Street Sharks

Street Sharks was an American cartoon that followed half-man, half-shark heroes fighting crime. It came from DIC Productions, L.P. and Bohbot Entertainment, first airing as part of Bohbot's Amazin' Adventures syndicated block. The show was made to sell Mattel action figures. David Siegel and Joe Galliani of Mr. Joe's Really Big Productions created it. In 1996, the series was renamed Dino Vengers Featuring Street Sharks and moved to ABC, adding a team of alien dinosaurs called the Dino Vengers. Those dinosaurs later got their own short-lived spin-off, retitled Extreme Dinosaurs. Michael Benghiat and Lois Blaisch wrote the theme music, with Megan Cavallari and David Goldsmith contributing additional songs.

The plot began with university professor Dr. Robert Bolton and his partner Dr. Luther Paradigm building a "gene-slammer" machine that could turn aquatic animals into anthropomorphic hybrids by mixing DNA. Bolton tried to stop Paradigm from using it for personal gain, but was transformed into an unseen monster and escaped. Paradigm then gave Bolton's four sons—John, Bobby, Clint, and Coop—the bodies of four different sharks. After Paradigm captured their friend Bends, the newly formed Street Sharks rescued him, and the fight caused Paradigm to be fused with piranha DNA, earning him the nickname "Dr. Piranoid."

The Street Sharks liked hot dogs, hamburgers, and milkshakes, but disliked pizza, rejecting the idea when Bends and Lena Mack suggested it. In later episodes, Paradigm created various mutant animals to destroy the Sharks, while trying to turn the people of Fission City against them. Some mutants, like Rox, Moby Lick, Mantaman, and El Swordo, sided with the Sharks. The final season introduced the Dino Vengers, alien dinosaurs who teamed up with the Street Sharks against the Raptor Gang.

When Paradigm sought Raptor DNA to improve himself, they tricked him with iguana DNA, turning him into "Dr. Iguanazoid." He then worked with the Raptors, who promised to fix the mistake. In the end, Paradigm was captured and imprisoned, and the Raptor Gang left Earth. The Dino Vengers later got their own series, Extreme Dinosaurs, with different backstories for them and the Raptors.

The main characters were the Bolton family. John Bolton, or Ripster, voiced by Lee Tockar, was the smartest, oldest brother and leader, who liked inventing and playing pool. He became a great white shark hybrid with steel-biting jaws and extrasensory powers. Clint Bolton, or Jab, voiced by Matt Hill, was the laziest but enjoyed boxing and had some mechanical skill.

He became a hammerhead shark hybrid and used his head as a battering ram. Robert "Bobby" Bolton Jr., or Streex, voiced by Andrew Rannells, was a cool, level-headed ladies' man who wore rollerblades and liked parachuting, snowboarding, and later playing drums. He became a tiger shark hybrid, named for the purple streaks on his body. Coop Bolton, or Big Slammu, voiced by D. Kevin Williams, was the youngest and strongest, a high school football player.

He became a whale shark hybrid and used the "Seismic Slam" to shake or crack the ground with his fists. Their father, Dr. Robert Bolton, voiced by D. Kevin Williams, was a professor who invented the gene-slammer for peaceful use. He appeared only in the first episode, where he tried to stop Paradigm and was turned into an unseen creature, later helping his sons through a TV screen. An ancestor, Sir Thomas Bolton, appeared in the episode "Sir Shark-a-Lot" when Paradigm traveled through time to destroy the Bolton family.

Allies included Lena Mack, voiced by Pam Carter, a student of Paradigm who suspected his crimes and helped the Sharks. She had a younger brother named Malik. Bends, voiced by Jim Hoggatt, was a technical genius at Fission University who provided comic relief, supplying the Sharks with motorbikes and weapons and hiding them under the university's ice skating rink. Moby Lick, originally Jets Taylor, was a friend of the Bolton brothers and Bends.

Paradigm mind-controlled him and combined him with an orca to create a Seaviate, but Moby broke free and became an ally. He had a long prehensile tongue, superhuman strength, could inhale and expel water through his blowhole, and talk to killer whales. In "Shark Hunt," he became an eco-conservationist in the Everglades National Park. Rox, voiced by Lee Tockar, was originally musician Melvin Kresnik.

He was mistakenly combined with a bull shark and exposed Paradigm's plan to turn his audience into mutants, then continued as a rock star.