Turbo Fast

Did You Know?

• In April 2023, the series was removed from Netflix but remains available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home.
• The series was removed from Netflix along with another DreamWorks series, The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show.
• Titmouse's founder Chris Prynoski directed the first few episodes before becoming executive producer.

Characters

Theo "Turbo" (voiced by Reid Scott) is a snail who gained super speed after being swallowed by a car engine that infused his DNA with nitrous oxide, and he won the Indy 500. Whitney "Whiplash" Chubbington (voiced by John Eric Bentley) leads the F.A.S.T. crew with a jet engine on his shell and a fondness for lavender lotion. Skip "Skidmark" Markovich (voiced by Amir Talai) serves as the crew's mechanic with a propeller shell; he believes in conspiracy theories that often prove true and is best friends with White Shadow. Chester "Chet" (voiced by Eric Bauza) is Turbo's older brother, a safety patrolman and crew manager, and Burn's boyfriend; his shell has an ambulance with helicopter rotors called the Shellcopter. Smoove Move (voiced by Phil LaMarr) has bass speakers on his shell, enjoys funk and rap music, and works as a DJ and painter. Bernice "Burn" Guzman (voiced by Grey DeLisle) is the only female member, a hot-headed co-leader with a flamethrower shell, and Chet's girlfriend. Whitman "White Shadow" Shafford (voiced by Michael Patrick Bell) is the largest snail, stealthy but dim-witted, with tires on his shell; he is best friends with Skidmark. Tito (voiced by Amir Talai) is a snail race trainer and employee of Dos Bros Tacos. Kim-Ly (voiced by Ken Jeong) is an elderly manicurist at Starlight Plaza. Guy Gagné (voiced by Eric Bauza) is a disgraced former Indy 500 racer and Turbo's former idol and arch-nemesis. Hardcase (voiced by Diedrich Bader) is a tiger beetle who envies Turbo and cheats to win races. Darryl (voiced by Ron Perlman) is Turbo and Chet's trucker father. Howie (voiced by Billy West) is a lunatic moth. Jack A. Lopez (voiced by Billy West) is a jackalope.

Episodes

The series premiered on December 24, 2013, with the first five episodes of the 26-episode first season released. Subsequent batches of five to six episodes followed on April 4, June 27, September 12, and December 1 of 2014. This staggered release was a departure from Netflix's usual full-season strategy, explained by the different production timetable for animation. Season 2 was released on July 31, 2015, and the third and final season on February 5, 2016.

Production

Turbo Fast was the first project from a five-year deal between DreamWorks Animation and Netflix, involving 300 hours of original programming. DreamWorks Animation opened a new television production unit, DreamWorks Animation Television, for this task. The project began as a standalone special based on the Turbo film; after DreamWorks was impressed by Titmouse's racing visuals on Motorcity, they contracted Titmouse to create the special using flash animation. Titmouse founder Chris Prynoski signed on as director, and DreamWorks turned the special into a series. Production started in summer 2012, a year before the film's release, when it was still undecided whether the project would be a special or a series. Because the film still had storyboard panels rather than finished animation, Titmouse developed their own style. Director Antoni Canobbio created a look suited to the racing theme. The series used Flash as the main animation program, along with Maya, Photoshop, and After Effects. To handle detailed snail racing shells, the studio generated 3D models in Maya that could be rotated and then cleaned up by hand to appear 2D. A portion of production took place at studios in South Korea, marking DreamWorks Animation's first outsourcing to that country. Each episode took a crew of about 80 people six to eight months from premise to delivery. The series was executive produced by Chris Prynoski and Jack Thomas (season 1).