Scrappy-Doo is a fictional Great Dane puppy created by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1979. He is the nephew of Scooby-Doo in various incarnations of the Scooby-Doo cartoon series. Lennie Weinrib provided his voice for one season in 1979, and from 1980 on it was performed by Don Messick (who also voiced Scooby). In the first live-action theatrical film, video games, and commercials, he was voiced by Scott Innes, and portrayed by Rowan Atkinson.
He was created to save the show's ratings which by 1979 had begun to sink to the point of cancellation threats from ABC, who were considering choosing between Scooby-Doo and an unnamed pilot from Ruby-Spears Enterprises which Mark Evanier had also written.
History
Hanna-Barbera
Precursors
Though Scrappy officially debuted in the fall of 1979, there may have been hints of his existence in 1969, as he "...bore a resemblance to Spears's and Ruby's initial idea for a feisty little dog", which was one of the early ideas for the Scooby-Doo character himself, along with the "big cowardly dog" ultimately chosen.
After hearing Joe Barbera's description of the character, writer Mark Evanier, was significantly reminded of the Looney Tunes character Henery Hawk, and incorporated what he knew of said character into the script.
Development
Scrappy's creation officially began in 1978, when Scooby-Doo's ratings were sinking to the point of cancellation threats from ABC.
Duane Poole, a story editor for the first series Scrappy appeared in, recalled it as a lively time, with many new ideas and some new blood being hired with the desperation to revive Scooby-Doo, which had been a cash-cow in its glory days.
Mel Blanc was the first choice to voice Scrappy, given his connection to Henery Hawk, but wanted too much money to voice the part. Frank Welker, the voice of Fred Jones, auditioned to voice Scrappy as a dual role during the character's development (one of several voice actors considered for the role) and coined the catchphrase "Puppy Power" during his audition. He would later change this to "Monkey Muscle" for the similar Donkey Kong Jr. character he would voice for TV's Saturday Supercade. The next choice was Messick, who was seen as giving the best audition, but still deemed "the wrong voice". Afterwards, other well-known cartoon voice artists were considered or suggested: Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, Paul Winchell, Marilyn Schreffler, Howard Morris, Dick Beals and Marshall Efron. Ultimately, Lennie Weinrib was chosen.
Warner Brothers
Live-action Scooby-Doo movie (2002) Scrappy was first included in an early draft of what would become Scooby-Doo (2002), in around March 2000. Though he did not physically appear, and was only mentioned by Shaggy and Scooby offhand and was heavily implied to have been put to sleep for undisclosed reasons. James Gunn first acknowledged his involvement in April 2000. Other original ideas for the villain included the Old Man Smithers, the villain from the beginning of the film. Concept art for Scrappy turning into a monster was drawn in 2001. According to the DVD commentary, choosing the villain of the movie was a problematic part of the production, as the makers did not feel comfortable simply giving the role to an "anonymous monster", and that the ending was in "bits and pieces" and the "confinements forced them to be creative." "There is a Scrappy because he exists in the cartoon, so we have to acknowledge him," Gunn stated in an interview shortly before the film's release.
Ultimately, in the final film, Scrappy is revealed to be the villain, in an attempt to get revenge on Mystery Inc. after they kicked him out. Despite previously stating that he felt that "kids didn’t care", Gunn later admitted with some dismay that younger viewers had reacted poorly to the development, admitting he had not understood how popular Scrappy was with five and six-year-olds. "I still think it was funny that Scrappy was the villain", he explained in an interview with Cinefantastique, "but there are kids out there who were really upset."