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History of "Dynomutt, Dog Wonder" |
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First seen on
The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour, these half-hour
exploits of animated derring-do concern The Blue Falcon
(voiced by Laugh-In alumni Gary Owens), a
blue-caped and -cowled superhero and his robotic doberman,
Dynomutt Dog Wonder (voiced by Frank Welker, in a manner
that somewhat recalled Bullwinkle J. Moose), not unlike
the heroic ilk of Batman and Robin but with a more comical
twist.

Millionaire
socialite art dealer Radley Crowne (a Bruce Wayne
incarnate) and his mechanical mongrel, Dynomutt, enjoy
leisure time in their base of operations, Big City, until
alerted by The Falcon Flash. They immediately dash for The
Falcon's Lair (situated in Crowne's penthouse apartment),
where they switch to their secret identities, The Blue
Falcon and Dog Wonder, respectively, recieve the report
via TV screen from the secret GHQ of secret agent Focus
One (voiced by Ron Feinberg, the tounge-in-cheek narrator
of all 20 segments of Dynomutt Dog Wonder), and
jump into The Falconcar and speed into the fray against
assorted evildoers.

The metallic
mutt employed a system of miniaturized transistors which
allowed him to extend his limbs or neck and use them to
perform extraordinary feats; only problem was, none of
them ever really worked properly! B.F. (as D.W. would
lovingly refer to him), was more Dynomutt's victim than
his master, forever being hamstrung by the latter's
mechanized mishaps. But nevertheless, Dynomutt and The
Blue Falcon, who was equipped with his own arsenal of
supergadgetry (what superhero wouldn't be?) manage to get
the situation well in hand. Sometimes Lt. Mumbly or even
Dynomutt's co-stars, Scooby-Doo and his mystery-solving
teen consorts Shaggy Rogers, Freddy Jones, Daphne Blake
and Velma Dinkley, would drop in to aid The Daring Duo in
cracking their toughest crimes. Dynomutt Dog Wonder
has the historic significance of casting the first
African-American public official in Saturday Morning
cartoons, Mayor Gaunt (voiced by Larry McCormick).

16 30-minute
episodes of Dynomutt Dog Wonder were seen in
1976-77 on ABC'S The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour; it
later became The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Show when it
was extended to an extra half hour. In 1977-78, when it
was extended to yet another half hour under the
umbrella title Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics
(the first [and insofar much as known, only] 120-minute
Saturday Morning cartoon in network history!), 4 new
"Dynomutt" shows were seen as 8 11-minute 2-parters, under
the title The Blue Falcon And Dynomutt.
Dynomutt Dog Wonder has enjoyed many periods of
resurgence, on ABC Saturday Morning in the summer of 1978,
on NBC Saturday Morning and the
USA Network
Cartoon Express in the 1980s and with frequent runs on
Cartoon Network,
the last being in February 1999. A previous run, in March
1998, led to my taping all 20 original shows which in turn
inspired me to put up this page, the very first fully
functioning website dedicated to Dynomutt Dog Wonder. And
Boomerang's recently revived episodes of the original
Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour (without, alas and
alack, the original opening and closing titles!), with
added repeats of Dynomutt Dog Wonder to its
schedule! So, enjoy!

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