A controversially deleted drug gag from the James Gunn scripted R-rated Scooby-Doo explains the movie's best hidden adult joke. First released on June 14th, 2002, director Raja Gosnell and writer James Gunn's movie represents the first live-action Scooby-Doo franchise installment, which sees Mystery Incorporated reunite after a two-year split to investigate strange happenings at popular horror-themed tropical island resort Spooky Island. Despite a lukewarm critical reception upon release, Scooby-Doo 2002 has since garnered a cult following, with many of the movie's more adult-skewing jokes still holding up well today.
Near the beginning of Scooby-Doo, as the Mystery Inc. gang boards the Spooky Island plane, Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) is sat next to the beautiful Mary Jane (Isla Fisher). Immediately smitten by his travel companion, Shaggy asks her name, to which he then replies, "Like, that's my favorite name." This gag has since gone on to become one of the most famous adult jokes hidden within a children's movie, with Scooby-Doo 2002 littered with various other half-nods that point to Shaggy being a stoner.
Yet the deleted drug scene from Scooby-Doo's R-rated version makes its Mary Jane joke even better. In a revealing YouTube interview with Scooby-Doo editor Kent Beyda, presenters JayBee & Milly, in association with smASH's Ashton Hardy, unearth a hilarious scene description from Beyda in which the camera zooms in on the Mystery Machine to reveal a sign that reads "Pot - $5" before panning out to reveal actual clay pots that Shaggy and Scooby (Neil Fanning) are selling to store flowers in. This cheeky deleted scene gives additional context to why Shaggy loves Mary Jane's name so much, as well as underscoring several other gags that made it into Gosnell's final Scooby-Doo 2002 version.
Was Shaggy A Stoner In The Scooby Doo Movie?
The Scooby-Doo Mary Jane joke has taken on a life of its own across the 20 years since Scooby-Doo first premiered domestically, gaining immense popularity in contemporary culture through memes, social media, and a continued re-assessment of Gosnell's Scooby-Doo movies in recent years. The brilliance of Scooby-Doo's Mary Jane joke lies not only in its simplicity, however, but due to the fact it is also bolstered by other scenes from the movie that are indicative of Gunn's original R-rated cut. Musical Youth's "Pass the Dutchie" playing as the camera pans in on a smoking Mystery Machine is a more on-the-nose example here, while Shaggy's constant paranoia, munchies, and nicknaming his dog Scooby "Dooby" Doo are all nods to his stoner persona in Gunn's original script.
In this way, Scooby-Doo's deleted "pot" scene from the R-rated cut only enhances the movie's best hidden Shaggy jokes by acting as a signifier for the cheeky marijuana references to follow. In reality, it is a shame this element of James Gunn's R-rated story was deemed too risky for a children's movie, given the selling pots gag better contextualizes the movie's approach towards Shaggy's stoner proclivities. While audiences over the years have certainly read between the lines and surmised Shaggy is an off-screen stoner in the movie, birthing the popularity of the Mary Jane joke in modern media, Scooby-Doo's deleted R-rated drug scene better explains its best hidden adult joke.