The Perils of Penelope Pitstop (2024)

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop is a spin-off of the Wacky Races. It starsPenelope Pitstopand her protectors,The Ant Hill Mob, and a new enemy, the Hooded Claw. The series was created by Hanna-Barberastudios.

Summary[]

"Penelope Pitstop, heiress to a vast fortune is in perpetual peril from her fortune-seeking guardian, Sylvester Sneekly, who unknown to her, is really the Hooded Claw! But foiling this fiend's foul plots are Penelope's ever-present protectors, The Ant Hill Mob!" - Narrator

Characters and Cast[]

• Penelope Pitstop- The heroine, Janet Waldo reprised her role.
• The Ant Hill Mob- The sidekicks, Paul Winchell and Don Messick reprise their roles, joined by Mel Blanc.
• TheHooded Claw/Sylvester Sneekly- The villain, voiced by Paul Lynde.
• The Bully Brothers - The villain's henchmen
• Chugga-Boom - A lively, animated car who replaces The Bulletproof Bomb, voiced by Mel Blanc.
• The Narrator - Performed by Gary Owens

Episodes[]

Production[]

The series was patterned on thesilent movieeramelodramacliffhanger movieserialThe Perils of Paulineusing the most successful characters ofWacky Races, namelyPenelope Pitstop, the members of Ant Hill Mob and originallyDick DastardlyandMuttleythough Dastardly and Muttley were later dropped in pre-production according to this series DVD release information. Those characters would be later reused in theirown series.

Deciding to feature the characters in a different setting, studio heads decided to set the characters into an active adventure format strongly reminiscent of the 1910s. Adding to the cliffhanger serial feel, episodes typically started with a recap such as "Last time we left Penelope, she was in the clutches of the Hooded Claw". Contrary to later editing of the series in rebroadcasts, the original format of the series was to introduce the successive episodes at the end of the just-finished broadcast for the successive week that would present and leave Penelope in the middle of a dangerous situation to overcome. The cliffhanger would end with Penelope being shown placed in direct danger such as being shot out of a circus cannon to land in the wild animal cage. The audience is left there with the indication "Tune in next week for danger in the 'Big Top Trap' ". The successive episode would include recapping the previous week's end scene introduction and continue onto Penelope's successful avoidance of the danger she encountered. In all rebroadcasts of the series since the original broadcasts as well as on the DVD release of the series, these introduction endings have been removed from the main episodes. Some of the foreign broadcasts have retained these introductory endings.

Also from theWacky Raceswas the Ant Hill Mob, originally portrayed as a group of crooks but in this incarnation are now are either reformed, never had the criminal background of their earlier Wacky Races incarnation, or are engaging in a protection racket. The members also have completely new names, different from the original Wacky Races series (except for their leader Clyde, who was named "Big Clyde" in the Wacky Races), who, with their largely self-aware car, Chugga-Boom, acted as the heroes and were constantly rushing to Penelope's rescue. But their attempts to save her were only half effective. The Mob's reason for being Penelope's friends and guardians is never explained, although the narrator mentions that they were "benefactors."

The Hooded Claw (voiced byPaul Lynde), aided by his pair of near identical henchmen who always speak in unison, the Bully Brothers (both voiced byMel Blanc), concocted needlesslyGoldbergianplots to kill Penelope (such as a device to drop her from an aircraft, cut her parachute, and then have her drop into a box of wildcats). While the Mob often rescued Penelope, as often as not she needed to rescue the Mob from the unintended effects oftheirattempts to rescueher. While Penelope was curiously helpless whenever The Hooded Claw grabbed her, once he left her tied up for his fiendish plans to take effect, she usually became resourceful and ingenious, sometimes coming up with spontaneous and creative methodologies to escape her peril.

Trivia[]

• The Wacky Races are never once mentioned, but the Hooded Claw referencesDick Dastardlyin the debut episode.
• In the first sketches of the series, Penelope was supposed to have a younger brother named Johnny Pitstop, who would help the Ant Hill Mob save her from the clutches of the Hooded Claw. In those same sketches, Dick Dastardly and Muttleywere supposed to be Johnny Pitstop's personal bodyguards, using once again their car, The Mean Machine. This was all in the first sketches, and never make out in the final works.
• Instead of the Compact puss*cat, Penelope usually drives a green sports car, or any other vehicle that she finds, or even Chugga-Boom.