Wacky Races

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CBS (ended 1970)
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Show Summary

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Wacky Races was one of the best yet shortest running Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. Each show was 30 minutes long with 2 races each.''''Every episode Dick Dastardly and Muttley (The Mean Machine) would desperately try to win by setting traps that always backfired.''''Dick and Muttley appeared in "Dastardly & Muttleys flying machines" (A Wacky Races spin-off). The other spin-off was about "The Lovely" Penelope Pitstop and was called "Perils of Penelope Pitstop"''''The eleven racers are...''''#00: Dick Dastardly & Muttley (The Mean Machine)''''#1: The Slag Brothers (Boulder Mobile)''''#2: The Gruesome Twosome (Creepy Coupe)''''#3: Prof. Pat Pending (Convert-a-car)''''#4: The Red Max (Crimson Haybailer)''''#5: Penelope Pitstop #6: Sarge & Pvt. Meekly (Army Surplus Special)''''#7: The Ant Hill Mob (Bulletproof Bomb)''''#8: Luke & Blubber Bear (Arkansas Chugabug)''''#9: Peter Perfect (Turbo Terrific)''''#10: Rufus Ruffcut & Sawtooth (Buzzwagon)moreless
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Episode Guide

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S 1 :  Ep 17 Aired 1/4/69
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S 1 :  Ep 16 Aired 12/28/68
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S 1 :  Ep 15 Aired 12/21/68
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S 1 :  Ep 14 Aired 12/14/68
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S 1 :  Ep 13 Aired 12/7/68
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Fan Reviews (16)

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  • This is a classic favourite.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Neumbo, Jun 17, 2011 Report Abuse
    I love this show. I take time to watch it on most of my days. Im thrilled at the fact that Dastardly never wins although it would be nice to see him win at least once in a while. Anyway i love that Penny Pitsop is in this too, this makes for a great spin off for the her show and for Dick Dastardly and Muttley as well. Honestly I don't know why it just didn't carry on with more shows, but anyway its still a good programme. It has to be one of Hanna-Barbera Produtions best. I also love how they later incorporate this show into Dexter's Laboratory, it made for great comedy.moreless

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    3 0

  • A highly addictive cult favorite.

    8.0
    "Great"
    By matlefebvre20, Jun 17, 2011 Report Abuse
    The TV series "Wacky Races" is a bit like Coca-Cola: even if we know that it has its faults, you can't help savouring it, it's so addictive.

    Just ask to whoever likes the series. Of course there are animation mistakes. The continuity is often arguable and many scenes are predictable. But who cares? It's just too damn fun to watch.

    So what's so attractive about that series? It's surely not because of the animation. At each race, you can see cars running off-road without altering their driving. The animation, should it be said, is much like any Hanna-Barbera cartoon: minimalist and unpretentious.

    The stories are well built, even if many have a lot of continuity mistakes. And if you want to witness Dick Dastardly failing with all of his tricks, there's a lot to love here, but you'd be better served if you tune in to the Road Runner Show.

    I think that the charm of the series is the drivers themselves. There are eleven cars overall and twenty-three participants, if we don't count the omni-present narrator who describes and sometimes intervene into the action.

    Honestly, I love to see Dick Dastardly and Muttley trying to sabotage the race and to systematically eliminate each driver, but I like even more to watch the interaction between the other drivers. Each car owns its own characteristics and all of the drivers (and their co-drivers) are very colorful, which makes them irresistible.

    Even if the series was originally broadcast at the end of the 60s, it hasn't aged one bit. To prove it, there are new fans with each passing year. At the point that the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England has built life-size replicas of the cars and they participate in friendly races, much to the happiness of the fans and of those who are not but who find these unusual cars rather funny.

    Almost each race is competed on a track linking two American localities. The majority of the races take place on a rural track. I find these races less interesting, because they're too much ordinary. We see too many farms, woods and flat landscapes. I rather have a knack for the highly original tracks which come in once in a while, like those ones:
    - By Rollercoaster to Upsan Downs (ancient theme park)
    - The Wrong Lumber Race (deep forest)
    - The Great Cold Rush Race & The Ski Resort Road Race (snowy landscapes)
    - Oils Well That Ends Well (oil shafts)
    - The Dipsy Doodle Desert Derby (Death Valley desert)
    - Overseas Hi-Way Race (Florida Keys)

    There are also a few highlight moments that I have to mention here. The very first race (See-Saw to Arkansas), for example, ends with an unforgettable photo finish and the second one (Creepy Trip to Lemon Twist) ends with the "disqualification" of Dick Dastardly, which still fuels debates among the show's die-hard fans.

    If you're lucky enough to find a TV channel that still broadcasts the show, then you have to watch it. Or you can try to find the DVD box set which includes every episode of the show. Then you'll see how much fun it is.moreless

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    2 0

  • Competing for the tile of the world's wackiest racer, this was one amazing show!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By frosty_ice, Jun 17, 2011 Report Abuse
    There are cartoons that deserve to be on the cartoon Hall of Fame, and this one is one of them. The show tells us the adventures and misadventures of a group of racers who fight on order to get to the finish line, using some of the craziest vehicles and gadgets that anyone has seen in a cartoon. Among the most memorable characters, we have Penelope Pitstop, the Ant Hill Mob, the Slag Brothers, Peter Perfect, and fo course the villanous duo Dick Dastardly and his canine sidekick, Muttley. All fo them, and other characters contributed to create a series where you couyld actually choose your own racer, and see if he made it to the finish line before the others, while hoping to see also Dick Dastardly and Muttley winning a race (which only happened once, and they were disqualified for cheating, which doesn't make much sense because everyone cheated, one way or another). The humour was fresh, and even though you know that whenever Dick Dastardly and Muttley were up to something, you would be surprised with what they would come up in order to stop or slow down the other racers, just to get a better shot to end up in first place. Thank God they did this, otherwise we would have never seen the spin-offs "Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines" and "The Perils of Penelope Pitstop", nnot to mention that the series also served as inspiration for "Captain Caveman". A big 10 is in order for this one, as far as I'm concerned.moreless

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    2 0

  • A race between some racers in some very unusual cars.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Johnracer, Dec 25, 2006 Report Abuse
    Another 1960's classic.

    Dick Dastardy & Muttley in "The Mean Machine" race against other members of "The Wacky Races" but spends too much time trying to cheat. There were a couple of times where Dick Dastardly almost won the race....However, he was disqualified for extending the front end of his car across the finish line. Additionally, he stopped at the finish line to sign an autograph for Muttley. Finally he stopped at the finish line to get his picture taken.

    A few of the names have double meanings:
    IE: Pat Pending....a gag referring to the label seen in copyrighted material.

    You must love Muttley's wheezing laugh. It's too funny.moreless

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    1 0

  • this show helped change cartoons

    9.1
    "Superb"
    By ScreamingViking, Dec 10, 2006 Report Abuse
    Wacky races was a hannah barberah production. It had 34 eppisodes. Let me tell you, funny random charectors racing and cheating already sounds funny when you first hear it. Even though I love it I must say if you've seen one you've seen them all. I love the show, all of them are funny but all are the same. dick dasterdly cheats and loses every time. But what I love is that every charector cheats, not just Dick Dasterdly. This cartoon helped reveloutionize cartoons along with other great cartoons like looney tunes, scooby doo, and Tom and Jerry.I love this classic show, but you either love it or you think its stupid. I recomend this show for all to watch.moreless

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    1 0
 

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