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Richard Milhouse "Dick" Dastardly is a fictional character and antagonist who appeared in various animated series by Hanna-Barbera Productions. Dastardly's most famous appearances are as a main character in the series Wacky Races (his initial appearance) and its spin-off, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines. He is partly based on the English actor Terry-Thomas.
The character was voiced originally by Paul Winchell, then by Rob Paulsen and by Jim Cummings. Winchell's facial structures were caricatured in the related character design as well. In a live action version played by British actor Porter Flynn a prosthetic nose and chin were employed to replicate Dastardly's exaggerated features from the original cartoon. In the cartoons Dastardly would often utter his catchphrases, "Drat, drat and double drat!" or "Triple drat!" and even "Curses, foiled again!" His other main catchphrase was, "Muttley, do something!"
Before Dick Dastardly the Second and Dread Baron were born as twin brothers, Their mother was killed by the doctor who bring them out to their mother's womb who happens to be Dick Dastardly the First's wife and Dick Dastardly the First also revealed to be Dick Dastardly the Second and Dread Baron's father Dastardly's first appearance is in the first episode, "See-saw to Arkansas"
Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines[]
Dick Dastardly continued his villainous career in the Wacky Races spin-off Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines. The series was inspired by the 1965 film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and Dastardly's appearance is based on the film's villain, Sir Percival Ware-Armitage, played by Terry-Thomas. Dastardly and Muttley flew with two other pilots: Zilly, a coward who would hide in his own clothing when ordered to deploy, and Klunk, the mechanic/inventor, who speaks a language largely composed of strange sounds that only Zilly can understand.
Together, they comprised the "Vulture Squadron", presumably working for Germany and Central Powers in World War I. The squadron constantly attempted to stop a messenger pigeon, "Yankee Doodle Pigeon", from delivering messages to an opposing army (seemingly American and/or the Triple Entente), often with the song "Stop the Pigeon" playing. A typical scene shows the Vulture Squadron all converging from different directions on Yankee Doodle Pigeon, only to end up crashing into one another—while the bird remained unharmed. As in Wacky Races, Dastardly continued to fail miserably at his mission, only coming near to success on a single occasion. Muttley, despite showing enough competence to win various medals (which Dastardly was constantly threatening to revoke), seemed to delight in Dick's failures, displaying his trademark snickering laugh.
Before Dick Dastardly the Second got married to Delilah Dastardly, He was married to his first wife Ophelia, until his brother the Dread Baron crash the wedding and lied to her that his brother has a son to take care of in order to save his life. the truth has been revealed to a newspaper that Ophelia his first wife got fat. Over the years, Dick Dastardly the Second has married to his second wife Delilah Dastardly and they have a child, they named him: Dick Dastardly III, son/descendant of Dock Dastardly the Second, the original Dick Dastardly from the original Wacky Races series. In the episode "Mother Drives Best the truth has been revealed in SpaceBattles website that his wife Delilah Dastardly, is the culprit and mastermind who also cheats and was the one who taught him to cheat and her husband and son/descendant of the World War I flying ace Dick Dastardly the First and I was able to prove that Dick Dastardly the Second was innocent from now on. In the episode "Grandfather Knows Dast" It is revealed that Dick Dastardly the Second is the son of the original Dick Dastardly (World War I flying ace) and the grandfather of Dick Dastardly the Third.
Dick Dastardly is the main antagonist in the animated Scooby-Doo film Scoob!, voiced by Jason Isaacs. This version of Dick lacks the hat and goggles he usually wears, and his overcoat is now a dark purple longcoat. According to his police report, this version of Dastardly is 6' 5", 295lbs. He is also depicted as more of a supervillain than a racer, having robotic minions called Rottens and being an enemy of the Blue Falcon. He operates a giant airship that is loosely based on his racing vehicle, the Mean Machine. During a scheme to steal the treasure horde left by Alexander the Great in the Greek underworld by use of a dimensional portal, Dastardly lost Muttley in the underworld when the portal was found to be one way only. He then seeks out the three skulls of Cerberus and Scooby-Doo because as the last descendant of Peritas, Alexander's dog, he is the key to opening the gates to the Underworld and reuniting with Muttley; though at the cost of unleashing Cerberus onto the world. After achieving this, Dastardly and Muttley try to escape with treasure but are captured by the reformed Rottens, and taken into custody by Blue Falcon, Dynomutt, and Dee See Skyes. At one point upon his capture, Dick tried to do a double-mask move by making them think he was a disguise of Simon Cowell. During the credits, Muttley breaks Dastardly out of prison.
Other appearances[]
The Perils of Penelope Pitstop[]
Laff-A-Lympics[]
Yogi's Treasure Hunt[]
In later years, Dastardly and Muttley were the nemesis for Yogi Bear and his friends in the 1980s series Yogi's Treasure Hunt. This time, Dick repeatedly failed at discovering hidden treasure before Yogi and his team. It was in this series' episode Yogi's Heroes that Dick's full name was revealed; as the leader of an island named Dicaragua, he introduced himself as Richard Milhous Dastardly (an obvious play on former U.S. President Richard Milhous Nixon). One episode shows that Dastardly and Muttley are the greediest creatures in the world.
Yo Yogi![]
Dick Dastardly (alongside Muttley) appeared as a child (known as Dickie) in the short-lived series Yo Yogi!, voiced by Rob Paulsen. In the series he rides a bicycle that resembles the Mean Machine and his clothes resemble his ones from Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines. Dick Dastardly would often come up with various plots which would often backfire on him.
Uncle Grandpa[]
Fender Bender 500[]
Dick Dastardly and Muttley were in the "Fender Bender 500" shorts on the early 1990's short lived series "Wake, Rattle, and Roll. In those segments, the duo once again appeared in a suped-up version of the Mean Machine as a monster truck called the Dirty Truckster (a pun on the phrase "dirty trickster"), but raced against Hanna-Barbera stalwarts such as Yogi Bear and Quick Draw McGraw. In this series, they were actually able to pull of a win when racing to Russia's 'Red Square' when it was announced that the prize was itself the Red Square. Unfortunately, their prize was simply a red square of paper, and not the deed to the Russian capital as the title of 'red square' would imply. In another Fender Bender race,
(The "Hit 'n' Mississippi 500"), he played on Yogi Bear's famous catchphrase of being "smarter than the average bear" by claiming to be "smarter than the average cheat".
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law[]
Dick Dastardly made a non-speaking cameo in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode ""Death by Chocolate"".