The Funky Phantom was part of Hanna-Barbera’s continued
attempts to try and emulate the success of their Scooby-Doo franchise. Like Scooby,
the series centered on teens Augie Anderson (Tommy Cook), Skip Gilroy (Micky
Dolenz) and April Stewart (Kristina Holland), who travelled around the country
with their dog, Elmo (Jerry Dexter), in their dune buggy, The Looney Duney. They
entered races and solved the mysteries they happened to come across in the
process. The twist was they were accompanied by an actual ghost.
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| Augie, April, Skip and Elmo meet Mudsy and Boo. |
As outlined in the theme by series composer John Sangster, the kids had
stumbled upon a mansion where cowardly American
Revolutionary War soldier Jonathan Wellington “Mudsy” Muddlemore (Daws
Butler, using his Snagglepuss voice) locked himself and his cat, Boo (Don
Messick), in a grandfather clock trying to duck two Redcoats
(British soldiers) burying treasure nearby. There they remained until the kids
freed their ghosts from the clock. To make up for their cowardice, Mudsy and
Boo accompanied the kids and lent a supernatural helping hand whenever
needed—once they summoned up the courage to do so. Mudsy would also frequently
regale the kids with stories of the Revolutionary era, complete with historical
name-droppings.
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| These kids just love finding people in stuff, don't they? |
The Funky Phantom debuted on
September 11, 1971 on ABC. The series was
written by Larz
Bourne, Tom
Dagenais, David
Ketchum, Bill
Lutz, Jack
Mendelsohn, Joe
Ruby, Bruce Shelly and Michael Maltese.
Sangster composed some new incidental music for the series, but it also made
use of much of Ted Nichols’
underscore composed earlier. Because of Hanna-Barbera’s massive workload at the
time, animation duties for the series were farmed out to Air Programs International in
Australia; their first out of that country. Like Scooby-Doo, the kids constantly encountered supernatural entities
that ended up being criminals using elaborate ruses to accomplish their goals.
Mudsy and Boo were the only true spirits ever featured. Unfortunately, the show
failed to drum up the same success as Scooby and ended production after its
single season. It did continue to air on ABC until the fall of 1972, and reruns
of the series were included in the 1980 rerun package show The Godzilla/Dynomutt Hour with Funky Phantom.
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| Mudsy and Boo meet Scooby-Doo. |
Mudsy would later appear in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode “High Speed Buggy Chase” voiced by Chris Edgerly. Later, he and Boo
appeared in the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode “Mystery Solver Club State
Finals” in a dream sequence with other characters from Hanna-Barbera’s mystery
shows. They were voiced by Tom
Kenny and Rick D. Wasserman,
respectively. Kenny reprised the role in the 2021 episode of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?,
“A Mystery Solving Gang Divided” (Boo had no lines). Mudsy would also appear with
other fictional ghosts in the season 3 episode of MAD, “ParaMorgan”,
and in the HBO Max original series Jellystone!, voiced
by Paul F. Thompkins.
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A 13-issue Funky Phantom comic series was
published by Western
Publishing and Gold
Key Comics. The comics were both original stories as well as adaptations of
episodes. The original stories moved away from the series’ format and allowed
some of the villains featured to actually be the ghosts they appeared to be; typically,
from the colonial
era. One issue also had the gang travel back in time, restoring Mudsy to
his flesh and blood body while the kids were reduced to spirits (since they
didn’t actually exist yet). A new character not featured on the show was
introduced named Priscilla Atwater. She was a ghost from Mudsy’s time who was
romantically interested in him and pursued him relentlessly—at least until
another ghost came along and caught her fancy. Western would also produce a tray
puzzle, jigsaw puzzle and coloring
book. Additionally, Brown Watson published The
Funky Phantom Featuring Motormouse and Autocat Annual in 1975. Mudsy
made a return to comics in 2001’s Scooby-Doo! #50 with a cameo appearance. In 2018,
he appeared in Black Lightning/Hong Kong Phooey Special #1,
which was part of DC Comics’ second
wave of reimagined Hanna-Barbera properties. That same year, Funko released a glow-in-the-dark POP!
figure of Mudsy as a New
York Comic Con exclusive.
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| The DVD. |
Milton Bradley released a board game based on the show in 1971. In 1972, Peter Pan Records released a record containing four original audio adventures; however, the characters were voiced by Peter Fernandez, Corrine Orr and Lionel Wilson instead of the show’s cast. In 2010, Warner Archive released The Funky Phantom: The Complete Series to DVD as part of their Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection. It was also made available for digital download in the iTunes Store.
Originally posted in 2016. Updated in 2026.
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