Road Rovers is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation that premiered on Kids' WB on September 7, 1996. After one season it ended on February 22, 1997. Reruns continued to air until September 6, 1997. It was then on Cartoon Network from February 7, 1998 until 2000.
The show follows the adventures of the Road Rovers, a team of five super-powered crime-fighting anthropomorphic dogs, known as "cano-sapiens".
Plot
The eponymous Road Rovers. From left to right: Muzzle, Shag, Hunter, Colleen, Blitz, and Exile.
In the town of Socorro, New Mexico (one year prior to the formation of the Road Rovers), Professor Shepherd was forced to relinquish experimental transdogmafier technology to General Parvo in exchange for his lost dog, but instead Parvo gives him a bomb that destroys his laboratory. Next year, as normal dogs begin to mutate into monsters, Shephard, who miraculously survived the attack, takes measures to stop Parvo who is behind this.
Shepherd selects five different dogs and in his new, secret underground lab, he uses his new transdogmifier on the five, turning them into "Cano-sapiens".
Characters
Hunter (Jess Harnell): A Goldador from the United States and the leader of the team. While an effective, loyal, optimistic, and loyal leader, Hunter also can get overly cocky. Hunter's power is super speed; this allows him to run faster than the speed of sound. He is shown to love playing, especially catch with a ball. He has a good relationship with everyone on the team, especially Colleen, whom he shares similar qualities with. In terms of family, Hunter lives with President Bill Clinton in the White House. Hunter is also known to have a mother, which he lived with until she was taken to an animal shelter in episode thirteen.
Colleen (Tress MacNeille): A no-nonsense Rough Collie from the United Kingdom, and the only female in the group. Colleen is the coordinator of the team, always checking to make sure everything goes well without any problems or issues. She is also a skilled martial artist, using her skills to help the team. She gets along well with the team, and with her good looks, many of them have a crush on her. It is hinted that she had mutual feeling for Hunter. Blitz also has feelings for Colleen, but these go unreciprocated, with her playfully making fun of Blitz in return, to the point of anger. Nothing it known about her past family or master, and she currently resides with the prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Blitz (Jeff Bennett): A Doberman from Germany. Unlike Hunter, Blitz is shown to have arrogant, selfish, and cowardly tendencies. Blitz has a short temper, and is quick to anger. His super powers are his sharp claws and strong jaws, which allow him to bite and claw through most things. He also loves peppermint milkshakes biting rear ends. He sometimes has a strained relationship with the other Rovers, with many of them teasing him. He has a crush on Colleen, but only returns this by playing around with Blitz, and giving him unwanted nicknames. Colleen has been known to resort to physical violence when Blitz attempts to lay a finger on her. Blitz formerly was a guard dog for thieves, but now lives with the chancellor of Germany.
Exile (Kevin Michael Richardson): A Siberian Husky from Siberia. His full name it’s Exilo Michalovitch Sanhusky. Exile speaks English with a thick Russian accent, sometimes mixing up words in the process (ex: "Aprilday" instead of "Mayday", "Jingle balls" instead of "Jingle bells"). Blitz is a kindhearted, friendly person, but also has a bit of a temper. He has a good relationship with Blitz, although disliked Blitz acting like a "weirdo" in front of him. His super powers are super vision, which include heat, freeze, as well as night vision, as well as super strength. He is shown to be good at fixing things, and just as good at breaking them. Exile used to work with other huskies as a sled dog, but now lives with the president of Russia. In episode three, Exile mentions having a mother, whom he misses, and a father, who he has a much colder relationship with. Exile loves giving and receiving kisses and bear hugs, especially when it comes to his teammates, and has an affinity for children's books.
Shag (Frank Welker): An Old English Sheepdog from Switzerland. Shag only transformed halfway into a Cano-sapien. He walks like a human, but speaks in a half-dog, half-human dialect. In addition to this, he does not wear a uniform, instead remaining in his natural state. He serves as the cook for the team, and gets along with all of its members. He possesses the ability to carry supplies for the team, and is able to carry whatever they need. He lived in a valley with a flock of sheep, but now lives with the president of the Swiss Confederation.
Muzzle (Frank Welker): A Rottweiler. Muzzle was once "Scout", Professor Sheperd's dog that was kidnapped. He was never transformed into a Cano-sapien,but instead becoming aggressive due to Parvo's failed experiment on him. Due to this aggression, he is often restrained on a cart while wearing a straitjacket and mask. He serves as a “final attack” for the team. Whenever the Rovers feel they are outnumbers, Hunter takes off Muzzle’s straitjacket and mask, letting Muzzle jump in to attack on Hunter's command of “Let’s Muzzle ‘em!”. Muzzle and Hunter first meet when Parvo drops Muzzle off at an animal shelter, after having failed to turn Muzzle into a Cano-sapien.
Professor William F. Shepherd "The Master" (Joseph Campanella): The geneticist behind the transdogmafier and the Road Rovers. He’s the master of the Road Rovers, and the one who selected each of them. Without him, the world would have been ruled by the cano-mutants led by Parvo.
When Shepherd attempt to recover Scout from Parvo, he gave Parvo what he ask in return of Scout. Unfortunately, he was tricked, and he receive a bomb instead, causing the whole laboratory he owns be fell into ruins and sending to the underground. By then, Parvo believed that Shepherd died there. However, he had no knowledge that Shepherd survive, leaving him to finish what he need to.
And so, he build the team’s headquarters, with everything the need: weapons, food, vehicles, bathrooms, transformation pods, recovery room, even a meeting room.
Whenever there’s danger or troubles in an indicated place, Shepherd calls for the rovers and informs them about it. It was never tolled how Shepherd got his hair got white after his disappearance, nor why he’s always behind a gate of light almost hiding entirely his identity. (Though he gives a very simple reason: “special effects”)
General Parvo (Jim Cummings): The Road Rovers' main antagonist who is out to destroy Professor Shepherd and conquer the world. He has a permanent cough. It was later in the series that General Parvo was at one time a Cat before being transformed into a "Felin Sapien", which resemble humans a great deal more than Shepherd's Cano-sapiens. He shares a very similar appearance to wrestler Hulk Hogan. The name Parvo derives from a canine disease which often kills puppies.
The Groomer (Sheena Easton): The Groomer is the mostly loyal assistant to General Parvo. She's generally armed with a portable hair clipper, though she uses other equipment when appropriate. She also provides Parvo with throat lozenges to calm his coughing fits.
Episodes
#
Title
Directed by
Written By
Original Air Date
Prod. code
1
Let's Hit The Road
Herb Moore
Tom Ruegger & Mark Seidenberg
September 7, 1996
2
Storm From The Pacific
Jon McClenahan
Earl Kress & Tom Ruegger
September 14, 1996
3
A Hair of The Dog That Bit You
Scott Jeralds
John Ludin & Mark Seidenberg
September 21, 1996
4
Where Rovers Dare
Herb Moore
Brian Chin & Tom Ruegger
October 12, 1996
5
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Blair Peters
Nick Dubois
October 26, 1996
6
The Dog Who Knew Too Much
Jon McClenahan
Earl Kress & Tom Ruegger
November 2, 1996
7
Hunter's Heroes
Scott Jeralds
John Ludin & Mark Seidenberg
November 9, 1996
8
Dawn of The Groomer
Herb Moore
Mark Seidenberg
November 16, 1996
9
Still A Few Bugs In The System
Brad Neave
Nick Dubois
November 23, 1996
10
Reigning Cats And Dogs
Herb Moore
Tom Ruegger & Mark Seidenberg
February 1, 1997
11
Gold And Retrievers
Jon McClenahan
Jeff Kwitny & Tom Ruegger
February 8, 1997
12
Take Me To Your Leader
Brian Chin & Scott Jeralds
Nick Dubois & Mark Seidenberg
February 15, 1997
13
A Day In The Life
Scott Jeralds
Tom Ruegger
February 22, 1997
Home media releases
A multi-region DVD of the entire series was announced on February 4, 2015 by Warner Archive and was released on February 10, 2015.
