Profiles in Villainy
Dick Dastardly & Muttley
A cheat, scoundrel and all around full fledge fink , Richard ‘Dick’ Dastardly is completely without scruples and has found himself on the wrong end of conflicts all over the world. Accompanied by his snickering sidekick, Muttley, Dastardly was an airman for the villainous Vulture Squadron during the Second World War. Herein Dastardly was assigned to hunt down and eliminate the intrepid carrier pigeon known as Yankee Doodle Pigeon.
Dastardly devised all many of diabolical schemes to do away with the pigeon. Thankfully Yankee Doodle was always able to stay a step ahead and successfully deliver crucial messages to the Allied Forces.
Following the war, Dastardly and Muttley became celebrated race car drivers and competed in the Wacky Races. The two regularly cheated and attempted to sabotage the other contestants of the races. The pair’s various schemes almost always backfired due to incompetence or dumb-luck. Although it was most often Dastardly’s buffoonery that caused their failures, he always managed to blame it on Mutley.
As time went by, Mutley must have grown tired of Dastardly’s foolishness and abuse. The two parted ways and Mutley would go on to have subsequent adventures where he acted in a much more heroic fashion.
Dick Dastardly has a twin brother known as the Dread Pilot and Mutley also has a brother, named Mumbly. Oddly enough, these two brothers teamed up as partners competing in the Laugh-a-Lympics, leading the villainous squad of athletes known as the Really Rottons.
Actor Paul Winchell voiced Dastardly in his original appearances in Wacky Races, with actors Michael Bell, Rob Paulsen, Jim Cummings and Jason Isaacs voicing the villain in subsequent appearances. While actor Don Messic voiced Mutley in Wacky Races; with actors Scott Innes and Billy West voicing the scamp in subsequent appearances.
Dick Dastardly and Mutley first appeared in the debut episode of Wacky Races, airing on September 14th, 1968.
