Chiki Chiki.

I'm currently watching Wacky Races on Cartoon Network Japan mainly because there's nothing else on and they're running 6 episodes straight. I looked up the name of this show in Japanese and it is チキチキマシン猛レース or Chiki Chiki Machine Mou Race. For an episode guide and a peek at a real-life recreation of the Wacky vehicles, check this out.

The above was taken from my TV, below was scammed from the net.

Much to my surprise, I mentioned Chiki Chiki before and there is a clip of the opening and closing within. Here is the video again for those non-history buffs.



As an aside, I just realized where Chiki Chiki Machine is derived from. It comes from チキ・チキ・バン・バン  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!




For all of my Hanna Barbera links to date, click the label below or here for easy access. And for lots of background info about Wacky Races, watch this...



At the two minute mark there, you can see some contribution from Iwao Takamoto. He was responsible for the original character design of such characters as Penelope Pitstop, Astro and Scooby-Doo. I would love to learn more about him, I need to investigate further.

Speaking of Penelope Pitstop, she followed up Wacky Races with ペネロッピー絶体絶命 or the Perils of Penelope Pitstop (episode guide here.) Voiced yet again by Janet Waldo, her nemesis is the Hooded Claw who unbeknownst to her is her guardian, Sylvester Sneekly, campily voiced by Paul Lynde. For the theme in Japanese, watch this...



Another spinoff character is of course Dick Dastardly (voiced by the ubiquitous Chikao Ohtsuka.) His sidekick, Muttley, is far more famous than he here in Japan and goes by the name of ケンケン Kenken (voiced by Takumi Kamiyama.)



ps. A long time ago (7 years!) when I wrote about Groovy Ghoulies the link to their theme song was unable to be embedded. I'm happy to report that I can now embed it!



I'll revisit Hanna Barbera the next time one of their shows catches my eye.