The Funky Phantom

The Funky Phantom is a Saturday morning cartoon, produced for Hanna-Barbera Productions by Australian production company, Air Programs International in 1971 for ABC.

Plot
Similar to Hanna-Barbera's successful Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, The Funky Phantom featured three teenagers — Skip, April and Augie — and their dog Elmo. While trying to get out of a storm when driving the Looney Duney, they entered an old house where the longcase clock was wrong. Upon setting the clock to midnight, it released two ghosts: a Revolutionary War-era ghost named Jonathan Wellington "Mudsy" Muddlemore and his cat, Boo. The two stumbled upon two Redcoats and ended up hiding inside the clock during the Revolutionary War, but then couldn't get out and eventually died inside. Ever since being freed by their new friends, Mudsy and Boo have accompanied them on many mysteries, always giving an invisible helping hand.

The voice of Mudsy was provided by Daws Butler and was identical to his voice work for the character Snagglepuss, down to the use of Snagglepuss's catchphrases, Even. (In turn, that voice was an impersonation of actor Bert Lahr.)

In the 1970s, comic books of The Funky Phantom were released by Western Publishing and Gold Key Comics. The comics were both original stories as well as adaptations of some of the TV episodes. The stories in the comics, however, took a different turn from the TV episodes. While on the show, the "ghost" was always a villain in a mask (like Scooby-Doo), in some of the original comic stories, the villains would often turn out to be other ghosts from on or around the colonial era. (The show never addressed why it seemed that there were no other ghosts besides Mudsy and Boo.) The comics even did a twist on the series when the gang traveled back to colonial times via an erratic time machine, only to find out that the kids are now the ghosts (the machine could only transport spiritual matter) and Mudsy is once more inside a flesh-and-blood body.

Also, the comics introduced a new regular character who never appeared in the show. Priscilla Atwater, a ghostly matron from Mudsy's time, who lusted after Mudsy and pursued him actively, although she tended to flirt with about any other ghost who came along.

Principal cast

 * Daws Butler – Jonathan Wellington "Mudsy" Muddlemore, Fingers
 * Tommy Cook – Augie Anderson
 * Jerry Dexter – Elmo the Dog
 * Micky Dolenz – Skip Gilroy
 * Kristina Holland – April Stewart
 * Don Messick – Boo the Cat, Farmer Higgins, Raven/Otis Carter, Chickenman/Mr. Angus, Ichabod Crane, Mayor (in "We Saw a Sea Serpent"), Packy, Bill Sands, Lifeguard (in "Haunted in Inn"), Spirit of '76/Hank Miller

Additional voices

 * Julie Bennett – Widow Wilson
 * Casey Kasem – Professor Lundgren, Winfield Wheely
 * Jim MacGeorge –
 * Allan Melvin –
 * Barney Phillips –
 * Mike Road –
 * Hal Smith – Houndman/Barkley
 * John Stephenson – Ghost of Lafitte/Malcolm Rogers, Headless Horseman, Gas Station Attendant (in "We Saw a Sea Serpent"), Black Lake Creature, Mr. Warnock, Hugo, Ghost of Widow Wilson's Inn, Parafiend, Slippery Stark
 * George Tyler –
 * Janet Waldo – Lori Elwood

Other appearances

 * Mudsy appeared in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "High Speed Buggy Chase" voiced by Chris Edgerly. The question "What makes the Funky Phantom so funky?" is finally asked and answered.


 * Jonathan Wellington "Mudsy" Muddlemore and his team appear in the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode "Mystery Solvers Club State Finals" with Jonathan Wellington "Mudsy" Muddlemore voiced by Tom Kenny and Boo the Cat voiced by Rick D. Wasserman. He and his team appear alongside other Hanna-Barbera mystery teams (consisting of Mystery Inc., Speed Buggy and his friends, Jabberjaw and the Neptunes, and Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels) in a fever dream of Scooby-Doo's. When the teenage sleuths are kidnapped by a flaming skeletal spirit called Lord Infernicus (also voiced by Rick D. Wasserman), the sidekicks are left to solve the mystery. Jonathan Wellington "Mudsy" Muddlemore believes Scooby cannot solve the case. It is revealed that Mudsy is the true culprit and not a real ghost, but a down-on-his-luck actor who joined a team of teen sleuths who mistook him for a real ghost. Tired of being reduced to sidekick status, he kidnapped the teenage sleuths to finally get his revenge and send them to Africa, which was in desperate need of teen mystery solvers in his eyes. Boo the Cat then states "You lied to me" and attacks Mudsy. When Scooby wakes up, he finds that the State Finals have been moved to a later date with the chairman that arrived having a strange resemblance to Mudsy.

DVD release
On October 26, 2010, Warner Archive released The Funky Phantom: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.