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Titmouse Shows Car Culture - and Racoons - Lots of Love in ‘Super Turbo Story Time’

For executive producers Chris Prynoski and Daniel C. Katz, both long-time automotive and animation nerds, MotorTrend TV’s new series brings their two passions together for the first time; the live-action / 2D show premiered yesterday, March 14, across the brand’s TV and streaming platforms.

Who knew there would come a day where the high-octane, rubber-burning road of car culture and the artsy-fartsy boulevard of 2D animation would intersect? For Titmouse executive producers Chris Prynoski (also the animation studio’s founder and president) and Daniel C. Katz, it’s been a dream they’ve long dreamt, now brought to fruition with MotorTrend TV’s Super Turbo Story Time.

“I love cars and cartoons,” says Prynoski. “When MotorTrend contacted us about this gig, I knew just who to call. Dan and I have been talking about making car cartoons for years!”

Katz adds, “My two biggest passions in life are cars and animation and it was fun for me to be able to combine those. Although the show is geared toward a car-loving audience, and I hope they dig it, I look forward to the response from people who wouldn’t normally watch a car show. I hope to show that audience how rich and wonderful the world of car nerds can be.”

MotorTrend Group, a Warner Bros. Discovery company, premiered their original series, Super Turbo Story Time yesterday, March 14, across the brand's television and streaming platforms. It’s MotorTrend's first animated show and each of the first season’s eight episodes is hosted by a duo of celebrity guests who share larger-than-life stories from the automotive world, illustrated with a mix of boisterous adult animation from Titmouse.

The goal of the series is to both honor long-time car nerds and welcome new car culture members into the fold through engaging visuals and entertaining humor. While one host shares their most unbelievable automotive tale, the other host listens intently, ready to flag any holes in the story or simply crack jokes from the peanut gallery.

Featured hosts include Rob Corddry, comedian, producer, and co-host of Top Gear America on MotorTrend+; actress, producer and car builder Emelia Hartford; David Freiburger, co-host of Roadkill on MotorTrend+; rapper, actor and songwriter Xzibit; Kristen Lee, automotive journalist; racer and voice of Formula D, Jarod DeAnda; Jeff Glucker, co-founder and executive editor of Hooniverse; Dave Shuten of Discovery Channel's Car Kings; actress and stunt woman of Death Proof, Zoë Bell; and actor, comedian, writer and producer Colton Dunn. Animation and backgrounds from Titmouse were all done in Adobe Animate and composited in After Effects.

“We knew Titmouse was the company to co-produce the show with,” says a MotorTrend spokesperson. “They’ve done so many great programs, and we knew they would help take Super Turbo Story Time to the next level. We wanted to stay true to classic automotive design, but also create a visually dynamic and stylized world of adult-animation that would elevate our hosts’ stories. We can’t wait to have new audiences — fans of Titmouse animation and beyond — join the MotorTrend universe.”

The series covers stories that take place from as long ago as the early 1900’s all the way up to present day, and everywhere in between. Titmouse’s challenge was to make each story feel period, while also keeping a consistent look for the show as a whole.

“The way we did that was to keep the design language consistent while changing the color scripts and lighting to match the period and tone of the story,” explains Katz. “For example, in the story of the 1911 Vanderbilt Cup we used more desaturated, sepia tones, whereas in the Midnight Club story about ’90s street racing in Japan, we played up high contrast tones and neon lighting. We also used typography and title cards to establish unique tones for each story. They both have raccoons in them though, which is ultimately the thread that ties it all together.”

He adds, “No one mentions raccoons in their story, but spoiler alert, there are so many raccoons.”

On top of making sure all the visuals were cohesive and true to their settings, Titmouse also aimed to make sure the animation helped tie together scattered plot points and make very large-scale stories easier to follow. 

“The goal was to make the action and gags easy to read since our storytellers would often jump around in time and weave interesting asides into their stories,” notes Katz. “It was important to be able to jump in and out of a scene quickly without losing the thread.”

The design language for the cars was also an important consideration when it came to the animation since, in many of the stories, the cars themselves are the main characters.

“We had to do the cars justice without making them impossible to animate,” says Katz, who is a big Formula 1 fan and particularly enjoyed his time animating a legendary battle on the Nürburgring. “If we got the emblem wrong on a certain year or model of Mustang, please let us know.”

Having spent the last 10 years working exclusively on fully animated projects, such as The Legend of Korra, Big Mouth, The Legend of Vox Machina, Star Trek: Lower Decks and many others, the Titmouse team enjoyed directing on a live-action set and, as stated by Katz, getting to yell, “Action!” 

“It was also a new experience to build the scenes on top of a first person retelling of a story and reacting to their enthusiasm for the material while also getting to add layers of jokes and context with the visuals,” says Katz. “I hope this can inspire more artists and animators to express their passions for their non-art-related interests. I think it’s time for someone to make an animated cooking show.”

Victoria Davis's picture

Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.