Dick Dastardly

Dick Dastardly
	; Drat, and double drat!
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Member of	Vulture Squadron; Really Rottens in Jellystone!
Affiliation	Muttley; Klunk; Zilly
Occupation	Mayor of New Bedrock in Jellystone!
Goals	To win at the Wacky Races; Catch Yankee Doodle Pigeon
Sibling(s)	One brother, Dread Baron
First appearance	WR: "See-Saw to Arkansas" (1968)
Played by	Paul Winchell (1968–1999); Michael Bell (1990); Rob Paulsen (1991); Jim Cummings (2000–2008); Adam DeVine (2015); Peter Woodward (2017–2019); Jason Isaacs (2020); Dwight Schultz (2024)
	File:D&M Dick Dastardly.png; Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines
	File:YTH Dick Dastardly.png; Yogi's Treasure Hunt
	; Fender Bender 500
	; Yo, Yogi!
	; Wacky Races Forever
	File:WRL Dick.png; Wacky Raceland
	File:D&M DC Dick.png; Dastardly & Muttley
	; Scoob!
	; Jellystone!

Dick Dastardly is the main antagonist from the Wacky Races animated franchise. He is one of the central characters of the series, and is known for his old-fashioned, theatrical villain traits and for being an infamous cheater. Dastardly is a racer who competes in the Wacky Races, along with his dog sidekick Muttley. His usual plans involve planting all kinds traps for the other racers to trip on, but they often backfire on both him and Muttley at a disadvantage. His voice was originated by Paul Winchell.

In the races, Dastardly's vehicle is the rocket-powered Mean Machine (designated #00).

Character description

“

Sometimes I'm so sneaky, I don't even trust myself!
― Dick Dastardly

”

Dick Dastardly is a card-carrying villan with remarkably evil qualities to himself. He is portrayed as being devious, sly, pompous, manipulative, traitorous and arrogant. As his last name implies, Dastardly enjoys causing problems of many kinds—mainly cheating in a race—and gets frustrated when things do not work in his favor, especially when his plans fail on him. Dastardly, despite being a cunning advesary at first, constantly gets humiliated as a result of his inept overconfidence. Dastardly also acts abrasive towards his sidekick Muttley and would occasionally be bitten by him due to how much abuse he gets. His catchphrases are "Muttley, do something!", "Drat, and double drat!" and occasionally "Triple drat!" or "Curses, foiled again!"

Dastardly is a man with a slim figure, a large pointy nose, a protuding chin, and a thin, handlebar mustache. He wears an old-fashined racing outfit, which consists of a purplish-blue duster overcoat worn by early motorists, along with long red gloves, and large striped hat with driving goggles attached. In his appearance in Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, he instead wears a purple aviator uniform styled after pilots from World War I, along with a red aviator cap with goggles. This look was also carried over with his next appearance in Yogi's Treasure Hunt.

Appearances

Video games

Biography

And They're Off!

Stop the Pigeon, Stop the Pigeon, Stop the Pigeon

In his spin-off show, Dick Dastardly continued his villainy by being the head of the Vulture Squadron. He and Muttley are joined up by Zilly, a coward who would hide in his own clothing when ordered to deploy; and Klunk, a mechanic who speaks in unintelligible sounds that only Zilly can understand. Dastardly and his team use World War I-style airplanes in an attempt to stop a messenger pigeon called Yankee Doodle Pigeon from delivering messages to an opposing army.

Funtastic Treasure Hunt

Yo, Dickie!

In Yo, Yogi!, Dastardly was nicknamed Dickie, and was an adolescent bully at Jellystone Mall. He and Muttley pick on Yogi and his gang with their usual antics, but often fail as always. He rides a motorcycle modeled after the Mean Machine.

Wacky Races: The Next Generation

Years after the original races, Dick Dastardly and Muttley take part in new races, but this time work for Mr. Viceroy, in some sinister plot that was never revealed because the series only existed as a five minute pilot pitch.^[2]

Wacky Reboot

SCOOB!

Everyone's Back in Jellystone!

Dick Sells Out

Evil Wizard's biggest fans.

In the Uncle Grandpa episode "Uncle Grandpa Retires," Dastardly and Muttley are watching the race go by, with Dastardly rooting for Evil Wizard.

Dastardly in the Funny Books

Marvel's Laff-A-Lympics

Dick Tricks the Scooby Gang

Mad Dick

Development

As Wacky Races was inspired by the 1965 period comedy film The Great Race, Dick Dastardly was likewise modeled after Professor Fate, the film's chief villain played by Jack Lemmon. Like Dastardly, Fate is a parody of the cliché villain stereotype commonly associated with silent melodrama films — a card-carrying rogue who perpetuates on elaborate schemes in an attempt to win, but has a streak of failure as a result of his incompetence. Dastardly is also based on English actor Terry-Thomas, who played a similar role with Sir Percy Ware-Armitage in the comedy film, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.

Gallery

Main article: Dick Dastardly/Gallery

Toys and merchandise

Main article: Dick Dastardly/Toys

In popular culture

In the South Park episode "Handicar," Dastardly, alongside Muttley, attempts to cheat the race by cutting down trees to block the other racers. It doesn't work and their car ended up being hijacked by Nathan and Mimsy. The duo later appears in "South ParQ Vaccination Special" celebrating the end of the pandemic.
In the Japanese manga "Super Mario 4 Koma Manga Theater", Dastardly and Muttley are seen in the background of a panel.

Behind the scenes

In the movie Scoob!, his full name is revealed to be Richard.

References

^ Laff-A-Lympics #13, "No Laff-A-Lympics Game Today!" (1979).
^ Wacky Races Forever (2006).

[1] Laff-A-Lympics #13, "No Laff-A-Lympics Game Today!" (1979).

[2] Wacky Races Forever (2006).

[1]

[2]

Dick Dastardly

Contents

Character description

Appearances

TV series

Movies

Specials

Shorts

Comics

Books