Fender Bender 500 (partially found episodes of "Wacky Races" reboot animated series; 1990s)
Fender Bender 500 is a series of cartoon shorts originally from a show called Wake, Rattle, and Roll (later renamed to JUMP, Rattle, and Roll). This segment features iconic Hanna-Barbera characters racing one another around the world in real-life locations such as Cape Canaveral, Washington DC, Texas, London, Ireland, Russia, Brazil and Kenya; it is a 1990s update of the classic Wacky Races series from 1968. [1] The segment would normally feature 9 teams of 2, including:
- Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo in the Jellystone Jammer,
- Wally Gator and Magilla Gorilla in the Swamp Stomper,
- Top Cat and his friend Choo-Choo in the Alley Cat,
- Winsome Witch and her cat Lucky in the Sonic Broom,
- Huckleberry Hound and Snagglepuss in the Half-Dog Half-Cat Halftrack,
- Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy in the Lucky Trucky,
- Quick Draw McGraw and his partner Baba Looey in the Texas Twister,
- Pixie and Dixie, the Mice Twins, in the Cheddar Shredder,
- And, returning from Wacky Races, Dick Dastardly and Muttley in the Dirty Truckster.
It is historically significant as it would be the last time that Top Cat and Dick Dastardly would be voiced by their original actors, Arnold Stang[2] and Paul Winchell[3] respectively, before their passings.
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 were released on both VHS[7] and Laserdisc in six volumes.[8] [9] These sets were missing the episodes Unfathomable 500 and The Yukon Win It 500 which were exclusive to a laserdisc box set of Wacky Races. [10]
Availability
Out of the 50 episodes produced 18 have currently been found in English [11] and 40 episodes have been found in Japanese [12][13] Currently six episodes are unavailable publicly in any language.
In March 2020, Volume 3 of the Japanese release was preserved by YouTube user Alan Grant [14]. In May 2023 volumes 1, 2 5 and 6 were preserved by YouTube user RailRon [12] All of which were later preserved by Archive.org user RyanKeim13[13]
The majority of the English language episodes are currently considered lost media. In May 2021, a folder containing all episodes available at the time, was uploaded to Mega.[15]
# | Episode Title | Episode Status |
---|---|---|
01 | The Nippon Tuck 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
02 | The Cow Sow & Plow 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
03 | The Calypso 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
04 | The Philly Freedom 500 | Found |
05 | The Hup, Two, Three, Four 500 | Found |
06 | The Frances a Lot 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
07 | The Wooden Shoe Like to Win 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
08 | The Rocket Gibraltar 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
09 | The Bombay Flambe 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
10 | The Way Down Under 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
11 | Fondue 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
12 | The Kenya Win It 500 | Found |
13 | The Fettuccini 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
14 | Monumental 500 | Found |
15 | The High Stakes 500 | Found |
16 | The Great Golden Gate 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
17 | The Highland Fling 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
18 | Rush to Rushmore 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
19 | Pound for Pound 500 | Found |
20 | The Great Greek 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
21 | The Log Jammer 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
22 | The Clambake 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
23 | We'll Get Bayou 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
24 | The Funhouse 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
25 | Space Race 500 | Found |
26 | The Wicki Wacki 500 | Lost |
27 | Big Apple 500 | Lost |
28 | The Panda-Monium 500 | Lost |
29 | The Tumbleweed 500 | Found |
30 | The Jungle Bungle 500 | Lost |
31 | Silver Screen 500 | Lost |
32 | Sheik to Sheik 500 | Found |
33 | The Cotton Pickin 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
34 | The Oom-pa-pah 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
35 | The Fountain of Youth 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
36 | The Fiesta Fantastica 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
37 | The Big Top 500 | Found |
38 | The Russian Around 500 | Found |
39 | The Dash to Nashville 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
40 | The Trans-Transylvania 500 | Found |
41 | The Run Down to Ghost Town 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
42 | The Go for the Gold 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
43 | The Golden State 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
44 | The Hit'n Mississippi 500 | Found |
45 | The Alligator Alley 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
46 | The Brazilian Million 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
47 | The Emerald Isle 500 | Found (Japanese dub) |
48 | The Nile a Minute 500 | Found |
49 | Unfathomable 500 | Found |
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
- ↑ Amazon Japan: VHS Listing
- ↑ LaserDisc Database's listing on Fender Bender 500.
- ↑ National Diet Library Listing (Japan)
- ↑ Wacky Races Laserdisc featuring two episodes " Unfathomable 500" and "The Yukon Win It 500" unavailable separately.
- ↑ YouTube playlist of Fender Bender 500 episodes currently available in English. (Updated Nov 2023)
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Episodes of Fender Bender 500, uploaded by YouTube user RailRon. (Updated May 2023)
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Five volumes of the Japanese home release uploaded Archive.org (Updated July 2023)
- ↑ Laserdisc Volume 3, six Japanese episodes uploaded. (Updated March 2020)
- ↑ A MEGA folder containing all current found episodes (Updated May 2021).