Superstar Summary
THE STAR: Scooby-Doo
YEAR OF DEBUT: 1969 (SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU?)
STUDIO OF DEBUT: Hanna-Barbera
SIGNATURE: "Rooby-roo!"

KEY CREW BEHIND THE STAR: Fred Silverman (network executive), Ken Ruby and Joe Spears (writers)

CAREER HIGH: A PUP NAMED SCOOBY-DOO (1988) demonstrates that all the formula elements of the series can be parodied and still the basic show is entertaining and Scooby is lovable.

Scooby-Doo is the first Cartoon Superstar to come from Saturday morning. He is also one of the longest running characters on Saturday Morning. Whether solving mysteries with the gang, participating in sports, locating missing ghosts, or playing detective as a puppy, Scooby's career is long and varied.

Scooby-Doo is a Great Dane with long gangly legs, a large head and whiskers that give him a scruffy look. He doesn't talk, but his barks (supplied by Don Messick) are clearly understood by almost anyone. Mostly, these barks begin with an "r" sound like "Rahhh!" (which means "yeah").

His main goal in life seems to be eating and the reward of Scooby Snacks, a type of dog biscuit tempting enough to send him into danger against his better judgment. (The Scooby Snack was another variation of a gag that probably first appeared in Quick Draw McGraw where a dog would do a job if offered a dog biscuit, which often made the dog float in the air with joy.)

Relaxing also seems to rate high in his desires. A cowardly cur, Scooby seems afraid of just about anything. However, he overcomes his fear to save his friends. Most of the time, though his help is largely unintentional. Also unintentional is his continual dealing with ghosts and mysteries. As stated, he is a coward, but his friends are mystery solvers, hence Scooby is frequently right in the middle of the ghostbusting action.

Though the title star of all his shows, Scooby is actually a team player. His major team mate is Shaggy, a beatnik or early "hippie" type of character. These two are part of another group that includes (at various times) Fred, Daphne and Velma. Together, they solve mysteries.

When Scooby and his crew burst upon the Saturday morning scene they became such tremendous hits they spawned multiple imitations and a second studio! This crazy canine and his mystery loving menagerie brought fun back to Saturday morning.

SCOOBY-DOO? WHERE ARE YOU?

Saturday morning was in trouble. For several years, the networks had done well in the ratings with such action shows as SPACE GHOST, SUPERMAN, THE HERCULOIDS and others. The trouble was parent groups were getting upset about the violence on TV. Soon the networks were switching over to softer shows that toned down all violence, even slapstick. Cartoons now had to be safe. Unfortunately, safe cartoons are seldom very entertaining.

Hanna-Barbera had begun to move away from their hero shows. In their place were attempts at more literary shows like THE ADVENTURES OF GULLIVER and zany humor entries such as THE WACKY RACERS. None seemed to catch on, though. CBS's head of children's programming, Fred Silverman (who had created the super hero sensation a few years earlier) wanted to bring a new look to Saturday morning. He suggested Hanna-Barbera develop a mystery show featuring screwy teenagers. Allegedly he envisioned it as a mix between I LOVE A MYSTERY (a popular radio show in the Forties and Fifties) and THE MANY LOVES OF DOBIE GILLIS (a sitcom from the Fifties and Sixties). Many of these elements survived into the final product. Most prominently was the character of Shaggy with a goatee being a variation of beatnik Maynard G. Krebs from DOBIE GILLIS.

Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears were asked to come up with something. They developed an idea of four teenagers and a dog traveling the country solving mysteries that featured monsters. (It was their success on this series that eventually led Ruby and Spears to start their own studio.) The presentation was full of haunted houses, monsters, and eerie locales. Silverman planned to use the show as the centerpiece for the new Fall schedule. When it was presented to the network brass, they gave it a thumbs down. The show was considered too scary!

Silverman was now stuck with a schedule with no centerpiece. He desperately tried to think of what to do. According to him, he was inspired by the Frank Sinatra song "Strangers in the Night" where Sinatra improvised the refrain, "Scooby-dooby-doo." That was Silverman's answer. Call the dog "Scooby-Doo." Make the dog funny. Make the dog the star. Suddenly the series became more comedy than mystery and the network bought it.

SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? debuted in the Fall of 1969 and became an almost instant hit. The combination of humor and mystery (long a staple in films and TV) proved equally enjoyable to the young audience. In fact, it seemed the perfect combination. There were "neat," scary monsters, funny characters, silly gags and real clues to solve the mystery. The series also seemed to have started the concept of massive repetition which children love. The format was so popular that studios, including Hanna-Barbera, tried to recycle it many times over the years in other series like GOOBER AND THE GHOST CHASERS, CLUE CLUB, BUTCH CASSIDY and THE BUFORD FILES.

Every episode of SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? is basically the same. The team in their van (the Mystery Machine) arrive at a location. There is a ghost or monster (sometimes the result of a curse) ruining the local trade and atmosphere. The team splits up with Fred and Velma finding clues, Daphne finding trouble, and Shaggy and Scooby finding food and the monster. There is a lot of chasing through doors, hallways, stairways, alleys, etc. Never is there any hitting, or hurting. By the end, Fred and Velma have uncovered that the ghost/monster/curse is actually a real person creating the problem. Almost inevitably, the villain states he would have succeeded "if it weren't for those kids and that dog."

However, many mystery series ranging from Charlie Chan to the current MURDER SHE WROTE feature repetitious plots. This allows them to spend more time playing with characters and action. SCOOBY DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? was no different. Since viewers didn't need to follow the plot carefully, they could try to catch the one or two clues. They could squeal at the "scary" monster. They could laugh as Scooby and Shaggy try to get a decent meal without having the monster bother them.

The first episode, WHAT A NIGHT FOR A KNIGHT, opens with a pick-up truck driving down a dark road. In the back is a crate. Unbeknownst to the driver, the crate opens and a medieval knight in armor appears. The knight reaches for the driver as the scene ends. Shaggy and Scooby, while returning from a late night movie, come across the truck. The only occupant is the suit of armor in the drivers seat. The pair get spooked and head back for the rest of the gang.

They find that the suit was being delivered to the local museum so they notify authorities. At the museum, the curator tells them that the armor has a curse on it and the missing driver was a British archaelogist. As the crew exit, Scooby picks up a pair of glasses. In the van, they discover Scooby's glasses and visit a library to identify them. The glasses are used by British archaelogists and jewelers. They decide to return to the museum.

Back inside, they begin looking for clues. Shaggy notices a missing painting that reappears later. The rest of the gang discovers wet paint and a secret room. Meanwhile, the knight is on a rampage. There is much chasing and hiding until Shaggy and Scooby hide in a plane. Scooby accidentally starts the craft and begins chasing the knight. After destroying much of the museum they capture the menace.

Upon pulling off the armor it is revealed to be the curator. Fred, Daphne and Velma then explain that all the clues pointed to the curator who was forging paintings. The only one who could spot the forgeries was the new British archaelogist. The police thank the kids and the criminal is taken away. However, there is still time for Scooby to scare everyone by dressing up in the armor again.

This first episode features all of the key elements that would become standards in the series. First is the stumbling on a mystery. Second is Shaggy's continual attempts at humor. As the gang tries to figure out why only the armor is in the truck, Shag offers, "Maybe he went out for the (k)night." Next, in the middle of the chase Velma loses her glasses. Without them she is practically blind. Hearing the Knight struggling, she thinks it is Shaggy with a cold. When they want something done, all they need do is offer Scooby a "Scooby Snack" and he'll volunteer.

Finally, when apparently trapped by the menace, Scooby resorts to costume play. As the Knight nears the pair, Shaggy yells for the Scooby to "do something!" Scooby zips off screen then back onscreen in a painter's smock with an easel. He begins painting the Knight and treating the menace like a model. In the plane, when the motor suddenly starts, Scooby reaches down and pulls out aviator goggles.

Some things not followed through in later episodes are some of the throw away lines. Shag is mentioned as being the school's best gymnast. He also claims to be a talented ventriliquist. Both talents are demonstrated within the show. The first episode also featured an intrusive laugh track. It even laughs at things that aren't jokes. When Freddy looks at the truck and armor, he states it looks like "another mystery." This piece of dialogue features a mysterious musical sting, and a huge laugh! (The laugh track would come and go through the years and different series.)

Unlike most of the other cartoon superstars, Scooby was able to arrive fully created because of the logistics of Saturday morning TV. Whereas the older stars had time to evolve into the personalities they have today through years of shorts. Scooby had to be created, written and produced into 26 episodes immediately for TV. For this process, most studios create a "Bible" of the show which gives character descriptions of all the characters and even sample storylines.

Scooby's first season kept true to the rules used in the debut episode with punnish, sing-song titles that gave large hints to the "mystery menace." SCOOBY-DOO AND A MUMMY TOO, THAT'S SNOW GHOST, NEVER APE AN APE MAN, MINE YOUR OWN BUSINESS, and SPOOKY SPACE KOOK all indicated either the menace or location of the problem. These variations kept the show at the top of the ratings for three years.

CARTOON SHOW OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS

In 1972, it was decided to expand the premise and add some spice. THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO COMEDY MOVIES was an hour-long series. The storylines were similar, but to help fill out the newer length, guest stars were brought in. These guests could be in the form of cartoon versions of live people such as Davy Jones (of the Monkees), Don Knotts or Sonny and Cher. These stars provided their own voices. Also used were "classic" stars such as Laurel and Hardy and the Three Stooges (without the real voices). Even fictional guests were used like Batman and Jeannie, from the I DREAM OF JEANNIE series. (It was in the Jeannie episode that the first actual supernatural villain, who wasn't a real person in disguise, appeared.) The series even had guests from other Saturday morning series like JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS and SPEED BUGGY. The series began to become broader and broader. Scooby could easily walk around on two legs when the story needed him to do so, and his face become more elastic.

The COMEDY MOVIES ran only two years. (They were later cut into half hour two-parters for the syndicated series.) Meanwhile, the original SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU continued running in repeats on the network.

1976 saw Scooby move over to ABC in a new show, THE SCOOBY- DOO/DYNOMUTT HOUR. This series began to introduce new members to the Scooby family. Scooby-Dum was a less intelligent, country cousin, type relation to Scooby-Doo. He spoke in a Mortimer Snerd-type voice. More sophisticated was Scooby-Dee, a pretty, white female who stole Scooby's heart. The new stories remained the same, though. Titles like NO FACE ZOMBIE CHASE CASE, WHATTA SHOCKING GHOST, SCARED A LOT IN CAMELOT and THE HARUM SCARUM SANITARIUM show the same humor and monsters at work. By this time the catch phrase about getting away "if it weren't for these meddling kids" had seemingly become encased in stone.

The other element of this series were stories starring DYNOMUTT, a robotic dog. He was the clutzy sidekick of The Blue Falcon in this satire of super hero cliches. (Dynomutt and the Blue Falcon would be repeated in their own series later.) The series was expanded the next year to 90 minutes and thus re- titled THE SCOOBY-DOO/DYNOMUTT SHOW.

Scooby continued his popular run, so he was given more time, two-hours to be exact. In 1977 he premiered his SCOOBY'S ALL- STAR LAFF-A-LYMPICS. This mega show was actually a number of smaller series under one umbrella title. Scooby appeared in repeats from the SCOOBY/DYNOMUTT show and in new segments called LAFF-A-LYMPICS. This series set several teams against each other in a satire of the Olympics and BATTLE OF THE NETWORK STARS.

Over 45 Hanna-Barbera cartoon celebrities competed for the Laff-a-Lympics Gold Medallion. The competition took place all over the world. Scooby's "The Scooby Doobys" where in competition with "The Yogi Yahooeys" (headed by Yogi Bear) and "The Really Rottens" (headed by Dread Baron). Surprisingly, despite their cheating, the Really Rottens actually won the competition occasionally. Mildew Wolf and Snagglepuss were play by play announcers for this jam packed half hour.

The Scooby-Doo team included Scooby, Shaggy, Scooby-Dum, Dynomutt, Blue Falcon, Speed Buggy and Tinker, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, Hong Kong Phooey and Babu the genie. (Ads for the LAFF-A-LYMPICS also showed Josie and the Pussycats and Babu's companion, Jeannie, but last minute legal problems kept them off the air.) The incredibly large number of cast members in this segment didn't give any character much of a chance to do anything.

Next came SCOOBY AND SCRAPPY-DOO (1979) with the introduction of a new character, Scrappy-Doo. Scrappy was a pint sized edition of Scooby who could talk clearly and was fearless. (He was originally voiced by Lennie Weinrib. In recent years Don Messick has taken over the task.) However the addition of Scrappy eliminated the majority of the regular cast. It was now mostly Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy in the adventures, though the others showed up from time to time.

For example in WIZARDS AND WARLOCKS, Daphne joins the trio as they go to a gaming convention where the wizards really are magical. The stories weren't all mysteries either. Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy just cause trouble for a tempermental chef in SCOOBY GUMBO.

This same year, Scooby appeared in his first prime time venture, SCOOBY-DOO IN HOLLYWOOD. This musical satire of TV told the tale of Scooby's desire to get away from his Saturday morning series. Shaggy and Scooby produced a number of pilots including SCOOBY DAYS (parodying HAPPY DAYS, with Scooby as the "Fonz"), SUPER SCOOBY and SCOOBY'S ANGELS. However, when he fails to sell any prime time shows, and hears the kids calling for him, Scooby decides to return to his Saturday morning series, "ror the rids."

However on Saturday morning, it seemed as if the magic was beginning to wear out. The 1980 season saw him star in THE RICHIE RICH/SCOOBY-DOO SHOW. He was now given second billing! This series only lasted one season and only featured repeats of the SCOOBY AND SCRAPPY-DOO show.

SCOOBY, SCRAPPY AND YABBA-DOO debuted in 1982 and brought a new member to the Scooby clan, Yabba-Doo. Yabba was Scooby's country-western cousin. His cry was "Yippidy Yabbadie Doooo!" This series featured two Scooby stories. Each featured Scooby, Scrappy and Shaggy travelling the world in search of fun and food. The Yabba-Doo segments featured Scrappy and Yabba helping Deputy Dusty out West.

1983 saw a new SCOOBY AND SCRAPPY-DOO series. These stories featured Scooby, Scrappy and Shaggy assisting Daphne. She was now an investigative reporter for a teen magazine. Almost false advertising, THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES debuted in 1984. The series was actually repeats of earlier series' segments.

SCOOBY CHANGES HIS IMAGE

THE THIRTEEN GHOSTS OF SCOOBY-DOO (1985-86) attempted to take the series in a new, more serious direction. A permanent guest star was added in the guise of Vincent Price. It seems that Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy had somehow opened a box releasing the 13 most evil spirits. Price, the guardian of the box, assisted them week after week as they continued to capture the ghosts. Though it was a clever concept, the new direction didn't work. The Fall of 1986 was the first season since his debut in 1969 that Scooby wasn't featured on a network's Saturday morning schedule.

In 1987, Hanna-Barbera began a series of ten made-for-TV features. Three of them featured the popular Scooby. SCOOBY AND THE BOO BROTHERS had Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy working with three goofy ghosts to find a hidden treasure. SCOOBY-DOO AND THE GHOUL SCHOOL found the trio discovering their students are young monsters. SCOOBY AND THE RELUCTANT WEREWOLF had Dracula turn Shaggy into a werewolf causing Scooby, Scrappy, Shaggy and Googie (Scooby's girl friend) to go to Transylvania for a cure.

Scooby was re-born, so to speak in 1988 when Hanna-Barbera and ABC offered A PUP NAMED SCOOBY-DOO. This new series took the characters back to 1963, when they were kids and Scooby was a pup. The storylines were still pretty much similar to the original series, with the group always solving a mystery, but this was a hipper Scooby. Producer Tom Ruegger strove to bring new life into the concept.

Placing it in the Sixties was one way, allowing the artists and writers to jab a bit of fun at the time period. They also parodied some of the familiar icons of the original series such as the mindless chases, Velma's brilliance and final discussion of suspects.

Also the art style was changed allowing the characters to do extreme takes when seeing ghosts. For example, its not unusual to see the young Scooby's nose and legs fly off when confronted with a spooky object.

This new version of Scooby seems to have hit a nerve with modern audiences. In its first two seasons, the series has proven to be a popular show in the ratings. It was also nominated both years for an Emmy as best animated program. However, it was not renewed for a third season in 1990 by ABC.

SCOOBY'S CO-STARS

Scooby's key co-stars were his fellow sleuths. Of course his closest friend was Shaggy, who looked a little like Scooby. They were both unkempt, hedonistic and passive rebels. He communicated easily with Scooby and sometimes seemed less intelligent. He also shared Scooby's love of food, rest and safety. The two obviously loved each other, and it could be presumed that Scooby was Shaggy's dog. Shaggy's source of income was never revealed. It has been suggested that he was a college drop-out during the hippie era of the Sixties.

The other sleuths were Fred, a clean cut, blond youth. He was the force behind the group, generally giving out the orders and finally revealing the criminal. Velma was probably second in command. This heavy set brunette female with glasses was the stereotypical "bookworm." However her pleasant personality probably made her the most friendly, and normal, of the group. Daphne was saddled with the "dumb blonde" persona, even though she was red-headed. She was pretty and showed intelligence, but she seemed more like Fred's date than part of the group.

Next in line for co-star status would be Scooby-Dum and Scrappy-Doo. Dum was a country bumpkin version of Scooby-Doo. Dimwitted, slow and generally a loose end in stories, he seemed only along for the ride. Scrappy, on the other hand was a key force. He seemed to be a replacement for Fred, Velma and Daphne. It was Scrappy who generally gave the orders to Shaggy and Scooby and always showed curiosity at the slightest unusual event. Seemingly enamored by his Uncle, Scooby, he would cheer him on. However when things looked bad, he would jump up and shout, "Puppy Power" and head into the fray.

SCOOBY-DOO OFF THE TUBE

Scooby has been as popular out of the box as in. He has appeared in a number of comic book titles (beginning in 1970), toys, children's books and records. A costume version of Scooby resides at Great America in Northern California and appears at Universal Studios, Florida. Like many H-B characters, he was employed to do educational work such as the film strip THE SCOOBY-DOO GANG IN SKIN DEEP which dealt with acne problems.

SUPERSTAR QUALITY

Scooby-Doo, became the favorite cartoon star of a generation of children. Since his debut over two decades ago, dozens of mystery solving kids have worked with an equal number of dogs and other critters. However, only the original, Scooby-Doo is still fondly remembered by those who grew up with him. When it comes to solving mysteries, Scooby-Doo is top dog!

CREATOR QUOTES

"... It's been my experience that it's almost always the original characters (like Yogi, Huck, Top Cat and Scooby-Doo) who rise to the level of perennial superstar." - Joe Barbera

"I've loved Scooby from the inception, and so has everyone else." - Don Messick, voice of Scooby

"You know, people are always ripping things off, but they've never been able to touch Scooby. He's there and he's riding." - Joe Barbera

"I started with them 17 years ago as Shaggy. That was the same year we started 'America's Top 40' ... Shaggy has been the longest acting job I've ever had." - Casey Kasem, voice of Shaggy

"Along came Scooby-Doo. That was something I couldn't predict... the dog became the star... we worked so hard on his personality." - Joe Barbera