Travicity
02-28-2011, 11:59 PM
The Best TV Shows More About Cars Than People
How could you drive angry when you're behind the wheel with one of the The Best TV Shows More About Cars Than People?
20
Speed Buggy
Ride of Choice: Speedy!
Speed Buggy managed to capitalize on the one fatal flaw present in Scooby Doo, namely the lack of a talking mystery machine! Who cares about the dog, anyway?
This anthropomorphic fiberglass dune buggy may have sputtered a bit and held vulnerability in his remote control, but served much better use to his friends Tinker, Mark and Debbie than that lazy stoner mutt.
19
Automan
Ride of Choice: The Auto Car
Deliberately evoking the visual aesthetic of TRON (so much so that the show sought out its producers Donald Kushner and Peter Locke to avoid legal complications), Automan followed police officer Walter Nebicher and his holographic crime-fighting creation, which took the name "Otto J Mann," in the real world.
The series only lasted 13 episodes, but we still loved the then-visually stunning sequences of Automan literally creating his physics-defying ride, the Auto Car.
18
My Mother the Car
Ride of Choice: The "1928 Porter," housing the reincarnated Gladys Crabtree
Don't let the fact that most critics unanimously revile the series among the worst of all time. In fact, younger viewers thorougly enjoyed the show's uniquely "wacky" supernatural premise.
It was Dick Van Dyke's brother Jerry, and an antique car whose radio concealed the soul of his deceased mother, talking to him from beyond the grave. Writing. Gold.
17
Car 54, Where Are You?
Ride of Choice: Car 54 (duh)
The original 1961 NBC series followed tthe exploits of Bronx police officers Gunther Toody and Francis Muldoon, and interestingly, managed to avoid attracting attention in its filming by coloring the actual car bright red and white, which still looked correct in the monochrome broadcast (actual police cars being green and black.)
16
Herbie, The Love Bug
Ride of Choice: Herbie, himself
What a tremendous shame that we only got through five episodes of the TV series based on 1968's The Love Bug before its cancellation. The adorable beetle continues to make his mark in film decades later, but it could be quite some time before audiences will tune back in for a car that isn't fighting robots or shooting lasers (though believe it or not, he once did).
15
Hot Wheels
Sheesh, it's as if every cartoon to focus more on the automobiles than characters only exists to hawk the toys. Still, Hot Wheels grabbed all our auto-attentions as youngsters, and continues to with the newest incarnation Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5.
Personally, I remember the older cartoons that featured hovercars supported by magnetism, and the intense frustration of not understanding why that didn't work in real life. We want hovercars, damn it!
14
Speedway Squad!
Okay, so maybe this show didn't actually exist, but came rather as a dream of Mr. Smithers during his drunken breakdown following Mr. Burns' shooting.
Still, detectives in the racing circuit blasting shotguns out of the passenger's seat? Why hasn't anyone picked this up for a spin-off yet?!
13
The Highwayman
Ride of Choice: The futuristic, multi-purpose black truck.
Something of a cross between Mad Max and Knight Rider, the so-called "Highwaymen" patrolled the land in their sleek, and powerfully intimidating trucks that concealed sports cars for quicker travel, a helicopter detachment and even invisibility camoflauge.
It only lasted for ten episodes, but still. Want.
12
Turbo Teen
Ride of Choice: Brett Matthews and his third-generation Chevy Camaro
Because what was the only thing that could have made Knight Rider more than the sum of a man fighting crime with his bad-ass, self-aware car?
How about if Michael Knight actually turned into his car, thanks to the molecular beam that granted Turbo Teen his amazing powers?! Admit it, you're intrigued.
11
Power Rangers: Turbo
Ride of Choice: The Turbozords
Finally! Zords that look like they made an iota of sense in their design! The third incarnation of The Power Rangers began with its own theatrical film, and eschewed the notion of dinosaurs and legendary beasts for the more practical (but size-changing) vehicles, a concept that would later see re-use among the other 47,000 incarnations of the franchise.
10
M.A.S.K.
Ride of Choice: The Mobile Armored Strike Kommand
Essentially combining the premises of G.I. Joe and Transformers, who didn't love the adventures of Matt Trakker, Bruce Sato, Dusty Hayes and Alex Sector against the villainous V.E.N.O.M.?
And how long must we wait for the property to be picked up, Hollywood?
9
Knight Rider (2008)
Ride of Choice: Knight Industries Three Thousand
I think you knew this was coming. Picking off some years later from the first Knight Rider (and the many attempts at TV movies and revivals), the new Knight Rider moved away from the Hoff by detailing the adventures of Michael Knight's estranged son Mike Traceur. With KITT upgraded to a sleek new Ford Mustang shell, the only thing this team couldn't outrun was its own cancellation.
Possibly because they made KARR a f$%king Transformer. Just saying.
8
Challenge of the Gobots
Ride of Choice: Leader 1, Turbo and Scooter
Don't hate. Just because the Go-Bots didn't make a lick of effort to distinguish themselves from the Transformers didn't mean that our Saturday mornings weren't doubly blessed with all the robot car action we could dream of.
7
Drive
Ride of Choice: Alex Tully's Dodge Challenger
Poor Nathan Fillion saw even less time on the air in his second attempt at a Fox series, but certainly made an impression in the mysterious cross-country race that catapulted Alex Tully back into his dark past as a semi-professional racer.
Sigh. Pour one out for another Fox series tragically cancelled too soon.
6
Viper
Ride of Choice: The Defender
Picking up where shows like Knight Rider left off, Viper saw the use of a special Dodge Viper that transformed into an armored, weapons equipped "Defender" complete with hologram projectors, battering rams, grappling hooks, a hover craft mode and the all-important four-wheel drive.
And what better way to fight Metro City's various crime waves than with a single, decked out car?
5
Fastlane
We've said it before, and we'll say it again. High-octane automobile action akin to The Fast and the Furious on TV, Peter Facinelli before he was a vampire and Tiffany Amber-Thiessen making out with Jamie Pressly. What's not to love?
Sure, it didn't have the strongest characters or following, but its uniquely cinematic style made for some very compelling (and high-budget) action not often found on TV.
4
The Dukes of Hazzard
Ride of Choice: The General Lee
Okay, so Dukes focused plenty on Bo and Luke, and its rich supporting cast's misadventures in moonshining throughout the county, but wouldn't have anything without its high-flying car-chases and rich stock of expendable police cars.
3
Speed Racer
Ride of Choice: The Mach Five
Real life racing would be far more enjoyable were its vehicles outfitted with abilities such as auto-jacks, grip-tires, buzz-saws and small robots. Yet in the tragic absence of such fare, Speed Racer always gave us our car-combat fix even in its maligned movie adaptation.
2
Knight Rider
Ride of Choice: KITT
Go on, act like the theme music isn't racing through your head as you look back on the original adventures of Michael Knight and George Feeny, inevitably waiting for any opportunity to use the turbo boost in situation where "direct action might provide the only feasible solution."
Ride on, KITT. No matter how many re-makes they put you through.
1
Transformers
Ride of Choice: The Autobots, and Decepticons, of course
Love them or hate them, nothing outdoes the most prominent TV property to avoid the difficulty of focusing on cars over characters by making the cars characters themselves.
For decades now these heroes have transformed and rolled out across numerous cartoon franchises and Michael Bay explosion orgies, and Optimus Prime shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.
UGO
How could you drive angry when you're behind the wheel with one of the The Best TV Shows More About Cars Than People?
20
Speed Buggy
Ride of Choice: Speedy!
Speed Buggy managed to capitalize on the one fatal flaw present in Scooby Doo, namely the lack of a talking mystery machine! Who cares about the dog, anyway?
This anthropomorphic fiberglass dune buggy may have sputtered a bit and held vulnerability in his remote control, but served much better use to his friends Tinker, Mark and Debbie than that lazy stoner mutt.
19
Automan
Ride of Choice: The Auto Car
Deliberately evoking the visual aesthetic of TRON (so much so that the show sought out its producers Donald Kushner and Peter Locke to avoid legal complications), Automan followed police officer Walter Nebicher and his holographic crime-fighting creation, which took the name "Otto J Mann," in the real world.
The series only lasted 13 episodes, but we still loved the then-visually stunning sequences of Automan literally creating his physics-defying ride, the Auto Car.
18
My Mother the Car
Ride of Choice: The "1928 Porter," housing the reincarnated Gladys Crabtree
Don't let the fact that most critics unanimously revile the series among the worst of all time. In fact, younger viewers thorougly enjoyed the show's uniquely "wacky" supernatural premise.
It was Dick Van Dyke's brother Jerry, and an antique car whose radio concealed the soul of his deceased mother, talking to him from beyond the grave. Writing. Gold.
17
Car 54, Where Are You?
Ride of Choice: Car 54 (duh)
The original 1961 NBC series followed tthe exploits of Bronx police officers Gunther Toody and Francis Muldoon, and interestingly, managed to avoid attracting attention in its filming by coloring the actual car bright red and white, which still looked correct in the monochrome broadcast (actual police cars being green and black.)
16
Herbie, The Love Bug
Ride of Choice: Herbie, himself
What a tremendous shame that we only got through five episodes of the TV series based on 1968's The Love Bug before its cancellation. The adorable beetle continues to make his mark in film decades later, but it could be quite some time before audiences will tune back in for a car that isn't fighting robots or shooting lasers (though believe it or not, he once did).
15
Hot Wheels
Sheesh, it's as if every cartoon to focus more on the automobiles than characters only exists to hawk the toys. Still, Hot Wheels grabbed all our auto-attentions as youngsters, and continues to with the newest incarnation Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5.
Personally, I remember the older cartoons that featured hovercars supported by magnetism, and the intense frustration of not understanding why that didn't work in real life. We want hovercars, damn it!
14
Speedway Squad!
Okay, so maybe this show didn't actually exist, but came rather as a dream of Mr. Smithers during his drunken breakdown following Mr. Burns' shooting.
Still, detectives in the racing circuit blasting shotguns out of the passenger's seat? Why hasn't anyone picked this up for a spin-off yet?!
13
The Highwayman
Ride of Choice: The futuristic, multi-purpose black truck.
Something of a cross between Mad Max and Knight Rider, the so-called "Highwaymen" patrolled the land in their sleek, and powerfully intimidating trucks that concealed sports cars for quicker travel, a helicopter detachment and even invisibility camoflauge.
It only lasted for ten episodes, but still. Want.
12
Turbo Teen
Ride of Choice: Brett Matthews and his third-generation Chevy Camaro
Because what was the only thing that could have made Knight Rider more than the sum of a man fighting crime with his bad-ass, self-aware car?
How about if Michael Knight actually turned into his car, thanks to the molecular beam that granted Turbo Teen his amazing powers?! Admit it, you're intrigued.
11
Power Rangers: Turbo
Ride of Choice: The Turbozords
Finally! Zords that look like they made an iota of sense in their design! The third incarnation of The Power Rangers began with its own theatrical film, and eschewed the notion of dinosaurs and legendary beasts for the more practical (but size-changing) vehicles, a concept that would later see re-use among the other 47,000 incarnations of the franchise.
10
M.A.S.K.
Ride of Choice: The Mobile Armored Strike Kommand
Essentially combining the premises of G.I. Joe and Transformers, who didn't love the adventures of Matt Trakker, Bruce Sato, Dusty Hayes and Alex Sector against the villainous V.E.N.O.M.?
And how long must we wait for the property to be picked up, Hollywood?
9
Knight Rider (2008)
Ride of Choice: Knight Industries Three Thousand
I think you knew this was coming. Picking off some years later from the first Knight Rider (and the many attempts at TV movies and revivals), the new Knight Rider moved away from the Hoff by detailing the adventures of Michael Knight's estranged son Mike Traceur. With KITT upgraded to a sleek new Ford Mustang shell, the only thing this team couldn't outrun was its own cancellation.
Possibly because they made KARR a f$%king Transformer. Just saying.
8
Challenge of the Gobots
Ride of Choice: Leader 1, Turbo and Scooter
Don't hate. Just because the Go-Bots didn't make a lick of effort to distinguish themselves from the Transformers didn't mean that our Saturday mornings weren't doubly blessed with all the robot car action we could dream of.
7
Drive
Ride of Choice: Alex Tully's Dodge Challenger
Poor Nathan Fillion saw even less time on the air in his second attempt at a Fox series, but certainly made an impression in the mysterious cross-country race that catapulted Alex Tully back into his dark past as a semi-professional racer.
Sigh. Pour one out for another Fox series tragically cancelled too soon.
6
Viper
Ride of Choice: The Defender
Picking up where shows like Knight Rider left off, Viper saw the use of a special Dodge Viper that transformed into an armored, weapons equipped "Defender" complete with hologram projectors, battering rams, grappling hooks, a hover craft mode and the all-important four-wheel drive.
And what better way to fight Metro City's various crime waves than with a single, decked out car?
5
Fastlane
We've said it before, and we'll say it again. High-octane automobile action akin to The Fast and the Furious on TV, Peter Facinelli before he was a vampire and Tiffany Amber-Thiessen making out with Jamie Pressly. What's not to love?
Sure, it didn't have the strongest characters or following, but its uniquely cinematic style made for some very compelling (and high-budget) action not often found on TV.
4
The Dukes of Hazzard
Ride of Choice: The General Lee
Okay, so Dukes focused plenty on Bo and Luke, and its rich supporting cast's misadventures in moonshining throughout the county, but wouldn't have anything without its high-flying car-chases and rich stock of expendable police cars.
3
Speed Racer
Ride of Choice: The Mach Five
Real life racing would be far more enjoyable were its vehicles outfitted with abilities such as auto-jacks, grip-tires, buzz-saws and small robots. Yet in the tragic absence of such fare, Speed Racer always gave us our car-combat fix even in its maligned movie adaptation.
2
Knight Rider
Ride of Choice: KITT
Go on, act like the theme music isn't racing through your head as you look back on the original adventures of Michael Knight and George Feeny, inevitably waiting for any opportunity to use the turbo boost in situation where "direct action might provide the only feasible solution."
Ride on, KITT. No matter how many re-makes they put you through.
1
Transformers
Ride of Choice: The Autobots, and Decepticons, of course
Love them or hate them, nothing outdoes the most prominent TV property to avoid the difficulty of focusing on cars over characters by making the cars characters themselves.
For decades now these heroes have transformed and rolled out across numerous cartoon franchises and Michael Bay explosion orgies, and Optimus Prime shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.
UGO