Muttley

### Appears in

Wacky Races (TV Series)Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines (Spin-off series)

**Muttley** is a character in *Wacky Races* and *Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines*. He was created by Iwao Takamoto and originally voiced by Don Messick (who also voiced Scooby-Doo). Since the 2000 *Wacky Races* video game he was voiced by Billy West.

## Appearance

Muttley is the snickering sidekick of Dick Dastardly. He has black ears, and brown fur. And he wears a red collar around his neck.

In the spin-off series, Muttley wears an orange scarf, a pilot hat and air goggles.

## Personality

Muttley is an anthropomorphic dog (according to the original *Wacky Races* narrator, a combination of bloodhound, pointer and hunting dog). He is the mostly faithful sidekick of Dick Dastardly.

Muttley does not really talk; his main examples of speech are his trademark snicker - an asthmatic-sounding, "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 repurposed 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 & 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 in *Quick Draw McGraw* and Scooby Doo, when he received a Scooby Snack in the show *A Pup Named Scooby Doo*.

Also in *Dastardly & 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 & 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."

## Trivia

* In the Warrior Princess short, Muttley has been transformed into a giant dragon by Dastardly who portrays as a sorcerer as he retains his scarf and helmet from *Dastardly and Muttley and their Flying Machines*.
* Per the first episode of *Dastardly and Muttley and their Flying Machines*, Muttley's birthday is 16 April.

## Quotes

* **Sassafrassarassum Rick Rastardly!**
* **(Wheezy laugh)**