Yogi's Space Race

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Yogi's Space Race was a 90-minute Saturday morning cartoon program block produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions from September 9, 1978 to September 1979 for NBC. It contained the following segments:

Character Bios

Yogi Bear and Scare Bear: While Yogi remains unchanged save for the change in setting, Boo Boo does not appear. Instead, his partner is Scare Bear (Joe Besser), a small bear who is afraid of almost everything, like Dick Dastardly's Zilly. Yogi and Scare are a racing team at Yogi's Space Race and members of the Galaxy Goof-Ups.

Huckleberry Hound and Quack-Up: Another racing team, Quack-Up (Mel Blanc) is the crazy and clumsy pilot of the team while Huck just rests at the top of their ship. They are also members of the Galaxy Goof-Ups.

Captain Snerdly: The Commander of the Galaxy Goof-Ups, Captain Snerdly (John Stephenson) is forced to put up with their clumsiness since they somehow solve the cases they're assigned to. In one episode, to make sure the new equipment will work better, he had installed a mechanism which keeps them from touching it.

General Blowhard: Snerdly's superior. He's unaware of the Goof-Ups' incompetence and blames Snerdly for whatever goes wrong. In one episode he is seen removing medals (along with pieces of uniform) from Snerdly every time they commit a blunder. Neither Snerdly neither Blowhard appear at the Space Race.

Jabberjaw and Buford: Another racing team. Jabberjaw is still on his search for respect from his original series. His partner is Buford, from The Buford Files, where he's the lazy pet dog of two kids who solve mysteries in Fenokee County. Their race ship contains a track on which Buford runs to increase speed, which is seldom used since it's hard to keep him awake. Jabberjaw was once seen running on it during the Saturn 500.

Nugget Nose, Wendy and Rita: The only racing team in the race that's a trio instead of a duo. They all are characters from The Galloping Ghost, where Wendy and Rita work at the Fuddy Dude Ranch and Nugget Nose is a gold-obsessed ghost who's jealous about the girls. His nose looks like a nugget (hence the name).

Klondike Kate: Nugget Nose's girlfriend, she debuts in an episode named after her in The Galloping Ghost where she tells Wendy and Rita that his obsession with gold makes him reject other precious minerals like petroleum and diamonds.

Fuddy: Wendy and Rita's greedy employer who doesn't believe in ghosts or doesn't want to because he thinks they scare the guests. When the ranch received a millionaire guest who intended to pay U$ 1 million to see a ghost, he tried to befriend Nugget Nose but his plans backfire when Nugget learns Fuddy intends to use the money to modernize his ranch could cost the girls their jobs. Fuddy's face is seen on Yogi's Space Race when a vacation time at his ranch was offered as a prize for the winners, who happened to be Nugget Nose, Wendy and Rita.

Captain Good/Phantom Phink and Clean Kat/Sinister Sludge: To the eyes of the other characters, Captain Good is the personification of good sportsmanship and fights for everything right, while he's actually Phantom Phink, a space racer who uses all possible sorts of cheating like Dick Dastardly, except that he actually wins some races, crossing the finish line either as Captain Good or as Phantom Phink. The duo can transform themselves, and their car, at the touch of a button. Captain Good looks like a blonde muscleman while Phink is a skinny man with a big black beard. Although Good/Phink never tricks people into believing they are seeing both of them at the same time and Phink never shows up for the start of any race, nobody suspects they're one and the same. Good/Phink usually tries to get help from people who live in the planets where the races take place, no matter which identity he must use. Clean Kat/Sinister Sludge is Captain Good's/Phantom Phink's pet cat/dog. Clean Kat is a white and snobbish cat while Sinister Sludge is a brown dog who's usually told by Phink to shut up. Whenever Good/Phink morphs, Kat/Sludge morphs together (although he is capable of doing it separated from his master, as revealed in the Saturn 500, when Phink says dogs aren't allowed in Mars and he morphs, causing Phink to says cats aren't either).

The Narrator: This unseen character (Gary Owens) is the narrator of the Space Race and introducer of the Space Race Biography. He sometimes talks to the characters of the series.

El Fabuloso: The Space Race's official computer. He analyzes the races to catch any cheat practiced and often disqualifies Phantom Phink for cheating. Phink usually utilizes his alter-ego to proceed on the race because of that. In Franzia, after Good/Phink tricks the local version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame to stop the other racers, El Fabuloso finally discovers they're one and the same, but no one believes him and the narrator assumes El Fabuloso has a malfunction. To keep his secret identity, Phink has to convert into Captain Good to save the Space Racers.

The Space Race Biography

The series often introduces the biography of some Space Racers or their ancestors. Phantom Phink was once described as a "descendant" of Dr. Jekyll, who was described looking like Captain Good while Mr. Hyde looks like Phink, giving us an idea of Good's/Phink's original look that contradicts the idea believed by many fans that Clean Kat/Sinister Sludge is originally a dog since this is his shape as Phantom Phink's pet.

Space Race Prizes

Every Space Race offers a seemingly wonderful prize for the winners. At the end, it's revealed something that makes the winners dislike their prize.

  • The Saturn 500 - Winners: Yogi Bear and Scare Bear; Prize: Vacation trip to Mars; Trouble: There are monsters in Mars.
  • The Neptune 9000 - Winners: Captain Good and Clean Kat; Prize: A car/ship that converts into a bag for easy keeping; Trouble: The car/ship did it with Captain Good inside it.
  • The Spartikan Spectacular - Winners: Captain Good and Clean Kat; Prize: A ride at a cruise boat; Trouble: They had to travel with the cargo.
  • Race Through Oz - Winners: Captain Good and Clean Kat; Prize: A date with a computer-chosen partner; Trouble: He's got a date with the Wicked Witch of the West.
  • Franzia - Winners: Huckleberry Hound and Quack-Up; Prize: Tickets for a flight on a luxury jet plane; Trouble: They didn't get seats inside the plane.

Other races were: The Pongo Tongo Classic; Nebuloc - The Prehistoric Planet; The Mizar Marathon; The Lost Planet of Atlantis; Race Through Wet Galoshes; The Borealis Triangle; Race To The center of The Universe; and Race Through The Planet of The Monsters.

  • - Winners: Phantom Phink and Sinister Sludge; Prize: Being painted by a famous artist; Trouble: They were literally painted.
  • - Winners: Yogi Bear and Scare Bear; Prize: Dinner at Ritz; Trouble: They dine at the kitchen and have to do the dishes.
  • - Winners: Captain Good and Clean Kat; Prize: Tickets to the Rolling Clones; Trouble: They have to lay down at the floor with other viewers over them.
  • - Winners: Phantom Phink and Sinister Sludge; Prize: Vacation time at a ski lodge; Trouble: They had to pull the sleigh.
  • - Winners: Nugget Nose, Wendy and Rita; Prize: Vacation time at a dude ranch; Trouble: It's Fuddy's Dude Ranch. The first prize whose winners had specific reason to dislike.
  • - Winners: Phantom Phink and Sinister Sludge; Prize: Roles in a movie made in Hollywood; Trouble: They had to make dangerous scenes.

Trivia

  • The "Space Race" logo uses a very similar "font" to that of the Star Wars logo (the original film had been released a year earlier).
  • The show was widely seen as a low quality disco-era rip off of Wacky Races and was never as popular as the Wacky Races.
  • The Southern Belle Penelope Pitstop was to appear on the show but was swopped in favour of Wendy and Reeta.


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