The History Of Scooby-doo, Whose Two Creators Have Just Left

Scooby-doo animation (Photo: wikimedia commons)

JAKARTA - The beloved author and icon of Scooby-doo animation, Ken Spears, passed away at the age of 82 on November 11. The news comes months after the death of his creative partner, Joe Ruby. Together they bring Scooby-Doo into the world and his friends on a ghost hunt.

Scooby-Doo's official Instagram account says, "Thank you, Ken Spears, for co-creating this animated classic that continues to influence generations."

Sam Register, President of Warner Bros. also expressed his sorrow for the passing of Spears. He said, “You won't find a screen in a world that doesn't play Scooby-Doo. We continue to be inspired by his work at Warner Bros. "

Ken Spears is helping to shape the family entertainment landscape in a unique way. Her creation with lines animated with love and care. Introduced in 1969, Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Velma and Daphne chase ghosts and entertain children for generations on Saturday mornings. Criminals are usually humans pretending to be ghosts. An often quoted line in the series is "I would have escaped, if not for you meddling, children!"

As well as the iconic cartoons, the original theme song is titled Scooby Doo, Where Are You! also very familiar to the ears of the wider community, who don't even follow the Scooby-doo series. Appearing in 25 episodes, initial inspiration came from CBS executive Fred Silverman. He asked animation giants William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for a show about a band who doubled as teen detectives.

In the late 1960's, Ken Spears took on the task of creating scripts. She and Joe Ruby passed each other, and the rest is history. Scooby himself was initially considered excessive for a sheepdog. The name Scooby-Doo comes from Silverman, who heard Frank Sinatra shout “doo-be-doo-be-doo” on the Strangers in the Night record.

To quote The Vintage News, Saturday November 14, when the final product finally appeared, Spears and Ruby didn't expect much. This is because Scooby-doo has a rival called The Hardy Boys at NBC. Spears and Ruby both feel that Scooby-doo will get an unbeatable score.

The truth is, Ruby and Spears needn't have worried. This is because Scooby-doo is still popular even today. Not only in the form of animated series, but also in comic books, games and live action films. There is even the legendary Scooby Snacks.

The premise is essential and straightforward to keep Scooby-doo an idol to this day. The mysteries they discover at first are almost always paranormal such as vengeful ghosts and rampaging dinosaurs. But it ends up being revealed as a tricky hoax involving disguises, holograms, hidden wires, glowing paint, or a combination of these.

For this year's Scoob! limited release due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Famous series and voice actor Frank Welker played the lead, with Will Forte as Shaggy, Zac Efron as Fred, Gina Rodriguez as Velma and Amanda Seyfried as Daphne.

Scoob! also presents other characters such as Dick Dastardly and Captain Caveman. Ken Keong took on the role of Dynomutt the Dog Wonder, another creation of Joe Ruby and Ken Spears.

Ruby and Spears maintained their relationship through the years for Scooby-doo. The format remains largely the same, although the characters have been changed and new elements added, one of which is the little dog that is Scooby's nephew, Scrappy. According to the interview, Spears and Ruby are not fans of Scrappy's nephew.

In 1977, the two Scooby-doo creators opened Ruby-Spears Productions, which was opened purely for their business. Apart from Scooby and friends, Ruby and Spears produced other series including The Plastic Man Comedy-Adventure Hour (1979-1981), Mister T (1983-1986) and most notably Alvin and the Chipmunks throughout the eighties.

Spears was nominated for the Daytime Emmy four times. Ken Spears died from complications of dementia. In a statement published by Variety, son Kevin Spears praised his father's "intelligence, storytelling, family loyalty and strong work ethic".