Sometimes I just get in a retro mood..I'm kinda surprised Warners never got around to releasing a DVD of this series, especially considering the success of CARS,which this predated by at least a good twenty-five years.
Not there hasn't been cartoons with anthropomorhic vechicles before..TEX AVERY did ONE CAB'S FAMILY, for example..and there was the Ant Hill Mob's CHUGGABOOM in THE PERILS OF PENELOPE PITSTOP and SPEED BUGGY, who was the first animated car to have an entire SERIES around him..But to my knowledge (And feel free to prove me wrong) WHEELIE was the first series to feature a world populated entirely by motor vehicles.
The series itself came off a cross between Disney's HERBIE THE LOVE BUG (Cartoon Network bumpers have stated that Herbie was the inspiration for Wheelie) and Chuck Jones's ROAD RUNNER series..(the ever-used chase and backfiring traps formula) Wheelie even "SPOKE" In beeps and honks..The series was also one of the last cartoons series produced that didn't try to forcefeed the viwer purile moral lessons.
Episodes of WHEELIE can be found at www.youtube.com Judge them for yourself.
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