Created by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna
I swear, this site is going to the dogs. This has just got to be about the lamest entry ever on the site, but here goes:
During it’s seemingly endless run of one-hour-long The New Scooby-Doo Movies on 1970s television, the Mystery, Inc. gang of Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo teamed up with cartoon versions of many real-life celebrities (who provided their own voices), including the Harlem Globetrotters, Jonathan Winters, Phyllis Diller, Sonny and Cher, and even Don Knotts, who played both himself and private eye HOMER “BULLDOG” PIPSQUEAK.
Yes, that Don Knotts. This was one of two appearances by Knotts on the show (the other being as sheriff of a small town named Juneberry). In the “Guess Who’s Knott Coming to Dinner?” episode he played a private investigator investigating the disappearance of Captain Moody. When Scooby and the Mystery Inc. gang show up at Moody Manor, innocently asking for directions, Pipsqueak — being the great and unmatched detective that he is — mmediately suspects that one of them may have offed Captain Moody, who is missing, and that the rest of them are relatives gathering to quibble over his estate.
And so the fun begins. Pipsqeak wears several disguises, portraying the butler, maid, the ghost of Captain Moody and others as he bumbles his way through his investigation. Eventually the gang tumbles to the fact that they are all Homer (although Scooby insists it is Don Knotts). Pipsqueak, however, informs them that his nickname is Bulldog because he never lets go of an investigation and claims to speak every known language.
At least in this one — and despite the deerstalker’s cap — Knotts actually “plays” a “real” private eye, unlike The Private Eyes, his 1980 theatrical release, where he and co-star Tim Conway were actually inspectors from Scotland Yard.
BURNING QUESTION
- From our vantage point outside the house, we see Don Knotts move past the first and last in a series of windows, so why don’t we see him in the middle windows?
— Whatsits Galore Presents Glitches from The New Scooby-Doo Movies - And they think I’m obsessive?
— the editor
TELEVISION
- THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MOVIES
(1972-74, CBS)
60-minute episodes
Created by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna
Writers: Larz Bourne, Jameson Brewer, Tom Dagenais, Ruth Brooks Flippen, Fred Freiberger, Willie Gilbert, Woody Kling, Bill Lutz, Larry Markes, Norman Maurer, Jack Mendelsohn, Sidney Morse, Ray Parker, Gene Thompson, Paul West, Harry Winkler
Directed by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna
Associate Producer: Alex Lovy, Zoran Janjic
Produced by Ashley Nixon
Starring Don Messick as Scooby Doo
Casey Kasem as Norville “Shaggy” Rogers
Nicole Jaffe as Velma Dinkley
Heather North as Daphne Blake
and Frank Welker as Freddy Jones
Guest Starring Don Knotts as HOMER “BULLDOG” PIPSQUEAK and HIMSELF- “Guess Who’s Knott Coming to Dinner?” (October 7, 1972)
RELATED LINKS
- Let’s Get Animated
Cartoon Eyes - Kiddie Pulp
Get ’em while they’re young. - Scooby-Doo & Mystery, Inc.
Our site’s entry on those meddling kids.
