Thursday, June 17, 2010

Muttley



Guy just reminded me of Muttley, the schadenfreude-loving dog from the 70s cartoons. He was so cute, I always liked him. I wanted him to be my dog! He has quite a comprehensive write-up here in Wikipedia:

"Muttley is a Hanna-Barbera animated fictional character created by Iwao Takamoto and originally voiced by Don Messick (who also voiced Scooby-Doo). In the 2000 Wacky Races videogame he was voiced by Billy West. In the Japanese version, Takuzo Kamiyama acted.

"Muttley, a mixed breed dog (identified by the race announcer/narrator in the segment "Dash to Delaware" as a bloodhound, pointer and hunting dog after the Mean Machine had somehow gotten lost), first appeared in Wacky Races in 1968, as the sidekick of a nasty but incompetent and horribly 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.

"Muttley does not really talk; his main examples of speech are his trademark snicker - a wheezing laugh (usually made 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 an embryonic version of Muttley (called 'Mugger') appearing in the 1964 movie Hey There, It's Yogi Bear, as well as for another Hanna-Barbera canine, Precious Pupp, in 1966. He also reproposed it for Alexandra Cabot's cat Sebastian on Josie and the Pussycats in 1970.

"Muttley 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". In this spinoff, he also sported many medals of which he was particularly fond, 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. When he received a new medal, Muttley would hug himself happily, jump into the air and float back down like a feather. This gag is almost identical to the behavior of Snuffles - a dog who appeared on the series Quick Draw McGraw in the late 1950s - and Scooby Doo, in the show A Pup Named Scooby Doo, when he received a Scooby Snack.

"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. This trait often proved useful when he was about to crash. Muttley also enjoyed his own short segment in this series The Magnificent Muttley, where he would engage in Walter Mitty-style fantasies.

"Often, when Muttley grumbled on Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines, Dick Dastardly would say "What was THAT?" accompanied by Muttley kissing his hand, to which Dastardly would usually reply "That's better.""

No comments:

Post a Comment