Was Scrappy the Only Way to Save Scooby-Doo

[Mister Intensity]

Reading the recent Scrappy oriented threads got me thinking about this one. Scrappy was added to the cast to extend its lifespan and that plan succeeded (this is not a Scrappy bashing thread, I actually like the character). I was recently watching episodes from the Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Show boxset and watching those episodes again, I do agree that the show became less interesting with those episodes (the characters became stuck in their set roles).

However, one episode, "The No-Face Zombie Chase" (IMO, the greatest Scooby-Doo episode ever) was loads of fun because it had all the elements you needed from a Scooby-Doo episode. It was a non-stop chase scene where everyone, not just Shaggy and Scooby, was being chased; several "danger prone Daphine" moments; and some good Scooby gags (who could forget the multiple Scoobys). One thing that sticks out was the inclusion of a skeptical law enforcement character who didn't believe what was going on and later got involved in the chase once he was convinced that the gang was telling the truth. This character, referred to as "The Inspector," only appeared once but it would have been nice if he was a recurring character that could have put a monkey wrench in the gang's crime fighting activity.

Would a character like that have extended the life of Scooby-Doo? I'm not sure about that but it would have freshened up a stale formula a bit.

[Tobias]

I liked Scrappy, too, and I think he did save the show for the few years he was there. I think everyone just bases their hatred on that first season when he was at his most annoying, but by the time Daphne returned to the gang a few years later, he'd completely mellowed out.

But I'd rather have had Scrappy than some human nephew/niece of the Mystery Inc gang show up. Of course, if we'd gotten Flim Flam in '79 instead of Scrappy, I wonder how mellowed out he'd have become by 13 Ghosts.

[Eric B]

I think too many episodes were made in the Scooby Doo Show period (40: 16 + 8 + 16), and it was running it into the ground (and while No Face zombie was an OK idea, others that tried to expand Scooby's repertoire were basically ill fitting, and the rest were just rehashes of earlier stuff). Hence, a change had to be made.

What I think would have kept the gang fresh and not necessitate an addition like Scrappy would have been to make them regulars in the Dynomutt series, like the three episodes they guest starred in. That worked well for them, so you were getting new Scooby & the gang, but it wasn't being driven into the ground with mystery ideas running out.
If they had done that '76-77, and perhaps skip '78 (you were getting Shaggy and Scooby in Laffalympics anyway), then you could have made the 'same '79 episodes without Scrappy, (and yet with the new music and all), and no one would threaten to cancel it, because the original format would have been given a rest for a few years. Just like it took three years of the original format on ABC before they demanded change.
And then who knows; perhaps the short episodes of the next five years would have had the whole gang, or at least one of the other members, in somewhat of a mystery format, instead. (I say short episodes, because that is what HB seemed to make thiose years, so I get the feeling that was inevitable with or without format change anyway).

[Mister Intensity]

I think too many episodes were made in the Scooby Doo Show period (40: 16 + 8 + 16), and it was running it into the ground (and while No Face zombie was an OK idea, others that tried to expand Scooby's repertoire were basically ill fitting, and the rest were just rehashes of earlier stuff). Hence, a change had to be made.

What I think would have kept the gang fresh and not necessitate an addition like Scrappy would have been to make them regulars in the Dynomutt series, like the three episodes they guest starred in. That worked well for them, so you were getting new Scooby & the gang, but it wasn't being driven into the ground with mystery ideas running out.
If they had done that '76-77, and perhaps skip '78 (you were getting Shaggy and Scooby in Laffalympics anyway), then you could have made the 'same '79 episodes without Scrappy, (and yet with the new music and all), and no one would threaten to cancel it, because the original format would have been given a rest for a few years. Just like it took three years of the original format on ABC before they demanded change.
And then who knows; perhaps the short episodes of the next five years would have had the whole gang, or at least one of the other members, in somewhat of a mystery format, instead. (I say short episodes, because that is what HB seemed to make thiose years, so I get the feeling that was inevitable with or without format change anyway).

Skipping 78 would have been the best thing for Scooby-Doo. :D

But seriously, the Dynomutt episodes Scooby and the gang appeared in was probably the best use of those characters during that season with the exception of a few episodes (No Face Zombie was one, Scooby-Doo Where's the Crew was another, interestingly both episodes the emphasis was on the chase with the mystery being more of an excuse for the chases).

Short mysteries was a format HB was using for Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels so with the HB shows going for 7 minute shorts in 1980, going to a short format with members of the gang appearing (ala Superfriends) with Shaggy and Scooby as the constants was something I could have seen them doing but at that point Fred, Daphine, and Velma (especially Velma) were robbed of whatever personalities they had by that point so I'm not sure it would have worked with those characters (maybe if they did it in 1974, it would have worked). Maybe people were too attached to the chase format to try something different but I always felt they should have tried an Archie-esque format. Although they kind of did that in 1982 in Scooby, Scrappy, and Yabba Doo but that format did not last too long being cancelled in favor of reruns of Scooby-Doo mysteries which led to the return of the mystery format the following season with shorter, quirkier mysteries.