"The Perils of Penelope Pitstop" (1969) TV series 1969-1971

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Directors:

Joseph Barbera
William Hanna

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

13 September 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Family | Comedy

Plot:

The Ant Hill Mob has to protect Penelope Pitstop from a murderous lawyer who is after her inheritance.

Plot Keywords:

Attempted Murder | Spoof

Cast

Janet Waldo

...

Penelope Pitstop (unknown episodes)

Runtime:

30 min (17 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:TV-G | Argentina:Atp

Company:

Hanna-Barbera Productions

Trivia:

Comedy actor Paul Lynde, best known for his appearances on "The Hollywood Squares" (1965) was uncredited as the voice of Sylvester Sneekly/The Hooded Claw.

Quotes:

Penelope Pitstop: [on several occasions] He-y-alp!

Movie Connections:

Spin off from "Wacky Races" (1968)

My Favorite Wacky Races Spin-off

As a fan of Hanna/Barbera, I would watch a few of their TV series, and films like "Charlotte's Web" and "Heidi's Song." I remember watching Wacky Races when it was Teletoon along time ago, and the lovely Penelope Pitstop and her Compact Pussycat was my favorite racer (though I don't know why her car was called The Compact Pussycat, it didn't looked like a cat). The series became successful, that they maded spin-off series like Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. Although Wacky Races, appeared to be set in the then-contemporary 1960s, the characters and settings of The Perils of Penelope Pitstop were strongly reminiscent of the 1920s (well the 1930s).

I'd bought the complete series on DVD, and after watching all 17 episodes, I thought it's a very funny show; it has scenes you will remember and laugh your head off. In this series, Penelope is an heiress to a vast fortune, and is constantly chased by her sinister guardian (voiced by Paul Lynde) Sylvester Sneekly (aka The Hooded Claw and she doesn't even know it); but always to her rescue is her seven friends/protectors The Ant Hill Mob (also from Wacky Races) and their anthromorphic car Chug-A-Boom (like Hurbie from Disney's The Love Bug). But they sometimes screw up the rescue and it's Penelope who save them.

They never explain why Penelope is a wealthy woman? Or why the Ant Hill Mob are her friends? and so forth, they just jump right through it; but I do have imagination like : Penelope was the beloved daughter of a wealthy family; but when her Mama and Papa died, it was always her "dear daddy's" secretary Sylvester Sneekly who was with her all her life, because to a girl's daddy (or male guardian) he's her oracle, her guidance and her hero (maybe that's why she refuses to believe that Sylvester is The Hooded Claw). And as to why The Ant Hill Mob are her friends? well she might have reformed the crooks because of her kind heart; or maybe the seven had reformed years ago. So overall I love this series, and would watch it again and again.