On the popular website TVTropes.com, there is an entry listed as “The Scrappy.” In order to fit the criteria of The Scrappy, a character must be consistently hated by the vast majority of a show’s fanbase. The Scrappy was not intended to be a figure of derision, but they are despised for disrupting an established narrative or group dynamic. This loathsome beast is poorly written, abhorred by all, and mocked by most. Scrappy-Doo of the “Scooby-Doo” franchise is not only an example of this trope, he is the one for whom the trope is named! The Evil One! The greatest monster in a series filled with them! He is one of the very few characters in any franchise who is constantly insulted in his own universe. For an appetizer of an example, the official Cartoon Network site had a game called “Scrappy Stinks.” Released in 1999, the sole objective of this game was to throw gross things at Scrappy. Your sole reward was the satisfaction of humiliating that traitor to the people, Scrappy-Doo. As far as I can tell, the last straight appearance of Scrappy was in 1988’s ” Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf,” a TV movie that used to get airtime during the Halloween season. Beyond that, Scrappy only appears to solidify how much people hate him. His mere existence is a punchline. That leads me to my ultimate point: we need to let it go.
“Scooby-Doo” has been part of my life since I was a child, and I continue to be an active fan of the series. That means I’ve been a fan longer than most kids have been alive and far past the point of being socially acceptable. My extreme geekiness means that I am more qualified than most to discuss this controversial topic. And in my estimation, the long-standing hatred for the impetuous pup has gone on long enough. He isn’t exactly a favorite of mine, but I have no real animosity towards him. In fact, I dare say he’s cute. At the very least, he’s what Douglas Addams would call “mostly harmless.”
Scrappy debuted on the show “Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo” in 1979. At that point, Scooby-Doo had been the star of four shows since the beginning of “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” in 1969. The Great Dane’s ratings were in decline, and Scrappy was created as a “new element” to keep things fresh. According to “Scooby-Doo and Scrappy” writer Mark Evanier, Scrappy was based largely on Henery Hawk from “Looney Tunes.” Evanier was told that a senior executive in charge of “Scooby’s” fate could be persuaded to spare “Scooby” from cancellation if he “perceived some lineage to the classic Warner Brothers cartoons.” (Evanier met this exec years later and decided the “Looney Tunes” angle was incorrect.) A script was written by Evanier, and everyone was impressed enough to keep “Scooby-Doo” going.
The legendary Mel Blanc (Man of 1,000 Voices, voiced nearly every “Looney Tunes” player) was contacted and even interested. But he was the legendary Mel Blanc, and legendary people generally aren’t cheap. Mr. Blanc certainly wasn’t. Next was Frank Welker, who voiced Fred Jones in the ’60s, continues to voice Fred, and is now Scooby-Doo. Welker did not get the part, but he did coin Scrappy’s “Puppy power!” catchphrase. Don Messick, who voiced Scooby, was given the part of Scrappy. And then lost it. Finally, At last, Lennie Weinrib of “H.R. Pufnstuf” fame was cast. Remarkably, he remained in the role. Until he asked for too much money. He left after one season, and Messick returned to the role.
After that game of musical chairs, Scrappy finally debuted and was actually successful in saving “Scooby-Doo.” Ratings went up, so Scrappy remained for about a decade. Alas, they made what was I think the fatal mistake for Scrappy in the long run: they had him replace the classic Scooby gang. Daphne sometimes appeared, but Mystery Inc. was apart for nearly a decade. Fred, Velma, and Daphne are so iconic these days that it’s hard to imagine a time without them, but that time was the bulk of the ’80s. And with Scrappy, the tone was decidedly more kid-friendly. Now, “Scooby-Doo” was always a kids’ show, yet there was an atmosphere of terror that made the original episodes timeless. The lesser pre-Scrappy shows still felt slightly more mature if a little dorky. “The New Scooby-Doo Movies” featured celebrities that would mostly appeal to grown-ups, so there was still something there. Scrappy shows feel like they’re aimed exclusively at children, with a greater emphasis on slapstick and real monsters who generally bumble about. The menace of the original was gone, and there were no Jerry Reed cameos.
During this time, everything felt rather gimmicky. Mystery solving (a fundamental “Scooby-Doo” element) was eventually done away with. You would have Scooby, Scrappy, and Shaggy run a school for the daughters of famous monsters (admittedly, a childhood favorite) or racing against the creatures of the night in “Wacky Races”-like fashion. There was no recurring supporting cast outside of those three. All the things that made “Scooby-Doo” special were gone. While there was a general theme of monsters, the horrific vibe was long gone. Even the eventual inclusion of Vincent Price as the Doctor Strange-esque Vincent Van Ghoul didn’t do much to solve these issues (though I do love Van Ghoul). Each of these shows/movies felt like an entirely new franchise.
With the exception of the surprisingly good and extremely cartoon-y “A Pup Named Scooby-Doo,” Scrappy dominated this era of “Scooby-Doo.” The franchise was mostly dead until 1998’s “Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island,” a darn good movie that goes far into horror as “Scooby-Doo” can. Scares were restored, along with Mystery Incorporated. More “Scooby-Doo” animated movies came, reestablishing the franchise as top-tier entertainment for creepy kids of all ages. With all as it should be, people really started to notice how different the Scrappy era was. How childish it was. How Scrappy supplanted the things they loved about the franchise. Around 1999, it became cool to openly denigrate Scrappy. Official bumpers for Cartoon Network would often mock him for being annoying. “Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law” would have him appear as a corpse. The live-action movie from 2001 had Scrappy as its main antagonist, a soul-sucking monster who was kicked off the team for being obnoxious. And we loved all of this at the time. A company was acknowledging its past mistakes. We thought it was hilarious.
In retrospect, this public shaming Scrappy seems like a calculated move to help rehabilitate “Scooby-Doo.” The kids who lived through Scrappy were now teenagers, and the average teenager of the ’90s hated childish things. That was just the style of the time. Scooby-Doo was classic enough to be spared; Scrappy was not. To distance themselves from the obviously kid-centric “Scooby-Doo,” Warner Bros. leaned heavily into the Scrappy hatred. That paid off, and it was even slightly cathartic. After all, we were coming off of the Scrappy-Doo decade. That era killed the horror and mystery; dunking on Scrappy seemed earned.
And yet, with everything running as it should for nearly 30 years now, “Scooby-Doo” and its various incarnations still joke about how awful Scrappy was. In all that time, Scrappy has had no real appearances outside of mockery. In the overall brilliant “Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated” (a “Scooby” for fans of classic horror with appearances by folks like Jeffery Combs and Harlan Ellison), there was a groan-worthy joke where Fred and Daphne look upon a display of Scrappy in horror. And little references like that kept occurring. I would just ignore it,
But the straw that broke the camel’s back was “Velma,” the universally hated “adult” “Scooby-Doo” series that came out just a few years ago. While I was mostly indifferent towards that show, the reveal of the killer in the second series was indeed Scrappy-Doo. Not only did it just recycle the joke from the live-action movie, it made me realize something. It made me realize just how forced the hatred for Scrappy had become. When a character hasn’t appeared properly since 1988, it’s time to stop making jokes about how much he sucks. That hatred means nothing when the war has been won. I also realized that there’s a good chance that children today probably don’t even know who Scrappy is. Even after “Velma,” “Jellystone!” (a recent comedy cartoon featuring many Hanna-Barbera characters) just revealed that Scrappy would appear and once again be a punching bag. At what point do we abandon this tired joke? When do we let Scrappy-Doo rest?
Scrappy wasn’t an inherently awful character. He was best in small doses, but the little puppy who fearlessly chases after big monsters is not a bad foil for Scooby and Shaggy. Instead of dragging the corpse of a long-dead cartoon dog around, one of two things should be done. Either he lives in obscurity like Scooby-Dum, or they retool him into a character that works for a modern audience. One who fits the basic idea of Scrappy while being interesting enough for folks of every age. Weirdly, this forced hatred has given me an appreciation of Scrappy that I didn’t have as a kid. He’s not a bad little dog. He just wasn’t what older kids wanted. Maybe one day, they can find a proper way to incorporate Scrappy into Mystery Incorporated. After all, he did save a beloved franchise from death. Until then, it’s time to let this sleeping dog lie.
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