The 1970s were the golden age of cartoon shows, and we were treated to a plethora of unique series filled with strange yet amusing experiences. Dynomutt Dog Wonder is one such show that will undoubtedly transport you back to your childhood Saturday mornings.
It depicts the crime-fighting exploits of two superheroes, one human and the other canine. The Blue Falcon and his amusing mechanical dog, Dynomutt, a.k.a. Dog Wonder, live in the Big City, which is akin to Gotham. This fearless pair is in charge of keeping criminals at bay.
The Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder are vigilantes who resemble Batman and Robin from DC Comics. Having said that, the lifestyles of Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder are vastly different and extremely amusing. They are frequently paired with Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Incorporated group. Imagine being able to battle crime with two dogs, especially when one of them is a robot. So, without further ado, let us go right into the video and learn everything there is to know about this one-of-a-kind animated series.
A quick overview of this underrated cartoon series
Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, was created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears. It began on ABC and is produced by Hanna Barbera Productions. Ultimately, the reruns of the series also aired on Cartoon Network, among a few other channels. It was initially broadcast as a half-hour segment of The Scooby-Doo Dynomutt Hour, which gave us the first 16 episodes. Later on, we got to see four more episodes as a quarter-hour segment of Scooby’s All-Star Laff A Lympics.
Eventually, in 1978, the series finally came out in syndicated reruns as Dynomutt, Dog Wonder. It also gained more fame and recognition as it was the first Saturday morning cartoon that portrayed an African American public official in the character of Mayor Gaunt, who is voiced by Larry McCormick.
Even though it only has twenty episodes, the stories of the protagonist duo are far greater than you can imagine. Dynomutt’s character has been voiced by the incredibly gifted Frank Welker, who is best known for voicing Fred Jones in the Scooby-Doo franchise, and the voice for Blue Falcon’s character has been provided by the multitalented Gary Owens, who has also voiced in other series under Hanna Barbera Productions.
The Blue Falcon in his civilian version is known to the public as Radley Crown. Crown is a millionaire socialite art dealer, but he is the superhero vigilante when he is not selling art. He fights crime on the streets of the Big City alongside his sidekick and assistant robot dog, Dynomutt. Quite similar to Batman, Blue Falcon also has a signal through which he can be contacted for help. When he sees the Falcon Flash, he runs to Falcon’s Lair which is located in the penthouse apartment of Crown. He changes into his Blue Falcon costume and heads out to help the city with Dog Wonder.
Since he is obviously pretty rich, he has a suit full of Falcon gadgets that come in handy for his missions, but the most impressive one has to be the flying Falcon car. It is fast and smooth and definitely at par with the Batmobile. The Blue Falcon also possesses a utility belt. He often seems tired of Dynomutt’s constant clumsiness, but the two share a pretty close relationship. Dynomutt has even given Blue Falcon a cute nickname and calls him B.F. as a form of endearment.
The heroic duo receives reports regarding criminal activity through a TV screen at the Falcon’s lair from the secret agent Focus One of the secret general headquarters. From the more recent animated series, this part kind of reminds us of Perry the Platypus receiving missions from Major Monogram in Phineas and Ferb. Anyway, the character of Focus one is voiced by Ron Feinberg, who is also the narrator in all twenty episodes of the series. Dynomutt, Dog Wonder becomes slightly more exciting as it has constant appearances by the cast of the Scooby-Doo Show.
As a kid, I am sure all of us have been in love with the crime-solving group of friends known as Mystery Incorporated. It is certainly wonderful to see that Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, and Velma are close friends with the Blue Falcon and Dynomutt. They make it more fun to watch the blunders of the duo while they help them solve crimes on multiple occasions.
Now, let us take a look at a few of the most loved episodes of Dynomutt, Dog Wonder that did not fail to impress the fans. The very first episode of the series is titled “Everyone Hyde!” and it introduces us to the arch-nemesis of Blue Falcon. It is also a crossover between Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, and Scooby-Doo.
The episode begins with a look at Big City, the home of Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder. Much like Gotham, Big City is also full of law-abiding citizens as well as evildoers who only think of themselves. One such evil character is Willie the Weasel. Apparently, he has created a formula that allows him to transform into Mr. Hyde. He goes on to steal gold coins from a collector’s shop, and we find out that aside from himself, he also has the power to transform others into Mr. Hyde as well.
After a successful robbery, he uses an antidote to turn himself and his dog back to their original forms. Meanwhile, Blue Falcon, as Radley Crown, is hosting a private exhibition at his art gallery, completely unaware of the incident. He asks Dynomutt to get refreshments for the guests, and Dog Wonder uses his magnificent mechanical body to bring out a counter full of the perfect food items. So, it looks like with Dynomutt by your side, you will never go hungry.
Soon after, the duo hears the Falcon Flash and runs to Falcon’s lair. Via the TV Screen, agent Focus One tells Blue Falcon about the evil plans and threats of Mr. Hyde wanting to turn the entire population of the city into Hyde monsters if he is not made the Mayor of the city. Along with Dog Wonder, he goes onto the Falcon car to stop Mr. Hyde. At the Big City Museum, some crown jewels are being exhibited, and Willie the Weasel has already arrived in the form of Mr. Hyde.
He manages to convert all the guards at the museum into Hyde monsters before Blue Falcon, and Dog Wonder arrive. Now, in order to save the innocent Hyde people, Blue Falcon uses the Falcon harmless Human Restrainer and is able to stop a few of them. When Dog Wonder tries to help by using his Dyno Human Restrainer, he accidentally ends up restraining Blue Falcon along with them.
Later on, when he tries to go after one last Hyde, he has another malfunction where his body opens up with springs which is exactly like the Slinky Dog from the Toy Story franchise. Soon after, we see the Mystery Incorporated gang with Scooby-Doo. Apparently, they think that this Hyde is their ghost criminal Hyde, so they set up a trap for him. However, Dog Wonder accidentally gets caught up in their trap.
As it turns out, Dynomutt happens to be Scooby-Doo’s hero. The Mystery Incorporated gang and Scooby-Doo decide to help Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder on their mission. After meeting with Mayor Gaunt, the team, along with Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder, decide to go to the Orville Research Institute to ask Professor Orville to make an antidote. But Hyde shows up and turns Professor Orville into a Hyde monster.
Now, Dynomutt tries to capture Professor Orville with his Dyno Dynamic Restraining net, but he has a malfunction yet again and ends up turning himself into a Dyno Cycle. It causes some trouble for Blue Falcon as the real Hyde manages to escape during this chaos. But at least the heroes are able to capture Professor Orville safely. Dog Wonder makes another blunder when he mistakes Scooby-Doo for Hyde and ends up destroying a lot of things at the Institute while catching him.
Now, back at the Big City’s City Hall, the Mystery Incorporated gang has found a glove that belongs to Hyde. Dynomutt uses his computerized clue analysis circuit to find out that the glove belongs to Willie the Weasel, and the group finally learns Hyde’s real identity. Elsewhere, Hyde goes on a rampage and starts turning the public into Hyde monsters. All that the heroes can do at this point is round up the innocent Hydes to keep them safe.
Blue Falcon decides that it would be best for the city if they made Hyde the Mayor. Now that is a surprise coming from a hero, but maybe he has a secret plan. After being appointed the mayor, the first thing Hyde does is transform Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder into Hyde monsters as well. Things are now starting to look a little grave. When Falcon Hyde and Dog Wonder Hyde go to Hyde’s old headquarters, Blue Falcon tricks Hyde into revealing the antidote.
As it turns out, the daring duo did not actually turn into Hydes, they were just wearing masks. Now, along with the Mystery Incorporated gang, Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder attack Hyde at the Mayor’s Mansion where he is trying to take away all his stolen loot. Dog Wonder very strategically tricks Hyde’s dog, Snitch, and takes the antidote from him. Meanwhile, Hyde tries to get away in his car, but Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder use their wonderful gadgets to capture Mr. Hyde successfully. The episode ends with Dog Wonder’s yet another malfunction as he tries to free himself from one of Shaggy’s Scooby traps.
Another epic episode is the one titled “What Now, Lowbrow?” The villain in this episode is the kind you would never have thought of before. A caveman named Lowbrow decides to go to college so that he can become the king of crime. What’s funny is that he does not even know the meaning of the word “brilliant.” Lowbrow walks into the Big City university and tells the receptionist that he wants to attend their college because he wants to learn how to be the best at pulling robbers.
Now, at the Falcon lair, the two heroes have received information about Lowbrow from agent Focus One. He tells them that Lowbrow plans on stealing anything he needs from the university. But it looks like the villain has already reached the Big City university library with his two henchmen. He breaks the wall and steals several books. Just then, the mystery incorporated gang, along with our duo, arrive on the scene.
Both parties head out in pursuit of the new criminal. Dog Wonder uses his Dyno Super Nose Snooper to follow his trail, but as it turns out, Lowbrow is one step ahead of them. In order to run away smoothly, he throws pepper on the street where Dog Wonder’s nose is moving, and with a huge sneeze, the heroes lose Lowbrow and his henchmen. Now, back at his lair, Lowbrow looks for pictures through the books, and after seeing a tractor, he thinks that with a big tractor, he will be able to pull off a big robbery.
In another instant, he manages to steal over a million dollars worth of goods with that idea. The Blue Falcon comes up with a trap for Lowbrow, and the team broadcasts a piece of news saying that the Big City University will be displaying an Electro Super Brain device through which anyone can become smart. If only such a thing existed in real life! Shaggy demonstrates the device on Dog Wonder and Lowbrow totally falls for it.
Blue Falcon runs after him, and this time, Dog Wonder ends up doing something new. He wanted to trap Lowbrow in his Dyno Cage, but guess who ended up in it? The Blue Falcon of course! Now, once again tracking Lowbrow with his nose, Dog Wonder ends up in a ballet class and the most surprising thing is that apparently, he knows how to do ballet.
He then tries to capture Lowbrow using his Dyno Gym Gyro, but obviously, it malfunctions and all of them end up in a trap laid by Lowbrow. Meanwhile, Lowbrow uses the Electro Super Brain device and realizes that it is useless. After being free from Lowbrow’s trap, the Blue Falcon uses Dog Wonder’s Dyno Computer and finds out that the criminal is headed to the Big City Mint.
After arriving they see that Lowbrow has pushed a huge boulder that will gradually crash into the Mint. Dog Wonder in his attempt to stop the boulder ends up underneath it. But then using his Dyno Jack Hammer, he is able to reduce the size of the rock to that of a pebble. The episode ends with Dog Wonder activating his Dyno Jets and from the air, the Blue Falcon throws his Falcon Balloon on Lowbrow and it takes him to prison.
Well, if it were not for Dog Wonder’s malfunctions, watching them catch the criminals would definitely not have seemed this hilarious.
All about Dynomutt – the adorable and silly sidekick
Dog Wonder, the robotic dog version of a superhero, tries his best always to help Blue Falcon yet somehow manages to make more blunders than wonders. In fact, Blue Falcon often calls him Dog Blunder instead of Dog Wonder. But even after these failures, he manages to save the day by assisting the Blue Falcon.
During his off-duty hours, Dog Wonder is the adorable pet dog and also the assistant of Radley Crown. As with most animated superheroes of the 1970s, we do not have any exact origin for either Blue Falcon or Dog Wonder, but what we do know is that having a mechanical dog as a sidekick has to be a major benefit. Well, maybe Blue Falcon might not always agree with this given the number of times Dog Wonder has put them both in trouble. Dog Wonder’s quirky antics never fail to get a laugh out of the audience even when the villain might appear to be in a winning position.
His robot body allows him to use a variety of gadgets that we can only dream of. With just the push of a button, Dog Wonder is able to do anything, from telescoping his limbs to making ice cubes. Among the many things that are wired to his body, he also has a parachute and a vacuum that he often uses. When required, or in his case, even when it is not required, he is able to turn his legs into springs which allows him to jump a lot higher than usual.
Along with that, Dog Wonder also possesses limbs and a neck that can extend really far. Although these limbs do get twisted up at times, he is still able to employ this ability to make himself taller and faster. Blue Falcon often asks him to use his specific gadgets while catching a villain. But even before he can actually give Blue Falcon the gadget he wants, he has malfunctions almost every single time and his gadgets appear to have their own mind.
We saw the funniest bit of the malfunction earlier when he tried to take out his Dyno Dynamic Restraining net but ended up becoming the Dyno Cycle. Perhaps it would be best to say that he does not have much in common with Boy Wonder other than his name and the touch of green in both their costumes.
The opening narration of the series describes him as being stronger than a train, and we have seen many instances where Dog Wonder showcases his power. But he gets left behind when it comes to his so-so brain. Now, since both Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder are employed by the secret general headquarters of agent Focus One in order to bring stability to the city of Big City, it is obvious that they will get paid.
In the seventh episode of the series titled “Don’t bug super thug,” Dog Wonder reveals his life savings to be exactly one coin. He says that being a superhero is not the highest-paying job in town. We also get to see the evil version of Dog Wonder in the eighth episode titled “Factory Recall.” The villain, Mr. Cool, uses his freeze machine to freeze people and entire stores so that he can steal things easily.
During an encounter with Blue Falcon, Mr. Cool gets hold of his communicator and later uses it to make Blue Falcon believe that he is Focus One, and Dog Wonder is required to come to the factory for repair so that his malfunctions can stop. After getting Dog Wonder to his lair, Mr. Cool reprograms him and turns him against Blue Falcon. This change in behavior is noticed when Dog Wonder gives an evil grin.
Now listening to Mr. Cool’s commands instead of Blue Falcon’s, Dog Wonder has turned against justice. The criminal mastermind asks Dog Wonder to bring Blue Falcon to his lair. The evil Dog Wonder pretends to be on Blue Falcon’s side and tries to capture him multiple times. He first, tries to make a hole underneath his seat in the Falcon car. When that fails, he tries to capture him using a Dyno trap. But even that attempt ended up unsuccessful. However, he managed to capture Blue Falcon with the old Dyno gift wrap and carried him to the enemy’s den.
The crime-fighting vigilante realizes that Dog Wonder has been reprogramed by Mr. Cool. And no matter how many malfunctions he had in the past, Blue Falcon now only wants to fix him back to his old self, even when his own life is on the line. He manages to trick Dog Wonder’s command system, and the dog accidentally ends up freeing his old master. He is then quickly deprogrammed by Blue Falcon and is back to normal.
We can say that this episode sort of hints toward Dog Wonder’s origin as Blue Falcon easily believed that agent Focus One would repair him. Maybe the place where Dog Wonder came from is the secret general headquarters of agent Focus One. But it is only speculation on our part since nothing of this kind has been officially declared.
After quite some time, Dog Wonder and the Blue Falcon also appeared in the Dexter’s Laboratory episode titled “Dyno-Might.” When Dog Wonder gets severely damaged after a fight, the Blue Falcon takes him to Dexter for repairs. Instead of helping him, Dexter deactivates him and decides to replace him with a new and improved version known as Dynomutt X-90.
While Dynomutt X-90 begins by catching armed muggers, he rapidly evolves into a violent vigilante who uses extreme and fatal power to deal with petty crimes. He pulled out his machine gun on someone who was jaywalking. In fact, he was just going to shoot a young girl with laser eyes for disobeying a “Keep Off the Grass” sign when Blue Falcon and Dexter arrived to stop him.
Dexter then reveals that he developed Dynomutt X-90 because he found the original one to be merely a goofy dumb sidekick who was of no help. The Blue Falcon explains to Dexter that, despite his foolish demeanor, Dynomutt was a loyal dog and a hero who showed mercy. Dexter then immediately reactivates the original Dynomutt, who returns and tries to stall Dynomutt X-90 long enough for Dexter to deactivate him.
The relationship between Dog Wonder and Blue Falcon is truly sweet and fun at the same time. Obviously, Blue Falcon is often fed up with his malfunctions and lack of judgment, but he is his dog and certainly his best friend at the end of the day.
What made the show so special?
Dynomutt, Dog Wonder is not just a show, it is the memory of a different lifetime. It is reminiscent of the pleasant Saturday mornings we used to have as kids, where we got to eat sugary cereal while watching a cartoon show about a superhero robotic dog who is technically supposed to make things easier for his partner but always ends up making them worse at first.
We also get to see slight character development for the main characters as the episodes progress. The Blue Falcon often reminds himself that aside from Dog Wonder’s blunders, he is his friend and the villains are his enemies. It is both funny and ironic how any time he asks Dog Wonder to do something, the dog ends up doing the complete opposite at first. But we cannot deny that Dog Wonder always makes up for it in the end by successfully capturing the enemies.
To top that off, the Blue Falcon’s straightforward character balances the seemingly messy character of Dog Wonder. The show gets even more interesting whenever it has a crossover with the cast of the Scooby-Doo show. It was undoubtedly a genius idea to put two dogs together. One who is a little too confident given his lack of observation skills, and another who gets frightened quite easily. There is no doubt about it that Scooby sees Dog Wonder as his hero.
This mechanical dog surely knows how to spread his charm. The little aspects of the characters of Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder make the show even more special than it already is. For example, Blue Falcon’s patent dialogue when they get into the Falcon car and say, “Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder away!” Another quite fun characteristic related to Dog Wonder is how he likes to rhyme his words every now and then. In the first episode of the series, after deciding to follow Mr. Hyde with Scooby-Doo, he says “Scooby-Doo, and Dog Wonder too.”
The daring duo of Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder is a classic 70s animated cartoon show. They bring goofiness along with some amazing adventures as well as comic relief to our screens, and it is quite sad how such cartoon shows are not made any longer. Well, guys, that is all for today; we hope you enjoyed watching this video as much as we enjoyed making it for you. Have a fantastic day ahead!