Scooby-Doo (character)
Scoobert "Scooby" Doo is the eponymous character and the protagonist in the Scooby-Doo animated television series created by the popular American animation company Hanna-Barbera. Scooby-Doo is the male dog and lifelong companion of Shaggy Rogers and in many iterations, including the original series, is regarded as a unique Great Dane dog who is able to speak in broken English, unlike most other dogs in his reality, and usually puts the letter R in front of words spoken. Other incarnations, such as A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, present talking dogs like Scooby as quite common.
The head of children's programming at CBS, Fred Silverman came up with the character's name from the syllables "doo-be-doo-be-doo" in Frank Sinatra's hit song "Strangers in the Night".[1]
Personality
Different iterations of the character have been developed and expanded in the various series featuring the characters, many of them contradicting, such as the original series and recent live-action movies where Shaggy and Scooby-Doo first meet as older teenagers for the first time, contradicting the "Pup Named Scooby-Doo" animated series where they know each other from almost infancy.
In all versions of the character, Scooby-Doo and Shaggy share several personality traits, mostly being cowardly and perpetually hungry. But their friends (Velma, Daphne and Fred) encourage them to go after the costumed villains, usually with "Scooby Snacks", a biscuit-like dog treat or cookie snack (usually shaped like a bone or, in later versions of the cartoons, Scooby's dog tag), though Scooby's inherent loyalty and courage does often force him to take a more heroic stance.
Scooby has a speech impediment and tends to pronounce most words as if they begin with an "R", though most characters are able to understand him perfectly. In most iterations, he keeps his sentences relatively short, usually using charades for anything longer than three or four words. His catchphrase, usually howled at the end of every episode, is "Scooby-Dooby-Doo!" or "Rooby-Rooby-Roo".
Scooby was voiced by Don Messick until the voice actor's death in 1997. Messick is also known for providing the voice of the dogs Astro on The Jetsons and Muttley (who snickered).[2] The characteristic voices of Scooby and Astro are so similar that Astro's signature phrase, "Ruh-roh!" ("Uh-oh!") is popularly and improperly attributed to Scooby (as in "Ruh-roh, Raggy!").
Appearance and anatomy
Scooby is brown from head to toe with several distinctive black spots on his upper body and doesn't seem to have a melanistic mask. He is generally a quadruped, but displays bipedal 'human' characteristics occasionally. Scooby also has opposible thumbs and can use his front paws like hands. He has a black nose and wears an off-yellow, diamond shaped-tagged blue collar with an "SD" (his initials) and has four toes on each foot and unlike other dogs, Scooby only has one pad on the sole of each of his feet (so that it was easier to draw in the Scooby-Doo Annuals).
Scooby has a fully prehensile tail he can use to swing from or press buttons. Both his head and tail are malleable and useful as a communication aid or creating a distraction.
Creator Iwao Takamoto later explained that before he designed the character, he first spoke to a Great Dane breeder, who described to him the desirable characteristics of a pedigree dog. Takamoto then drew Scooby as the opposite of this. He said "I decided to go the opposite [way] and gave him a hump back, bowed legs, small chin and such. Even his colour is wrong."[3]
According to the official magazine that accompanied the 2002 movie, Scooby is seven years old (forty-nine in stereotypical dog years).
Shaggy and Scooby Doo as heroes to the Gang
In the following films listed below, it showed that Shaggy and Scooby both had the ability to come to the rescue and act as "superheroes" when the rest of the gang are in trouble (Such as being captured) or needed some help:
Voice cast
Don Messick originated the character's voice patterns, and provided Scooby-Doo's voice in every Scooby-Doo production from 1969 until 1996, when Messick retired. Scott Innes (also the then-voice of Shaggy) voiced Scooby-Doo in four late 1990s/early 2000s direct-to-video films, and Frank Welker (also the voice of Fred) took over beginning with What's New, Scooby-Doo? in 2002 and other spin-offs including the live-action prequels Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins and Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster. Neil Fanning provided the voice of the computer-generated Scooby-Doo in the first two Warner Bros. live-action feature films. Luke Youngblood is the stand in for the computer-generated Scooby-Doo in the live-action Scooby-Doo! Curse Of The Lake Monster while Frank Welker voices him.
- In Brazil, the actor Orlando Drummond has been the voice of Scooby Doo for 30 years, getting into Guinness World Records as the long serving voice actor for one character.
- In Denmark, Scooby-Doo is voiced by Lars Thiesgaard.
- In Japan, Scooby-Doo has been voiced by Kazuo Kumakura and Naomi Kusumi.
- In Hungary, Scooby-Doo was voiced by Gabor Vass and Attila Hanko, in the first two seasons of Scooby-Doo Show, and is now voiced by Gabor Melis.
- In Sri Lanka, Scooby-Doo is voiced by Gaminda Priyaviraj.
Relatives
Over the course of Scooby-Doo's various spin-offs, various relatives of Scooby were introduced:
- Scrappy-Doo: Scooby's young nephew (and son of Scooby's sister Ruby-Doo), Scrappy is the bravest of Scooby's relatives. Scrappy became a recurring character in the Scooby-Doo series beginning in 1979, and was noted for being quite headstrong and always wanting to face off in a fight the various villains (unlike his uncle). Scooby and Shaggy were present at Scrappy's birth.
- Yabba-Doo: According to Scrappy and Yabba-Doo Yabba is Scooby's brother, a white dog owned by Deputy Dusty in the American southwest. Unlike Scooby, Yabba is brave. Unlike Scooby's and Scrappy's, his typical custom catchphrase at the end is "Yippity-Yabbity-Doooo!!!" (and not "Yabba-Dabba-Doo!", presumably due to another Hanna-Barbera character's usage of that phrase).
- Scooby-Dum: Scooby's cousin (according to Shaggy in "Headless Horeseman of Halloween), a blue-grey dog. A Mortimer Snerd-esque dog who longed to be a detective. Was rather dimwitted (he'd keep looking for clues even after the mystery was solved). His catch-phrase was also different then Scooby's and Scrappy's. Instead of "Scooby-Dooby-Dum" his typical custom catch-phrase is "Dum dum Dum DUM!", an intoning the opening four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which he would do after someone said the word "Clue."
- Scooby-Dee: Scooby's distant cousin, a white dog. Spoke with a Southern accent, and was an actress.
- Dooby-Doo: Scooby's cousin, a singer. He is one of Scooby's few relatives to have hair on his head. Only appeared in "The 'Dooby Dooby Doo' Ado".
- Momsy and Dada Doo: Scooby's parents.
- Whoopsy-Doo: Scooby's cousin, a clown. Owned by Shaggy (Norville)'s uncle, Gaggy Rogers.
- Ruby-Doo: Scooby's sister, and mother of Scrappy-Doo.
- Skippy-Doo: Scooby's brother. Highly intelligent; he wears glasses.
- Howdy-Doo: Scooby's brother. Enjoyed reading Supermarket tabloid newspapers. He appears to become a redhead.
- Horton-Doo: Scooby's uncle. Was interested in monsters and science.
- Dixie-Doo: Scooby's cousin and the pet of Betty Lou, Shaggy's Southern cousin.
- Grandpa Scooby: Scooby's grandfather.
- Great-Grandpa Scooby: Scooby's great-grandfather.
- Yankee-Doodle-Doo: Scooby's ancestor. Not much is known about him. He appears to be a pilgrim.
- David-Doo: Scooby's shenannigan laiden IT cousin.
Love Interests
- Amber: In Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders, Shaggy and Scooby are abducted by the "aliens" and abandoned in the desert. There they meet a wild life photographer, Crystal and her dog Amber. Scooby was heart broken when it is revealed that Amber and Crystal are actually aliens from another planet and must go home, though he and Shaggy quickly forget about them when they found out there was one more Scooby Snack box left. Amber and Crystal did seem to have actual feelings for Shaggy and Scooby but don't pursue them due to 'long distance relationships never working out'. Amber's disguised form is that of a Golden Retriever wearing a red bandana while her true form is a large, blue reptilian creature with a beak-like mouth. Like Scooby, she is capable of speech but only shows so at the end of the movie and unlike Scooby, she speaks like a normal human.
- Dusk: In the episode "The Vampire Strikes Back", Scooby was caught in a costume and Dusk kisses him. Scooby then giggles and then licks her.
- Chiquita: In Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico, Scooby meets up with Chiquita, Alejo's son's pet Chihuahua, when the gang arrives at Alejo's family hotel.
- Googy: In Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf, he received a kiss from her, then later at the monster race, he tried to get another kiss, but was pulled off by Shaggy.
- Sandy Duncan: In The New Scooby-Doo Movies episode: Sandy Duncan's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Scooby fell for Sandy Duncan at a studio.
- Sled dog: In The Scooby Doo Show episode, A Scary Night With a Snow Beast Fright, Scooby falls in love with a sled dog. At the end, she kisses him.
- Miyumi: In Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword, the gang meets up with Daphne's foreign friend, Miyumi, in Japan. Miyumi's affection for Scooby was evident in a few scenes in the movie, such as petting him at the beginning, offering him ten Scooby Snacks inside of a cave while trying to lure him out of a jet, and even kissing him on the nose at the end of the movie. On another side note, Scooby enjoyed watching a battle between Daphne and Miyumi, which Shaggy referred to as a "kung-fu catfight" and Scooby agreeing. Also, Scooby hinted an interest for Miyumi at the end of the movie by asking her to sit next to him in the Mystery Machine during the gang's future mysteries before she declined.
- Chrissie: Mr. B's prize dog, and mother of the Secret Six (Maize, Flax, Jingle, Knox, 14-Carat, and Bling-Bling) appeared in the What's New series, where Scooby said he'll find the Six that were dog-napped. In episodes where she appears, Chrissie and Scooby might adventure with Shaggy.
- Roxanne: An old girlfriend that Scooby meets again in What's New episode, A Scooby-Doo Valentine. In the end, she leaves Scooby for singer J.C. Chasez's pet bulldog.
- Scooby Dee: A cousin of Scooby Doo. She was originally intended to be Scooby's love interest (and Scooby Dum's), but the series ended before this could eventuate. She only appeared in one episode (The Chiller Diller Movie Thriller).
- "Fred's Mom": In the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode "A Haunting in Crystal Cove", Shaggy and Scooby spend the night at Fred's house to protect Mayor Jones from a phantom. As Shaggy sets the sheets on a couch, it causes some pictures to fall off the fireplace, one of them including a picture of Fred's supposedly missing "mother". Scooby catches it and says (thinking it's someone else), "Whoa-ho-ho! She's hot!" after looking at it. Scooby then feels bad for saying it after Shaggy tells him it's Fred's mom who went missing when he was a baby. In the season finale "All Fear the Freak", it is revealed that the picture is actually some random model for a magazine advertisement.
Weakness
Scooby is seen many times being tickled in both movies and series. 1) In What's New Scooby Doo there is 2 scenes where Scooby is tickled. 1 is where they are visiting a friend in San Francisco at a skating park and a security guard tickles Scooby. 2 is where they visit Fort Knox and some Mp's tickle Scooby. In both cases Scooby is tickled when a guard does a pat down to check him in case he's carrying anything. 2) In Scooby Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf Scooby's tummy is tickled by King Kong during a monster race. 3) In the Premiere episode of Shaggy and Scooby Doo! Get a clue Shaggy tickles Scooby's tummy when he hears it growling. 4) In Scooby Doo and the Alien Invaders Scooby is tickled when one of the aliens attaches a wire to Scooby's tummy. 5) In Scooby Doo the Mystery Begins Shaggy is seen tickling Scooby's tummy after they first meet. 6) In Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School Scooby is tickled from behind by a monster impersonator of Shaggy.
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_scooby_doo_ticklish#ixzz1VsKHi000
Reception
Casey Kasem, the previous voice actor for Shaggy Rogers, said that Scooby is "the star of the show--the Shaquille O'Neal of the show." Kasem explained "People love animals more than they love people. Am I right or wrong? They give more love to their pets than they give to people. Scooby is vulnerable and lovable and not brave, and very much like the kids who watch. But like kids, he likes to think that he's brave."[4]
Imitations and cameos
- Scooby-Doo was once impersonated by former N'Sync star J. C. Chasez in A Scooby-Doo Valentine and by David Beckham in an animated Scooby-Doo promo from the United Kingdom. Scooby was also imitated by a few other people as well (most notably the Ape Man).
- In an episode of Yin Yang Yo! called Slumber Party of Doom Scooby and Shaggy make two cameos
- Scooby-Doo and Shaggy made a cameo appearance in Looney Tunes: Back in Action
- Scooby-Doo appears as a guest in a 1996 video called Kids for Character.
- Scooby-Doo is referenced in a dream sequence in the 2010 feature film 127 Hours.
References
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