7.8 /10 1 Votes
7.8/10 TV Narrated by Dave Willock First episode date 14 September 1968 | 7.6/10 IMDb Genre RacingComedy Country of origin United States No. of episodes 17 (34 segments) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Written by Larz BourneDalton SandiferTom DagenaisMichael Maltese Directed by William HannaJoseph Barbera Voices of Paul WinchellDon MessickJanet WaldoDaws ButlerJohn StephensonDave Willock Spin-off The Perils of Penelope Pitstop Cast Janet Waldo, Don Messick, John Stephenson, Paul Winchell, Daws Butler | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wacky races end credits cgi animation
Wacky Races is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera. The series, inspired by the 1965 slapstick comedy film The Great Race, features 11 different cars racing against each other in various road rallies throughout North America, with each driver hoping to win the title of the "World's Wackiest Racer." The cartoon had a large number of regular characters, with 23 people and animals spread among the 11 race cars.
Contents
- Wacky races end credits cgi animation
- Plot
- Production
- Voice cast
- Spin offs and similar series
- Video games
- Home media releases
- Non English language titles
- References
Wacky Races ran on CBS from September 14, 1968, to January 4, 1969. 17 episodes were produced, with each episode featuring two different races.
Plot
The villains (and also the stars) of the series drive a purple, rocket-powered car with an abundance of concealed weapons and the ability to fly. Dick Dastardly is an archetypal mustache-twirling villain; Muttley is his wheezily snickering dog henchman. Dastardly's usual race strategy revolves around using the Mean Machine's great speed to get ahead of the other racers, and then setting a trap to stop them and maintain the lead; but most of his plans backfire, causing him to fall back into last place. Dastardly never sees victory.
The other racers include The Slag Brothers, Rock and Gravel, in two cavemen themed racers called the Boulder Mobile; the Gruesome Twosome, who are monsters in the Creepy Coupe; Professor Pat Pending, a scientist, in the Convert-a-Car; the Red Max in a car/plane hybrid; Penelope Pitstop, the lone female, in a 1930s racing costume; Sergeant Blast, in an army tank/jeep hybrid with a small steamroller wheel attached to the front, called the Army Surplus Special; the Ant Hill Mob, gangsters, in the Bulletproof Bomb; Luke, a hillbilly, and Blubber Bear, his pet bear, in the Arkansas Chugabug; Peter Perfect, a gentlemanly racer, in the Turbo Terrific; and finally Rufus Roughcut, a lumberjack, and his companion Sawtooth in the Buzzwagon.
Production
One of the unused plans for the series was that the races would be part of a live-action quiz show made by Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley Productions in which contestants would bet on which Wacky Racer would cross the finish line first. Although the game show concept was eventually scrapped, the series still retained a Hanna-Barbera/Heatter-Quigley dual production credit.
In 1988, a made-for-TV movie, Around the World with the Wacky Racers, was planned as part of Hanna-Barbera's Superstars 10 series of TV movies, but it never got past the concept stage.
Voice cast
Spin-offs and similar series
Penelope Pitstop and the Ant Hill Mob were spun off into another cartoon series in 1969 titled The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. In the same year, Dick Dastardly and Muttley were given a spin-off series titled Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines. The series is sometimes mistakenly known as Stop the Pigeon, after the show's working title and theme song. Both series ran for two seasons.
In 2006, the pilot for a spin-off series titled Wacky Races Forever was produced for Cartoon Network. The series depicted a roster of both new and returning racers competing against each other. Penelope Pitstop and Peter Perfect had married and created Perfect Industries, the corporate sponsor of the new Wacky Races, whereas their children Parker and Piper competed in the race. Other characters included the Slag Brothers, Professor Pat Pending, a teenage version of the Gruesome Twosome, and Dick Dastardly and Muttley (working for a new villain named Mr. Viceroy, who sought to steal Perfect Industries). The series was not picked up by Cartoon Network.
A new Wacky Races series will be released on Boomerang's SVOD service in Spring 2017. It will also aired on the Boomerang channel in June 2017.
Video games
Various video games based on the series have been produced.
Home media releases
A three-disc DVD release of the complete series was made available in Japan on August 10, 2001, and had both English and Japanese audio. In Britain Warner released a three-disc set with no extra features, which was only available in Virgin Megastores. The complete box set of Wacky Races was released on July 31, 2006 as an HMV exclusive but is essentially the standard Volumes 1–3 with no extras. The Australian release of Volume 1 and 2 was made available in 2005 and Volume 3 released in 2007.
Warner Home Video released the entire series, with commentaries and other extras, in a DVD box set on October 26, 2004. A two and a half-hour VHS video was made available in the 1996. All 34 episodes can be purchased on the iTunes Store.