Les Comètes

Is it wrong that I can STILL sing the opening song? Sure, there are comparisons with Wacky Races when it came to the teams (hillbillies, a wacky scientist, cavemen, anthropomorphic bears, green skinned monsters), the racing premise and some of the episode titles for both shows could be interchangeable, but so what? There were also plenty of differences (no single main villain ala Dick Dastardly, the race was around the world and on-going instead of a clear winner at a finish line).

I loved this show as a kid and recently found the opening and closing credits on You Tube as well as a full episode (Transylvanian Mad Transit), though it is in french. I remember the episode well enough that I didn't need a translation.

I wish either RTV (which is running a TON of the great old cartoons Saturday mornings) would run it or, better yet, a full DVD set be put out. I lost it when they put out "Wacky Races" and "Stop the Pigeon" and if I found this you couldn't pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

That is all this was-Whacky Racers on roller skates, complete with weird teams-hillbillies, aliens, a team that went from heroes to villains at the drop of a hat, etc. It was on for a couple years, not terribly good mind-but fun in it's derivative way. I have not seen it since it was on, but certainly remember watching it. Read where it was made by DePatie Freleng, the Pink Panther studios-though it looks awfully Hanna-Barbara.

** outta ****, passable.

The animated series "Bailey's Comets",was a sight similarity to that of Hanna-Barbera's own series "Wacky Races",with the expection of one flaw. This was an attempt for the producers of this show to basically match and compete against the supremacy of Hanna-Barbera Productions and also at the time Filmation Productions for the domination of Saturday Morning cartoons. However,Filmation at the time also had a show that copied the "Wacky Races" formula too.

"Bailey's Comets" was basically just like "Wacky Races",but instead of automobiles,they were on skates. It was basically the same premise where teams would compete against each other for a championship but on the same level,you have teams consisting of hillbillies,scientists,and others of interest. This show was produced by the team of DePatie and Freleng(David H. DePatie and legendary cartoon producer Friz Freleng) who were known for there cartoons featuring "The Pink Panther",not to mention "Bugs Bunny". The show hasn't been seen since its original broadcast more than 30 years ago,and the last time it was shown was during Boomerrang Network. It was however,shown on Saturday Mornings on CBS-TV during the 1973-1974 season and 12 episodes were produced.