Unlike the television series, the Laff-a-Lympics comics featured the competitions happening while the contestants had larger adventures. A few examples of the different adventures include the contestants getting abducted by aliens, Snagglepuss and Mildew being fired, Hokey Wolf going to jail, Babu facing the wrath of a vengeful genie, a crossover with The Jetsons, and even the appearance of Fred, Velma and Daphne. In addition, the series also would occasionally show the contestants' lives outside of the competitions.
Besides the 13 issues of this comic series, there's also a bonus issue that's a part of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera comic series. The comic is a full-fledged crossover between Laff-a-Lympics, The Flintstones and The Jetsons based around the premise of a villain going back in time to erase Thursdays. I can honestly say it pulled off the concept of an Hanna-Barbera cinematic universe a hundred times better than Arabian Nights, and I would love to see it adapted into a special or film someday! Thanks so much to Scoobyfan4ever for encouraging me to read this comic series! There's a lot more diversity within the storylines than the television series, and I'd definitely recommend checking these comics out for those who enjoyed the show.
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The janitor who wanted to be America's next dancing star in The Mystery Begins was portrayed by C. Ernst Harth, the same person who played the Miner 49er in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.
In an AWN interview with the creator of Jellystone!, C.H. Greenblatt shared an unused episode idea he had involving having all the Scooby cousins and Scooby knock-offs in a dog show. The show has not yet been renewed for season 4, but C.H. confirmed that the show also hadn't been officially cancelled yet, so it is possible that this idea may still happen. Credit goes to Hippyboy86 on ScoobyAddicts for finding this interview!
Speaking of Scooby's relatives, besides Scrappy's cameo in "Jelly Robo Battle Royale," he and Scooby-Dum also make a brief cameo together in the new Jellystone! two-part crossover "Crisis on Infinite Mirths." They appear as part of an alternate universe of forgotten Cartoon Network characters when a portal is opened. He had previously been referenced in the episode "Epic Rager," when Huckleberry mentioned that Scooby-Dum was the third mayor of Jellystone, but was impeached for an unknown reason. Not including specials, "Scooby's Peep-Hole Pandemonium" from The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries is currently the rarest Scooby-Doo episode in the world. Oddly, it is the only Scooby-Doo episode not available to stream anywhere, despite the rest of the series being available on Max. No explanation has been provided about why Max did not transfer that episode over from the Boomerang streaming service. Since it is not on DVD, there is currently no legal way to watch the episode.
When I started doing these fun facts, I had no idea I'd being continuing them for 550 weeks and counting! This week marks the 550th fun fact, and to celebrate, artist Scott Neely was kind enough one last fact for this milestone post.
Completely unknown fact unless you were there: I did a Scooby-Doo coloring book that was drawn in 1999 and came out in early 2000. It was essentially a coloring book for kids that you “painted” with a wet art brush. It was a simplified adaptation of the classic “Jeepers! It’s The Creeper!” episode. The book sold great and was going to have a second printing in late 2000. However, due to Golden Books and the money problems, the printing plant had gone under at that time… the original print ready files were lost! They were on a physical zip disc (remember those?) that was locked up and sitting in the printing plant. No one could get to it as there was a court order due to the bankruptcy. Thankfully, we had the Quark files for the interior of the book as they were backed up on the designer’s computer, BUT they didn’t have the final files for the cover art! How was this solved quickly without spending time and money? My Scooby designer scanned the printed cover of the actual book that was sitting on her desk! She removed the staples and carefully took the book apart so that it would lie flat on the flatbed scanner. This is why you keep office copies, people! While not as vibrant in color as the original, it was passable and a second printing was released. I have both versions in my archive and you can plainly see the difference! To this day, if someone hands me one at a convention to sign, I can immediately tell if it’s a first or second printing. True story! A huge thank you to Scott for contributing three fun facts for these past few weeks! I really enjoyed hearing all of his stories about his work on the Scooby franchise, and am so appreciative of him taking the time to share so many fun behind-the-scenes tidbits about his work on the franchise! Hey all! Scooby-Doo illustrator Scott Neely is back with us this Monday to contribute another fun fact. This week, he shares an interesting tidbit about his early 2000s work with Little Golden Books.
Very little known fact unless I told you: I did the art for two Scooby projects that never got printed. They were done in a hurry to try to beat the Golden Books bankruptcy but didn’t make it in the end. I did a second Little Golden Book titled Scooby-Doo and the Easter Thief! It was Scooby wearing a bunny suit throughout—much like Ralphie in A Christmas Story—and it was never printed. I have the color printouts of the galley sheets still though. It’s not as good as the original LGB I did as it was done quick. I also did the art for a Scooby coloring book based on “A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts” episode. I fully completed the art and again it was a casualty in 2001 as Golden Books was really collapsing at the end. I did get paid for both though! I have copies of the original art as I sold the originals a long time ago. It’s also odd that they were never printed anywhere as it should be in the WB archive. Possibly, WB never got the final print files for these two projects when Golden went out. It was a real mess back then. A big thanks to Scott for contributing this week's fun fact! Next week marks the 550th week of posting these fun facts every Monday. Scott will be back to share one more fun fact with us, and it's one that you won't want to miss! Happy Monday! Scooby-Doo artist Scott Neely, who has worked on various books, comics and other illustrative projects for the franchise for the past 25 years, is here with us to contribute the weekly fun facts for the next three weeks! While you likely know that Scott did work on many of the Little Golden Books for the franchise, one of the books he illustrated, "That's Snow Ghost" from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, was a very special milestone book for Little Golden Books. Here's this week's fun fact:
Little known fact: I did art for the last Little Golden Book that was produced when Golden Books was still “Golden Books.” I consider it an honor! The company was basically done in 2001 due to the bankruptcy auction and Random House got the book part of it. Yes, Little Golden Books are still around today, but they’re produced by Penguin Random House who keeps the classic line going. Thanks so much to Scott for contributing the fun fact this week. If you haven't checked out my full interview with Scott, be sure to do so here. In an episode of the Unmasked History of Scooby-Doo podcast, writer Marly Halpern-Graser revealed that Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon originally had Commander Cool and Mellow Mutt (from A Pup Named Scooby-Doo) in place of Dynomutt and Blue Falcon. The first draft of the film had the mystery centered around Owen Garrison being denied credit for co-creating Commander Cool.
The Axl Rose episode of Guess Who came about through another famous cartoon franchise. According to an interview with the Appetite for Distortion podcast, Mike Ryan reached out to the Looney Tunes writers after Axl had done a guest spot on one of their show's episodes. After the Looney Tunes writers got in touch with Axl, he agreed to book a guest spot in a Guess Who episode, and the rest is history!
In the original PG-13 script for the 2002 Scooby-Doo live action movie, Jim Carrey was originally chosen to play Shaggy. According to Collider, Mike Myers was also considered for the role of Shaggy. A number of different actresses were also considered to play Daphne, including Jennifer Aniston, Isla Fisher and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Christina Ricci was originally chosen to play Velma, according to the Stax Report.
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