Beyond The Background: Scooby’s Family Tree

Welcome to another segment of Beyond the Background. All of us are familiar with Scooby Doo and his many television incarnations over the past 3 decades, so today, we’ll be looking at some of Scooby’s relatives who have appeared over the years, and I won’t be talking about this relative:

…And cue the angry mob.

Now that that’s out of the way, the reason why we’re not profiling Scrappy Doo is because Scrappy, whether you love him or hate him, is far too well known and prominent in the Scooby Doo universe to be profiled here. Instead, we’ll be looking back at some of Scooby Doo’s relatives who aren’t Scrappy.

First, there’s Scooby Dum. Scooby Dum is Scooby’s country cousin who first appeared on The Scooby Doo Show (ABC, 1976-1978) who’s chief trait is, wait for it, acting stupid! Dum lives with Ma and Pa Skillet, in the Okefenokee swamp of southern Georgia. He appeared in a couple of episodes of the show, and was added as a teammate of the Scooby Doobies team of Laff-A-Lympics. After Laff ended after 2 seasons, Scooby Dum retired from show business and sought out the help of a speech therapist to cure him of his habit of punctuating his every sentence with the ejaculation “Dum-Dum-Dum-Dum!”

“Yep. That there doctor fella sure did the trick! He threw a real heavy book at my head and said ‘Cut it out, ya freak!’ He’s a genius!”

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Next, there’s Scooby Dee, a distant cousin of Scooby Doo who first appeared in the episode “Chiller Diller Movie Theater” and also has a couple of cameo appearances in the second season episode of What’s New, Scooby-Doo?, “Homeward Hound”, where she is one of many dogs seen at the dog show the gang is attending. She is seen walking past the screen in two separate scenes in the beginning. Scooby-Dee was meant to return to The Scooby-Doo Show as a girlfriend to Scooby-Doo, but the show ended before that could happen. Scooby Dee had no other performances other than a certain video tape that’s been circulating in the cartoon underground which features Dee partaking in a game of “fetch” with H-B veteran Doggie Daddy.

“You thought that Auggie Doggie didn’t have a mother? Doggie Daddy knows who Mama is! What happens in the dog house stays in the dog house!”



Next, there’s Yabba Doo, another cousin of Scooby’s who appeared in a recurring segment titled Scrappy and Yabba Doo on Scooby’s SatAM show for a single season. His adventures took place out west, where he fought crime with his master, a bumbling deputy named Deputy Dusty, and his enthusiastic nephew Scrappy-Doo. In contrast to Scooby’s catchphrase of “Scooby-Dooby-Doo!”, Yabba’s was “Yippity-Yabbity-Doo!” (and not “Yabba-Dabba-Doo!”).

“The ‘Yabba Dabba Doo’ catchphrase is copyrighted. Anyone who tries to steal it gets a meeting with Fred’s big wooden club!”

Yabba Doo: Nope. Hanna-Barbera never called us again, but we ain’t bitter. Isn’t that right, Dusty?

Dusty: I don’t live with my mother! Oh, sorry, what was the question?

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Finally, there’s Dooby Doo, another one of Scooby’s extended relatives who is a lounge singer. He appeared in one episode of The New Scooby Doo Mysteries titled “The Dooby Doo Ado”. Currently, Dooby Doo is still working the lounge circuit as an opening act for an Elvis impersonator.

“Eventually, I hope to hit it big and open for a Frank Sinatra impersonator.”

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So there you have it. A few of Scooby’s relatives who never quite reached the level of stardom as the Great Dane himself.

“In case you were wondering what Scrappy is doing now, he’s back with his mom. I finally had to tell my sis Ruby Doo to get off her tail and do some parenting! The Scoobster is nobody’s full time nanny! Oh, and, ROOBY-ROOBY DOO!”