Mater and the Ghostlight is a 2006 animated short film created for the DVD of Cars, which was released on October 25, 2006 in Australia and in the United States on November 7, 2006. It is about a mysterious blue light haunting Larry the Cable Guy's character, Tow Mater.
Plot[]
Mater without headlights
Another picture of Mater without headlights
The short begins with Mater pulling pranks on the cars. These include:
- Pulling away flowers from Red as he is watering them
- Scaring Luigi and Guido by jumping out from behind their tires
- Scaring Sally by pretending to be a cone vampire
- Attempting to scare Lizzie while she is sleeping (this does not work)
- Making Fillmore replace his cans of gas by constantly adding more
Mater and the Screamin' Banshee.
Everyone is gathered at Flo's V8 gas station. Sally and Lightning McQueen notice a tow cable hiding behind some cans. Assuming it to be Mater pulling another prank, McQueen approaches the cans. Suddenly, Mater jumps out of nowhere and scares McQueen! Then, McQueen jumps back and crashes into the cans, and it turns out the cable was just from one of Mater’s signs. Mater tells McQueen that he looks like he has seen "the Ghostlight". Sheriff then tells Mater not to mock the Ghostlight. He describes it as a translucent orb of glowing blue light, and proceeds to tell a story of a young couple that encountered the Ghostlight, and only "two out of state license plates" were left. But the one thing the Ghost Light dislike the most, is the sound of clanking metal. Getting nervous, Mater shakes his entire body, making the sound the Ghost Light doesn’t like, and tries to stop himself. Then everyone leaves in a hurry to their respective homes, leaving Mater in the dark. Mater becomes scared and slowly drives to his home. While there, he loses his only headlight. Soon, a glowing light approaches Mater, and thinking it to be the Ghostlight, pleads for mercy. But it turns out to be a lightning bug. Then, a blue light appears behind Mater, and he starts driving away in fear of the Ghost Light. Then, McQueen and Guido appear and exchange successful glances. Mater, still trying to get away from the Ghost Light, drives through the tractor field, past Frank, around Willy’s Bute, and past everyone watching him. Moments later, it turns out the Ghost Light was only a lantern that McQueen and Guido hung on Mater's tow cable. After that, they say that there is nothing to fear except your imagination. "And of course," adds Doc Hudson, "the Screamin' Banshee. Well, g'night!" And everyone drives away, once again leaving Mater. At the end of the credits, the Screamin' Banshee appears behind Mater, but he takes no notice of the monster.
Voice cast[]
- Larry the Cable Guy: Tow Mater
- Owen Wilson: Lightning McQueen
- Paul Newman: Doc Hudson
- Bonnie Hunt: Sally Carrera
- Cheech Marin: Ramone
- Michael Wallis: Sheriff
- Paul Dooley: Sarge
Non-speaking characters include Luigi, Guido, Flo, Fillmore, Lizzie (aside from snoring noises), Mack, and Red.
Trivia[]
- This is the second Pixar film not to win or get nominated for an Academy Award. The first was Red's Dream.
- The song used in this short, "Behind the Clouds", is heard for a short time in Radiator Springs in the movie Cars.
- In this short, Mater loses his headlight. However, in Cars Toons and Cars 2, he has it back.
- Cars Mater-National Championship and the Xbox 360 and Wii versions of Cars: The Video Game both feature a mini-game based on this short called Ghosting Mater.
- In Cars Mater-National Championship, Mater still fears the Ghostlight.
- Along with Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool, Unparalleled Parking, and Dancing with the Cars, this is the only Cars short that's not a Cars Toon.
- This is the only new production of Cars besides the original film and its video game adaptation, in which Paul Newman voiced Doc Hudson before Corey Burton began voicing him starting in Cars Mater-National Championship. This is also one of two Cars shorts not to have Owen Wilson be replaced by Keith Ferguson voicing Lightning McQueen respectively, the other is The Radiator Springs 500 1/2.
- This is the only short to feature Doc Hudson and Mack.
- This is the last Cars production in which Paul Newman voiced Doc Hudson (not counting unused archived recordings from the original film that were eventually used in Cars 3) before his death in 2008.
Home Media[]
- Cars DVD released November 7, 2006
- Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 1 DVD released November 6, 2007