NOTE: This page is dedicated to the late Carl Steven (1974-2009).
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Frederick Herman Jones, also known as Fred, and Freddy is a fictional character in the Scooby-Doo franchise. While his teenager self is likable (with the exception of Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!), the same can't be said for his child self in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo!, as he was badly flanderized and became very out-of-character. He is voiced by the late Carl Steven.
Why He Sucked
NOTE: This article only applies to the character as depicted in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo!
- He was badly flanderized and became very out-of-character, where he went from a smart and likable teenage leader into a kid who is a complete idiot.
- While most of the main cast are younger versions of themselves that were decently written, he (along with Daphne) is one of the only two main characters that were very poorly written, except that he is way less likable than Daphne.
- He blames Red Herring for no good reason other than that he doesn’t like him, which is a pathetic excuse for such a reason like that.
- He also never gives Red Herring a break, as he keeps blaming him over and over again, to the point where it gets overused.
- Another annoying overused gag he had was that he would sometimes attempt to interrgrate suspects like a hard-boiled detective, which made him come off as very rude and aggressive.
- He believes what isn’t real, for example, he insists that the nonsense he reads in comic books are the culprits of the case.
- He also makes ridiculous theories, like the comic book characters or Red Herring being the culprits, and they make no sense whatsoever.
- He can be very annoying sometimes, like in "The Computer Walks Among Us", where he and the gang goes "Naaaa", which is repeated four times.
- In the same aforementioned episode, he was also very dumb, thinking that the now disgusted Velma is someone else.
- His stupidity is also annoying, rather than charming, as he doesn’t have the certain uniqueness that Shaggy and Scooby have when it comes to their silliness.
- Due to his stupidity, he is not a very good leader.
- He would then be flanderized again as a teenager, but only worse, in the 2002 live-action film, Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! and Velma.
Redeeming Qualities
- He was a much more likable character as a teenager (except for both the 2002 live-action film and its sequel, Scooby-Doo! 2: Monsters Unleashed, Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! and the adult-oriented “prequel”, Velma).
- Thankfully, in subsequent Scooby-Doo media depicting flashbacks of Fred Jones as a child e.g. the What's New Scooby-Doo episode "A Terrifying Round with a Menacing Metallic Clown" and the direct-to-video film Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map, his aforementioned flanderization from A Pup Named Scooby-Doo! isn't carried over and instead retains his old likable personality.
- A lot of fans really appreciated Fred Jones in "Bravo Dooby-Doo" (crossover with Johnny Bravo), because the producers removed any traces of his stupidity, and made him smarter to make him a more likable character.
- His character design is a perfect one, as he looks very cute as a child.
- The late Carl Steven did an awesome job voicing him, putting a lot of effort and memorable charmistisa in an unlikable character that he was told to voice.
- His parents actually make appearances (that are relevant to the story most of the time), giving him at least somewhat of a background.
- He has some funny moments, like how he blames almost everything on a bully named Red Herring, which often prompts him to appear to assert that he was innocent (despite being overused).
- He has a decent amount of, and not too many, fourth-wall breaking moments.
- He can be likable sometimes, and shows that he still cares about the gang very much.
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