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Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines was a Saturday morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for CBS from September 13, 1969 to September 5, 1971. The show's working title was Stop the Pigeon, and the show's theme song (derived from "Tiger Rag" and sung by Dick Dastardly himself) repeats the phrase so often that it is easy to mistake that for the show's actual title. Under the working title, Dick and Muttley were not part of the cast; a chubby, heavy-jowled Red Baron-esque pilot and a dachshund in flying goggles were the central figures. It appeared that those figures were not going anywhere insofar as development, so the characters of Dastardly and Muttley were plucked from Hanna-Barbera's earlier Wacky Races for the series.
The show features Dick Dastardly and Muttley, the comic villains from Wacky Races, as World War I 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 messages to the other side. The show was unusual in having only two voice actors—Paul Winchell as Dastardly and the indistinctly heard General, and Don Messick as everybody else. Each half-hour episode typically features two stories, plus "Wing Dings" (short gags) and "Magnificent Muttley" (Muttley's Walter Mitty-style daydreams).
In the UK, the series remains best known by the shorter name Dastardly and Muttley.
Set in World War I, Dick Dastardly, his dog Muttley, and the rest of the Vulture Squadron are bent on capturing Yankee Doodle Pigeon to prevent him from delivering his messages to the enemies. Aboard their many crazy aircraft, Dastardly and Muttley devise nefarious plans to stop the pigeon. Their motivation is the possibility of earning a medal or maybe even a 30 day furlough. The only problem is, that crafty pigeon always seems to be one step ahead. Written by Brian D. Switzer






