Hot Wheels AcceleRacers

Hot Wheels AcceleRacers

The second film's DVD box art
Genre Action
Adventure
Sci-fi
Created by Andrew Duncan
Written by Mark Edens
Directed by Andrew Duncan
Gino Nichele
William Gordon
William Lau
Starring Lisa Ann Beley
Dexter Bell
Michael Donovan
Brian Drummond
Andrew Duncan
Andrew Francis
Adrian Holmes
David Kaye
Cusse Manukuma
Kasper Michaels
Kirby Morrow
Kevan Ohtsji
Will Sanderson
Venus Terzo
Kathleen Barr
Theme music composer Brian Carson
Country of origin United States
Production
Producer(s) Ian Richter
Gio Corsi
Shea Wageman
Ben Burden Smith
Running time 60 minutes
Production company(s) Mainframe Entertainment
Mattel
Distributor Warner Bros. Television
Release
Original network Cartoon Network
Original release January 8, 2005
Chronology
Preceded by Hot Wheels World Race
Followed by Hot Wheels Battle Force 5

Hot Wheels AcceleRacers is an animated series of movies by Mattel. It is computer-animated, produced by Mainframe Entertainment out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, which also produced ReBoot and distributed by Warner Bros. Available on DVD and VHS, it has also been shown on Cartoon Network.

The show takes Mattel's Hot Wheels toy cars and puts them in a ReBoot-like situation, with racing somewhat reminiscent of Tron. This is a sequel series to Hot Wheels World Race. Both shows take place in California. A soundtrack was distributed by Sony BMG and toys were sold in stores and given away in McDonald's Happy Meal.

Plot

Two years after the end of the World Race, Dr. Peter Tezla continues to study the information he gathered on the Wheel of Power while it was in his possession. However, he finds that Gelorum has returned is now fully repaired, now with her army of Racing Drones and she is attempting to steal the Wheel of Power again. Tezla enters the Highway 35 himself and attempts to stop Gelorum but fails and is greatly injured as the Drones capture the Wheel. He manages to escape back to Earth and the Drones turn Hot Wheels City into their new headquarters.

Meanwhile, in the present-day at California, former World Race drivers Vert Wheeler, Kurt Wylde, Taro Kitano, and Mark Wylde have now become members of two street racing teams: the Teku and the Metal Maniacs. During a grudge race on the coastline, Dr. Tezla's robotic assistant Gig appears, telling the World Race drivers that Dr. Tezla needs their help. Arriving at Dr. Tezla’s old base from the World Race, with some of their new teammates, they find it partially destroyed. Former Dune Ratz driver Brian Kadeem appears and takes them to the AcceleDrome, Dr. Tezla's new base. After the drivers arrive, Dr. Tezla appears on a large hologram in the middle of the cavern and tells them what he has found: new Acceleron knowledge from his research on the Wheel of Power's research. Now that the Wheel has been taken from its spire in Highway 35, the Drones have control over the dimension’s portals.

Each of the symbols on the Wheel represents one of the Racing Realms, inter-dimensional worlds that have tracks that go through a single element in the hardest way possible for driving conditions, providing even more challenge in comparison to the preceding World Race. With Kadeem guiding both the Teku and the Metal Maniacs to the new Acceledrome, they are greeted by Dr. Tezla, who must now wear an exoskeleton due to the wounds inflicted to him, and former World Race driver Lani Tam. Shortly after the arrival of the first drivers, the Storm Realm opens, and the drivers quickly load their cars with the Nitrox gasoline, a booster developed only by Tezla himself.

Chaos ensues in the realm, as the cars used by the previous world race drivers are either abandoned in the realm or are damaged beyond repair, and both Kurt and Taro being injured during the race. Additionally, Kadeem was sent plummeting off-track, and Vert, who attempted to go back to find and save Kadeem, was forced to leave the realm after being suddenly informed by Lani of the realms only being open for an hour, and barely makes it out, with his car being torn in half during exit, and a racing drone also grabs hold of Vert's car and makes escapes to the Acceledrome with him. Shortly after, both teams contact other members in order to not only have additional drivers to race in the realms, but to also compensate for the cars that were either left behind or damaged. This leads to both Shirako Takomoto of the Teku and Porkchop of the Metal Maniacs arriving. After managing to salvage their losses, the Swamp Realm opens, but the swamp monster guarding the exit proves too much as the Nitrox boost by a single car as well as drafting with two cars proves ineffectual. Miraculously, however, Nolo manages to stay on the parts of the tracks with the most traction, and manages to evade the monster's grasp, and win the race.

Over a series of different races between Ignition and The Speed of Silence, the drivers manage to acquire a wheel from the Drones's car, and this is reverse-engineered to reinforce the wheels of the drivers, and to allow drivers to switch tires during races without having to stop. They are also able to win the Cavern Realm's race and earn the Accelecharger. Additionally, Dr. Tezla also created the E.D.R, an escape mechanism to allow the driver to escape a realm should the situation become too dangerous. Shortly after, the Water realm opens, and a new selection process is revealed, which keeps some drivers in the reserve in case others do not make it out. During the race at the Water Realm, Porkchop nearly drowns when he is too stricken by his fear of water but is able to hit the E.D.R. Unfortunately, the escape plunges Porkchop to the gas tanks, injuring him in the process. Nolo later asks Lani about Porkchop's status, and later clarifies that he didn't hate the Metal Maniacs as a whole, simply hates one of them Meanwhile, Karma, who has been racing the drone that joined Vert's exit from the Storm Realm, realizes that each of the realms were designed to test specific traits of a driver, and informs Vert, who is in the lead, to watch his oversteer as he travels above water. Vert ignores the advise, and he is sent flying off-track when he oversteers above water, just a short distance from the realm's exit. Soon after, Taro, who is sandwiched by two drones exits the realm second, but unexpectedly finds himself in the drones' headquarters. Taro boosts back into the realm while going in reverse, and now finds himself at the beginning of the Water Realm. With his E.D.R damaged due to the water, Taro successfully makes it out of the realm a second time, with help from Karma's constant stream of information. While many drivers rejoice at Taro's narrow escape, Vert becomes even more disheartened by his failure at the realms and opts to quietly leave.

Later, the Metro Realm opens up, and Dr. Tezla intentionally puts both Tork and Nolo in the same race despite knowing the open hostility between the two. Monkey, who had yet to completely replace his car from previous races, is ordered by Tork to use Wylde's car instead after Nolo smashed his windshield with a wrench, much to Wylde's dissatisfaction. During the race, a sweeper appears for the first time, and manages to capture Monkey and Nolo.Tork successfully rescues Nolo and Monkey while the other drivers continue the race. Unbeknownst to other drivers, one of the cars belonging to the realm uses a hyperpod to go above the traffic. Eventually, Kurt manages to complete the realm before any of the other drivers and the drones but is surprisingly not awarded the Accelecharger. Despite Wylde's desire to dismantle Kurt's car, Tork chooses the less violent option, and simply allows Gig to search Kurt's car for trace of energy left by Accelechargers, further increasing Wylde's frustrations. The final scene of the film showed Kurt's car and a drone's car entering a mysterious base, before revealing the Silencerz and their base for the first time.

During the time between The Speed of Silence and Breaking Point, the drivers race through the Ice Realm. In the race, Taro nearly makes it to the exit, but Karma quickly swerves, and he is knocked out of the track. Despite Karma asserting that she never met Taro during the race, Taro continues to examine her car's camera due to how her camera was suspiciously damaged during the realm. Monkey was also revealed to have reprogrammed the drone in the Acceledrome into a more friendly creature dubbed "Sparky". At the same time, Wylde, having had enough of Tork, decides to challenge Tork for leadership of the team, and decide that the first one who can make a round trip to the original Acceledrome. Elsewhere, Gelorum speaks to Kadeem, who is revealed to have been captured by the drones after his fall from the Storm Realm. When Kadeem adamantly refuses to tell her the location of the new Acceledrome, she proceeds to transform Kadeem into a drone. The Pipeline Realm opens, and Tezla begins to confirm the suspect in the accounts of Taro's story. In the race, Shirako is downed by a drone, but he is seemingly rescued by Monkey. Dr. Tezla, who had entered the realm without the knowledge of most of the drivers, reveals that Shirako's saviour was an unknown driver that had disguised himself as Monkey, and the unknown driver proceeds to escape the realm after his cover is blown. The race between Tork and Wylde also concludes in Wylde's victory after he goads Tork that the only way he would win is to strike his opponent's car, which causes Tork to relent due to the trauma of his race with Tone. Meanwhile, Taro spots Karma's car near the end of the realm, but Lani and Gig find that Karma is in a separate location and attempt to encourage Taro to attack the car. Unable to hear Lani's words through a broken radio, Taro decides to stand down, and "Karma" takes to opportunity to create an energy wave which costs Taro another victory.

When all the drivers complete the realm, Karma asks Taro why he didn't take the chance to strike back at "her", to which he responds "I don't know". Dr. Tezla and Gelorum soon inform their drivers of the presence of a new group of racers that have won previous realms, the Silencerz. When Tezla is questioned why his car was so similar to that of the Silencerz, he replies that the Silencerz have been stealing his technology.

Soon, the Junk Realm opens, and Vert returns to the Acceledrome, shortly after the opening. Despite being unhappy with Vert leaving without informing anyone, Tezla decides to still allow Vert to race, and he is lent the Swamp Realm Accelecharger Nolo won. Meanwhile, Wylde attempts to get Porkchop to use Tork's car despite Porkchop not being called up for the next race, an order that Porkchop vehemently refuses.

During the race, Vert's car is disabled by a Silencerz driver, disguising himself as Kurt, but he manages to inform Lani and Karma that the skill for the realm is to be able to efficiently hit the apex of a turn. Elsewhere, Kurt and Wylde battle each other out, with Wylde's overaggressiveness leading to his defeat as he is struck off-track and knocked unconscious by one of the revolving flails of the realm. Eventually, Kurt takes the lead with a Silencerz disguising himself as Kurt once again. During this time, a drone spots the unconscious Wylde, and captures him. Taro, who sees Kurt fighting against the Silencerz, pushes himself in between the two, and proceeds knock the Silencerz driver off the track, leading to Kurt winning the race. Eventually, all the other drivers make it out, save for Wylde. Much to sadness and astonishment of the other drivers, the realm closes, with Wylde seemingly still inside. Unknown to them, Wylde would be brought before Gelorum, and he refuses to tell her the location of the Acceledrome, only to be confronted by Kadeem, who was now a drone.

In the time between Breaking Point and The Ultimate Race, Dr. Tezla is able to find more about the Acceleron's culture thanks to glyphs found in the Ruins Realm.

At some point in time, Kurt managed to gather together members from both Teku and Metal Maniacs, and managed to plan a rescue for Wylde, who was revealed by Tezla to be in the Drones' headquarters. All members agree to follow the plan, except Vert, who believes himself to be more of a liability than an asset. The racers stage their plan at the Cosmic Realm, taking over a sweeper, and using it to enter the Drones' headquarters. During the race, the Swamp Realm's Accelecharger malfunctions, and Lani secretly exits the communications room to find that the real Accelechargers the drivers won were tucked away among the gas tanks by Gig, who was revealed to be a double-agent for the Silencerz. Gig proceeded to reveal that, contrary to Tezla's claim, Tezla had been the one stealing technology from the Silencerz, including Gig himself.

Meanwhile, the drivers complete the Cosmic Realm and enter the drones' headquarters, Gelorum leads a separate group of drones to overrun the Acceledrome during the absence of the other drivers. The drones later take the Teku and Metal Maniacs' Accelechargers and the Accelechargers won by the Silencerz, which was left behind when a Silencerz driver cloaked himself from the drones. With all the Accelechargers together, Gelorum proceeds to use the hologram of the wheel in the Acceledrome to open the path to the Accelerons, but Vert intervenes with Sparky's help, and races Gelorum in the path. Vert is later contacted by Lani and Dr. Tezla, and he reveals that he and Gelorum have begun travelling through the realms once more. The speed that the two drivers pass through the realms become astonishing as even Lani has difficulty communicating the specific skills that the current realm should test. Tezla states the wheel has likely created a mix through all the realms to create the ultimate race between the two.

At the Drones' headquarters, Kadeem feigns being captured, and requests the other drivers to rescue him atop a tower. Though the other drivers are able to stall the other drones, Wylde is found by Kurt, missing his original arm which is replaced with a Drone's arm. Kadeem soon appears and attacks Kurt, having lost his previous affiliation with Tezla's drivers, but Wylde intervenes, and the two battle at the top of the tower. The fight ends with Kurt punching Kadeem, causing him to fall off a ledge. When Kurt attempts to help Kadeem up, but he simply retorts, "Kadeem is gone!" before dropping himself from the tower with a maniacal laugh.

At the same time, Vert and Gelorum begins the race at the Cosmic Realm, the final realm was completed. When using the Nitrox After Burner, Vert manages to catch up to overtake Gelorum. Kurt, having rescued his brother, he informs the remaining Teku and Metal Maniacs that a plan was successful, and the drivers begins to returning the Acceledrome by using the E.D.R where they are greeted by the drones. Unknown to a drones or to the other drivers, a Silencerz driver manages to infiltrate the Drones' headquarters, and seizes the real wheel of power. In the final stretch of the race, Vert attempts to stop Gelorum from reaching the sphere, the gateway on to the world of the Accelerons by crashing into her, but his car lands upside-down while Gelorum's lands perfectly.

Soon the Acceleron comes out to meet Gelorum and Vert, with Gelorum demanding to become an Acceleracer as she had obtained all the Accelechargers to complete the realms, the Acceleron states that though she had done so with only used the Accelechargers to proceed. On the other hand, Vert was noted to have used his own skills to finish, and the Acceleron states that; that was the test before he proceeds to change Vert's clothing, and a states that he is the true Acceleracer. Gelorum, enraged by a decision, she reveals a more robotic form and attempts to kill Vert, but the Acceleron stops her by using his telekinetic powers to fling Gelorum out into abyss. As Vert moves to enter the sphere, Lani informs him that the other drivers have been captured.

Ultimately, Vert decides to head back to rescue the other drivers, but is given a wheel of power by the Acceleron and is sent back to the Acceledrome. Upon seeing Vert's victory, the other drivers begins to fight back and Dr. Tezla begins to planning his attempt to destroy the Acceledrome by igniting all of the Nitrox tanks, but Gig controls Tezla's exoskeleton, and forces both Lani and Tezla to escape the dome without using his Nitrium. With Vert stalling and distracting the drones in the Acceledrome, the other drivers manage to seize a sweeper and use it to escape. Vert is able to travel into the hologram of the wheel right before Gig destroys the Acceledome and all the drones within it. Surprisingly, Vert and Sparky land in the base of the Silencers, who proceeds to seize the Wheel was given to Vert, the Accelechargers, and Vert himself. However, Sparky hits the E.D.R and lands in the ruins of Highway 35 and is later rescued by the other drivers. After Sparky states that he doesn't know where the Vert is, the Teku and the Metal Maniacs decides to find Vert together. Wylde fixes the Highway 35 sign and then Nolo proceeds to hang Tone's necklace on the Highway 35 sign, having let go of his grudge on Tork.

The final film ends in one of the Silencerz revealing himself to be none other than Vert's father, and the series ends in a cliffhanger, with Vert's father telling Vert, "Son, we need to talk".

This series is fully in hiatus/cancelled.

Films

Name First Air Date Runtime
Hot Wheels: AcceleRacers – Ignition January 8, 2005 59 minutes
Hot Wheels: AcceleRacers – The Speed of Silence March 19, 2005 60 minutes
Hot Wheels: AcceleRacers – Breaking Point June 25, 2005 60 minutes
Hot Wheels: AcceleRacers – The Ultimate Race October 1, 2005 60 minutes

There are four DVDs in the series. They constitute one continuous story. In story order they are:

The first film was split up into three episodes of around twenty minutes each for DVDs packaged with HyperPod vehicles, in addition to being released as a sixty-minute feature. The four complete films have also been released in a box set.

Characters

Metal Maniacs

The Metal Maniacs are one of the two racing teams in the Hot Wheels AcceleRacers series. They are a group of muscular, wrestler-like, rough neck drivers whose vehicles are a mixture of scrap metal and racing car components reminiscent of old-style muscle cars. They have a raucous and reckless driving style with the cars to match. They have a fierce rivalry with the Teku.

Teku

The Teku are the second racing team in AcceleRacers. The Teku cars have emphasis on looks and sound so their cars are tricked out to not only look good but to sound good as well, similar to Import Tuners. The word Teku is derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the word "Tech", and the logo for the Teku is also the Japanese writing for it (テク).

Racing Drones

The Racing Drones were originally built by the Accelerons as test drivers. These robots became a problem as they would do anything to win. The Racing Drones were abandoned on Earth when the Accelerons returned to their home world. Gelorum, their leader, ruled with an iron fist as she had no concern for life – robotic or organic. Now that the Racing Realms are open, the Racing Drones are free to enter and win AcceleChargers. The Racing Drones excel in manufacturing, building drivers and vehicles in mass quantities and to the required specifications. They also have the ability to reproduce and send AcceleCharger powers to drivers in need.

Silencerz

Of unknown origins and shadowy intents, the Silencerz are a secretive group of drivers who prefer to let the Teku, Metal Maniacs, and Racing Drones fight it out before making their appearance known. They rely on stealth and deception to gain the upper hand on their competitors. They name their cars after elements on the Periodic Table. Their cars are far more advanced than even the Racing Drones'. The main body is made of liquid "smart metal", can become invisible, change to appear as another vehicle, driver included, magnetize to tracks, and fire EMP bursts. Because of the cars designs, they were meant to lure the Teku and the others into a trap. Also, they jam their language so the Teku, Metal Maniacs, and the Racing drones won't know what they're saying.

Other

Racing Realms

According to Dr. Tezla, the Accelerons built over 100 Racing Realms. However, only 25 are known, and only 16 are shown in the movies. These tracks are more dangerous than the ones on Highway 35. This is another test for the drivers built by the Accelerons. Highway 35 was only the beginning. The Wheel of Power decides which Racing Realm to open and when. The only way to stop the portal from closing is The Wheel of Power, all the Accelechargers, and the Wisdom Ring.

The Realms above were all conquered by the Racing Drones or Silencerz before the movies and minisodes or never gone into at all. The ones below were seen in the movies and the minisodes.

AcceleChargers

AcceleChargers are powerful chips that are given to the driver who reaches the end of the each Racing Realm. The AcceleChargers help vehicles in different locations depending on the Realm you're in or in what conditions you are driving. While they provide drivers a certain edge when driving in the Realms, the Accelerons do not accept drivers who complete the Realms with their use; instead, they accept those who have overcome the challenges with their own unsupplemented abilities.

List of Hot Wheels cars

Teku

Metal Maniacs

Racing Drones

Silencerz

Other Vehicles

Hyper Pods

External links

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