David Wise

The name or term "David" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see David (disambiguation).

He even recycled that chin from George Lucas.

David Wise is an American television animation writer. He is perhaps best known as the head writer for the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, where he wrote or co-wrote over seventy episodes (and story-edited many more). He was also the single most prolific writer for the The Transformers cartoon, penning fifteen episodes.

Episodes written

The Transformers cartoon

• "Attack of the Autobots"
• "Day of the Machines"
• "Microbots"
• "Make Tracks"
• "The Secret of Omega Supreme"
• "Kremzeek!"
• "Auto-Bop"
• "The Girl Who Loved Powerglide"
• "The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 1"
• "The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 2"
• "War Dawn"
• "Trans-Europe Express"
• "The Rebirth, Part 1"
• "The Rebirth, Part 2"
• "The Rebirth, Part 3"

Convention appearances

• BotCon 2004 (unofficial)
• BotCon 2009

Notes

• Wise is a large fan of the Doctor Who series, claiming to have inserted the line "reverse the polarity" whenever he could in his writing; in Transformers, that happened in "The Rebirth, Part 3". Meanwhile, in "The Rebirth, Part 2", one of the Nebulan Hive rallies that they must "exterminate! exterminate!" the newly created Headmasters.
• Wise was interviewed as a special feature for Kid Rhino's The Transformers Season 3 Part 2 and Season 4 DVD set.
• The character of Sōji Yoshikawa is named after the real-life animator of the same name, who was a co-worker of Wise's during his time working at DiC Entertainment.

Recycle-o-matic

David Wise frequently recycled concepts and ideas from older work for use in later scripts. As a result, many Transformers set pieces, concepts and even plots wound up appearing in other series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in particular, while many other ideas seem to have actually started life as plots for earlier series, such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

Which Transformers stories were recycled? Wellll...

• "Attack of the Autobots" — Recycled for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Slash - The Evil Turtle from Dimension X" (specifically, the rocket chase sequence during the climax).
• "Day of the Machines" — Recycled from the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe episode "Day of the Machines" (specifically, the computer program that takes over other machines).
• "Microbots" — Recycled from the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe episode "Day of the Machines" (specifically, the sequence where a character shrinks down and enters a machine to fix/sabotage it). Recycled again for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Shredder & Splintered".
• "Kremzeek!" — Recycled from the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe episode "Day of the Machines" (specifically, the little energy-based monster that makes trouble). Later recycled almost completely for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "The Big ZIPP Attack", and once again for The Mighty Ducks episode "Zap Attack".
• "Auto-Bop" — Recycled for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Corporate Raiders from Dimension X" (specifically, the villains brainwashing people in New York to build a doomsday device via a phony business).
• "The Girl Who Loved Powerglide" — Recycled wholesale for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Poor Little Rich Turtle" (specifically, every character, motivation and set piece).
• "Trans-Europe Express" — Recycled for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Hot Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X" (specifically, the weather machine that goes out of control in the climax and has to be destroyed in midair).
• "The Rebirth, Part 3" - Recycled for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Shredder & Splintered" (specifically, the circumstances where Galvatron and Lord Zarak bicker over leadership being nearly identically reused for Krang and Shredder, right down to the dialogue, "We shall see...").

External links

• David Wise on the Internet Movie Database
• A Spy in the House of Tomorrow - David Wise's blog
• Interview with David Wise on the Moonbase 2 podcast
• Interview with David Wise at Geewunner