Fred Jones (Scooby-Doo)

Frederick "Fred" Jones
Scooby-Doo character
Portrayed by	Freddie Prinze, Jr. (theatrical live-action films) Robbie Amell (live-action telefilms)
Voiced by	Frank Welker (1969–present) Carl Stevens (1988–1991: A Pup Named Scooby-Doo)
Information
Species	Human
Gender	Male

Frederick Herman "Fred" Jones, Jr. (also known as "Freddy") is a fictional character in the American television animated series Scooby-Doo, about a quartet of teenage mystery solvers and their Great Dane companion, Scooby-Doo. He is the official leader of Mystery Incorporated.

Character description

In all depictions, Fred wears a blue and/or white sweater (which is sometimes worn under a white shirt, sweater, or jacket) and blue jeans. In the original depictions, Fred wears an 16 1/2 size orange neckerchief. In the 1990s direct-to-video movies and in the 2000s series What's New, Scooby-Doo?, Fred's outfit was given an update, with the removal of his orange ascot and two blue stripes added to his sleeves. He is often shown constructing various Rube Goldberg traps for villains, which Scooby-Doo and/or Shaggy would often set off by mistake, causing the villain to be captured another way. Fred usually takes the lead in solving mysteries. When searching for clues, Fred and Daphne usually go together with Velma coming along, but sometimes Fred and Daphne would pair off, leaving Velma to go with Shaggy and Scooby.

In A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Fred was depicted as being somewhat less intelligent and was often believing in crazy legends such as Bigfoot and mole people and liked reading a magazine called The National Exaggerator. In each episode, Fred would (often incorrectly) blame the crime on the neighborhood bully, Red Herring (a play on the idiom red herring). In his teenage version, he is shown to have many interests (obsessions for traps, martial arts, wrestling, and weight lifting). He is also shown to be hopeless at speaking any language other than English (in an episode of What's New, Scooby Doo?, Fred attempted to learn French, leading Daphne to suggest he sticks to saying "oui-oui" (wee-wee), to which he replies, "I already did that before we left the hotel"). He typically shown to be oblivious to Daphne's romantic interests, while at the same time falling for other girls.

Development

Fred is named after Fred Silverman, who insisted the character be named after him, apparently as a condition of the show being picked up. When the voice actors Casey Kasem and Frank Welker became a part of the original Scooby-Doo series, Kasem wanted to portray Fred, while Welker wanted to portray Shaggy Rogers. Instead the network assigned Kasem to Shaggy and Welker to Fred.

Performers

Freddie Prinze, Jr. as Fred in Scooby-Doo.

Robbie Amell as Fred in Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster.

• Frank Welker (1969–present)
• Carl Stevens (A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, 1988–1991)
• Freddie Prinze, Jr. (2002 and 2004 live-action films, Robot Chicken)
• Robbie Amell (2009 and 2010 live-action films)

In Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins, Robbie Amell portrays Fred as a brunette rather than a blond. In the sequel Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster Robbie Amell is once again a brunette though he does sport the original look of Fred (with the blonde hair) while hiding from the Lake Monster in the tennis shop window. The reason Amell is a brunette is due to the director and Amell believing he would not look good as a blond. In a deleted scene in the 2002 Scooby-Doo live-action film, it is said that Fred may possibly dye his hair.

Relatives

Relatives of Fred's shown or mentioned during the series include:

• * Mayor Frederick Jones Sr.: Fred's Illegal "father" in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, voiced by Gary Cole. In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated Fred's fake father is the mayor of Crystal Cove. He is self-centered and more interested in his status as town mayor and keeping the town's tourist industry going, something he tries to force on his son. In the season finale, it is revealed Mayor Jones was masquerading as a monster known as "the Freak of Crystal Cove", and is the person responsible for the disappearance of the original Mystery Inc group 20 years ago. In order to make sure two members never returned, he kidnapped Fred as an infant as blackmail, raising him as his own son. Mayor Jones is later arrested.

• Skip and Peggy Jones: Fred's father and mother in the movie Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!.

• Brad Chiles and Judy Reeves.: Fred's real father and mother in Mystery Incorporated, voiced by Nolan North and Kari Wahlgren. Both were members of the original Mystery Incorporated searching for the haunted treasure of Crystal Cove, until they were blackmailed by Mayor Jones into leaving Crystal Cove forever. (see above).

• Eddie Jones: Fred's uncle. The publisher of the tabloid newspaper The National Exaggerator.

• The Count von Jones: Fred's uncle. Lives in a castle near a factory that makes specialized coffins, and runs a museum. Fred intended to visit him during one episode of What's New Scooby-Doo but was outvoted by the gang, who decided to watch a dog show instead.

• Uncle Karl: Fred's uncle who runs a cheese shop near Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. He is better than Fred at bench-pressing.

• An uncle in the United States Air Force and works for a space agency.

• An uncle who is first cymbalist in the United States Marine Corps band.

• A 3 year-old nephew. Mentioned in The New Scooby-Doo Movies episode that guest-starred Monkees member Davy Jones, "The Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall".

• Jed Jones: Fred's cousin working for Monstrous, Fright, and Magic. He is voiced by Chris Edgerly.

Reception

Members of the fanbase of the original Scooby Doo speculated that Fred and Daphne Blake had a romantic attraction to one another. The makers of the Scooby-Doo film originally planned to refer to the rumor by including a scene where Fred asks to stay with Daphne, using the presence of a toothbrush to imply that he wanted to stay with Daphne for the night. The scene was not included in the final version of the film.