"Scooby-Doo - Mystery, Inc." News & Discussion Thread

[Goldstar!]

It would be an absolute hoot if Mr. E turned out to be this guy:

Spoiler

 

[veemonjosh]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Mr. E actually turns out to be Vincent Van Ghoul.

The second episode had evidence that Mr. E is not related to the gang (since we saw their parents at their houses during the phone scene), and I SEVERELY doubt it's the Sheriff or the fisherman guy (the latter would be...odd). Professor Pericles is a possibility, but, even with his psychic powers, I don't know how he'd have access to recording on CDs and 8-Tracks.

And it's been confirmed by the writers that the gang will be meeting Vincent at some point, so...

 

[Deadman]

i havent a clue. thats one of the things i love about this series.


it would be really cool if vincent van ghoul was mister e, but i have a feeling we are all going to be surprised.

 

[magicdog]

Maybe the writers don't explore Shaggy's personality as much as the others because Shaggy has contributes the bulk of the personality development throughout all the Scooby series while the rest of the gang are more blank slates.

ITA. Fred, Daphne and Velma probably got the least in the way of character development over the years, but even Shaggy and Scooby were shortchanged, albeit in a different way. Shaggy and Scooby started becoming more popular and getting a bit more action (seeing the monsters, the silly things they did to avoid them and finding new culinary delights somewhere in between chases) but you still didn't get much more than that from them. In contrast to the rest of the gang, that was character development. That's why I was hoping to see more to Shaggy (and to a lesser extent, Scooby) than had been alluded to. It was good that he was dialed back a bit in terms of cowardice and seemed to gain back a few IQ points lost over other incarnations. He could even be useful now and then! That's why I was disappointed that he didn't appear to have many hobbies (at least the writers remembered the ventriloquism) or goals in this show - or at least that we've seen so far. The track team idea was the one that seemed best suited to him so I hope it or something similar comes along.

Although this series does make a point that Shaggy is very socially awkward and seems to be more comfortable with his dog than with people. Scooby is Shaggy's security blanket in this series and Shaggy's arc in this series is to learn to be less dependent on Scooby.

I think you hit the nail on the head! That's why he chose Scooby over Velma! Scooby's been there for so long, Shaggy's scared to reach out and "grow up". Assuming Scooby's been a part of his life for say 5-6 years that's a lot of changes a boy would undergo (childhood, puberty, drive a car, dating, go to college, etc.) in that time. Scooby's friendship and acceptance was the one thing he could count on (the gang also does but to a lesser extent) so rather than taking the risk of having a girlfriend in Velma (let's leave out her faults for the moment) he fell back on being Scooby's buddy. Now that Fred is finally starting to realize what Daphne means to him romantically, it's a matter of time before Shaggy starts to come around as well.

 

[Mister Intensity]

I think you hit the nail on the head! That's why he chose Scooby over Velma! Scooby's been there for so long, Shaggy's scared to reach out and "grow up". Assuming Scooby's been a part of his life for say 5-6 years that's a lot of changes a boy would undergo (childhood, puberty, drive a car, dating, go to college, etc.) in that time. Scooby's friendship and acceptance was the one thing he could count on (the gang also does but to a lesser extent) so rather than taking the risk of having a girlfriend in Velma (let's leave out her faults for the moment) he fell back on being Scooby's buddy. Now that Fred is finally starting to realize what Daphne means to him romantically, it's a matter of time before Shaggy starts to come around as well.

Although, I get the feeling that Scooby is going to come around before Shaggy. Scooby is going to learn to be more considerate of others and less self-centered. He's trying to make amends to Velma but she has to get over her anger first. I also get a feeling he's going to get a girlfriend in the next few episodes and its going to be the Shaggy situation in reverse.

 

[Collie]

I have two theories, one serious, one not.

My more serious theory is that Mr. E is Professor Pericles, as already stated.

My less serious theory is that Mr. E actually is Lewis Black. Imagine, the big reveal ...
LB: "Well, kids, you caught me. Congratulations."
Fred: "Hey, gang, it's the famous Lewis Black!"
LB: "That's right, and I woulda (bleep) gotten away with it if it weren't for you (bleep) meddling (bleep) kids! Yoooouuuuuuuu ... (BLEEP)!!"
Gang: *mass blank stare*

 

[magicdog]

Although, I get the feeling that Scooby is going to come around before Shaggy. Scooby is going to learn to be more considerate of others and less self-centered. He's trying to make amends to Velma but she has to get over her anger first.

I would find it ironic if it were Scooby who would be the more "mature" of the two!

I also get a feeling [Scooby's] going to get a girlfriend in the next few episodes and its going to be the Shaggy situation in reverse.

I can see this happening... maybe Daphne's mom gets a beautiful female Great Dane. In line with the tradition of giving all her daughters names beginning with the letter, "D", she'll call the dog, Dee (or Dee Dee). Hence, Scooby Dee is born and Scooby finds a gal pal!

 

[glt1000]

Re: Who Do You Think is Mr. E?

Moving the reply to "Who Do You Think is Mr. E?" to the speculation thread...

My pet theory is that Mr E is Fruitmeyer, and that Mr. Fruitmeyer is one of the missing original Mystery Inc. members...

If I can find the time, it is my intention to review each of the previously shown episodes in order, and work up some notes on the over-arching "Crystal Cove Mystery". As I do that, I'll post some of what I find here, making it available for discussion, or to be ignored, as people see fit.

GLT

 

[magicdog]

My pet theory is that Mr E is Fruitmeyer, and that Mr. Fruitmeyer is one of the missing original Mystery Inc. members...

A good guess; after all he seems like one of those disposible characters who appears in a past mystery but whose presence is no longer required in subsequent episodes. The creators have boasted that no one had guessed Mr. E correctly (they had been monitoring the boards) and Fruitmier is one that has only come up recently.

it is my intention to review each of the previously shown episodes in order, and work up some notes on the over-arching "Crystal Cove Mystery". As I do that, I'll post some of what I find here, making it available for discussion,

Looking forward to it; I've done similar work on trying to make sense of the clues Mr. E left behind as to what the "curse" is and possible foreshadowing of other things.

I originally thought Mr. E was a collective of people; specifically the gang's parents. I came to that conclusion originally following the gator episode when all the parents had flimsy excuses to not pick up the kids when they called for a ride. When the engine went missing, that made me think more than one person had to be in on trying to force the gang to remain in Gatorsburg (taking out an engine is no simple feat). With the parents seemingly more antagnonistic towards the gang's mystery solving as time went on, I began to think it was someone else. Obviously it has to be someone (or several someones) who have an eye on the gang's whereabouts at all times, is able to contact them at anytime via any method of communication. Who has that kind of power? Of course it also helps to know who benefits from revealing the secrets that the original Mystery Inc. knew? Or what happened to them all those years ago? Or why Prof. Peracles was locked up in an asylum?

 

[hobbyfan]

As I wrote in the thread for this week's episode, one possible swerve would be to have Mr. E revealed to be, secretly, Mayor Jones, Fred's equally dull-witted dad. Where Fred is obsessed with traps, pops is obsessed with exploiting every menace that hits Crystal Cove to put more money in the city's coffers if at all possible, but could that be a front? Could this shallow career politician, whose IQ isn't that far above his son's, be putting on an act?

Now, if the writers could find a means to have Daphne wear something besides a purple dress & hose once in a while (bikinis don't count)......

 

[magicdog]

As I wrote in the thread for this week's episode, one possible swerve would be to have Mr. E revealed to be, secretly, Mayor Jones, Fred's equally dull-witted dad. Where Fred is obsessed with traps, pops is obsessed with exploiting every menace that hits Crystal Cove to put more money in the city's coffers if at all possible, but could that be a front? Could this shallow career politician, whose IQ isn't that far above his son's, be putting on an act?

Mayor Jones never seems to be dull witted as much as he is politically motivated. I think he may be putting on an act but not merely that of a shallow career polititian. I wouldn't be surprised if he were a servant of the dark forces that lead to the curse of Crystal Cove. I don't think he is "Mr. E.", but I do think he is more than what we've seen so far.

 

[Bat-Man]

I think that this Scooby-Doo show is slowly becoming Supernatural, in a few years it will have a PD-13 rating with real killings

 

[Daffyfan2003]

Yeah. Right now, there's enough anger and bitterness with the gang, adding Scrappy might make things worse. Though I don't really dislike Scrappy. I just don't think he'd fit in with this series. Plus I wouldn't want to see him as the villian either like he was in the movie. I think Velma is already a bit 'out of character' in this series. We surely don't need another character to be like that. If they did another '13 Ghosts' thing, it would be best to have Velma and Fred take the place of Scrappy and Flim Flam.

I did like the ending wih Daphne and Fred though. I am starting to understand the relationship better. I guess Freddy has the same problem I have with being shy about expressing his feelings. I do agree with the other comments though, Daph only agreed to go with Fred to the trap exhibit because she liked him. It would be nice if they would go together to something she likes.

That's what I'd do if I'm interested in a girl. I'd try to find something that she would like or that we both would like. With Fred and Daphne, it seems like things are a little too one-sided.

 

[magicdog]

I guess Freddy has the same problem I have with being shy about expressing his feelings

I don't think it's as much shyness as his way of thinking. For some reason he equated manhood with being "dead inside" and preventing himself from feeling emotions. That keeps him separated from the rest of the gang emotionally. He purposely chose to ignore Daphne's romantic hints because he was too afraid to act on them. I would suspect it's related to a past trauma in his life (my pet theory - his mother died and that's when his emotional suppression began). It seems only now he feel ready to take a chance and ask Daphne out on a date. Up to now his excuse had been he didn't want to risk the friendship they shared, even though he was attracted to her and went to pieces when she'd been kidnapped.

 

[veemonjosh]

As I wrote in the thread for this week's episode, one possible swerve would be to have Mr. E revealed to be, secretly, Mayor Jones, Fred's equally dull-witted dad. Where Fred is obsessed with traps, pops is obsessed with exploiting every menace that hits Crystal Cove to put more money in the city's coffers if at all possible, but could that be a front? Could this shallow career politician, whose IQ isn't that far above his son's, be putting on an act?

Maybe, but he "already had his chair in the recline-position" when the Mystery Machine's engine was temporarily taken by Mr. E in the Gatorville episode...

Then again, we can always open the debate that Mr. E isn't working alone and there's multiple people helping him pull these sorts of things.

 

[moo92]

At this point, I have no clue who Mr.E is. I thought it was Pericles for a while but I'm not sure. Maybe if it is him, he is using his mind powers to get people do the work for him.


I said this in the other thread, but I got why he wanted to take Daphne to the trap museum. His two loves in the same place, Daphne and traps. I'm thinking thats how his thought process went.

 

[Nickle98499]

Yeah. Right now, there's enough anger and bitterness with the gang, adding Scrappy might make things worse. Though I don't really dislike Scrappy. I just don't think he'd fit in with this series. Plus I wouldn't want to see him as the villian either like he was in the movie. I think Velma is already a bit 'out of character' in this series. We surely don't need another character to be like that. If they did another '13 Ghosts' thing, it would be best to have Velma and Fred take the place of Scrappy and Flim Flam.

I sort of agree, and sort of disagree; if this series were made in say 1984 or 1985 like the original 13 Ghosts series, I think a Flim Flam type character would be fine because he was a one season character, whereas Scrappy had been around since 1979 and you could do without him at least for one series/season.

Since we're talking modern times, I think Daffyfan's suggestion is pretty good, Velma and Fred would definitely take the place of Scrappy and Flim Flam, because they weren't around back then so they would fit now; by the way, not to bring up old topics but why didn't Hanna Barbera consider adding Fred and Velma and getting rid of Scrappy for the original series?

I mean Fred and Velma were around when the gang met some real supernatural foes/friends before, i.e. the Addams Family and Jeannie episodes of the New Scooby Movies, and the Halloween episode of the New Scooby Doo Mysteries, after all, they did stick around even when the monsters all said they were real because there was a mystery to be solved and even that would take presedence over being scared of real ghosts.

So why couldn't you take that Fred and Velma and put them in a 13 Ghosts style situation? They would be the same way, wanting to capture the ghosts and return them to the Demon Chest, or whatever you want to do, and you could still go back to the original splitups if you wanted to even.

Sorry for getting off track, but I thought I would share that.

 

[magicdog]

why didn't Hanna Barbera consider adding Fred and Velma and getting rid of Scrappy for the original series?

My guess would have to be that Scrappy's character had revived the franchise so the suits figured it'd be better to keep him (albeit toned down) and then add another "scrappy" in the form of Flim Flam. They added Daphne (for those who missed her) and let things take their course. They probably figured Velma and Fred were expendable with the new format and it would have been easier to leave them out.

 

[Eric B]

I think they should have brought them back for the Boo Bros. That would have been good, just like old times, and the last hurrah of the gang in the original animation and design style. And it was only one story, so there should have been no problem with casting or keeping the roles alive.

 

[wiley207]

This is a rather random thought, but I always thought that Mindy Cohn's Velma in this show greatly reminds me of "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy." Except Velma is not as rude or sarcastic (seems the sarcastic devil-may-care Velma only exists when Mindy Cohn voices her). But Mandy's voice actually sounds quite a bit like Mindy Cohn, IMO, even though it's actually Grey DeLisle doing the voice.

I wonder if Grey DeLisle could do a decent Velma voice? She could probably voice both Velma and Daphne if Mindy Cohn was unavailable.