The first of four new episodes of Cars Toons, the series of animated shorts based on the Disney-Pixar movie Cars, is set to premiere Nov. 20 on Disney Channel, Disney XD and ABC Family.
The episodes are directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Rob Gibbs and Victor Navone. Composer Mark Mothersbaugh wrote the music for three of the shorts, with BT scoring the fourth.
The premiere episode, “Unidentified Flying Mater,’ will be followed by three more Cars Toons episodes in 2010.
The episodes are described by Disney as follows:
‘ “Unidentified Flying Mater.’ Mater meets a cute little bucktoothed UFO named Mator, takes him out for a night of fun and they quickly become best friends. But when Mator is captured by the military, Mater and Lightning McQueen come to the rescue.
‘ “Monster Truck Mater.” Mater is a professional wrestler who works his way up the ranks from amateur to World Champion Monster Truck Wrestler, wrestling all kinds of characters along the way. When faced with his biggest opponent yet, Mater tags in his “tag team partner,” Frightening McMean.
‘ “Heavy Metal Mater.” Mater is a rock star in a heavy metal band. He starts out in a garage band and rises to the top with his hit song, “Dad Gum.” Lightning McQueen joins him on stage in the middle of a huge concert and they rock into history.
‘ “Tokyo Mater.” A routine towing assignment lands Mater in Tokyo, where he is challenged to a drift-style race against a nefarious gang leader and his posse of ninjas. With the help of his friend, “Dragon” Lightning McQueen, and some special modifications, Mater attempts to drift to victory and become “Tow-ke-O Mater, King of all Drifters.”
