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For the video game, see Wacky Races (video game).
Wacky Races is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series features 11 different cars racing against each other in various road rallies, with each driver hoping to win the title of the "World's Wackiest Racer." Wacky Races ran on CBS from September 14, 1968 to January 4, 1969. Seventeen episodes were produced, with each episode featuring two different races, for a total of 34 races in all. The cartoon was unusual in the large number of regular characters, twenty-four in total: the twenty-three people and animals spread among the 11 race cars, plus the unseen (and never identified) race announcer. Another unusual feature of the series is that the stars of the show are the villains as opposed to the heroes. Reruns of the series currently air several times a day on Cartoon Network's classic animation network Boomerang. [edit] BackgroundMickey Mouse and the Great Ostrich Race appeared as newspaper strips from January 6, 1936, to March 20, 1936. Mickey acquires an ostrich and has to use it to win a race to pay off bills it has run up. In the race is Goofy with a cart which has panels in with an extendable boxing glove to hit people trying to pass and other surprises. Donald Duck is driving a horse drawn bath of water with sprayers. There is an Alaskan sledge with dogs, a vulture with a basket beneath it with a bear pilot, a cart pulled by a seal, a goat in a wheelchair, a goat pulling another cart, a kangaroo, and Mickey on an ostrich. The race is full of "dirty tricks" as contestants try to win the $300 prize. However, Monte Carlo or Bust (released in the US as Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies) is a far more likely origin for the series. Not only does it depict a car race filled with humorous incidents and abounding cheating, but the Terry-Thomas character of Sir Percy Ware-Armitage has many similarities with the character of Dick Dastardly and is possibly his direct inspiration. Monte Carlo or Bust was also released in Summer 1969, with Wacky Races starting in the autumn of the same year. Some also believe that Wacky Races was inspired by the 1965 film The Great Race, and that the main characters in the cartoon were based on those in the film[1]. Penelope Pitstop (who would later have a spin-off series) took on the appearance of Maggie DuBois, played by Natalie Wood, including her pink outfit and her car's parasol. Dastardly has much in common with Jack Lemmon's portrayal of Professor Fate. Fate and his sidekick, Max Meen (Peter Falk), indulge in similar acts of sabotage and Max has Muttley's knack for making mistakes. Although Fate's car does not look much like the Mean Machine, it does bear the familiar spike on the front and is equipped with smoke screen, cannon, and other assorted gadgets. One of the original plans for the series was that the races themselves would be part of a live-action quiz show with Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley Productions, the team behind the television series Hollywood Squares. Heatter-Quigley's plan was that contestants would actually bet on which Wacky Racer would cross the finish line first. Although the game show concept was eventually scrubbed, 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. [edit] Drivers, characters and carsThe eleven racers and their numbers are: [edit] Dick Dastardly and Muttley in the Mean Machine 00 (The double 'O'/ The Double Zero)The villains of the series, in a purple, rocket-powered car with an abundance of concealed weapons and ability to fly. Dastardly would concoct a plan or set a trap once he got into the lead of the race to make sure no other car would catch up to him; however, every plan backfired. Ironically, many tricks Dastardly uses are not unlike the ones the other racers use, though only his are referred to as "cheating". His traps would mostly fail, with Dastardly being the one who gets hurt in the end and Muttley, his canine sidekick, snickering at his misfortune (and usually a last-place finish). This usually earned him a bonk on the head from Dastardly, who could seemingly stretch his arms considerable distances for that sole purpose. Even though he always ended up last after taking the lead in the final lap (after he tells Muttley "Nothing Can Stop Us Now!"), Dastardly almost won a race, but thanks to a replay from the judges, he was disqualified because he used a device to stretch out the nose of the vehicle, resulting in Penelope being declared the winner. Dastardly dresses in purple and wears a red-and-purple striped puffy hat. He also has a long, black moustache and appears as the archetypal turn-of-the-century villain. [edit] The Slag Brothers in the Bouldermobile 1Rock and Gravel Slag are Cavemen driving a wheeled boulder. The Slag Brothers sometimes reconstructed their car from scratch just by using their clubs on any large boulder that was available. Like the Gruesome Twosome, the Slag Brothers can summon up appropriate creatures - such as Pteranodons - to help them. The Slags also speak by combining stereotypical caveman language with normal English, e.g. "Raga-radda, wheel gone. Get new one!" In one episode, the Bouldermobile had a "flat" tire, when a wheel turned cubical. In another episode, a wheel fell off, and Gravel Slag accidentally made a square wheel from a rock, to which Rock Slag responds, "Rah Dummyhead! You make square wheel!" They can accelerate by hitting the car (or at times, each other) with their clubs. The Slag Brothers' character design was re-used for Captain Caveman.[citation needed] [edit] The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe 2Big Gruesome - a Frankenstein's monster / Lurch type - and Little Gruesome - a purple skinned vampire - are monsters driving a hearse-like car with a belfry which housed a dragon and various spooky characters. The Creepy Coupe was able to fly short distances through use of the dragon's wings and has bats constantly circling its belfry. Also, they can summon bats, storms, ghosts, serpents, and even a witch to help them fend off the other cars. Big Gruesome spoke like Boris Karloff and Little Gruesome like Peter Lorre. "Dragon" - who appeared in every episode, and would sometimes get out of the car and walk with the Gruesome Twosome, was such an integral part of the No. 2 team that he was essentially the 25th character of the show - although he was only ever known as "Dragon," or "Dragon Power," by Big Gruesome. [edit] Professor Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car 3A scientist in a boat-shaped car equipped with a multitude of gadgets and which can change into just about anything that moves. Among the things his car has transformed into include a motorcycle, a jetpack, a flying carpet on wheels, a forklift, an arrow, a bicycle built for two, a bowling ball, a blimp, a rocket and even an exact duplicate of the Slag Brothers driving the Bouldermobile (when the real Slag Brothers saw this, they cheered their doubles on!). He's sometimes seen as a rival of Dick Dastardly and Muttley, since his car is equipped with a lot of gadgets, just like the Mean Machine, although they are more defensive, or merely speed-boosting, in nature. He often uses his car's gadgets to help out the other drivers if they all get caught in the same trap, such as when he used his car's de-glue gizmo to unstick everyone from a glue trap left by Dastardly. His alliterative name is a pun on the phrase "patent pending." [edit] Red Max in the Crimson Haybailer 4An air ace whose name is an combination of the Red Baron and the Blue Max, in a car/plane hybrid that was capable of limited flight, usually just enough to leapfrog over racers or obstacles in its path. Red Max could use his propeller as a weapon to slice other cars into pieces, which was demonstrated effectively in one race against the Ant Hill Mob's Bulletproof Bomb. The Haybailer also had a mounted machine gun, which was used sporadically. The Haybailer's transformation from plane to car/plane hybrid seems to have significantly weakened its flying ability, and Max often has to bail out when the Haybailer breaks down. [edit] Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat 5The only female racer, driving a pink feminine car with personal grooming facilities that would sometimes backfire on other racers, such as shampoo foam hitting their faces. She always has time to relax and worry about her looks, because her car is like a beauty parlor. Penelope also has a habit of holding her arm out in the breeze to dry newly applied nail polish, which the others mistake for a turn signal (this habit once sent the Roaring Plenty into a cactus). Peter Perfect had a crush on her, a feeling that was returned, and always tried to help her; in one episode, they almost end up married. Unlike other cars, the Compact Pussycat rarely was targeted by the other racers, as it seems they also liked and tried to help her as Peter did. Penelope also had her own cartoon, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, which also featured the Ant Hill Mob. [edit] Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly in the Army Surplus Special 6 (the Surplus Six)Two soldiers, one a sergeant and the other a private, racing in an army tank/jeep hybrid with a small steamroller‘s wheel attached to the front. The Army Surplus Special, otherwise known as the Surplus Six, made use of its tank facilities while racing, including its cannon, which could spin around to face forward or back, and the hatch, where Sergeant Blast rides. In one episode, the tank fired a bubblegum ball out of its cannon to stop Prof. Pending (the first attempt failed, but a second gum wad did prove successful). The Surplus Special was also equipped with a supply of land mines, which when driven over, would propel the car into the air, and also bazooka-like thrusters in the back, which provided speed boosts. Private Meekly is in charge of driving the vehicle while Sergeant Blast shouts orders. As their names suggest, Private Meekly is very meek and merely follows orders without question, while Sergeant Blast "blasts" orders with his stereotypical army-commander voice. a parody of Gomer Pyle [edit] The Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb 7 (the Roaring Plenty)Led by Clyde, with Danny, Kurby, Mac, Ring-A-Ding/Ding-A-Ling, Rug Bug Benny, and Willy. Gangsters in a 1920s sedan, the Bulletproof Bomb aka the Roaring Plenty. Although he is sometimes rude to the rest of the gang, Clyde actually cares for them. In one episode, when the rest of the gang was stuck in the Creepy Coupe, Clyde was menacing the Gruesomes: "Alright, you Creeps, where are my boys?". The gang drove in Car Number 7 and were pint-sized characters, a reference to the Seven Dwarfs; in one episode, they even disguise themselves as the Seven Dwarfs to escape from a policeman. Their usual method of improving the speed of their car was "getaway" power, which was achieved by extending their feet through the floor of the car and running, the same way Fred Flintstone accelerates his own prehistoric car. Clyde's name probably came from car gangster Clyde Barrow. This is further reinforced in a dialog where he threatens the boys with, "Youse want I should tell Bonnie on you?", an apparent reference to Barrow accomplice Bonnie Parker. When broadcast in French, his name was changed to "Al Carbone," a play on Al Capone. Ring-A-Ding usually queries Clyde's orders or is the one who causes the plan to go wrong in some way. Clyde also mispronounces his name saying "Ding-A-Ling" instead of "Ring-A-Ding." The Ant Hill Mob re-appeared in the spin-off series The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, with Clyde in a silver outfit and his wingmen, with new names, wearing blue outfits and riding in a new living car, Chugga-Boom. The Mob were the protagonists in this series, along with Penelope herself, and were constantly rushing to her rescue. [edit] Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug 8A hillbilly who sleeps during most of the races on his rocking chair with his feet on the steering wheel, and a nervous bear called Blubber, in a wooden buggy driven by a coal-fired pot-bellied stove. In one episode, the car was shown to have a squirrel as its engine, with Luke feeding the squirrel peanuts to increase speed. Blubber, who often bites his nails and shakes, wakes up Luke, who always says: "Blubber, what in tarnation is goin' on here?" or "What in tarnation is that?". [edit] Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific 9 (the Varoom Roadster)A racecar driver driving a drag racer that often falls to bits, usually immediately following him making a remark about how reliable it is. Peter had a crush on Penelope Pitstop, and so often stopped to help her; he always calls her "Pretty Penny". Penelope returned Peter's affections, and in one episode they almost end up married. He always stops to say hello to Penelope. Sometimes Peter Perfect demonstrated an unusual elasticity ability, although this seemed to be just a gag. In development, the car was called the Varoom Roadster, a name used in the Gold Key comic book series. [edit] Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth in the Buzzwagon 10A muscle-bound lumberjack and a beaver in a wagon made of logs, with buzzsaws for wheels, hence its name. The buzzsaws gave the car the ability to cut through almost anything, damaging or destroying the object in the process. Rufus is sometimes seen as a rival to the Slag Brothers, as they not only get their car destroyed in this way frequently, but can also reconstruct their car with ease. The vehicle also has two axes attached to each side which Rufus uses to turn tight corners and boost the Buzzwagon's speed, and a log on the front which is occasionally used as a single wheel if the car is forced upright onto its front bumper. [edit] The Race Commentator/NarratorEvery episode was introduced and ended by the Race Commentator/Narrator, and in the US two episode series he would do the 'Interlude' part as well. He would often talk to the drivers, who would answer back looking through the screen - as if talking to the viewer. [edit] Voice cast
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Spin-offs and similar seriesPenelope Pitstop and the Ant Hill Mob were spun off into another cartoon series in 1969, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. Also in 1969, Dick Dastardly and Muttley were given a spin-off, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines (sometimes mistakenly known as Stop The Pigeon, after the show's working title and theme song). In Sydney, Australia, Wacky Races debuted as a segment of a live afternoon program, Skeeter's Cartoon Corner on the Nine Network. The host, Skeeter the Paperboy (James Kemsley) would dial a child viewer's telephone number at the halfway point of an episode, and invite everyone in the household to vote for their favorite cars on a tally board. After the race, the young contestant, and the relative with the winning vehicle, would win prizes, including plastic model kits of the Wacky Races cars. The basic idea behind Wacky Races was used again by Hanna-Barbera in later years. The late 1970s series Yogi's Space Race featured Hanna-Barbera stalwarts such as Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, and others racing against each other across outer space (and fending off a villain and his canine sidekick). The new character of Mumbley was based on Muttley. In the early 1990s, the syndicated series Wake, Rattle and Roll featured a segment called "Fender Bender 500," which once again featured Dick Dastardly and Muttley (and a revamped "Mean Machine" here called the Dirty Truckster), only this time racing against Yogi Bear, Winsome Witch, Quick Draw McGraw, and other Hanna-Barbera stars. In the Latin American version of Laff-A-Lympics, the Dread Baron and Mumbly were Dick Dastardly and Muttley. [edit] Video gamesA Wacky Races video game was produced in 1992 for the NES, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 in which the player took the role of Muttley, sent on missions from Dick Dastardly to defeat the other racers. A Mega Drive/Sega Genesis game was also developed, but cancelled before release. A video game called Wacky Races Starring Dick Dastardly and Muttley was released in 2000 for the Dreamcast. This is one of the more notable games in the series. This game featured all the characters from the series playable with their vehicles. This game also had a variety of modes such as Arcade Mode, Adventure mode, and finally Battle Arena. This game allowed multi-player for up to 4 people. Voices for the video games' renditions of the characters included Jim Cummings as Dick Dastardly, Clyde, Private Meekly, Big Gruesome, Rock Slag, and Gravel Slag; Billy West as Muttley and Little Gruesome, Janet Waldo as Penelope Pitstop, John Stephenson as Luke, Scott Innes as Professor Pat Pending, Gregg Berger as the narrator, and the late Greg Burson as the Red Max, Sergeant Blast, Peter Perfect and Rufus Ruffcut. An expanded version of the game was later released on PlayStation 2. Later in 2007, another game called Wacky Races: Mad Motors for the PlayStation 2 was released by Blast on June 12. A new video game for the Wii and Nintendo DS consoles titled Wacky Races: Crash and Dash was released on 27 June 2008. This latest outing was developed by Eidos.[2] [edit] DVD releasesA 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. Warner Home Video released the entire series, with commentaries and other extras, in a DVD box set on October 26, 2004. A 2 and a half hour VHS video was also available sometime in the 1990s.
[edit] Race resultsThe show gave the results of each race at the end of each episode, (the first, second, and third placings are given by the narrator, and we sometimes see the other cars go past the finish line). The show never indicated a particular scoring system or way to determine who won the Wacky Races as a whole. To win, one did not actually need to be in one's assigned vehicle; apparently all that was necessary was for the driver to cross the finish line in a conveyance of some sort (a flying carpet or a giant ice cube would do), although racers were apparently prohibited from simply walking across. Oddly, however, disqualification would result if a driver crossed the finish line "in the wrong vehicle." The cumulative totals for first, second, and third place finishes for each contestant are presented below:[3]
The Anthill Mob in their Bullet Proof Bomb, Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chugabug, Peter Perfect in The Turbo Terrific, and Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat, hold a joint record for the most wins, each finishing first four times, although one of Pitstop's wins was a result of Dastardly being disqualified for cheating. The record for the most second places is held by the Slag Brothers in the Boulder Mobile, with eight, whilst Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth have come in second six times. The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe, hold the record for the most third places, with six. However, the Slag Brothers score the highest overall score, with 28, followed by the Buzzwagon with 25, and the Bulletproof Bomb with 24. According to FIA's Formula One pointscoring systems for the current years of the show, the final standings would be exactly the same, scoring 9 points to 1st place, 6 to 2nd and 4 to 3rd, the Slag Brothers would finish with 87 points, followed by the Buzzwagon with 79, and the Bulletproof Bomb with 74. [edit] Cultural references
* Brazilian band Irmãos Rocha is named after the Slag Brothers. Irmãos Rocha means literally "Rock Brothers," and "Rocha" is a common surname in Brazil.
[edit] See also
[edit] References[edit] External links
Categories: Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network Studios series and characters | 1960s American television series | 1968 television series debuts | 1969 television series endings | American animated television series | Appaloosa Interactive games | Automotive television series | CBS network shows | Fictional motorsports | Saturday morning programming on CBS | Television series by Warner Bros. Television | Television series by Heatter-Quigley Productions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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