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As a kid I loved Scooby Doo, and to be fair I guess I still do now. Scooby and Shaggy are one of the greatest double acts in cartoon history, with their legendary cowardice only being challenged by their enormous appetites. Fred, Velma and Daphne may not have been as much fun, but they got the job done, solving the mysteries were flair (and flares in Fred’s case) and apart from Daphne always being the one who got captured by the ghost, and Fred always making the same mistake of sending Scooby and Shaggy off on their own (or possibly with Velma), I have nothing against any of them. They made a good team, and I still dig the Mystery Machines groovy paint job. See, I’m getting so into it I’m beginning to sound like Shaggy!
I distinctly remember going into school one day and a friend telling me there was a new series of Scooby Doo on that afternoon, with a new character – Scoob’s nephew Scrappy. I spent the rest of the day looking forward to watching the new series, thinking of the theme tune (Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you, we’ve got some work to do now), the haunted house with all the bats from the title sequence and wondering if, just once, there would be a real ghost rather than the irate uncle who missed out on the inheritance who would have got away with it if it wasn’t for those meddling kids.
So, I get home that afternoon, and tune in ready for some more fun. Oh, how my heart was broken that day. Things started promisingly, the gang were all there, the Mystery Machine still looked cool, and Scooby and Shaggy were just as cowardly as ever. Trouble is, all that good work was undone by the mere addition of Scrappy Doo. A ridiculously small puppy with an annoying voice and even more annoying catchphrase (Ta da da da da-da! Puppy Power! – I cringe even now…) had ruined everything. Scrappy was forever trying to box with the ghost, was completely fearless to the point of stupidity, and was generally annoying all round. He even ended up solving too much of the mystery, stealing Fred, Daphne and Velma’s limelight as well.
Hanna Barbera have finally seen the error of their ways, and the most recent Scooby Doo cartoons do appear to have dropped Scrappy Doo, but it took long enough. First they dropped Fred, Daphne and Velma from the show, keeping Scrappy Doo for some inexplicable reason. Later, they even gave Scrappy his own cartoon with a bunch of other puppy dog characters. As you can tell, I didn’t really like Scrappy Doo, even as a child, and it would appear that most people do agree with me. How do you feel? Can we find the one person on the planet who liked Scrappy Doo?!
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[…] There’s no denying that Hanna Barbera have created some wonderful cartoons over the years. Scooby Doo and The Flintstones must surely be the cartoon studios two best loved series. However, Hanna Barbera are also guilty of a large amount of internal copy-catting. For The Flintstones there was The Jetsons (luckily The Jetsons was actually quite good though) but when it comes to the basic premise of Scooby Doo – a group of teenagers and their mascot investigating mysteries – things get a little out of hand. Some were good (e.g. Captain Caveman) whilst overs were terrible (e.g. the introduction of Scrappy Doo). […]
[…] Scooby Doo was certainly one of my favourite cartoons when I was growing up, and even though I felt they spoiled it a bit when Scrappy Doo was introduced, I still watched it without fail. The question is though… Who was your favourite character in Scooby Doo? […]
[…] comedy sidekick solve mysteries” style of cartoon, and whilst nothing will ever top good old Scooby Doo in my book, Captain Caveman was certainly not the worst of the bunch, and his great gutteral cry of […]
Ooooh, just found a Scooby Doo movies v1 in HMV: 3 stooges, batman & robin and 2 people I’ve never heard of.
Get Laurel & Hardy & the Harlem Globetrotters* out there asap.
* who were great in the last few episodes of the new series of Futurama
Godzookie.
Godzookie was pretty annoying, but Scrappy was still far more annoying I feel.
Oh yeah. The puppy must die. Horribly.