Daphne Blake is a fictional character in the Scooby-Doofranchise. Daphne, depicted as coming from a wealthy family, is noted for her beauty, red hair, purple heels, fashion sense, and her knack for getting into danger, hence the nickname "Danger-Prone Daphne".
According to Scooby-Doo: Behind the Scenes, Daphne wanted to be both a supermodel and a detective even as a child (the latter of which disappointed her parents). Her aspirations had an effect on her personal life as she was late for dates whenever she went on mysteries with the gang; she and Fred deny the rumors that they are dating. Her father gave her and her friends the seed money to start off.
Together with her other teenage companions, Fred Jones, Velma Dinkley, Shaggy Rogers, and Shaggy's Great Dane, Scooby-Doo, Daphne would engage in solving various mysteries. In the first series, Daphne was portrayed as the beautiful, enthusiastic, and eager to help, but occasionally clumsy and danger-prone member of the gang (hence her nickname, "Danger-prone Daphne") who follows her intuition. She sometimes serves as the damsel in distress and would occasionally get kidnapped, tied up, and then left imprisoned. But as the franchise went on, she became a stronger, more independent character who could take care of herself. Daphne often uses the word "Jeepers" to express surprise, first using it in the Scooby Doo Where Are You! episode, What the Hex Going On?.
During the series' fourth incarnation, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, some of the episodes focused on Daphne. In the episode, "Shiver and Shake, That Demon's a Snake", Daphne buys an idol which is cursed by a snake demon. On the sailboat, the snake demon attacks Daphne and demands an idol to return. In the episode, "The Scary Sky Skeleton", Daphne is reunited with her old friend, Wendy.
In the episode, "I Left My Neck in San Francisco", Daphne becomes sick and she's unable to help the gang to solve the mystery about The Lady Vampiress of the Bay. Due to the vampiress’s look, Daphne's unseen reflection in the mirror, the bat flying around Daphne's bed and herself returning to bed a little later, Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy are convinced that Daphne is a vampiress. When the vampiress is revealed to be Lefty Callahan, Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy realize they made a mistake in suspecting Daphne and she is feeling well again.
When the original Mystery Inc. group took a hiatus from the franchise in the 1980s, Daphne was initially absent too, with the series focusing on the comedy antics of Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy. However, when the "Whodunnit?" aspect returned to the series with The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show (later retitled The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries), Daphne returned, now an accomplished investigator assisted by Shaggy and the two dogs, investigating supernatural occurrences. She continued to help Scooby battle evil forces of the supernatural in the 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo series.
In the film Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, Daphne had a very successful investigative TV series called Coast to Coast with Daphne Blake on a fictionalchannel called "Americana", which the show had aired on for two seasons. The producer of the show was Fred Jones.
Throughout the various incarnations of the character, there has been speculation that Daphne and Fred had an attraction toward each other. This is emphasized in many of the direct-to-video films and the TV series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. By the time of the second season, they are shown to be actively dating, showing more of their feelings toward each other. In the first live-action Scooby-Doo film, the two initially are just friends with but as the film progresses, they begin to develop a romantic interest in each other and briefly kiss after saving Spooky Island. In the sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, they are in a relationship.
Her usual appearance in the franchise consists of a purple mini-dress, pink pantyhose, purple shoes, and a green scarf. In Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island,Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost, and Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, she wears a purple and green three-piece suit with matching shoes. In Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders, she wears a purple sleeveless shirt with pink shorts and purple trainers boots or shoes. She no longer wore her green scarf in What's New, Scooby Doo?, but still had purple mini-dress, pink pantyhose and purple shoes. In "Mystery Incorporated" she temporary wore a black choker, long black gloves, long boots, black skirt, and a black corset exposing her navel when she became a temporary Hexgirl.
As a child, she wears a pink sweater, red skirt, and pink pantyhose with white go-go boots, which she hates getting dirty. In The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, she wears other purple and pink clothes, such as a purple jumpsuit and a purple dress with a white belt. In Scooby-Doo, she wears various outfits, but mostly a purple/pink dress with pink knee high boots.
In these films, Daphne and Fred began a relationship in the first film that followed on through the second. Unlike the previous incarnation of the character, Gellar's version of Daphne is trained in martial arts during Mystery Inc.'s 2-year-long departure in the first film, as she is tired of being a damsel in distress on every case that she is involved in with the gang. Coincidentally, this subversion of the damsel in distress to a strong female fighter almost mirrors Gellar's widely recognized role of the title character in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though in the first film, she is captured by the masked wrestler Zarkos, but she beats him in a fight at the end.
Daphne is portrayed by Kate Melton in the third film Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (released as a TV film in 2009) and its sequel Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster (which debuted in 2010) These two films are prequels to the first two live-action films and show how the gang met while in high school. Daphne is the president of the drama club at Coolsville High School and the lead in a school musical.
In Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!, Daphne develops a kooky personality and performs multiple hobbies such as doing hand puppets, beards, sleepovers, or vampires.
^Evanier, Mark. (July 10, 2002).PostArchived May 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine on "News from Me" blog for Povonline.com. Retrieved March 27, 2006. Excerpt: "Fred was based on Dobie, Velma on Zelda, Daphne on Thalia and Shaggy on Maynard."
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