Trivia / Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo

• Actor-Shared Background: "The Ransom of the Scooby Chief" reveals that Scrappy is from New York, just like his voice actor, Lennie Weinrib.
• Executive Meddling: According to Mark Evanier, Scrappy's attitude had to be toned down, due to Standards and Practises viewing him a poor role model for being "too independent".
• Hostility on the Set: According to Mark Evanier, Lennie Weinrib was undergoing problems in his personal life at the time and could be quite difficult as a result. Part of the reason Scrappy was recast after this season was because Weinrib didn't get on with voice director Gordon Hunt. It got to the point where Weinrib would be willing to return if Evanier would take over as voice director, but this didn't work out.
• The Other Darrin: Pat Stevens (Velma) had to drop out of the series after eleven episodes due to illness. She was replaced by Marla Frumkin until the penultimate episode (notably, Velma doesn't speak in the Season Finale).
• The Other Marty: According Mark Evanier, it took so long to find the perfect voice for Scrappy that the first episode, "The Scarab Lives" was recorded four times - first with Don Messick, then with Daws Butler, then with Marilyn Schreffler, then with Frank Welker before finally settling with Lennie Weinrib.
• The Pete Best: Lennie Weinrib, Scrappy's voice actor, left the show after the first season due to a pay dispute. As a result, Don Messick, Scooby's voice actor, took over the role for the rest of his regular appearances into the 1980s.
• Self-Adaptation: The first episode, "The Scarab Lives", was adapted from "Mark of the Scarab", Mark Evanier's own comic story written for Gold Key Comics' Scooby Doo... Where Are You! #24.
• Throw It In!: According to Mark Evanier, Frank Welker was the one who came up with Scrappy's Catchphrase. During his audition, he ad-libbed a bit where he yelled a fanfare noise before shouting "Puppy Power". While he didn't get the part, Joe Barbera thought it was a great catchphrase.
• Troubled Production: The series ran into many production problems early on. Scrappy co-creator Mark Evanier even wrote a very lengthy essay on its troubled history.
  • By 1979, The Scooby-Doo Show was on the verge of cancellation by ABC, and Joe Barbera came up with the new character to help save it. None of the on-staff writers at Hanna-Barbera could write a satisfactory pilot script, and Evanier, the editor of their comic book division, was chosen. Barbera and Evanier worked together to finalize the character, and Evanier eventually turned in a satisfactory pilot script, and the show was picked up for a full season and made it on the air after endless salary and billing disputes, conflicts with Standards & Practices, and much, much Executive Meddling.
  • Casting the character's voice was difficult in its own right, and the entire pilot was recorded at least five different times. Mel Blanc was Barbara's first choice to voice Scrappy, but Blanc turned the role down over salary disagreements. Then Frank Welker was considered before Don Messick was cast, and the pilot script recorded with the entire cast. Then ABC decided they didn't like Don's version, so Daws Butler was cast and the entire script re-recorded. Then they didn't like his version, and Marilyn Schreffler was cast and the script re-recorded once again before Welker was cast, and the entire script recorded a fourth time. Then Paul Winchell and Dick Beals were cast at different points, though production was halted while Barbera once again attempted to strike a deal with Mel Blanc. Ultimately, Lennie Weinrib was cast in the role simply because he was the first choice the network wouldn't veto. Even he would end up leaving the role at the end of the season over a salary dispute, along with a personality dispute with the voice director, and Don Messick became Scrappy's permanent voice afterward.
• What Could Have Been: According to Mark Evanier, Scrappy's owner was originally Daphne's niece but this character was dropped in the development process. There was also some debate as to whether he should be a silent character or not.

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