Muttley

Muttley
Muttley Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines
Created by	Iwao Takamoto
Portrayed by	Don Messick, Billy West, Takuzo Kamiyama

Muttley is a Hanna-Barbera animated fictional character created by Iwao Takamoto and originally voiced by Don Messick.^[1] In the 2000 Wacky Races videogame he was voiced by Billy West.^[2]

Bio

Muttley first appeared in Wacky Races in 1968,^[3] as the sidekick of the accident-prone villain Dick Dastardly. While Dick was created as the equivalent of Professor Fate from the 1960s movie The Great Race, Muttley mirrored the film's character of Max Meen. Dick and Muttley were paired together in various later Hanna-Barbera series as bumbling villains. He is a mixed breed dog, identified in the Wacky Races segment "Dash to Delaware" as a mix of bloodhound, pointer, and hunting dog.

Muttley does not really talk; his main examples of speech are his trademark "wheezy snicker"^[4] (usually at Dick's expense) and a mushy, sotto voce grumble against an unsympathetic or harsh Dick (usually along the lines of "Sassafrassarassum Rick Rastardly!"). Don Messick had previously used Muttley's distinctive laugh for the character of Griswold in an episode of Top Cat, then for an embryonic version of Muttley (called 'Mugger') appearing in the 1964 movie Hey There, It's Yogi Bear,^[4] as well as for another Hanna-Barbera canine, Precious Pupp, in 1966. He also repurposed it for Alexandra Cabot's cat Sebastian on Josie and the Pussycats in 1970.

Muttley (who turned from a "bluish hue" to a "dusty brown"^[4]) wore only a collar in Wacky Races, but in Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines he donned a World War I style aviator's cap and scarf, and served as a flying ace along with Dastardly and two other pilots as members of the "Vulture Squadron".^[5] In this spinoff, he also sported many medals and constantly demanded new ones from Dastardly for following his commands. Similarly, Dastardly frequently ripped medals off Muttley's chest as punishment for his incompetence.

Also in Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, Muttley gained the ability to fly for a brief period by spinning his tail like a propeller. Muttley also enjoyed his own short segment in the series The Magnificent Muttley, where he would engage in Walter Mitty-style fantasies.

Muttley vs. Mumbly

Muttley is sometimes confused with the crime-fighting dog Mumbly from The Mumbly Cartoon Show.^[1]. Mumbly looked similar to Muttley and had a similar laugh, but Mumbly had blue fur and wore a trenchcoat. Mumbly later showed up as the captain of the villainous Really Rottens in Laff-a-Lympics along with his accomplice, "The Dread Baron," who resembles Dick Dastardly. The Dread Baron and Mumbly later appeared in the TV movie Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose. It is not certain why Mumbly was retconned as a villain, neither is it certain why he and Dread Baron were apparently used as substitutes for Dastardly and Muttley, especially in the Yogi Bear movie where Paul Winchell voiced the Baron instead of Dastardly (and in the scene where the Baron's crashed plane is shown, it's Dick's plane from Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, complete with the "D" on the side). Not to mention that in that story Mumbly had once utilized his tail to fly just like Muttley does in Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines. The reason most suggested is that the Wacky Races characters (including Dastardly and Muttley) were not fully owned by Hanna-Barbera as the show was a co-production with Heatter-Quigley Productions.

An early version of the Muttley/Mumbly character appears in the 1964 Hanna-Barbera feature film Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!.^[6] This prototype Muttley ("Mugger") is a mean-spirited dog with a travelling circus who has a penchant for biting his owners on the leg. The character may also have been inspired by the Atom Ant show's "Precious Pupp" who was known for laughing the same way. Muttley and his master returned in the Wacky Races video game with Billy West voicing the dog.

Other appearances

Muttley (right) with Dick Dastardly in The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera.

• Muttley and Dick Dastardly also starred as the villains in Yogi's Treasure Hunt in their submarine the SS. Dirty Tricks.
• In the "Fender Bender 500" segment of Wake, Rattle, and Roll, he and Dick Dastardly are paired up as they were in the "Wacky Races."
• Muttley appeared as a teenager in Yo Yogi! alongside Dick Dastardly
• Muttley was in the movie Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!.
• In the Duck Dodgers episode "MMORPD," one of the forms that Duck Dodgers turns himself into is Muttley. In this brief appearance, Muttley's vocal effects are done by Joe Alaskey.
• Muttley has made at least one brief appearance in Dynomutt.

Cultural references

• In the Family Guy episode "April in Quahog" Brian (with the hat and shawl of Muttley) imitates the laugh of Muttley after Peter says: "It sucks. Even the vending machines are out of order".

See also

• List of Hanna-Barbera characters

References

1. ^ ^{a b} John V. Schmidt. "About Muttley". John V. Schmidt. http://www.hotink.com/wacky/mfiles/. Retrieved 2009-09-14. 
2. ^ "Wacky Races videogame". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253921/. Retrieved 2009-09-14. 
3. ^ John V. Schmidt. "Wacky Races". John V. Schmidt. http://www.hotink.com/wacky/. Retrieved 2009-09-14. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Takamoto, Iwao; Mallory, Michael; Ito, Willie (2009). Iwao Takamoto: my life with a thousand characters. UP of Mississippi. p. 104,. ISBN 9781604731941. http://books.google.com/books?id=00B68sB1-CkC&pg=PA121. 
5. ^ Hofstede, David (2006). 5000 Episodes and No Commercials: The Ultimate Guide to TV Shows on DVD. Random House. pp. 74–75. ISBN 9780823084562. http://books.google.com/books?id=VNnM_pZVBkwC&pg=PA74. 
6. ^ "Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!". The Big Cartoon Database. http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon_characters/20497-Hey_There,_It%27s_Yogi_Bear.html. Retrieved 2009-09-14. 

External links

• Godawful Games (features Muttley at the end of most videos)