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Wacky Races (1968 TV series)
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| Wacky Races | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | |
| Written by |
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| Directed by | |
| Voices of | |
| Narrated by | Dave Willock |
| Composer | Hoyt Curtin |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 17 (34 segments) |
| Production | |
| Producers | |
| Editors |
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| Running time | 21 minutes |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | September 14, 1968 – January 4, 1969 |
| Related | |
Wacky Races is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for CBS on Saturday mornings.[1] The series features 11 different cars racing against each other in various road rallies throughout North America,[2] with all of the drivers hoping to win the title of the "World's Wackiest Racer".[3] The show was inspired by the 1965 comedy film The Great Race.[4]
The cartoon had many regular characters, with 23 people and animals spread among the 11 race cars. Wacky Races ran Saturday mornings on CBS from September 14, 1968, to January 4, 1969, and in syndication from 1976 to 1982. Seventeen 20-minute episodes were produced, with each of them featuring two 10-minute segments.
The series spawned numerous spin-offs throughout the years featuring Dick Dastardly, the most similar in theme being "Fender Bender 500" in 1990.
In 2017, the series was remade as a reboot, airing on Boomerang. It aired only once on Cartoon Network on August 13, 2018.
Plot
The cartoon revolves around several racers with various themes who are each allowed to use strange gimmicks to compete against other racers in many races across North America as the race announcer (voiced by Dave Willock) talks about the race while interacting with the racers.
The racers consist of:
- The Slag Brothers, Rock and Gravel (vocal effects provided by Daws Butler and Don Messick), two cavemen that drive the Boulder Mobile (1); their car is made out of rock and the brothers (who talk in caveman-like gibberish but with occasional intelligible words) power it up by hitting it on both sides with their clubs and are also able to re-build it from bare rock, always using their clubs. Rock and Gravel have long body hair that covers their body except for their noses, arms, and legs.
- The Gruesome Twosome, Tiny "Big Gruesome" (voiced by Daws Butler) and Bela "Little Gruesome" (voiced by Don Messick), who are monsters that drive the Creepy Coupe (2); their horror-themed car includes a small bell tower inhabited by a fire-breathing dragon, bats, ghosts, and other creatures. The Creepy Coupe's special booster is "dragon power," with the dragon acting as a RATO unit.
- Professor Pat Pending (voiced by Don Messick), an inventor who drives the Convert-a-Car (3); he can transform his car into pretty much anything that moves.
- The Red Max (voiced by Daws Butler), a Manfred von Richthofen-styled aviator who speaks with a German accent that drives car/airplane hybrid called the Crimson Haybaler (4); his vehicle is able to fly, although only for short distances in ground effect.
- Penelope Pitstop (voiced by Janet Waldo), the lone female driver, in a 1930s racing costume that drives the Compact Pussycat (5); a Southern belle, Penelope seems more concerned with her looks than with racing and often gets herself into trouble. Nevertheless, she is a skilled racer.
- Sergeant Blast (voiced by Daws Butler) and Private Meekly (voiced by Paul Winchell), two soldiers in an armored car/tank hybrid called the Army Surplus Special (6); the Sergeant uses "fire power" (i.e. shooting cannonballs from his turret) to temporarily boost power in the car.
- The Ant Hill Mob, a group of dwarf gangsters led by Clyde (voiced by Paul Winchell) and is composed of him, Ring-A-Ding (voiced by Don Messick), Rug Bug Benny, Mac, Danny, Kirby and Willy, in the Bulletproof Bomb (7); they are sometimes preoccupied with getting caught by the police and are able to use "getaway power", which involves all the gangsters (except for Clyde) extending their legs through the bottom of the car and running.
- Lazy Luke (voiced by John Stephenson), a barefoot hillbilly, and Blubber Bear (vocal effects provided by John Stephenson), a timid, cry-baby brown bear, in the Arkansas Chuggabug (8); Luke maneuvers the steering wheel with his feet and his car is steam-powered from an old rickety boiler. Blubber has been known to blow up a balloon and use it as an air jet for briefly increased speed.
- Peter Perfect (voiced by Daws Butler), a gentlemanly racer in the Turbo Terrific (9); Peter is extremely strong, but also very vain, and he often boasts about the virtues of his high-tech race car – which regularly falls to pieces seconds after he praises it. He is fond of Penelope and often helps her out.
- Rufus Ruffcut (voiced by Daws Butler), a lumberjack and his beaver companion Sawtooth (vocal effects provided by Don Messick) in the Buzz Wagon (10); their car, entirely made of wood, features four circular saw blades as wheels and Sawtooth is able to cut through obstacles (such as trees and other objects) at super-high speed.
- Dick Dastardly (voiced by Paul Winchell), an archetypal mustache-twirling villain and his wheezily snickering dog Muttley (voiced by Don Messick) in the Mean Machine (00); their sinister vehicle is a purple, rocket-powered car with an abundance of concealed weapons and the ability to fly. 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. As a result, Dastardly is the only racer who not only never wins, but never even finishes in the top three in any race. In the opening title sequence, Dastardly attempts to stall the racers by chaining their cars to a pole, but then he accidentally shifts his car into reverse, bumps into and breaks the pole and frees the others as the race begins. In the closing credits after the narrator stops the other racers in the middle of a race upon remembering that it starts the following week, Dastardly plots to cheat by starting before the next race, only for the words "The End" to appear in rock form above his car, fall, and crush it. As Dastardly cries out "Drat! Drat! And double drat!" (which he often says after most of his schemes have backfired), Muttley snickers over what just happened (during reruns on syndicated TV, the dialogue during the closing credits is muted while the ending theme and sound effects remain intact). The only times Dick Dastardly came close to winning in one episode was when it was discovered that the front tip of his car stretched out and they made the second place holder Penelope Pitstop the winner of the race. The other in 'Seesaw to Arkansas' involved a photo finish between four cars, including the Mean Machine, only for Dastardly to stop to have his picture taken before crossing the finishing line, ending the race 4th overall.
Voice cast
- Daws Butler as Rock Slag, Big Gruesome, Red Max, Sergeant Blast, Peter Perfect, Rufus Ruffcut, Various
- Don Messick as Muttley, Professor Pat Pending, Gravel Slag, Little Gruesome, Ring-a-Ding, Sawtooth, Various
- John Stephenson as Lazy Luke, Blubber Bear, Various
- Janet Waldo as Penelope Pitstop, Various
- Dave Willock as the race announcer
- Paul Winchell as Dick Dastardly, Clyde, Private Meekly, Various
Episodes
| No. | Title | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1a | "See-Saw to Arkansas" | September 14, 1968 | 35–1 |
| The Wacky Racers undertake a grueling zig-zag race to Mustard Spread, Arkansas. Also, the Ant Hill Mob escapes a pursuing police officer by donning disguises as the Seven Dwarfs. | |||
| 1b | "Creepy Trip to Lemon Twist" | September 14, 1968 | 35–2 |
| The Wacky Racers encounter ghosts in the abandoned town of Spookane on the way to Lemon Twist, Nevada. | |||
| 2a | "Why Oh Why Wyoming" | September 21, 1968 | 35–3 |
| The Wacky Racers roar across the desert, dashing toward Rock Springs, Wyoming. Meanwhile, Dick Dastardly teams up with Indian chief Crazy Buffalo in an attempt to stop the racers in their tracks. | |||
| 2b | "Beat the Clock to Yellow Rock" | September 21, 1968 | 35–4 |
| At Yellow Rock Park whilst racing toward Well Digger, Wyoming, Dastardly attempts to disguise the Old Faithful geyser as part of the road, and later tries to ensure that Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear do not leave the park together after discovering that the park's bears keep trying to escape. | |||
| 3a | "Mish Mash Missouri Dash" | September 28, 1968 | 35–6 |
| Dastardly discovers an irate hillbilly determined to protect his land from trespassers—including the Wacky Racers! | |||
| 3b | "Idaho a Go Go" | September 28, 1968 | 35–5 |
| The racers embark on a lap to a little town in Idaho, while Dastardly tries to entrap Penelope Pitstop with a "Little Red Riding Hood" ploy. | |||
| 4a | "The Baja-Ha-Ha Race" | October 5, 1968 | 35–11 |
| In Mexico, Dick Dastardly and Muttley try to slow the other drivers by using a herd of cow-shaped balloons to block the road and later try to keep them stuck in a mudhole. | |||
| 4b | "Real Gone Ape" | October 5, 1968 | 35–8 |
| Dick Dastardly hypnotizes a giant gorilla in an attempt to win the race. | |||
| 5a | "Scout Scatter" | October 12, 1968 | 35–7 |
| The Ant Hill Mob escapes the police by posing as Wood Scouts. | |||
| 5b | "Free Wheeling to Wheeling" | October 12, 1968 | 35–10 |
| Dick Dastardly makes use of heavy machinery to stop the Wacky Racers. | |||
| 6a | "By Rollercoaster to Upsan Downs" | October 19, 1968 | 35–9 |
| The Wacky Racers travel by roller coaster when Dick Dastardly diverts them into a closed amusement park. | |||
| 6b | "The Speedy Arkansas Traveller" | October 19, 1968 | 35–12 |
| Racing to Noah's, Arkansas, Dastardly and Muttley hilariously pose as army officers to harass the Army Surplus Special, but find themselves scrambling from actual army officers! | |||
| 7a | "The Zippy Mississippi Race" | October 26, 1968 | 35–15 |
| Dastardly diverts the rest of the racers onto a Mississippi riverboat. He then tricks a Southern colonel into thinking the other racers are Yankee trespassers. | |||
| 7b | "Traffic Jambalaya" | October 26, 1968 | 35–17 |
| From Ankle Ache, Alabama to Shin Splint, Louisiana. Dastardly uses more tricks to slow down the other racers including switching road signs and laying down a bouncy road. He also sends several racers into searching for a "harmless" gorilla, who is actually Dastardly in disguise, at a wild animal park. | |||
| 8a | "Hot Race at Chillicothe" | November 2, 1968 | 35–16 |
| On the way to Chillicothe, Ohio, Dastardly steals a police car and chases the Ant Hill Mob into a baseball park. Then in order to evade the police officer, they play a game in the Itty-Bitty League. Some of the other racers join in. | |||
| 8b | "The Wrong Lumber Race" | November 2, 1968 | 35–18 |
| From Sawdust, Saskatchewan to Short Stump, Oregon, in the rugged lumber country, Dick Dastardly tries to use falling trees and spinning saw blades to stop the racers. | |||
| 9a | "Rhode Island Road Race" | November 9, 1968 | 35–19 |
| On the way to Rocky Road, Rhode Island, they go into a big city. Dastardly diverts the Boulder Mobile and the others onto a construction site and they end up in the girders of an unfinished skyscraper. | |||
| 9b | "The Great Cold Rush Race" | November 9, 1968 | 35–13 |
| From Frostbite, British Columbia to Cold Cuts, Quebec, on a trans-Canadian race, Dastardly disguises himself as an Abominable Snowman. | |||
| 10a | "Wacky Race to Ripsaw" | November 16, 1968 | 35–20 |
| From Elbow Grease, Ohio to Ripsaw, Arkansas. To prevent Penelope from coming in first place, Dastardly creates a roadside beauty parlor to lure her into stopping and later literally jacks up the Army Surplus Special after diverting them into a garage. | |||
| 10b | "Oils Well That Ends Well" | November 16, 1968 | 35–21 |
| From Oil Can, Oklahoma to Grease Gun, Texas. The Wacky Racers are once again beset by Dick Dastardly's deviously dirty tricks as they race across oil drilling country. | |||
| 11a | "Whizzin' to Washington" | November 23, 1968 | 35–22 |
| On the way to Tubba, Washington. When the Ant Hill Mob zooms past Dick Dastardly, he directs a police officer to chase them, whereupon the Mob disguise themselves as trapeze artists. | |||
| 11b | "The Dipsy Doodle Desert Derby" | November 23, 1968 | 35–24 |
| From downtown Death Valley to uptown Dune Town, the Wacky Racers make their way across the desert country. Dick Dastardly finds a genie in a bottle and tries to use his powers to win the race. | |||
| 12a | "Eeny, Miny Missouri Go!" | November 30, 1968 | 35–14 |
| The racers head to Eeny, Miny, Missouri. Dick Dastardly plots to have an aquarium whale swallow the rest of the contestants! | |||
| 12b | "The Super Silly Swamp Sprint" | November 30, 1968 | 35–23 |
| From Sappysota Springs to Squishy Squash City. Dastardly and Muttley unleash a squadron of mechanical mosquitoes to wreak havoc on the other cars. He later dresses as an alligator. | |||
| 13a | "The Dopey Dakota Derby" | December 7, 1968 | 35–27 |
| Speeding from Cactus City to Gopher Gulch in the Badlands, Dick Dastardly disguises himself as "Deadweed Dick," an outlaw that he sees on a Wanted poster that looks much like him. | |||
| 13b | "Dash to Delaware" | December 7, 1968 | 35–26 |
| Speeding to Wott-Will, Delaware, Dick Dastardly sprays cake icing on the road, sending Penelope Pitstop and Peter Perfect into a bakery, where he turns them into wedding cake toppers. | |||
| 14a | "Speeding for Smogland" | December 14, 1968 | 35–28 |
| During the race, Dick Dastardly lures the other racers toward a castle façade for a King Arthur movie, hoping to drop the portcullis on one of them. | |||
| 14b | "Race Rally to Raleigh" | December 14, 1968 | 35–25 |
| Dick Dastardly lures the other racers onto a farm, where chaos ensues. | |||
| 15a | "Ballpoint, Penn. or Bust!" | December 21, 1968 | 35–30 |
| Speeding toward Ballpoint, Pennsylvania, Dick Dastardly sets up a fake train crossing, but the train comes out of the screen and runs over him. | |||
| 15b | "Fast Track to Hackensack" | December 21, 1968 | 35–29 |
| Speeding to Hackensack, New Jersey, Dick Dastardly changes a speed limit sign so The Ant Hill Mob are arrested by the sheriff of a town called Law and Order for speeding. | |||
| 16a | "The Ski Resort Road Race" | December 28, 1968 | 35–33 |
| Speeding from Mush-Mush, Michigan to Iceandsnow, Idaho, Dick Dastardly causes an avalanche. He uses a ski jump for his own getaway, but the other cars follow him. | |||
| 16b | "Overseas Hi-Way Race" | December 28, 1968 | 35–34 |
| Speeding across a series of bridges from Key Largo to Key West, Florida, Dick Dastardly tries to blow the other racers off course by using a giant wind machine to create an artificial hurricane. | |||
| 17a | "Race to Racine" | January 4, 1969 | 35–31 |
| Speeding to Racine, Wisconsin, Dick Dastardly uses various tactics such as blinding Penelope Pitstop with a camera flash and using a large mechanical eggbeater to turn the Army Surplus Special the wrong way. | |||
| 17b | "The Carlsbad or Bust Bash" | January 4, 1969 | 35–32 |
| Dick Dastardly digs a pit to trap some drivers, Penelope Pitstop powders her nose and blinds Red Max, and the Turbo Terrific speeds into first place. Dastardly tries to overheat The Arkansas Chug-a-Bug, but it just propels itself into first place from the extra steam. Dastardly has Muttley place a fake "Bridge Out" sign to stop the racers, but Dastardly discovers too late that the bridge really is out. At Carlsbad Caverns, Dastardly attacks them with a caveman and a boulder, but Professor Pat Pending cues it back at him as the other racers make it out. | |||
Race results
The 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 the narrative sometimes saw some or all of the other cars cross the finish line) as well as what happened with Dick Dastardly after his last scheme's failure. The show never indicated a particular scoring system or way to determine who won the Wacky Races as a whole. The cumulative totals for first-, second-, and third-place finishes for each contestant are presented below:[5]
| Contestants | Car name | Car no. | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Top 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Slag Brothers | The Boulder Mobile | 1 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 14 |
| Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth | The Buzzwagon | 10 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 13 |
| The Gruesome Twosome | The Creepy Coupe | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 12 |
| The Ant Hill Mob | The Bulletproof Bomb | 7 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 11 |
| Penelope Pitstop | The Compact Pussycat | 5 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 11 |
| The Red Max | The Crimson Haybaler | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| Professor Pat Pending | The Convert-A-Car | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear | The Arkansas Chuggabug | 8 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| Peter Perfect | The Turbo Terrific | 9 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly | The Army Surplus Special | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Dick Dastardly and Muttley | The Mean Machine | 00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Grand totals | 34 | 34 | 34 | 102 |
Standings
| 1. The Boulder Mobile | 2. The Creepy Coupe | 3. The Convert-A-Car | 4. The Crimson Haybaler | 5. The Compact Pussycat | 6. The Army Surplus Special | 7. The Bulletproof Bomb | 8. The Arkansas Chuggabug | 9. The Turbo Terrific | 10. The Buzzwagon | 00. The Mean Machine | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1a | See-Saw to Arkansas | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 4th | |||||||
| 1b | Creepy Trip to Lemon Twist | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | DQ | |||||||
| 2a | Why Oh Why Wyoming | 2nd | 1st | 8th | 7th | 6th | 5th | 10th | 3rd | 9th | 4th | 11th |
| 2b | Beat the Clock to Yellow Rock | 5th | 3rd | 7th | 10th | 9th | 6th | 4th | 1st | 8th | 2nd | |
| 3a | Mish-Mash Missouri Bash | 3rd | 1st | 4th | 2nd | |||||||
| 3b | Idaho a Go-Go | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | ||||||||
| 4a | The Baja-Ha-Ha Race | 1st | 5th | 4th | 3rd | 7th | 6th | 2nd | 9th | 8th | 10th | 11th |
| 4b | Real Gone Ape | 9th | 5th | 7th | 2nd | 6th | 1st | 4th | 10th | 8th | 3rd | |
| 5a | Scout Scatter | 2nd | 4th | 3rd | 5th | 1st | ||||||
| 5b | Free Wheeling to Wheeling | 5th | 4th | 6th | 3rd | 7th | 1st | 2nd | ||||
| 6a | By Rollercoaster to Upsan Downs | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | ||||||||
| 6b | The Speedy Arkansas Traveler | 1st | 4th | 2nd | 3rd | |||||||
| 7a | The Zippy Mississippi Race | 7th | 6th | 5th | 8th | 3rd | 10th | 2nd | 9th | 1st | 4th | |
| 7b | Traffic Jambalaya | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | ||||||||
| 8a | Hot Race at Chillicothe | 3rd | 2nd | 1st | ||||||||
| 8b | The Wrong Lumber Race | 9th | 3rd | 6th | 8th | 7th | 4th | 2nd | 10th | 5th | 1st |