part cat if she was already aware of it due to the time paradox.) It remains unknown where the original cat that first became Parvo before being caught in the time paradox came from. There are hints of a possible romance between Parvo and Groomer throughout the series, though it seems safe to say that the canines had a lot more fan support than these two.
*The Groomer (Sheena Easton) – The Groomer is the equally nasty assistant to General Parvo. She's generally armed with a portable hair clipper, though she uses other equipment when appropriate. Groomer is, with only one brief exception, completely loyal to Parvo, though she is not above telling him to lighten up in one episode when he is barking orders at her. Groomer at one point proposed the idea of using the transdogmafier on cats, to which Parvo vehemently obejected. She split off from him in an attempt to start on her own quest for world conquest. Parvo later revealed to her that he was part cat (a fact which surprised the Groomer, despite the fact that she is the one who "named" Parvo during the events of the time paradox which set the events of the series into motion.), and followed him back in time when Parvo was accidentally returned to feline form and flung into the past.
*Zachary Storm (Larry Drake) – A former soldier that was discharged from the army and wants revenge on the United States.
*Gustav Havoc (George Dzundza) – An arms dealer that brought two neighboring countries to the brink of war just so he could make some money.
*Donovan Bell – A heartless business man who steals and sells dogs for money, he supplied General Parvo with dogs so they could be mutated.

Episodes

#"Let's Hit The Road" (7 September, 1996) - The Road Rovers meet for the first time. (series premiere)
#"Storm From The Pacific" (14 September, 1996) - Disgraced Captain Zachary Storm seeks revenge on the United States for his court-martial.
#"A Hair Of The Dog That Bit You" (21 September, 1996) - Packs of werewolves take over London, and Exile seems to have gotten bitten (or scratched), which puts him under watch. Ultimately it turns out Colleen was the one who turned into a werewolf.
#"Where Rovers Dare" (12 October, 1996) - Eisneria and Katzenstok are preparing to go to war over an ancient scepter. This episode featured a reference to Disney at the end of the episode, complete with the silhouette of the head of Mickey Mouse.
#"Let Sleeping Dogs Lie" (26 October, 1996) - The Road Rovers must protect ancient artifacts from unknown ninjas (belonging to Parvo).
#"Hunter's Heroes" (2 November, 1996) - Parvo and his cano-mutants are at it again. This time, it's a high-tech, heavliy-armed concentration camp to keep thousands of dogs in captivity. This is for shipping armies of cano-mutants out to the major cities of the world so Parvo can take over militarily. The episode's title is likely a play on the old tv show Hogan's Heroes, which centered on American POWs held somewhyere in Nazi Germany.
#"The Dog Who Knew Too Much" (9 November, 1996) - One dog has the answers to a rash of human and canine kidnappings, and becomes a temporary Road Rover so he can testify. This episode's title is a play on the title "The Man Who Knew Too Much."
#"Dawn Of The Groomer" (16 November, 1996) - The Groomer gets delusions of grandeur involving taking over the world with cats, otherwise known as Felo-Mutants.
#"Still A Few Bugs In The System" (23 November, 1996) - Dr. Eugene Atwater does some research on the survival of bugs over the years of their survival. However, General Parvo turns his bugs for research into life-size giants using an attachment from his Cano-Mutator. Some of the bugs have their own plans for a nuclear winter.
#"Reigning Cats and Dogs" (1 February, 1997) - General Parvo builds a successful time machine so that he could stop Prof. Shepherd from creating the Road Rovers. An accident reverts him back to his original form of an alley cat, but the Rovers still have to follow him back to ensure their creation. As with Hunter's Heroes and The Dog Who Knew Too Much, this episode's title featured a play on words, this time a reference to the old phrase 'raining cats and dogs'.
#"Gold and Retrievers" (8 February, 1997) - Gold begins to flood the world's markets at an alarming rate. The source is traced to South America, where a blind boy named Luca leads them to an ancient golden pyramid. The episode's title is a partial pun on Hunter's breed of dog, the golden retriever.
#"Take Me To Your Leader" (15 February, 1997) - Zachary Storm is back again, and some aliens are intent on making trouble.
#"A Day In The Life" (22 February, 1997) - A pretty ordinary day for the Road Rovers (doesn't look like it, though). (Series finale)

Trivia

*The opening scenes of "“A Hair of the Dog That Bit You”" featured Prince Charles and Princess Diana finalizing their divorce before being attacked by werewolves. This was edited out of syndication following Diana’s death on 31 August, 1997.
*Two episodes featured a modified opening theme song that contained slightly different lyrics. Instead of commenting on their descriptions between lines, the Road Rovers get ready to sing in harmony.
*Since this show has almost the same creators (and voice actors), they had Brain from "Pinky and The Brain" do a cameo appearance. In the end of "Take Me To Your Leader", an argument in a sanitarium erupted between Capt. Storm and Dr. Atwater about who would take over the world, and Brain (not shown) cries "No, it is I who should rule the world. YES!"
*It has been noted that Fetch, Loud Kiddington's dog on "Histeria!", bares quite a resemblance to Hunter. In an apparent reference to this, one "Histeria!" sketch had Fetch being accompanied by other dogs who themselves resembled Blitz, Exile, and Shag.
*When "Let's Hit The Road" first aired the opening titles were actually played at the end of the show, right before the end titles. During the end credits, different music was played.
*The show was distributed internationally and was translated from English into German, Spanish, Arabic and Portuguese.
*Although they are a multi-national team and individually support their respective owners as seen in "Take Me To Your Leader," it is mentioned that they are listed as US operatives and backed by the United States Military in "Where Rovers Dare."
*In the episode "A Day in the Life" the "Russian Name Game" was developed around Exile's name of Exilov Mikhailovich Sandhusky. This song was edited out of recurring runs because of the name "Sonovovich," which resembles an expletive.

Goofs

Many drawing and computer errors occurred in this show. For example:

*In "....Knew Too Much"," when the bikers are after Sport (and the Rovers), Blitz, Colleen, Hunter & the volunteer Sport are in the Street Rover, Hunter is driving and Blitz is sitting in the back seat. In a quick scene, whle Colleen is talking to Sport, a Hunter-colored Blitz appears while Hunter (driving), is out of sight.
*In "Where Rovers Dare" when the Rovers were riding the Sled Rovers, Hunter appears with Colleen's markings for a few frames.
*In "Where Rovers Dare" the wolf that the Rovers helped is shown wearing a collar near the end of the episode.
*In "Let's Hit The Road" when Blitz is in his normal canine form, a close up shows him wearing his armour.

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115336/ Road Rovers at the Internet Movie Database] .
* [http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Warner_Bros_/Television/Road_Rovers/ Road Rovers at the Big Cartoon Database] .
* [http://members.tripod.com/~RRStuff/ Fan Road Rover Mission Control] .
* [http://www.retrojunk.com/details_tvshows/348-road-rovers/ Retrojunk-Road Rovers] .
* [http://www.tv.com/road-rovers/show/13988/summary.html TV.com-Road Rovers] .