Turbo Teen



Turbo Teen was an Animated Series created by Ruby Spears that aired Saturday mornings on the ABC Network for twelve episodes between 1984 and 1985. The series was once rerun on the USA Network's now-defunct USA Cartoon Express block.

The series is about a teenager named Brett Matthews, who swerves off a road during a thunderstorm and crashes into a secret government laboratory. There, he and his red sports car are accidentally exposed to a molecular beam invented by Dr. Chase and the two become fused together. As a result, Brett has the ability to morph into the car when exposed to extreme heat, and reverts back into his human form when exposed to extreme cold. With this amazing new super hero power, Brett and his friends (who call him "TT") go on crime fighting adventures and thwart evildoers. As a subplot, Brett constantly searches for a way to return back to normal with the help of the scientists responsible for this.

A reoccurring villain is the mysterious, unseen "Dark Rider", who drives a monster truck and seeks to capture TT to find the secret behind his abilities.

The concept of a person changing forms when the temperature changes isn't unheard of but this show predates Ranma 1/2 by several years. It was very likely influenced by Knight Rider, as the car looks a lot like the Pontiac Trans-Am used for KITT.

Turbo Teen provides examples of:

 * Black Best Friend
 * Blessed With Suck
 * Body Horror
 * Car Fu
 * Cool Car
 * Expository Theme Tune
 * Freak Lab Accident
 * I Just Want to Be Normal
 * New Super Power
 * Shapeshifting
 * Superhero
 * Super Hero Origin
 * They Fight Crime