Cars Toons

Cars Toons is a series of American computer-animated short films television series produced by Pixar and Walt Disney Television Animation. It features Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars. Larry the Cable Guy reprises his role as Mater while Keith Ferguson replaces Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen (until The Radiator Springs 500 ½ when Wilson reprises his role).

Mater's Tall Tales
All Cars Toons in Mater's Tall Tales follow the same tall tale formula: the episode opens with Mater popping out of his garage and declaring, "If I'm lying, I'm crying!" (or a variation thereof on the home media release).

Mater proceeds to tell a far-fetched story of something he supposedly did in the past to Lightning McQueen, the action shifting to Mater's story. At a midway point, the action briefly shifts back to Mater and McQueen in which Mater proclaims that McQueen was also involved, telling him "You was there, too!" (or some other variation). The flashback resumes with McQueen's sudden (and usually unwilling) participation. Once Mater finishes his tall tale, (with the exception of Tokyo Mater) one or more characters or elements involved in the story appear, paradoxically suggesting the story might have been authentic.

The episode ends with Mater and McQueen posing in their corresponding story's costumes (excluding Tokyo Mater). All episodes feature Mia and Tia and various pit crew forklifts in support roles (except for Time Travel Mater).

Cast

 * Larry the Cable Guy as Mater
 * Keith Ferguson (2008–2013) / Owen Wilson (2014) as Lightning McQueen
 * George Carlin (archive recordings) (2009) / Lloyd Sherr (2013-2014) as Fillmore
 * Tony Shalhoub as Luigi
 * Guido Quaroni as Guido
 * Michael Wallis as Sheriff
 * Katherine Helmond as Lizzie
 * Lindsey Collins as Mia
 * Elissa Knight as Tia
 * Jerome Ranft as Red (only in Tales from Radiator Springs)

Production
After the success of Cars, production of Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales began in 2006. The first nine shorts were produced by Pixar and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, while all the following shorts were produced by its subsidiary, Pixar Canada.

"Tokyo Mater" premiered in theaters in the US with Bolt on December 12, 2008. The short is the first Disney·Pixar production presented in Disney Digital 3-D. Sulley and Mike from Monsters, Inc. made cameo appearances in "Tokyo Mater" as their car forms from the ending of the first film.

Merchandising
It was announced that Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales was to be released as part of the Disney·Pixar Cars Die-Cast Line in mid-2009. In October 2009, they released several diecasts. They released all of the "Rescue Squad Mater" and "Mater the Greater" diecasts, and they are working on "El Materdor" diecasts and reverse.

Video game
A video game based on the series titled Cars Toon: Mater's Tall Tales, developed by Papaya Studio, was released on October 19, 2010 for the Wii. A PC version was also released outside the United States.

Home media
A DVD and Blu-ray compilation of the first nine shorts, titled Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales, was released on November 2, 2010. The compilation includes "Mater the Greater", "Rescue Squad Mater", "Monster Truck Mater", "Unidentified Flying Mater", "El Materdor", "Moon Mater", "Heavy Metal Mater", "Mater Private Eye" and "Tokyo Mater", with Moon Mater and Mater Private Eye created exclusively for this set. Choosing the "Play All" option from the menu gives each short (except for Mater the Greater which plays first) unique intros.

The remaining two episodes of Mater's Tall Tales "Air Mater" and "Time Travel Mater" were released on the Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 2. Air Mater is also a bonus feature on the Cars 2 DVD and Blu-ray.

Future
In addition to "The Radiator Springs 500 1/2," which was released in 2014, director Rob Gibbs revealed at the 2013 Disney D23 Expo another Cars Toons titled "To Protect and Serve." The short was also expected to debut in 2014 on Disney Channel, but it was never released.

Tales from Radiator Springs

 * Note: A grey cell indicates the character was not in the episode.