Fans of the Cars franchise know that each Cars Toons short packs a punch with fast-paced action and quick-witted hijinks. Through the shorts, Mater has found himself in countless conundrums, Guido has wowed crowds with his sign spinning abilities, and most recently, we’ve seen Lightning McQueen challenged to a Baja-style race in Radiator Springs 500½.
Today, we have the exclusive first look at Pixar’s next Cars Toons adventure titled, To Protect and Serve, in which the residents of Radiator Springs are in a sticky situation with a pair of rookie Sheriffs from Carburetor County.
SYNOPSIS
When Sheriff takes a mandatory vacation, two overzealous rookies from County take over his duties in Radiator Springs. Bent on making a good impression to score commendations, the rookies over-do every aspect of their jobs, finding “crimes” at every turn and turning the quiet little town into a hotbed of taped-off crime scenes. No one is safe and everyone’s a suspect until Sheriff senses an imbalance and returns home to right the “justice” that’s been served.
The Sheriffs, Didi – 05 (white car) and Mike 07 (blue car) are voiced by Wendi McLendon-Covey (The Goldbergs) and Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation). Wendi and Aziz are cast perfectly for the overzealous Sheriffs as they both have strong comedic backgrounds with a serious-yet-sarcastic tone to their voice. This tone will certainly match the seriousness of their characters perfectly.
The remaining vocal lineup features many familiar voices from the original Cars movie, including:
- Owen Wilson (Lightning McQueen)
- Larry The Cable Guy (Mater)
- Michael Wallis (Sheriff)
- Bonnie Hunt (Sally)
- Lloyd Sherr (Fillmore)
- Cheech Marin (Ramone)
- Tony Shalhoub (Luigi)
The short airing in 2015 (specific date announced at a later time) is directed by Scott Morse, co-directed by Rob Gibbs, and produced by Mary Alice Drumm as well as Nicole Paradis Grindle.
In addition to the news released today, we also dug into To Protect and Serve in our latest Podcast episode #33 – so be sure to listen in as we discuss our thoughts regarding the short, sample audio clips from Aziz and Wendi’s prior work, as well as chat about the latest Pixar news (Toy Story That Time Forgot, LAVA & The Good Dinosaur) and interview Jason Johnston from Pixar’s Effects team.
Listen to the episode using the embedded player below or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
What are your thoughts on the upcoming, To Protect and Serve? Leave us a comment below or in the Pixar Post Forum to chat about it more in-depth with the community.
UPDATED: January 12, 2015 – A book centered around the short as well as a series of die-cast cars toys have also been revealed – click to read our updated post.
UPDATED: After consideration, Pixar has chosen to not release the short film.
This is taking forever. I really want to see that one.