Television series

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop

Name: The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
Genre: Comedy, Family
Released: 1969
Cast: Janet Waldo, Mel Blanc, Mel Blanc, Mel Blanc, Don Messick

A Hanna-Barbera spinoff from Wacky Races, this is pure Saturday-morning melodrama: heiress Penelope Pitstop, her lisping guardian secretly plotting her death as the Hooded Claw, and the Ant Hill Mob riding to the rescue every episode. Fast, silly, gleefully repetitive, with a theme song you won't shake. Perfect for kids and for adults who want nostalgia without irony required.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy Saturday-morning cartoon villainy played for laughs, with a heroine who is competent and cheerfully unbothered, and a fondness for Hanna-Barbera-style repetition and gags.

Skip it if you need serialised stakes or fresh invention every week, since the plots run on a familiar formula and the cartoon look is unmistakably dated.

What it asks of you: Half-hour episodes, seventeen of them in one season; it moves briskly, asks little sustained attention, and the gags land every few seconds.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Wacky Races1968

The show Penelope spun off from — same racers, same gags, same manic energy, minus the melodrama plot. If you want more of this exact flavour of chaos, start here.

But No ongoing story, just races repeating the same jokes; can feel thinner without Penelope's cliffhanger structure.

Danger Mouse1981

British spy spoof with the same throwaway wit and cartoonish stakes, swapping race cars for gadgets and a mouse for a heiress. Dry humour under the silliness, like Pitstop's winking narration.

But Slower pace and more dialogue-driven jokes than the visual slapstick of Pitstop.

Inspector Gadget1983

A bumbling hero who's constantly saved by someone else while a cackling villain schemes in the shadows — the same comic imbalance between peril and incompetence that makes Pitstop fun.

But Aimed squarely at younger kids; jokes are broader and less arch than Pitstop's.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Perils of Penelope Pitstop

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Perils of Pauline1914

Pitstop's title and format are a direct parody of this decades-earlier damsel-in-peril serial; watching it shows exactly what joke the cartoon is making.

The actual silent serial this cartoon is named after and gently mocking — a wealthy young woman, endless death traps, and cliffhangers resolved by pure luck, played completely straight.

But Silent, scratchy, and paced very differently from anything modern — a genuine curiosity rather than easy entertainment.

Josie and the Pussycats1970

Another Hanna-Barbera adventure-comedy from the same golden run, trading car chases for globe-trotting mysteries but keeping the breezy, colourful pacing and goofy sidekicks.

But Leans more into teen-band aesthetics than racing chaos; different flavour of silly.

Batman1966

Live-action camp melodrama with cliffhangers, over-the-top villains and a wink to the audience the whole way through — the closest thing to Pitstop's tone with real actors.

But Slower, talkier, and the jokes rely more on deadpan delivery than cartoon slapstick.

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show1959

Sharper, more adult wit hiding inside kids' cartoon packaging, with narrators constantly undercutting the plot — a good next step if you liked Pitstop's self-aware humour.

But Humour is more verbal and pun-based, less about visual chase gags and rescue slapstick.

Killing Eve2018

Same engine as the Hooded Claw plot — a disguised pursuer fixated on one woman, tone flipping between glamour and menace — but rebuilt as prestige adult drama.

A stylish cat-and-mouse thriller where a killer and her pursuer become weirdly obsessed with each other, full of dark comedy and theatrical villainy that would feel at home in Pitstop's world, just grown up.

But Genuinely violent and sexually frank in ways nothing about Pitstop prepares you for.

Diabolique1955

Strip Pitstop's plot of every joke — guardian plots to kill an heiress for her fortune — and you get this film's premise played with total, chilling sincerity.

A French thriller about a scheme to murder someone for money and inheritance, executed with real dread and a twist ending that rewired how murder mysteries could be shot.

But Black-and-white, subtitled, and deliberately unsettling — the opposite of a cartoon's comfort.