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Wacky Races Review

Wacky Races is a 1968 animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera. It ranks among their best regarded shows.

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“Sneaking along last is that Mean Machine

with those double-dealing do-badders,

Dick Dastardly and his sidekick, Muttley;

and even now, they’re up to some dirty trick!“

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The series features 11 different cars racing against each other in various road rallies throughout North America, with all of the drivers hoping to win the title of the “World’s Wackiest Racer”. The show has 17 episodes in total with each episode consisting of two segments. Every single one is the same – we are introduced to the drivers and their cars, the villains try to sabotage them and eventually their plans backfire and they end up in last place.

Because the show is so formulaic in its structure that always stays the same, I do think that it is best watched in smaller stretches and not all at once. The show as a whole would have, thus, fared much better had it been an animated series of shorts instead of a full-blown animated show.

Still, it largely works and it remains one of the studio’s best cartoons. The reason why it is so influential and still talked about lies in its characters, in particular the two villains. Dick Dastardly and Muttley are instantly iconic cartoon characters, both hilarious in their own right. Paul Winchell voiced Dick so well and his over-the-top villainy was so entertaining. The idea that he would go to great lengths to stop other racers in their tracks instead of racing on his own was funny in and of itself. As for Muttley, this dog snickering at all times provided the best source of humor. He is such a little weasel and one of Hanna-Barbera’s most iconic creations.

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Others aren’t as memorable, but they are solid. The Ant Hill Mob added a gangster element to the show, the Gruesome Twosome were a lot of fun and of course the hilariously sexist portrayal of Penelope Pitstop is quite memorable as this gal from the South is more concerned for her looks than the race.

Wacky Races has a plethora of memorable cars in it. They range from self-maintained cars to those that are propelled by dragons or other forces to the instantly recognizable purple car driven by the two antagonists. A lot of the slapstick humor is mined from the cars and the mishaps on the road while Dick Dastardly’s schemes were mostly very goofy in the best way possible.

This series features rather choppy and unpolished animation that is cheap and far from artistic. It still worked because it introduced many very interesting character and car designs, but the overall aesthetic of the show is very rough around the edges. But the show was still charming because it featured that incredible narration from Dave Willock that was consistently amusing and biting in its commentary. The opening and ending themes really worked because of him.

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The score and sound are great and the dialogue is over-the-top and goofy, but it worked for this show targeted at children. My only issue with this show is its repetitiveness as every episode operates in the same manner and way too often the show would not be keeping track of the race and who is in the lead or not. More consistency and sophistication in that area would have made the series more timeless and more appealing for all ages.