Jrdmln
I like it. I think it is funny. My favorite character is The Hooded Claw. Paul Lynde played The Hooded Claw. Paul Lynde was never seen in the credits. I wish Paul Lyde got more credit. He really is a funny actor. Some times I wish The Hooded Claw's plans worked. I have a question I bet all The Perils of Penelope Pitstop fans would ask. How come when The Hooded Claw and The Ain't Hill Mob get in The Hooded Claw's traps for Penelope Pitstop it does not hurt? Then why does The Hooded Claw think it will hurt Penelope Pitstop. If any of you The perils of Penelope Pitstop fans want to watch it it comes on Boomerang at 7:30 AM central time. I never could stand it when Penelope Pitstop yelled "Help!". Could Penelope Pitstop fight? The Hooded claw always grabbed her. Why didn't she kick him or punch him. She always was a damsel in distress. There's one good thing. She aways could get out of The Hooded Claw's traps.
ealadubh
The mark of a good show is always how much the technical staff and actors enjoy doing it. The DVD commentaries for this show prove it, as Janet Waldo (Penelope), Gary Owens (narrator) and Iwao Takamoto (designer) spend the whole time regaling us with wonderful anecdotes about Paul Lynde, Mel Blanc, Joe Barbera, and just how much fun was had during the production - fun they're still having just as much of from watching the episodes again over 35 years later.The Wacky Races / Dastardly & Muttley / Penelope Pitstop triumvirate were also supremely blessed by the scripting elegance of Micheal Maltese, who years earlier had created the Road Runner and Coyote with Chuck Jones (and it shows in this series in particular with the Hooded Claw's ridiculously over-complicated Rude Goldberg traps).This is the real joy of 'golden age' Hanna-Barbera (1968-1969 were the very best years, IMO); where the emphasis was in appealing character designs and the quality of the writing and voice-work, rather than what would look most sophisticated on the screen (although by 1960s TV animation standards, this is actually pretty good).Still a classic so many years later, and a show that could really teach today's more turgid cartoons about giving your animators free reign to enjoy themselves so that everyone benefits in the end.
diggemthefrog
I have two major problems with "The Perils of Penelope Pitstop". First, it isn't completely consistent with the original cartoon, "The Wacky Racers", of which it's a spin off. On that show, Penelope was a professional race car driver. Now she's supposedly an "heiress to a vast fortune", as the narrator said at the beginning of each episode, and she has a legal guardian. So presumably she's still under the age of 21. Don't you have to be at least 21 to race professionally? Or was the spin off supposed to be a prequel, and didn't they say so in order to keep us in suspense about whether Penelope would survive the series? (I don't mean to spoil it for you, but she did.) The second problem is one of basic, psychological plausibility, and it's a question that I'm sure everyone who's ever watched at least one season of this show has asked: How could this girl possibly have gone two seasons without ever realizing that the mysterious masked stranger who called himself the Hooded Claw, who tried to kill her in every single episode, was none other than her own guardian, Sylvester Sneekly? Okay, maybe she just couldn't handle the truth; after all, how would you feel if you woke up one day and realized that your late parents entrusted your very life to someone who wants you dead? So I could go along with it for a little while, maybe, but two whole years? She must have been the dumbest professional racer ever.
Stephen Holloway
This spin off is good not great, but still good. Penelope is in line for an vast fortune but her guardian, Selevester Sneekley aka, the Hooded Claw. For you see, he wants her money. To stop him she teams up with her Wacky Races co stars The Ant Hill Mob. The cast are Gary Owens, Mel Blanc, Janet Waldo, Paul Winchell, Don Messick, and Paul Lynn. The henchmen of the Claw, The Bully Brothers always seem to bungle it. The series was based on an old silent film series featuring an girl named Pauline who always gets herself in trouble as well. Most likely it was set in the early 20th century and still good after all these years and the cast was perfect. Today, Bommerang has the season on the air and it's on DVD so if you want to see it those are your only ways to see the series.Overall score: an 9 out of 10