DePatie-Freleng Enterprises did do some good theatrical series, namely Pink Panther (the 60s output), The Inspector and the Ant and the Aardvark. The Blue Racer series however is one of the ones that never did do much for me, not everything is bad and a few of the cartoons are watchable but most of the cartoons are lacklustre and its worst opponents (i.e. The beetle) are awful. Am not saying this with pleasure, being a big animation fan and seeing as the studio did do some great cartoons.
'Wham and Eggs' did have some potential. The premise was not one that immediately excited, as it is the sort of premise that could pass for any other theatrical series, but it is always a relief whenever there is a Blue Racer cartoon that does not have the beetle in it. The good news is that it is not one of the worst Blue Racer cartoons. The not so good news is that 'Wham and Eggs' isn't also particularly note-worthy and is nothing special. There is a familiar feel to it, with it not being much different from most of the previous cartoons with the noticeable difference being that the beetle isn't in it.
There are good things here. Doug Goodwin's music still shines. The music is characterful and upbeat with an infectious main theme and the opening credits are well designed. There are some nice colours and the character animation on Blue Racer is fun, especially his frustrated and angry facial expressions.
Blue Racer has grown in personality as has Larry D. Mann's craftiness voicing him. Some of Blue Racer's lines are amusing and the chemistry between him and the dragon has moments of fun energy.
However, 'Wham and Eggs' has drawbacks. While not following the formula that the first six cartoons in the series did, the story doesn't feel that fresh, is very thin (with it taking time to get going) and actually felt like a loose variation sans the beetle. In his place is the dragon, and he struck me as a character who was very thin and doesn't have an awful lot of personality. What there is is not a fresh, amusing or appealing one, with him coming over as annoying. Blue Racer may come over as too mean and cantankerous here, usually would describe him as crafty but not how he is here, but his frustrations with the dragon were understandable.
Although not short-changed when it comes to the gags, which is emphasised more than the story, the gags are quite stale and they are not particularly funny (the amusing parts are in Blue Racer's dialogue). The running gag with the fire breathing was not a great one to begin with and got repetitive, which is why the rushed ending further fell flat. Bob Holt overdoes it as the dragon and resorts to stereotyping in the final couple of minutes. The animation has moments where it's fine but tends to look rushed and budget-constraints-like.
Overall, watchable cartoon but a long way from great or particularly good. 5/10.