furienna
Does anybody else have Zilly as their favorite from this show? I'm not even starting to talk about the other characters. Others have already done that, and no other character is nearly as interesting as Zilly to me. Zilly is, of course, the coward of the show, so how he ended up as a pilot is beyond me. But he has somehow learned how to fly an airplane, so I guess that got him the job somehow. He often tries to run away from the tasks his boss Dick Dastardly puts him up too. The dog Mutley then has to make him do what he's supposed to do anyway by chasing him and bringing him back before he can get away. He often says things like "Oh dear!" and "Oh my!", when he thinks something is going to be dangerous. He's the only one to understand what Klunk says, and he has to be a translator. It is never explained why he can understand Klunk, while no one else can. I have suspected, that they somehow grew up together, and that they know each other from childhood, and that's why Zilly understands him. Well, that's it. Except that no one has mentioned the general. He's so funny, even though we don't ever see anything more of him than his hand. He often calls Dick Dastardly and his men on a phone, and we hear his angry voice on the other side of the line.
Jackson Booth-Millard
When I was younger I used to love watching Dick Dastardly and Muttley in Wacky Races. Then they did another show called Flying Machines which was nearly the same good entertainment. It is World War II and a carrier pigeon is flying with important messages to go to the good side. It is Dastardly and Muttley's job (as the bad side) to catch this pigeon to stop it delivering these messages. They are accompanied in their planes by two amusing characters called Klunk, a gibberish talking inventor, and Zilly, a squeamish translator of Klunk and never brave. Opening with a good theme song, this is a good cartoon when I was younger. Good!
policy134
It's funny to realise that such a narrow premise for a cartoon could survive an entire season. Dastardly & Muttley was basically the same cartoon over and over again. Of course, there was some variation in Klonk's inventions and the other sidekick Zilly was at one point turned into the complete opposite of his normal character. But those were still minor changes and didn't last. The two lead characters Dastardly & Muttley were one-dimensional and always said the same things like: "Muttley, do something!" or in Muttley's case: "(incomprehensible balking) Rick Rastadly!". But the style was of course in some ways appealing like others have also commented on. Who would not like to join such a fantasy world just for a few minutes where you could fall from an enormous height and still not be hurt. Dastardly and Muttley was in no way to be taken seriously and those who thought it was crap were in some cases right. But how many times have we not said that about other shows which afterwards have been enormous hits. My point is that it is somehow a game of chance whether one show has mass appeal or not. Therefore to those of us who have enjoyed this particular show I will say that we're not total airheads but maybe we were just in a silly state of mind. Thank god that most of us live in free countries and can choose.
Big Movie Fan
Dastardly and Muttley was downright silly but that was exactly the reason why it was compelling viewing.It was set during the First World War. Dick Dastardly was piloting a heap of junk aided by his dog Muttley and they tried to stop the pigeon flying his messages to Uncle Sam. Of course, you can guess that they never succeeded in much the sam way as Wile E. Coyote never managed to catch Road Runner.It was a spin-off from Wacky Races and it was highly amusing and totally watchable. Call me sad but it was compelling viewing and I just loved the sound of Muttley's laugh.Stop The Pigeon!