I honestly can't stands this show. I love Hanna Barbera but this is so dumb. I dislike Penelope pitstop the most though. I like the ant hill mob and the cavemen but that's it. I have always thought that the guy with the really long car was compensating for something... Well anyway I seen so much better from them than this and I just can't get into it its so boring. Honestly it might be complete and utter garbage. Most of the people I can't stand and its literally the same thing every episode. It has absolutely nothing going for it in my opinion. It feels good to vent how much this frustrates me to you people
... View MoreAs a fan of Hanna/Barbera, I would watch a few of their TV series like "Scooby Doo" and "The Flintstones", and also films like "Charlotte's Web" and "Heidi's Song." I remember watching Wacky Races when it was the TV channel Teletoon a long, long time ago, and the lovely Penelope Pitstop and her "Compact Pussycat" was my favorite racer. Though I don't know why her car was called the "Compact Pussycat", it didn't looked like a cat.The series had become successful, that they had made two spin-off series called "Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines" and "The Perils of Penelope Pitstop"; my favorite spin-off series is "The Perils of Penelope Pitstop". So overall, I love the show and it has become another Hanna/Barbera favorite. R.I.P, Bill and Joe.
... View More"Wacky Races" was created in response to the rather violent adventure/superhero cartoons of the previous two seasons, and even upon its premiere, it was blackballed by the watchdog group Action For Children's Television. They claimed that since it was bankrolled by game show producers Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley ("Hollywood Squares"), it was enticing children to place monetary wagers on the outcome of each of the show's 34 races. (Hogwash. I had the over/under on how many times Dick Dastardly's contraptions backfired on him.) For all the atypical Hanna-Barbera use of repeat animation and low-budget movement, "Wacky Races" was still an unusual and entertaining cartoon which would beget such shows as "Bailey's Comets," "Laff-A-Lympics" and "Yogi's Space Race." A lot of the humor derived from Dastardly's machinations, although many of the other racers got to shine as well. In the Gold Key comics, Penelope Pitstop would eliminate Peter Perfect and Red Max by conveniently getting them to fight over her. That wasn't used in the show, although it should have. And it's dotted with great lines. When the narrator calls Dastardly "The Dracula of the drag strip," Dastardly counters "I resent that remark!" Narrator: "But do you deny it?" Dastardly: "No, I just resent it!" It's a comedy cartoon that doesn't forget it's a comedy cartoon, something that many cartoon shows of the 70s and 80s forgot.And a bit of trivia, Dastardly did cross the finish line twice but was disqualified both times. The first time he extended the nose of the Mean Machine ahead of the others (yet in another episode, Rufus Ruffcut physically extended his neck to reach the finish line and the judges gave him the win--go figure). The second time, a chain reaction collision caused Dastardly and Muttley to get bounced into the Arkansas Chuggabug, which was in the lead. Dastardly also set a precedent the following year--being the first (and to anyone's knowledge, only) villain to get his own show, "Dastardly & Muttley In Their Flying Machines.
... View MoreWhen I was five years old I never missed Wacky Races. Even though I'm now a grown man I still occasionally tape it. I think Dick Dastardly must be credited with introducing the phrase "drat and double drat" into the English language. My mother used to use old Dick as a piece of moral instruction telling me that he showed that people who cheat never win. They keep on doing remakes of cartoons with real actors these days so how about one of Wacky Races with say Rowan Atkinson as Dick Dastardly.
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