{"id":12270,"date":"2026-07-03T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailnewsgroup.com\/ohmr\/?p=12270"},"modified":"2026-06-26T08:13:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T08:13:46","slug":"muttley-gets-the-last-snicker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailnewsgroup.com\/ohmr\/muttley-gets-the-last-snicker\/","title":{"rendered":"Muttley Gets the Last Snicker"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>6 Minute, 19 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

TV SERIES REVIEW
\nDastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines: The Complete Series<\/strong>
\n –  <\/strong> <\/strong> <\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Genre: <\/strong>Animation, Comedy, Kids
\nYear Released: <\/strong>1969-1970, 2026 Warner Archive Blu-ray
\nRuntime: <\/strong>7h 39m
\nDirector(s): <\/strong>William Hanna, Joseph Barbera
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, Larz Borne, Michael Maltese, Dalton Sandifer
\nCast: <\/strong>Paul Winchell, Don Messick
\nWhere to Watch: <\/strong>available June 30, 2026, pre-order your copy here: www.moviezyng.com<\/a> or www.amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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RAVING REVIEW: <\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>Dick Dastardly spends this entire series chasing one pigeon, which means DASTARDLY & MUTTLEY IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES understands obsession better than plenty of serious dramas. Not depth, not growth, not emotional revelation. Obsession. Every episode drags the Vulture Squadron back into the sky, every scheme collapses, every machine betrays its maker, and every failure somehow feels like it was written into the job description before anyone ever drew the first propeller.<\/p>\n

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That kind of repetition is both the series’ identity and the only real problem. This isn’t a show built to evolve. It’s a Saturday morning joke machine, one designed around a simple loop. Dastardly wants Yankee Doodle Pigeon stopped, Klunk creates some ridiculous aviation nightmare, Zilly panics, Muttley laughs, someone crashes, and the General finds another reason to yell. As a burst of late 1960s Hanna-Barbera silliness, it has charm to spare.<\/p>\n

Warner Archive bringing DASTARDLY & MUTTLEY IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES to Blu-ray is exactly the kind of physical media release that makes collectors keep fighting for the format. This isn’t a title that needs to be treated like some lost towering achievement to matter. It matters because it represents a specific corner of television animation history, a time when Hanna-Barbera could stretch one premise across a season, lean hard on voice work and sound effects, and trust kids to keep showing up for the next crash.<\/p>\n

The show itself spun out of WACKY RACES, taking Dick Dastardly and Muttley away from road competition and dropping them into a World War I-style aerial chase. The timeline makes no sense, and the series doesn’t care, and it shouldn’t. That’s part of it all. Dastardly and Muttley aren’t characters who needed logic. They needed another excuse to fail. The Vulture Squadron gives them that excuse, surrounding them with Klunk, a babbling inventor whose language is mostly hiccups and static, and Zilly, a coward whose entire body seems allergic to responsibility.<\/p>\n

Paul Winchell gives Dastardly the kind of villainy that keeps the character from flattening into a mustache and a catchphrase. There’s irritation in the voice, greed, vanity, and a constant sense that Dastardly believes he’s one invention away from greatness, even though the audience knows he’s doomed before takeoff. Don Messick carries a massive portion of the remaining identity, especially through Muttley. Muttley’s laugh is probably the most iconic thing in the series, a wheezing little snicker that turns disobedience into music. He isn’t just Dastardly’s sidekick. Half the time, he’s the only one who seems aware of how stupid the mission is, and his selfishness gives the show a funnier edge than the pigeon chase alone can provide.<\/p>\n

The main Dastardly and Muttley stories are often the most repetitive, because they have to return to the same mission over and over. The Wing Dings are quick throwaway gags, sometimes harmless. The Magnificent Muttley pieces have more playful variety because they let Muttley escape the squadron through fantasy. Those bits don’t reinvent anything, but they loosen the structure enough to keep the set from feeling like a loop. When Muttley imagines himself as the hero, performer, or adventurer, the series briefly remembers that its best character doesn’t need the pigeon to be funny.<\/p>\n

The Blu-ray release helps by framing the series as preservation rather than rediscovery. The 1.33:1 presentation and DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono audio give the show a more respectful home than a title like this might have received in another era. The extras are familiar from earlier home video treatment, including Vulture Squadron-focused material, a WACKY RACES spin-off featurette, and commentaries from animation veterans. It gives the set enough context to support the episodes without pretending there’s some massive untold saga hiding behind the pigeon.<\/p>\n

That theme song, to be fair, does a lot of work. “Stop the pigeon” is the kind of phrase that burrows into the brain with efficiency. It’s silly, insistent, and almost too effective, which makes it an ideal match for a series about people who keep trying the same doomed mission. The song may outlive the details of individual episodes for many viewers, and that says plenty about the show’s strengths and limitations. There’s also something refreshing about how petty the whole thing is. Modern animation often has to carry franchise mythology, emotional arcs, or self-aware commentary. This series mostly wants a villain, a dog, a coward, an inventor, a pigeon, and a sky big enough for failure. That simplicity can be limiting, but it also gives the show a strange purity. Nobody is pretending the pigeon is important. Nobody is asking the audience to care about the mission. The pleasure is in watching a doomed effort become ritual.<\/p>\n

DASTARDLY & MUTTLEY IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES: THE COMPLETE SERIES is memorable in small bursts, carried by terrific voice work, anchored by one of animation’s great snickers, and valuable as a restored piece of Saturday morning history. The Blu-ray makes the best argument for the series by treating it with care while letting the material remain what it always was: A loud, weird, stubbornly entertaining chase after a bird that probably should’ve been impossible to stretch this far.<\/p>\n

For collectors, Hanna-Barbera fans, and anyone with childhood memories of Dastardly shouting orders while Muttley snickers from the sidelines, this release is an easy recommendation. For casual viewers, moderation is the key. One or two episodes can be a blast. Too many at once may make you feel like you’ve been circling the same cloud for hours. The show doesn’t always soar, but when it sputters, crashes, and laughs at its own failure, it remains hard not to smile.<\/p>\n

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[photo courtesy of MOVIE ZYNG, AV ENTERTAINMENT, WARNER ARCHIVE]<\/em><\/p>\n

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TV SERIES REVIEW Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines: The Complete Series –      Genre: Animation, Comedy, Kids Year Released: 1969-1970, 2026 Warner Archive Blu-ray Runtime: 7h 39m Director(s): William Hanna, Joseph Barbera Writer(s): William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, Larz Borne, Michael Maltese, Dalton Sandifer Cast: Paul Winchell, Don Messick Where to Watch: available June 30, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t