by Mark Nobes, chief editor
This cartoon originally aired between September 13th 1969 and January 3rd 1970 in the U.S., although I remember seeing the re-runs well into the 70s here in the UK, where the show's name was shortened to Dastardly & Muttley.
The video clip above features some of the best bits from the show. The main storyline in each episode revolved around the duo trying to catch a carrier pigeon known as Yankee Doodle Pigeon. Hence, the title music being called Stop The Pigeon.
All of the characters are part of the Vulture Squadron and each has their own aeroplane which is loosely styled on those used in World War 1. Different machines feature in each episode.
This screenshot is from the episode "A Plain Shortage of Planes", with each plane featuring the initial of the pilot in a circle, such as "D" for Dastardly, who pilots a red biplane. Muttley's biplane is purple and is the smallest in size. Klunk's biplane is blue and the largest of the four. Zilly pilots a green plane with just two wings but with a boxed tail.
In some episodes, Dastardly and Muttley fly together in one plane, and sometimes all of the squadron fly together in one ridiculously big plane which has multiple sets of wings, and probably woudln't fly at all in the real world!
Their mission in each episode is to stop Yankee Doodle Pigeon from delivering his message to the enemy army.
