Dynomutt Dog Wonder

In the town of Big City, Radley Crown (voiced by the late Gary Owens) is a millionaire socialite and art dealer, however, he lives a secret double life, as when the Falcon Flash is heard, Radley suits up to become Big City's superhero, the Blue Falcon. However, the real star of the show is Dynomutt (voiced by Frank Welker), Radley's pet dog who is also mechanical and able to use gadgets, serves as his sidekick, Dog Wonder. However, unlike Robin, Dynomutt / Dog Wonder is prone to malfunction, as it seems he was not built correctly (as the show never gave us an origin to Dynomutt, and how he and Blue Falcon became a duo, and before you ask, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated is an alternate universe), which leads to some hilarious moments when the duo tries to save Big City from criminals that serve as the villain of the day.

Basically, this series is Scooby-Doo mixed with Batman. The episodes originally aired as part of the Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour, where it was packaged alongside The Scooby-Doo Show, as well as Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics, before the episode, which were two-parters in the vein of the 1960's Batman series, were combined into full episodes when the episodes were used for a show. Basically, Dynomutt is the comic relief of the show while Blue Falcon serves as the straight man of the duo (usually getting angry when Dynomutt captures him in one of his gadgets alongside the villains). The villain roster serves as a villain-of-the-day variant of Scooby-Doo's monster of the day, with faces like Lowbrow, a caveman-like criminal, The Queen Hornet, a bee-themed supervillain, and The Red Vulture, who can be seen as the evil counterpart of the Blue Falcon. Basically, all but one episode is focused on one villain (the one episode, The Injustice League of America, is the only episode allowing villains from past episode to return and team up), and three episodes actually have our heroes teaming up with Scooby and the gang. The show only lasted twenty episodes, but the legacy of Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder has lived on, as the duo would make guest appearances in other cartoons, and even have a major role in Scoob (although the Blue Falcon mantle in that film would be passed to Radley's son), and it was even partially inspired the creation of classic 1980' cartoon Inspector Gadget.

Dynomutt originally began as a segment of the Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour in 1976, then was featured a year later on Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics, before this solo series which ran in 1978 for only 3 months.

Despite it's short run, Dynomutt was still a Saturday morning favorite of mine. Most memorable from the show for me was the cool opening with Gary Owens' Blue Falcon narration. I still remember the shot of Dynomutt effortlessly stopping a train one-handed (or one-pawed) while Owens announced "stronger than a train with a so-so brain" to which Frank Welker's Dynomutt was heard replying "You talking about me, Blue Falcon?" I also remember the unique vocals of Ron Feinberg, who provided the show's narration in 60s Batman TV series fashion. The show did take a few cues from Batman: Blue Falcon's millionaire alter-ego, the Falcon Flash signal, etc. The Falconcar was smooth, almost smoother than the Batmobile because it flew. "Blue Falcon! And Dog Wonder! Away!" The villains were colorful and inspired, most notably my favorites Queen Hornet (loved the way she said Blue Falcon's name) and Super Thug.

Dynomutt himself was a bit conflicting. On the one hand he was powerful and inventive with the array of gadgets that he contained, and yet on the other hand he was often clumsy in the actual use and control of his gadgets to which Blue Falcon or B.F. (as Dynomutt called him) would dub the canine "Dog BLUNDER." It was usually when Dynomutt DIDN'T think too much was when he prevailed.

Another funtastic Hanna-Barbera show! Trivia: If it weren't for Dynomutt, shows like The Robonic Stooges and the immensely popular Inspector Gadget would not exist. Dynomutt originated the gadget formula used within those shows.

Dynomutt is a crime fighting canine- a cross between Scooby Doo and Inspector Gadget, who is 'stronger than a train with a so-so brain' and with a dopey sounding voice to match. He and his partner known as the Blue Falcon- who is a send-up of DC Comics' own Batman- patrol the streets, towns well everywhere in fact, to fight crime and get rid of the bad guys, of whom were a mixture of different monsters and villains. There were two sides of Dynomutt- one being that he could stretch his legs in the same way as Inspector Gadget and that he also possessed an array of gadgets at his disposal. However, what Dynomutt lacks is a good brain and being able to think intelligently. Very often the Blue Falcon would suffer at the expense of his doggy accomplice who gets him and themselves into more trouble. The aptly titled 'dog blunder' was irreverently used by Blue Falcon to refer to Dynomutt, which you could say was rather harsh.

I liked how Frank Welker voiced Dynomutt, as he captured his personality and daftness exceptionally well. He was a dopey dog and one where we could laugh along with and at him and his silly antics. Dynomutt's antics had me laughing at times. The villains were also good- very creative, colourful and inventive. In all, Dynomutt was good, clean wholesome fun and funny to boot as well.

It might not be up their with the very best of Hanna Barbera, but its a worthy effort still

6.5 out of 10

I just watched some of Dynomutt on youtube and found out the humor never gets old. In fact, I learned that my humor has not changed much from when I was 8yr old lol. Dynomutt's goofy voice and actions are a visual and verbal mix for laughs. The simple script has the same gags of Dynomutt getting run over by the bolder etc, which I can not help but laugh Lol. Falcon is the perfect straight guy which balance out Dynomutts's faults. "Now Dynomutt" Falcon says before the mishap is the trade mark of the show lol. A blast from the past. Brings back the days of Quick chocolate milk and Saturday morning cartoons.

Eight out of ten stars.