Biker Mice from Mars

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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 humanoid motorcyclist mice 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 each episode. The episode would always start out with a setup for a situation like Greasepit setting up a digging machine, the mice showing up parodying a song, laughing or cracking jokes, them dominating for a short while, being in seeming danger, and starting with the introduction.

The new 26+ episode series began airing in the UK on Toonattik on GMTV/CITV on August 26, 2006. 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 fall 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.

ITV2 re-ran the original 1990s series at 07.55 Monday to Friday for a 10 week strip from early September 2006. They will be 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. A full length 13 minute introductory trailer to the new series is on Google Video. Trailers for each new episode in the UK, Finland and Australia appear on YouTube each week.

Plans for the new series release in the United States have not been announced, reportedly due to difficulty finding a network to air it.. Retro Biker Mice from Mars related items are currently for sale on numerous auction sites. Prices of the rarer 1990s merchandise items on eBay in the UK are commanding collector's prices.

Merchandise based on the new series was launched in the UK from August 2006 and features with online retailers such as Amazon UK. It is in full-retail distribution in the UK and Finland. The action figure line was already the seventh best selling property in the category in The UK by November 2007.

A racing video game based on the series was published by Konami for the Super NES in 1994. It is reminiscent of Rock N' Roll Racing. PS2 & DS games from The GameFactory released a PS2 game in the UK on November 10, 2006. It will be launched elsewhere in conjunction with Territory broadcast air dates for the new series.

Contents 1 1993 series 1.1 The Mice 1.2 The villains 1.3 Other recurring characters 2 2006 revival 2.1 Plot 2.2 Returning characters 2.3 New characters 3 Trivia 4 Video games 5 External links

[edit] 1993 series

[edit] The Mice

• Throttle: The leader-figure of sorts with tan fur and sunglasses. His eyes were damaged in the same incident that claimed Modo's arm and half of Vinnie's face. His sunglasses are in fact designed to allow him to see, since the bionic eyes given to him to replace his real eyes don't work correctly. Drives a motorbike, which is designed similar to a Harley Davidson.Throttle is voiced Rob Paulsen
• Modo: The gentle giant of the three with gray fur and an eye-patch. He lost an arm in the same incident where Throttle's vision was damaged and Vinnie lost half of his face. His new robotic arm has a built-in laser and it also increases his already impressive physical strength. When angry, his right eye flashes red. He rides a bike that looks a lot like a Fatboy.Modo is voiced by Dorian Harewood
• Vinnie: Self-proclaimed lady-killer with white fur. The right side of his face was burned off in the same incident that claimed Modo's arm and damaged Throttle's vision, as a result he wears a metal face-plate (remiscant of the Mortal Kombat character Kano). As far as we know, his right eye was not damaged. He rides a red racing Sport bike.Vinnie is 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 keep her out of those types of situations. Aside from being the target of Vinnie's flirtations, she's also responsible for a lot of upgrades (or lack thereof when the plot asks for it) for the Biker Mice and is a high-tech genius in her own right, seeing as she was compared to Karbunkle by three aliens once.

[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 as the episode's climax.
• Karbunkle: A thin, sly scientist from Germany, Karbunkle used to work for Limburger's superior, until Lawrence 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 misfuctioning 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 sychophant. 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 Boris Benjamin Karbunkle.
• 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), and a tentacle instead of a right arm.
• Greasepit: 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.
• 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.

[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, and interestingly enough, he was voiced by Luke Perry

Currently, the 1993 series can be seen in the UK weekday mornings on ITV2

[edit] 2006 revival

Much like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' return in 2003, the Biker Mice from Mars returned to television screens in 2006. Although the TMNT series is completely different from the 1980s version, the 2006 Biker Mice from Mars is a continuation rather than a remake of the story.

[edit] Plot

The mice battle forces who seek to destroy them and steal their valuable assets. In this series, the antagonists are the evil Catatonians, a cat-like race of creatures who desire the greatest prize on Mars - The Regenerator.

[edit] Returning characters

• The Biker Mice themselves are, character-wise, the same as before. Throttle's leadership role has now been formally recognised with the rank of Commander. There have been minor changes in costume (Throttle now has a green crossbelt across his chest under his jacket and new shades, Modo's boots are different and all three have new helmets). More controversially amongst fans of the original series, they have been drawn as substantially slimmed down and less muscular. All three also have new bikes - Vinnie's is much the same but with minor alterations, Throttle's is of a similar design but green rather than black, and Modo now has a three-wheeled machine. The series has reverted to the original explanation of how Vinnie received his injuries - contradicted in the final 1996 story - namely, through experiments conducted by Karbunkle.
• Charley: Again essentially the same character-wise, but with a new, short haircut and clothes more suited to a 21st century heroine. Although not present in every episode, she is 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 she appears to reciprocate Vinnie's feelings towards her more readily than in the original series.
• Carbine has had a costume change, and plays a substantially more prominent role than originally, even coming to Earth on a couple of occasions. Her relationship with Throttle has been made a little more prominent, with emphasis laid on the strain placed on it by the War and their relative military responsibilities. Carbine has also been revealed as Stoker's niece.
• Stoker is the classic series minor character who has had the most significant increase in importance, acting as the catalyst for much of the plot of the 2006 series. The founder and greatest leader of the Freedom Fighter movement, in the new series he has been missing in action for some years and is wrongly but widely held (except by Vinnie) to have turned traitor. He is the builder of the Regenerator - a matter conversion device crucial for producing the water needed for the Martian population's survival. Some years earlier he had been forced to build a second Regenerator for Ronaldo Rump (see below), and when the Martian Regenerator was accidentally destroyed by the Catatonians, the Biker Mice were dispatched to Earth to recover Rump's machine - thus precipitating the plot of the new series. His alter-ego is Nightshift, a black-clad, masked biker; the disguise was originally adopted when he was still regarded as a traitor; it is now used to protect him from sunlight, which causes him to temporarily mutate into a rat-like creature - these mutations are the result of over-exposure to tetra-hydrocarbons, the power source of the Regenerator.

[edit] New characters

• Hairball: Supreme Commander of the Catatonian invaders, Hannibal T. Hairball is characterised by incompetance and a habit of being distracted by inconsequential matters. Very short, and in consequence suffering from an inferiority complex, he hides this behind a show of military bluster. A defining feature is his tendency to gag on hairballs at innapropriate and often inopportune moments. Hairball's mission is essentially to turn every planet in the Solar System into a series of litter boxes capable of supporting the Catatonian lifestyle; for this he requires a Regenerator, forcing him into an alliance with Ronaldo Rump.
• Cataclysm: Tall, heavily built and vicious, Cataclysm is officially the second in command to his brother, Supreme Commander Hairball. However, Hairball's lack of military nous means that it is Cataclysm who is the effective leader. As well as fulfilling his official mission, he has a secondary intention to wipe out - and eat - the Martian mouse population, with a particular vendetta against the Biker Mice.
• Ronaldo Rump: Chicago's most famous - and wealthiest - land developer and business magnate Ronaldo Rump has built his empire on the ruins of Lawrence Limburger's operations. Some years previously he compelled Stoker to build him a Regenerator by threatening Throttle's life. Rump uses to device to convert buildings and land into developments - such as golf courses and a burger bar chain. He is now providing the funding and resources for the Catatonian operations on Earth, in return for which the Catatonians will force Stoker to build him another Regenerator. His name is also an obvious parody on real-life multi-billionaire Donald Trump.

[edit] Trivia

• In the first episode of the 1993 series, when the mice save Charley from Greasepit, Modo makes a reference to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with "You were expecting turtles, maybe?"
• Similarly, episode 3 of the 2006 series also references the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as Vinnie makes the remark "Aw man. Not the sewers. Not the sewers! There's bad slimy things in there! Alligators and turtles. Large, mean, smart allecky turtles." Also, as Vinnie says "and turtles" the tune of the TMNT series plays in the background.
• Unlike the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles revival, Biker Mice from Mars has kept some continuity with the theme tune from the original series in the revival. The Biker Mice from Mars dismembered vocal remains over a new more up to date (and less heavy metal cliched) score. A number of very different mixes of the Theme exist and can be heard on various websites.
• The Hairball character is modeled after creator Rick Ungar's own cat, Conejo.
• The producers of the new series, Criterion, provide exclusive information to two very active fan forums. These are Red Planet & The Station.
• In the second episode of the 1993 series, Modo makes a reference to Alvin and the Chipmunks; responding to Vinnie's claim that his lips "are an intergalactic treasure" he comments, "Mice with lips! What's next, chipmunks that sing?"

[edit] Video games

A Biker Mice from Mars video game was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The European version features extensive advertisements for Snickers candy bars [1].

There have also been games released based on the 2006 Revival in Finland, Australia & The United Kingdom for the Nintendo DS & Sony PS2 consoles.

[edit] External links

• Official Website of the Biker Mice From Mars
• Alternative Biker Mice Site, Very active and full of new art and fics
• From Mars: A Biker Mice Webpage
• The Unofficial and not approved Biker Mice From Mars Fan Club