Scooby-Doo: Behind the Scenes, also known as Those Meddling Kids, is a series of eight shorts that aired on Cartoon Network during the 25 Hours of Doo marathon in 1998. They were broadcast during commercial breaks.
Like other productions at the time, it primarily poked fun at the Scooby-Doo franchise tropes and fan theories.
Mystery Inc. details bits of "behind the scenes" trivia about their work and personal lives.
Synopsis[]
The eight segments were broken up as:
CASE ONE: Those Meddling Kids Get Started
Daphne's father, George, is credited with giving the gang a check (made out to "Mysteries, Inc.") for one hundred dollars to get them started, but since they didn't have a car at the time, they paid their parents gas money to drive them around. Unfortunately, that seems to have limited their mystery solving abilities, as Daphne's father is shown refusing to drop them off at a haunted house. Shaggy is credited with finding the Mystery Machine, which Daphne seems indifferent about. Once they acquired the van, they are said to have "skyrocketed to fame, setting new precedents for the whole crime-solving industry". The gang attributes their success to not waiting for mysteries to come to them, but by going out and finding the monsters on their own.
CASE TWO: That Meddling Dog, Scooby Doo
Fred claims the entire gang thought at first that Scooby having an Adam's apple was "a little strange", but once they got used to it they weren't surprised when he started talking. Daphne is unsure if there's an animal that gets as scared as Scooby, although Velma suggests Shaggy. The remainder of this segment details Scooby's partnership with his "soulmate" Shaggy, who are compared to Holmes and Watson. Shaggy tearfully explains things between them "just clicked" and that there's nobody he'd rather be monster bait with. Scooby's touched to find out Shaggy's said such nice things about him, but Fred ruins the moment by admitting that while it may be hard to get Scooby to deal with a monster, getting him to the vet is an even bigger challenge.
CASE THREE: Shaggy, That Meddling Hippie
It's revealed that Shaggy's childhood nickname was "Buzz" (in reference to his hairstyle at the time) and that he's currently a vegetarian. Shaggy discusses his unhealthy addiction to Scooby Snacks, which Velma claims at one point made up 45% of his body weight. To overcome this habit, he began collecting "decorator belt buckles" and believes to have the largest collection in the world, with 653. His favorite reads, "When Do We Eat?", although he claims to wear a different buckle for each mystery - they're just hard to see.
CASE FOUR: That Meddling Kid, Daphne
In an attempt to prove she's more than just the "most fashionable member of Mysteries Inc.", Daphne claims to get straight A's in school and footage is presented from her childhood showing her early interest in becoming a detective (and supermodel), much to her mother's chagrin. Unlike the others, she discusses having the most trouble managing a personal life outside mystery solving. On one occasion she is said to have met up late with the gang at Old Man Johnson's farm, despite leaving her date early. The notion that anything is happening romantically between her and Fred is quickly shut down by Daphne, though Fred's response appears a little more flustered. Scooby, on the other hand, appears to imply the two have at least kissed.
CASE FIVE: Velma, That Meddling Brain
Velma chalks up her catchphrase, "Jinkies", to her simply being so surprised that it "just came out" and admits to having previously said the less catchy phrase, "Oh my!" A strong push from her parents to be successful academically is said to have resulted in Velma receiving hundreds of awards for outstanding achievement. However, it's this success that is blamed for her being "more vocal than her comrades would like".
CASE SIX: Fred and That Meddling Ascot
Fred defends his choice to wear an ascot by simply, though aggressively, stating, "I like how it looks", though is shown in a yearbook, where he was voted "Best Looking", to be wearing a bow tie. He is shown having had travelled with a performance troupe prior to devoting himself to solving mysteries. Daphne attributes this dramatic training to helping him get "into the mind of the villain". When the gang is scared, it is revealed that Fred will sing something from Show Boat to soothe them. Fred's singing voice, at least while performing "Old Man River", is relatively deep. His dream is to become a famous mystery writer.
CASE SEVEN: Those Finger-Pointing Villains
One of the Scare Pair, the Gypsy and the Witch Doctor all claim to have been the first to refer to the gang as "those meddling kids". From within a jail cell, the Cat Creature explains that the key to being a good villain is the "hidden door". The Ghost Clown admits that he'd been "groomed to be an astronaut". Dr. Najib, the Black Knight (still stuck in the pillory) and the Headless Specter are all given a chance to give their true feelings on the gang, but appear hesitant to really say much of substance.
CASE EIGHT: Those Meddling Kids, Together Again
After solving more than two hundred mysteries together, Daphne says the one thing she's learned is to avoid "paintings that blink" with Velma recalling that the all the bad guys they deal with hang portraits on their walls, with not one haunted house they've visited having had a landscape. At Fred's suggestion they recall the case from Never Ape an Ape Man, although they claim that Fred couldn't get the Ape Man's "mask" off because it was a real gorilla. Velma sums up what they do as "find a mystery, run around, trap a bad guy [and] rip his mask off". Fred says they have fun doing it, at which point Scooby scares Shaggy by putting on a gorilla mask. Fred proceeds to put a hand on each of their shoulders, proclaiming, "I love you guys." Velma is quick to shut him down however, firing back a snarky, "Knock it off."
The check the gang received from Daphne's father is dated July 28th, and lists his address as being in Coolsville.
"Seven Days a Week" from Scooby's Night with a Frozen Fright is heard playing on the radio in Daphne's father's station wagon during the flashback in "CASE ONE".
The newspaper headlines of the gang's adventures read, "SCOOBY DOO AND THE GANG: THE UNSTOPPABLES", "GANG BIDS GOOD NIGHT TO KNIGHT", "SCOOBY DOO AND GANG MAKE GOOD", "Teenagers Tame Another Monster" (featuring a photo from the unmasking of Asa Shanks in Haunted House Hang-Up), "Heroes and Hoagies: A Success Story", and "The Secret Formula of Mysteries Inc.".
CASE FIVE
A clip from The Creepy Case of Old Iron Face is used to show Velma saying her catchphrase, "Jinkies".
Velma's achievement awards include: "Super Achiever" from Coolsville Junior High School, "Student of the Year" from the National Honor Society, "Patient of the Year" from the National Association of Optometrists, "Junior Detective: Certificate of Merit" from the Coolsville Police, "Certificate of Merit" from the Child Genius Award and a certificate for 1st Place from the Regional Science Fair for her "Double Reflecting Magnifying Glass".
Although the name of the boy voted "Smartest" and the name and title of the girl shown to Fred's left in the yearbook are unknown, the girl below him, Debbie Hays, is shown to have been voted "Funnies
A newspaper clipping from The Coolsville Chronicle, dated May 13th, shows a photo of Fred during his time as a theatre performer, above the headline, "Jones Hams It Up in Hamlet".
A clip from Scooby's Night with a Frozen Fright is used.
CASE SEVEN
Clips of Professor Wayne, Asa Shanks, Hank, Buck Masters and Dr. Najib, at various stages of their Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! unmaskings/arrests, are shown.
Daphne appears in a pinup photo in a calendar on the jail cell of the Cat Creature.
A clip from Never Ape an Ape Man (also used in the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! intro), showing Fred falling into a hidden bookcase passageway, is used to illustrate the use of a "hidden door".
A quick pan is done across a lineup of villains who are, from left to right: the Zombie, Frankenstein's Monster, the Gypsy, the Creeper and Dracula.
This special is a parody of the then new VH1 documentary series Behind the Music.
Fred's book title, The Hound of Beastville, is a parody of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches[]
Although the title shown and read at the beginning of "CASE TWO" is That Meddling Dog, Scooby Doo, the previous segment's "up next" announces it as Scooby, That Meddling Dog. Similarly, "CASE FIVE" is referred to as That Meddling Brain, Velma at the end of "CASE FOUR", but is titled Velma, That Meddling Brain.
Ignores all events of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, except for Scooby's first name, Scoobert, which was first mentioned in Curse of the Collar.
The gang is referred to on several occasions as Mysteries Inc., rather than Mystery Inc..
Although they show footage from Never Ape an Ape Man, the gang claims the culprit was an actual gorilla, when the culprit in that episode was a human stuntman, Carl.
A clip from The Backstage Rage, when the gang discovers a secret room inside a harp case, is edited to have Velma cut off Fred mid-sentence, leaving him awkwardly at a loss for words.
A clip from The Spirit Spooked Sports Show is edited to show Fred revealing himself as the Spirit of Fireball McPhan.
This gives Mr. Blake's first name as George R., which conflicts with the Ottenheimer books, which called him Jonathan, and the The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show episode No Thanks, Masked Manx, and his couple of appearances in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, in which he was called Nedley.
Home media[]
Scooby-Doo's Greatest Mysteries VHS released by Warner Home Video on April 13, 1999.
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! • Shining Star • Scooby D • It's a Mystery • Bump in the Night • Grow Up • Here We Go • Thank You (Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Again) • Don't Wanna Think About You • Boom Shack-A-Lack • Whenever You Feel Like It • Man with the Hex • Freaks Come Out at Night • Words to Me • Thinking About You • Friends Forever • Play That Funky Music • Love Shack • Summer Feelings • On Me • I Fly
