The Ballad of Bill and Joe: Volume Three

Scooby Doo, how do you do?

Scooby Doo. The mere mention of his name awakens a primal fear in people everywhere. No wait, that's Robert Blake.
Scooby Doo is a cartoon dog created by Hanna Barbera. They actually created Scooby Doo by accident when they started work on a cartoon series about an angry Ogre and his talking donkey. The networks hated the Ogre, but loved the donkey. They insisted that he become a talking dog.

But, does Scooby ACTUALLY talk?

Think about it. In ALL of the episodes of Scooby Doo, have you EVER heard him engage someone in conversation? Not really. He generally just throws in a wisecrack every few minutes, usually repeating what was already said.

Shaggy: Like, you guys need to get your mind out of the gutter. I said THESBIEN!
Scooby: Reah, resbien.
Velma: Why are you all looking at me?

So, is Scooby really a talking dog or just sort of a canine parrot. I vote for parrot.

Shaggy, his buddy, is modeled after the character of Maynard Krebs from Dobie Gillis. Maynard was portrayed by Bob "Gilligan" Denver. Shaggy is a beatnik, not a hippie.

Fred is the leader of the group. He is in charge and thus he always decides how they should split up.

Fred: Shaggy, you and Scooby check downstairs. Velma and Daphne will check upstairs with me.

I'm on to his plan. He gets the two girls and Shaggy stays with the dog. He is lucky beatniks are too lazy to fight.

Daphne is the attractive one and Velma is the smart one. However, in Velma's defense, it must be pointed out that her skirt was SHORTER than Daphne's. SEXY!

The crew was perfect. Everyone watching could relate to SOMEONE (except Robert Blake) and there were not too many people to confuse audiences.

The came Scooby Dum, Scooby Dee and Scrappy Doo.

I am not sure how the Scooby Doo family tree looks, but I find it odd that Scrappy Doo shares the surname Doo with Scooby, while Scooby Dee and Scooby Dum share the given name of Scooby.

As the series progressed into a bizarre 'all talking dogs and beatnik' series, Fred, Velma and Daphne were all rendered useless and made infrequent appearances on the (then named) Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Puppy Hour. Without Mystery Inc., the show had no need for mysteries. Instead plots focused on things like Scrappy's birthday party and ants showing up at a picnic. Yes, it was the golden age of animation.

A few years back, Warner Brothers created a live action Scooby Doo film. The film was hailed as "the greatest Freddy Prinz Jr. film in months." It was a big success, but far more mean spirited than its TV predecessor. As with any hit, a sequel followed. The sequel was lots of fun and stayed closer to the original series in story and tone.

In between the films the animated versions of Scooby and Shaggy appeared in the film Looney Tunes: Back in Action berating Matthew Lillard (who played Shaggy in the film.) The scene takes place in a cafeteria, but does not showcase Scooby and Shaggy's eating skills.

In the cartoon, they would make the most amazing sandwiches EVER. They would poke their heads into a refrigerator and come out with a huge sandwich featuring:
2 slices of bread
lettuce
a tomato
cheese
ham
a turkey leg
onions (whole onions, not slices)
4 different colored items. These were presumably different kinds of meat.

After making the sandwich, they would flatten it and then put the WHOLE thing in their mouth and swallow! No need to chew, just swallow. Turkey bone and all.

What kind of digestive system did they have? They must have been constipated ALL the time.

Scooby Doo appears in the different Universal Studios theme parks around the globe. He also is in Virginia at Paramount's King's Dominion. At PKD they have Scooby Doo's Haunted Mansion. In this ride you sit in a car and shoot ghosts that pop out at you. Every rider gets scored based on how many ghosts they hit. Sadly the ghost of Scooby Dum is never in range.

This concludes the Ballad of Bill and Joe. I hope you learned something.

Don't miss:
The Ballad of Bill and Joe: Volume One
and
Part two