Thursday, January 21, 2010

stop the pigeon... how?


as I have mentioned before, I saw a lot of cool superhero cartoons on WDCA Channel 20 in WV.  I never cared too much for the "Scooby Doo" variety of cartoons (except for Josie and The Pussycats, more on that sometime) since they had flooded the airwaves starting in 1969 or so.


I do like the Hanna-Barbera comedy cartoons from before that time period- such as this one, the one my brother and I referred to as "Stop The Pigeon".

Spun off from the successful "Wacky Races" this featured Dick Dastardly and his henchdog Muttley trying to stop Yankee Doodle Pigeon from delivering his messages across enemy lines.  apparently this takes place in WWI.  this is also why we referred to it as such.

Dastardly and Muttley stole the show.  there was a segment where Muttley would daydream about different things, a la Walter Mitty.  there were some goofy segments called "Wing Dings" as well.


our hero here never actually does too much to the Vulture Squadron, he usually doesn't have to, as they manage to stop themselves all the time.

the show has influences from the Road Runner/Coyote series of cartoons, Snoopy and the Red Baron and Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965).

it was an agreeable way to spend a half hour on the way to the shows I wanted to watch- Ultraman, Speed Racer, Superman/Aquaman cartoons, live action Batman or whatever the lineup was at the time.



"Yeah yeah yeah yeah"... Muttley outlived his boss, and went on to appear (sometimes with different names, such as "Mumbley") in several shows.  yeah, I know "Mumbley" wasn't supposed to be him, but come on, a dog's gotta take what jobs he can to eat, right?

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