Crazy Scooby-Doo Fan Theory Says They’re All Draft Dodgers
A Scooby-Doo fan theory attempts to explain that the meddling kids are actually draft dodgers trying to reach Canada.
There are a lot of crazy fan theories out there, but they generally fall along the same lines: It’s all a dream, the main character is insane, the main character is actually dead, or a certain character is a figment of someone else’s imagination. Apply these same theories over and over again to every show and movie in existence, and you get a general idea of how fan theories usually work. However, sometimes a fan comes up with an idea that’s completely out there, yet still seems to fit, like this theory from a recently-unearthed Reddit post about how the Scooby-Doo crew is actually a bunch of draft dodgers who are trying to escape to Canada.
This theory that Scooby-Doo‘s protagonists are actually draft dodgers only applies to the original TV series, which first aired in September 1969. The theory’s progenitor, Reddit user themightyheptagon, starts out by saying he assumes the cartoon takes place in the year it came out. By this point, anti-war protests were frequent, and the first draft of soldiers for the Vietnam War took place in 1969.
To justify his theory that Scooby-Doo is about a group of draft dodgers, themightyheptagon looks at the characters themselves, who seem to be driving around in the Mystery Machine for no real reason whatsoever. While Shaggy definitely gives hippy vibes, he points out that Fred, who is a straight-laced suburban white kid, seems like the least-likely person to go on a long, aimless road trip. According to the theorist, this can be explained by the fact that their wanderings are not aimless at all, instead, both Shaggy and Fred are driving north to Canada to avoid getting drafted.
To explain Scooby Doo’s non-draft dodgers, as women could not join the military in 1969, Daphne, he says, is tagging along because she’s Fred’s fiancé. Velma, he believes, is a rebellious anti-war activist who is fleeing after a protest turns violent. To justify this last claim, themightyhepdragon states that Velma is practically a caricature of how an activist from that era would be expected to look.
Of course, Scooby-Doo isn’t just about driving around in a van, draft dodgers or not. It’s about solving mysteries, usually revolving around some old man in a ghost mask trying to scare people away, not counting on interference from meddling kids and/or dogs. Themightyhepdragon explains this by saying the mysteries are merely diversions that the kids run into while on their way to freedom.
Unfortunately, like most fan theories, you run into plenty of holes when you start to look into it, with some major problems pointed out by user drvondoctor, who points out that the Scooby Doo cast regularly has reasons for traveling that don’t involve dodging the draft. For example, the crew is headed to their high school’s barn dance in episode 20, also, they are regularly seen outside the country, traveling to Turkey in episode 30, Scotland in episode 31, and Brazil in episode 33. Since none of those countries are Canada, and since the entire crew returns to the United States shortly afterward, it seems clear that either they’re not trying to escape to Canada, or that they’re really, really bad at it.
