Wonder Wheels

I think this was a segment of the Captain Caveman show, but correct me if I'm wrong. It was about a guy with a broken down motorcycle who could transform into a superhero, along with his bike. At the end of the story, Wonder Wheels would go roaring off, and his alter ego would appear again almost immediately. I was a big fan of it.

I'm pretty sure this was a segment from the 'Skatebirds' series. Can anyone out there confirm this?

Indeed it was featured on "Skatebirds."

Ah, okay. I definitely remember Skatebirds. Thanks for the info. :)

The premise had a teenaged motorcycle rider named Willie Sheeler and his girlfriend, Dooley, traveling from place to place and encountering trouble.

Willie and his motorcycle can turn into a mysterious hero with a high powered motorcycle to battle bad guys...Dooley never figured out the hero is her square boyfriend.

Micky Dolenz (The Monkees) played Willie's voice. Susan Davis played Dooley.

The original "Skatebirds" hour show ran on CBS from Fall 1978 to early 1979...each hour contained short live-action "Skatebirds" segments, the live-action "Mystery Island" segment, one "Wonderwheels" cartoon segment, two "Three Robonic Stooges" cartoon segments, and an edited-down version of "Clue Club" repeats (from half hour to 10 minutes) retitled "Woofer and Whimper: Dog Detectives".

The ratings were not good and "The Skatebirds" hour show was split into two separate half hour shows:
"The Three Robonic Stooges" with 2 "Stooges" segments and 1 "Woofer and Whimper" segment shown on Saturday Mornings for the remainder of the 1979 season on Saturdays and repeated on Sunday mornings from Fall 1979 to Summer 1980 on CBS.

and "The Skatebirds" half hour show with the Skatebirds segments, "Mystery Island", and "Wonderwheels" on CBS Sunday morning for the rest of their 1979 season run before it was cancelled.

Yes, it never occurred to Dooley how WW could roar away and then Willie always appeared out of nowhere a second later. :D

Minotaur714 said:Yes, it never occurred to Dooley how WW could roar away and then Willie always appeared out of nowhere a second later. :D

Lois Lane was smart and tough...but she didn't exactly find out that Clark Kent was Superman on her own, either. Same analogy. :-)

Before I throw in my two cents on this cartoon, I would appreciate it if you guys didn't throw in every resource under the sun about what I am about to say. And please keep this in mind: even the most reliable of resources can be wrong.

I always thought the character was voiced by Ronnie Schell. He's got a very distinctive voice. I saw the cartoon on YouTube awhile ago, and it sounded nothing like Micky Dolenz to me, and I should know Micky Dolenz's voice by now. He's mein sister's favorite Monkee, and she's been watching reruns of "Devlin" and some other stuff he's been in as of late. All I ask is this. Please don't answer this with "no, it is Micky Dolenz, such and such source says so." Thank you.

FluidGirl said:Before I throw in my two cents on this cartoon, I would appreciate it if you guys didn't throw in every resource under the sun about what I am about to say. And please keep this in mind: even the most reliable of resources can be wrong.

I always thought the character was voiced by Ronnie Schell. He's got a very distinctive voice. I saw the cartoon on YouTube awhile ago, and it sounded nothing like Micky Dolenz to me, and I should know Micky Dolenz's voice by now. He's mein sister's favorite Monkee, and she's been watching reruns of "Devlin" and some other stuff he's been in as of late. All I ask is this. Please don't answer this with "no, it is Micky Dolenz, such and such source says so." Thank you.

In the 1970s, there were some Hanna-Barbera series in which the voice actor was changed in mid-series...such as Susan Dey and Dave Madden participating in the animated "Partridge Family In Outer Space" series for one or two episodes and then were replaced by Sherri Alberoni and John Stephenson as Laurie and Reuben Kincaid respectively for the rest of the series run or Vic Perrin as the voice of Sinestro in "Challenge of the Superfriends" for the first couple of episodes and then was replaced by Don Messick for the remainder of the series run. In "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home", David Hayward and Willie Aames played Chet and Jamie Boyle in season one and then Lennie Weinrib and Jackie Earle Haley played Chet and Jamie in season two.

Online or printed reference materials still listed Dey, Madden, Perrin, Hayward, and Aames as participating in the entire run of their shows...based on the author either viewing the episodes at the beginning of the run when aired or from referencing actor voice casting documents from the studios but not from watching the entire run of the series.

I do recall Micky Dolenz playing Willie in the few episodes I saw close to 25 years ago. It may be possible that he was replaced in mid-run by another actor (Joe Baker?)...but I am not sure since "The Skatebirds" Sunday morning half hour version never aired in my city.