Scooby-Doo is an American animated media franchise comprising many animated television series produced from 1969 to the present, as well as their derivative media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, for Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1969.
This Saturday-morning cartoon series featured teenagers Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and their talking Great Dane named Scooby-Doo, who solve mysteries involving supposedly supernatural creatures through a series of antics and missteps.
Scooby Doo Cast – Here’s To Know Behind The Voice Actors
Don Messick played Scooby-original Doo’s voice from 1969 to 1996. In 1997, ads and the Johnny Bravo episodes “Bravo Dooby-Doo” and “‘Twas the Night” had Hadley Kay as the voice actor. From 1998 through 2002, Scott Innes acted as Scooby-voice Doo’s actor. In the live-action Warner Bros.
theatrical movies released in 2002 and 2004, Neil Fanning provided Scooby-voice. Doo’s While Innes had performed the part in video game projects (including PC, DVD, and board games), commercials, and various toys until 2008, Frank Welker assumed the role of Scooby-Doo in 2002. In the Robot Chicken parodies, Scooby was voiced by Seth Green (2007, 2012, 2018) and Dave Coulier (2005).
Norville “Shaggy” Rogers: From 1969 to 1997, Casey Kasem provided Shaggy’s original voice. In the 1998 films Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island and Scooby-Doo: Behind the Scenes, Billy West provided Shaggy’s voice. From 1999 to 2002, Scott Innes provided the character’s voice, and up until 2009, he continued to do so for Shaggy video game projects (including PC, DVD, and board games), commercials, and a few toys. In 2002, Casey Kasem returned to the voice role of Shaggy, which he performed until 2009.
Scott Menville voiced Shaggy in the CW series Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! from 2006 to 2008, while Kasem voiced Shaggy exclusively in the direct-to-video film series from 2006 to 2009. In the live-action movies released in 2002 and 2004, Matthew Lillard played the role of Shaggy. In 2010, he began voicing the animated character. In four stop-motion parody sketches for the Adult Swim programme Robot Chicken, he also provided the voice of Shaggy. In the live-action TV movies from 2009 and 2010, Nick Palatas played Shaggy.
With the exception of the ABC television series A Pup Named Scooby-Doo from 1988 to 1991, which featured Carl Steven as the voice of preteen Fred, Frank Welker has always provided the voice of Fred in the animated versions of the character since 1969. Fred is portrayed by Freddie Prinze Jr. in the live-action motion pictures, and he also provided the voice for the Robot Chicken parodies. Fred was portrayed by Robbie Amell in the live-action TV movies.
Stefanianna Christopherson provided the voice of Daphne Blake in Scooby-Doo, Where Are Youinaugural ?’s season, which aired in 1969–1970. With the exception of Kellie Martin’s appearance as a preteen Daphne in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Heather North resumed the role for season two in 1970 and remained to play the character through 1997. From 1998 until 2000, Mary Kay Bergman provided the voice of Daphne; after that, Grey DeLisle took over.
Even today, she still plays the part. In the 2003 direct-to-video movies Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire and Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico, North reprised her voice role. In both the Robot Chicken parodies and the live-action theatrical movies, Sarah Michelle Gellar plays the role of Daphne. In the live-action TV movies, Daphne was portrayed by Kate Melton.
Nicole Jaffe performed the role of Velma Dinkley from 1969 to 1973. From 1976 to 1979, Pat Stevens played the part; in the following year, Marla Frumkin took over midseason on Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. In 1984’s The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries, Frumkin made a comeback to portray Velma on a regular basis, and Christina Lange provided the voice of preteen Velma in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.
From 1997 to 2002, B. J. Ward provided the voice of Velma; however, in 2002, Mindy Cohn took over. Jaffe, like North, returned to voice Scooby-Doo in the 2003 films Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire and Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico.
For the 2013 puppet movie Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map, Stephanie D’Abruzzo provided Velma’s voice. For the television shows Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! and Lego Scooby-Doo shorts and specials in 2015, Kate Micucci assumed the role; in 2016, she completely replaced Cohn. [61] [62] Both the live-action theatrical movie and the Robot Chicken parodies include Linda Cardellini as Velma. Velma was portrayed by Hayley Kiyoko in the live-action TV movies.
Lennie Weinrib provided the voice of Scrappy-Doo in the original Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo series, which aired in 1979–1980. For the Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo episodes of The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show, Don Messick took on the role in 1980. He remained in the role as Scrappy until 1988. Since 1988, Scrappy has only occasionally made an appearance.
Scott Innes provided the voice for the 2002 live-action movie, in which Scrappy serves as the main antagonist, as well as for Cartoon Network bumpers, video games, and toys starting in 1999. In a Robot Chicken spoof from 2007, Dan Milano voiced Scrappy.
Comic books
In December 1969, Gold Key Comics started releasing Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! comic books. Originally, the comics featured reprints of television episodes illustrated by Phil DeLara, Jack Manning, and Warren Tufts. Later, all-original stories were used in the comic books, which ended with issue #30 in 1974. Mark Evanier and Dan Spiegle collaborated on the writing and art for several of these issues.
For 11 issues in 1975, Charlton issued Scooby comics, several of which were illustrated by Bill Williams. Nine issues of Scooby-Doo were published by Marvel Comics between 1977 and 1979; all were written by Evanier and illustrated by Spiegel. Between 1993 and 1994, Harvey Comics released reprints of the Charlton comics along with a few special issues.
The first year of the Scooby-Doo comic book, which Archie Comics started releasing monthly in 1995, had Scrappy-Doo in its ensemble. The series was finished after 21 issues in 1997 when Warner Bros.’ DC Comics acquired the rights to publish comics based on Hanna-Barbera characters. Evanier and Spiegel contributed to three of the issues.
The Scooby-Doo series from DC is still being published today. Scooby-Doo Team-Up, a digital bimonthly comic book published by DC, combines Mystery Inc. with other DC and Hanna-Barbera characters in 2013. Since then, the serial has evolved into a monthly print comic book.
Scooby-Doo! World of Mystery, a limited series of 100 comic books, was published in 2004. Mystery Inc. travels around the world each issue, solving crimes. A pack of exclusive cards was included with each issue, for a total of 350 cards that could be collected.
With the characters being reimagined in a post-apocalyptic world where monsters prowl the streets and Scooby and the gang must find a means to live at all costs while also trying to discover a way to reverse the apocalypse, DC published a new monthly comic book in 2016 titled Scooby Apocalypse.
Scooby Doo Development
In 1968, parent-run organizations, in particular Action for Children’s Television, began to criticize what they perceived as excessive violence in Saturday morning cartoons (ACT). The majority of these shows—Hanna-Barbera action cartoons like Space Ghost, The Herculoids, and Birdman and the Galaxy Trio—were canceled by 1969 as Hanna-Barbera and other animation studios to ensure that new programming was appropriate for children.
At that time, Fred Silverman, the chief of daytime programming at CBS, was looking for a show to give his Saturday morning line more life and appeal to viewers. The Archie Show from Filmation is the result, and it is based on the teen comedy comic book Archie by Bob Montana. The Archies’ musical performances during each show were likewise successful (one of which, “Sugar, Sugar”, was the most successful Billboard number-one hit of 1969).
In an effort to capitalise on this popularity, Silverman approached producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera about creating a second programme based on an adolescent rock band, this time featuring youngsters who solved mysteries in between shows. Silverman envisioned the show as a combination of the popular The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis television series from the early 1960s with either the Archie characters or the popular I Love a Mystery radio serials from the 1940s.
The concept was given to writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, as well as illustrator/character designer Iwao Takamoto, after Barbera—who originated and promoted Hanna-Barbera shows while Hanna produced them—made an attempt to create his own version of the program, dubbed House of Mystery[6]. In their adaptation, which was partially based on The Archie Show, five teenagers—Geoff, Mike, Kelly, Linda, and Linda’s brother W.W.—and their bongo-playing dog, Too Much—formed the band Mysteries Five. The Mysteries Five investigated spooky cases involving ghosts, zombies, and other supernatural beings in their spare time.
Ruby and Spears couldn’t decide whether Too Much was going to be a giant cowardly dog or a little feisty one. Ruby and Spears initially planned for Too Much to be a Great Dane when the former was chosen, but right before presenting it to Silverman, they changed it to a large sheepdog (comparable to the Archies’ sheepdog, Hot Dog), as Ruby was worried the dog would be too similar to the comic strip character Marmaduke. After Barbera rejected their initial suggestion and they had a conversation about their next move, Silverman got Barbera’s agreement to proceed with Too Much being a Great Dane rather than a sheepdog.
During the design phase, lead character designer Takamoto sought guidance from a fellow studio employee who raised Great Danes. She gave Takamoto the skills necessary to create a prize-winning Great Dane, so he bent most of the rules and gave Too Much unusually bowed legs, a double chin, and a sloped back.
In Ruby and Spears’ second try at the show, Dobie Gillis was used as the teenagers’ model rather of Archie. The change removed Mike, reduced the number of teenagers to four, kept Geoff, Kelly, Linda, and W.W. but kept the dog Too Much. Character names changed to reflect the characters’ personalities: at Silverman’s request, Geoff was renamed “Ronnie,” and then “Fred,” Kelly was given the new names “Daphne,” “Velma,” and “Shaggy,” respectively. The four teenage characters from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Dobie Gillis, Thalia Menninger, Zelda Gilroy, and Maynard G. Krebs, became the models for the teenagers.
Silverman was once more pitched the revamped show, and while he liked the content, he preferred the name Who’s S-S-Scared? to Mysteries Five.
Who’s scared? was the focal point of Silverman’s presentation to the CBS executives for the impending Saturday-morning cartoon block in 1969–1970. The presentation artwork, in the opinion of CBS President Frank Stanton, was too graphic for young viewers, therefore he decided against using it since he thought the broadcast would be the same.
Silverman requested Ruby, Spears, and the Hanna-Barbera crew to update the show’s treatments and presentation materials in order to better capture its comic features for the upcoming season’s programming. As soon as the rock band element was eliminated, Shaggy and Too Much attracted more attention.
According to Ruby and Spears, Silverman was motivated to rename the dog “Scooby-Doo” and rename the show Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! while on a late-night flight to one of the development meetings by Frank Sinatra’s scat “doo-be-doo-be-doo” at the end of his recording of “Strangers in the Night.” Once more presenting the program to CBS executives, they gave the go-ahead for production.
