Dastardly And Muttley In Their Flying Machines: The Complete Series [Blu-Ray]

Cast: Paul Winchell, Don Messick (VOICES)

Release Date: June 30, 2026

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Release Rating: 8/10

Synopsis:

Dick Dastardly and his snickering canine co-pilot Muttley plot to “stop that pigeon” aboard their World War I flying machines in this popular Hanna-Barbera spin-off of Wacky Races featuring the vocal talents of Paul Winchell and Don Messick. When muttering Muttley decides he’s had enough, he flies off into his own fantasy world where he gets to be the boss for a change! So, get ready to take off into the wild blue laughter, with all 17 episodes of this fan-favorite series, now making its Blu-ray debut with each episode remastered in High Definition from the original negatives.

‘Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines’ rejoins diabolical baddies Dick Dastardly and his canine companion Muttley as this time around they take to the skies as part of the Vulture Squadron tasked with one simple mission; to catch Yankee Doodle Pigeon, a carrier pigeon carrying secret messages back and forth. In their usual bumbling style, the pair along with their associates this time around Klunk and Zilly make repeated failed attempts to catch the clever bird only to fumble it up in one manner or another. Yet, just as always a little failure certainly won’t be enough to stop these two determined villains.

Following the success of ‘Wacky Races’ it was no big surprise to see the duo return in ‘Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines’ which debuted in September of 1969 and ran for a total of 17 episodes before concluding in January of 1970. Featuring the voice talents of Paul Winchell and Don Messick who serve as the sole stars of the series, it follows the familiar exploits of Dick Dastardly and his beloved companion Muttley as the pair leave the ground travel of ‘Wacky Races’ and take to the skies for this fresh batch of misadventures while repeatedly trying (and naturally failing) to capture Yankee Doodle Pigeon, a carrier pigeon transporting secret messages.

In addition to the two titular stars, their Vulture Squadron also introduces the jumbled, heavy noise speaking inventor Klunk who is in charge of constructing new inventions to try and catch the pigeon and the cowardly Zilly who is quick to abandon the mission anytime things get dire or slightly dangerous. In addition to each episode including a pair of animated shorts revolving around the main storyline they also include one ‘Magnificent Muttley’ short featuring Muttley’s imaginative daydream adventures, plus a ‘Wing Dings’ segment with a few brief gags. It doesn’t quite replicate the charm or deliver the same level of unabashed fun that ‘Wacky Races’ managed to provide but it’s still awfully enjoyable to say the least.  If you’re a fan of Dastardly and Muttley then this one shouldn’t have any trouble keeping a smile on your face and if you’ve never had the pleasure of this less popular outing then it’s definitely worth checking out.

Dick Dastardly and his canine companion Muttley return home in HD in the 2-disc ‘Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines: The Complete Series’ Blu-ray release from the Warner Archive Collection which features all 17 episodes from the spinoff series remastered in full High Definition from the original negatives and looking source faithful and better than ever, paired with equally solid DTS-HD dual mono soundtracks that together should easily have dedicated fans extremely excited as this less famous spinoff series has certainly never looked or sounded this sharp. The Blu-ray release also includes a few previously released extras, but the real treat here is the newly remastered video and audio offerings which don’t disappoint in the slightest and this Blu-ray collection is highly recommended for any fans that might already be considering a purchase.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Dastardly and Muttley In Their Flying Machines: The Complete Series’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation for all 17 animated episodes, remastered in High Definition from the original negatives and featuring their original 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentations look pretty wonderful as a whole and they each deliver generally clean, sharp and filmic presentations that hold up very nicely and showcase some stellar detail and coloring on everything from character specifics to backgrounds and just about everything else, while at the same time retaining a fair amount of grain and other welcome elements representing its film source which should excite most fans. While there may be some visible artifacts and other age related tidbits noticeable on occasion it really only helps to complement everything and the episodes don’t look underwhelming here by any means. Overall, these are solid high definition presentations that should have fans very satisfied with the results.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release includes a 2.0 dual mono DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack for all 17 episodes. These dual mono DTS-HD MA soundtracks are a nice treat as well and they offer clean, sharp and well balanced soundtracks throughout each episode that never lose their way or result in numerous audio elements clashing with one another at any point. They capably share the channel(s) and ensure that all dialogue, music and effects, along with anything else all remains clean and fully intelligible. Overall, these are fully capable 2.0 dual mono DTS-HD MA soundtracks that deliver nicely in every way required of them and shouldn’t disappoint.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Dastardly and Muttley In Their Flying Machines: The Complete Series’ features a few entertaining extras including ‘Audio Commentaries on 2 episodes (“Stop Which Pigeon?” and “Balmy Swami”) with Designers Iwao Takamoto and Jerry Eisenberg and Scott Awley and Scott Jeralds’. Also included are a couple Featurettes including ‘Dastardly and Muttley’s Spinoffs: What Wacky Races Wrought’ (running approximately 5 minutes in length) and ‘The Vulture Squadron’s Greatest Misses’ (running approximately 7 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Release Rating: 8/10

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‘Dastardly and Muttley In Their Flying Machines: The Complete Series’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray from Warner Archive Collection

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You can Purchase ‘Dastardly & Muttley In Their Flying Machines: The Complete Series’ on Blu-ray at Amazon HERE! or at Movie Zyng HERE!

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