Fender Bender 500 (partially found episodes of "Wacky Races" reboot animated series; 1990s)
Fender Bender 500 is a series of cartoon shorts featuring iconic Hanna-Barbera characters racing each other in monster trucks; it's a 1990s update of the classic Wacky Races series from 1968 [1]. It is historically significant as it would be the last time that Top Cat and Dick Dastardly would be voiced by the original actors, Arnold Stang[2] and Paul Winchell[3], before their passing.
Release History
It was originally broadcast as a segment of Wake, Rattle and Roll[4], a Hanna-Barbera produced live-action children's show. The first season was aired in syndication and then afterward moved to the Disney Channel and re-named Jump, Rattle and Roll[5]. The Fender Bender 500 segments also aired as part of TV Mayhem in the UK[6].
The only commercial home video release was in Japan where the majority of episodes (excluding Unfathomable 500 and The Yukon Win It 500.[7]) were released on both VHS[8] and Laserdisc in six volumes.[9] [10] Four of these volumes were preserved by YouTube user RailRon [11]. The majority of the English language episodes are currently considered lost media.
Availability
Out of the 50 episodes produced 18 have currently been found in English [12] and 40 episodes have been found in Japanese [11][7] Currently six episodes are unavailable publicly in any language.
In May 2021, a folder containing all episodes available at the time, was uploaded to Mega.[13]
In July 2023, five volumes of the Japanese home video release were uploaded to Archive.org[7]
# | Episode Title | Episode Status |
---|---|---|
01 | The Nippon Tuck 500 | Found - Japanese |
02 | The Cow Sow & Plow 500 | Found - Japanese |
03 | The Calypso 500 | Found - Japanese |
04 | The Philly Freedom 500 | Found - English |
05 | The Hup, Two, Three, Four 500 | Found - English |
06 | The Frances a Lot 500 | Found - Japanese |
07 | The Wooden Shoe Like to Win 500 | Found - Japanese |
08 | The Rocket Gibraltar 500 | Found - Japanese |
09 | The Bombay Flambe 500 | Found - Japanese |
10 | The Way Down Under 500 | Found - Japanese |
11 | Fondue 500 | Found - Japanese |
12 | The Kenya Win It 500 | Found - English |
13 | The Fettuccini 500 | Found - Japanese |
14 | Monumental 500 | Found - English |
15 | The High Stakes 500 | Found - English |
16 | The Great Golden Gate 500 | Found - Japanese |
17 | The Highland Fling 500 | Found - Japanese |
18 | Rush to Rushmore 500 | Found - Japanese |
19 | Pound for Pound 500 | Found - English |
20 | The Great Greek 500 | Found - Japanese |
21 | The Log Jammer 500 | Found - Japanese |
22 | The Clambake 500 | Found - Japanese |
23 | We'll Get Bayou 500 | Found - Japanese |
24 | The Funhouse 500 | Found - Japanese |
25 | Space Race 500 | Found - English |
26 | The Wicki Wacki 500 | Lost |
27 | Big Apple 500 | Lost |
28 | The Panda-Monium 500 | Lost |
29 | The Tumbleweed 500 | Found - English |
30 | The Jungle Bungle 500 | Lost |
31 | Silver Screen 500 | Lost |
32 | Sheik to Sheik 500 | Found - English |
33 | The Cotton Pickin 500 | Found - Japanese |
34 | The Oom-pa-pah 500 | Found - Japanese |
35 | The Fountain of Youth 500 | Found - Japanese |
36 | The Fiesta Fantastica 500 | Found - Japanese |
37 | The Big Top 500 | Found - English |
38 | The Russian Around 500 | Found - English |
39 | The Dash to Nashville 500 | Found - Japanese |
40 | The Trans-Transylvania 500 | Found - English |
41 | The Run Down to Ghost Town 500 | Found - Japanese |
42 | The Go for the Gold 500 | Found - Japanese |
43 | The Golden State 500 | Found - Japanese |
44 | The Hit'n Mississippi 500 | Found - English |
45 | The Alligator Alley 500 | Found - Japanese |
46 | The Brazilian Million 500 | Found - Japanese |
47 | The Emerald Isle 500 | Found - Japanese |
48 | The Nile a Minute 500 | Found - English |
49 | Unfathomable 500 | Found - English |
50 | The Yukon Win It 500 | Lost |
See Also
- Boss Cat (found British opening and ending titles of "Top Cat" animated series; 1962-1989)
- CBS Storybreak "What Happened in Hamelin" (lost episode from animated series; 1987)
- Dastardly & Muttley - Operation: Pigeon Pursuit (lost build of unreleased PlayStation 2 video game; 2007-2008)
- Jetsons: The Movie "Gotcha" (partially found full version of song from Hanna-Barbera animated film; 1990)
- Jetsons: The Movie - Janet Waldo performance (lost audio of animated film; 1988-1989)
- Jokebook (partially found Hanna-Barbera animated series; 1982)
- Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone (partially found episodes of syndicated animated series; 1990)
- Return of the Bunjee (lost ABC Weekend special; 1985)
- Rock Odyssey (partially lost Hanna-Barbera animated film; 1987)
- Showbiz Pizza's Yogi Bear and Boo Boo Showtape (found animatronic audio showtape; 1987)
- The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (partially found Hanna Barbera live action-animated TV series; 1968-1969)
- The Flintstones (cancelled Seth MacFarlane reboot of animated series; 2013)
- The Flintstones Movie (partially found Sega Channel exclusive build of 2D movie tie-in platformer; 1995)
- The Funny World of Fred and Bunni (partially found live-action/animated variety show pilot; 1978)
- The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour (partially found NBC comedy variety show; 1978)
- The Moxy Show (partially found episodes of CGI anthology series; 1993-2000)
- The New Teen Titans "Just Say No!" (partially lost Hanna-Barbera anti-drug animated PSA; 1983)
- The Ruff and Reddy Show (found episodes of NBC Hanna-Barbera animated series; 1957-1960)
- The Snorks (partially found unaired pilot of Hanna-Barbera animated TV series; 1982)
References
- ↑ Hanna Barbera Wiki: Fender Bender 500
- ↑ Behind The Voice Actors: Arnold Stang
- ↑ Behind The Voice Actors: Paul Winchell
- ↑ Youtube: Wake Rattle and Roll, Full Episode
- ↑ Jump Rattle and Roll, Disney Channel Promo
- ↑ TV Mayhem: Episode 1
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Five volumes of the Japanese home release uploaded Archive.org (Updated July 2023)
- ↑ Amazon Japan: VHS Listing
- ↑ LaserDisc Database's listing on Fender Bender 500.
- ↑ National Diet Library Listing (Japan)
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Episodes of Fender Bender 500, uploaded by YouTube user RailRon. (Updated May 2023)
- ↑ YouTube playlist of Fender Bender 500 episodes currently available in English. (Updated Nov 2023)
- ↑ A MEGA folder containing all current found episodes (Updated May 2021). In July 2023 five volumes of the Japanese release were uploaded to Archive.org