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Fun Fact of the Week #403

5/30/2022

24 Comments

 
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A second Scooby-Doo and Dick Van Dyke crossover almost happened. In the 1990s, an idea was pitched by William Rabkin for Scooby-Doo to appear an episode of Diagnosis Murder, a drama series featuring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan. The entire plot for this episode was written: Mark Sloan would put into a coma after a vicious criminal attack. This coma would cause him to have delusions of solving the mystery with Scooby-Doo. The idea was easier than expected for Rabkin to pitch, given the executive producer of this show was Fred Silverman, the man who was responsible for originally greenlighting Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? on CBS.

What stopped it from happening, you might ask? Surprisingly, it was the Scooby-Doo live action movie from 2002.

Because the process of making the film took an arduous six years, William was told "someone would get back to him" on his idea, but no one ever did, due to everyone interested in Scooby being so focused on getting the live-action movie out. Since the process of writing the movie started in 1996 during such a dead period in the franchise, it's possible they even thought that the live-action film was going to revive the franchise, since Zombie Island hadn't yet been released. Thus, the idea was dropped and the writers moved onto other ideas. The idea was ultimately never used despite the fact that it was very close to happening.
24 Comments
Shadowscooby
5/30/2022 06:50:25 am

Another Dick Van Dyke crossover would have been great.

Reply
WildwindVampire link
5/30/2022 10:27:23 am

I would have loved that too!

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Becker
5/30/2022 07:54:50 am

Woah, I never knew this! I guess they could still do it if they wanted to, Dick Van Dyke is still kicking it and acting at 96 years old.

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WildwindVampire link
5/30/2022 10:28:24 am

I think it would be awesome if they did another Dick Van Dyke crossover while he's still alive. They did it with Cher and Sandy, so they could certainly do it with him too. Since Guess Who is over, I guess it'd have to be a special (as they probably wouldn't make a full DTV for that).

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Shadowscooby
5/30/2022 10:28:49 am

Yah anything is possible

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Shadowscooby
5/30/2022 10:34:07 am

Hey Wildwind, I thought of 2 poll ideas:
- What’s your favorite guess who episode featuring a justice league superhero.
- What’s your favorite season 3 guess episode created by Jakob

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WildwindVampire link
5/30/2022 11:28:18 am

Thanks for the ideas! I like the first idea and will plan to do that once I finish up these other ideas, plus Mr. Neither suggested one as well. For the second one, I do like the idea but I would prefer to stick to official content for these polls, since some people might not be aware of fan-made stuff.

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Shadowscooby
5/30/2022 05:19:02 pm

Oh ok I totally get understand. I just loved reading his ideas for what could have been guess who episodes.

WildwindVampire link
5/30/2022 08:56:08 pm

I enjoyed reading them too! I was thinking about your WNSD idea you suggested a while ago the other day and was thinking of turning it into a fun fact. I did a bit of research and found out that the WNSD volumes actually were reorganized and released differently in Europe, so I was thinking it could be cool to do a fun fact on that. Is that okay with you? (I'd credit you of course for coming up with the idea)

Mr Neither
5/30/2022 04:16:57 pm

And one for you from me. The WNSD episode has numerous plot holes:
1. Why was Lady Moonbeam dressed as Scooby in the first place?
2. No witnesses, take Scooby but not Chrissy?
3. Uncover fake Scoob, no attempt to unmask or force to lead them to owner? Actually they just disappear until Meadow's unmasking.
4. How did the gang no where Scooby might be?

After re-watching this episode I now feel confident in declaring it is probably in the top three worst Scooby episodes of all time. Great premise, terrible execution.

Reply
WildwindVampire link
5/30/2022 08:46:59 pm

Those plot holes always bothered me as well. Definitely one of the weakest episodes of WNSD. And thanks! I'll post this as a fun fact in a few weeks!

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Mr Neither
5/31/2022 04:18:40 am

Glad you still understood what I was talking about even though I forgot to put the title of the episode in there, woops, Homeward hound is bad.

WildwindVampire link
5/31/2022 09:23:06 am

No worries haha, I figured it out from the characters you listed.

Matt
5/30/2022 07:24:57 pm

Hmm, kinda disappointing it didn’t happen. Loved the first crossover with Dick Van Dyke

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WildwindVampire link
5/30/2022 08:46:12 pm

Me too! It would have been so cool if this could have happened.

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Lamont
5/30/2022 10:04:23 pm

We were robbed!! lol!
Diagnosis Murder was one of my favorite shows. I would’ve loved this crossover!

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WildwindVampire link
5/30/2022 10:35:14 pm

I've never seen the show myself, but it's cool to know that Scooby would have fit so well with it! Such a bummer we didn't get it.

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Lamont
5/30/2022 11:09:23 pm

The premise sounds really interesting too. I can’t believe that the Scooby Doo film is the reason we didn’t get it! I also didn’t know that they were starting to write for the movie in 1996 so that was a cool tidbit.

WildwindVampire link
5/31/2022 09:25:55 am

There was a full script written back then featuring Don Knotts as the villain (no, that's not a joke haha). It used to be available on the Internet, but the link I had broke, so I don't have access to it anymore. I do have the 2000 script, however (a digital version).

Carson Maitland - Smith (@wigglysuperfan) link
5/31/2022 07:10:53 am

We need a Retrosweat crossover 💜 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlDu8M0KzH8

Reply
James Dixon
5/31/2022 09:53:48 am

I read about this a few years ago, and at the time I felt disappointed.

It would've been one of the top 5 moments in Scooby-Doo history, whether or not it turned out to be good or bad. And for whatever reason, they just wouldn't allow it. To think, Turner or Warner Bros. felt so concerned that Diagnosis Murder would one up them, in something that would've been momentary.

Reply
WildwindVampire link
5/31/2022 03:07:29 pm

I completely agree it would have been amazing and extremely memorable for the Scooby-Doo franchise. Possibly a controversial opinion, but I could have even seen this helping to revive the franchise. Probably not on its own, but it would have targeted the same older audience like Zombie Island did. I feel WB is overly concerned about a lot of things even to this day, honestly. Like the whole "no real monsters," "no Scrappy" mandate even for a movie where Curse of the 13th Ghost where it would have been the most logical way to write the film.

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Amber noel
6/1/2022 05:40:28 pm

But isn't the real monsters mandate gone now?

WildwindVampire link
6/1/2022 07:32:23 pm

I hope it is given we got real monsters in Straight Outta Nowhere, but I'm not sure if that was just a one-off thing to stay true to the Courage franchise.




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