Blaze and the Monster Machines

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Blaze and the Monster Machines is a CGI interactive educational animated television series with a focus of learning about STEM, as well as teaching facts about Animals (in the "Wild Wheels" episodes). The series premiered on Nickelodeon on October 13, 2014. It was renewed for a fourth season in June 2016.

Video Blaze and the Monster Machines

Plot

The show focuses on Blaze, a red monster truck, and his smart young driver, AJ. They live in a world that involves many living monster trucks.Their friends include the trucks Starla, Stripes, Zeg, Darington, and Watts (as of Season 3), as well as a girl named Gabby, who is a mechanic who can fix anything and also Watts' Monster Machine Driver and close friend (as of Season 3). Each episode also features Crusher, a sneaky blue truck who cheats in races. Crusher is almost always accompanied by a green car named Pickle, his goofy sidekick who always looks on the good side of things.

Animals in this monster machine world also have blended windows and wheels; however AJ and Gabby are humans. In some episodes, Blaze, AJ and their friends are in a race against Crusher. During the race, Crusher cheats, usually with the help of his gray robots. However, Blaze and AJ manage to get through his traps, and they always beat him in time with the help of his Blazing Speed.

Some episodes do not involve races, but still have Blaze competing against Crusher, sometimes by racing against him to get an item. Other episodes involve helping a truck friend such as Starla, Zeg, Darington, Stripes, Watts, or even Crusher and/or Pickle.

Each episode features two or three original songs usually performed by Blaze and AJ offscreen, when they're setting off on their adventure or demonstrating the episode's STEM concept.

Maps Blaze and the Monster Machines

Episodes

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Characters

Main

• Blaze (voiced by Nolan North) is an orange-red monster truck who is good hearted, loyal and brave. As one of the main protagonists, he is Axle City's number one racer, especially with help from his Blazing Speed. At the start of Season 2, Blaze becomes the newest member of the Axle City Fire Department. He & his friends would also visit VelocityVille (where they turn into Race Cars to take part in adventures & Race Car Events), & Animal Island (to visit their animal friends & transform into animals for competitions or to take care of problems and/or obstacles). As revealed in Season 3, Blaze's Blazing Speed Engine is not only what he uses to unleash his Blazing Speed, but it is also what allows him to drive around in general. As of Season 3, starting with the "Wild Wheels" episodes, Blaze's design has been slightly upgraded to have the addition of tail lights, coinciding with the series' upgraded animation. Blaze, along with his Monster Machine friends & Gabby's ATV, also have additional features as well, such as grappling lines to tow fellow Monster Machines out of trouble & Speed Lights to illuminate themselves in the dark & race in the dark in one of Axle City's outdoor race tracks.
• AJ (voiced by Dusan Brown in Season 1, Caleel Harris in Season 2 through Season 3, Ramone Hamilton in Season 4 to present; singing by Jacquez Swanigan in Season 1 through Season 2, Reed Shannon in Season 3 to present) is Blaze's best friend and driver, an eight-year-old science and technology expert. AJ's racing suit technology includes his Visor View & a wrist-com video watch worn on his left arm. His uniform can also undergo minor changes in appearance, such as when Blaze transforms into a Race Car, & Blaze using his Speed Lights.
• Gabby (voiced by Angelina Wahler in 2014 through 2017, Molly Jackson in 2018-Present) is a knowledgeable 9-year old mechanic who fixes up the trucks when they are damaged, and sometimes rides with AJ & Blaze to take part in some of their adventures. Gabby's uniform & helmet undergoes changes like AJ's, but so far, it has only happened once (when Gabby's ATV uses Speed Lights). Gabby usually drives a purple ATV, but as of Season 3, Gabby, like AJ, is now a Monster Machine driver, driving with her new close friend, Watts. This makes Gabby the first female Monster Machine driver, the second Monster Machine driver in general (with the first being AJ), and both the first female Monster Machine driver AND first Monster Machine driver in general to be partnered with a female Monster Machine (in this case: Watts). When Gabby competes in a Monster Machine event with Watts, she wears a white & magenta racing suit.
• Stripes (voiced by Sunil Malhotra) is an orange and violet striped truck with the abilities of a tiger such as a high sense of smell and retractable claws in his tires. In Season 3's "Wild Wheels" episodes, when Blaze transforms into a Lion Monster Machine, he shares his engineering powers to transform Stripes into Super Tiger Stripes.
• Starla (voiced by Kate Higgins) is a purple pickup truck, a roping expert and speaks with a thick southern accent. She runs a farm outside the city.
• Darington (voiced by Alexander Polinsky) is a clumsy yet fearless blue and white monster truck who loves stunts. In "The Chicken Circus", it reveals that Darington can speak chicken.
• Zeg (voiced by James Patrick Stuart) is a green half-triceratops, half-monster truck with brute tendencies. He has a short vocabulary and tends to refer to himself in third person.
• Watts (voiced by Melanie Minichino) is a magenta Monster Machine powered by electricity & the latest of Blaze's Monster Machine friends as of Season 3 (as shown from the updated standard Opening Sequence with the upgraded animation as of "Animal Island"). Watts is also the second female Monster Machine to both be part of the Main Cast & be part of Blaze's Machine friends, with the first female Monster Machine to do so being Starla. Watts' features include her electric engine & her electric tires, both allowing her to drive fast with her Electric Charge. When Watts met Blaze, AJ, & Gabby for the first time, Watts happily asks Gabby to be her driver, saying that she never had anyone driving her before. Gabby happily accepts Watts' offer, saying that she has never been a Monster Machine's driver before. Since then, Gabby is now a Monster Machine driver for Watts (just like AJ is Blaze's Monster Machine driver), & the 2 are now very close friends (just like Blaze & AJ are close friends). This makes Watts the first female Monster Machine capable of being driven by a human, the second Monster Machine in general to do so (with the first being Blaze), and both the first female Monster Machine AND first Monster Machine in general to be partnered with a female Monster Machine driver (in this case: Gabby).
• Crusher (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) is a deep blue monster truck, Blaze and AJ's rival and the main antagonist of the series. He is childish, whiny, egotistical, and he cheats in most episodes just to get his way. A running gag of the show is where Crusher gets himself into trouble in various situations, especially when he crashes into something & ends up dizzy or messy. Crusher often stars in his own subplots with Pickle that are separate from the main story, in which he constantly messes up doing something that Pickle is trying out. While he is known for his cheating & mischievous ways, he is not all bad & not really evil. In fact, there are times where Crusher is still good at heart at times. Examples of are shown when Crusher is willing to help Blaze save the Christmas Presents, and when he admits that he'd never steal anyone else's birthday cake when he realizes that it was Darrington's birthday cake that he was trying to take. In addition, Blaze and his friends are even willing to help Crusher in some instances, such as helping him find his toy truck "Little Trucky", Gasqautch saving him by sneezing away a thundercloud & then bringing him down from Mud Mountain, Gabby fixing his muffler / exhaust pipe when it got broken, and Blaze helped convince Crusher not to cheat when they've teamed up in a Team Truck Challenge in "Defeat the Cheat". In fact, in that race, Crusher (along with Blaze) has finally scored himself his first ever win fair and square, and it is also the first time where Crusher's running gag does not end with Crusher disgusted, but actually ends with Crusher being happy (as Crusher did bump into an ice cream cart & ended up messy, but happy about his win, he happily eats the dripping ice cream as he says, "Tastes like Winning!").
• Pickle (voiced by Nat Faxon) is a green monster truck who is Crusher's sidekick despite Crusher's indifference towards him, although the two are known to be close friends most of the time. He tends to look on the brighter side of things and is quite goofy and has an extremely high pitch voice. Although he is by Crusher's side, Pickle has is actually quite friendly towards Blaze and his friends.

Supporting

• Bump Bumperman (voiced by Jeff Bennett)
• Joe (voiced by Nat Faxon)
• Gus (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson)
• The Bighorns (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker)
• Gasquatch (voiced by Fred Tatasciore)
• Grammy / "Crusher's Grandmother" (voiced by Susan Silo)
• The Fire Chief (voiced by Joe Manganiello)
• Pegwheel Pete the Pirate (voiced by Anthony Anderson)
• The Great Sphinx (voiced by Mayim Bialik)
• Santa (voiced by Bob Joles)
• The Voice of Christmas (voiced by Carl Reiner)
• Swoops (voiced by David Shatraw)
• Speedrick (voiced by Keith Ferguson)
• Rally (voiced by Danica Patrick)
• Mark Set-go (voiced by Chase Elliott)
• Dash (voiced by Jimmie Johnson)
• Fender (voiced by Kasey Kahne)
• Becky Checkerflag (voiced by Grey DeLisle)
• The Light Thief (voiced by Melissa Rauch)
• Lazard the Chameleon (voiced by Billy Ray Cyrus)
• Clive
• Ferris
• Rudy
• Snout the Warthog (voiced by Ian James Corlett)
• Wartimer the Warthog (voiced by Trevor Devall)
• Bunk the Elephant (voiced by Jess Harnell)
• Bam the Gorilla (voiced by Sirena Irwin)
• Skyler the Falcon (voiced by Kate Higgins)
• Nelson the Rhino (voiced by Cedric Yarbrough)
• Tooks the Toucan (voiced by Kelsea Ballerini)
• Thunderwing the Falcon (voiced by Darius Rucker)

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Locations

• Axle City: Axle City is the main location of the series, and where Blaze, AJ, Gabby, and all of the Monster Machines live. The most well known locations of the area include the Monster Dome (where many Monster Machine events are held, especially Monster Machine Racing), Mud Mountain (where the Monsters Machines, especially Gasquatch, hold Mud Fest), a land of Medieval Monster Machines, and much more, including nearby islands. Monster Machines race events include Stuntmania, the Axle City Grand Prix, and the Race to the Top of the World. Monster Machine friends, both in Axle City and other areas of the Monster Machine world, include the Great Sphinx, Pegwheel Pete and his Pirate Crew (though antogonistic in Race to the Top of the World, but happily congratulates Blaze & his friends for winning & become their friends in some adventures), Bump Bumperman, Gus & Joe, Gasquatch, & the Light Thief (a talking Kangaroo).
• VelocityVille: VelocityVille is the location for the "Race Car Adventures" episodes. To reach VelocityVille, Blaze and his friends travel to it with help from their friend, Swoops, whom Blaze & AJ first met before he offers them a ride on their very first visit to VelocityVille. Where Axle City is inhabitted by Monster Machines, VelocityVille's inhabitants are Race Cars. This is where Blaze transformed into a Race Car for first time to save his new friends of Velocityville, and since then, he, his Monster Machine friends, & even Crusher & Pickle transform into Race Cars whenever they visit VelocityVille. As a result of the Race Car Transformation, AJ's racing suit also undergoes some slight changes, such as his racing helmet having white detailing instead of black. Blaze, AJ, Gabby, & the other Monster Machine's Race Car friends include Rally, Fender, Dash, Mark-Set-Go, & other Velocityville residents like Becky Checkerflag & Speedrick (formerly a rival who wants no one to be faster than him, but now a friend who believes that all race cars, including him, should be fast). In VelocityVille, Race Cars happily drive around the city at incredible speed & velocity thanks to their aerodynamic shapes, & Race Car events take place, such as the Race to Eagle Rock, the Polar Derby, & the Hundred Mile Race.
• Animal Island: Animal Island is a location in the Monster Machines' World where animals of all kinds reside, including insects. Animal Island is also the location for the "Wild Wheels" episodes. Unlike the animals in Axle City & VelocityVille, all of the animals in Animal Island are capable to talk like humans & Monster Machines, in addition to their usual animal noises. The main residents of the island & Blaze, AJ, Gabby, & the Monster Machines' animal friends include Bunk the Elephant, Bam the Gorilla, Skyler the Falcon, Nelson the Rhino, & Tooks the Toucan. Blaze & his friends travel to Animal Island by raft, or, Swoops. When Blaze & his friends visit Animal Island, instead of STEM Concepts, the "Wild Wheels" episodes teach viewers educational facts about all kinds of Animals.

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Production

The first season consisted of 20 episodes. On June 15, 2015, the series was renewed for a third season. On June 21, 2016, it was renewed for a fourth season. On May 22, 2018, it was renewed for a fifth season.

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Broadcast

Blaze and the Monster Machines premiered on Nick Jr. in the United Kingdom and Ireland on March 6, 2015 and on Nick Jr. in Australia and New Zealand on March 9. The series is also airing on Nickelodeon and Treehouse TV in Canada, Nick Jr. in Africa(, TNT in Russia (????? ? ????-???????), and HOP! in Israel(????? ????? ????? ?????? ???).

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DVD Releases

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References

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External links

• Official website
• Blaze and the Monster Machines on IMDb
• Blaze and the Monster Machines at TV.com

Source of the article : Wikipedia