The classic series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! produced memorable heroes and quotable catchphrases. However, it never got the credit it deserved for some of the most creative villains in cartoon history. Though most of the show's "monsters" would turn out to be con men rather than paranormal entities, there were a few that bucked the trend.

Charlie the Robot from Season 1, Episode 8, "Foul Play at Funland" was one such character. Charlie turned the notion of the true villain on its head. And beyond simply throwing in a plot twist when his identity was revealed, his Scooby-Doo episode created a sympathetic parallel to another classically misunderstood antagonist: Victor Frankenstein's iconic monster.

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What Happens in Foul Play At Funland?

scooby doo charlie the robot

When the gang -- Shaggy, Daphne, Velma, Fred and Scooby-Doo -- find themselves at an amusement park that seems to operate on its own after dark, things feel spooky right off the bat. Of course, they go to investigate and see a strange metallic man working at lightning speed. The caretakers Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins dismiss their wild story and send them off. But as the gang goes back out into the park, rides and attractions start going haywire and the metal man seems to be the culprit. They chase each other through the park, with all of the group's attempts to catch the mystery figure a bust until Mr. Jenkins helps them.

As it turns out, Charlie the Robot is one of the rare non-villain Scooby-Doo villains. He's a robot that the old couple created and programmed to help them run the theme park in their old age, but something went a little funky with his wiring and he got out of hand. Enter Mrs. Jenkins with a confession: she purposefully messed with Charlie's wiring because she didn't think robots should replace human interaction. There's a lot of playing God in this self-contained episode, which probably sounds familiar.

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How Charlie The Robot Mirrors Frankenstein's Monster

frankenstein's monster

Frankenstein's monster was himself a cobbled-together artificial life. In both Mary Shelley's famous book and the later Universal adaptations, Dr. Frankenstein took the powers above him into his own hands and breathed life into an inanimate creature built from deceased body parts. Neither fully human nor able to understand his place in society, the monster unintentionally frightened the townspeople, causing chaos and destruction.

Though Charlie terrorizes an amusement park and causes destruction, it's not done of his own free will. Just like Frankenstein built his monster to do his bidding, Charlie was built to carry on the work of Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins. But both creations don't run according to plan and burdened by roles they can't really fulfill, they go on an unintended rampage. Though Charlie has a far happier ending to his story than Frankenstein's classic horror monster, the message is the same: don't create life unless the creator is ready for it to grow out of their control.

The villains in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! usually followed two established rules: they were bad guys and they were ultimately human. But Charlie the Robot was a rare exception to that rule. He was not human and he had no evil motives -- nor did his creators. His story was a simple escalation of well-intentioned hubris, and a softer look at Dr. Frankenstein and his doomed monster.