The Perils of Penelope Pitstop

I've been catching reruns of this old cartoon on Cartoon Network over the last couple of weeks, and frankly I'm probably in the minority. I actually like this show. It stars Penelope Pitstop (a female racer from "Wacky Races") who is being constantly on the run by her laywer Sylvester Sneekly (aka The Hooded Claw who is just Sneekly in disguise) whom wants to elude of her since she inherited a fortune, and would give it to him if something were to happenn to her (you know like death or something like that for an example). But Penelope has protection thanks to my fave characters from "Wacky Races" the Ant Hill Mob (those guys rule!!!!!) who will keep our damsel in distress from being captured by the Hooded Claw.

I really like this cartoon a lot. I know that Hanna Barbera has made some lame spinoffs in the past, but this is great. 10/10

Okay ... we all pine with nostalgia for the pleasures of our youth. Sometimes they hold up, and sometimes they don't.

This spinoff from the Wacky Races ... quite a bit repetitive itself ... shunned a cohesive story in each episode for a series of seemingly deadly cliffhangers. It could have used less chasing and cliffhangers and more story.

However, if you can get hold of the version of episode one with the DVD commentary, it's a great listen, and you'll be quite amazed at the commentary from (then) 87-year-old Janet Waldo ... whose first voice work was as Judy Jetson! She sounds little different at 87 than she did in her 40s when she started voice work. The entire commentary is both amusing and interesting. Find it if you can.

One of Hanna-Barbera's better comedies. It was a good parody of cliffhangers that were popular during the early 20th century. Penelope herself had feminist overtones. The Ant Hill Mob were supposed to be her saviors, yet they usually botched their rescue attempts and Penelope would save herself from her predicaments. Last Tuesday, I viewed an episode in which she saved the Ant Hill Mob.// Another highlight is the way she ran. The animators humorously displayed her femininity by having her run like a ballet dancer.// And Paul Lynde was at a peak in his career at this time by doing the voice of The Hooded Claw in this series and that of the prissy suburbanite in another Hanna-Barbera series Where's Huddles? Lynde was almost as much a creative asset to the studio as was Mel Blanc. Art fans should appreciate the mixture of expressionism and impressionism in the cartoon's backgrounds. Adults enjoyed this show as much as kids.

I've known about Wacky Races and this other Hanna Barbera cartoon for several years. I've never seen either of them growing up as they were before my time and I probably would've watched it sooner if my parents had gotten Boomerang (or if that cable channel had already been a part of our cable package). But I've always been curious about it and, if not the most curious, as well as interested in checking it out, more so than Wacky Races. The former show I might explore eventually in the future.

At last, instead of having access of viewing it via Boomerang, I did begin watching the first three episodes of it so far (on different late nights) at the Kiss Cartoon site. I'd like to start off by stating that this is one of the few H-B productions that stand out more, so I've got to give it that, as at least it isn't one nor does it follow any of the three formulas that were the norm of most H-B shows, especially throughout the 1960s and '70s: Talking animals who impersonate comics of the day, mysteries that crib from Scooby Doo, and family-centric series that came from the Flintstones. I haven't seen every H-B program growing up, but I learned and now know just how formulaic the majority of them were once I began reading about what others were saying about them on the 'net. Secondly, despite the few flaws there may be with it, according to some people's comments I read outside of this site, I still find it enjoyable. It's not the first nor one of the first by H-B that I'd have high on my list of favorites, as I like some of their movies and specials/one or two-off productions even more, which should've been expanded into series, but I still like it just the same and might at least consider it a late '60s/early '70s animated series favorite. I wouldn't say this is all bad nor a total loss.

The notion is a former race-car driving, blonde Southerner who frequently gets kidnapped by her guardian, Sylvester Sneakly, disguised as his alter ego, the Hooded Claw, and puts her in jeopardy one way or another in order to steal her inheritance. Somebody in one thread on a forum on another site compared her to Princess Peach of Super Mario Bros. fame, but times 10. Another person in a thread on a second forum on a second site complained about her never noticing her guards having gone missing. Although Penelope is a blonde, therefore the point is the creators of this may have been simply pandering to the ditsy blonde stereotype. I'll admit it would've been nice to see her wise up to that in due time, even though that recurring gag went on for too long. Her obliviousness to that fact is one bad quality about her but I've got to counter it with a good quality. What else I've got to say is that she hasn't always been totally incapable of getting herself out of predicaments nor has she always been reliant on the Ant Hill Mob, who are gangster parodies/versions of the seven dwarfs. I must admit that Penelope is also resourceful and sometimes gets herself out of jams. Did Princess Peach ever do that? I may be somewhat defending this, but I just have to give my take/viewpoint on it. Some may have beef with the Ant Hill Mob often failing to rescue Penelope as one of the shticks of the show. I know that they should've done better at their rescue attempts, but at the same time, the point of that shtick is to provide comic relief to balance out the perils. However, it would've been nice to see them succeed, at least once. Clyde, the leader, seems to be the most competent out of them though. Another good quality Penelope has about her is she is a lady of many talents and sometimes she uses her cleverness to her advantage. Somehow, things still manage to work out well for her in the end. In addition to those, she's not that bad of a protagonist/heroine. The settings in this show aren't too much of the same, which is another thing I like about it.

I, too, would still consider it to be one of the strongest productions as far as H-B series go. So I'd still check it out any way if anyone reading it is as curious as I was. Don't listen to what anybody outside this site says otherwise. It may not be one of the best, but it isn't one of the worst either. I rather this than any of the gross-out, sick-humored, mindless cartoons any day, even though I know there have been other shows that are free of those. One other thing: I wish this series had a more proper ending rather than being open-ended. It would've been nice to see just how this whole thing is resolved.

As Fred Silverman shed his CBS Saturday morning lineup of violent cartoons in the late 60s, he struck gold with several successes. They were The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, The Archie Show, Scooby Doo, Where Are You? and one of the few network cartoon spinoffs, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop.

The show was a spoof of movie melodramas of the 20s and 30s and emphasized comedy rather than violence. Two things I really enjoyed about Penelope Pitstop were Paul Lynde's portrayal of the evil Hooded Claw and the outstanding narration of Gary Owens. If you watch the closing credits carefully, you'll notice that in the voices section Paul Lynde doesn't receive any screen credit. Let's not overlook The Ant Hill Mob and their car Chugaboom. They were an intrical part of the storylines as they saved Penelope from The Hooded Claw's evil plans.