Scroop is the secondary, later true main antagonist from Disney's 2002 animated film Treasure Planet. He is an alien spider/crab-like creature who attempts to stage a mutiny on the ship.
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.
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 pirate hat.
Role in the film
Meeting Jim Hawkins
Scroop as he confronts Jim.
He first appears when the ship's cabin boy, Jim Hawkins, accidentally eavesdrops on the crews's plans for a mutiny while mopping the deck. Scroop discovers the boy and attempts to intimidate him into minding his own business. Jim 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 wicked 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 himself keeps Jim from getting any more suspicious.
Killing Mr. Arrow
Scroop about to cut Mr. Arrow's lifeline.
Later, during a supernova, Captain Amelia assigns Jim Hawkins to secure everyone's lifelines. Meanwhile, Mr. Arrow and Scroop are among the crew up on 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, but Silver realizes the truth after receiving an evil smile from Scroop.
Exposing Silver's Weakness
Scroop harassing John Silver, exposing his weakness and using Silver's thoughts about Jim against him.
Later that night, when everyone else in 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 confront Silver over their impatience to mutiny, Scroop openly expresses his desire to kill Jim, Amelia and Delbert immediately. Silver retaliates by grabbing Scroop by the throat and threatening to kill him if he disobeyed 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, 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 tells him to shut his yap and continues to deny it. 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.
Last Stand
Scroop prepares to attack Jim, silently stalking him from above.
Scroop is not seen again until his final scene when Jim, B.E.N. and Morph return to the Legacy to retrieve the map and disable the cannons. Ben separates from Jim to disable the cannons, but in attempting to find the right wire amongst dozens, accidentally sets off the alarm momentarily. It is this that alerts Scroop that Jim is on board, and he chases the boy through the ship's corridors. Though Morph is able to stall him a couple of times, 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 Ben mistakenly cuts the power to the ship. The pirate quickly uses this temporary moment of darkness to his advantage, disappearing from Jim's sight once the emergency lights had activated 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 Ben 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. 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 him. Jim manages to dodge Scroop and shove him into the flag. The sudden jerk snaps the damaged rope and sends Scroop floating away to his presumed death screaming.
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]
Trivia
- The way Scroop kills Mr. Arrow is very similar to what Scar does to Mufasa in The Lion King. Both villains reveal their true natures to their victims (Mr. Arrow and Mufasa), and blame their deaths on the protagonists (Jim and Simba). Both also meet a similar fate at the hands of the protagonists later on.
- Due to the fact that Silver has a soft spot for Jim, and that Scroop is more evil, he turns out to be the true antagonist for the film, rather than John Silver.
- Scroop's death seems to be in reverse because instead of "falling" to his death, he "rises" to his death.
- One of the wallpaper images of Treasure Planet shows Scroop holding a perp (a purple plum-like lemon-shaped fruit) with his tongue impaled, although this scene was neither shown in the movie itself nor the deleted scenes of the DVD. It was shown on Trading Filmcardz and Treasure Planet: The Official Homepage.
- Michael Richards was considered to voiced Scroop.
- Scroop is also similar to Randall Boggs from Monsters, Inc.:
- Both are clever and sneaky.
- Both bully the films' heroes (Scroop bullying Jim; Randall bullying Mike and Sulley).
- Both are second in place with the heroes, are determined to take the lead.
- Both are former subordinates to their mighty leaders (Silver to Scroop; Mr. Waternoose to Randall).
- Both get defeated in the end (Scroop flies high up in space; Randall gets thrown into a trailer).
- In the movie, Scroop is not with Zoff, but in the video game he has a minion called Zoff.
- In the CD Read Along version, if it's played on the computer, there is a very very rare alternate snapshot in which Scroop originally used a knife to slash Mr. Arrow's lifeline. This was likely an early work-in-progress footage because in the final version, Scroop simply used his claw to finish off the first mate.
Toys and merchandise
- Leg Trap Scroop
The Leg Trap Scroop figure in its packaging.
- The first toy was marketed as "Leg Trap Scroop" ("Leg Trap" being placed in the product name to promote the toy's primary gimmick) and was made by Hasbro in 2002. Leg Trap Scroop, like most of the other Hasbro Treasure Planet figures, included a "Treasure Hunt" Morph which included a ray gun accessory hidden inside Morph. This way, the buyer of the product would not know what the accessory would be, hence a sticker was placed on the packaging that read "Surprise accessory inside!" to create interest in customers.
- The figure also included two other accessories that were visible in the package before opening or buying the toy. These accessories were a sheath (as described on the back of the package) and a pirate dagger. Like many Hasbro toys, the product pictured on the back of the package is likely a prototype or a release from a different country, as it bares slight differences from the final product. For example, the sheath included in the toy is a bright purple to match the vest worn by Scroop himself, whereas the sheath pictured on the package is the same gunmetal gray as the dagger. Also, the sheath included with the toy has a purple strap so that the Scroop figure can carry it on its shoulder, whereas the sheath pictured on the package has no strap.
- The Scroop figure itself has a gimmick: when a tall button on the top of its thorax area is pressed, its spider-like legs cave in and out, supposedly as an attack method that can be used on another figure (i.e., Jim Hawkins). Unfortunately, the figure's legs are extremely prone to fall off, whether the gimmick is in use or not. The legs are attached to the figure via small pegs on the moving joints attached to the thorax, and the legs barely manage to actually connect to the pegs and simply rest on them. Hence, the legs can easily fall off when the button is pressed or simply when the figure is used for action.
- In addition, Scroop has another annoying con: the figure's arms are molded with black plastic and its claws are covered in a dark red paint (for film-accuracy). Sadly, the red paint on the claws can become sticky when kept in a warm environment, and hence the paint can scratch off of the claws and stick to a surface - i.e., a polished wood surface or even while the figure is still sealed inside of the plastic packaging.
- Interestingly, this figure features very small raised bumps molded into some of the black plastic parts, even the legs (except for the neck). These details were never used or seen on Scroop in the finished film.
- McDonald's
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The McDonald's toy of Scroop.
- Somewhat of a simplified version of Leg Trap Scroop (only without the leg-trapping gimmick), a McDonald's exclusive toy of Scroop was released in a series of Happy Meal toys in 2002 to promote Treasure Planet. This toy lacks only two attributes of accuracy to Scroop's appearance in the film: the tips of his legs are not painted red and Scroop's purple vest, while molded into the plastic, is not painted and remains black like his torso.
- This toy does feature a gimmick: its arms move inward and outward when a button on its back is pushed. This is extremely similar to the leg-trapping gimmick of the Hasbro figure, only the McDonald's toy has the gimmick in its arms instead of its legs. Since the arms are already attached to the toy, you don't have to worry about the arms falling off, whereas you do have to worry a lot about Leg Trap Scroop's legs falling off.
- Like all of the other McDonald's Treasure Planet toys, Scroop included a piece to the treasure map.
- Disney Auctions
- At an unknown time, although likely 2002, a Disney Auctions pin of Scroop was made at one point. This pin uses the same animated image of Scroop as featured on the packaging of the Leg Trap Scroop figure, only reversed and with a more solid two-dimensional appearance.
- Jim Hawkins' Battle Attack Figures
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The PVC Scroop figure.
- Again at an unknown time, although likely 2002, a set of PVC figures of characters from Treasure Planet marketed as "Jim Hawkins' Battle Attack Figures" was released in Disney Stores, one of the figures included in the set being Scroop. Per it being a PVC figure, this toy features no points of articulation or gimmicks whatsoever. Interestingly, this figure replaces all of Scroop's film accurate red colors with purple, for some reason. This figure also features raised bumps on the spider thorax area, similar to the Leg Trap Scroop figure.
Gallery
References
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