Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines

Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines was a Saturday morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for CBS from 1969 to 1971.

The show features Dick Dastardly and Muttley, the comic villains from Wacky Races, as World War I flying aces, on a mission to stop a homing pigeon from delivering messages to the enemy. 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, corny gags) and "Magnificent Muttley" (Muttley's Walter Mitty-style daydreams).

The show's theme song is notable for repeating the phrase "Stop the Pigeon" many times, with the result that many have come to believe that this was what the show was called.

Characters

Yankee Doodle Pigeon — a patriotic American homing pigeon carrying a mail bag, and a bugle which he always blows to announce his presence in defiance of Vulture Squadron.

Dick Dastardly — ex-Wacky Racer turned aviator, leader of Vulture Squadron, a motley crew determined to catch Yankee Doodle Pigeon despite being bird-brained themselves.

The General — Dastardly's superior, who always speaks (or rather, bellows) to Dastardly on the telephone. He is always able to reach Dastardly by phone even when Dastardly is flying (or, more often than not, falling), although it is never explained how. He is an unseen character except for his uniformed arm, which occasionally emerges from the telephone earpiece to grab or strike Dastardly. In one episode he pays a personal visit but is still never seen on camera.

Muttley — Dastardly's bungling canine sidekick. Able to speak, after a fashion. Since leaving the Wacky Races, Muttley has learned to fly by spinning his tail like a helicopter rotor. This enables him to save Dastardly from falling, although Muttley usually demands a medal for doing so. He also has his own segment, Magnificent Muttley, in which he daydreams that he is a different hero each week, usually with Dastardly as the villain.

Muttley's Girlfriend — only seen in some of the Magnificent Muttley shorts. She is usually the damsel in distress whom Muttley has to rescue from Dastardly's clutches. She looks like a female of Muttley's breed (whatever that may be) but unlike him she is able to speak distinctly. She may be a figment of his imagination.

Zilly — a pilot in Vulture squadron. He is a cringing coward, forever running away and having to be fetched back by Muttley. Each new plan fills him with dread, and he usually utters his catchphrase, "Ohhh dear!" before retracting his head into his collar like a tortoise retracting into its shell. Dastardly puts up with his cowardice because he is needed to fly planes and interpret Klunk's gibberish.

Klunk — Vulture Squadron's chief designer. Each episode sees him developing aircraft with odd features and attachments designed to catch Yankee Doodle Pigeon. His attempts to explain his inventions are complicated by the fact that he apparently suffers from Tourette syndrome: his speech is punctuated by howls, clicks, whistles, and growls, accompanied by bizarre facial contortions. Only Zilly can understand him.

Story

Each story features variations on the same plot elements: Vulture Squadron tries to trap Yankee Doodle Pigeon using an airplane or airplanes equipped with Klunk's latest contraption(s), but one or more of the Squadron messes up the attempt and the plane(s) crash or explode.

While they are falling out of the wreckage, Dastardly calls for help, which Muttley either offers or refuses depending on whether Dastardly agrees to give him a medal. 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. Dastardly assures him that they will soon capture the pigeon, but the General disbelieves him and either bellows down the phone or reaches through it and grabs Dastardly's collar.

Klunk then comes up with a new invention and "explains" it in his own unique way. Dastardly says "What'd he say? What'd he say?" and Zilly interprets, before attempting to run away. Once Muttley has "persuaded" Zilly to return Vulture Squadron take off in their new plane(s) to repeat the whole procedure over and over again. Eventually the Squadron are left to lick their wounds as Yankee Doodle Pigeon flies off over the horizon, blowing his bugle triumphantly.

Like its predecessor Wacky Races, Dastardy and Muttley in their Flying Machines owes a great deal to the Road Runner cartoons, with Dastardly once again taking the Wile E. Coyote role. Both characters are fanatics, incapable of giving up even in the face of repeated and painful failure. Michael Maltese, who wrote or co-wrote many of the original Road Runner shorts, is also credited as a writer on both Wacky Races and Dastardly and Muttley.