Based very loosely on the services and actions of the carrier pigeon’s in the First World War Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines or just Dastardly and Muttley (or even Stop the Pigeon) was a very popular cartoon in the 1970s. The basic premise seems to be that Dick Dastardly and his dreaded Vulture squadron are working for the Germans and they must try and stop Yankee Doodle Pigeon, who sounds very North American, from delivering his secret messages from the spies or the troops at the front. They fail at this miserably and spectacularly. Rather than use a pigeon if you have a package that you need to get to a location as soon as possible then the Same day Courier Service like will be able to arrange that for you without any unwanted attention from these two schemers.
The main problem seems to be the outlandish planes that Chief engineer Klunk comes up with. The other problem is that although Klunk starts a sentence it soon changes into an intelligible mish-mash of words, pops and pings that make no sense. The only person who can understand Klunk is the other pilot Zilly who always seems deeply nervous. Whatever the reason for it, the Vulture squadron takes to the air in planes that involve anvils, huge irons, ironing boards, catapults or platforms from which Dastardly will flail at Yankee Doodle Pigeon with a big net until he falls off and needs rescuing. This is dependent on whether the vulture squadron hasn’t already crashed into each other or the weird new planes’ wings haven’t snapped off Klunk’s creation.
As they plummet to the ground Dastardly calls out to Muttley to help him. Muttley doesn’t need a parachute as he can set his tail spinning like a helicopter. Muttley will gladly rescue Dastardly but only if he is given yet another medal. With the number of failures, the Vulture squadron has Muttley must be the most decorated dog in the services. Even then Dastardly still ends up somewhere unpleasant as a landing spot like a pig sty or a bog. This is not the end of his problems. When he returns to the base, he always gets a phone call from the General asking for a progress report. He has to admit that it hasn’t gone as well as they’d hoped and a hand reaches out from the phone and tweaks his nose. You really would not want to be Captain Dick Dastardly and it might explain why he and Muttley pursue a career in racing instead.
