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The Funky Phantom
Genre	Cartoon series
Directed by	William Hanna; Joseph Barbera
Voices of	Julie Bennet; Daws Butler; Tommy Cook; Jerry Dexter; Mickey Dolenz; Kristina Holland
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	17
Production
Executive producer(s)	William Hanna; Joseph Barbera
Running time	30 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	September 11, 1971 – September 2, 1972

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

[edit] 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, 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 of them allegedly hid from the British 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 acompained 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, even down to the use of Snagglepusses catchphrases, such as appending sentences with the word "even".

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, as 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 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.

[edit] Voices

Daws Butler - Jonathan Wellington "Mudsy" Muddlemore
Micky Dolenz - Skip Gilroy
Kristina Holland - April Stewart
Tommy Cook - Augie Anderson
Julie Bennet - Boo (cat)
Jerry Dexter - Elmo (dog)

[edit] Episodes

FP-1. Don't Fool With a Phantom (9/11/1971)

FP-2. Heir Scare (9/18/1971)

FP-3. I'll Haunt You Later (9/25/1971)

FP-4. Who's Chicken (10/2/1971)

FP-5. The Headless Horseman (10/9/1971)

FP-6. Spirit Spooked (10/16/1971)

FP-7. Ghost Town Ghost (10/23/1971)

FP-8. We Saw a Sea Serpent (10/30/1971)

FP-9. Haunted in Inn (11/6/1971)

FP-10. Mudsy Joins the Circus (11/13/1971)

FP-11. Pigskin Predicament (11/20/1971)

FP-12. The Liberty Bell Caper (11/27/1971)

FP-13. April Foolish Day (12/4/1971)

FP-14. The Forest's Prime-Evil (12/11/1971)

FP-15. The Hairy Scary Houndman (12/18/1971)

FP-16. Mudsy and Muddlemore Manor (12/25/1971)

FP-17. Ghost Grabbers (1/1/1972)

[edit] 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.

[edit] DVD Release

Coming Soon to DVD from Warner Home Video as part of Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection: To Be Announced

[edit] External links