Fred Jones (Scooby-Doo)

Frederick "Freddie" Jones
Scooby-Doo character
File:Freddie.gif
In-universe information
Species	Human
Gender	Male

Frederick Herman Jones, Jr., better known Fred or Freddie, is a fictional character in the American television animated series Scooby-Doo, about a quartet of teenage mystery solvers and their Great Dane cohort, Scooby-Doo. He is the Leader of Mystery Incorporated.

Character description

In the original depictions, Fred wears an orange ascot around his neck. In the 1990s direct-to-video movies and in the 2000s series What's New, Scooby-Doo?, Fred's outfit was given an update, with the removal of his orange ascot and two blue stripes added to his sleeves.

He is often shown constructing various Rube Goldberg traps for villains, which Scooby-Doo and/or Shaggy would often set off by mistake, only for the villain to wind up captured by the trap anyway. Fred leads the group in solving mysteries and often orders the gang to split up to search for clues. Fred usually takes Daphne with him while Shaggy and Scooby go off by themselves, although he would sometimes send Velma, along with Shaggy and Scooby. He is also very muscular, as seen in Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!.

In A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Fred was depicted as being slightly less intelligent than he usually was and more clueless to his surroundings, and was often believing in crazy legends such as Bigfoot and mole people, and in each episode would usually blame the crime on the neighborhood bully Red Herring, whose name is a play on the idiom red herring. However, 99% of the time he would be wrong, and would usually be followed by an insult from Red Herring. This was also carried over to more recent Scooby-Doo productions, most notably What's New, Scooby-Doo? and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, though the Red Herring and mythical creature obsessions were dropped (replaced with obsessions for traps, martial arts, wrestling, and bench-pressing).

Fred is named after Fred Silverman, who insisted the character be named after him, apparently as a condition of the show being picked up.

Performers

Freddie Prinze, Jr. as Fred in Scooby-Doo.

• Frank Welker (1969–present)
• Carl Stevens (A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, 1988–1991)
• Freddie Prinze, Jr. (2002 and 2004 live-action films, Robot Chicken)
• Robbie Amell (Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (2009), Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster (2010), Scooby-Doo! 5 (TBA))

In the original cartoon series and all of its spinoffs (save for A Pup Named Scooby-Doo), Fred is voiced by Frank Welker. The version of Fred featured in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, in which Fred is still a child, is voiced by Carl Stevens (Welker voiced Fred's uncle, Eddie, in one episode). In Warner Bros.' two live-action Scooby-Doo feature films and the Robot Chicken sketch (in which they encounter Jason Voorhees), he is played by Freddie Prinze, Jr..

In Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins, Robbie Amell portrays Fred as a brunette rather than a blond. Although it is never explained why in the film, the real reason is because it took too long to get Amell ready for the production and they decided just to leave his hair the way it is; however, in the sequel, Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster, he receives his blond haircut.

Relatives

Relatives of Fred's shown or mentioned during the series include:

• Skip and Peggy Jones: Fred's parents. Tim Conway (who had previously guest-starred as himself in episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies) and Edie McClurg voice Skip and Peggy in Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!, Gary Cole of Pineapple Express and Kath Soucie voice Skip and Peggy in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. On Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorpated Fred's father is the mayor of Crystal Cove. He is self-centered and more interested in his status as town mayor and keeping the town's tourist industry going, something he tries to force on his son. In this version Fred's father is Fred Jones Sr. not Skip. But it maybe possible Skip is a nickname and his real name has always been Fred(erick Herman) Jones, Sr (See below).

• Eddie Jones: Fred's uncle. The publisher of the tabloid newspaper The National Exaggerator.

• The Count von Jones: Fred's uncle. Lives in a castle near a factory that makes specialized coffins, and runs a museum.

• Uncle Karl: Fred's uncle who runs a cheese shop near Lake Michigan in Wisconsin.

• An uncle in the United States Air Force and works for a space agency.

• An uncle who is first cymbalist in the United States Marine Corps band.

• A 3 year-old nephew. Mentioned in The New Scooby-Doo Movies episode that guest-starred Davy Jones, 'The Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall'. This does mean that, presumably, Fred has at least one sibling.

• Jed Jones: Fred's cousin working for Monstrous, Fright, and Magic. He is voiced by Chris Edgerly.

• Arlene Wilcox: Fred's cousin living in Salem, Massachusetts accused of being possessed by an ancestor burned at the stake for witchcraft.

• Fred Jones, Sr.: Fred's father and mayor of Crystal Cove in Mystery Incorporated (see above).

Relationship with Daphne

It has long been speculated that Fred Jones is attracted to Daphne Blake: he’s overprotective of her, becomes very worried when she falls victim to some kidnapping villain, dances with her when the gang goes to hang out at the local teen parties, and lets her cling to him when frightened (in Scooby Doo, Where Are You?, the original series). Furthermore, in the direct-to-video series, beginning in 1998 with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, it becomes all the more clear that Fred and Daphne are close. At the beginning of the movie, apart from Shaggy and Scooby, they are the only characters who are still close and work together. In this film, they can be seen hugging, teasing each other, but genuinely showing to care for one another by the film’s end. Their relationship continues to develop in Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost. When Fred suggests that he and Daphne stay to watch the Hex Girls, who are suspicious, Velma comments that he always pairs up with Daphne. Daphne then asks the same questions when the rest of the gang leaves and when Fred and Daphne go together to hunt for the ghost in the dark woods, Fred begins to tell her why he always pairs up with her…but they are interrupted by a shrieking noise. A pivotal point, later on, is throughout Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, where there are many flirtatious moments and where Daphne kisses Fred on the cheek for using her jacket to bullfight the lion on the Coliseum level. In the Scooby-Doo live-action movies, Fred and Daphne seem to have a strong attraction to each other, because at the end of the first movie, they kiss. In the second movie, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, they are engaged, as Daphne is wearing an engagement ring given to her by Fred (one of the deleted scenes is of Fred proposing to Daphne, though later the ring has to be melted down to fix the monster controller). In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Fred's attraction towards Daphne seems to have shifted to being merely platonic; however, hints of Fred's feelings are seen in the episode "The Revenge of the Man Crab", when Daphne is kidnapped by the Man Crab (he freaked out when she disappeared, a departure from his usually calm demeanor). In "Fear of the Phantom", Fred finally admitted his feelings for Daphne (after she disappears) and realizing he does care for her after all. This marks the first time that their relationship has become canon in the whole Scooby-Doo series. In Scooby Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster, the two are dating. In the beginning of the movie, Velma and Shaggy discover them making out in the back of the Mystery Machine However, both have different ideas about their relationship. Fred believes that Daphne isn't even is his girlfriend and the two are just hanging out, while Daphne thinks that they are quite serious. After Daphne sees Fred playing golf with two other girls, she purposely makes him jealous by playing tennis with some boys she met. Later, when the two are nearly drowned, they argue about their relationship and break up. At the end of the movie, they make up, but don't get back together, as the gang decides it would be easier if they were all just friends.

However, Fred has also been known to fall for any pretty girl the gang meets, causing Daphne to get insanely jealous. In "Scooby Doo on Zombie Island", Fred crushes on Lena, a cook who invites them to Moonscar Island, where her employer lives. This makes Daphne jealous and might be the reason why, as soon as they arrived at the island, she announced that she liked the handsome gardener, Beau. Fred doesn't approve of Daphne's "love interest"- for either her sake or his own- and the two bicker about it throughout the movie. However, Lena turns out to be a werecat who wants to drain the lifeforce out of Fred, Daphne, Velma and Beau (a secret agent who's investigating the many disappearences on Moonscar Island). At the end of the movie, they are seen watching the sunset together, with Fred's arm on Daphne's shoulder. In Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost, Fred is seen cheering enthusastically for Thorn, the leader of the Hex Girls, which Daphne doesn't like. When he suggests they follow her, Daphne scathingly asks if he wanted to follow her just because he was "stuck on Thorn". In "Scooby Doo! Abracadabra Doo", Fred's mouth drops open when he sees Chrystal, the head magician's beautiful former stage assistant. He later explains that it is because she is so graceful, and during magic class is seen clapping very enthusiastically and whistling for Chrystal. Because of her jealously, Daphne treats Chrystal suspiciously and practices dance at night, in order to be less klutzy. In the end, she performs on stages as Velma's little sister Madelyn's stage assistant, which once again leaves him with his mouth hanging open. When she magically appears in the seat next to him, they appear to be together again. In the newest animated movie,Scooby Doo! Camp Scare Fred has a huge crush on Jessica, a counsuler from Camp Big Moose. He calls her hot and saves her life from the Woodsman. After that, she kisses him on the cheek. At the end of the movie, however, Fred dramatically tells her that their relationship would never work out, since she was from Camp Big Moose and he was from Camp Little Moose. Jessica is confused by this, and it appears that she never liked Fred in the way he liked her. When she walks away, Daphne leans over and says, "Smooth." In addition to this, in one episode each of What's New, Scooby-Doo? and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated viewers are shown signs of this as well. In the What's New, Scooby-Doo? Halloween special, "A Scooby-Doo Halloween", Fred falls for the charms of Marcy, Velma's cousin (which make Daphne jealous - marking one of the few times she shown to have any romantic affections for Fred on the series), while in the Mystery Incorporated episode "The Legend of Alice May", Fred becomes very friendly with the new transfer student, Alice May (once again making Daphne jealous). In each episodes case both girls (who happen to be blonde) become Daphne's prime suspect when the gang tries to solve the mystery; this leads to Fred and Daphne having an argument as Fred steadfastly refuses to believe either girl would commit a crime or cause any kind of trouble. However Velma, in the end, proves that Daphne was right, and Marcy and Alice are each arrested. In "When the Cicada Calls" (aScooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode) the situation is reversed when Daphne reveals she has a crush on one of their professors, Dr. Yantz. Fred's response to this is to ask Daphne out on a date; however, he only wants her to come with him to the new trap exhibit, to Daphne's disgust. Later, Fred suspects Dr. Yantz as the villan. Daphne refuses to believe he has done anything and is furious at Fred; however, when the rest of the gang is confront Dr. Yantz, Daphne overhears Fred call her his girlfriend, and she later agrees to go on a date with him.