# Villain from Catch That Pigeon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2004, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villain-from-catch-that-pigeon/253882 "2004-07-07T00:57:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nobody\_Special](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nobody\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody_Special)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villain-from-catch-that-pigeon/253882/1 "2004-07-07T00:57:18Z")
I’m trying to remember the name of the villain from the 70s cartoon “Catch that Pigeon”. (I think the same characters also stared in another cartoon about some race.) Anyway there was Penelope Pitstop, Captain Caveman, Smegdly (sp) and the stereotypical villain with a tall top-hat and black cape. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villain-from-catch-that-pigeon/253882/2 "2004-07-07T01:00:05Z")
That would be Dick Dastardly, and the other program you’re thinking of is called “Wacky Races”. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villain-from-catch-that-pigeon/253882/3 "2004-07-07T01:00:38Z")
I believe the name of the cartoon was _Stop the Pigeon_ and its principal villain was Dick Dastardly. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villain-from-catch-that-pigeon/253882/4 "2004-07-07T01:01:52Z")
Drat and double drat! ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villain-from-catch-that-pigeon/253882/5 "2004-07-07T01:05:18Z")
[Dick Dastardly and his dog, Muttley](http://www.toonopedia.com/dastard.htm) were the villains. > [@](#): > > The mission to “Stop That Pigeon” was so prominent (the phrase was repeated more than a dozen times in the theme song), many young viewers thought that was the name of the show. The show, _Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines_, was first broadcast September 13, 1969 on CBS. More info at the Toonopedia link above. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villain-from-catch-that-pigeon/253882/6 "2004-07-07T02:04:55Z")
Ever notice how Muttley, the villainous dog, and Mumbley, the heroic detective dog, both had the same voice? That fact shook my faith in the good-vs.-evil alignment principle of the universe when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villain-from-catch-that-pigeon/253882/7 "2004-07-07T02:11:07Z")
Ah, yes, but it does confirm the absolute balance between Good and Evil, in that one can be seen as the mirror-self of the other…