Cars Toon

## Cars

*"If I’m lyin', I’m cryin'."*
―Mater
***Cars Toon*** is a series of shorts based on *Cars*. The show airs on Disney Channel, Disney XD, Freeform, and one was even shown in theaters. Its first broadcast was on October 27, 2008 and still airs new episodes. From 2008 to 2012, the series consisted only of episodes of ***Mater's Tall Tales***. A new series of *Cars Toons*, called ***Tales from Radiator Springs***, debuted on March 22, 2013.

## *Mater's Tall Tales*

***Mater's Tall Tales*** is a short series based on *Cars*, featuring Mater as the titular protagonist and Lightning McQueen as the deuteragonist.

All of the episodes follow the same tall tale sequence: Mater tells a story of something that he has done in the past. In the story, Mater finds himself in an inescapable predicament.

When Lightning questions Mater over whether the events in the story actually occurred, Mater always claimed that Lightning was also involved, often saying, "Don't you remember? You was there, too!" (or some other variation). Then, Mater continues to tell the story, including Lightning's sudden participation. The episodes end with Mater leaving the scene, often followed by characters or references to the story that was being told, suggesting that the story might be real.

## *Tales from Radiator Springs*

Disney Channel debuted three new 90-second (1:30) shorts during an airing of *Up* on March 22, 2013. The three shorts are named Hiccups, Bugged and Spinning, and were classified under the new denomination Tales from Radiator Springs. All three are directed by Jeremy Lasky and produced by Mary Alice Drumm. They are the first Cars Toons shorts to not feature Mater as the protagonist.

Two new Cars Toons episodes called The Radiator Springs 500½ and To Protect and Serve were announced at D23 Expo 2013 and set for a release in 2014 on Disney Channel.

In March 2014, it was announced that The Radiator Springs 500½ would be released in Spring 2014, in the Tales from Radiator Springs series, while a second short is set for 2015. The Radiator Springs 500½ was premiered on Disney Movies Anywhere on May 20, 2014, then later on Disney Channel on August 1, 2014. In October 2014, it was announced that the second short is To Protect and Serve.

## Episodes

### Mater's Tall Tales

* *Rescue Squad Mater*
* *Mater the Greater*
* *El Materdor*

* *Tokyo Mater*
* *Unidentified Flying Mater*
* *Monster Truck Mater*
* *Heavy Metal Mater*
* *Moon Mater*
* *Mater Private Eye*
* *Air Mater*
* *Time Travel Mater*

### Tales from Radiator Springs

* *Hiccups*
* *Bugged*
* *Spinning*
* *The Radiator Springs 500½*
* *To Protect and Serve* (cancelled)

## Cancelled Episodes

The DVD/Blu-ray release of Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales included in its bonus features several abandoned concepts of *Tall Tales*:

* *Runway Mater*
* *Stunt Mater*
* *Backwards to the Forwards*
* *Mater Goes to the Car-Nival*
* *Import Mater*

## Production

Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Wallis, Guido Quaroni, Lindsey Collins, Elissa Knight, and others reprise their voice roles from the films. Owen Wilson did not return to voice Lightning McQueen in the episodes before The Radiator Springs 500½, which McQueen was voiced by Keith Ferguson in those episodes. Though Nathan Stanton claims that Lloyd Sherr, who voiced Fillmore in Cars 2, replaced the late George Carlin in the series, Carlin is credited at the end of several Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales shorts.

## Merchandise

### Toys

It was announced that *Cars Toons* were to be released as part of the Disney·Pixar Cars Diecast Line in mid-2009. In October 2009, they released several die-casts. Die-casts have been released for all episodes of season 1. They have produced die-casts for all of season 2's shorts except for Mater Private Eye.

### Video game

Main article: Cars Toon: Mater's Tall Tales: The Video Game

## Release

On November 2, 2010, the first 7 *Cars Toons* episodes, plus the next 2 episodes exclusively, were released on DVD and Blu-ray, the same day on which *Toy Story 3* was released on DVD and Blu-ray. With the exception of Mater the Greater, which is played first in the collection, the episodes have corresponding opening sequences of Mater appearing and saying "If I'm lyin', I'm cryin'" in different ways, when the viewer selects the "play all" option.

*Air Mater* was released with the DVD and Blu-ray release of *Cars 2*.

Also, *Air Mater* and *Time Travel Mater* were included on Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 2 (however, it did not include the ending scene of *Air Mater*).

*The Radiator Springs 500½* was released on *Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 3*.