Wacky Races (1968 TV series)
- This article is about the original 1968 TV series. For other uses, see Wacky Races.
| Wacky Races | |
|---|---|
 On-screen title card. | |
| Network | CBS |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera Heatter Quigley Inc. |
| Distributor | Taft Broadcasting |
| Original release | September 14, 1968—January 4, 1969 |
| Starring | Paul Winchell Don Messick Janet Waldo Daws Butler John Stephenson Dave Willock |
| Producer(s) | Alex Lovy Art Scott |
| Music composed by | Hoyt Curtin |
| Writer(s) | Larz Bourne Tom Degenais Mike Maltese Dalton Sandifer |
| Director(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Series navigation | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
Wacky Races is an American animated racing comedy television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Heatter-Quigley Inc. for CBS' Saturday morning children's programming. It ran from 1968 to 1969, airing 17 episodes that spanned one season. Despite only lasting one season, some of the characters continued to live on in different forms, with two equally as popular spin-offs, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop and Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines.
The series follows the titular Wacky Races, where a cast of oddball personalities compete with each other in road rallies across North America, all for the sole purpose of winning the title of the "World's Wackiest Racer". It featured a number of characters, with 23 people and animals riding 11 individual vehicles. In addition to the show's narrator providing his commentary of the high-speed hijinks, it also focused on the exploits of Dick Dastardly and his snickering canine partner, Muttley, who attempt anything to cheat and sabotage in every race, even though those attempts only backfire in the end and put them at last place. Apart from Dastardly and Muttley, racers such as the dashing Peter Perfect, and the ever-so-glamorous Penelope Pitstop get their own spotlight in the series.
The entire series has also been released on DVD.
Production
Development
Wacky Races was the first in a change of format that deviated from the rise of the superheroes, the likes of which were not only failing in the ratings but had received a backlash from parent groups who opposed the violence.[1][2]
The idea was somewhat based on two 1965 comedy films, The Great Race and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.[2]
Music
The theme song and score were composed by Hoyt Curtin, who was credited as the music director.
Episodes
| Episode | Original air date |
|---|---|
| 1x01 | September 14, 1968 |
| 1x02 | September 21, 1968 |
| 1x03 | September 28, 1968 |
| 1x04 | October 5, 1968 |
| 1x05 | October 12, 1968 |
| 1x06 | October 19, 1968 |
| 1x07 | October 26, 1968 |
| 1x08 | November 2, 1968 |
| 1x09 | November 9, 1968 |
| 1x10 | November 16, 1968 |
| 1x11 | November 23, 1968 |
| 1x12 | November 30, 1968 |
| 1x13 | December 7, 1968 |
| 1x14 | December 14, 1968 |
| 1x15 | December 21, 1968 |
| 1x16 | December 28, 1968 |
| 1x17 | January 4, 1969 |
Release
Dates are in order of release:
- United States: September 14, 1968 on CBS
- United Kingdom and Ireland: October 14, 1969 at 4:55 pm on BBC 1 (as Wacky Races and Space Kidettes)
Cast
- Paul Winchell as Dick Dastardly, Private Meekly and Clyde
- Don Messick as Muttley, Little Gruesome, Professor Pat Pending, Gravel Slag and Ring-a-Ding
- Janet Waldo as Penelope Pitstop
- Daws Butler as Rock Slag, Big Gruesome, the Red Max, Sergeant Blast, Peter Perfect and Rufus Ruffcut
- John Stephenson as Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear
- Dave Willock as the Announcer
Legacy
In 1972, three years after the series had concluded, Sawtooth made an appearance in the Yogi's Ark Lark television film, as a member of Yogi's Gang, where he helps the gang build the Ark. However, he does not appear in the Yogi's Gang series that followed.
In the 1980s, another TV series Yogi's Treasure Hunt also starred Dick Dastardly and Muttley as villains with Penelope Pitstop making a cameo in the episodes "Snow White & the 7 Treasure Hunters" and "Goodbye, Mr. Chump," respectively, while Blubber Bear guest-starred on The New Yogi Bear Show.
In 1988, the TV movie Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf had two races that were heavily inspired by the races in Wacky Races.
When Cartoon Network tasked its Senior Vice President, Mike Lazzo, with creating its first cost-effective series in 1993, he originally envisioned a marathon-like version of Wacky Races, which had all the episodes edited together to make it look like one long race across America. This was quickly abandoned due to a greater desire to turn Space Ghost into a nighttime talk show host in Space Ghost Coast to Coast.[3]
There is an episode of Dexter's Laboratory called "Dexter's Wacky Races," which aired in 2003.
The series has been revived a couple of times by Warner Bros. Animation. In 2006, there was a five-minute pilot pitch called Wacky Races Forever, which acted as a sequel, but was not picked up. The second was a comparatively more successful reboot/quasi-sequel once again called Wacky Races, which lasted between 2017 to 2019 on the Boomerang SVOD service.
In 2016, DC Comics published their own take called Wacky Raceland, which is a somewhat more realistic and much darker turn in comparison to the original series.
Life-size replicas of the show's vehicles are a popular attraction at the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed; located in West Sussex, England. New additions have occurred each year, with 2008 seeing the last of the cars (the Bulletproof Bomb) added to the now-completed set.[4]
In 2004, Vauxhall's unveiled its ads patterning its new Corsa line after Wacky Races. In 2013, Peugeot Brazil did the same for their Peugeot 208, with high production values and live actors playing them for the first time.
In 2018, Variety reported that Warner Animation Group was developing a theatrical film based on the series.[5] Currently, there are no cast or crew members attached to the project.
On June 15, 2022, it was announced at the Annecy Film Festival that a stop motion series based on Wacky Races was in the works.[6] This was created by the studio Waaber, and also included Zilly from Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines.
In popular culture
- In "My Husband Next Door," an episode of the British sitcom George & Mildred, George is on holiday time at home and wants to spend it watching TV instead of helping Mildred plan on redecorating the lounge, which starts off with watching Wacky Races, but Mildred says he can do without Dastardly and Muttley for once. The incorrect music from the show is heard, then the TV breaks down. When describing what happened to the TV repairman, George said he saw a quick flash of Penelope Pitstop.
- BBC Two's Dead Ringers TV series has an episode (yes, "an episode," #lostmedia) that merges Top Gear with Wacky Races. Jeremy Clarkson, the host of Top Gear, is now Dick Dastardly riding in the Mean Machine chasing Penelope to over her car and be the pretty one. Muttley also appears a traffic guard to stop her.
- In "Lust in Translation," an episode of the British The Green Green Grass sitcom, Boycie calls his inept farmhands the Wacky Racers as he watches them drive away from the farm.
- In the UK show Sooty, there is an episode called "The Great Car Race," which has a Wacky Races-type race, with its own Dick Dastardly, Freddy Firewheel, who also says, "Drat, and double drat," when Sooty and Soo foil his plan to stop them from driving their van by throwing oil over their windshield by simply using the windshield wipers.
- In The Simpsons episode "Gone Abie Gone," the couch gag is a parody of the Wacky Races, wherein the Simpsons take their couch on the road up against other citizens who have also turned their couches into makeshift racecars, with the theme song playing over the race. Homer, Marge, and Burns are dressed like Peter, Penelope, and Dick, respectively, with Burns driving a car that resembles the Mean Machine. Lester's car is also called Hick Dastardly.
- In the South Park episode "Handicar," the event is reported to make a return on a Saturday morning in a battle of the future of car lift transportation between Lyft, Matthew McConaughey's Zipcar, Russian taxi driver, Hummer salesman, Elon Musk and his Tesla D, Neve Campbell and her fart-propelled concept car the Queef (dressed like Penelope riding her Compact Pussycat), Timmy and his Handicar, a self-driving car from Japan, and elderly versions of Dick Dastardly and Muttley in their Mean Machine. This causes both national and international chaos and fear of what will become of the world, and an impromptu last-minute dash for everyone to rush out to their local supermarket and buy out all the cereal and milk. The intro sequence is copied and as is standard for every episode of Wacky Races, an unseen commentator provides coverage of who is in the lead and shows a map of their destination, with the twist of having to deliver passengers.
- Dastardly and Muttley sat on the bleachers for the Big Fat Race in the Uncle Grandpa episode "Uncle Grandpa Retires."
- In the Lucifer episode "Yabba Dabba Do Me," a young Jimmy Baines watches Wacky Races.
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Dead Ringers (radio)
- "Episode 4" (series 2): There are two sketches. The first is of a Formula One race where the drivers act like Wacky Racers, which involves Michael Schumacher, Mika Häkkinen, Rubens Barrichello, Eddie Irvine, David Coulthard, and Jenson Button. The second one is a combo with Police Crash Bang Wallop (also a parody of Police Camera Action!), presented by Alistair Stewart, in which Luke and Blubber, Professor Pat Pending, and Dick and Muttley are described as a bunch of boy racers who are flagrantly disregarding the rules of the road. They are said to be repentant, although Dick says, "Drat and double drat," followed by Muttley's snicker and laugh. As a crossover with Perils of Penelope Pitstop, Hooded Claw then joins the race to get Penelope.
- "Episode Three" (series 5): In response to Elton John singing a non-Disney song, Phil Collins also sings a non-Disney song set to the tune of "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)," about Dick losing against the Ant Hill Mob, the Mean Machine being cut in half, and punching Muttley in the nose when Muttley laughs at him. In typical fashion, we then hear Dick ask for Muttley's help, who just laughs.
In other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | チキチキマシン猛レース (Chiki Chiki Mashin Mō Race) | Chiki Chiki Machine Race* |
| Spanish | Los Auto Locos | The Crazy Cars |
- Chiki Chiki is an onomatopoeia for the sounds of a tire spinning.
Merchandise
Home media
Several VHSes were released in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with some either containing whole episodes or selected episodes in compilations with other Hanna-Barbera-made series.
- Wacky Races: 2nd Lap from Hanna-Barbera Video in 1991.
- Wacky Races: Bumper Edition from First Independent Films in 1996 (and again in 1998).
- Wacky Races: Bumper Edition: Dash to Delaware from First Independent in 1997.
- Crazy Christmas: Bumper Edition from First Independent Films in 1997 (with "The Great Cold Rush Race").
- Wacky Races: Volume 1 from Warner Home Video on March 27, 2000.
Warner Home Video also released a 3-disc DVD set called Wacky Races: The Complete Series on July 31, 2006.
Back in the US, Warner Home Video released Wacky Races: The Complete Series on October 26, 2004, then again on June 6, 2017. The Warner Archive Collection also rereleased the same set on February 14, 2017.
Reading material
Between 1969 to 1972, Gold Key Comics published an ongoing comic book series of the same name that lasted eight issues. They were filled with both original stories and adaptations of the episodes.
Toys
MPC released model kits of the race cars with their drivers included. These were reissued decades later by Round 2.
Konami released several minifigures and vehicles.
Funko has released a variety of different types of toys, including Pop!, Dorbz, Soda.
In 2018, Hallmark Cards released a two-pack of Itty Bittys plush dolls of Dick and Muttley.
Board games
There have been two board games based on the series. The first was The Wacky Races Game, which came from the Milton Bradley Company in 1968, and the second was Wacky Races: The Board Game, which came from CMON in 2019.
Video games
References
- ^ Sennett, Ted (October 30, 1989). The Art of Hanna-Barbera, page 151. Viking Studio Books. Retrieved November 25, 2022.
- ^ a b Sennett, Ted (October 30, 1989). The Art of Hanna-Barbera, page 153. Viking Studio Books. Retrieved November 25, 2022.
- ^ Kenyon, Heather (July 1998). "Late Nite With Space Ghost". Animation World Magazine, issue 3.4. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
- ^ Joseph, Noah (June 8, 2009). "Hanna-Barbera's Wacky Racers take to the street ahead of Goodwood Festival of Speed". autoblog.com. Retrieved October 2, 2022.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (October 15, 2018). "‘Tom and Jerry,’ ‘Scooby-Doo’ Movies Land Top Filmmaking Talent at Warner Animation (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
- ^ Hopewell, John (June 15, 2022). "‘Unicorn,’ ‘Fionna and Cake,’ ‘Gumball’ Reboots, ‘Bye Bye Bunny’ Fascinate at Annecy". Variety. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
