LogFAQs > #974730477

#3: Scrappy-Doo

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/6/AAAG8cAAEpL8.jpg
Does he get too much hate these days? Maybe, but he still set his IP back 20 years.

Back in 1979, Scooby-Doo was in trouble. After a decade on the air and numerous spinoffs and specials, the show had seemingly run its course, and was on the verge of cancellation. To save the franchise, a new character was introduced, by the name of Scrappy-Doo. Scrappy stood in stark contrast to his uncle Scooby. He was brave, aggressive, assertive, almost reckless, charging into danger and taking everyone around him with him. He was just what the doctor ordered to mix things up, and ratings actually improved during the season he was introduced. Scrappy-Doo, on his own, was not the problem that almost killed the Scooby-Doo IP. The problem with Scrappy, and what led to the 1980s being the worst period in Scooby-Doo history (with the exception of the 13 Ghosts Of Scooby Doo series, which was great DESPITE Scrappy), was that once he saved the show, everything began to revolve around him. Fred, Velma, and Daphne were jettisoned, and the show shifted its format from a grounded mystery show about normal human criminals in masks to a show about the supernatural, with real ghosts and real vampires and real monsters... and here Scrappy was, still charging in at them, much to the annoyance of viewers. You know that classic Simpsons episode, when Poochie showed up on Itchy and Scratchy? That was Scrappy-Doo during many of the 1980s shows that featured him. "Whenever Poochie's not on screen, all the other characters should be asking, 'where's Poochie?'" That was Scrappy-Doo. His personality evolved throughout the various 1980s shows, but executive meddling made this evolution inconsistent at best, and with such a polarizing character now the focus of the show, Scrappy became the focal point of not just the on-screen action, but a lot of the off-screen action as well. The series became more formulaic than it ever had even during the doldrums of the 1970s, with Scrappy continuing to shout his catchphrases, charge at villains, and get Scooby and Shaggy (or sometimes the others, but mostly Scooby and Shaggy) into trouble. Even when they succeeded in mellowing Scrappy out, it just didn't work, because a lot of the comedy of the show was lost as a result. Try as they might, with spinoffs and movies and specials, it just wasn't possible to make Scrappy Doo work, and most fans still preferred the classic cartoons before Scrappy came onto the scene. If they'd been able to integrate Scrappy into the full cast and develop his character in concert with the original five, it might've taken, but instead, Scooby-Doo took on a life of its own, with Scrappy as the focal point of just about everything, until eventually new writers began working on Scooby-Doo projects in the late 80s and early 90s and wrote Scrappy out of the show. It wouldn't be until 1998's Scooby-Doo On Zombie Island that the IP was fully revivified in a way that even made the use of supernatural creatures fit in, but Scrappy was nowhere to be seen, and the 2002 live-action film put the nail in his coffin for good. There's been an effort to rehabilitate Scrappy-Doo in recent years, and to anyone who enjoyed his character, that's totally fair. Scrappy wasn't the problem, but the lazy writing he enabled and the overly aggressive revamping of the original formula to accommodate him nearly killed the franchise. The 1980s Scooby-Doo writers failed Scrappy-Doo, and they're the ones to blame for his demise, not the haters. In the end, Scrappy-Doo became a symbol of too much change, too quickly, and that's a recipe that can doom even the most beloved children's IPs.