In this essay, I'm going to argue that Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy are homeless. In numerous episodes throughout The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show, Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy are hinted to be living out of the Mystery Machine, doing daily rituals that would normally be done in one's house. Going through all 60 shorts in the series, I will discuss the numerous times in which the gang is hinted to live out of the Mystery Machine, and ultimately, demonstrate that they are intended to be homeless, or traveling from place to place, in this series. This essay is not an attempt to disparage or make fun of anyone who is homeless, rather, it is simply an editorial essay pointing out a relevant factor that's present through the entire show. Let's begin with "Scooby in Wonderland." Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy are shown to be sleeping in their van, not in sleeping bags, but in what appears to be full-size beds. While it may have been possible these could be beds somewhere else, as they look like beds you'd have in a house, the first seen actually pans into the Mystery Machine, which shows that they are sleeping in their van. Scrappy and Scooby have one bed, while Shaggy sleeps in the other. Our next short that has some evidence of this is "Scooby's Trip to Ahz," which has the gang watching "The Wizard of Oz" on TV...out of their parked van. It seems a bit odd that they would just randomly park their van to go watch television. This could maybe be explained, if it weren't for the numerous other episodes that have evidence of them living out of the van. In "Scooby's Luck of the Irish," Scooby, Scrappy and Shaggy are eating Irish stew in the woods. The stew was clearly shown to be made with an old pot, heated by fire, telling me that they don't have an oven or any other means of cooking it. It seems quite odd to be eating stew out in the woods, especially when it's dark, even though no evidence was shown of them living out of the van in this episode. In quite possibly the most pitiful example, "Scooby and the Beanstalk" begins with the gang eating baked beans in an empty field. It begins to rain, however, and the beans are ruined. Shaggy claims there is nothing else to eat because that was all they had. Afterwards, they go and sleep in the van, hungry. If anything, this seems like a very clear example of them being homeless. While these four are all the evidence we have of them living out of the van, it seems to happen often enough for it to be a possibility. What makes this a further possibility is how many jobs they have in this series. Spoilers: it's a ton. Nine out of the sixty episodes in the series has the guys getting jobs. These jobs include the following. In "The Chinese Food Factory," they get jobs as night watchmen at a Chinese food factory. In "Stuntman Scooby," they get jobs as stuntmen on the set of a film. "Scooby's Three Ding-A-Ling Circus" has the gang working as carnival workers selling food. "Surprised Spies" has them hired by the FBI to be professional spies. The guys get jobs as a magician's assistants in "Backstage Scooby." The gang is working on cleaning space shuttles in "Scooby Saves the World." Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy get jobs as foremen building the Vampire State Building in "Hardhat Scooby." The very next episode, "Canine to Five" has them working for a scientist who turns into a werewolf. They start their very own gardening service, the Triple S Gardening Service in "Hothouse Scooby." Finally, "Scooby Doo 2000" has the guys cleaning Big Ben in England. So why are the gang homeless? We don't exactly know for sure obviously, but my thoughts are that they are traveling the world out of their van. They seem to bring their van to quite odd places such as an Arabian temple (which would require cross-ocean travel). The gang travels to locations in this series, including the old west, England, Arabia, Egypt, the Himalayas, Mexico, Scotland, the Amazon jungle, an unnamed prehistoric island, the Swiss Alps, Italy, Hawaii, Alaska, Carlsbad (Bad Carl's) Caverns, Paris, India, somewhere in the South, The Great Wall of China, and England for a second time. While maybe not the most solid, undeniable argument I've ever made, I think the evidence for the gang traveling the world living out of their van in The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show is pretty decent, and is definitely my head canon for the series. I think it's an interesting twist that the writers chose to write them this way, and I'm admittedly not sure why, other than maybe they wanted to keep that element of the Mystery Machine from the original format as a home base for the guys in their travels. Keep in mind, we never do see the gang's homes in the 1969-1979 series either, though they are not shown to be living out of the van through context clues as they seem to be in this series. If going hungry because your baked beans cooked in a bucket got soggy doesn't mean you're living in a van, I don't know what does.
4 Comments
Samuel Kirkwood
3/6/2020 10:45:55 am
Intriguing theory and wouldn't surprise, does make you think what might have happened in their home life. Maybe in this universe a tragic accident whilst mystery solving killed Fred, Daphne and Velma and not being able to face normal life, Shaggy takes the dogs and runs.
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3/6/2020 12:51:10 pm
Quite a dark theory you have there lol. I guess it's possible!
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sdf
3/9/2020 03:55:29 pm
Great work!!
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