Western Animation / Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo

Scooby,
Scrappy-Dappy-Doo!
Scooby,
Scrappy-Dappy-Doo!

Scooby,

Scrappy-Dappy-Doo!

Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Puppy Power!

Scrappy-Dappy-Doo!

Scooby-Dooby-Dooooo!

The year was 1979. The decade-old Scooby-Doo formula was growing stale, and ABC was looking into other shows to fill in its slot instead. But...Hanna-Barbera had one last trick up their sleeves. So, maybe for worse, maybe for better...they introduced Scooby's nephew, Scrappy-Doo, to the formula.

Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo ran from 1979 to 1980. Afterward, it was retooled into a “Three Shorts” format, which carried on for three seasons from 1980 to 1983. The entire season can be found legally by digital download and was released on DVD in 2015.

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Tropes Found in Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo! Ruff!

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Downplayed in "Night Ghoul of Wonder World." The titular Night Ghoul robot is a malfunctioning dangerous but ultimately mindless automaton at first and then it becomes the disguise for the Villain of the Week and as for the Sherlock Holmes robot, it is on the hero's side (albeit unable to be much help, being turned to the highest difficulty).
• AM/FM Characterization: In one episode, Shaggy mentions having tickets to a concert by The Bee Gees.
• Anachronistic Clue: One of the hints that reveal that the mystery in "The Night Ghoul of Wonderland" was genuine was the TV antenna on a picture of Big Ben with a television antenna in an otherwise 19th-century environment.
• Artistic License – Animal Care: Scrappy and Scooby both eat chocolate cake with no consequences, not that is the biggest stretch concerning their species, in either culinary preferences or general physiology.
• Artistic License – Biology: During The Summation at the end of "Hairy Scare from the Devil Bear", Velma states that bears only have four claws. This is incorrect, as bears actually have five retractable claws.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Downplayed with Scrappy, for the most part, but if—Did someone say monster? Lemme at it!
• Bears Are Bad News:
  • In "Hairy Scare from the Devil Bear", if the title didn't tip you off.
  • The Mama Bear from "When You Wish Upon a Star Creature" counts as well.
• Big Eater: While Scooby and Shaggy are still big eaters, Scrappy sometimes beats them to the punch.
• Blatant Lies: After Shaggy and Scooby got kidnapped in "The Ransom of the Scooby Chief]]", Scrappy and his friends go to rescue them; the latter hide in the back of the speedboat that one of the kidnappers are driving and make some noise.
  Kidnapper: What was that?
  Scrappy: Nothing!
  • More amazing still, the kidnapper actually fell for it.
• Blunt "Yes": In "Demon of the Dugout", after going to Japan for a baseball game involving the American and Japanese team, the gang quickly gets caught up in a mystery. When Shaggy complains, Velma answers with this.
  Shaggy: You mean we came all the way to Japan just to chase ghosts again?
  Velma: Let me put it this way, Shaggy: Yes.
• Bootstrapped Theme: The music from the show's intro is a instrumental variation of The New Scooby Doo Movies' theme song, and it would go on to become Scooby-Doo's official leitmotif over the next decade.
• Broken Pedestal: Shaggy, Scrappy, and Scooby are all horrified that The Blue Scarab is acting like a villain, more than the fact that a supposedly fictional character appears for real.
  Scrappy: That's the real Blue Scarab! So why is my hero being such a meanie?
• Brooklyn Rage: Scrappy speaks in a very strong Brooklyn accent, courtesy of Lennie Weinrib. Justified that he grew up in New York.
• Brown Note: Scrappy's "secret whistle" in "The Ransom of the Scooby Chief". The only ones who seem to tolerate it are Duke and Annie. It's powerful enough to wreck the windows and tyres of the Mystery Machine. That's powerful lungs for a small dog.
• Call-Back: To the pilot of the original series.
  Knight: Blimey, what a night!
• Challenge Seeker: Lefty Callahan clearly has to be one. While Velma points out the jewels from the Lefty Callahan job were hidden in "plain sight", one of them was in the eye of a restaurant's statue arch and the other in the opera house chandelier, getting those gems there in the first place are pretty daring challenges, after the challenge of stealing them and the ruby in the first place.
• Characterization Marches On: Scrappy is a hyperactive Hot-Blooded Large Ham Boisterous Bruiser. Later seasons would gradually tone him down while not losing his feistiness and love of adventure.
  • He also speaks with a heavy Brooklyn accent. This disappeared when he changed voice actors.
  • He had a few traits that disappeared after this season, such as saying "ruff" mid-sentence.
  • Later seasons would show him to be quite smart. Here, he borders on Dumb Muscle, though he does have moments of cleverness. (Object permanence forthcoming).
• Chekhov's Gag: In "The Ghoul, The Bat, and The Ugly", a revolving secret door is used for a joke among Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, and the Shadow Creature mid-episode. Later it's used to catch said monster at the end.
• Clockworks Area: In "Night Ghoul of Wonderworld," taking place in a replica of 19th Century London, Shaggy and Scooby and Scrappy try to escape said Ghoul inside the clockworks of a working replica of Big Ben.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Scrappy, full stop; some can be explained by being a small child and some, like, believing Scooby is bold and courageous despite living with him (and actively rerationalizing everything Scooby does), searching a normal-sized boot for a human-sized alien, he is ecstatic to see a "big stone thing" (never mind that the "big stone thing" is hurtling down on a direct path to crush him) fall solidly under this trope. He has some glimmers of brilliance when it comes to building and clue finding.
• Conveyor Belt o' Doom: Scooby, Scrappy, and Shaggy nearly fall victim to this in "The Scarab Lives!".
• Combat Pragmatist: Surprisingly enough, Scrappy was this occasionally, taking advantage of his strength and small size to knock his opponent off balance, and "The Night Ghoul Of Wonderworld" and "The Ghoul, The Bat, and The Ugly" both involve him tricking the villain into a spot (A clock gear and a revolving door respectively) where he could spin them dizzy and incapacitate them.
• Composite Character: In "The Ransom of Scooby Chief", which mostly focuses on Scrappy and his friends (Velma, Daphne and Fred are only seen at beginning and end, Shaggy and Scooby spend most of the episode kidnapped), the three of them show combined traits of the typical gang:
  • Scrappy of himself and Fred, taking the role of The Leader and initially being the one to initiate the rescue operation.
  • Duke of Velma and Scooby, showing signs of being The Smart Guy and holding Scrappy back when he gets too hotheaded (which Scooby usually does).
  • Annie of Shaggy and Daphne, being the Damsel in Distress and relying on Duke and Scrappy to figure things out, and being rather cautious when it comes to the kidnappers.
• Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: In "The Scarab Lives", Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy are above the other three, though the three manage to launch Scrappy so that he can land behind the Scarab's head and cover the eyes.
• Crisis Catch And Carry: A Running Gag involving Scrappy-Doo: He would always try to fight the Monster of the Week only for Scooby or Shaggy to pick him up in the midst of their escape.
• Deadpan Snarker: Velma.
  Velma: (After meeting morbid Mr. Moss) Cheery sort, isn't he?
  • Shaggy becomes one to Scrappy sometimes as well in this series.
• Did You Die?: Downplayed.
  Scrappy: (To Shaggy) The Snake Demon hasn't gotten you yet, has he? (Sounding genuinely quizzical) has he?
• A Dog Named "Dog": Lampshaded.
  Tessie: This is mule. He's a mule.
• The Door Slams You: Shaggy and Scooby fall victim to this a lot.
• Dramatic Unmask: It was the fourth Scooby series, so this was still in effect.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Going back to this series today presents probably one of the oddest visuals in the entire franchise of Scrappy walking on all four legs like his uncle Scooby, despite his large head and small body making this look awkward. Going forwards, Scrappy-Doo would walk upright on two legs as a core character design element.
• Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: In "The Scarab Lives", Scrappy seems to have a slight speech impediment regarding the title villain, possibly as a result of Lennie Weinrib voicing him for the first time.
• Exactly What I Meant to Say:
  Scrappy: Professor Spaulding, eh? I bet that's an alien!
  Velma: You mean an alias?
  Scrappy: Nope! I mean alien! Like in Star Creature!
• Expository Theme Tune: Played with, in that the lyrics don't tell much of anything (Except "Scooooby, Scrappy-Dappy-Doo!"), but the vignette it accompanies shows Scrappy being picked up from a train station by Scooby.
• Expy: The host character in "The Night Ghoul of Wonderworld" is clearly made to resemble Mr. Roarke from Fantasy Island.
• Face–Heel Turn: In a meta, in-universe kind of way it first appears to be so with The Blue Scarab, where he seems to have gone from being a crime-fighter to a crook.
• Fanboy: Scooby, Scrappy, and Shaggy are all huge fans of the superhero The Blue Scarab. They are for once seen gushing over his new comic-book rather than over something edible.
• A Foggy Day in London Town: "The Night Ghoul of Wonderworld" had the gang go to a robotic amusement park designed after Victorian London. As a result, this trope is there in all its characters-disappearing foggy glory.
• Funny Foreground Event:
  • In "Night Ghoul of Wonderworld", a knight in shining armor can be seen wobbling around as Fred, Daphne, and Velma discuss the mystery with Sherlock Holmes.
  • In "20 Thousand Screams Under the Sea", Shaggy makes a pun about the sea, and he and Scooby share a laugh, while Velma can be seen rolling her eyes in front of them.
• Furry Reminder: Scooby and Scrappy both got this occasionally. It's a bit more noticeable with Scrappy, who was the more anthropomorphic of the two. When he got really worked up he'd start putting barks in midsentence, and when the gang was running, he ran on all fours.
• The Glomp: Scrappy gives one to Scooby after they've been reunited in "The Ransom of Scooby Chief".
• Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress:
  Scooby: You're upside down!
  Shaggy: I'm not upside down! You are!
  (Beat)
  Scooby: Ruh-oh.
  (falls off the ceiling)
• Hammerspace: The title characters made use of this trope occasionally. An example that stood out was in "The Night Ghoul Of Wonderworld", where Scrappy knocked over a knight. He walks off screen and returns moments later with a carjack, stands the knight back up and the carjack is never seen or referenced again.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: In "Shiver and Shake, That Demon's a Snake", a key is found to a secret cache hidden inside a ship. It turns out the keyhole was out in the open all this time—it's part of the lock-shaped logo emblazoned on the side of the ship.
• I Just Want to Be Special: The assistant of the Blue Scarab's creator was masquerading as The Scarab to get the comic to stop being printed because he was tired of being that "unknown assistant".
• Impersonating an Officer: In "Shiver and Shake, That Demon's a Snake", Velma disguises herself as a traffic cop to divert a parade that Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy are on and to inform them that the monster is nearby.
• Insane Troll Logic: Scrappy makes use of this to fit his beliefs that Scooby is the bravest, most heroic dog ever. In one case when he can't figure out how to make Scooby taking a detour to the kitchen into a monster fighting tactic, he draws the same conclusion anyway.
  Shaggy: Like I know the just the place [to look for clues]! The kitchen!
  Scooby: Rummy!
  Scrappy: Oh, I get it! No, wait, I don't get it! But I know Uncle Scooby always gets his monster! Ruff!
• Jerkass Has a Point: Two notable examples:
  • The guard in the Taj Mahal who appeared in "Scooby Dooby Guru" wasn't wrong when he tried to stop them from getting into the palace, having mistaken them for thieves. He made a Heel–Face Turn in that episode, his only appearance, but was a invokedDesignated Villain although more of a Hate Sink than a true villain.
  • The Black Knight (who wasn't as menacing as the name would suggest, rather an ordinary man in armor), a Filler Villain who only appeared in "Sir Scooby and the Black Knight" had every right to be upset with Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and Scrappy-Doo; they'd invaded his home and mistaken it for, and treated it as, a hotel. He did have a point, but they were never going to get it due to being scared of his armor.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed. Scrappy isn't really a jerk, but rather Innocently Insensitive and oblivious to the damage he did on occasion. Nonetheless, he genuinely cares for the others and when he did realize he did the damage, he was always regretful and willing to put things to rights. Eventually, as he became more aware of his surroundings and others he became just plain Nice Guy.
• Kiss Diss: In "Close Encounter of a Strange Kind", Scrappy runs off in pursuit of a monster as Daphne's about to give him a kiss.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": In "The Night Ghoul of Wonderland", Velma squees at meeting Sherlock Holmes and solving a mystery with him.
• Laugh Track
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: The gang still splits up mostly now with Scrappy going with Scooby and Shaggy.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": Everyone has this reaction when Scrappy, after being hauled up on the boat's anchor, takes the anchor and himself overboard dives overboard to look for Daphne's lost her snake demon idol (courtesy of a snake demon); the idol is forgotten about until the Snake Demon brings it back onto the ship in favor of bringing Scrappy back up.
  Velma: (Frightened) Pull faster!
• Master of Unlocking: Scrappy, on at least two occasions the gang would find a locked up building they wanted to get into, the door would then suddenly unlock and Scrappy would open it from the inside, bewildering the others as he was previously with them. Neon Phantom doesn't have Scrappy somehow getting into the locked building, but still got the locked door to open when nobody else was looking.
• The Maze: The climax of "The Ghoul, the Bat, and the Ugly" takes place in a labyrinth.
• Message in a Bottle: In "The Ransom of Scooby Chief", Scooby and Shaggy are being held hostage in a warehouse and write a message in a bottle for help. However, when they throw it out the window, they realize there's no water around.
• Non-Indicative Name: The Snake Demon has arms and legs, looking more like a bizarre dinosaur than any proper snake.
• Non-Malicious Monster: In the 1980-1983 Three Shorts there were a few notable examples:
  • The Mummy in "Mummy's the Word" was a spirit wearing bandages who was only acting that way because, presumably, supernatural forces, made him so.
  • "Bigfoot", who was the Villain of the Week, but he was more of an Anti-Villain in that his motives were sympathetic; he was only trying to stop people intruding into his home.
• No Object Permanence: Scrappy is under the impression that the human-sized alien can fit in the human-foot sized boot, and seems hilariously bewildered when he's trapped in what he must think is thin-air (actually a clear glass box).
• No Social Skills: Scrappy misses Scooby's blatant cues that he's terrified (believing Scooby to be courageous as a result) and often thinks nothing of hauling a stranger for the (embarrassed and low-key horrified) mystery inc.
• Not So Innocent Whistling: In "Close Encounters of a Scooby Kind", Shaggy asks aloud who volunteered him and Scooby to go and draw out a monster. Cut to Scrappy whistling.
• Not So Above It All: Since the Wonderworld Mystery was initially just a game, the normally levelheaded Velma doesn't even try to hide her joy at seeing a Sherlock holmes robot. It's adorable.
• Not Helping Your Case: Upon being confronted by an angry man about breaking into his building, Shaggy insists that that's not the case at all, no sir! It's the building right next to the man's building that's being broken into.
  What?!
• Out of Focus: Fred, Velma, and Daphne struggled to compete with Scrappy's stronger characterization, though writers did try to save them once the new character's presence shed light on it, resulting in episodes like "The Night Ghoul of Wonderworld" and "I Left My Neck In San Fransisco". However, they ultimately were removed by the next season.
• Offscreen Teleportation: Sometimes the gang would encounter a locked building which Scrappy would inexplicably get inside and open up for the others.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: In "The Night Ghoul of Wonderworld", Scrappy is strong enough to punch through a stone wall like it was nothing. Damn.
• Poorly Disguised Pilot: "The Ransom of the Scooby Chief" introduces Scrappy's old gang in which the main gang takes a seat. It is, in a way, a pilot attempt to where the next series began, and also has a detail that didn't actually lead into a "Scrappy's Gang"–type series.
• Play-Along Prisoner: The climax of Ransom of Scooby Chief, where the kidnappers sneak up behind Scrappy and his friends and toss a net over them. There's nothing about the net that particularly stops the puppies from crawling under it, (and they don't even put up any struggle, they just seem surprised and annoyed). But Scrappy decides to be still a moment and put faith in Scooby, which the older Doo delivers when Shaggy and Scooby crash land into the kidnappers. Immediately afterward the pups are seen without the net cheering, implying they took it off right as soon as the kidnappers were taken out.
• Precious Puppy: Scrappy dislikes being referred to as this in-universe.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The savvy, cowardly Scooby plays Blue Oni to his more rash, hotheaded nephew Scrappy's Red Oni.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The disguise from "Shiver and Shake, That Demon's a Snake" is not quite a snake, but definitely reptilian and definitely unfriendly.
• Samus Is a Girl: In "I Left My Neck In San Fransisco", Lefty Callahan, who is mentioned offhand earlier in the episode, is revealed to be a woman.
• Scarab Power: Used in-universe with The Blue Scarab as a comic book superhero who seems to be their version of Batman and who appears in the real world using his intimidation tactics for super-villainy.
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Well, what did you expect?
  • The Blue Scarab case, however, stands out as one where the masked figure doesn't pretend to be a ghost and doesn't try to scare anyone away from a place, it is clear that there is a man behind that mask and the question is how much will it drop the popularity of the comic-book he was based on.
  • There's also the Night Ghoul that becomes a hoax after the original robot that represented a fictional villain has gone haywire and caused trouble to everyone forcing the real villain to step on its shoes.
• Scout-Out: Scrappy claims to be a "Scooby Scout", but it's possible he made it up; we never see any other members of such a group.
• Self-Plagiarism: Mark Evanier adapted "Mark of the Scarab" from his own comic story written for Gold Key Comics' Scooby Doo...Where Are You! #24.
• Some Nutty Publicity Stunt: Most of the gang think this at the beginning of "The Scarab Lives!" The down-to-earth members specifically with Daphne voicing that belief.
• Smarter Than You Look: Scrappy's not exactly an erudite, as proven by the many times where he activated a trap without making sure that it wasn't Shaggy and Scooby, or when he was convinced that the alien was hiding in a boot that was several times smaller then it. But occasionally he shows glimmers of brilliance, usually when it comes to catching the monster, which he's most interested in.
• Tangled Family Tree: Scrappy is added as the newest member of the Doo Family. However, oddly enough besides this, the rest of the incarnation doesn't introduce any other relatives.
• Vampire Episode: "I Left My Neck in San Francisco", where the gang runs into a lady vampire that happens to look a lot like Daphne, who is out with a cold. Because she's gone whenever the vampire shows up, Scooby, Scrappy and Shaggy think Daphne has turned into the vampire.
• Vampires Hate Garlic: Comes up in "I Left My Neck in San Francisco", where Scooby and Shaggy get the idea to ward of the Lady Vampire of the Bay by eating a garlic pizza.
• Verbal Tic: Scrappy putting "Ruff!" at the end of his sentences. It wore off after this season.
• Unbuilt Trope: Fans have oft wondered why the villain doesn't just grab Scrappy by the scruff and incapacitate? Well, in the snake demon's case it turned out to be a very temporary solution, as Scrappy simply waited until the snake demon had left the room to punch the box open and resort to more pragmatic tactics.
• Wait Here: Usually said to Scooby and Shaggy.
• Wake Up Fighting: Scrappy, sleeping between Shaggy and Scooby in the sails of a ship the gang's cruising on, hears a foghorn and immediately thinks someone snuck up on him in his sleep, which the two older boys correct him on.
• Wasn't That Fun?: Scrappy.
  • When Scrappy’s stranded on the big hand of Big Ben's clock face:
    Shaggy: Like, hang on, Scrappy!
    Scrappy: Oh, Tick-Tock! Time flies when you're havin' fun!
• Whole-Plot Reference: "The Night Ghoul of Wonderland". While there is the direct crossing with Sherlock Holmes, the whole setting of a world where robots allow you to live out a fantasy is a reference to Westworld. Along the way, the gang does pass by a western-themed area, as well as one like Jurassic Park. This is partly ironic as by this time Michael Crichton had written Westworld but had yet written Jurassic Park.

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