Wacky Races

I used my Netflix account to revisit an old pleasure of my youth, the Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon series Wacky Races.

Considering I was four years old when it started its two-year run I remembered a lot of it: The odd opening sequence which depicted the start of the race against the same psychedelic background each week, the way each cartoon would begin in mid-race (because the opening credits were the "start"), and the end, when the words "The End" would actually fall onto Dick Dastardly and Muttley, the show's villains and stars.

It must've been made well for a four-year-old mind, because I understood the plot even if the credits confused me. Eleven crazy race cars in a big race somewhere in the world, with Dick Dastardly and Muttley trying to cheat everyone else, but always coming in last when their tricks backfired.

I always understood that Dick was a bad sport, but I did sort of wish he'd win just once, sort of like I wished that dog would catch the freaky chuckwagon in that old dogfood commercial (and conversely, that Lucky the Leprechuan would get away from those stupid kids.) Oh, and I sometimes confused Professor Pat Pending with Bozo the Clown (whom I confused with Ronald McDonald, whom I confused with Cesar Romero's Joker).

I was happy to find it got a DVD release thanks to a new cult following it got from a video game version and from its devoted fan base in Japan, where it is part of an elite group of non-Japanese cartoons (the others are Disney, Warner Brothers, and Peanuts) that are perennially available as licensed products.

On first re-viewing, the show was a big disappointment, a gag-heavy, story-thin narrative always (pardon the phrase) running on empty. But the more I watched it, the more I liked it. I think I might even rent the other two discs in the series. I think it boils down to Dastardly, Muttley, and the dizzyingly large cast and their terrifically designed crazy cars. Once you get used to the 10-11 minute run, it's fun to watch the gags come and go until the inevitable finale when you see who wins that episode's race.

BTW, in case you wonder who was the highest-ranked wacky race, there's a fun site with the actual win stats. I'd say it's the Anthill Mob, with four wins and five 2nd place finishes.