| Muttley | |
|---|---|
| Wacky Races character | |
 Muttley as seen inDastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines | |
| First appearance | "See-Saw To Arkansas" (1968) |
| Created by | Iwao Takamoto |
| Voiced by | Don Messick (1968–1991, 2020;Scoob!, archival laugh recordings) Billy West (1997–2021)[1][2] Scott Innes (The Summer of Goodwill Passport)[3] Daren Tillinger (Web Premiere Toons)[4] Jeff Bergman (Boomerang UK bumper)[5] Joe Alaskey (Duck Dodgers) Lewis MacLeod (Müller commercial)[6][7] Terry Mynott (Dastardly and Muttley)[8] Dana Snyder (Jellystone!) |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Dog |
| Gender | Male |
| Nationality | American |
Muttley is afictional dog created in 1968 byHanna-Barbera Productions; he was originally voiced byDon Messick.[9] He is the sidekick (and oftenfoil) to the cartoon villainDick Dastardly, and appeared with him in the 1968 television seriesWacky Races[10] and its 1969 spinoff,Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines.[11] The character is known best for his mischievous, rasping laugh.[12]
Muttley first appeared inWacky Races in 1968,[13] as thesidekick of the accident-prone villainDick Dastardly. While Dick was created as the equivalent of Professor Fate from the 1965 movieThe Great Race, Muttley mirrored the film's character of Max Meen. Dastardly and Muttley were paired together in various later Hanna-Barbera series as bumbling villains.
As his name implies, Muttley is amixed breed dog, identified in theWacky Races segment "Dash to Delaware" as a mix ofbloodhound,pointer,Airedale, andhunting dog. DuringDastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, in the episodeSappy Birthday, Muttley shows a calendar where April 16 is marked; his birthday. In an audio commentary forDastardly and Muttley, the designers comment that they conceived of Muttley's shape as what a dog would look like if he were a tank-styled vacuum cleaner.[14]
Muttley does not really talk; his main examples of speech are his trademark "wheezy snicker"[15] (usually at Dick's expense, who sometimes retaliates by thumping him on the head) and a mushy,sotto voce grumble against an unsympathetic or harsh Dick (usually along the lines of "Snazza frazza rashin' fashin' Rick Rastardly!").
Don Messick had previously used Muttley's distinctive laugh in other Hanna-Barbara productions. In theHuckleberry Hound cartoons, Messick voiced a black-and-white dog who enjoyed antagonizing Huck the mailman, dog catcher, barbecuer, etc. Messick also used the same snickering chortle for "Snuggles", a mischievous dog who tormentedQuick Draw McGraw; then for "Griswold" in an episode ofTop Cat; then for "Mugger" appearing in the 1964 movieHey There, It's Yogi Bear;[15] and again forPrecious Pupp in 1966. He also repurposed the characterization for Alexandra Cabot's cat Sebastian onJosie and the Pussycats in 1970.
Muttley (who turned from a "bluish hue" to a "dusty brown")[15] wore only a collar inWacky Races, but inDastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, he donned aWorld War I style aviator's cap and scarf, and served as aflying ace along with Dastardly and two other pilots as members of the "Vulture Squadron".[16] 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. And it was upon joiningDastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines that Muttley gained the ability to fly in brief spurts by spinning his tail like a helicopter rotor blade.
Muttley also enjoyed his own short segment in the seriesMagnificent Muttley, where he would engage inWalter Mitty-style fantasies. The designers speculated that Muttley was popular that the producers wanted to give Muttley some time as a solo character.[14]
Muttley is sometimes confused with the crime-fighting dog Mumbly fromThe Mumbly Cartoon Show, who has a similar appearance.[9] Mumbly later appeared as the captain of the villainous Really Rottens inLaff-A-Lympics along with his accomplice, the Dread Baron, who resembles Dick Dastardly. The Dread Baron and Mumbly later appeared in the television filmYogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose (1987). 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 theYogi Bear movie wherePaul Winchell voiced the Baron instead of Dastardly (and in the scene where the Baron's crashed plane is shown, it is Dick's plane fromDastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, complete with the "D" on the side). In that story, Mumbly had once utilized his tail to fly just like Muttley does inDastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines. The reason most suggested is that theWacky Races characters (including Dastardly and Muttley) were not fully owned by Hanna-Barbera as the show was a co-production withHeatter-Quigley Productions.
An early version of the Muttley/Mumbly character appears in the 1964 Hanna-Barbera feature filmHey There, It's Yogi Bear![17] 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 byThe Atom Ant Show's "Precious Pupp", who was known for laughing the same way.
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