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 of 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
Composer(s)Ted Nichols
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes17 (34 Dastardly and Muttley segments, 17 Magnificent Muttley segments, 34 brief Wing Dings segments)
Production
Producer(s)
Running time22 minutes (excluding network breaks)
Production company(s)Hanna-Barbera Productions
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 and the indistinctly heard General, and Don Messick as all of the 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 flying aces and members of the Vulture Squadron, a crew of aviators on a mission to stop a homing pigeon named Yankee Doodle Pigeon from delivering top-secret messages to the other side.

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 grab 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
Nº Cartoons Original air date
DM-1 "Fur Out Furlough" (47-4) / "Barn Dance" (47-72) / "Hot Soup" (47-71) / "Muttley on the Bounty" / "Sappy Birthday" September 13, 1969
DM-2 "Follow That Feather" (47-2) / "Barber" (47-70) / "Empty Hangar" (47-73) / "What's New Old Bean?" / "Operation Anvil" September 20, 1969
DM-3 "Sky Hi-IQ" (47-5) / "Prop Wash" (47-74) / "Carpet" (47-76) / "The Marvelous Muttdini" / "A Plain Shortage of Planes" September 27, 1969
DM-4 "Barnstormers" (47-8) / "Arnold" (47-78) / "Pineapple Sundae" (47-79) / "The New Mascot" / "The Bad Actor" / "Shape Up or Ship Out" October 4, 1969
DM-5 "Stop That Pigeon" (47-1) / "Grease Job" (47-75) / "Robot" (47-83) / "The Big Topper" / "Zilly's a Dilly" October 11, 1969
DM-6 "The Cuckoo Patrol" (47-11) / "Automatic Door" (47-82) / "Airmail" (47-84) / "Runway Stripe" / "The Masked Muttley" / "Pest Pilots" October 18, 1969
DM-7 "The Swiss Yelps" / "Eagle-Beagle" / "Deep Reading" / "Shell Game" / "Slightly Loaded" / "Movie Stuntman" October 25, 1969
DM-8 "Fly By Knights" (47-15) / "There's No Fool Like a Re-Fuel" (47-16) / "Springtime" (47-98) / "Dog's Life" / "Strange Equipment" / "Coonskin Caper" November 1, 1969
DM-9 "Movies Are Badder Than Ever" (47-18) / "Home Sweet Homing Pigeon" (47-19) / "The Elevator" (47-81) / "Obedience School" / "Aquanuts" November 8, 1969
DM-10 "Lens a Hand" (47-17) / "Vacation Trip Trap" (47-20) / "Parachute" (47-99) / "Real Snapper" / "Leonardo De Muttley" November 15, 1969
DM-11 "Stop Which Pigeon?" (47-21) / "Ceiling Zero Zero" (47-22) / "Fast Freight" (47-90) / "Home Run" / "Start Your Engines" November 22, 1969
DM-12 "Who's Who?" (47-23) / "Operation Birdbrain" (47-24) / "Bowling Pin" (47-88) / "Shrink Job" / "Ship Ahooey" November 29, 1969
DM-13 "Medal Muddle" (47-25) / "Go South Young Pigeon!" (47-26) / "The Window Washer" (47-128) / "Beach Blast" / "Admiral Bird Dog" December 6, 1969
DM-14 "Too Many Kooks" (47-27) / "Ice See You" (47-28) / "Echo" (47-89) / "Rainmaker" / "Professor Muttley" December 13, 1969
DM-15 "Balmy Swami" (47-29) / "Camouflage Hop-Aroo" (47-30) / "Mop Up" (47-124) / "Big Turnover" (a.k.a. Left Hanging) / "Wild Mutt Muttley" December 20, 1969
DM-16 "Have Plane Will Travel" (47-31) / "Windy Windmill" (47-32) / "Tough Break" (47-110) / "The Ice Cream Tree" / "Astromutt" December 27, 1969
DM-17 "Plane Talk" (47-33) / "Happy Bird Day" (47-34) / "Boxing" (47-85) / "Runaway Rug" (a.k.a. Magic Carpet) / "Super Muttley" January 3, 1970

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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