Scroop is the secondary antagonist of Disney's 2002 animated feature film, Treasure Planet. He is an alien spider/crab-like creature who attempts to stage a mutiny on the ship.
Background[]
Personality[]
Scroop is best described as very cruel, murderous, greedy, manipulative, and devious. He is an intimidating and treacherous pirate who was preparing to kill Jim Hawkins when he was eavesdropping. He is also shown to have a minatory and mysterious nature and is quite uncaring, opprobrious, disrespectful, and vituperative towards anyone else, even those he claims to be extremely loyal to. An example of this is when he kills Mr. Arrow despite Silver's explicit disapproval of said action, going as far to smile while the crew mourns this loss.
Scroop is an extremely cunning villain, able to blame the death of Mr. Arrow on Jim, and has hinted intentions of staging a mutiny within the Pirate Crew, challenging Silver when he insists on keeping Amelia, Jim, and Doppler alive. He challenges every order given to him by the Pirates, and only is seen as 'submissive' when his life, or his chance at the treasure, is on the line.
Overall he is an amazing actor, able to fool Mr. Arrow in believing he was remorseful for his fight, trick the crew into believing Arrow's death was an accident, slip his way up Silver's ranks despite obvious tension between them, and nearly able to kill of all of those who stand between him and his treasure. Although to say merely enjoys killing and treasure eliminates any intent behind his actions, although hidden. He doesn't simply enjoy mutiny without cause, as if he did he would not be in a pirates ranks, he enjoys revenge, and if it happens in the ship's mutiny it is simply a perk.
To say it best, he enjoys taking what he believes is his to take, be it treasure, a life, or the role of leader.
Physical appearance[]
Scroop's face is insect-like with large, bulbous yellow eyes bearing star-like pupils, two large white fangs, and a lower jaw with slim red fangs. Scroop also has long gray hair, which is possibly an attribute that he is elderly. Scroop's long gray hair also appears to be a reference to the character Israel Hands from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island, whose role Scroop fulfills in the movie.
Scroop attributes a spider-like lower body complete with six slender legs which grow from an abdomen with a black shell and a red underbelly and no cephalothorax, unlike real spiders. Scroop also has fang-like red spikes at the tips of his legs. In place of a spider's head is Scroop's hunched and muscular upper body with red claws strongly resembling that of a scorpion or crustacean. Scroop wears a tethered purple jacket, a purple belt and a brown pirate hat.
Role in the film[]
Scroop as he confronts Jim.
He first appears when the ship's cabin boy Jim Hawkins accidentally eavesdrops on the crews' plans for a mutiny while mopping the deck. Scroop discovers the boy and attempts to intimidate him into minding his own business. Jim, unafraid, recklessly insults the alien, provoking him into attempting to kill the boy while the other crew members cheer him on, and is only saved when Silver intervenes. Mr. Arrow soon arrives on the scene and scolds Scroop for his behavior. Scroop is prevented from retaliating by a warning glare from Silver, but when Mr. Arrow turns around, the monstrous alien makes a deep scowling face, foreshadowing Mr. Arrow's upcoming fate. Soon after, when Silver is furiously berating the crew for almost blowing the mutiny, Scroop attempts to defend his actions, explaining that Jim had been "sniffing" about. Silver disregards this, ordering the pirate to stick to the plan while he keeps Jim from getting any more suspicious.
Scroop grinning before he could make his plans.
Later, during a supernova, Captain Amelia assigns Jim Hawkins to secure everyone's lifelines. Meanwhile, Mr. Arrow and Scroop are among the crew upon the rigging releasing the sails. A wave knocks Mr. Arrow off the ship, but he is saved by the lifeline Jim had carefully secured. This brief relief is short-lived when Scroop cuts Mr. Arrow's rope and sends him flying to his death in the black hole. After they escape the black hole, Scroop then sadly tells the news to Captain Amelia, having covered his tracks by getting rid of the cut lifeline and making it appear that it was not secured. Amelia subsequently blames Jim for Mr. Arrow's death, and even Jim blames himself, but a glaring Silver realizes the truth after receiving an evil grin from Scroop.
Later that night, when everyone else inside, Scroop spies on Silver as he comforts Jim. He senses a weakness in the cyborg and decides to take advantage of it. The next morning, while the crew confronts Silver over their impatience to start the mutiny, Scroop openly expresses his desire to kill Jim, Amelia, and Delbert immediately. Silver angrily retaliates by grabbing Scroop by the throat and threatening to kill him if he disobeyed his orders again. After being flung into a barrel of purps, an incensed Scroop harasses Silver in front of the alien pirates about his soft spot for Jim, but Silver insists that he does not, making it clear that he only cared about Flint's trove. When Scroop mocks Silver's speech to Jim, Silver's anger escalates more and he immediately orders him to "shut his yap," and continues to deny his affections for Jim. Jim, who is hiding in the barrel, hears this, not knowing that Silver was just trying to save himself from Scroop's wrath. The confrontation is interrupted when the ship finally arrives at Treasure Planet.
When Silver discovers that Jim had overheard everything and fails to stop him from alerting the Captain and Dr. Doppler, he calls his crew to begin the mutiny. Scroop is seen a couple of times among the crew members and is one of those who attempt to melt the lock of the Captain's quarters. Jim and the others eventually escape and land on the planet, with Scroop, left alone to watch the ship as the pirates begin their pursuit.
Scroop was not seen again for the rest of the film until his final scene when Jim, B.E.N., and Morph return to the Legacy to retrieve the map and disable the cannons with the help of Jim Hawkins. B.E.N. separates from Jim to disable the cannons, but in attempting to find the right wire amongst dozens, accidentally sets off the alarm momentarily. This alerts Scroop that Jim is on board, and he chases the boy through the ship's corridors. Though Morph can stall him a couple of times By throwing a pie in his face, Scroop gets rid of the small alien by flinging him into the pipes on the ceiling. Scroop is suddenly forced to stop when Jim points a gun at him, but B.E.N. mistakenly cuts the power to the ship, making the lights go out. The pirate quickly uses this temporary moment of pitch darkness to his advantage, disappearing from Jim's sight once the emergency lights have reactivated and stealthily preparing to kill him from behind.
Scroop rises to his death.
Although Scroop is eventually discovered, courtesy of Morph's timely intervention, he manages to pin down Jim, but B.E.N. accidentally saves him by pulling the gravitation wire of the ship. Jim kicks Scroop through the wooden ceiling and sends him outside, but ends up floating outside himself. While Scroop manages to latch himself to the mast, Jim almost floats away from the ship, but manages to grab onto the pirate flag, despite losing his pistol, which floats away. Scroop climbs up the mast and, savoring the moment, slowly begins cutting the flag's rope, telling Jim to 'say hello' to Mr. Arrow. Jim manages to pull himself down and grab the top of the mast before Scroop can fully cut through, and the alien angrily leaps at the boy. Jim manages to dodge Scroop, jumping off him and shove him into the flag, telling Scroop to say hi to Arrow himself. The sudden jerk snaps the damaged rope and sends Scroop floating away to his death, screaming with fear. He is never to be heard of or seen again. This, in turn, avenges Mr. Arrow's death.
Printed media[]
Illustration of Scroop.
In a printed storybook adaption of Treasure Planet, which does not follow the film storyline, both Scroop and Mr. Arrow survive, as the RLS Legacy never enters the black hole, nor does Scroop battle Jim Hawkins on the ship.
Scroop is illustrated in the book with a much larger upper torso and arms, whereas his animated model used in the film seems to have a much smaller upper torso and larger and longer legs. In addition, the tips of Scroop's legs remain black, while his model in the film has them red.
Scroop also appears on the cover of Beware the Cyborg.[1]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Scroop's demise seems to be an inverse of other Disney villains because instead of "falling" to his death (the usual way in which the villains exit out from the story), Scroop rises to his death.
- Michael Richards was considered to voice Scroop.
- In the video game, Scroop has a minion called Zoff.
- In the CD Read-Along version, if it's played on the computer, there is a very rare alternate snapshot in which Scroop originally used a knife to slash Mr. Arrow's lifeline. This was likely early work-in-progress footage because, in the final version, Scroop simply used his claw to finish off the first mate.
- In some storybooks, while Scroop dies like in the film, the way he does is altered. Instead of lunging at Jim and being kicked towards the flag, Scroop grabs from a rope-like Jim to not float away, but it breaks. Despite this, the illustrations still depict Scroop rising to his death with the flag tangled up.
- In promotional wallpaper images, Scroop is shown eating a purp. In the final film, this scene was cut from the film, possibly it was replaced because Silver was talking to his crew.
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