The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop "Jungle Jeopardy" Review

 

Wacky Races fans it's not strange for a show to get a spin off however what people don't know is that Wacky Races had two spin off one focusing on Dick Dastardly and Muttley which is fairly well known but i'm not talking about that spin off. I'm instead going to talk about the debut episode a lesser known spin off and so here is my review of the debut episode of The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop called "Jungle Jeopardy" enjoy.

The plot of the episode is Penelope Pitstop is finishing the final leg of a around the world flight only she gets herself kidnapped by her arch nemesis The Hooded Claw and so it's up to her protectors The Ant Hill Mob to save her. Plot wise this episode and I believe this show is pretty weak since it's just the same plot every week only in a new location which here is a jungle and while the plot was pretty weak the episode was still entertaining to see play out.

Starring in the episode is Janet Waldo as Penelope Pitstop and the great Mel Blanc  Yak Yak , Chug-a-Boom and The Bully Brothers. Also starring in the episode is Don Messick as Dum Dum , Snoozy , Pockets and Zippy , Paul Winchell as Clyde and Softie , Gary Owens as The Narrator and Paul Lynde as Sylvester Sneekly / The Hooded Claw. This was the easiest cast list so far because every actor whose in this series appears in this episode so all I had to was copy and paste all the names.

As for what I thought about the acting in this episode given that it has alot of voice acting legends it should come as no surprise that I thought the acting in the episode was honestly pretty decent. I can't say that the acting was great because it's not but none of that in this case is the actors fault it's the fault of the bad script which is just so basic and repetitive that it's not even funny and so the actors do the best that they can to make it work they just can't make this idea work.

Doing the animation for the episode and the rest of the series is of course the great Hanna-Barbera Productions. If you know Hanna-Barbera then you know that they are known for being cheap when it comes to there animation and yeah the same is here since there's very limited movement for some characters and there are alot of shots from far away where the characters are talking but the overall quality of the animation is I felt pretty decent.

I don't know why they chose to have Penelope be a damsel in distress character for this series since it's something that gets old very freaking fast. I honestly feel having Penelope get kidnapped every few minuets makes this episode feel boring because your just seeing the same thing over and over again but done in different ways which is why I feel that this show should have been around five minuets per episode and be paired with at least two or thee other shows.

Like I said this is one of two spin off's of Wacky Races and I do feel that this is perhaps the worst one of the two. Simply because it does nothing interesting with it's main idea where as Dastardly & Muttley In Their Flying Machines was a really entertaining show and even tho it had the same story going on in every episode each episode was split up into three segments so you where never that bored watching it which is something that cannot be said here.

Speaking of Dick Dastardly they name drop him in this episode and it's such an out of nowhere and cheesy line as well hell they even have the villain who's name dropping him turn to the camera as he's saying it. Why they chose to mention Dick Dastardly is beyond me because all it's going to do is remind people of a much better villain and character which is something that you never want to be doing in your debut episode.

For some reason both this show and Dastardly And Muttley In Their Flying Machines aired not only at the same time with both shows premiering on September 13th 1969 but they also aired on the exact same network that being CBS. As far as I can tell both shows didn't air as part of a programming block and so I have to wonder why did they put the two shows basically against each other since that's just stupid. 

One of the good things about this episode and this show is that they made The Ant Hill Mob the heroes of the show. Which to me is a solid idea because it now opens the door to some great comedic moments as well as giving us a chance to see how creative the characters can get when there put into a difficult situation and thankfully we do get plenty of chances to see how creative The Ant Hill Mob can be in this episode.

Now then boys and girls since this is a comedy that does mean that we have to talk about the jokes that are in the episode. The jokes I feel were a very mixed bag since while none of them were laugh out loud funny there are a few jokes that did get a smile out of me and those are the best jokes but sadly there are also alot of jokes that didn't even get a smile out of me but as I always say comedy is subjective and so what didn't make me laugh might make you guys laugh or what made me laugh might not make you guys laugh.

Overall this episode wasn't that good but it's not that bad either it's very middle of the road for me in every sense of the word. I say that because even tho the episode can be entertaining at times there are also times where the episodes feels boring and that's when the issues that I had with the episode really shine through since i'm forced to think about the issues that are in the episode as such this episode gets a 5 out of 10 from me.

All images used in this review were gathered from either the official Hanna-Barbera fandom wiki page or Google Images. I fully admit that I wasn't expecting to find any high definition images for this show or this episode and part from the very first image in this review I got exactly what I thought I was going to get as such I really can't recommend either website since it doesn't matter where you go for for images since the quality is going to be the exact same.

 

A Review Of Both Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines And The Perils of Penelope Pitstop

Wacky Races fans I bet this is something that you never saw coming not one but two reviews for the franchise yes you read that right i'm reviewing both of the spin off shows it's something i've wanted to do for sometime but have always put it off well no more here is my review of both Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines And The Perils of Penelope Pitstop.

The set up for Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines is the duo along with new characters Zilly and Klunk try and stop a pigeon. Yeah it's a simple set up and I think that it does work however they don't explain why Dastardly and Muttley are no longer racing nor what happend to The Mean Machine.

The set up for The Perils of Penelope Pitstop is that Penelope is an heiress and with the help of The Ant Hill Mob must escape the clutches of her enemy The Hooded Claw. It really is hard for me to say if this set up is genius or just dumb because there are times where this set up just doesn't work but then there are times where it does.

Reprising their roles in The Perils of Penelope Pitstop are Janet Waldo , Don Messick and Paul Winchell and they are joined by the legendary Mel Blanc and Paul Lynde. There's not much I can really say acting wise since alot of these actors are true legends but honestly the acting is the best part of the show and that's not really saying much given the fact the rest of the show isn't that good.

What makes Dastardly And Muttley standout is the fact that it only stars two actors Paul Winchell and Don Messick even tho there both reprising there roles as Dastardly And Muttley they also play every character on the show and they each have very distinct voices.

The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop has one very major issue and it's one that they repeat all the time in the intro and it's the fact that Penelope's guardian is called Sylvester Sneekly and as if I need to point this out he's The Hooded Claw the only hint Penelope ever needs to tell her that he's evil is the fact that his last name is Sneekly it has the word Sneek right there it just makes her look dumb.

The animation for both shows was done by legendary studio Hanna-Barbera and the animation honestly isn't that bad which is to be expected given that William Hanna and Joseph Barbera directed every episode of both shows however both shows also contain alot of animation errors some of which aren't that bad for example Muttley's ears change colors a few times but one is downright terrifying I kid you not there's a scene in The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop where The Ant Hill Mob are shown without faces.

Dastardly And Muttley does something that i think is rather unique because it takes two characters who are villainess in one show and it keeps them as the villains in their own show I really cannot think of a show that has done that or would even give a villain their own spin off series.

What really did shock me was the fact that not only did both shows air on the same network but they also aired at exactly the same time with both shows debuting September 13th 1969 and they both lasted seventeen episodes with Dastardly And Muttley last airing on January 3rd 1970 and Penelope Pitstop last airing around ten or say days later on January 17th 1970. 

Anyone who's anyone will tell you that having two spin off air at the exact same time is unheard of and I can't think of a reason why CBS / Hanna-Barbera did it with these spin off yes Wacky Races was a hit but it wasn't a major hit like The Flintstones so surely airing them at separate times would have been better.

Another one of the things that really did bug about The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop is the fact that's really boring Dastardly And Muttley isn't a good show by any means but it was fun at least this show is just boring to watch the set up makes the show seem more interesting then it actually is alot of the time it's Penelope getting captured and The Ant Hill Mob have to save her and after the first episode it get's old really freaking fast.

Humor wise it's hard for me to say which show is funnier because at times I did laugh at both shows and given that the writers for Dastardly And Muttley included the legendary Michael Maltese and The perils of Penelope Pitstop was written by Maltese and Scooby-Doo creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears you can see why it's hard for me to say which show had me laughing the most however I do have to give major props to Perils for at least mentioning Dick Dastardly.

Overall Dastardly And Muttley In Their Flying Machines is easily the better show but that's only because i'm comparing it to The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop if your a Wacky Races fan then I see no harm in checking out these shows but for me Dastardly And Muttley scores a 5.5 out of 10 and The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop scores a 4.5 out of 10.