Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch

Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch

Genre	Animation Adventure Comedy
Written by	Larz Bourne Len Janson Chuck Menville Robert Ogle Dalton Sandifer
Directed by	Charles A. Nichols
Voices of	Frank Welker Don Messick Lennie Weinrib Paul Winchell Judy Strangis
Composer(s)	Hoyt Curtin
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	13 (39 segments)
Production
Executive producer(s)	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Producer(s)	Iwao Takamoto
Running time	30 minutes (6 minutes per segment)
Production company(s)	Hanna-Barbera Productions
Distributor	Taft Broadcasting (original) Worldvision Enterprises (former) Great American Broadcasting (former) Turner Entertainment (former) Warner Bros. Television (current)
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 7, 1974 – August 30, 1975

Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on NBC from September 7, 1974 to August 30, 1975. It aired from 8:30-9:00 am, opposite the popular The Bugs Bunny Show. A total of 39 six-minute installments of the show were made (3 aired per show).

In the 80s, repeats were shown on USA Cartoon Express and later resurfaced on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. Since the show aired on NBC, Wheelie sometimes "imitated" the network's trademark "chimes". This was the first and only Hanna-Barbera series to feature no humans and animals in it.

Plot

The series focuses on Wheelie, a red superhero Volkswagen Beetle, and his girlfriend Rota Ree (a pun on the "rotary engine"). Wheelie made his living as a professional - and quite successful - racing and stunt car. Wheelie only speaks in body sound effects, unlike the other characters in the show, but also emoted by his honking language and displaying symbols across his windshield monitor showing his inner thoughts such as a heart for love or a lightbulb for an idea. Wheelie could also produce any form of prop needed from his hood latch the use of special mechanized hands, much like Inspector Gadget would later.

Wheelie's regular nemeses were a 4-member motorcycle agency called the Chopper Bunch which included the leader Chopper (who was jealous of Wheelie and had a spiked motorcycle helmet for a head), Revs (a sputtering three-wheeled motorcycle who often mixed up his words), Hi-Riser (who was tall in body but shorter in brains), and Scrambles (a small minibike who acted more like the good kid caught up in the wrong crowd). Scrambles would constantly try to warn Chopper that his plans were about to backfire only to be rebuffed ("Muffle it, Scrambles!") and end up taunting his sullen leader once they inevitably did:

(SCRAMBLES: "Itoldja! Itoldja!"

CHOPPER: "I know! I KNOW!!")

Two other characters were used on occasion to keep the Chopper Bunch in line. They were Captain Tough a hulking Police car, and Fishtail, who was literally a motorcycle cop.

Comic book

A seven-issue comic book (based on the show) from Charlton Comics was published from July 1975 to July 1976. The first five issues featured some of the earliest published artwork of John Byrne (#2-4) and Joe Staton (#1,#5).

Episodes

Each 30-minute episode consists of three 6-minute cartoons.

No.	Title	Original air date
1	"Get a Doctor / A Day at the Beach / Ghost Riders"	September 7, 1974 (1974-09-07)
2	"Double Cross Country / The Stunt Show / Razzle Dazzle Paint Job"	September 14, 1974 (1974-09-14)
3	"The Autolympics / The Delivery Service / The Infiltrator"	September 21, 1974 (1974-09-21)
4	"The Big Bumper / Surprise Party / On the Town"	September 28, 1974 (1974-09-28)
5	"Black Belt Fuji / Our Hero / Wheelie Goes Hawaiian"	October 5, 1974 (1974-10-05)
6	"The Inspection / The Old Timer / The Copter Caper"	October 12, 1974 (1974-10-12)
7	"Dr. Crankenstein / Bulldozer Buddy / Happy Birthday Wheelie"	October 19, 1974 (1974-10-19)
8	"Wheelie, The Super Star / Down on the Farm / Roadeo"	October 26, 1974 (1974-10-26)
9	"Carfucios Says / Mighty Wheelie / Camping With a Go Go"	November 2, 1974 (1974-11-02)
10	"Lenny Van Limousine / Snow Foolin / Wheelie in Paris"	November 9, 1974 (1974-11-09)
11	"Dragster Net / Dragula / Boot Camp"	November 16, 1974 (1974-11-16)
12	"Dr Cykll and Mr. Ryde / Johnny Crash / Wheelie and the Smoke Eater"	November 23, 1974 (1974-11-23)
13	"Friday the Thirteenth / Wings of Wheelie / Wheelie's Clean Sweep"	November 30, 1974 (1974-11-30)

Voices

Frank Welker - Wheelie, Chopper, Motto the Monster Truck (Ep. "Dr. Crankenstein")
Don Messick - Scrambles, Fishtail, Seasea the Sailor Scooter (Ep. "The Infiltrator"), Carfucios the Rickshaw (Ep. "Carfucios Says"), Go-Go the Go-Kart and the Park Ranger (Ep. "Camping with a Go Go")
Lennie Weinrib - Hi-Riser, The Cop Copter (Ep. "The Copter Caper"), Tony the Tow Truck (Ep. "Mighty Wheelie")
Paul Winchell - Revs, Captain Tough, Doctor Crankenstein, The Old Timer, Mail Truck (Ep. "Cross Country Race"), Lifeguard (Ep. "A Day at the Beach")
Judy Strangis - Rota Ree, Nurse (Ep. "Get a Doctor")

Home Media releases

Episode 2 of Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch was included on Disc #1 of Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Volume 1 released by Warner Home Video on May 26, 2009. On January 25, 2011, Warner Archive released Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.^[1]

Other media

Hi-Riser appeared in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "SPF" voiced by Maurice LaMarche. He appeared as one of the many characters who were victims of cybersquatting.
Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch were referenced in the Psych episode "Zero to Murder in Sixty Seconds."
The series is believed to have been one of the inspirations for the CGI-animated Pixar and Disney film, Cars.
The name Wheelie and the voice of Frank Welker would both be given to a character from Transformers.

References

↑ "Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch - Ship Date, Pricing and More for 'The Complete Series'".

External links

Children's programming on NBC in the 1970s

First-run animated series	Here Comes the Grump The Pink Panther Show (1969–78) The Underdog Show The Further Adventures of Dr. Dolittle The Houndcats The Roman Holidays The Barkleys Sealab 2020 Around the World in 80 Days Inch High, Private Eye The Addams Family Emergency +4 Butch Cassidy Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–75) Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty Return to the Planet of the Apes (1975–76) CB Bears The Young Sentinels The New Archie and Sabrina Hour (1977) I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali Baggy Pants and the Nitwits Yogi's Space Race Galaxy Goof-Ups The Godzilla Power Hour Fantastic Four Fabulous Funnies The New Fred and Barney Show Buford and the Galloping Ghost Casper and the Angels (1979–80) Fred and Barney Meet The Thing (1979-80) The Super Globetrotters The New Shmoo (1979–80) The New Adventures of Flash Gordon (1979–80)

First-run live-action series	H.R. Pufnstuf The Banana Splits Adventure Hour Barrier Reef The Bugaloos (1970–72) Mr. Wizard Runaround Sigmund and the Sea Monsters Go Run, Joe, Run Land of the Lost (1974–77) Westwind McDuff, the Talking Dog Monster Squad Big John, Little John (1976–77) The Kids From C.A.P.E.R. Muggsy Thunder Search and Rescue The Red Hand Gang The Krofft Superstar Hour

Rebroadcasts	The Heckle and Jeckle Show The Flintstones The Woody Woodpecker Show Deputy Dawg The Jetsons Josie and the Pussycats Speed Buggy Space Ghost and Frankenstein Jr. Hong Kong Phooey The Go-Go Globetrotters The Alvin Show The Daffy Duck Show Jonny Quest

Schedules	1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80

Related programming and topics	Animation in the United States in the television era

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