Fred Jones

**Fred Jones** is the leader of the gang in the *Scooby-Doo* franchise. He was voiced by Frank Welker in all series that featured him, except *A Pup Named Scooby-Doo* and the 2020 film *Scoob!* and the upcoming *Velma*.

## About Fred

He has a round nose and short blond hair. 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 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 and Velma 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!*, as well as a few episodes of *Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated*.

In *A Pup Named Scooby-Doo*, Fred was 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, he would almost always 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). He is hopeless at speaking any language other than English (in an episode of *What's New Scooby-Doo?*, Fred is learning to speak French - badly - and Daphne suggests he just sticks to saying 'wee-wee', to which he replies, "I already did that before we left the hotel"). He is also clueless to anything romantic said by Daphne, though he picks it up pretty quickly when it comes from other girls, which doesn't go down well with Daphne.

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

## Other Performers

* 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 that 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. In addition, it has to be confirmed there will be a third and final film in the Scooby-Doo prequel series. Because this would be the final prequel movie, it's likely Fred will return to his blond status by the end of the third film.
* Zac Efron voiced Fred as an adult and Pierce Gagnon voiced Fred as a child in the 2020 film *Scoob!*
* Glenn Howerton voices Fred in the HBO Max series *Velma*.

## Relatives

Relatives of Fred 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!*. In *Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated*, 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 is possible that Skip is a nickname and his real name has always been Frederick 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. The count runs a museum and lives in a castle near a factory that makes specialized coffins.

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

* An uncle in the United States Air Force, who works for a space agency.

* Another military uncle, who is first cymbalist in the United States Marine Corps band. Mentioned in the *New Scooby-Doo Movies* episode with Sonny & Cher.

* 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. Jed 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).

## Love Interests

* **Pamela Anderson**: Fred's love interest in the first *Scooby-Doo* film. Pamela asks Fred to thank him for saving Coolsville from The Luna Ghost.

* **Marcy**: Velma's cousin. She has a crush on Fred in a *Scooby-Doo Halloween* special. She pays special attention to Fred while the gang are staying with Velma's aunt and uncle over Halloween, initiating physical contact and flirting every time they are on screen together, even asking him how much he can bench press and showing him how to make toffee apples (which Daphne interrupts).

* **Alice May**: Fred's new love interest in the *Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated* episode, *The Legend of Alice May*. Daphne is upset when Fred and Alice initiate their date at prom, disappointed as she intended to go to the prom with Fred. Alice is arrested when Fred and Daphne are having their breakup.

* **Daphne Blake**: Fred's official love interest and Velma's best friend in the *Scooby-Doo* series. Their relationship is hinted at continuously: they often end up splitting up together to search for clues, Fred often shows special concern for Daphne when the gang is in danger, and they often cling to each other when frightened. In *Witch's Ghost*, Fred nearly declares his feelings for Daphne before being interrupted; in *Zombie Island* he has become the producer of her show and both become jealous (of Lena and Beau respectively) when they show romantic interest in others. Daphne also gives Fred a kiss on the cheek during *Cyber Chase* after he bullfights with a lion, telling him that he was very brave (at which point Fred blushes and smiles). During *What's New Scooby-Doo?* Fred and Daphne end up going on a fake date in *A Scooby-Doo Valentine*. They officially begin dating in series 1 of *Mystery Incorporated*, with Fred taking Daphne to a trap exhibition for their first date; however, the engagement is broken off at the end of series 1, only to resume in series 2 after Daphne's boyfriend Baylor Hotner is exposed as a villain. By the end of *Mystery Incorporated*, they have declared their love for each other and are firmly an item once again. The most notable development of Fred and Daphne's relationship after *Mystery Incorporated* comes in *Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright*, when an upset Daphne proclaims her love for Fred to Velma, who encourages her to tell him; she eventually indirectly reveals her feelings when the pair have to perform a second song on stage and Daphne uses lyrics she wrote to a song Fred made up on the way to the competition to tell him she loves him.

## Reception

Members of the fanbase of the original *Scooby-Doo* speculated that Fred and Daphne Blake had a romantic attraction to one another. The makers of the *Scooby-Doo* film originally planned to refer to the rumor by including a scene where Fred asks to stay with Daphne, using the presence of a toothbrush to imply that he wanted to stay with Daphne for the night. The scene was not included in the final version of the film.