Dick Dastardly - 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 with two other pilots; Zilly, a coward who used to hide in his clothes when he was ordered to deploy, and Klunk, the mechanic/inventor, who speaks a language largely composed of strange sounds that only Zilly can understand, comprised the "Vulture Squadron". The squadron constantly attempt to stop a messenger pigeon "Yankee Doodle pigeon" from delivering messages to an opposing army, often with the song "Stop the Pigeon" playing; one typical scene show the "Vulture Squadron" planes all converging from different directions on "Yankee Doodle Pigeon" but end up crashing into one another-while the bird remains unharmed. As in Wacky Races, Dastardly continued to fail miserably at his mission, only coming near to success on a single occasion. The series is commonly known as 'Catch the Pigeon' or 'Stop the Pigeon', based on the original working title and the series' theme song.