Not able to listen to the full episode? Don’t worry! You can still read the full transcript of the interview with Ray DeLaurentis below. Or click here to listen to the podcast episode.
It’s a work in progress! Check back soon for the full transcript.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
In this episode of the Unmasked History of Scooby Doo, Alexa speaks with Rick Copp, writer of Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost (1999), and the 2013 special episode Scooby-Doo! and the Mecha Mutt Menace.
Highlights of this episode include:
1- The development of the Hex Girls, and how the trio has had a lasting impact on the franchise as fan-favourite characters.
2- The writing process for Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost.
3- How Rick came to write Scooby-Doo! and the Mecha Mutt Menace.
Make sure to listen to the episode above! Or you can read a transcript of the interview here.
Not able to listen to the full episode? Don’t worry! You can still read the full transcript of the interview with Rick Copp below. Or click here to listen to the podcast episode.
It’s a work in progress! Check back soon for the full transcript.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
In this episode of the Unmasked History of Scooby Doo, Alexa chats with Nick Palatas, who played the role of Shaggy in the 2009 and 2010 live action TV films, Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins, and Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster.
Highlights of this episode include:
1- How Nick developed the voice of Shaggy, and what he wanted to bring to his interpretation of the character.
2- What it was like on set, and what it was like to film some of the scenes in both the Mystery Begins and Curse of the Lake Monster.
3- How Nick liked to do his own stunts in the films, and which ones were the most difficult.
Make sure to listen to the episode above! Or you can read a transcript of the interview here.
Not able to listen to the full episode? Don’t worry! You can still read the full transcript of the interview with Nick Palatas below. Or click here to listen to the podcast episode.
AL: What’s your relationship to Scooby-Doo, did you grow up watching?
NP: Oh yeah, of course. I was born in ’88, so I’m not too, I guess, young for Scooby-Doo. ‘Cause I don’t know, it seems like nowadays Scooby-Doo doesn’t have the same clout that it did back then, back when it was original Hanna-Barbera and we used to watch Saturday morning cartoons, (which) were like a big deal. I don’t think that’s a big deal anymore. But I could be out of touch. But yeah, growing up, Scooby-Doo was absolutely a part of it. I used to watch all those kinds of shows. I would watch the Flinstones, I watched the Jetsons, I watched Jonny Quest, oh man, that was good stuff too. So like all of those old Hanna-Barbera and shows of that ilk. Yeah, I loved it.
AL: And do you have a personal memory related to Scooby-Doo at all?
NP: You mean before I became Shaggy, like from my childhood? I remember, I think there was an episode about the Bermuda Triangle that freaked me out pretty bad. I really, really liked A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, that series. And just the theme song, or the intro song to A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, I could probably still to this day quote it. I could still probably remember all the words.
AL: What was your experience for the audition process for the Mystery Begins?
NP: Man, the audition process was weird. Yeah, I mean auditioning, you know, the first audition is kind of just like everything else, you go in – now there was a bit more stakes in this one just because it was for Shaggy in Scooby-Doo, and like who isn’t going to freak out when they’ve got a possible audition for that. So I went in the first time, and just did what I could for it, and I ended up getting a callback. And the second time, I just, I don’t even know if I can say it, but I remember Brian Levant, who was our director, said that, he was like “You just, he needs to be more of a stoner type.” And those weren’t his exact words, I’m not going to quote him verbatim because that’s like kind of just an easy way of saying it, but it was just hilarious to me because that’s not who I am at all. And yeah, I guess Brian Levant just saw the potential for me to be that, and you know, kind of went with it. And then throughout, you know, I ended up getting I think another callback and then after that we went to screen test and it was like a chemistry read with the other people. I think at the chemistry read, I think there was one guy there also playing for Shaggy that I was like “Oh man, that guy is totally going to get it, he’s way better suited for this.” And then I ended up getting it anyway, so yeah. I mean, pretty emotional when I found out I got it. But the audition process was just a lot of fun.
AL: And had you ever met Kate, Hayley or Robbie prior to the screen test?
NP: Um, I don’t think so. Man, I guess it’s possible. I don’t know, when you’re growing up in Hollywood and in the actors’ circles, you do end up meeting a lot of people, provided you’re in those circles. And since I was trying to associate there, I might have met them before at like a get-together or something, a party that somebody was having. But not that I specifically remember, no. We certainly didn’t become close until the movies themselves.
AL: And you mentioned that you thought that the other guy was going to get it, but was there a point when you felt in your audition and that you might get it?
NP: I mean, as confident as you can be. You know, it’s always a toss-up, because there’s a lot of times that as an actor, you go into a room and you’re like “I absolutely nailed that, goodness gracious, I killed that audition, like that was perfect, exactly what I want, everybody was laughing,” and then you never hear back from them at all. And then there are the times where you’re like “Oh wow, I completely butchered it, there’s no way I’m going to hear from them,” and then you end up booking that role. So like, I was as confident as you could be. But again, it’s best not to count your chickens before they hatch I guess.
AL: What was your reaction when you did get the call saying that you had got it?
NP: I actually remember pretty vividly. I was with my girlfriend at the time, we were just hanging out. And I got a phone call, and I didn’t know who it was from, just you know, a random number popped up. And I answered it, and they told me I got the role and I kind of said “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, thank you,” and I hung up and I literally, I think I burst into tears. Like happy tears obviously, but it was crazy. Very emotional time, I couldn’t believe it. Yeah, you’ve got to have had some of those moments in your life right, where something happens to you that you never thought would have happened.
AL: What’s your favourite thing about the character of Shaggy?
NP: I mean honestly, just kind of the innocence with which he views the world. Shaggy, Norville, whatever you want to call him, is just – as pessimistic as he is, because he’s always afraid that something’s going to happen or whatever, at the same time, he just, he views the world with such an innocence, and he has such a great attitude as far as just always knowing that he can have fun in any circumstance and like, he doesn’t ever let it really get to him, I mean, it doesn’t seem like he’s got PTSD or anything certainly, which you could. He just approaches everything from a light-hearted manner, and I really like that about him. And besides, I love food, and who doesn’t love food, so that’s great too.
AL: And was there anything in particular that you wanted to bring to your interpretation of him?
NP: You know, when bringing a cartoon character to life, there’s a lot of interpretation that has to go into it, because you can’t be a cartoon, right. But I just kind of wanted to give all that same energy, but as realistic as it could be. And again, that same innocence and what that would really look like in a human being, as opposed to in a cartoon. Still giving that character some depth, I mean obviously you can’t go too deep in that kind of thing, but yeah. Interpretive wise I just really wanted to be true to him while also bringing him more down to earth.
AL: Shaggy’s voice is obviously not your natural voice, how did you develop that?
NP: (in the Shaggy voice) Like man, I just watched a ton of the cartoons and like, I tried my best, you know?
I’m so rusty and I apologize if that offended your ears. I don’t, just like I don’t watch it every weekend, I don’t practice the voice every weekend either. But I did for a long time. I practiced that voice, I watched the cartoons over and over and over again, and tried to imitate Casey Kasem as much as possible, while still understanding that it’s my voice and it is a different take on Shaggy in general. So, yeah, I just kind of did that. I didn’t do the Matthew Lillard thing because I heard that the way he got into it was by like screaming his voice out to where he didn’t have a voice, and then what was kind of left was the Shaggy. I just kind of went into it and just when I started doing the voice, I just fell into the character at the same time, you know.
AL: And was it ever difficult to keep that up throughout all of filming?
NP: Sure, you know, there were some times where we would have to be wet and cold. There were some times when it was a really hot day, and all of those things are going to change the elasticity of your vocal cords to a degree. And so, you know, doing that it was a little tough. I drank a lot of tea with honey. It’s an old trick that singers use too, because I used to be in show and jazz choir and all that stuff when I was in school. But yeah, just keep the vocal cords loose and limber, and you know, be able to sustain it as much as possible. It was during that that I also realized exactly how much musicians go through. ‘Cause man, if you are like a professional singer/musician, whether it’s Taylor Swift or any of the really popular singers, when you’re on tour and when you’re doing that 24/7, and your entire livelihood is based on your voice, like I can’t imagine the pressure that they must feel.
AL: You touched on it a little bit, but what is it like to try and bring a cartoon character to life in a live-action movie?
NP: Honestly, it’s great. Again, you have to kind of understand your limitations, but I was also, I mean, I had Brian Levant for a director, and he’d done that before. The Flinstones movie that he did prior to our movies, he also, you know, he directed Jingle All the Way with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even that, obviously he’s not bringing a cartoon character to life, but in the premise of the show, he, you know, Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes like Turbo Man to a degree. And so, all of those kind of things, the Beethoven movies, they’re all kind of classic kids movies that have a lot of energy and light-hearted just like cartoons do, and so fortunately I just had a really, really good amount of guidance and direction on how to get there, and what it should look like.
AL: When it is such a high-energy movie, is the atmosphere on set like that as well?
NP: I mean it was for ours. I can’t say for all, because I haven’t done any acting in quite a while, kind of gave that up a long time ago. But yeah, on our sets it was great. There was, everybody was just having fun all the time. As much as we could, obviously you have a budget, a production budget, you have deadlines to meet and everything, but no, for the most part, the experiences there were amazing. And we always just tried to keep that energy and that fun going at all times.
AL: And what was the dynamic like between you, Kate, Hayley, and Robbie?
NP: Honestly, I thought we got along great. Very different people, all of us. We all have our idiosyncrasies and quirks and everything else. Things that make us unique. But we all went into it pretty well, and what’s really funny is that, I don’t know, I wouldn’t even say that all of us, who we are personally, fit the characters to a T. But we all had that in us obviously, and could bring it out. Yeah, just the dynamic between us, we were pretty close when we were filming, it was a lot of fun and we always had a good time.
AL: Who would you say you got closest with on set?
NP: Probably Katie. Katie and I have actually maintained a pretty good relationship, even now. I mean, we still kind of keep in touch every so often. Robbie and Hayley, I don’t keep in touch with them as much, I don’t know if Katie does. I’m still friends with both of them on Facebook and I love seeing Robbie’s posts, you know, when he got married and now has a kid and everything. I was super happy for him and obviously saw that, but yeah. Katie and I got pretty close at the time, and have remained pretty close as friends, it’s really nice.
AL: And did you get a chance to work with Frank Welker at all?
NP: I did. I actually did get a chance to work (with him), I think I was the only one that got to work with Frank Welker, which was crazy. And what a nice guy. We were doing some ADR, which is automated dialogue replacement. It’s like after you actually shoot the scene, if for some reason the sound wasn’t good on that particular clip, then you have to go in and they put you in this big, it’s almost like a movie theatre, like a private movie theatre, and you have a little microphone and they’ll play it back for you. And you have to repeat your lines as close to your mouth as you could. And while I was there, Frank Welker was also there. So I did get to meet him and that was crazy. And I still have a picture with him somewhere in the deep recesses of my Facebook. Still have that picture with him. I think I put bunny ears on him because why not. You know what Frank Welker has done right, like he’s prodigious in the industry.
AL: What was it like to meet him?
NP: Honestly, he’s such a cool, down to earth guy. Like there was no air of superiority, he just came at it with again, all of that same kind of cartoon energy that you can have as a person and which makes sense, because he’s been doing it forever. But yeah, he made me feel like I had always been his friend, you know. He’s a cool guy.
AL: In both of the films you got to work with some really great actors in the supporting roles, like Nichelle Nichols, and Marion Ross, etc. Did you have a favourite to work with?
NP: Jonathan Winters was a riot. Honestly, that guy was hilarious. He was sharp as an absolute tack, super witty. And yeah, that was a pretty cool one to work with. Although the thing I will say, the most freaked out I got I guess, or starstruck of any, was on the Curse of the Lake Monster, the prop master, the guy that had the prop truck and was using it, I randomly went into his truck to get something, and I think I ended up seeing the Freddy Krueger glove, like with the long claws and everything. I don’t like horror movies, I’m not a fan, but that’s pretty famous. And I said “Whoa, what is this, you just made a replica?” And he’s like “No, that’s the one we actually used on Nightmare on Elm Street.” And I went “That’s the real glove?” And he said “Yeah.” So not a person, but that was awesome.
AL: That’s crazy.
NP: Yeah, and I got to try it on and again I took a picture with it. I still have that picture somewhere. Yeah, that was pretty fun. And did you know, oh here, little piece of trivia, did you know the guy that was the stand-in, the mo-cap guy for Scooby on Curse of the Lake Monster, his name was Luke Youngblood, he was actually the announcer in the Quidditch matches in Harry Potter. So he was Scooby. I didn’t even end up finding out until later, ’cause I’m more of a Lord of the Rings guy than a Harry Potter guy, but I didn’t find that out until I think like years after we filmed it, it was like “Oh wow, that’s cool.”
AL: And out of both movies or one for each if you had one, what is your favourite scene?
NP: Hm. Honestly I think the part, the first movie by the way, I think is my favourite of the two. The Mystery Begins really was for me, I enjoy watching it more. Might have something to do with the fact that like the singing in the second movie, I don’t love listening to myself on those ones. But the first movie where I just got to say like “Well it’s nice to meet you Scooby-Doo.” That makes me smile every time. Just because it’s such a moment of purity, like that is, that’s that right. It was when Shaggy met Scooby, for all intents and purposes, of our timeline. Yeah, I really love that scene.
AL: That is a good one.
NP: And that shirt by the way, the one that I was wearing with clouds, I got to keep that after filming. It actually felt like clouds. I don’t have it anymore, cause I think eventually it got some holes in it from the dryer or something, I had to throw it away, but like that shirt, I wore it for years as a pajama shirt because it was so comfy.
AL: That is awesome!
NP: Yup. Highly recommend getting one of those.
AL: Was there a scene that was the most difficult to film?
NP: There were a few. I really liked to do my own stunts in these movies. Even though they were tough. Just because it was more fun. So like everything from in the first movie where I fall through an almost Rube Goldberg type chain of events, into the trash can and then flop onto the principal’s chair. I hurt myself a lot during that one. When I caught the frisbee in my mouth I cut my mouth open on the frisbee which wasn’t fun. And then like the whole, in Curse of the Lake Monster, when I fell into the sand trap and had to pull myself out of it again, I remember having sand in my hair, so much that I had to wash my hair I think practically a hundred times that night to get it all out. Yeah, mad respect for girls for having long hair, because mine wasn’t even that long and just goodness gracious. It takes so much work.
AL: And what was it like to do the scenes where Scooby would be present?
NP: Honestly it wasn’t that big of a deal to me. They would bring out some reference material to show how the shadows and the light would affect his fur for CGI. And then they would bring out like this little stuffed one, usually they would have it on a pole, and you would interact with that during one of the takes. And then after that, you just interacted with nothing but you would just remember what the blocking and choreography was like from when you had the stuffed animal in there. And just kind of go with that. I mean, fortunately I have a fairly good sense of imagination, so it wasn’t that bad. I greatly enjoyed it.
AL: You mentioned that you got to keep the shirt, but was there anything else that you got to keep from the set of either of the movies?
NP: Um, I mean not really. It was mostly clothing that I got to keep. Memories. Kept a lot of memories. I don’t know what else I would have kept per se, can you give me an example?
AL: Like Kate said she got to keep her flippers from the scuba scene, and I think she said her parents have the little Huckleberry Hound bobblehead that was in the Mystery Machine.
NP: Oh interesting. That’s where that went, damn that Kate! No. I don’t remember anymore. I remember that shirt, I remember, there were a couple, like I took a jacket, I think I took a pair of pants. I don’t remember taking anything much beyond that, no. Oh, actually, we did get to keep our rollerblades from the second movie.
AL: I have a couple questions specifically from Mystery Begins here, what was it like to be able to film an origin story for Scooby-Doo?
NP: That was probably the part that tripped me out the most of the whole thing. That it was an origin story. I think, correct me if I’m wrong, but the previous movies with Matt Lillard and Linda Cardellini, and Freddie Prinze Jr., and Sarah Michelle Gellar, those movies, didn’t they kind of have a little bit of an origin story to them? Like didn’t they touch on it a little bit?
AL: I think there was like a flashback scene.
NP: So, I mean, how these things go, it’s not, you can’t ever have one origin story. I mean, even if you, if you ever read comics or any of that, comic books are known for having multiple timelines and storylines for the same characters and heroes and everything. But seeing that this one was like the fully fleshed out, the whole movie was about the origin, it was pretty cool and pretty intense. Because you know that that’s probably going to become canon somewhat. And so I did feel a little bit of pressure from that standpoint. But just what was it like filming the origin story, it was awesome, it was a really big honour.
AL: And you mentioned the frisbee, but what was the filming process like for that montage after Shaggy meets Scooby, like where he steals your sandwich and things like that?
NP: Wait, am I getting the movies mixed up… okay, the montage. I remember, so there’s the frisbee catch, there was the, where I like ran around in circles and we were like holding each other’s hands, kind of doing that. That was really awkward, because that’s harder to imagine. You can’t like, because you know, the physics involved in it is normally there’d be two bodies kind of pulling against each other and in such counter balancing each other. Well I didn’t have a counter balance. So I was kind of trying to lean back as much as possible to make it look like there was a counter balance, like Scoob was on the other end. And then also jump in a circle sideways. That one was weird. And then for the frisbee one, they did have me, like they put me on a dolly and they rigged up this little thing that I laid my chest on the dolly, and then the frisbee was on a big pole that had a motor on it so it would still spin. And that’s why it ended up cutting me, because it had like kind of a sharp edge on the outside of the frisbee. But they just like pushed me towards it, and then I just had to catch it in my mouth.
AL: In the scene where Shaggy and Scooby spend the night in the freezer and then they’re frozen in the morning, was that blue look accomplished with makeup or CGI, or how did they do that?
NP: No, that was makeup. That was, actually I fell asleep in the makeup chair on that one. It was probably a good, geez, how many hours was I in the makeup chair for, I want to say it was at least two hours, probably more. My gut instinct says it was four, but yeah. I was in the makeup chair for a long time, and I just remember being really tired because I think we had shot late the night before, and so I said “Hey, can I just pass out?” and she was like “Yeah, sure.” So I did. Then I woke up and I looked and I was like “Oh my gosh, I’m Mr. Freeze.” It was cool though, it was fun.
AL: And then did you actually have to like walk around in that trash can for the disguise scene?
NP: Oh man. No, I don’t think… no, I don’t think we did. I think they had other people walk in the trash cans for us and then we just, because I’m 6’1″, I wouldn’t have fit in that trash can. So then I think they just had it stationary, and they filmed us opening up the lid and then they just CGI’d it on.
AL: And for specifics for Curse of the Lake Monster, what were your first thoughts when you read the script with the played up romances and the Velma being the witch storyline?
NP: Yeah, I mean I was like “Wow, they’re really going here, huh.” They’re going Shaggy and Velma, they’re shipping it, that’s the whole thing. It surprised me, but I was like “Sure, why not.” Sounds like fun, it was a good script. The Altiere brothers are, I really liked their writing. So yeah, I was just excited. I was excited to get to see everybody again after the hiatus we had previously and yeah. Script was great.
AL: With a character who’s as awkward as your version of Shaggy is, what was it like to act Shaggy when he’s being really interested in Velma?
NP: I mean, again, it goes back to that innocence thing. Like, look, anybody who’s old enough has had a first crush, and like what that felt like. I remember, man, I mean my first crush was a girl named Joanna, I was six years-old, living in San Pedro at the time. My dad was navy so he was stationed out here. She was my first crush, and I remember still kind of the innocence I felt in that, and I think at one point we even played Sleeping Beauty and I think I kissed her and woke her up, right. And this is like, I’m six years-old, it’s not a real kiss. But still, technically my first kiss. And so it kind of just, I went back to that and the innocence of that moment. Even though I had a crush and there’s quote unquote romantic feelings, as much as a six year-old can have, I kind of just went to that and put that forward for what Shaggy could experience too, in his first crush.
This is going to be really weird by the way, if Joanna happens to remember me, and now she like hears this interview and goes “Oh my gosh, he remembers when we were six?” That’s going to be weird.
AL: Maybe just a little bit.
NP: Right?
AL: And at the beginning of the movie, in Shaggy’s dream sequence after school gets out, Shaggy does the limbo. Can you do the limbo?
NP: So, I’m actually, well maybe not as much anymore, because now I’m 32 and like you know. I’m practically over the hill at this point. But yeah no, I was always pretty good flexible wise, as far as back bends go and everything, so I’d like to say I’m pretty good at the limbo. Why, do you want to challenge me? Is it going down Alexa?
AL: Sure.
NP: Bring it.
AL: And what was your reaction when you found out about the various different musical numbers that were in the Curse of the Lake Monster?
NP: Yeah. So, again, I like to consider myself a singer, like I actually really enjoy singing, I’ve been told I have a good voice, and so I was excited about it at first. But then they said “Well the first one we’re going to have you do it in the Shaggy voice.” And I was like “Oh wow, okay. That’s going to be tough.” And then the second one, the I Can Be Scared With You one, originally I liked the sound, they had like a test run of it that they did through a guy that was like actually good at that genre of music, and it sounded great, I loved it. And they said “Well, you guys are going to record this.” And I was like “What? That’s way higher than my vocal register, man.” And they were like “We’ll make it work.” I’m glad they made it work, it’s not my favourite thing to listen to my own voice on but you know what, yeah. So, I don’t know. I mean, I was down with the idea, I just, it was a lot tougher than I expected.
AL: What was it like to try and sing in the Shaggy voice?
NP: As I said, it was not something I was used to doing. But at the same time, I mean, since that, and I’ve kind of always liked doing voices, but since doing that and becoming comfortable with it and everything, I now just love doing voices in general. I tell a lot of jokes, it’s one of my favourite things to do is make other people laugh. And you know, if you ever get a story or a joke where you know, “Well an Irishman, a Spaniard and a Frenchman walk into a bar,” it helps so much more when you’re able to do some semblance of an accent on all of them. And then like even for my daughter, because I have a daughter, but even for her, when I’m reading stories with her, when we’re reading books together I do what my dad did for me, and I always make a different voice for each of the characters, and really kind of bring the world to life. And she has this stuffed animal whose name is Rainbow Bunny, and I’ve made a whole persona for him, he’s sarcastic and you know, kind of rude at times but he’s a silly little thing, and she honestly, sometimes she’ll even not want to talk to me, she’ll just want to talk to him. So like, yeah, no, I’m serious. Sometimes she’ll be like “Dada, can I talk to Rainbow Bunny?” And I’m like “But…” and then I’ll be like “Yeah, sure.” And so then she’ll end up just having an hour long conversation with me as Rainbow Bunny. It’s a thing. So I’m really grateful for, you know, the Scooby-Doo thing and really getting me comfortable with doing voices and being silly.
AL: Can you also play instruments as well, because there’s a lot of sequences with you playing ukulele and guitar, and various different things?
NP: There’s a lot of sequences with me faking it. Absolutely. No, man, I really wish I could play the piano. And I actually maybe can play a little bit. I’m fairly comfortable on the piano, again, being a singer, I can at least sight read music. I’m not good by any stretch of the imagination, but no, I’m not, the instrument I play is the trachea, so to speak.
AL: I was brushing up on my research here, so in the special features on the DVD, you mention that you have quite a bit of rollerblading experience. Is that correct?
NP: Yeah, I learned, actually also in San Pedro, is when I learned to rollerblade, when I was about five or six years-old. Then later in my teenage years I actually bought a pair of like, aggressive skates, and I would go to the skate park and grind rails and go up and down the half pipe or whatever and do whatever tricks I could do. I didn’t get great at it, but I’ve rollerbladed a lot, I’ve skied and water-skied and so yeah, I felt pretty comfortable on them.
AL: Was it an easy transition then to go to dancing on rollerblades?
NP: Definitely not. That’s totally different. But I definitely had it easier than Katie. I’m sure if you asked her that question, she probably told you about it. She did not like her time on the rollerblades, or on the roller skates. Oh, Katie Kate.
AL: And out of all the musical numbers do you have a favourite? Including the side musical numbers like the rap and other sequences.
NP: You know what, I actually liked, I really did like By the Light of the Silvery Moon. Because even though it’s weird and it was tough to do singing in the voice and everything, at the same time it’s just so sweet and so pure, that whole sequence, and dreamy and everything. Kind of has a similar feel I guess to Moulin Rouge, where during the, that sequence, you know what I’m talking about, right. Not Come What May, I forget the song. But like, there’s the whole floating on the clouds and all of that. Just pure and lovey-dovey and happy.
AL: What was it like to go into a recording studio to record the songs and doing the rehearsals for the choreography?
NP: I mean, that felt pretty normal. It’s just all par for the course for an actor, right. Certain things we just kind of have to do, and get used to doing. Recording studios were definitely different, but if you’ve ever done any sort of vocal work, or voiceover work or anything, it wasn’t too bad for me. I mean, Hayley was a pro at it. But yeah, it wasn’t too bad. I think it felt really comfortable because it was the four of us together, so it wasn’t weird.
AL: And I wanted to talk about the stunts a little bit more, were there any that you didn’t do?
NP: Um, honestly, I think I did… I think maybe, no that wasn’t even me, that was Robbie. I’m sure if I went back and watched the movies again, I could maybe pick out a few that I didn’t do. But off the top of my head, I think that I probably did all of my own. With maybe the exception of one or two, but I don’t remember what they would be, I’m just trying to give myself a buffer zone. In case I’m wrong.
AL: Was there any that took a ridiculous amount of takes to get right?
NP: The sand one took a lot of takes. The trash can one took a lot of takes. Those are the two biggest. Yeah, I don’t think anything else really took a lot of takes, it was just those two that were pretty difficult. Lots of different, I think they shot a couple different camera angles on them, and each angle we did quite a few takes of. So, yeah. It might also be that those were the most rigorous and potentially painful ones. ‘Cause like one time the trash can fell over, and they were pulling it with like a steel bar, and so it fell over forwards and so I toppled over forwards, and my back, my spine went straight into the steel bar, which wasn’t a lot of fun. So maybe I’m just remembering the pain, and thinking it took more takes than it did. Who knows.
AL: Does it take a lot of confidence to be able to, you know, throw yourself into that trash can?
NP: I guess you could call it that. Yeah, no, you just do what you have to do. When the director says do it, you do it. And I mean again, I was raised by a military guy, so when my dad said jump, I said how high, sir. You know, always used to taking direction, so. I wouldn’t say confidence, I’d say willingness.
AL: What was it like to be able to recreate those more classic Scooby gags in the second film with unmasking some classic villains in the I Can Be Scared With You sequence and running through the doors?
NP: Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I was very cognizant of it happening when it was happening. And we all just enjoyed it thoroughly, because yeah, I mean those are classic gags. And so, it was fun shooting them, but most of that stuff, the magic is done in post. And so it was way more fun seeing it put together at the end. Yeah, the payoff was much better there.
AL: What was your favourite thing about being part of a Scooby-Doo project?
NP: Honestly, I mean at the time, I have to say I was more focused on myself and what it could possibly mean for my career and all that stuff. But in the subsequent years, and ever since that movie coming out, or even our first premiere, which we had a premiere in a theatre over in like Glendale, Pasadena area. And seeing all of the people so excited about it, or even when we went to Comic-Con and people were lining up at our booth just to get autographs. I think that was the biggest payoff for me. The biggest part of excitement about the whole thing was seeing how many people got smiles because of something that I did. Even just a few years ago, I was transacting business with a person, and he recognized me. And he said “Oh my gosh, wait. Nick. Are you the, I just have to ask, are you the guy that did Scooby-Doo?” And I was like “Yeah.” And he said “You have no idea how much joy you’ve brought to my family.” And that’s crazy. And now I have this, you know, a fan on YouTube by the name of Simon. And just seeing him and like how much I was able to like give him inspiration and everything, through something that I don’t even really consider a big deal for myself, I was doing a job and having fun doing it. I think that was what really made the whole experience for me.
AL: What was it like to be part of a franchise that has such a legacy, did you ever think about it and how it would still resonate today?
NP: Yeah, a little bit. Being part of a franchise that has the kind of clout that Scooby-Doo does is cool. I think that more people have been to the Moon than have played Shaggy, which is kind of just like a little factoid I sometimes throw around. But yeah, I don’t know if it ever really manifested in a big way that I considered it would, because it is such a big franchise. So I think that it just feels kind of normal to me now.
AL: Why do you think that Scooby-Doo, which is at its core, a cartoon about a mystery solving dog, why do you think it’s held up for over 50 years?
NP: I think partially because it transcends generations, you know. The adult generation sees it as something from their childhood and kids today now see it as something from their childhood and I think the fact that it’s just continued to go on and on because it’s innocent and fun and happy and you know, all ages can agree on it, I think that brings a lot of people together. And that’s what, it’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy at that point, you know. Your parents have good memories of it so they then teach it to you and then you then teach it to your kids. As long as it’s still on there it just keeps going.
AL: And there was supposed to be a third, and possibly fourth film I think after Lake Monster, and even though you’re not involved with acting anymore, if they suddenly called you wanting to reboot like an adult version of your cast, would you take it?
NP: Oh yeah. Oh absolutely I would. If nothing else, just to have all that fun again. And you know, get to see Robbie and catch up with Robbie and Hayley. As I said I keep in touch with Katie, but yeah, just to have that experience and I mean, why not. I don’t think anybody would turn that down, that would be ridiculous.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
In October, we’re back to a variety of different interviews after September’s Mystery Incorporated themed month. In this episode, Alexa chats with writer Jeremy Adams. Jeremy was one of the writers on Scoobynatural, and wrote the 2019 direct-to-video film Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island.
Highlights of this episode include:
1- A brief chat about the LEGO Scooby-Doo shorts.
2- All things writing for Scoobynatural.
3- The writing process for Return to Zombie Island, and what it was like to write a sequel to the original Zombie Island.
Make sure to listen to the episode above! Or you can read a transcript of the interview here.
If you want to follow Jeremy, you can find him on Twitter, @spacekicker.
Not able to listen to the full podcast episode? Check out the full transcript of the interview with Jeremy Adams here.
In the fourth and final episode of September’s Mystery Incorporated themed month, Alexa speaks with director/producer Victor Cook. Victor also worked on the direct to video special episodes on the 13 Spooky Tales DVD releases, and the 2013 movie Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright.
Highlights of this episode include:
1- Victor’s path from wanting to be a print cartoonist, to directing in animation.
2- How Victor came to work on Mystery Incorporated, and his experience on the show.
3- Chatting about not only Mystery Incorporated, but also the direct to video specials, and Stage Fright.
Make sure to listen to the episode above! Or you can read a transcript of the interview here.
If you want to follow Victor, you can find him on Twitter, @Victor_Cook1.
Not able to listen to the full episode? Don’t worry! You can still read the full transcript of the interview with Victor Cook below. Or click here to listen to the podcast episode.
AL: What’s your relationship to Scooby-Doo, did you grow up watching?
VC: Yes, I’m old enough to have seen the original show when it first came on. I was born in the 60s, so I was a kid in the 60s, and so I think the show, didn’t it premiere in ’69 or ’70? Yeah, so I would’ve been in third grade when that show came out. I was a huge Hanna-Barbera, Saturday morning cartoon fan back in those days. Jonny Quest, The Herculoids, and Scooby-Doo.
AL: Do you have a favourite personal memory related to Scooby-Doo at all?
VC: Not from watching the show, ’cause it’s like I loved the pantheon of all the Hanna-Barbera shows. Back in those days, I gobbled up Hanna-Barbera cartoons, and Marvel and DC comics. And also newspaper comic strips, like Charles Schulz’s Peanuts. And outside of those things, there was a syndicated show called Speed Racer that I was a fan of. So I was just sort of like, the whole pile of that stuff I was a huge fan of. My personal memories of Scooby I think have more to do with when I was working on the show.
AL: And how did you come to work in animation?
VC: How did I get into animation in the first place? I actually did not set out to have a career in animation. I grew up with the idea that I was going to be a cartoonist. I always thought I’d be a cartoonist, but I defined that, and in my imagination and goal was that meant I would either draw comic strips, political cartoons, comic books, or even like greeting cards. I thought I’d be like a print cartoonist. ‘Cause I really admired all those artists. When I was a kid, my parents didn’t really take us to the movies that much, so I didn’t really get to go see the latest Disney movie releases, so you know, the animation I saw was on TV, like I mentioned before. And I think one of the reasons why back then I didn’t have an interest in pursuing animation is I had read this biography or a story about Jack Kirby’s career. And there was this one little thing I read where one of his first jobs was he was an in-betweener at the Fleischer Studios, which used to do the old Superman cartoons and the Betty Boop cartoons, and the old Popeye cartoons. But he said he hated it, he said it was like a factory job. Like some guy drew this hand on the left, another guy drew the hand on the right, and his job was to draw the hand in the middle to create that motion of the hand moving. So I read that, and I’m like “God, that doesn’t actually sound that fun,” and I never sort of looked into all the other aspects of animation. So growing up, I thought I’d be a print cartoonist. When I was in college, I was in a life drawing class, and we’re all sitting around the model and drawing this figure, but I would always add horns to its head, or claws to its hands, or bat wings, or something. I’d always do something that wasn’t there on the model. Luckily my art teacher got a kick out of that, and she had said to me that one of her former students was an animator at Hanna-Barbera, and I should look him up. And I should mention by the way, that I was at a junior college in central California, which is like six hours north of LA, just a small little, almost farm town that had an Air Force base nearby, my dad was in the Air Force. But, because I had read that biography thing of Jack Kirby, I politely took the name of that artist and his number and wrote it down in my book, and I just sort of never intended to call the guy. And this is like 1980 or something, so there’s no Internet or anything like that. So I go to southern California, transfer schools, and I’m submitting comic strips to the syndicates, you gotta do a month’s worth of your comic strips, so I did a few of them. And I was working at a local paper as a graphic artist and doing political cartoons once a week. So after a few years of that and not being syndicated yet, I did think in the back of my mind, maybe I should look that guy up. And I cold called him, and he recommended I take an animation class at the union, the Animation Guild, because it’s taught by professionals and they teach you exactly how to create your sample to get a job. And I did. I never ever met this person by the way, face to face. It’s so strange, you know, 30 years later I wish I could look him up and find him, because it was great advice. I took that class, six months later I applied to Filmation Studios, they did She-Ra and He-Man and I got hired to do BraveStarr, it was like one of their last shows, as an in-betweener and assistant animator. And while there is when I discovered storyboards. They gave me a tour of the studio and I saw the storyboard department, and you know, it was like three panels on a page, and it looked and reminded me of a comic strip, which is one of the things I originally wanted to do. So I thought “Hey, I’m going to try to be a storyboard artist.” So I took classes at the union at night while I worked during the day to build up some samples and learn how to storyboard. And then two years after I had gotten that job at Filmation, they actually then went out of business. BraveStarr completely flopped, and it went out of business, but by then I had storyboard samples and got hired at A.L.F. and ALF Tales. The director of that show was a guy named Kevin Altieri, who later would be one of the four directors on Batman: The Animated Series. He gave me an opportunity to board on A.L.F. and ALF Tales, and the experience I got on that show gave me also samples that got me hired at Walt Disney TV Animation a couple years later on TaleSpin and Darkwing Duck. I spent 16 years at Disney, storyboarding on those shows, Gargoyles, Aladdin, and then got a chance to be a director on 101 Dalmatians, and various shows, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Lilo and Stitch, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, those kind of shows. And then I left for a decade, and I did sort of four things in that decade. One was I got to co-develop for TV The Spectacular Spider-Man, and also showrun it with my partner Greg Weisman. Then after that went on to Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated, and then after that, went to Hasbro, and sort of reimagined with these writers Kevin Burke and Chris “Doc” Wyatt, we reimagined and executive produced Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters, and then as that was ending I was approached by Disney Junior, to work with this creator named Travis Braun on a new show called T.O.T.S. which is what I’m doing now. So I hope that wasn’t too long of a story.
AL: How do you cross over from being a storyboard artist into directing?
VC: There’s not really any one way that I can think of. All I can say is if you are interested in being a TV animation director, you’re most likely going to get there by being a storyboard artist first. It has happened that people who are designers or had other responsibilites in animation on the show have crossed over to be episode directors, but it’s more likely you’re going to be a storyboard artist first and make that transition. But simply being a storyboard artist doesn’t mean you’re going to be a director, because there’s other sort of factors and skills that you find that are needed to be a director. When you’re a storyboard artist, you have your storyboard and you’re on it for six weeks and you’re focused only on what you have to do. And you’re not assigned anything else until you’re done with that storyboard. When you’re a director, you’re multitasking. You may be launching a storyboard artist on episode one, while working on your animatic of episode two, while editing episode three, it’s all kind of happening at the same time, and you’ve got to keep track of it. So I guess when you’re storyboarding, they one, want to make sure you’re creatively doing a great job as a filmmaker, you’re funny or dynamic or whatever that show needs, you’re able to do that. And then two, are you reliable, are you hitting the deadlines, are you able to do it in the time allotted, and then the third thing is like the quality of, you know, I don’t know how they decide this from storyboarding, but like are you going to be able to multitask. And sometimes that, they just have to find out by throwing the board guy into the directing role to see if they can do it. So for me, how I did it, and everybody does it a different way, but when I got in at Disney on TaleSpin, the showrunner had a pep talk at the start of the season where he said how everybody should learn what everybody else does. That the production assistant should learn what the background painter does, and that the character designer should learn what the storyboard artist does, and that the prop designer should learn what the writer does, and the writer should learn what the production person does, that kind of thing. And I was brand new, and I took it all to heart. I didn’t realize (until) later that a lot of the crew were just sort of like rolling their eyes and wanting to get back to work, but I took it to heart. And I thought “Okay, I’m going to learn what a writer does,” and I signed up for a UCLA extension class in animation scriptwriting, without any intention or goal of wanting to be a professional writer, I was just really doing it to learn about another part of the process. When you’re taking the class, you know, part of the assignment is you do have to generate springboards and premises and scripts, and they want you to do it based on existing shows. So I chose Darkwing Duck, I knew that was next coming up at Disney, so I just said “I’ll make this my class assignment.” Meanwhile, while I’m at work I am kind of hearing that Darkwing is part of the Disney afternoon, they just bought ABC, they had all these episodes they had to make, and I heard some writers and story editors commiserating in the hallway about how they really need to find more stories or more writers because of the big order of shows. So I went and mentioned to one of the story editors, “Hey, I’ve got some springboards and some story ideas,” because I had them from the class, and I pitched them, and they picked one. And then they said “Okay, you get to freelance one.” And I was a storyboard artist on this show at the time, and (I) got to freelance this script. And then months and months later, it was no guarantee I’d get to storyboard on my own script, but it worked out that I got to storyboard on my own script, and then after that was all done, the creator of the show, the showrunner and creator of the show, Tad Stones, came knocking on my door, and he was like impressed. I don’t think he was necessarily impressed like “Wow, this guy wrote a great script,” I think he was more impressed that I had the gumption to try to write a script, and I sold it. He said “We love you as a storyboard artist, and you writing this script also tells me you understand story in that way too, and those are the qualities I’m looking for in directors.” And that was the beginning of the company thinking of me as a director, and that’s how I became a director.
AL: And in your opinion, to be an animation director, or any other role really, do you need to have that artistic ability that you would have as a storyboard artist or a designer?
VC: You know, this has been a little bit of a debate recently on other projects. I think you do. Some of the shows, like up in Canada for instance, there was, for I’d say a good generation, 20, 30 years, they had their own industry, but they’ve also done a lot of work for hire for American companies. Usually just doing the animation portion of it, and then slowly maybe “Okay now we’re going to do the design portion of it.” And a lot of it is CG, so you have a lot of people who are great CG animators, who might feel like they’re ready to be episode directors. And some people could make an argument that they have the skills needed to do it because that last part of the pipeline, they can make all these adjustments in the CG, in the layout process. I’m more of the old school thought of “Okay, if you’re going to direct, you do need to be able to storyboard.” I mean, you do need to be able to put your ideas on paper. You can’t really act everything out. If you’re talking about a squash and stretch animal doing crazy Tex Avery antics, no human being can stand in front of another person, and you can’t physically act that, right. You need to draw what you mean sometimes. And TV moves so fast, like if you want a dynamic angle, you can handwrite the note on a panel, “Hey this needs to be more dynamic,” and hopefully a board artist, when he interprets that and does what he thinks is a dynamic angle, you’re going to be happy with it. But if you’re not, eventually you’re going to have to like loosely thumbnail in that dynamic angle. So the directors I had could storyboard, and the directors I hire can storyboard. And I just believe the best TV directors come from storyboarding, but there are exceptions, that they can come from other areas. So I can be proven wrong sometimes on that, but my preference is they are storyboard artists first.
AL: For those who maybe don’t know, can you describe what the role of a director is?
VC: Yeah, the director’s job is to basically, visually tell the story. You know, a writer wrote the script, right, but the director is, like when you watch any movie or TV, you see a series of closeups or far shots, and camera angles, and does the character walk from here to there, and how do they gesture. All those kind of things, the director is supposed to steer the ship on that, and have the final say on that. Especially animation, with the acting. It’s like, you know, how they physically act or move or stand, that’s going to be the director’s job, the camera angles. The places where the script isn’t as descriptive, like if it’s an action sequence, a chase sequence, or a gag sequence, there will be something written there, to kind of get that started, or maybe it will be super descriptive, but a director may feel there’s a different or better, or a more exciting or fun way to do it, and they have to dream that up. Or song sequences for instance. There’s some loose idea of what it’s going to be, but until you get in there and just start listening to the song and making up what you’re going to see, that’s the director’s job.
AL: And conversely, what is the role of a producer?
VC: Well it really depends on where they came up from. So a lot of shows I’m on, there’s usually at least three people that have a producer title. One person who has that is really all about the schedules and the budgets, and making sure all that’s going to flow. But if it’s someone like me, then one of the producers is somebody who’s come up from a directing background, sort of the nuts and bolts of how to put the show together. And the other producer usually came up from being a writer. And together, their job is to sort of showrun the show. So I just described what a director does, a producer would usually then – the director’s job usually goes until the storyboard ships to animation. I’d say in a lot of cases his job may finish at that point. Then it’s the producer with the director background that would take it over from then, in terms of retakes, communicating to the animators, and then also editing, sound effects, music, all the producers together weigh in when we’re casting the show, when we’re choosing the actors. And all the producers together are also weighing in on what kind of music style do we want, what composer we’re going to hire, and also spotting each and every episode with the composer. And then the producers are at the final mix, giving notes about adjusting sound levels, sound effects, music, all that stuff, and they kind of sign off on the show. And I should go back in time, before the director does anything, the producers are developing the show, they’re developing it from who the characters are, what the storylines are going to be, and then on my side of it, the art of it, like what’s it going to look like, what is the filmmaking style of the show.
AL: And what is the difference when you’re working on a project in maybe both roles as opposed to just working in one or the other?
VC: Well, there’s a lot of crossover. I would say on Scooby and Hasbro, it really was almost an intertwined role. You know, because I was a supervising director and a producer on those shows, my hands were really in the weeds on all of it. Like really getting into, almost like an episode director sometimes, and re-drawing and re-staging and sort of thumbnailing sequences and things like that. On my current show we have a supervising director and he really does all that, so I can take a step back and sort of take a broader view and kind of just step in sometimes on what he does, but because he’s so good at covering all that, it really gives me breathing room to see the whole thing and make sure everything is happening when it needs to happen and working how it needs to work and I can focus on speaking to the animators and that. So that’s the difference, if you’re doing both, like if you’re being a supervising director and you have this producer title, you’re really, you’re up to your eyeballs in work. If you are properly crewed and you’re an executive producer, like say you’re on the writing side, you’re an executive producer but have a story editor under you, that gives you more breathing room to oversee the whole show, so the same thing on the visual side. If you have a supervising director under you, it lets you kind of have a step back and have a broader view of the show.
AL: Are there any challenges to having both roles, does the project either suffer or benefit from having one person in both roles?
VC: I think the main difference is time. When you’re doing both roles you are potentially going to be working evenings and weekends. And I think you do run the risk of burnout, if the show isn’t budgeted to have those extra roles. I feel like we are so blessedly budgeted for the show I’m working on now, it’s great.
AL: Moving more towards Scooby, how did you come to work on Mystery Incorporated?
VC: Before that show I was on The Spectacular Spider-Man, and my line producer Wade Wisinski rolled off the show before me, and he landed at Warner Bros. on Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated as line producer. He just contacted me and said “Hey, they’re looking for a couple of directors on the show.” And he introduced me to the supervising producer Tony Cervone. And we hit it off and he decided to bring me aboard. I met him and Mitch Watson and they brought me aboard as a director, and Tony was also simultaneously producing another show, and I’d say maybe four weeks into the job, he asked me if I would want to step up to be the supervising director on Scooby. And I said “Of course.” And then after that season, they asked me to produce the second season.
AL: What was it like to come into a darker overarching story as your first experience working on Scooby?
VC: I loved it. Like I mentioned before, I remember the original show, but in those days, as I said, I was a huge fan of the Hanna-Barbera action shows like Jonny Quest, The Herculoids, and those kind of shows. So this new darker approach to me, it made it more dramatic, it made it more grounded for me, which was more my sensibility. And especially after coming off The Spectacular Spider-Man, it just seemed like a perfect fit to go into a Scooby like this that had a big storyline that continued over two seasons, and there’s backstory to the characters and lore, and the characters’ personalities were fleshed out. It just seemed like it fit me more to do this type of a Scooby, so I feel very fortunate that it all worked out that way.
AL: And can you explain what maybe the day to day experience was like working on Mystery Incorporated?
VC: Oh my gosh, well let me try to remember. I do remember it day to day being a super pleasant experience. It was also an example of a show that was very well thought out schedule wise. So we were able to sort of handle the demands of the art directing and the staging because of just how it was scheduled out. It wasn’t all on top of each other what we had to do. So that I think also made it fun to do. What I remember, this isn’t like a day-to-day thing, but like what I remember when I first came on the show was how eclectic the crew seemed to me. Especially when you would tell people you were on Scooby-Doo, everybody thought, prior to Mystery Incorporated, every Scooby-Doo was, people had an idea of that original show but just updated, right. And I think most people in our business thought a certain, you know, we have people who sort of specialize in different genres in this business. Like the funny cartoon guy or the primetime cartoon guy, or the action show guy. And there’s a lot of people who pride themselves that they can sort of step in and do any of those roles, but I think Scooby was in the camp of up until that point, of only comedy people work on this show. So I get on the show and I’m watching this crew get put together. So besides me who just came off The Spectacular Spider-Man, they hired Curt Geda, who was like one of the top DC Universe superhero directors at Warner Bros. Batman Beyond, all those shows, he was on the show directing. They brought in this art director, Dan Krall, who came off Samurai Jack. Derrick Wyatt, who also designed Transformers. So it was this kind of an eclectic mix of sort of stylized action shows, comedy shows, all on this show. And it had all made sense, because you know, besides story-wise it being a more serious tone with an overarching story, filmmaking-wise, we were going to do it like mini movies. If you think back to the original show, and I think mostly because of the limitations of animation at the time, the original show was very left to right, and kind of flat. It wasn’t that dimensional, you know. But we were going to have up-shots, down-shots, like any angle you’d see in any horror movie or any action movie. And also, the show was going to still have comedy and be funny, but more in the sense of you know, I guess like Ghostbusters, where it’s kind of rooted in, the scary moments are really scary, you know what I mean. Anyway, I may have gone off track a little bit, but I just remember it was an eclectic crew that came together to really make this a very different sort of a Scooby.
AL: With people coming from all different backgrounds, how did that bump up the quality of the show?
VC: It worked out surprisingly well. Because Curt and I and the storyboard artists, we just, the sensibility was like “Okay, we’re going to stage this as if we’re on an action show.” As if this were a movie. We’re not staging this like a comedy left to right show, we’re going to do this like a movie. Meanwhile, the background painters are doing these super stylized paintings that aren’t necessarily realistic, they’re very artistic and stylized, and with the cinematic quality of a sequence would have a certain colour. Like this sequence is green, or this sequence is blue or whatever it’s going to be. So you put those two things together and it was like really something different, it was great.
AL: What was it like to be able to play with those horror aspects with a lot of the calling to other different horror movies within the show?
VC: It was fun. A lot of us were fans of these movies, and it was a lot of fun to do. There was an episode I remember directing, I think it was called mecha mutt, does that ring a bell? So Mitch Watson I know was riffing off certain horror things, but for me, when Scooby had to battle the mecha mutt, in my head I was thinking of Alien, I think it was Alien 2, when Ripley got into that palette mover thing and was fighting the alien. So I made Scooby get into that. So working on the show, you kind of, sometimes it would spark you to remember things of other horror movies and kind of try to put them in.
AL: Moving to the special episode shorts, like Spooky Games, Haunted Holidays, I think there were six of them. Can you speak to how those came to be?
VC: Well, I gotta say, in terms of how it came to me, they were already planned and developed, like I had no idea of them I should say, until they actually said “Vic, we’d like to see if you want to do these.” I was on Mystery Incorporated, but as we were going into only post-production on the final season, I was approached and they said “Hey, we have this feature-length DVD and this sort of handful of these 30 minute specials, and we’d like you to do them.” And I took a look at them, and I thought “Sure, I’d love to do them,” but you know, they sort of had nothing to do with Mystery Incorporated, it was outside of our show in terms of storylines and in terms of art direction. Those shows were developed, I would say by Alan Burnett, who before he retired in recent years, was the co-producer of all the Scooby DVDs and specials. And his background, he was a writer. So he would work with different writers on all the various specials. So like I said, by the time it came to me, the scripts were done and my input was more after the scripts were done, but it was just really as simple as they had them, and they needed someone to do them, and they just asked me if I’d like to do them, and I said sure.
AL: Can you speak to the development process from when you came in to when they were realized?
VC: Well like I said, story-wise, they were already developed. For me, it was like “Okay, what is this monster going to look like, what are the powers.” So in the Christmas one, I really thought it would be really cool, if this snow creature could have sort of morphing abilities. And I started sketching out these different sort of like, almost like Sandman morphing abilities. And I bounced it off of Alan and he loved it, and he put it in. So like I said, the stories had been worked out, but I look at the monsters like “Okay what can we do to make it scarier or more monstrous rather than just a guy in a suit.” And we would somehow, the script would somehow explain in some pseudo-science way how this snowsuit was able to do it, but it was just like an excuse to have those visuals to make it extra cool. But you know, design-wise, it was really just based on the original Iwao Takamoto designs from 1969, just done today. And we would storyboard it like it was today. But design wise, the aesthetic was the original show for those specials.
AL: And in your mind, were you thinking of them like an extension of the original show, or was it more like a mini movie?
VC: Well, you know, my real, how do I say this. I love Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated, that’s my Scooby, right. That’s the one I was on and had that rich lore. The other Scoobys always seem to be standalone adventures. Even though there would be a whole series about it, it’s like they never talked really about that much, about what just happened in the last episode, and what they were doing now didn’t necessarily connect to future episodes. I’m talking about the original show. And so, to me, at least at that time, the specials also story-wise, didn’t seem to connect to each other at all. They were just standalone adventures, it was like, here’s Scooby and the gang in this situation, or this mystery to solve. So it, maybe Alan and the writers, it connected for them, but for me they seem like standalone adventures, unlike how Mystery Incorporated was done.
AL: Out of all the specials, did you have a favourite?
VC: Hmm, I think I liked the Christmas special.
AL: And why?
VC: Just what I talked about, the snow creature, that was fun to do. That was a fun one. I liked the one, I can’t remember the name, but it was at a hotel on a beach, do you remember that one?
AL: Yeah, I think it’s called the Beach Beastie.
VC: Yeah. So the thing that was kind of fun about that is we had Adam West. And when I was a kid I was such a Batman fan, so it was just fun to have him, to be able to work with him was one of his last few projects. So I’d say those two were fun to do. Stage Fright wasn’t a 30 minute special, it was a feature-length DVD, and that was also really fun to do and one of the most fun things to do actually was the main title sequence of it, because we just sort of went off and did a completely different stylized version of all the characters, and I’ve always loved that main title sequence. I kind of hope one day maybe they’d consider making a show based off those designs, I thought those designs turned out great. They were designed by Stephen Silver, who was the Kim Possible character designer.
AL: And moving to talk about Stage Fright a little bit more, what was it like to play with the Fred and Daphne dynamic in that movie too?
VC: That was fun. That’s one of those things that’s like built into I guess, the lore of Scooby, you know. It didn’t really, it wasn’t like a continuation necessarily of an arc from any other DVDs to this DVD, or after it. It sort of, to me, it’s like the ongoing Superman/Lois Lane kind of thing. That’s just part of what Scooby is about, is their relationship. But it was fun to do, it was definitely fun to do.
AL: And moving back to talk about the opening title sequence, what was it like to be able to play with a different style within the classic style of the movie?
VC: Well that was really fun. Especially when we were on Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated, you know, it is a stylized take also. It’s more angular. Derrick Wyatt did a fantastic job of, you look at the Mystery Incorporated designs, and yes you recognize those characters are very reminiscent of the Iwao Takamoto designs, but if you really, really look at them, there’s like these angles, and he just angled them the right way, and kind of the proportions, and made them even more animate-able. We hardly had any off-model issues in animation with this. So, and the background style also being non-traditional. So working on Mystery Incorporated, it’s like, I just love this idea of how you can reimagine this franchise and these characters in these different art styles. So when you do the specials, and the DVDs, you really don’t get that opportunity, at least at that time, you don’t get that opportunity. The style is to be the original style, but the main title is the spot where you can play. So yes, it was super, super fun. And like I said earlier, after we were done, I’m like man, that would make a great series if they did it that way. So it was very fun.
AL: What was your favourite part about getting to work on a handful of vastly different Scooby projects?
VC: Just to see the scope of them. At a very close proximity of time, I’m working on a Scooby that “Oh, these designs are Iwao Takamoto designs,” and then, literally within the same week, these new designs, and a more modern sensibility. And then also that main title sequence. So it was just fun to get to play and see how these characters and this premise, and this idea of Scooby-Doo works so well in so many different art styles.
AL: Did you find any challenges working on Scooby at all?
VC: Actually not really. I mean just the usual challenges of you know, you want to make it great, and you have x amount of time to do it. And you know, you’re just racing the clock to make it great. But I don’t think there was any extraordinary challenges, you know, the crew, this was a top tier crew on Mystery Incorporated. Everybody was like at the top of their game. So it just made everybody’s job just that much smoother and easier because you know, you weren’t having to help pick somebody else up, because everybody was so great. The other directors, the producers, the writers, the supervising producers, the art crew, the actors, even our exec, I shouldn’t say “even our exec,” but the exec on our show. He was so great and pleasant and had great ideas too, with the notes he gave. It’s like if you’re on a basketball team and you’re the only one who can play, and everybody else is sort of like, has their arm tied behind their back, it’s going to be difficult for you. But this was like, you’re playing where everybody is like Magic Johnson, they’re experts. So it made it pretty fun and easy to work on.
AL: Do you have a specific episode of Mystery Incorporated, or one of the specials or the movie that you’re the most proud of?
VC: There’s quite a few. Like the first episode, which was directed by Curt, I just loved the way that turned out, that was awesome. I really liked the Dynomutt episode, with the Blue Falcon, that was really fun. And I like our two season finales, All Fear the Freak and then our season two finale, those were great. I love the twists and turns that Fred had to endure, thinking the mayor was his dad, and then finding out that he’s not, and that his real dad is not such a good guy. It’s like so many cool things about the show.
AL: What was it like to come to work on a show that you had grown up watching?
VC: Fun. I couldn’t wait to get to work every day. It was a blast. Like I said, a lot of that also had to do with the crew. And besides them being such experts and professionals and good at their job, they were just a fun bunch of people to work with. The nicest people you’d want to work with.
AL: Why do you think that a cartoon about a mystery solving dog has held up for over 50 years now?
VC: Well, I will repeat something that Tony Cervone told me. And I think this is the key. Fear, food, and flashlights. I think that’s the reason for the success of the Scooby-Doo show. You combine those elements in just the right way, of drama and comedy and fear, you’re going to have a hit.
AL: Is there anything else you wanted to add at all?
VC: About Mystery Incorporated? No, I think that was good.
AL: Just before we end, do you have any recent projects that you’d like to promote?
VC: As far as besides Disney Junior’s T.O.T.S., which is current, there’s also a show on Netflix called Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters, that’s still on Netflix that I think people would get a kick out of watching if they decided to check it out.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
In the third episode for September’s Mystery Incorporated themed month, Alexa chats with lead character designer on the show, Derrick J. Wyatt. Derrick has done character design for not only Mystery Incorporated, but also for Transformers, Teen Titans and Ben 10.
Highlights of this episode include:
1- What the design process was like for various Mystery Incorporated characters.
2- How Derrick’s attempt at Iwao Takamoto’s style turned into the design for Mystery Incorporated.
3- The importance of character design.
Make sure to listen to the episode above! Or you can read a transcript of the interview here.
If you want to follow Derrick, you can find him on Instagram and Twitter, @DerrickJWyatt.
Derrick also sent me some photos, which you can scroll through below!
