Much like Freakazoid!, Road Rovers comes from the creators of Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain and has the same sharp wit and clever writing the team is known for. While not as fondly remembered as shows Like Freakazoid!, Road Rovers is still a very good example of 90s Saturday morning cartoons at their best.
Road Rovers is an affectionate parody of crime fighting animal shows of the 80s and 90s including but not limited to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Biker Mice from Mars, and Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron just to name a few. The show takes the same approach as its inspirations with a group of anthropomorphized animals(in this case pet dogs who live with various world leaders in their off time but undergo a process that turns them into superheroes) fighting crime and going on adventures that involve saving the world from a villain of the week. While on the surface that might not appear to be anything special, the show is clever enough that it can be viewed as either a parody or action adventure show thanks to its usage of pop culture and current events to effective use. One notable episode involves a trio of countries whose leaders all bear resemblance to former Walt Disney Company executives but used in a clever Maltese Falcon esque adventure.
The show was a respectable success upon release, but it was expensive to produce and had the misfortune to be released around the same time as the 4kids dub of Pokemon which was not only cheaper to produce but became a ratings juggernaut leading to a decline in traditional saturday morning cartoons and an increase in imported shonen and childrens anime. As it stands Road Rovers is a good, but short lived show that deserves its place in TV history.
