Van-Pires is a 1997 animated children's television series with live-action segments. It was produced by Abrams/Gentile (New York), with CGI animation being produced under MSH (San Francisco). The show was syndicated by The Summit Media Group. Van-Pires also had portions of its soundtrack written and performed by John Entwistle of the rock band The Who and Steve Luongo, Entwistle's long-time friend, producer, and drummer in The John Entwistle Band with Noam Kaniel. Van-Pires centers on a group of human teenagers who protect and defend the world from evil anthropomorphic junkyard vans and vehicles known as the "Van-Pires" by transforming into robotic anthropomorphic cars, calling themselves the "Motor-Vaters".

Characters

Motor-Vaters

Four ordinary teens were accidentally caught in the path of a falling meteor. The meteor transformed them into heroic robotic guardians to protect the night from the evil forces of Tracula (a reference to "Dracula") and the rest of the Van-Pires. Each Motor-Vater has the ability to fly and they also share the same weaknesses as their enemies; like the Van-Pires, the Motor-Vaters require gas to sustain themselves and must avoid the sun at all costs. To transform, each hero gets into the driver's seat of his or her Carfin (a portmanteau of "car" and "coffin") and shouts, "Mission Ignition!"

Allies

Van-Pires

The titular villains of the series are the Van-Pires. Unlike the Motor-Vaters, they lack human forms. Led by Tracula, they terrorize the night with an insatiable thirst for gasoline. Similar to vampires, Van-Pires feed off vehicles and can sire other Van-Pires to further their nefarious plans.

Production

All 13 episodes of the show had total budget of $5.2 million.

Episodes

Soundtrack

In 2000, the John Entwistle Band released Music from Van-Pires as an official album and soundtrack to the series. It was John Entwistle's last solo album before his death two years later.