Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines

Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines (or simply Dastardly and Muttley in the UK and Ireland) is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and a spin-off from Wacky Races. The show was originally broadcast as a Saturday morning cartoon, airing from September 13, 1969 to January 3, 1970 on CBS.[1] The show focuses on the efforts of Dick Dastardly and his canine sidekick Muttley to catch Yankee Doodle Pigeon, a carrier pigeon who carries secret messages (hence the name of the show's theme song "Stop the Pigeon"). The title is a reference to the film and song Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.[2]

"Klunk" redirects here. For the animatronic talk-show character, Uncle Klunk, see Aaron Fechter and The Rock-afire Explosion.

Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines
DVD box set
GenreComedy
Created by
Written byLarz Bourne, Dalton Sandifer, Michael Maltese
Directed by
Voices of
Narrated byDon Messick
ComposerTed Nichols
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes17 (34 Dastardly and Muttley segments, 17 Magnificent Muttley segments, 34 brief Wing Dings segments)
Production
Producers
Running time22 minutes (excluding network breaks)
Production companyHanna-Barbera Productions
DistributorTaft Broadcasting
Release
Original networkCBS
Original releaseSeptember 13, 1969 (1969-09-13) –
January 3, 1970 (1970-01-03)
Chronology
Related showsWacky Races

The original working title of the show was Stop That Pigeon. The peppy and memorable theme song by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (based on the jazz standard "Tiger Rag") has a chorus that repeats the phrase "Stop the pigeon" seven times in a row.[3]

The show had only two voice actors: Paul Winchell as Dick Dastardly, the indistinctly heard General and other characters and Don Messick as Muttley, Klunk, Zilly and other characters. Each 22-minute episode was broadcast over half an hour on the network, including network breaks, and contained: two Dastardly & Muttley stories, one Magnificent Muttley story (Muttley's Walter Mitty-style daydreams), and two or three short Wing Dings (brief gags to break up the longer stories).

Plot

Dick Dastardly and Muttley, the villains from Wacky Races,[4] are now World War I flying aces and members of the Vulture Squadron, a crew of flying aces presumably working for Germany and the Central Powers during World War I and on a mission to stop a messenger pigeon named Yankee Doodle Pigeon from delivering top-secret messages to an opposing army (seemingly American and/or Triple Entente).

Each story features variations on the same plot elements: the Vulture Squadron tries to trap Yankee Doodle Pigeon using one or more planes equipped with Klunk's latest contraptions, but one or more of the Squadron messes up and the plane(s) either crash, collide or explode (or all of the above). While they are falling out of the wreckage, Dick Dastardly calls for help, which Muttley offers depending on whether Dastardly either agrees or disagrees to give him medals. Even when Muttley does agree to fly Dastardly out of trouble, Dastardly seldom has a soft landing. At some point the General calls Dastardly on the phone to demand results, and while Dastardly assures him that they will soon capture the pigeon, the General usually disbelieves him and bellows to Dastardly through the phone and extends his hand from it to either grab Dastardly by the nose or his mustache. By the end of every story, Yankee Doodle Pigeon escapes while the Vulture Squadron is often left in backfiring predicaments.

In a contemporary comic book/comic digest series of Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, Dastardly and Muttley still failed to stop Yankee Doodle Pigeon, except for three times: the first time when accidentally knocking out and capturing Yankee Doodle Pigeon with falling ice cubes; Dastardly and Muttley finding to their surprise that the pigeon's satchel contained nothing but moths. The second time, they salted his tail for the purpose of again retrieving his satchel, only to discover it contained a jigsaw puzzle that read "Sucker!", while the pigeon had the real message under his helmet. The third time, Dastardly and Muttley lured Yankee Doodle to their side during a 24-hour truce, hypnotized him and set him up to be a traitor.

The show also featured Wing Dings, short clips with jokes, and Magnificent Muttley, where Muttley encounters Walter Mitty-esque daydreams.

Magnificent Muttley

There was one Magnificent Muttley episode in each of the 17 broadcast episodes. Muttley is the main character and imagines himself in a lot of situations, with Dastardly in the role of the villain; each episode was about 3 minutes long. Dastardly's car from Wacky Races made a cameo in a few of these shorts, namely "The Marvelous Muttdini" and "Admiral Bird Dog".

Episodes

Episode credits: Story: Larz Bourne; Dalton Sandifer; Mike Maltese. Story direction: Alex Lovy, Bill Perez


No.Episodes (episode codes)Original air dateProd.
code
1""Fur Out Furlough" (47-4) / "Barn Dance" (47-72) / "Hot Soup" (47-71) / "Muttley on the Bounty" / "Sappy Birthday""13 September 1969 (1969-09-13)DM-1
2""Follow That Feather" (47-2) / "Barber" (47-70) / "Empty Hangar" (47-73) / "What's New Old Bean?" / "Operation Anvil""20 September 1969 (1969-09-20)DM-2
3""Sky Hi-IQ" (47-5) / "Prop Wash" (47-74) / "Carpet" (47-76) / "The Marvelous Muttdini" / "A Plain Shortage of Planes""27 September 1969 (1969-09-27)DM-3
4""Barnstormers" (47-8) / "Arnold" (47-78) / "Pineapple Sundae" (47-79) / "The New Mascot" / "The Bad Actor" / "Shape Up or Ship Out""4 October 1969 (1969-10-04)DM-4
5""Stop That Pigeon" (47-1) / "Grease Job" (47-75) / "Robot" (47-83) / "The Big Topper" / "Zilly's a Dilly""11 October 1969 (1969-10-11)DM-5
6""The Cuckoo Patrol" (47-11) / "Automatic Door" (47-82) / "Airmail" (47-84) / "Runway Stripe" / "The Masked Muttley" / "Pest Pilots""18 October 1969 (1969-10-18)DM-6
7""The Swiss Yelps" / "Eagle-Beagle" / WD: "Deep Reading"; "Shell Game"; "Slightly Loaded" / MM: Movie Stuntman"25 October 1969 (1969-10-25)DM-7
While pursuing Yankee Doodle Pigeon through the Swiss Alps, the Vulture Squadron keeps annoying a grumpy mountain climber. Dastardly annoys a bald eagle and its nest. In the Magnificent Muttley episode, Muttley serves as a stunt mutt to director Darryl F. Dastardly.
8""Fly By Knights" (47-15) / "There's No Fool Like a Re-Fuel" (47-16) / WD: "Springtime" (47-98); "Dog's Life"; "Strange Equipment" / MM: "Coonskin Caper""1 November 1969 (1969-11-01)DM-8
Dastardly decides that the entire team needs to wear glasses, but the ones prescribed made things a lot worse. The Vulture Squadron tries to find ways to refuel to keep chasing after the pigeon, and end up destroying the gas station and annoying its grumpy owner. In the Magnificent Muttley episode, Muttley is Daniel Boone who attempts to rescue her girlfriend kidnapped by a Native American Dastardly.
9""Movies Are Badder Than Ever" (47-18) / "Home Sweet Homing Pigeon" (47-19) / WD: "The Elevator" (47-81); "Obedience School" / MM: "Aquanuts""8 November 1969 (1969-11-08)DM-9
The General hires a movie director to film the Vulture Squadron, but the squad keep ruining the shots. Klunk, Zillly and Muttley's enlistments has run out so they want to leave; Dastardly tries to convince them to stay a few more rounds. In the Magnitficent Muttley episode, when Muttley has to clean a swimming pool, and he imagines going on a treasure dive.
10""Lens a Hand" (47-17) / "Vacation Trip Trap" (47-20) / WD: "Parachute" (47-99); "Real Snapper" / MM: "Leonardo De Muttley""15 November 1969 (1969-11-15)DM-10
Dastardly tries to assure the general that they are doing their jobs by offering to record their actions on camera, but with Muttley operating the camera, they are unsuccessful. Dastardly's furlough is granted, but he keeps running into the Vulture Squadron everywhere he goes. In the Magnificent Muttley episode, Dastardly tries to steal Leonardo de Muttley's flying inventions
11""Stop Which Pigeon?" (47-21) / "Ceiling Zero Zero" (47-22) / WD: "Fast Freight" (47-90); "Home Run" / MM: "Start Your Engines""22 November 1969 (1969-11-22)DM-11
When the general pays a visit to the Vulture Squadron headquarters, Dastardly hires an imposter pigeon to pretend that he caught him, but Yankee Doodle keeps appearing anyway. The Vulture Squadron try to catch Yankee Doodle Pigeon for the umpteenth times with a bird caller plane; a bird packaging plane; a sandbag balloon; and a weather machine. In Magnificent Muttley, Muttley has to wash his Wacky Racers car and dreams he's in an auto race against the cheating Dastardly.
12""Who's Who?" (47-23) / "Operation Birdbrain" (47-24) / WD: "Bowling Pin" (47-88); "Shrink Job" / MM: "Ship Ahooey""29 November 1969 (1969-11-29)DM-12
After a blow to the head, Dastardly has lost his memory and has no idea what's going on. Dastardly has the Vulture Squadron try to think like the pigeon. While washing dishes, Muttley dreams of a swimming race across the English Channel, but Dastardly tries to sabotage them.
13""Medal Muddle" (47-25) / "Go South Young Pigeon!" (47-26) / "The Window Washer" (47-128) / "Beach Blast" / "Admiral Bird Dog""6 December 1969 (1969-12-06)DM-13
Muttley is upset that his medals have gone missing. The Vulture Squadron try to catch Yankee Doodle pigeon in the midst of flocks of migrating ducks. Muttley dreams of being the first dog to reach the North Pole.
14""Too Many Kooks" (47-27) / "Ice See You" (47-28) / "Echo" (47-89) / "Rainmaker" / "Professor Muttley""13 December 1969 (1969-12-13)DM-14
The members of the Vulture Squadron take turns inventing pigeon-catching planes. The Vulture Squadron try to catch Yankee Doodle Pigeon in a snow-based environment, which angers the local native and a polar bear. Dastardly steals Muttley's inventions but does not understand how to use them when he tries to demonstrate it in front of an investor.
15""Balmy Swami" (47-29) / "Camouflage Hop-Aroo" (47-30) / "Mop Up" (47-124) / "Big Turnover" (a.k.a. Left Hanging) / "Wild Mutt Muttley""20 December 1969 (1969-12-20)DM-15
The Vulture Squadron consults a swami who uses a crystal ball to help catch the pigeon.
16""Have Plane Will Travel" (47-31) / "Windy Windmill" (47-32) / "Tough Break" (47-110) / "The Ice Cream Tree" / "Astromutt""27 December 1969 (1969-12-27)DM-16
17""Plane Talk" (47-33) / "Happy Bird Day" (47-34) / "Boxing" (47-85) / "Runaway Rug" (a.k.a. Magic Carpet) / "Super Muttley""3 January 1970 (1970-01-03)DM-17

Voice cast

Syndication

After its original CBS run, Dastardly and Muttley was shown in syndicated reruns on local stations between 1976 and 1982. Some episodes were subsequently distributed on VHS tape by Worldvision Enterprises.

Home video

On May 10, 2005, Warner Home Video released the complete series on Region 1 DVD.[5] On July 31, 2006, the series was released on DVD R2 in the United Kingdom, but only in HMV stores and its online site as an HMV Exclusive.

DVD name Episode # Release date Additional information[5]
Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines: The Complete Series 17 May 10, 2005
  • Commentary on various episodes
  • The Vulture Squadron's Greatest Misses - Watch the Pigeon Thwart the Vulture Squadron
  • Dastardly and Muttley's Spin-Offs (retrospective documentary)

Rockabilly/psychobilly group The Reverend Horton Heat covered the theme song in 1995 as a medley with the theme song from Jonny Quest on the cover album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits with other various artists.

Hip-Hop group Madvillain references the characters in their song "Accordion" off their debut album Madvillainy.

In the BBC Robin Hood episode "Lardner's Ring", when Robin Hood is trying to send a message to King Richard via pigeon, at one point the Sheriff of Nottingham yells out "We must catch the pigeon! Catch the pigeon NOW!" Despite being a British show, the writer was obviously familiar with this show, as the Sheriff said it exactly the same way as Dastardly.

See also

References
  1. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 148. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  2. Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981. Scarecrow Press. pp. 78–79. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  3. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 234–236. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  4. Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. p. 111. ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  5. Desowitz, Bill (May 11, 2005). "Wacky Races Spinoffs Get Complete DVD Treatment". Animation World Network.
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