Scooby-Doo isn’t just a cartoon; it’s a pop culture phenomenon that has entertained generations. We all know Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and their lovable, mystery-solving Great Dane, Scooby-Doo. They’ve unmasked countless “monsters,” only to hear the classic line, “and I would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you meddling kids!” But even the most dedicated fans might not know every secret behind Mystery Inc. Get ready to have your mind blown, as we explore some lesser-known facts about this iconic franchise.
Scooby’s Name Was Inspired by a Frank Sinatra Song
Before Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! hit the airwaves in 1969, it went through quite a transformation. CBS executive Fred Silverman initially envisioned a show about a teenage rock band solving mysteries, influenced by the success of The Archie Show. This concept, first called “Mysteries Five,” featured a bongo-playing dog named Too Much as a minor character.
Silverman’s pitch, titled Who’s S-S-Scared, was initially turned down for being too frightening. However, inspiration struck Silverman on a plane while listening to Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night.” He misheard the lyric “dooby-dooby-doo” as “scooby-doo-be-doo” and had a lightbulb moment. “That’s it,” he thought, “we’ll take the dog, we’ll call it Scooby-Doo, and move him up front.” This shift, making Scooby and Shaggy a comedic duo like Abbott and Costello, added the crucial humor the show needed.
Fan Theories: Draft Dodgers, Soviet Hound, and Five Colleges
The world of Scooby-Doo is rife with fan theories. One of the most popular suggests Shaggy is a stoner, explaining his constant hunger. Other wilder theories propose Scooby can talk because he was a Soviet experiment, or that the gang is constantly on the run in the Mystery Machine to dodge the Vietnam War draft.
Another interesting theory links the characters to the Five College Consortium in Massachusetts: preppy Fred (Amherst), hippie Shaggy (Hampshire), upper-class Daphne (Mount Holyoke), nerdy Velma (Smith), and party-animal Scooby (UMass Amherst). However, Hampshire College opened a year after Scooby-Doo premiered. Animator Iwao Takamoto and writer Mark Evanier debunked this, stating the characters were actually based on the archetypes from the sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis: an all-American boy, a popular girl, a beatnik, and a brainy brunette.
Shaggy Became Vegetarian Because of His Voice Actor
For years, Shaggy was known for his love of all foods, including meaty snacks. This changed due to his original voice actor, Casey Kasem. A dedicated vegetarian, Kasem was asked to voice Shaggy in a Burger King commercial in 1995. Uncomfortable promoting meat, Kasem quit the show. He was replaced by Scott Innes and Billy West for a time.
Kasem stated he would only return if Shaggy also became vegetarian. This finally happened in the 2002 series What’s New, Scooby-Doo?. Since then, Shaggy is still seen enjoying his signature gigantic burgers and subs, but they are always veggie-based, honoring Kasem’s request.
The Mystery Inc. Gang Faces the Apocalypse in a Comic Book
DC Comics offered a much darker take on the gang with Scooby Apocalypse, which ran from 2016 to 2019. This series is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the monsters are very real. The familiar characters received significant makeovers in both appearance and personality, and the overall tone was much more adult.
Reviews were mixed. IGN noted that if the cover’s depiction of a “tribal tat-adorned Fred, a hipster-styled Shaggy, and an emoji-spewing Scooby-Doo” didn’t appeal, the comic’s content likely wouldn’t either. Gizmodo, however, found it surprisingly hilarious despite its seemingly tacky premise, praising how it embraced the absurdity.
Many Interesting Crossovers, Including with KISS and WWE
The Mystery Inc. gang has a long history of teaming up with other famous characters and celebrities. They’ve partnered with Batman multiple times, starting in the 1970s series The New Scooby-Doo Movies and continuing in films like Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2018).
They’ve also solved mysteries alongside WWE wrestlers like John Cena and The Undertaker in movies such as Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery (2014). The rock band KISS even got the Scooby treatment in Scooby-Doo! and KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery (2015). Other notable crossovers include an episode with the TV show Supernatural called “Scoobynatural,” and encounters with Johnny Bravo and The Addams Family.
Many Celebrity Voice Appearances
The New Scooby-Doo Movies series was famous for its celebrity guest stars in every episode, featuring icons like Dick Van Dyke, Sonny and Cher, and the Harlem Globetrotters playing themselves. The more recent series, Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? (2019-2021), revived this format with appearances by George Takei, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and Mark Hamill.
Horror legend Vincent Price lent his voice to the 1985 series The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo as the warlock Vincent Van Ghoul, a parody of himself. Mark Hamill, beyond voicing himself and the Joker, has played numerous other characters in the Scooby-verse, such as Captain Guzman in a 2003 episode and Snakebite Scruggs in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998).
“Jinkies” Was an Ad-Lib
Unlike many animated shows where voice actors record lines separately, the original cast of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! recorded together. This allowed for spontaneity and ad-libbing. Frank Welker (Fred) revealed that Nicole Jaffe, the original voice of Velma, ad-libbed “Jinkies!” during a recording session. Producer Joe Barbera liked it, and it became Velma’s signature catchphrase.
Jaffe also unintentionally created another classic Velma moment: losing her glasses and exclaiming, “My glasses! I can’t see without my glasses!” During a table read for the first episode, Jaffe’s own glasses fell off, and she said the line. The producers found it so amusing that they incorporated it into the show as a recurring gag.
Velma Was Supposed to Be Gay in the 2002 Movie
Velma officially developed a crush on a female character in Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! (2022), but this was an idea James Gunn, writer of the 2002 live-action Scooby-Doo movie, had tried to implement two decades earlier. In 2020, Gunn tweeted that his initial script explicitly portrayed Velma as gay. However, he explained the studio progressively diluted this, making it ambiguous in the filmed version, then removing it entirely in the released version, and finally giving her a boyfriend in the sequel.
Sarah Michelle Gellar (Daphne) also mentioned a deleted scene where Daphne and Velma (Linda Cardellini) kissed. This wasn’t just for kicks; it was a plot point where they kissed to realign their souls after a soul-swapping incident. Additionally, producer Tony Cervone confirmed Velma was queer-coded in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, making it as clear as possible at the time.
Fred Swears in a Bumper Sketch
During the early 2000s airing of What’s New, Scooby-Doo?, a surprising short clip featuring Fred swearing (though bleeped out) was shown between episodes. In this bumper, Fred breaks the fourth wall, addressing the audience directly: “You know, throughout the years, a lot of people have asked me, ‘Fred, why the scarf?’ and I always tell ’em the same thing: Why don’t you mind your own f*cking business pal?!” He continues his rant while the rest of the gang looks on, shocked.
Frank Welker, the long-standing voice of Fred, performed this edgy sketch. Welker has voiced Fred in nearly every Scooby-Doo animation, with very few exceptions, and has even voiced Scooby himself since 2002, making him a cornerstone of the franchise’s vocal talent.
Scooby-Doo Spoofed The Blair Witch Project
In 1999, Cartoon Network sought a unique way to promote its Halloween Scooby-Doo marathon. Capitalizing on the recent cultural impact of The Blair Witch Project, they created a parody called The Scooby-Doo Project. This short film was aired in segments throughout the marathon on October 31, encouraging viewers to keep watching to see its conclusion.
To keep production costs low, it was mostly filmed in live-action, with only the animated gang members added in. The voice actors even recorded their lines over the phone. Despite its low-budget nature and risky concept, the blend of horror and humor was a success, earning an Annie Award for Outstanding Animated Special Project. Years later, in 2022, Cartoon Network humorously tweeted an apology for “traumatizing ’90s kids with the Scooby-Doo Blair Witch parody.”
![Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery - I Was Made For Lovin' You [HD]](https://rankedfacts.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-youtube-lyte/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2Fk_plih5b9To%2F0.jpg)
Scooby-Doo and the gang have certainly had a wild ride over the decades, filled with more than just monsters in masks. These tidbits show just how much creativity, adaptation, and even a bit of happy accident went into making this franchise an enduring classic. From Sinatra-inspired names to groundbreaking character explorations, there’s always another mystery to uncover about Mystery Inc.
What’s your favorite Scooby-Doo mystery or memory? Share it in the comments below!
