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Scrappy-Doo

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Scrappy Doo
Scooby-Doo character
First appearance"The Scarab Lives!" (Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo episode)
Voiced byLennie Weinrib (1979–1980)
Don Messick (1980–1996)
Scott Innes (2000–present)
J.P. Manoux (2002; Scrappy Rex, Scooby-Doo)
In-universe information
SpeciesDog
GenderMale
BreedGreat Dane

Scrappy-Doo is a fictional Great Dane puppy created by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1979, with the catchphrases, "Scrappy Dappy Doo", "Lemme at 'em!" and "Puppy Power!". He is the nephew of Hanna-Barbera cartoon star Scooby-Doo. Scrappy has appeared in a number of the various incarnations of the Scooby-Doo cartoon series.[1][2] Lennie Weinrib provided his voice for one season in 1979, and from 1980 on it was performed by Don Messick (who also voiced Scooby). In the first live-action theatrical movie, video games, and commercials, he was voiced by Scott Innes. The character was able to save the show's ratings which by 1979 had begun to sink to the point of cancellation threats from ABC.

Character biography

Scrappy has a contradicted origin. Originally as shown in the introduction of the series episodes, Scrappy only met his Uncle Scooby as a puppy. But the December 1980 episode of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo ("Scrappy's Birthday") depicts Scrappy-Doo's birth with both Scooby and Shaggy in attendance. Born at St. Bernard's Hospital to Scooby-Doo's sister Ruby-Doo on December 20, 1980, Scrappy idolizes his uncle Scooby and would often assist Scooby and his friends in solving mysteries (Scrappy saves Scooby several times from monsters when they were looking for the rest of the gang). With a highly energetic and brave personality, despite his small size, Scrappy was the exact opposite of his uncle; Scrappy would usually insist on trying to directly fight the various monsters Scooby and his associates encountered and generally have to be dragged away by Scooby. Related to this, one of Scrappy's catchphrases was, "Lemme at 'em! Lemme at 'em! I'll splat 'em! I'll rock 'em and sock 'em!" Another of Scrappy-Doo's catchphrases is, "Ta dadada ta daaa! Puppy power!". He is also quite strong, capable of smashing down solid rock walls and carrying both Scooby and Shaggy over his head seemingly without effort. The character was created by Joseph Barbera and developed by writer Mark Evanier, who has acknowledged that Scrappy's personality was largely based on that of the Looney Tunes character Henery Hawk.[3]

In Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers, Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School and Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf, Scrappy is more toned down, as he is less feisty and a little more cowardly, but still much braver than Scooby and Shaggy. In all three movies he sometimes serves as the brains of the trio, figuring out the clues and where to go next. Also, the idea of Scrappy actually may not have been all that new to the series, as he "...bore a resemblance to Spears’ and Ruby’s initial idea for a feisty little dog", which was one of the early ideas for the Scooby-Doo character himself, along with the "big cowardly dog" ultimately chosen.[4]

Personality and characteristics

Scrappy, from his very first appearance, has been shown to be quite courageous, charging attacking monsters with little worry to his own safety. He also did not take kindly to those insulting his Uncle Scooby or Shaggy. Later episodes showed he had an adventurous streak, and was oblivious to his two caretakers not sharing such a trait. He was almost always happy and rarely sad, fitting with the show's light-hearted tone. As time grew on, he became more reserved, and opted to help find clues instead of fighting, though he was still feisty and brave throughout his run.

Voices

Others considered for the voice

Mel Blanc was the first choice to voice Scrappy, given his connection to Henery Hawk, but wanted too much money to voice the part.[3] The second consideration was actor Frank Welker, who coined the catchphrase "Puppy Power" during his audition.[3] He would later change this to "Monkey Muscle" for the similar Donkey Kong Jr. character he would voice for TV's Saturday Supercade. The next choice was Messick, who was seen as giving the best audition, but still deemed "the wrong voice".[3] Afterwards, other well-known cartoon voice artists were considered or suggested: Daws Butler, Paul Winchell, Marilyn Schreffler, Howard Morris, Dick Beals and Marshall Efron.[3] Ultimately, Lennie Weinrib was chosen, and after the first season, Messick became the final voice for the rest of the series' run after Weinrib asked for a higher salary.[3]

History and criticism

Scrappy-Doo was added to the cast of Scooby-Doo to save the show's ratings, which by 1979 had begun to sink to the point of cancellation threats from ABC.[3][5] After his addition to the show proved to be a ratings success, Hanna-Barbera restructured the show around Scrappy in 1980. The original format of four teenagers and their dog(s) solving faux-supernatural mysteries for a half-hour was eschewed for simpler, more comedic adventures which involved real supernatural villains (the villains in previous Scooby episodes were almost always regular humans in disguise).

Scrappy remained an integral part of the Scooby-Doo franchise, on both TV and in Scooby-related licensed products and merchandising, through the end of the 1980s. He was also briefly the star of his own seven-minute shorts — the Scrappy & Yabba-Doo segments of The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour. Teamed with his uncle Yabba-Doo and Deputy Dusty, he helped maintain law and order in a small town in the American west. In later years, the presence of Scrappy-Doo has been criticized as having had a negative effect on the various Scooby-Doo series of the 1980s.

Due to the general perception of the character by audiences, Scrappy-Doo has not appeared in any Scooby-related spinoffs since the made-for-television movie Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf in 1988, with some exceptions:

  • He was the star of the 24th issue of the Cartoon Network Presents comic book series.
  • The first live-action Scooby-Doo film — Scrappy is the main antagonist and he wants revenge on Mystery Inc. for abandoning him years earlier. While in a bar reminiscing, Velma tells another patron that the gang kicked Scrappy out of their ranks because he urinated on Daphne and demanded to be the new leader. Scrappy was not a puppy, but rather had a glandular disorder. In the course of the film, it is revealed that he is seeking to summon a demon army that he can use to rule the world, with the ritual requiring him to absorb a purely good soul to unleash the full power of his army, with Scrappy selecting Scooby as the final sacrifice. However, his ego causes him to call in the rest of the Mystery Inc. crew to witness his triumph despite them having gone their separate ways two years ago, with the gang rallying to defeat Scrappy's plan and save Scooby by disrupting the ritual. At the conclusion of the film, Velma says that Scrappy's full name is Scrappy Cornelius Doo.
  • The 2008 movie Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King has a scene, clearly meant to be a reference to the eventual unpopularity of the character, where a monstrous Mystery Machine crashes through a carnival stand containing dolls of Scrappy and running over them. Like all the previous and current direct-to-video movies, Scrappy never made an appearance.
  • In An Evening with the Scooby Gang, a bonus feature on the Aloha, Scooby-Doo! DVD, Fred mentions a sixth member of the gang, to the gang's shock and dismay. Shaggy mentions they weren't supposed to talk about Scrappy. Freddy was talking about the Mystery Machine.
  • In the 2011 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode "The Siren's Song", Fred and Daphne come across a statue of Scrappy in the Crystal Cove Haunted Museum among the statues of their defeated foes. Daphne remarks she's never seen his statue before. Fred pulls her away and reminds her that they all promised never to speak of him again, once again a reference to his unpopularity, along with the fact that he hadn't appeared in any Scooby-Doo cartoons or films in the latest decades as a consequence of it. Scrappy also appeared with a statue of Flim Flam.
  • Scrappy made a quick "Easter Egg" appearance in the "Scoobynatural" episode of the TV series Supernatural.

Scooby-Doo series and films featuring Scrappy-Doo

Television series

Television films

Crossovers

Feature films

Appearances in other media

Scrappy-Doo appeared in a few Cartoon Network commercial bumpers, reflecting his fall in popularity. One such has him loitering outside Cartoon Network's main office, ranting about how the other CN cartoon characters are getting better treatment than him, despite his having been created long before them. The bumper ends with Scrappy responding to the network's tagline ("The best place for cartoons") with "Not for me! Not for me, man!" Shaggy appears in the bumper.

Another one had him and Flim Flam standing alone in the rain and getting splashed by mud by passing traffic, ending with the pair dejectedly slinking off.

In another he appears in a locker room with Astro from The Jetsons, Dino, Courage the Cowardly Dog and Droopy complaining about how his uncle gets more fame than any of them. Daphne and Scooby appear in the bumper.

During one of Cartoon Network's commercials promoting its 20th anniversary Bugs Bunny was taking a group photo of various cartoon characters, with Scrappy-Doo being among them. Before the picture was taken, Jake from Adventure Time elongated his body to push Scrappy out of the picture to which Scrappy says "Hey!!" in frustration and has the last line in the commercial. This was obviously a reference to his unpopularity and is evidence that Cartoon Network humorously continues to exploit this.

Scrappy-Doo is a recurring gag in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. He first appears at the end of "Shaggy Busted" to utter his catchphrase, only to be cut-off halfway when Avenger grabs Scrappy in his talons. From then on, Scrappy's corpse appears in various episodes, usually being carried around by Avenger. He also appears in the Drawn Together episode "Lost in Parking Space, Part Two", wherein he and several other cartoon characters are brutally tortured. He appears in the "Laff-a-Munich" skit in the Robot Chicken episode "Ban on the Fun". In the skit, Scrappy is kicked into a lake by Blue Falcon.

In October of the years 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, he was made the King of Boomerroyalty in which each weekend despite being infamous, the channel "Boomerang" showed 2-hour installments of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo and The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show all month. In the series finale of Batman: The Brave and the Bold "Mitefall!", Bat-Mite attempts to get the show cancelled and introduces a thinly-veiled analogy to Scrappy in Punchichi, the nephew of Ace the Bat-Hound. Scrappy had been added for opposite reasons.

In the Family Guy movie Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, Chris Griffin was required by his mother, Lois Griffin, to mention the fourth member of Sex and the City, he couldn't come up with the correct answer, he instead took a wild and very inaccurate guess by saying it was Scrappy-Doo. In the episode "Meg Stinks!", Brian Griffin is forced to sleep outside (due to getting sprayed by a skunk) and states his nephew Scrappy Brian didn't even make it through the night. It then cuts to a scene depicting a puppy resembling Brian, who inquires about a noise in the bushes, Brian would rather ignore it, but Scrappy Brian shouts Scrappy-Doo's catchphrase, "Let me at 'em", and charges, and is eaten by a velociraptor. Brian notes he told his sister, "This wasn't a good weekend". On the soundtrack album, Family Guy: Live in Vegas, Jason Alexander reports that Scrappy is the product of a drunken encounter between Scooby-Doo and Daphne.

Scrappy appears in A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration as a respected part of the large family of classic Hanna-Barbera characters. He's the only Scooby member besides Shaggy and Scooby but does not have any lines.

The massive changes in characterization can be traced back to James Gunn, the screenwriter for the first 2002 feature film, who has stated numerous times that he loathes the character. "There is a Scrappy, because he exists in the cartoon, so we have to acknowledge him." He said in an interview shortly prior to the release of Scooby-Doo. He also said on Scrappy, "I hate Scrappy's guts. We all hate Scrappy's guts. Our whole goal was to destroy Scrappy forever."[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Pfanner, Eric (February 19, 2006). "Underdog takes shot at giants in kids television". The New York Times. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
  2. ^ "TV Playbook: Let's Add a Kid!". IGN. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Evanier, Mark. "Scrappy Days: The Birth of Scrappy-Doo and What I Had to Do with It". Newsfromme.com. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
  4. ^ John Latchem, "Scooby-Doo Still Going Strong on DVD Archived February 1, 2008, at the Wayback Machine"; Home Media Magazine, October 20, 2007
  5. ^ "Can DC's Scooby Apocalypse Redeem Scrappy-Doo?". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
  6. ^ "Starlog Magazine 300". Archive.org. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
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