aaron c beals

when i was a kid, random cartoons would appear on saturday mornings and stay for just a few episodes, often banished due to lack of marketability (no associated action figures or sugar-crusted cereal). the cartoon would stick in my young, impressionable mind, leaving me wishing that i could somehow have whatever super powers the protagonist had. the issue i always had was my inability to revel in these imaginings with any of my friends — the cartoons were often so short-lived that if you happened to be out playing in the yard or tuned into the wrong channel, you missed out entirely.

one such show involved a teenager who could transform into a car. now this was the life: being a teenager (i was convinced this was the best possible time of life and couldn’t wait to get there), being not only able to drive, but actually able to turn into a car. of course, i wanted to be a Transformer, but that was far too impractical — i was a human from Earth, not an Autobot from Cybertron. but turning directly from human to vehicle? “oh yeah, that’s possible”, my 5-year-old brain determined.

unfortunately, i couldn’t remember the name of the show, so even the advent of the Internet didn’t really help me. i was left wondering about the show with the kid whose hands would turn into wheels and then roll over the bad guys… until now. thanks to Retro Junk, i’ve been able to remember that the show was called Turbo Teen. and thanks to YouTube, i can see that it’s still just as awesome as i remember it being.