|
 Scooby-Doo and the members of Mystery Incorporated have been driving around in a van for over half a century, meddling in the affairs of criminals and kooks dressed up as all manner of ghouls, ghosts, and monsters attempting to pull off various dastardly schemes—as well as encountering the occasional true supernatural creature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e7_oVqDAjs In Autumn 1969, TV animation giant Hanna-Barbera debuted Scooby-Doo: Where Are You! to immediate success, distilling the best elements of B-movie horror together with the the best elements of children's mystery fiction such as Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and The Famous Five. The concept evolved from an earlier pitch called Mysteries Five, a blatant ripoff of recent hit The Archie Show—except the band would travel around in a van and solve mysteries before playing a show. After a round of network notes, the band element was dropped, the dog breed was changed to an ill-bred great dane, his name was changed from Too Much to a Sinatra reference, and the characters of Shaggy, Freddy, Velma, and Daphne emerged—each ripped straight off of characters from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.  For two seasons the show delighted young viewers, acting as an approachable crash-course in horror history. After the second season, the network pivoted the success of the show into The New Scooby-Doo Movies, a campier show for a campier decade. These hour-long TV movies paired the gang up with real and fictional special guest stars, such as Batman and Robin, the Harlem Globetrotters, and Don Knotts. The series ran for 24 episodes, and despite a lot of charm and a handful of laughs, began the series backslide away from spooky mystery-solving to wacky antics. The studio saw the franchise potential, however, and quick on its heels were the nearly forgotten The Scooby Show and Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics, followed by the much maligned Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo.  In 1985, the gang achieved a relative return-to-form with The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, where they were called upon by the mysterious Vincent Van Ghoul—voiced by and based on Vincent Price—to capture "thirteen of the most terrifying ghosts upon the face of the earth." The show returned the series firmly to its spooky roots, sending the gang all around the world hunting real (gulp!) g-g-g-ghosts. Unfortunately, some dweeb named Flim-Flam tagged along, as did Scooby's slightly-less-annoying nephew Scrappy. It ended on a cliffhanger that wouldn't be followed up on (and, sadly, retconned) until 2019, in the moderately well received Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost.  Despite having proved itself as a beloved long-running franchise, the next few decades found the series continuing to stumble in and out of quality, beginning with the surprisingly solid reboot A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, where the gang were aged-down to show their earliest adventures as kids. Around the same time, Hanna-Barbera began producing a series of direct-to-video movies which continue to this day, with highlights like Scooby-Doo! And The Ghoul School and Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island and Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster. During this era, Scooby-Doo: Where Are You! and many of the subsequent shows also entered syndication and ran endlessly on TBS, USA, ABC, and Cartoon Network, where a new generation of fans—like myself and many of you—fell for the characters.  This enduring popularity culminated in a live-action feature film adaptation called Scooby-Doo, written by schlock-fest Troma alum James Gunn. Originally intended as a parody of the franchise with an adult-skewing tone including references to marijuana and sexuality, the film was toned down in production and post-production to appeal to an all ages crowd. Instead, it appealed to few, feeling simultaneously too grown-up for younger viewers and too toned-down for teens and older viewers. While the film is often a loving homage to the series history, and continues to have some fans, it isn't well-remembered beyond the fanbase. It was followed a few years later by a poorly-received sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, as well as a few DTV quasi-sequels.  Since then, the series has continued its trend of churning out new series of slightly different tones and qualities, each somewhat revamped according to the trends of the moment, including the very-okay What's New, Scooby-Doo?, the strange Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, the goofy Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!. The highlight of the era is the terrific Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, hailed by fans as the best iteration of the characters yet. More serialized and character-centric than any previous version, Mystery Inc. managed to take what generations of fans loved about these characters and create a series that both took the series back to its roots and evolved it to the present day, evoking shows such as Twin Peaks and X-Files—which, in my humble opinion, owe their own debt of gratitude to Scooby-Doo. The show has terrific humor, a great central mystery, and is a perfect love-letter to the series.  Since Mystery Inc., the DTV films have continued with highlights like the wildly charming Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold, a throwback to the New Scooby Movies adventures with Batman and Robin, and the bizarro puppet-based Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map, a throwback to A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. The current-running show is Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?, a quasi-sequel to The New Scooby Movies with the exact same premise, using celebrities and characters from today such as Penn & Teller, Weird Al Yankovic, George Takei, Bill Nye, Halsey, and modern-day Don Knotts impersonator Steve Buscemi. We also recently got a CGI animated movie SCOOB! which nobody likes because it leans more on superhero tropes than anything to do with Scooby-Doo.  Despite its ever-rocky relationship with quality and consistency throughout the years, for many—myself included—this series was the first step into horror and the macabre. The Blu-rays for Scooby-Doo: Where Are You! and The New Scooby-Doo Movies came out last year and look gorgeous, and you should definitely check them out if you have any love for this series. So, what are your favorite episodes and movies? Favorite villains? And do you agree with my confident assertion that Flim Flam (and Scooby-Dum, and Dyno-Mutt) are worse than Scrappy ever was? Have at it, gang.
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 00:48
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 01:15 |
|
|
I watched half of Scooby Doo, Mystery Inc, and didn't finish it, because that's what happens when I watch things week to week. What absurd streaming service to I need to subscribe to to binge the whole thing?
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 01:05
|
|
|
oh jay posted:I watched half of Scooby Doo, Mystery Inc, and didn't finish it, because that's what happens when I watch things week to week. Mystery Inc is currently on Netflix
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 01:22
|
|
|
bless
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 02:24
|
|
|
Coincidentally I've been watching some Mystery Inc. I don't like that they immediately throw the main characters into romantic relationships with each other.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 02:39
|
|
Cat Army
|
dudeness posted:Coincidentally I've been watching some Mystery Inc. I don't like that they immediately throw the main characters into romantic relationships with each other. They do mix it up a little, though I'm not a huge fan of how one relationship plays out... I like how they iterate on one character though!
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 03:41
|
|
|
Isn't Mystery Inc the one where they finally admit Velma's a big 'mo?
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 05:06
|
|
|
They do everything but shout it from the rooftops. And I think it's more Pan or Bi
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 05:23
|
|
|
Honestly, any treatment of Velma where she's not openly whatever means that they're pulling their punches.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 06:24
|
|
|
I'm down for whatever as a sexual orientation.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 07:45
|
|
|
I absolutely rented Boo Brothers / Ghoul School / Reluctant Werewolf dozens of times each when I was a kid, those things were my favorite. Also, I had been mulling starting Mystery Incorporated and thankfully this thread will probably be what pushes me over the edge.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 13:47
|
|
|
Scooby Doo a franchise that can cross over with anything. The next movie is teaming up with Bill Nye to foil Batman villain the Scarecrow.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 16:29
|
|
|
Cael posted:I absolutely rented Boo Brothers / Ghoul School / Reluctant Werewolf dozens of times each when I was a kid, those things were my favorite. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 16:34
|
|
|
I grew up watching Scooby Doo re-runs in the mid 80's, but I never really liked it. I watched it because it was on.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 17:56
|
|
|
feedmyleg posted:Honestly, any treatment of Velma where she's not openly whatever means that they're pulling their punches. That's what one of the writers just said a few weeks ago is "we wrote her as gay but couldn't say so openly, and how she interacts with a few characters was our way of being blatant".
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 22:38
|
|
|
Especially interesting since the character she was modeled on from Dobie Gilis was an actress who was outed as gay and blacklisted from the industry immediately afterward.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2020 22:52
|
|
|
So what's the deal with red shirt Scooby
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2020 00:16
|
|
|
you broke my grill posted:So what's the deal with red shirt Scooby
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2020 02:48
|
|
|
MonsterEnvy posted:Scooby Doo a franchise that can cross over with anything. Just for the record, the quoted post is not a joke and it's not just Bill Nye; Elvira is in it too.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2020 05:46
|
|
|
The Scooby Doo/WWE crossovers were fun af
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2020 09:44
|
|
|
I love that Shaggy and Scooby are huge Undertaker fans. Their team up is amazing.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2020 09:57
|
|
|
I'm fascinated with the history of Scooby Doo so I'm here for this post. How dare you yadda yadda over Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost though. It's like the perfect autumn ambience movie and introduced The Hex Girls' music that I still unironically play. Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase was also fun.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2020 12:50
|
|
|
Admittedly, writing this out made me recognize where my blind spots are with the franchise. I adore the first two seasons of Where Are You and Mystery Incorporated, and I really like 13 Ghosts and The New Scooby Movies quite a lot, but I've really only seen a handful of the DTV movies and either haven't seen some of the later TV stuff or only saw it in passing as a kid. I should really sit down and watch more of the well-regarded entries, and I think most of that is going to be the DTV stuff.you broke my grill posted:So what's the deal with red shirt Scooby Shaggy was based on Bob Denver's proto-Gilligan character Maynard in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, and after the success of Gilligan's Island they tossed him in a red poo poo to capitalize on the connection. Speaking of which, if you've any interest in checking out that show, Shout Factory TV has it streaming for free in HD and it's really a terrific Archie-esque sitcom. Maynard is the basis for all doofus beatnik stoner characters in media. feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Aug 3, 2020 |
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2020 14:19
|
|
|
You didn't even mention the one where they're like ghostbusters or something, with gadgets and more edge I think it was a comic though so fair enough
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2020 16:40
|
|
|
Isn't that comic really bad and edgy with lots of monster sex and death
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2020 17:08
|
|
|
Has any non-film/TV Scooby media been any good? I know there have been a number of comics over the years, most recently the Scooby Apocalypse nonsense, but none of it's seemed particularly interesting. As someone who loves classic point-and-click adventures I've always been intrigued by the Sega Genesis game but haven't heard great things. Seems strange that such a long-running franchise wouldn't have much in the way of interesting spinoffs in other mediums. With a strong modern fanbase for adventure games you'd think that someone could make a Scooby game for parents to play with their kids which could be a hit. I know there was a Scooby audio game for the Alexa a couple of years ago, but I'd tossed mine in the closet as a privacy nightmare before I had a chance to play around with it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2020 17:55
|
|
|
I think it's work mentioning that for a lot of people (myself included) Scooby-Doo was a safe way to get into horror whenever you're really young. The ghosts weren't ever really dangerous, and they just ended up being evil industrialists or crooked landlords like 99% of the time. But you still got the trappings of horror, the backgrounds were generally really well done and suitably spooky, and the monster designs (especially early on) were pretty solid. Even if the animation wasn't. Also a shout out to OK KO: Let's Be Heroes! for creating a sequel to Ghoul School that manages to reunite some of the original voice cast, be extremely funny, and mimic the distinctive Ghoul School art style for a fun flashback.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2020 18:04
|
|
|
feedmyleg posted:Has any non-film/TV Scooby media been any good? I know there have been a number of comics over the years, most recently the Scooby Apocalypse nonsense, but none of it's seemed particularly interesting. The recently concluded Scooby Doo Team Up comics were fun. Not exactly deep but a lot of comedy for fans of any of the properties they were teaming up with. Each issue saw them team up with either a Hanna Barbera character or a DC character, and they were all clearly done with a lot of love for everything involved, making tons of obscure references and bringing back characters that even the actual DC comics have long forgotten. They even concluded the story of Penelope Pitstop in those comics!
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2020 18:51
|
|
|
Double post, sorry
Argue fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Aug 3, 2020 |
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2020 19:01
|
|
|
Wow, reading that OP certainly takes me back. I've always liked Scooby-Doo, it's just that nobody I knew cared so I never really had a chance to talk about it before. I even read Scooby Apocalypse, edgy nonsense that it is. 13 Ghosts and Mystery Inc. are my favorite series, and Ghoul School has always held a special place in my heart. Guess I just liked the idea of attending a girls' school for monsters, haha!  The 90's movies also had some pretty great music, so I like them as well.Argue posted:The recently concluded Scooby Doo Team Up comics were fun. Not exactly deep but a lot of comedy for fans of any of the properties they were teaming up with. Each issue saw them team up with either a Hanna Barbera character or a DC character, and they were all clearly done with a lot of love for everything involved, making tons of obscure references and bringing back characters that even the actual DC comics have long forgotten. They even concluded the story of Penelope Pitstop in those comics! Wait, seriously? I might have to check these out then, thanks! Looks like the 2013 series is free on Comixology, is that the one you're talking about?
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2020 22:49
|
|
|
Agent Rush posted:Wait, seriously? I might have to check these out then, thanks! Looks like the 2013 series is free on Comixology, is that the one you're talking about? I think that's the one! If the first issue has them teaming up with Batman to catch Man-bat, that's it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2020 03:58
|
|
|
Cannot recommend Mystery, Inc. high enough. I'll make a slightly more detailed post about it later but I rewatched it at the beginning of quarantine and it rules.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2020 04:17
|
|
|
The Johnny Bravo / Scooby Doo crossover was great. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6qp183
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2020 12:54
|
|
|
IIRC, Seth McFarlane and/or some of the Family Guy people first worked on Johnny Bravo, and at times you can really tell. Always been said that Johnny fits into the gang dynamic eerily well.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2020 13:44
|
|
|
So yeah, Mystery, Inc. is not only a great franchise show but it's a great animated series in general. It's very episodic; plot points are going concerns throughout the series. Instead of traveling around, too, the kids are high school students and as such stick around their hometown of Crystal Cove, California. The characters develop over the course of the show, actions have consequences, and you're not sure who outside the Scooby Gang can be trusted (Lewis Black and Gary Cole voice two such characters). There's conspiracies, ancient puzzles, the sense that something bad happened here a long time ago, and also Mark Hamill voices a fat man dressed as a baby who drives around in a stroller-shaped dune buggy throwing exploding bottles. And I haven't even talked about the episode that takes place in the Red Room from Twin Peaks. It's on Netflix and if you like Scooby Doo or even just good animated shows like The Last Airbender or the new She-Ra, I highly recommend it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2020 19:52
|
|
|
Don't forget the actual Harlan Ellison playing himself in one ep
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2020 20:45
|
|
|
And not that they're original in this regard, but getting Jeffrey Combs to play ypur HP Lovecraft is always a pro move.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2020 21:06
|
|
|
Has this idea for the Scooby cross over been done before. With past actors? 
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2021 07:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 01:15 |
|
|
Micucci is the Worst Velma
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2021 12:54
|
|