DAVID DePATIE DEAD AT 91

 

You can read the full story here.

He co-founded studio DePatie-Freleng Enterprises with Friz Freleng after having been the last executive in charge of the original Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, of which he was the last surviving member. DePatie also helped the transition into the early years of Marvel Productions when they sold their studio to Cadence Industries. The breakout property of his career was when DFE provided the opening titles for The Pink Panther, leading to a series of cartoons based around the popular character spawned from it and jobs in producing similar title sequences for other productions.

 

Programs he had a hand in include The Pink Panther Show, Here Comes the Grump, Doctor Dolittle (1970), The Barkleys, The Houndcats, Bailey’s Comets, an episode of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movies, Return to the Planet of the Apes, Baggy Pants and the Nitwits, What’s New Mr. Magoo?, The Fantastic Four (1978), Spider-Woman, Spider-Man (1981), Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, Pandamonium, Meatballs and Spaghetti, The Incredible Hulk (1982) and Pink Panther and Sons with Hanna-Barbera.

MONSTER MASH CEREAL

MONSTER MASH CEREAL
 
General Mills
 
 

            No, it’s not a cereal dedicated to “Monster Mash” performer Bobby “Boris” Pickett. It’s a cereal celebrating 50 years of General Mills’ monster cereal family.

The back of the box.

            As the name would imply, Monster Mash cereal was a mash-up; albeit not a complete one. Debuting in August of 2021, it featured the Franken-Berry and Boo Berry ghost cereal pieces together with the generic monster marshmallows once featured in Yummy Mummy cereal, and the bat, lightning bolt, blob and swirled ghost marshmallows from Count Chocula. Interestingly enough, the swirled ghost was introduced with the “Monster Mash” back in 1996. While Chocula’s taste was nowhere to be found, Fruit Brute ended up getting short changed and seriously underrepresented.

The fruit snacks.

            To go along with the cereal’s name, the monsters were featured as part of a band on the packaging and in the marketing campaign. A QR code took consumers to a special Monster Mash website which hosted two links: a behind-the-scenes mockumentary of the monsters reuniting their band to record a new version of “Monster Mash”, and the recording itself. Betty Crocker made their own contribution to the celebration with special Monster Mash fruit snacks

            Along with Monster Mash cereal, the regular three monster cereals also received their annual releases. Returning to the retro packaging, they were tied into Monster Mash by featuring 50^th anniversary logos on their fronts and Chocula, Franken-Berry and Boo Berry playing their respective instruments on the back, a selection of three character-specific dance moves, and the QR code leading to the site.

PHANTOM INVESTIGATORS

 

PHANTOM INVESTIGATORS

(Kids' WB, May 25-June 29, 2002)

 

(W)holesome Products, Inc., Columbia TriStar Domestic Television

 
MAIN CAST:
Courtney Vineys – Daemona “Mona” Prune
Andrew Decker – Casey
Aleksander Kocev – Jericho
Amber Ross – Kira

 

            Phantom Investigators followed the exploits of four students of Lugosi Junior High (named for Bela Lugosi) in San Francisco as they took on jobs to deal with the various menacing supernatural entities around the Bay Area. The team themselves, however, were kind of supernatural themselves. Casey (Andrew Decker) was a quiet and shy bookworm who possessed the ability to morph into any form he wanted. Kira (Amber Ross) was a sassy fashionista with a desire to become a professional DJ, and also happened to possess telepathic powers (her original name was Nakisha, but was changed on request to be snappier). Jericho (Aleksander Kocey) loved shredding on his skateboard, which he could do without the aid of his telekinetic abilities. Their leader, Daemona Prune (Courtney Vineys) was the only one who didn’t possess any kind of extra ability; however, what she did have was an attic full of gadgets and artifacts from her late grandmother’s days as one of the original Phantom Investigators. While on the job, Daemona also donned a green coat (initially a lighter shade and adorned with a skull and crossbones) and mask to obscure her identity.

Casey, Kira, Daemona and Jericho with Jinxie and Wad in their base, aka Daemona's attic.

            Aiding the P.I.s were Professor Felix Navarro (Richard Cansino), who ran a repair shop and served as a mentor to the PIs, as well upgraded, designed and built all of their hunting/trapping equipment for them; Jinxie (Holman), a bad luck demon who reluctantly provided supernatural insight to the team; and Wad (Holman), a fun-loving Sprite comprised of chewing gum that lived with Daemona and sometimes helped the team out on cases (usually with disastrous results). The primary piece of equipment usually wielded by Daemona was a specter detector, which could identify one of the four types of entity they could be dealing with: Elementals, Demons, Spectres (ghosts and monsters) and Sprites (wraiths, shadows, fairies, pixies, superstitions, folklore and poltergeists). They all originated from another dimension known as the Nether Realm.

Jinxy with his chart of Nether Realm hierarchy.

            The series was created and directed by the married team of Stephen Holman and Josephine Huang of (W)holesome Products, Inc., who had made the industry take notice of them with the successful Life with Loopy series on Nickelodeon’s Kablam! Like that previous series, Phantom Investigators was a serious mixing of media as it was created by using stop-motion animation, puppetry and live-action blended together. Non-supernatural characters were typically done using stop-motion puppet bodies with cardboard heads and animated faces fabricated by Shelley Smith, Aurore Nightingayle, Lisa Davidson, Estelle Rand, Ellen Ridgway, Cynthia M. Star and Holly Tanner Strauss. Demons and Elementals were generally seen as fully-realized puppets operated by Ian Greeb, or as live-action humans with prosthetics and masks. Ghosts were always represented by translucent and glowing live-action humans in period or scenario-specific clothing provided by costume designer Victoria Drake. These encounters would be resolved by finding out the cause of the haunting or as a result of karmic intervention as a consequence for an entity’s activities. Often, a solution to a problem a character was having in their personal lives would be presented as well. 

Ghosts!

            Phantom Investigators debuted on Kids’ WB on May 25, 2002. It was produced with backing by Sony’s Columbia TriStar Domestic Television division and Hardee’s, who released toys based on it in their restaurants (before the show even aired due to a scheduling snafu). Originally, the series was going to be named for Daemona until the network asked for it to be changed, and Daemona would be her on-the-job name while her real name was “Prunella”. Daemona ended up being the most-developed of the characters, with her history and homelife seen and the others’ relegated to behind-the-scenes articles. The series was written by John Hoberg, Kat Likkel, Kevin Murphy, Dan Studney, Pete Goldfinger, Josh Stolberg, Jim Lincoln and Alison Taylor, with Murphy and Studney serving as story editors. They used elements of San Francisco’s rich history to help ground their stories with some semblance of reality, as well as educate their audience on various topics that arose during investigations such as the process behind mummification in “From Egypt with Love”.

Working on a scene.

At any given time, the production’s studio space at Cluster Avenue Stages in San Francisco was split into 30 mini staging areas where animators would simultaneously film different scenes on their respective sets. Because of the old school methodology employed, the cost per episode was an estimated 30 times more than an ordinary animated series. James Wood Wilson served as art director and set designer, which were built by Todd Lookinland, Qris Fry, Joe Cairo, James K. Paerron, Kimberly Walton and Drew Yerys and dressed by Solomon Burbridge and Nick Mariana. Models were built by Philip Brotherton, Marc Ribaud, Jeff Cross, Terrance Graven, Patrick McMillan, Bill Roth, Andrew Vogt, David Waddle and Sally Waters. JD Reilly composed the series’ music, along with Finetune Music’s Nic tenBroek, Josh Meyers and Brad Segal.

Heading into the sunset in the Ghoul Mobile.

            Despite all the love and hard work that went into making the series, Phantom Investigators only ran for 6 weeks before Kids’ WB yanked it from their schedule and replaced it with X-Men: Evolution. Holman would say on a podcast that its cancellation can in spite of it being the top-rated program in its timeslot because it failed to catch on with the demographic the network wanted. Kids’ WB was looking to attract and maintain a strong viewership with young boys. Phantom Inspectors was attracting more and more girls and losing the boys each successive week, disappointing the network (who, ironically, took on the series in an attempt to attract more female viewers). After the cancellation, Sony cut the funding to the show killing any chance of finding a new network to take it on. The remaining episodes eventually aired outside of the United States, first debuting on Teletoon in Canada. To date, the series has not had any kind of official home video or streaming release. Recordings of various qualities have been made available on free streaming sites and YouTube, and two episodes can be viewed on the (W)holesome website.

           
 
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Demon Driver” (6/22/02) – The team investigates an old car that was built with possessed parts and turns its driver into a reckless maniac.
 
“Skating the Plank” – The team discovers a local skateboarder’s self-carved board is haunted by a pirate whose ship it was part of.
 
“Omega Pizza Pi” (6/29/02) – Pizza delivery drivers are being terrorized by the ghosts of 1960s fraternity pledges under the control of a pizza-based demon.
 
“Birthday Presence (5/25/02) – The most popular kid in school suddenly finds himself being haunted as he plans his annual parents-are-away birthday bash.
 
“From Egypt with Love” – A mummy wants the Phantom Investigators to help him to cross over into the afterlife, and also wants Kira as his bride.
 
“Haunted Dreams” – As Kira considers quitting the team, a girl comes to them suffering from haunted dreams that seems to be connected to a local roller coaster.
 
“Stall of Doom” (6/8/02) – One of the toilets at Lugosi Junior High contains a gateway to the Nether Realm
 
“Were-Dog” (6/15/02) – Casey gets bitten by a werewolf while in dog form and ends up unable to change back for the duration of the curse.
 
“The Year of the Snake” (6/1/02) – A virtual pet seems to have an unhealthy hold over whoever plays with them.
 
“The 5^th P.I.” – Discovering a new kid with shrinking powers at school leads the P.I.s to think they found a new member, but he ends up being a Nether Realm cop intent on arresting them.
 
“Ghosts on Film” – A ghost from an old black and white movie exits through a VCR and looks to conquer the world of color as the last character he played.
 
“Think Wad” – Wad has 24 hours to prove he’s worthy of restoration to his former status by dealing with a serious situation seriously, otherwise he’ll remain chewing gum forever.
 
“Secrets Exposed!” – A demon from Navarro’s past returns and leads to some revelations about him and his connection to the original Phantom Investigators.

LITTLE SHOP

 

LITTLE SHOP

(FOX, September 7-November 30, 1991)

 

Marvel Productions, Saban Entertainment, Saban International Paris, BIL Participations S.A., Gorfy Corporation N.V., Fox Children’s Productions

 
 
MAIN CAST:
Marlow Vella & Lisa Paulette (episode 1-4) and Jana Lexxa (singing) – Seymour Krelborn, various
Tamar Lee & Jennie Kwan (singing) – Audrey Mushnik, various
Harvey Atkin & Michael Rawl (singing) – Mr. Mushnik
Roland “Buddy” Lewis & Terry McGee (singing) – Audrey Junior
David Huband & Mark Ryan-Martin (singing) – Paine Driller, various
 
 

       In 1959, independent filmmaker Roger Corman had just completed a film for American International Pictures called A Bucket of Blood. Given only $50,000 and a five-day shooting schedule on some sets leftover from Diary of a High School Bride, Corman decided he was bored of straightforward horror and added some humor elements along with writer Chares B. Griffith. Visiting various beatnik coffeehouses helped them come up with the story: a dark satirical black comedy horror film about beatnik culture. Griffith, whose parents came from a vaudeville background, helped Corman around his unease at directing comedy for the first time. 

Seymour feeds Audrey Jr.

            For Corman’s next attempt at horror comedy, there has been several origin stories for its conception. One account was that it was a bet. Another was that because new residual rules for actors were coming into place on January 1, 1960 that would change how Corman did business and he wanted to beat the deadline with one last picture. Corman himself would say that it began as a joke; that while having lunch with the manager of the small rental studio where he worked out of, he was told that production on a film was wrapping and they were leaving the sets up for a time before taking them down. Corman, familiar with the sets and not having a lot of money on hand, decided almost as a joke that he would make a film utilizing them within two days. Re-teaming with Griffith, they hashed out a story and Griffith wrote the script.

            The Little Shop of Horrors was set in a flower shop in Los Angeles’ Skid Row. Bumbling shop clerk Seymour Krelboined (Jonathan Haze) was attempting to keep his job by presenting his boss, Gravis Mushnick (Mel Welles), a unique flower grown by combining seeds he acquired from a Japanese gardener. The plant, resembling a large Venus flytrap, was named Audrey Jr. after his crush, co-worker Audrey Fulquard (Jackie Joseph). However, the flower was in poor shape and Seymour had only a week to revive it before losing his job. Discovering it thrived on human blood (and could talk, courtesy of Griffith), Seymour soon fell into an accidental murder spree that kept Audrey Jr. fed and growing almost larger than the shop, attracting new business for Mushnick in the process. The film was populated by a host of eccentric characters, including regular customer Siddie Shiva (Leola Wndorff), whose relatives seemed to die every day; new customer Burson Fouch (Dick Miller), who enjoyed eating plants and decided to make Mushnik’s his regular spot; sadistic and lousy dentist Dr. Farb (John Herman Shaner); and Seymour’s hypochondriac mother, Winfred (Griffith’s grandmother Myrtle Vail).

Seymour, Mushnik and Audrey look on as Junior grows.

            The film was shot similarly to a sitcom, with three days of rehearsals and two days of actual filming utilizing multiple cameras on fixed sets with no dynamic lighting. Because of rules at the time, it worked out cheaper in Corman’s favor to pay the actors on a weekly basis than on a daily one, so he hired them all for the week. Exterior shots were then done over two weekends by Griffith and Welles, and Haze would later recall that there were some reshoots. The film was very similar to Blood: utilizing minimal sets, Corman’s regular stock actors, and the structure of the story of a dim-witted character failing upwards with murderous results. Miller, who played the lead in Blood, turned down the starring role for the smaller role he ended up having. A pre-fame Jack Nicholson also appeared as a masochistic dental patient.

The film's poster.

            Corman had trouble finding distribution for his film as some felt the characters of Mushnik and Shiva were anti-Semitic (Welles himself was Jewish and created his character’s accent). It was finally released by his production company, The Filmgroup, nine months after its completion. After being screened out of competition at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, AIP distributed the film as the B movie for their release of Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, gaining it extra attention. The film slowly gained popularity through television airings throughout the 1960s and 1970s, becoming a cult classic. 

The stage version of Audrey II and Seymour.

In 1982, the film was adapted into an Off-Broadway horror comedy rock musical with direction and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken. The musical took some liberties with the original story: the setting was moved to New York’s Skid Row; Mrs. Shiva, Burson Fouch, the detectives that investigated the various deaths and Seymour’s mother were omitted and Seymour (given the new surname Krelborn, played by Lee Wilkof) became a ward of Mr. Mushnik (Hy Anzell); Audrey (Ellen Greene) was put into an abusive relationship with the dentist, now renamed Orin Scrivello (Franc Luz), to give Seymour more of a motive to kill him; a chorus of street urchins modeled after girl groups of the 1960s was added; Audrey Jr., now named Audrey II (Ron Taylor voice, Martin P. Robinson puppeteer), was remade as an alien intent on taking over the world; and the show ended with a much darker ending emphasizing class struggles and moral values. By the time the show closed in 1987, it was the third-longest running musical and the highest-grossing production in Off-Broadway history.

 

One of the show’s original producers, David Geffen, decided to adapt the stage show into a new musical feature film. Frank Oz was tapped to direct and worked on the story to make it more fitting for film. The film starred Rick Moranis as Seymour, Vincent Gardenia as Mr. Mushnik, Steve Martin as Orin Scrivello, and Levi Stubbs as Audrey II, who was now operated by an entire team of puppeteers, along with Greene reprising her role as Audrey. A few of the songs were removed from the production, and the masochistic dental patient was added back in, played by an ad-libbing Bill Murray. Although the original dark ending from the stage show was adapted, it didn’t test well with preview audiences and was replaced with a new, happier one. Little Shop of Horrors was released by Warner Bros. on December 19, 1986, underperforming the studio’s expectations with only a $39 million box office. However, home video sales made the film a smash hit. 

The main cast: Audrey Jr., Seymour, Mr. Mushnik, Audrey and Paine.

In 1991, a new adaptation came in the form of an animated series produced by Saban Entertainment and Marvel Productions. This version, developed by Mark Edward Edens and Ellen Levy, combined elements from the original and musical productions while making changes of their own. Seymour (Marlow Vela, Lisa Paulette and Jana Lexxa singing) was now 13-years-old and a wannabe nerd (he had all the right qualities, except the smarts). Seymour frequently broke the 4^th wall to relay his inner thoughts and commentary on situations to the audience. Seymour’s mother’s hypochondria was changed to her being a health nut, constantly working out and sticking Seymour with healthy foods. Seymour still had a crush on Audrey (Tamar Lee & Jennie Kwan), who was now the daughter of his boss, Mr. Mushnik (Harvey Atkins & Michael Rawls), at the Little Shop of Flowers (changed from Mushnik’s Flowers). Audrey barely acknowledged his existence, focusing entirely on finding her future career (the first episode said she had a lifelong dream of being a firefighter, but she pursued a different occupation in every episode). The dentist character was reimagined as school bully Paine Driller (David Huban & Mark Ryan-Martin), who wore orthodontic headgear (his father was also a dentist). It was Paine’s bullying that sent Seymour to the city dump where he stumbled upon the 200-million-year-old petrified seed that would sprout into Audrey Jr. (Roland “Buddy Lewis” & Terry “Proffet” McGee). Junior was more of an omnivore than a strict carnivore, eating basically any type of food or object. He was also a rabble rouser, constantly attempting to make plants rise up against humanity and reassert their place on the food chain once held during his time via his new “plant magnetism” ability. And he was a lot nicer to Seymour, often trying to help him out—especially in regards to Audrey—in his own, crude ways. Junior retained his hypnosis abilities from the original film, and had a penchant for plant puns. A character resembling Nicholson made small appearances in various episodes, as did the flower-eating Fouch.

Mushnik's Flowers is now Little Shop of Flowers.

Little Shop debuted on FOX as part of the Fox Kids programming block on September 7, 1991. It was written by Edens, Mel Gilden, Robert Tarlow, Marty Isenberg, Robert N. Skir, Steve Cuden, Barbara Slade, Matthew Malach and Hope Juber, with Edens serving as story editor. Noticeably absent from the show—and the title—was any kind of horror. Since this was meant for children, the episodes largely dealt with the antics of Seymour and Junior and tried to convey morality lessons amidst the absurdity. The characters broke out into song several times an episode, and with this being the 90s it wouldn’t have been complete without at least one of them (in this case, Junior) breaking out into a rap. Haim Saban and Shuki Levy handled the series’ music, while the raps were produced by Romeo Williams, John D. Mitchell and Ron Kenan. The characters were designed by Joe Horne, Darrel Bowen and David Mucci and animation duties were handled by  KKC&D. Corman himself served as a creative consultant and his distribution company, Concorde-New Horizons Corporation (now New Horizons), also handled the show’s distribution. Noticeably, while the characters and the objects they interacted with were fully colored, the backgrounds instead were only loosely done so with swatches of colors similar to the style of old UPA cartoons.

The series only lasted 13 episodes before it was cancelled. It remained on the network until the following September and later made its way to the Sci-Fi Channel’s (now Syfy) Cartoon Quest and The Animation Station programming blocks until 1997. It wouldn’t be until 2017 that episodes began to surface online; however, one is only available in a German translation. Meanwhile, the legacy of Little Shop of Horrors continues on. Since 2003, multiple revivals of the stage production have been made both in America and the United Kingdom. In 2012, the original ending for the 1986 film was made available on home media for the first time (technically second, but the original poorly-done attempt was pulled off the shelves at Geffen’s request). Warner Bros. had also announced a remake of the musical film was in development, however it has since been postponed indefinitely.

                      

 
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Bad Seed” (9/7/91) – Seymour grows a 200 million-year-old seed into Junior who, unable to go home, stays and helps Mr. Mushnik’s flowers grow.
 
“Real Men Aren’t Made of Quiche” (9/14/91) – Audrey decides to become a refrigerator repairman while Junior and Seymour work on making a human-plant hybrid.
 
“Back to the Fuchsia” (9/21/91) – Junior decides to go back in time to warn the plants about the rise of dinosaurs and maintain his place in the food chain.
 
“Unfair Science” (9/28/91) – Junior’s science project for Seymour ends up attracting the attention of Seymour’s favorite celebrity, who wants to steal it.
 
“Stage Blight” (10/5/91) – A failed playwright produced Junior’s play where Seymour finds himself as the romantic lead.
 
“I Loath a Parade” (10/12/91) – Junior falls in love with the Venus flytrap Seymour brings home.
 
“Air Junior” (10/19/91) – Junior makes Seymour’s new pair of shoes able to fly.
 
“Untitled Halloween Story” (10/26/91) – Angered over the tradition of pumpkin carving, Junior goes trick-or-treating with Seymour and Audrey to steal back all the jack-o-lanterns.
 
“It’s A Wonderful Leaf” (11/2/91) – A reaper shows Seymour a vision of the future while Junior dreams of running a flower hotel.
 
“Tooth or Consequences” (11/9/91) – Seymour learns that small lies can lead to big trouble.
 
“Walk Like a Nerd” (11/16/91) – Junior decides to give himself legs and ends up sharing Seymour’s body.
 
“Pulp Fiction” (11/23/91) – Junior organizes used paper products to revolt against the paper-making industry.
 
“Married to the Mush” (11/30/91) – Paine’s aunt dates Mr. Mushnik under the belief that he’s rich, which causes the ambitious Audrey to lose all hope and decide on becoming a housewife.

TRANSFORMERS: RESCUE BOTS ACADEMY

 

TRANSFORMERS: RESCUE BOTS ACADEMY

(Discovery Family, January 5, 2019-June 5, 2021)

 

Boulder Media Limited, Allspark Animation

 
MAIN CAST:
Pierce Cravens – Hot Shot
Courtney Shaw – Whirl
Alan Trinca – Hoist
Adam Andrianopoulous – Medix
Mason Hensley – Wedge
Paul Guyet – Heatwave, Doc Ezra Greene, Mayor Luskey
Todd Perlmutter – Tough Luck Chuck, Rachet, Jerry, Huxley Prescott

For the history of Transformers, check out the post here.

 
            Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy is the sequel spin-off of Transformers: Rescue Bots and an adaptation of the Hasbro toyline of the same name. The series picked up where its predecessor left off: a new academy had been built with the purpose of training new Rescue Bots to carry out the mission of protecting and rescuing humans from various emergencies; both natural and of their own making.

Optimus recruits Hot Shot.

            At the conclusion of Rescue Bots, the Rescue Bots team had been dispersed around the world on various assignments by Autobot leader Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen in that series). Rescue Bot leader Heatwave (Paul Guyet) was left in charge of the academy and training the new recruits. However, his teammates—police bot Chase (Frank Cwiklik), helicopter bot Blades (Michael Hansen) and construction bot Boulder (Keyon Williams)—would pop in from time to time to teach classes based on their particular interests or areas of expertise. Other faculty members would come to include headstrong and reckless Tyrannosaurus Rex dinobot Grimlock (Terrence Flint), sometimes joined by his friends and fellow dinobots Sludge (Billy Bob Thompson), an Apatosaurus, Snarl (Mark Ashton), a Stegosaurus, and Slash (Alex Hairston), a Velociraptor; ambulance bot Rachet (Todd Perlmutter), chief medical officer; science expedition vehicle/bot-sized microscope Perceptor (Jeremy Levy), a science and intelligence officer; and elite Autobot operative and sports car Bumblebee (Levy); as well as Optimus (Hiro Diaz in the pilot, Jake Tillman after reprising the role from Cyberverse) himself. Additionally, a robotic crash test dummy with a limited A.I., named Tough Luck Chuck (Perlmutter), served as a stand-in for human victims in holographic rescue simulations.

Wedge, Hoist, Hot Shot, Whirl and Medix with Bumblebee, Chase, Heatwave and Blades.

            Comprising the academy’s first class was Whirl (Courtney Shaw), a police helicopter with an enthusiastic love of learning and rules; Hoist (Alan Trinca), a tow truck that was an aspiring inventor and mechanic (he created new tool attachments for he and his teammates to use); Medix (Adam Adrianopolous), an emergency response car who dealt purely in logic; and Wedge (Mason Hensley), a payloader that was created as a Decepticon until he was recruited by Optimus, and who had a tendency to geek out over his idol, Bumblebee. Optimus would also go on to recruit Hot Shot (Pierce Cravens), an ATV who was primarily proficient at playing the game of Cube on Cybertron. Hot Shot, with an attitude to match his name, had a hard time fitting in with the other rescue recruits but gradually found his place among them. Optimus bestowed upon him an ancient Cybertronian artifact known as the Mul-T-Cog, which allowed him to assume the additional forms of a jet plane and a hovercraft, but initially restricted him to only being able to change into one vehicle form per day forcing him to choose which one wisely. These recruits were based on characters that had appeared previously, but received significant changes to their overall designs and personalities for the series.

Classic Heatwave (top) vs. his Academy design.

            Although set in the same continuity as Rescue Bots, Rescue Bots Academy had a number of changes made in its production. For starters, the series wasn’t produced by longtime Hasbro partner, DHX Media (now WildBrain). Instead, it was done by Boulder Media Limited, an animation studio Hasbro took over outright to work on all of their media projects. Rescue Bots Academy was the first Transformers series they began work on, but it ended up being released after the second: Cyberverse. While the designs on previously established characters were similar, there were notable differences in the proportions of their bodies, boot-like feet and designs of their optics (aka eyes, which went from being tiny orbs in a void to orbs more akin to human-like eyes). Other characters, like Bumblebee, were represented in their “evergreen” design: a unified design choice Hasbro implemented for the toyline that didn’t tie them into any particular iteration of the franchise, allowing them to remain on shelves for longer periods. The recruits were also rendered as being shorter than the senior Bots, although still bigger than an average person. The characters were designed by Keith Byrne.

Cody returns to help part-time at the academy.

            A major difference was the diminished role of human characters in the series, with a greater focus placed on the Bots and their training at the academy. In Rescue Bots, the Bots operated on the small island of Griffin Rock, Maine in partnership with the Burns family--a family of rescuers tasked with keeping the citizenry safe before and since the Bots arrived--before building the academy on the mainland. Despite the Burnses being sent on the assignments with their Rescue Bot partners, only the youngest of the Burns family, Cody (Andy Zou), ever appeared on the show; depicted as older and studying to be a paramedic. His father, Chief Charlie Burns, was mentioned and represented as a bust in Heatwave’s office, and their ancestor in statue form. The academy itself was controlled by an A.I. named Elma (voiced by Kath Soucie), which took on a holographic form modeled after a noted scientist. It was completely absent from this series; the academy run with more typical sci-fi interfaces and controls. 

Wes and Wedge rescue some workers.

As the series progressed, however, other humans from Griffin Rock began to make appearances including Cody’s best friend Frankie Greene (Kaitlin Becker); her father and resident scientist Doc Greene (Guyet); accident-prone truck driver Jerry (Perlmutter); helicopter-helmeted Mr. Harrison (Levy); frequent citizen in distress Mrs. Rubio; reporter Huxley Prescott (Perlmutter); bumbling Mayor Luskey (Guyet); and reformed twin tech-thieves turned tech-inventors Evan (silent) and Myles (Perlmutter). A new human character, Wes (Xander Crowell), was introduced as a Teen Pioneer (the Griffin Rock version of Scouts) who idolized Wedge. As the production utilized a non-union New York-based voice cast, none of the returning characters could be voiced by their original actors.

Class is in session.

            Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy debuted on Discovery Family on January 5, 2019 after the first two episodes aired as a sneak peek on December 8. Originally, the series was set to debut in the fall of 2018, but a poster released that October indicated the push back. Unlike its predecessor, the series was comprised of 11-minute episodes, with two airing each half hour. It was aired in an hour-long block, with reruns of the previous week’s episodes making up the second half (after the initial debut, which aired four all-new episodes). The series was developed and written by Transformers veteran Nicole Dubuc, who also served as story editor, executive producer and wrote the theme song. Fellow veterans Brian Hohlfeld , Kevin Burke and Chris “Doc” Wyatt also wrote for the series, with Burke and Wyatt serving as executive producers. Additional writers included Jodi Reynolds, Ciarán Morrison, Mick O’Hara, Nathan Cockerill, Marc Seal, Danny Stack, Ben Ward, Fionn Boland and Peter A. Dowling, who was also a story editor. The theme was composed by Doug Califano and performed by Zach Allen. The rest of the series’ music was composed by Califano, Stuart Kollmorgen, Kieffer Infantino and Matt Mahaffey.

Hot Shot and his new combicannon.

            Renewed for a second season, the dynamic of the series was changed slightly by pairing up the recruits with teacher tutors: Whirl with Chase, Medix with Blades, Wedge with Bumblebee, Hot Shot with Heatwave, and Hoist with Grimlock (which did wonders for his fear of dinosaurs). Four additional Mul-T-Cogs were discovered and given to the recruits, allowing Whirl to become a squad car; Hoist to become a dinobot after Grimlock; Medix a rescue helicopter; and Wedge a sportscar after Bumblebee. Hot Shot gained a new firetruck form after Heatwave, and was able to master his Cog so that he could transform into any form without restriction. The recruits also received new tools chosen by their spark via the Sparksayer, an ancient Cybertronian relic: Hoist gained a plasma cutter, Medix a magnetic power projector, Whirl a polyvisor that allowed her to examine things more closely, Wedge an auger, and Hot Shot a combicannon used by mixing and projecting compounds.

Meet the new class: Snarl, Brushfire, Sludge, Laserbeak and Slash.

            In 2020, word came that production on Rescue Bots Academy had concluded, with series director Pete Slattery announcing on his Twitter that the series was ending with the second season. The series left with an open ending, seeing the recruits graduate their second year while Slash, Sludge, Snarl, bird-like reformed Decepticon Laserbeak (giving the series a larger presence of Decepticons than its predecessor), and Brushfire (Bimini Wright), an Autobot that had been operating independently in Australia, were invited to join the academy as new first year students. Additionally, the academy had received a recent expansion when Cybertronian Titan Citadel Secundus (Cwiklik), a city-sized transformer, ended his centuries-long exile in space and came to reside on Earth as a new wing to the school. Although it ran a shorter time, the series ended with 104 episodes just like its predecessor, tying it for the longest-running Transformers series. Its conclusion also marked the end of what was known as the “Aligned continuity family”, a short-lived attempt to create a singular continuity and direction for the brand by Hasbro.

The 16 blind bag mini figurines featuring the recruits, Bumblebee, Optimus and Chase.

            The Rescue Bots Academy toyline included many figures that were reworkings of earlier releases in the Rescue Bots series. The first two figures in 2018 were part of the smaller-sized Rescan toyline. VTOL Hot Shot and Snow-Plow Wedge were included as part of the original Rescue Bots line with Academy just being added to the packaging. They were reworked versions of previous Bumblebee and Boulder figures, respectively. The next two figures, hovercraft Hot Shot and Medix, received all-new packaging for Academy. This Hot Shot was a reworking of Heatwave’s fireboat mode. The official Academy line began in 2019 and featured 8 waves of figures; 3 of them featuring repeats of previous figures. A multi-pack without Medix was released in 2019, and a triple pack of Bumblebee in three forms was released in 2021. Three waves of large-sized features were released beginning in 2019, featuring only the new recruits across them. Hoist and Wedge received Command Center figures with light-up tools and command center trailers. As part of the Flip Racers line, Optimus was released as a launcher trailer with his own figure and as a jumbo jet with Bumblebee, and Bumblebee was released with Hot Shot. Only Whirl received her own separate figure in the line. 12” figures of Hot Shot, Bumblebee and Heatwave were also released. In 2019, a wave of blind bag figurines were released dedicated to the characters from the show.

Whirl, Wedge, Medix and Hoist in their primary vehicle modes.

            While there haven’t been any home video releases of Rescue Bots Academy to date, a number of episodes have been released to the official Transformers Kids channel on YouTube, with many edited together in compilations that omit the intro and end credits. Additionally, it has been made available for streaming on Netflix, DirectTV, and Spectrum OnDemand. Streaming rights could also be purchased on the iTunes store and Amazon Prime Video.

 
 
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“Recruits Part 1” (1/5/19) – Optimus Prime recruits Hot Shot for the Rescue Academy, but Hot Shot questions what he could possibly bring to the team.
 
“Recruits Part 2” (1/5/19) – Optimus gives Hot Shot the Mul-T-Cog and he’s able to finally prove he belongs while on a mission to rescue Cody.
 
“If at First…” (1/5/19) – Hoist is encouraged to invent new tools to improve his team’s rescue abilities but becomes dejected when they fail miserably.
 
“Tough Luck Chuck” (1/5/19) – Hot Shot finds himself babysitting Chuck when he becomes badly damaged.
 
“Whirl’d View” (1/12/19) – Whirl’s attention to procedure and detail save the recruits when they get caught in a snowstorm.
 
“Plan Bee” (1/12/19) – Gardening teaches the recruits that even the smallest rescue matters in an ecosystem.
 
“The Bot Who Cried Rescue” (1/19/19) – Wedge is put in charge of practicing the recruits’ response time to emergencies, but his desire for perfection leads to some problems.
 
“Mount Botmore” (1/19/19) – Hot Shot’s decision to add the recruits to a monument of the Rescue Bots may just provide the solution to a dam about to burst.
 
“Mission Inaudible” (1/26/19) – Hoist is put in charge of a mission but is too indecisive to make any decisions on his own.
 
“Glitch” (1/26/19) – Medix’s adherence to logic is put to the test when a real rescue continually goes wrong.
 
“Five into Four” (2/2/19) – Noticing that there are only 4 Rescue Bots, the recruits believe one of them will end up cut.
 
“Rescue Promo” (2/2/19) – Whirl takes on finishing the Rescue Bots recruitment video on her own, but finds her results keep being unusable.
 
“Blame Game” (2/9/19) – Forced to miss a Cube game due to a botched exercise he blames on his teammates, Hot Shot goes out on a solo rescue to show off his skills.
 
“Medix Surprise” (2/9/19) – The recruits try to change Medix’s dislike of surprises by finding him the right kind.
 
“The TX3000” (2/16/19) – Hot Shot is afraid to admit he never used a certain rescue tool before, causing him to almost botch a dangerous rescue.
 
“Little Bot Peep” (2/16/19) – Unwilling to miss out on the action, Hoist keeps leaving his stasis pod before he’s fully recuperated.
 
“Driving a Wedge” (2/23/19) – Thinking a construction bot doesn’t have much to offer, Wedge continually avoids a visiting Wes.
 
“The Big, Small Rescue” (2/23/19) – The recruits head into space to save a tiny planet.
 
“Battle of the Bots” (3/16/19) – Wedge worries he doesn’t have the skill to win the challenge he just made with Hot Shot.
 
“About a Rock” (3/2/19) – Hot Shot brings back a sample from an asteroid that ends up being an alien, now loose in the academy.
 
“Dog Stray Afternoon” (3/9/19) – The recruits decide to keep a dog that follows them back from a mission.
 
“Lucky Ducky” (3/9/19) – Cody loans Hot Shot his lucky rubber duck to help combat his string of bad luck.
 
“The Secret of Flight” (3/16/19) – Blades is called in to help Hot Shot master his flying abilities.
 
“Go Team, Go!” (3/2/19) – The recruits aren’t interested in Whirl’s attempts to teach them cheerleading routines to inspire them on rescues.
 
“Screen Time” (3/23/19) – Cellphones prove a distraction for the recruits at an inopportune time as Wes ends up trapped in a mine.
 
“Fright at the Museum” (3/23/19) – A visit to a museum has everyone thinking Whirl’s imagining a crime in progress.
 
“Space Case” (9/7/19) – The recruits are on their own as they head into space to find out what happened to the Rescue Bots on their last mission.
 
“All at Sea” (9/7/19) – An underwater clean-up mission turns into danger thanks to the recruits competing with each other.
 
“All Washed Up” (9/7/19) – Hoist invents a cleaning droid to keep the school clean, but everyone tinkers with it causing it to go haywire.
 
“Who’s Teaching Who?” (9/7/19) – The recruits are allowed to teach the Rescue Bots to prove learning can be fun, which ends up backfiring when a rescue occurs.
 
“Balloon Up a Tree” (9/14/19) – A simple removal of a balloon from a tree ends up not being so simple.
 
“The Mystery of Dragon Mountain” (9/14/19) – A simulation that pits the recruits against a dragon teaches them that the obvious answer isn’t always the right one.
 
“Hack Attack” (9/21/19) – Hot Shot causes his computer game to merge with Chase’s simulation, pitting the recruits against giant hedgehogs.
 
“Life of the Party” (9/21/19) – Medix attempts to develop a sense of humor which ends up causing a rescue to go wrong.
 
“Tyrannosaurus Wrecked” (9/28/19) – The recruits try to help Hoist overcome his fear of dinosaurs when Grimlock comes to teach.
 
“Dino Hard” (9/28/19) – Hoist stays behind when Grimlock takes the others to Dino Island, but the island ends up coming to him when a triceratops goes through and damages the Ground Bridge.
 
“Buddy Cop” (10/5/19) – Hot Shot finds himself partnered with the worst partner for their stealth exercise: Grimlock.
 
“Escape from Penguin Island” (10/5/19) – An electrical storm hampers the recruits’ ability to adequately rescue a colony of penguins.
 
“All that Glitters” (10/19/19) – Hoist cheats to get a chance to pick the location for their next sim: the Old West.
 
“Dig Fest” (10/19/19) – Wedge ends up ignoring their mission to find pieces of a crashed satellite to compete in a construction vehicle rally.
 
“Trick or Treat” (10/26/19) – Cody takes the Bots out for their first Halloween, but Wedge's desire to be like Bumblebee ends up putting humans at risk when a real emergency happens.
 
“Monster Savings” (10/26/19) – Believing the monster in a commercial to be real, Medix heads to Milford to save the city.
 
“Tune Out” (11/2/19) – Hoist can only remember an important code by humming a tune, and unfortunately it turns out to be catchy and puts their missions in jeopardy.
 
“Metal Munchers” (11/2/19) – A field trip puts the recruits in contact with a swarm of metal-eating Scraplets.
 
“Bee Prepared” (11/9/19) – Wedge flounders in his attempts to impress a visiting Bumblebee.
 
“Whirl’s Wise-Bot Quest” (11/9/19) – Blades turns Whirl onto a wise guru that could help her overcome her doubts when she struggles with a tricky maneuver.
 
“Flying Hunk-A-Junk” (11/16/19) – Improper disposal of their trash in space causes it to gather into a massive ball that could destroy the Earth.
 
“Into the Depths” (11/16/19) – The recruits head into the deep sea to rescue an unmanned submersible, but the dark waters make communicating difficult.
 
“Milford Goes to the Dogs” (11/23/19) – Hoist tries out his new communication system while they investigate why dogs act strangely near the school.
 
“The Ice Wave” (11/23/19) – The recruits try to come to terms with a sim they can’t beat.
 
“Best Bots Forever Part 1” (11/30/19) – Hot Shot decides to quit the team in order to help his old friend’s team in Cube.
 
“Best Bots Forever Part 2” (11/30/19) – Hot Shot discovers his new team isn’t very team-like, while his old team struggles to carry on without him.
 
Season 2:
“Back to School” (3/21/20) – For their second year the recruits are teamed-up with teacher tutors, and not everyone is happy about their pairings.
 
“Mission Dinobot” (3/21/20) – Hoist ends up having to go on a space ship retrieval mission with Grimlock and his dinobot pals.
 
“In Training” (3/28/20) – Hot Shot takes offense at being assigned chores by Heatwave rather than any kind of real training.
 
“Medix Steps Up to the Bat” (3/28/20) – Hot Shot gets blamed when a bat Medix brought to Cybertron gets loose and ends up causing trouble.
 
“Robo-Cody” (4/4/20) – The recruits mistakenly believe Cody wanted to be just like them and build him a faulty robo-suit.
 
“Heatwave’s Shiny Coat” (4/4/20) – To teach Medix that he can’t plan for everything, Blades has him watch an unpredictable dog.
 
“Acting Out” (4/18/20) – Everyone is excited to participate in Griffin Rock’s “Play in the Park” except for Wedge, who feels acting has nothing to do with rescue work.
 
“Need to Know” (4/18/20) – Wedge thinks learning math and science aren’t important until Bumblebee brings him on a mission that needs them.
 
“Trouble Cubed” (4/25/20) – Things get out of hand when Hot Shot “borrows” Grimlock’s cube, necessitating asking for Grimlock’s help.
 
“My Favorite Rescue” (4/25/20) – As a reward for doing well in training, the recruits are allowed to choose to engage in their favorite rescue sim.
 
“The Great Energon Rush” (5/2/20) – Hoist and the dinobots go prospecting for Energon and end up trapped in the ancient mine.
 
“The Vault of the Primes” (5/2/20) – The recruits must complete an ancient sim in order to gain access to a Cybertronian Vault.
 
“Wild Ghost Chase” (5/9/20) – Whirl is tasked with investigating the paranormal with her reluctant partner, Medix.
 
“Little Plot of Horrors” (5/9/20) – Medix decides to find a plant-like alien a new home, but Earth’s environment causes it to grow out of control.
 
“Museum Mystery” (5/16/20) – When a new exhibit goes missing, Chase believes supposedly-reformed crooks Evan and Myles are behind the theft.
 
“Partners” (5/16/20) – The recruits are called on to help in the rescue of Cody’s friend Frankie, who’s trapped with some kids inside of a dome that’s shrinking by the minute.
 
“Critical Condition (5/23/20) – Despite his best intentions in improving his teammates, the others find Medix’s observations to be overly harsh and critical.
 
“Fun Droids” (5/23/20) – Malfunctioning droids turn an amusement park into a death trap.
 
“Power Up and Energize” (5/30/20) – Hot Shot is unhappy with the new tool his spark supposedly chose for him and convinces Wedge to swap.
 
“Shall We Dance?” (5/30/20) – Cody helps the recruits work on their grace and balance with ballet lessons.
 
“Mul-T-Change of Pace” (6/6/20) – Hot Shot sets out to learn how to unlock the full potential of his Mul-T-Cog.
 
“Five Little Rescue Bots” (6/6/20) – Whirl relies on her powers of observation as her teammates disappear one-by-one on a training mission.
 
“Good Advice” (6/20/20) – Medix learns that his good advice is sometimes hard to take himself.
 
“Campfire Fright” (6/20/20) – A spooky camp story has Hot Shot believing the noises in the school are from the creature in the tale.
 
“Small Cogs” (6/27/20) – Hot Shot convinces the recruits to don their new Mul-T-Cogs before they’re ready to handle them.
 
“Big Wheels” (6/27/20) – The recruits think hard on what their new alternate forms should be, particularly Hot Shot.
 
“The Empty City” (6/13/20) – The recruits think a distress signal came from Hot Shot’s old teammates when they ended up trapped in an old space city, but it was coming from the city itself!
 
“First Responder” (6/13/20) – Wedge must choose between going to Wes’ first responder test or to a rescue-a-thon with Bumblebee.
 
“How to Train Your Scraplet” (6/13/20) – The recruits are assigned to train five Scraplets.
 
“Helicopter Heroes” (6/13/20) – Whirl gets distracted by how much attention Medix receives in his helicopter mode.
 
“Brushfire” (6/1/20) – The recruits meet up with Australian Autobot Brushfire as wildfires rage out of control and send kangaroos on stampedes in fear.
 
“The Ties that Bind” (6/1/20) – Whirl rescues a powered-down Scorch and ends up spending all day towing him back to the school.
 
“Bot Blog” (6/2/20) – Whirl posts an embarrassing video of Hot Shot to the new bot blog, but before she can take it down it goes viral.
 
“The Icebot Cometh” (6/2/20) – Wedge refuses to use anything other than his sportscar form to deal with a runaway train.
 
“More Than Meets the Eye” (6/3/20) – Figuring out how to deal with a Decepticon they’ve rescued causes Wedge to reveal a big secret.
 
“Things That Go Bot in the Night” (6/3/20) – Hoist investigates mysterious damages around the school, and all the clues point to a dinobot culprit.
 
“Medix Gets Schooled” (6/4/20) – When Perceptor seems more interested in the other recruits, Medix tries to get himself noticed.
 
“Rescue Teens” (6/4/20) – The recruits find themselves jealous over some teens who become famous rescue heroes.
 
“Enter the Flood” (6/5/20) – Dealing with a flood on a distant planet causes the recruits to constantly interfere with the local wildlife.
 
“Wizard of Botz” (6/5/20) – Believing her streak of good student reviews might end, Whirl tries to avoid hers by any means.
 
“The Tracker” (6/8/20) – Whirl enlists the help of Slash to track down Huxley Prescott when he goes missing.
 
“One of Our Dragons is Missing” (6/8/20) – Failing to deal with a small problem in Hero Hall gives Hoist and Hot Shot the larger problem of a dragon attacking Milford.
 
“Dino-mite Duo” (6/9/20) – Sludge and Snarl find themselves having to deal with a rescue when all of the Rescue Bots are away.
 
“The Lonely Titan” (6/9/20) – Wanting some alone time Wedge volunteers for a solo mission on Citadel Secundus, which ends up being companionship for the lonely Titan.
 
“X Marks the Bot” (6/10/20) – Hot Shot gains an appreciation for humans when he discovers a Cybertronian treasure is really a Cybertronian peril.
 
“Making Tracks” (6/10/20) – Hot Shot learns teaching can be difficult when Bumblebee makes him Wedge’s speed coach.
 
“Don’t Be Alarmed” (6/11/20) – The recruits learn their new homemade sires can affect some alien creatures.
 
“Powerless” (6/11/20) – The recruits are challenged to complete a rescue without relying on their Power-Up tools.
 
“Griffin Rock Rocks!” (6/12/20) – The recruits must stay out of sight from the visiting crowds while attempting to rescue Medix’s favorite DJ during his performance.
 
“Bot Battle” (6/12/20) – It takes a bot battle to make Hot Shot realize he may have underestimated Chuck.
 
“Space Party” (6/15/20) – While the Bots all celebrate the end of year two on Secundus, an anti-energon field knocks them all out leaving just Hot Shot and Whirl to stop Secundus from crashing into Earth.
 
“Crash of the Titan” (6/15/20) – Working together with their allies, the recruits get Secundus safely to Earth and Optimus welcomes a new class of recruits to begin their training at the school.