Daphne Blake

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Daphne Anne Blake
Scooby-Doo character
First appearance

"What a Night for a Knight" (Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!)
Portrayed by

Sarah Michelle Gellar (2002 & 2004)
Kate Melton (2009–2010)
Voiced by

Stefanianna Christopherson (1969–1970)
Heather North (1970–1986, 1997 & 2002-2003)
Kellie Martin (1988–1991)
Mary Kay Bergman (1998–2000)
Grey DeLisle (2001–present)
Information
Species Human
Gender Female

Daphne Blake is a fictional character in the long-running American animated series Scooby-Doo. Daphne, depicted as coming from a wealthy family, is noted for her red hair, her fashion sense, and her knack for getting into danger. Daphne has appeared in more adaptations than the other characters, aside from Shaggy Rogers and Scooby-Doo.

Overview

Daphne, as portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.
Daphne, as portrayed by Kate Melton in Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins.

Performers

Character description

The Daphne character was inspired by the sophisticated and money-hungry teen character Thalia Menninger, as played by Tuesday Weld, from the late 1950s/early 1960s American sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. [1]

Together with her other teenage companions, Fred Jones, Shaggy Rogers, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy's Great Dane, Scooby Doo, Daphne would engage in solving various mysteries. In the first series Daphne was portrayed as the enthusiastic but clumsy and danger-prone member of the gang (hence her nickname, "Danger-prone Daphne") who always follows her intuition. She serves as the damsel in distress and would occasionally get kidnapped, tied up, gagged, and left imprisoned. But as the franchise went on, she became a stronger, more independent character, who can take care of herself.

During the series' fourth incarnation, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, some of the episodes focused on Daphne. In the episode, "Shiver and Shake, That Demon's A Snake", Daphne buys an idol which is cursed by the snake demon. On the sail boat, the snake demon attacks Daphne and demands an idol to return. Daphne throws it to Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy. In the episode, "The Scary Sky Skeleton", Daphne is reunited with her old friend, Wendy. In the episode, "I Left My Neck in San Francisco", Daphne becomes ill and she's unable to help the gang to solve the mystery about The Lady Vampire of the Bay. Due to the vampire's look, Daphne's unseen reflection in the mirror, the bat flying around Daphne's bed and herself returning to bed a little later, Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy are convinced that Daphne is a vampire. When the vampiress is revealed to be Lefty Callahan, Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy realize they made a mistake with suspecting Daphne and she's feeling well again.

When the original Mystery Inc group took a hiatus from the franchise in the 80s, Daphne was initially absent too, with the show focusing on the comedy antics of Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy. However, when the "Whodunnit?" aspect returned to the show with The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries, Daphne returned, now an accomplished investigator assisted by Shaggy and the two dogs, investigating supernatural occurrences. She continued to help Scooby battle evil forces of the supernatural in the 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo series.

The youthful Daphne portrayed in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo would commonly call upon her butler, Jenkins, to do various tasks, such as ridding her of people, beating up a monster, freaking out, etc. The younger Daphne is shown (along with her parents) to not believe in ghost/monsters/supernatual (one of her catchphases in that series was "There is no such thing as ghosts (monsters)!), a trait she lacks outside the A Pup Named Scooby-Doo series.

In the movie Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, Daphne as a young adult, had a very successful investigative TV series called Coast to Coast with Daphne Blake on a fictional channel called "Americana", which the show had aired on for two seasons. The producer of the show was Fred Jones.

Throughout the various incarnations of the character, there has been speculation that Daphne and Fred had an attraction toward each other. This is emphasized in many of the direct-to-video movies and the TV series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. By the time of the second season, they are shown to be actively dating, showing more of his feelings toward Daphne.

Appearance

Her usual appearance consists of a purple dress, pink pantyhose, purple shoes, and a green scarf. In Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, and Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost she wore a purple and green three-piece suit with matching shoes. In Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders, she wore a purple sleeveless shirt with pink shorts and purple sneakers. As a child, she wore a pink sweater, red skirt, and pink pantyhose with white go-go boots. In the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo she wore other purple clothes and pink. Some included a purple jumpsuit and a purple dress with a white belt. In Scooby Doo The Movie she wears various outfits but mostly a purple/pink dress with knee high pink PVC boots.

Relatives

Relatives of Daphne, including her four identical sisters, shown during the series' run include:

  • George Robert Nedley Blake and Elizabeth Blake: Daphne's parents. In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, however, the two are named Barty Blake and Nan Blake. Voiced by Frank Welker and Kath Soucie.
  • Daisy: Daphne's sister, a doctor. Voiced by Jennifer Hale.
  • Dawn: Daphne's sister, a model.
  • Dorothy: Daphne's sister, a race car driver.
  • Delilah: Daphne's sister, in the Marine Corps. Voiced by Jennifer Hale.
  • Uncle Matt Blake: Daphne's uncle, a cattle rancher.
  • John "J.J." Maxwell: Daphne's uncle, a movie director.
  • Olivia Dervy: Daphne's aunt.

Note: Frank Welker, Kath Soucie and Jennifer Hale voice the Blakes in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (currently running) series, Vanessa Marshall voiced Danica in the What's New Scooby-Doo series and Grey DeLisle voiced Shannon in the Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster (direct-to-DVD) film. Welker also voiced George on A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. The late voice actor Don Messick voiced two of Daphine's uncles: Matthew "Matt" Blake on The Scooby Doo Show and John Maxwell on Scooby-Doo, Where are You!.

In other media

Daphne was portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar in the film Scooby Doo and its sequel, Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. Her husband Freddie Prinze, Jr. played Fred in these same Scooby-Doo movies also. In the movies, Daphne and Fred began a relationship in the first that followed on through the second. Unlike the previous incarnation of the character, Gellar's version of Daphne is trained in martial arts during Mystery Inc.'s 2 year-long departure in the first film, as she is tired of being a damsel in distress on every case that she is involved in with the gang. Though in the first movie she is captured by the masked wrestler Zarkos, she beats him in a fight at the end.

Daphne is portrayed by Kate Melton in the third film Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (released as a TV movie in 2009) and its sequel Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster (which premiered on October 16, 2010).

Reception

Members of the fanbase of the original Scooby Doo speculated that Daphne and Fred Jones had a romantic attraction to one another. They love each other, usually Fred shows interest in Daphne.[2][3] 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.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Evanier, Mark. (July 10, 2002).Post on "News from Me" blog for Povonline.com. Retrieved on March 27, 2006. Excerpt: "Fred was based on Dobie, Velma on Zelda, Daphne on Thalia and Shaggy on Maynard."
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Breznican, Anthony. "Are hidden meanings present in the 'Scooby-Doo' movie?, Filmmakers and cast members say some hints are there, but won't be understood by children." Philadelphia Inquirer. June 20, 2002. D10 Features Magazine. Retrieved on December 12, 2010.
  3. ↑ Sigesmund, B.J. "The Inside Dope." Newsweek. June 14, 2002. Available at Lexis-Nexis.
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