The Perils of Penelope Pitstop Complete - The Memorable TV DVD Review

Spinning off from the Wacky Races at the same time as Dastardly and Muttley (also just released by Warner) The Perils of Penelope Pitstop pokes gentle fun at the heroine in peril serials that were hugely popular during the 1920’s and 30’s (complete with over the top narration by Gary Owens);

The plot for each episode followed beautiful Southern voiced racing car driver Penelope Pitstop who finds her life in almost constant danger thanks to the machinations of the evil Sylvester Sneekly aka The Hooded Claw (voiced by the amazing Paul Lynde – as a youngster watching the show his voice used to really give me the creeps and watching it again he still can give a shiver, so slimy is The Claw).

Sneekly was in reality Penelope’s attorney and stood to get his hands on her money in the event of her death, hence his attempts as the Hooded Claw, aided by his henchmen The Bully Brothers, to bump Penelope off; Penelope of course always managed to get the better of The Claw (despite never knowing that Sneekly and The Claw were one and the same) and usually had help from fellow Wacky Racers The Ant Hill Mob (the mobster style gang had a balck limousine, The Chug-A-Boom, that could turn into pretty much anything).

Great fun with its frantic pace and knockabout humour The Peril of Penelope Pitstop is an entertaining slice of classic Hanna-Barbera and this nicely packaged release from Warners includes all 17 episodes.

ANY SPECIAL FEATURES THEN?

Commentary on Jungle Jeopardy and The Treacherous Movie Lot Plot by Janet Waldo, Voice of Penelope, Iwao Takamoto, Designer, Gary Owens, Narrator, Scott Awley, Warner Bros. Animation, Scott Jeralds, Warner Bros. Animation.

The Players in "Perils" featurette on the great escapes of Penelope and other characters. Also Penelope Pitstop's Spin Outs retrospective.

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