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Scooby-Doo

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Scooby-Doo

A scene from "What a Night for a Knight", the first episode of Scooby-Doo, Where are You! Clockwise from top: Shaggy, Fred, Scooby-Doo, Velma, and Daphne.
Format Animation/Mystery
Creator Joe Ruby and Ken Spears
(uncredited; official credit is given to William Hanna and Joseph Barbera)
Country United States
Network CBS (1969–1976)
ABC (1976–1986, 1988–1991)
Kids WB (2002–2005)
CW (2006–
Original run 1969–1986, 1988–1991, 2002–2005, 2006–
No. of episodes 371 (as of 2005)
Scooby-Doo chronology

Scooby-Doo is a popular and long-running American animated television series produced for Saturday morning television by Hanna-Barbera Productions (now Cartoon Network Studios) in several different versions from 1969 to the present. Though the format of the show and the cast (and ages) of characters have varied significantly over the years, the most familiar versions of the show feature a talking Great Dane named Scooby-Doo and four teenagers : Fred "Freddie" Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers.

These five characters (officially referred to collectively as "Mystery, Inc.", but never referred to as such in the original series) drive around the world in a van called the "Mystery Machine," and solve mysteries typically involving tales of ghosts and other supernatural forces. At the end of each episode, the supernatural forces turn out to have a rational explanation (usually a criminal of some sort trying to scare people away so that they can commit crimes). Later versions of the show featured different variations on the supernatural theme of the show, and include additional characters, such as Scooby's cousin Scooby-Dum and nephew Scrappy-Doo, in addition to or instead of some of the original characters.

Scooby-Doo was originally broadcast on CBS from 1969 to 1976, when it moved to ABC. ABC cancelled the show in 1986, but presented a spin-off, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, from 1988 until 1991. A new Scooby-Doo series, What's New, Scooby-Doo?, aired on the WB Network during the Kids WB programming block from 2002 until 2005, with Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! set to take its place on the new CW network in fall 2006. Repeats of the original series, as well as second-run episodes of the current series, are broadcast frequently on the Cartoon Network in the United States and other countries.

Production history

Creation and development

In 1968, a number of parental watchdog groups, most notably Action for Children's Television (ACT), began vocally protesting what they perceived as an excessive amount of gratuitous violence in Saturday morning cartoons during the mid-to-late 1960s.[1]. Most of these shows were action cartoons such as Space Ghost and The Herculoids, and virtually all of them were cancelled by 1969 because of pressure from the watchgroups. Members of these watchgroups served as advisors to Hanna-Barbera and other animation studios to ensure that their new programs would be safe for children.

File:Scooby-doo-early-designs-1968.jpg
Very early designs by Iwao Takamoto for the Mysteries Five characters. Left to right, top row: Kelly (Daphne) and Geoff (Fred). Left to right, bottom row: W.W. (Shaggy) and Linda (Velma).

In 1968, Fred Silverman, executive in charge of children's programming for the CBS network, was looking for a show that would revitalize his Saturday morning line-up and please the watchdog groups at the same time. The result was The Archie Show, based upon Bob Montana's teenage humor comic book Archie. Also successful were the musical numbers The Archies performed during each program (one of which, "Sugar, Sugar", was the most successful Billboard number-one hit of 1969). Silverman was eager to expand upon this success, and contacted producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera about possibly creating another show based around a teenage rock-group, but with an extra element: the kids would solve mysteries in-between their gigs. Silverman envisioned the show as a cross between the popular I Love a Mystery radio serials of the 1940s and the popular early 1960s TV show The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.[2].

Hanna and Barbera passed this task along to two of their head storymen, Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, and artist/character designer Iwao Takamoto. Their original concept of the show bore the title Mysteries Five, and featured five teens (Geoff, Mike, Kelly, Linda, and Linda's brother "W.W.") and their dog, Too Much, who were all in a band called "The Mysteries Five" (even the dog; he played the bongos). When "The Mysteries Five" weren't performing at gigs, they were out solving spooky mysteries involving ghosts, zombies, and other supernatural creatures. Ruby and Spears couldn't decide whether to make their dog a large goofy Great Dane or a big shaggy sheepdog. After consulting with Barbera on the issue, Too Much was finally set as a Great Dane, primarily to avoid a direct correlation to The Archies (who had a sheepdog, Hot Dog, in their band).[3]

Takamoto consulted a studio colleague who happened to be a breeder of Great Danes. After learning the characteristics of a prize-winning Great Dane from her, Takamoto proceeded to break most of the rules and designed Too Much with overly bowed legs, a double-chin, and a sloped back, among other abnormalities.[4][5]

By the time the show was ready for presentation by Silverman, a few more things had changed: Geoff and Mike were merged into one character called "Ronnie" (later re-named "Fred", at Silverman's behest[6]), Kelly was renamed to "Daphne", Linda was now called "Velma", and Shaggy (formerly "W.W.") was no longer her brother. Also, Silverman, not being very fond of the name Mysteries Five, had rechristened the show Who's S-S-Scared? Using storyboards, presentation boards, and a short completed animation sequence, Silverman presented Who's S-S-Scared? to the CBS executives as the centerpiece for the upcoming 1969–1970 season's Saturday morning cartoon block. The executives felt that the presentation artwork was far too frightening for young viewers, and, thinking the show would be the same, decided to pass on it.[7]

Now without a centerpiece for the upcoming season's programming, Silverman turned to Ruby and Spears, who reworked the show to make it more comedic and less frightening. They dropped the rock band element, and began to focus more attention on Shaggy and Too Much. According to Ruby and Spears, Silverman was inspired by an ad-lib he heard in Frank Sinatra's interpretation of Bert Kaempfert's song "Strangers in the Night" on the way out to one of their meetings, and decided to rename the dog "Scooby-Doo" and re-rechristened the show Scooby-Doo, Where are You![8] The revised show was re-presented to CBS executives, who approved it for production.

Scooby-Doo television series

The CBS years

File:Shaggy-scooby-scared-1969.jpg
Shaggy and Scooby-Doo register mutual fear after being confronted by a typical Scooby-Doo villain, a ghost from outer-space. From Scooby-Doo, Where are You! season one, episode fourteen ("Spooky Space Kook", December 20, 1969).

Scooby-Doo, Where are You! made its CBS network debut on Saturday, September 13, 1969 with its first episode, "What a Night for a Knight". The original voice cast featured Don Messick as Scooby-Doo, Casey Kasem as Shaggy, Frank Welker as Fred, Nicole Jaffe as Velma, and Stefanianna Christopherson as Daphne.[9] Seventeen episodes of Scooby-Doo were produced in 1969.

The influences of I Love a Mystery and Dobie Gillis were especially apparent in these early episodes; Mark Evanier, who would write Scooby-Doo teleplays and comic book scripts in the 1970s and 1980s, identified each of the four teenagers with their corresponding Dobie Gillis character: "Fred was based on Dobie, Velma on Zelda, Daphne on Thalia and Shaggy on Maynard." [10] The similarities between Shaggy and Maynard are the most noticeable; both characters share the same beatnik-style goatee, similar hairstyles, and demeanours. The roles of each character are strongly defined in the series: Fred is the leader and the determined detective, Velma is the intelligent analyst, Daphne is danger-prone and vain, and Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are cowardly types more motivated by hunger than any desire to solve mysteries. Later versions of the show would make slight changes to the characters' established roles, most notably in the character of Daphne, shown in 1990s and 2000s Scooby-Doo productions as knowing many forms of karate and being able to defend herself.

The plot of each Scooby-Doo episode followed a formula that would serve as a template for many of the later incarnations of the series. At the beginning of the episode, the Mystery, Inc. gang bump into some type of evil ghost or a monster, which they learn has been terrorizing the local populace. The teens offer to help solve the mystery behind the creature, but while looking for clues and suspects, the gang (and in particularly Shaggy and Scooby) run into the monster, who always gives chase. However, after analyzing the clues they have found, the gang determines that this monster is simply a mere mortal in disguise. They capture the monster and have the criminal behind the mask or costume arrested.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was a major ratings success for CBS, and they renewed it for a second season in 1970. The eight 1970 episodes of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! differed slightly from the first-season episodes in their uses of more slapstick humor, Archie Show-like "chase songs" during climactic sequences, Heather North performing the voice of Daphne in place of Christopherson, and a re-recorded theme song. Both seasons contained a laugh track, which was the standard practice for U.S. cartoon series during the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1972, after 25 half-hour episodes, the program was doubled to a full hour and called The New Scooby-Doo Movies; each episode of which featured a different guest star helping the gang solve mysteries. Among the most notable of these guest stars were The Harlem Globetrotters, The Three Stooges, Don Knotts, and Batman and Robin, who all appeared at least twice on the show. After two seasons and 24 episodes of the New Movies format from 1972 to 1974, the show went to reruns of the original series until Scooby moved to ABC in 1976.

The Scooby clones

Every episode of the original Scooby-Doo format contains a penultimate scene in which the kids unmask the ghost-of-the-week to reveal a real person in a costume. From Scooby-Doo, Where are You! season two, episode one ("Nowhere to Hyde", September 12, 1970).

Having established a successful formula, Hanna-Barbera then proceeded to repeat it many times over.[11] By the time Scooby-Doo had its first format change in 1972, Hanna-Barbera had produced three other teenager-based shows that were very similar to Scooby in concept and execution: Josie and the Pussycats (1970), which resurrected the idea of the rock band to the teenage-crime-fighter formula; The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971), which re-imagined the toddlers from The Flintstones as high-school students; and the most blatant Scooby clone, The Funky Phantom (also 1971), which featured three teens, a real ghost and his ghostly cat solving spooky mysteries.

Later cartoons such as The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (1972); Goober and the Ghost Chasers, Speed Buggy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, and Inch High, Private Eye (all 1973); Clue Club and Jabberjaw (both 1976); Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels (1977); Buford and the Galloping Ghost (1978); and the Pebbles, Dino, and Bamm-Bamm segments of The Flintstone Funnies (1980) would all involve groups of teenagers solving mysteries or fighting crime in the same vein as Scooby-Doo, usually with the help of a wacky animal, ghost, etc. For example, Speed Buggy featured three teens and a talking dune buggy in the role of "Scooby", while Jabberjaw used four teens and a talking shark. Some of these shows even used the same voice actors and score cues. Even outside studios got in on the act: when Joe Ruby and Ken Spears left H-B in 1977 and started Ruby-Spears Productions, their first cartoon was Fangface, yet another mystery-solving Scooby clone.

During the 1970s, the imitating programs successfully coexisted alongside Scooby on Saturday mornings. Most of the mystery-solving Hanna-Barbera shows made before 1975 were featured on CBS, and when Fred Silverman moved from CBS to ABC in 1975, the mystery-solving shows, including Scooby-Doo, followed him.

File:Scoob-scrap-1980.jpg
The addition of Scrappy-Doo (right) to the series in 1979 would coincide with a change in the Scooby-Doo formula. From the opening credits of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo.

The ABC years

On ABC, the show went through almost yearly format changes. For their 1976 - 1977 season, new episodes of Scooby-Doo were joined with a new H-B show, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, to create The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour (It became The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Show when a bonus Scooby-Doo, Where are You! rerun was added to it in November 1976). This hour-long package show later evolved into the longer programming blocks Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics (1977 - 1978) and Scooby's All-Stars (1978 - 1979).

New Scooby episodes, in the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! format, were produced for each of these three seasons. Four of these episodes featured Scooby's dim-witted country cousin Scooby-Dum as a semi-regular character. The Scooby-Doo episodes produced during these three seasons were later packaged together for syndication as The Scooby-Doo Show, under which title they continue to air.

In 1979, Scooby's tiny nephew Scrappy-Doo was added to both the series and the billing, in an attempt to boost Scooby-Doo's slipping ratings. The 1979–1980 episodes, aired under the title Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, succeeded in regenerating interest in the show, and as a result, the entire show was overhauled in 1980 to focus on Scrappy-Doo. Fred, Daphne, and Velma were dropped from the series, and the new Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo format was now comprised of three seven-minute comedic adventures starring Scooby, Scrappy, and Shaggy instead of one half-hour mystery. This version of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo aired as part of The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show from 1980 to 1982, and as part of The Scooby-Doo/Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour from 1982 to 1983. Most of the supernatural villains in the seven-minute Scooby and Scrappy cartoons, who in previous Scooby series had been revealed to be human criminals in costume, were now "real" within the context of the series.

Daphne returned to the cast for The All-New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show, which comprised two 11-minute episodes in a format reminiscent of the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! mysteries. This version of the show lasted for two seasons, with the second season airing under the title The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries and featuring semi-regular appearances from Fred and Velma.

1985 saw the debut of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, which featured Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, and new characters Flim-Flam and Vincent Van Ghoul (based upon and voiced by Vincent Price) traveling the globe to capture "thirteen of the most terrifying ghosts and ghouls on the face of the earth." The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo was cancelled in March 1986, and no new Scooby series aired on the network for the next two years.

Hanna-Barbera reincarnated the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! cast as junior high school students for A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, which debuted on ABC in 1988. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo was an irreverent, zany re-imagining of the series, heavily inspired by the classic cartoons of Tex Avery and Bob Clampett, and eschewed the quasi-reality of the original Scooby series for a more Looney Tunes-like style. The retooled show was a success, and lasted until 1991.

Reruns and What's New, Scooby-Doo?

File:Shaggy scooby wnsd2.jpg
Scooby-Doo and Shaggy, in a scene from What's New, Scooby-Doo?

Reruns of the show have been in syndication since the mid-1980s, and have also been shown on cable television networks such as TBS Superstation (until 1989), and USA Network (as part of the USA Cartoon Express from 1990 to 1994). In 1993, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, having just recently ended its network run on ABC, began reruns on the Cartoon Network; the other versions of Scooby-Doo joined it the following year and became exclusive to Turner networks such as the Cartoon Network, TBS Superstation, and TNT. Canadian network Teletoon began airing Scooby-Doo, Where are You! in 1997, with the other Scooby series soon following. When TBS and TNT ended their broadcasts of H-B cartoons in 1998, Scooby-Doo became the exclusive property of both Cartoon Network and sister station Boomerang.

In 2002, following the successes of the Cartoon Network reruns and four late-1990s direct-to-video Scooby-Doo releases, the original version of the gang was updated for the 21st century for What's New, Scooby-Doo?, which aired on Kids WB from 2002 until 2005, with second-run episodes also appearing on Cartoon Network. Unlike previous Scooby series, the show was produced at Warner Bros. Television Animation, which had absorbed Hanna-Barbera in 2001. The show returned to the familiar format of the original series for the first time since 1978, with modern-day technology and culture added to the mix to give the series a more contemporary feel, along with new sound effects and music. With Don Messick having died in 1997, Frank Welker took over as Scooby's voice actor, while continuing to provide the voice of Fred as well, and Casey Kasem returned as Shaggy. Grey DeLisle now provides the voice of Daphne (she first took the role on Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, replacing Mary Kay Bergman, who died shortly before the release of Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders) and former Facts of Life star Mindy Cohn voices Velma.

The direct-to-video film Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island marked the first time the original quintet of Scooby characters had appeared together in their original forms since 1984.

Telefilms and direct-to-video features

From 1986 to 1988, Hanna-Barbera Productions produced Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10, a series of syndicated telefilms featuring their most popular characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, The Flintstones, and The Jetsons. Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo, and Shaggy starred in three of these movies: Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987), Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988), and Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988). In addition, Scooby-Doo and Shaggy appeared as the narrators of the made-for-TV movie Arabian Nights, originally broadcast by TBS in 1994 and later released on video as Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights.

Starting in 1998, Warner Bros. Animation and Hanna-Barbera (by then a subsidiary of Warner Bros.), began producing one new Scooby-Doo direct-to-video movie a year. These movies featured a slightly older version of the original five-character cast from the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! days, and disregards the later Scrappy-Doo years as non-canonical. The movies include Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998), Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost (1999), Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (2000), and Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase (2001).

The success of these movies led to Scooby's return to Saturday morning, What's New, Scooby-Doo?, and Hanna-Barbera based later entries in this series of Scooby movies on it rather than the previous editions. The series continued with Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire (2003), Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico (2003), Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster (2004), Aloha, Scooby-Doo! (2005), Scooby Doo in Where's My Mummy? (2005) and Scooby Doo in Pirates Ahoy! (2006).

Template:Spoiler A number of these Scooby-Doo telefilms and direct-to-video features, as well as many of the early-1980s shows featuring Scrappy-Doo, feature the gang encountering actual supernatural beings. In Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988), Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy sign up as gym teachers for Miss Grimwood's school for girls, only to find it is actually a school for ghouls, where the trio end up teaching the daughters of the Frankenstein Monster, Dracula, The Werewolf, The Mummy, and the stereotypical ghost monster (called the Phantom). Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998) featured the original 1969 gang, reunited after years of being apart, battling voodoo-worshiping cat creatures in the Louisiana bayou. The later What's New, Scooby-Doo-based entries in the direct-to-video series returned to the original formula, and are basically extended episodes of the What's New, Scooby-Doo series.

Live-action Warner Bros. feature films

A feature-length live-action film version of Scooby-Doo was released by Warner Bros. in 2002. The cast included Freddie Prinze Jr. (Fred), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Daphne), Matthew Lillard (Shaggy) and Linda Cardellini (Velma). Scooby-Doo was created on-screen by computer-generated special effects. Scooby-Doo was extremely successful, with a domestic box office gross of over $130 million.[12] A sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, followed in March 2004, which earned $84 million at the U.S. box office.[13]

File:Scooby doo.jpg
Warner Bros' 2002 live-action Scooby-Doo feature film was a box office success, and resulted in a sequel two years later.

Both of these films followed the standard Scooby-Doo formula, while at the same time parodying various elements of that formula. While the first film had generally original characters as the villains (except for one villain revealed as a surprise plot twist), the second film featured several of the monsters from the television series, including the Black Knight, the 10,000 Volt Ghost, the Pterodactyl Ghost, and the Miner 49er.

The Scooby influence

Critical reaction and awards

While a successful series during its three separate tenures on Saturday morning, Scooby-Doo won no awards for artistic merit during its original series runs. The series has received only one Emmy nomination in its four-decade history: a 2003 Daytime Emmy nomination for What's New, Scooby-Doo's Mindy Coln in the "Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program" category.[14] Like many Hanna-Barbera shows, Scooby-Doo was criticized for poor production values and formulaic storytelling. In 2002, Jamie Malanowski of the New York Times commented that "[Scooby-Doo's] mysteries are not very mysterious, and the humor is hardly humorous. As for the animation -- well, the drawings on your refrigerator may give it competition."[15] Even proponents of the series often comment negatively about the formula inherent in most Scooby episodes. [16]

Nevertheless, Scooby-Doo has maintained a significant fan base, which has grown steadily since the 1990s due to its popularity among both young children and nostalgic adults who grew up with the series. [17] The show's mix of the comedy-adventure and horror genres is often noted as the reason for its widespread success.[18] As Fred Silverman and the Hanna-Barbera staff had planned when they first began producing the series, Scooby-Doo's ghosts, monsters, and spooky locales tend more towards humor than horror, making them easily accessible to younger children. "Overall, [Scooby-Doo is] just not a show that is going to over stimulate kids' emotions and tensions," offered American Center for Children and Media executive director David Kleeman in a 2002 interview. "It creates just enough fun to make it fun without getting them worried or giving them nightmares." [19] Many teenage and young adult audiences enjoy Scooby-Doo because of presumed subversive themes which involve theories of drug use and sexuality.[20][21]

In recent years, Scooby-Doo has received recognition for its popularity by placing in a number of "top cartoon" or "top cartoon character" polls. The August 3, 2002 issue of TV Guide featured its list of the "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time", in which Scooby-Doo placed twenty-second [22] Scooby also ranked thirteenth in Animal Planet's list of the "50 Greatest TV Animals".[23] Scooby-Doo, Where are You! ranked forty-ninth in the UK network Channel 4's 2005 list of the "100 Greatest Cartoons of All Time". [24] For one year from 2004 to 2005, Scooby-Doo held the Guinness World Record for having the most episodes of any animated television series ever produced, a record previously held by and later returned to The Simpsons. Scooby-Doo was published as holding this record in the 2006 edition of the Guinness Book of Records. [25].

Scooby-Doo is responsible for many pop-culture catchphrases, such as "Scooby Snacks" and variants of the phrase "I'd've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids," a line traditionally spouted by the culprit when caught and unmasked. This phrase has become so well-known that only the words "meddling kids" need be said to constitute a reference.[26]

Subsequent television shows and films often make reference to Scooby-Doo, for example Wayne's World and the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in which Buffy and her monster-slaying friends refer to themselves as the "Scooby Gang" or "Scoobies," a knowing reference to Scooby-Doo. (Coincidentally, Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy, later played Daphne in the live-action movies.) Even South Park paid homage to Scooby-Doo in an episode entitled "KoЯn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery". The Kevin Smith film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back included a scene where Jay and Silent Bob are picked up in the Mystery Machine while hitchhiking, and when the gang start to argue, Jay offers them "dooby snacks", and everyone gets "high". The TV Funhouse segment of NBC's Saturday Night Live poked fun at the Pup Named Scooby-Doo depiction of the characters,with its own, even younger-aged version, Fetal Scooby-Doo. In 2002, the online comic Sluggy Freelance featured a multiple-week story arc featuring the Scooby-Doo characters.

Assumed "adult themes"

As with many Saturday morning cartoons, Scooby-Doo is often proposed by sectors of the public to have hidden subtexts, in this case involving sex and drug use. Such assumptions often find their way into Scooby-Doo parodies done by comedians, musicians, and film/television producers.

Drug use is the most prominent of these charges, in particular because of Shaggy's beatnik origins. He and Scooby-Doo are shown to have voracious appetites, which has been interpreted as being evidence of a case of "the munchies" resulting from marijuana use. Some parodies go on to propose that the "Scooby Snacks" present in many episodes contain drugs instead of typical dog treat ingredients.[27] The most direct references to the Scooby-Doo drug use theory were produced by Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network themselves. A Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode finds Shaggy and Scooby-Doo arrested for "possession", while the first Scooby-Doo film makes several joking references to Shaggy and Scooby's proposed drug use, and has Shaggy fall in love with a girl named "Mary Jane" (a name also used as a slang term for marijuana).[28]

Also discussed and parodied are the presumed sexual activities going on among the Scooby-Doo characters. While working on the original series, Joe Ruby and Ken Spears often wrote their "straight men", Fred and Daphne, out of the episode so that they could focus on their "comedians": Shaggy, Scooby, and Velma.[29] As a result, Fred and Daphne are missing from a significant amount of the action in most episodes, leading to assumptions that the two are off having sexual intercourse instead of finding clues.[30] Like the drug use, this assumed theme has also been self parodied, with the "Bravo Dooby Doo" episode of Johnny Bravo, and both live-action and direct-to-video Scooby-Doo features making light of Fred and Daphne's presumed sexual relationship.

Another debated topic of the series centers around whether or not the tomboyish Velma is a lesbian. The character has a considerable fan base among real-life lesbians, who see her as one of their own.[31] The idea of Velma as a lesbian is parodied in the 2001 motion picture Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, as well as in both Scooby-Doo live action films. Many, but not all, of the lesbian-themed gags from the first Scooby-Doo film, which center around a hinted crush Velma has on Daphne, were excised from the final release print to secure a "PG" rating.

File:IMG 1794.JPG
A 1968 Chevrolet Sportvan 108, painted to look like the Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo. A number of Scooby fans have decorated vans in this fashion.

Merchandising

The first Scooby-Doo-related merchandise came in the form of Scooby-Doo, Where are You! comic books by Gold Key Comics, which initially contained adaptations of episodes of the cartoon show when publication began in 1970. The book soon moved to all-original stories, with many of the stories printed in early-1970s Charlton-published Scooby comics written by Mark Evanier and drawn by Dan Spiegle. Since then, Scooby-Doo comics have been published by Marvel Comics, Archie Comics, and by DC Comics, who continue to publish a monthly Scooby-Doo series.

Other early Scooby-Doo merchandise included a 1973 Milton Bradley board game, decorated lunch boxes, iron-on transfers, coloring books, story books, records, underwear, and other such goods.[32] When Scrappy-Doo was introduced to the series in 1979, he, Scooby, and Shaggy became the sole foci of much of the merchandising, including a 1983 Milton-Bradley Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo board game. The first Scooby-Doo video game appeared in arcades in 1986, and has been followed by a number of games for both home-consoles and personal computers. Scooby-Doo multivitamins also debuted at this time, and have been manufactured by Bayer since 2001.

Scooby-Doo merchandising tapered off during the late 1980s and early 1990s, but increased after the series' revival on Cartoon Network in 1995. Today, all manner of Scooby-Doo-branded products are available for purchase, including Scooby-Doo breakfast cereal, plush toys, action figures, car decorations, and much more. Real "Scooby Snacks" dog treats are produced by Del Monte Pet Products. Hasbro has created a number of Scooby board games, including a Scooby-themed edition of the popular mystery board game Clue.

From 1990 to 2002, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo appeared as characters in the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera simulator ride at Universal Studios Florida [33] The ride was restructured in the early 2000s as a Jimmy Neutron attraction. Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are costumed characters at Universal Studios Florida, and can be found driving the Mystery Machine around the park.

Scooby-Doo filmography

TV series

Title Broadcast run
Scooby-Doo, Where are You! 1969–1972, CBS
The New Scooby-Doo Movies 1972–1974, CBS
The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour 1, 2 1976–1977, ABC
Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics 1, 3 1977–1979, ABC
Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo 1979–1980, ABC
The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show 4 1980–1981, ABC
The Scooby-Doo/Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour 4 1982–1983, ABC
The All-New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show 5 1983–1985, ABC
The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo 1985, ABC
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo 1988–1991, ABC
What's New, Scooby-Doo? 2002–2005, Kids' WB!; 2003 –2006, Teletoon (Canada)
Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! 2006–(present) Kids WB! on The CW;
Notes:
  1. These program blocks featured new episodes of Scooby-Doo alongside several other series. The Scooby-Doo episodes from these years are now broadcast under the title The Scooby-Doo Show. For details on these episodes, see Scooby-Doo (1976-1979 television series).
  1. Aired as The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Show from December 1976 until September 1977, after a rerun of Scooby-Doo, Where are You! was added to the block, making the runtime 90 minutes.
  1. Aired as Scooby's All-Stars from September 1978 to September 1979.
  1. These program blocks featured new seven-minute episodes of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo alongside several other series. The Scooby-Doo episodes from these years are now broadcast under the title Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo title, distinguished from the original thirty-minute 1979 episodes of the show by a slightly different opening credits sequence. For details on these episodes, see Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1980-1983).
  1. Aired as The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries from September 1984 to September 1985.

TV specials and telefilms

Direct-to-video films

Live-action theatrical releases

Video games

See also

Notes

  1. ^ William Richter "Action for Children's Television". Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved from http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/A/htmlA/actionforch/actionforch.htm on June 9, 2006.
  2. ^ Laurence Marcus & Stephen R. Hulce (October, 2000). "Scooby Doo, Where Are You". Television Heaven. Retrieved from http://www.Televisionheaven.co.uk/scooby.htm on June 9, 2006.
  3. ^ Ruby and Spears, "Scooby Doo...The History of a Classic"
  4. ^ Ignacio, Cynthia Quimpo (2002). "Iwao Takamoto: Scooby-Doo and Iawo, Too". Yolk 2.0., vol. 9, issue 3. Los Angeles, CA: Informasian Media Group, Inc.
  5. ^ (2006). Interview with Iwao Takamoto. Eerie Mystery of Scooby-Doo and Dynomutt's History [documentary featurette from The Scooby-Doo/Dynomut Hour: The Complete Series DVD bonus features.]. New York, Los Angeles, CA: Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Excerpt: "The Great Dane was supposed to be the biggest dog around...and there was a woman [at the studio] who actually bred and reared Great Danes. So, she came over, and spent a solid hour describing all of the positive things that makes a prize-wining Great Dane. And I selected about five things, I think, and went in the opposite direction. For instance, a good, strong straight back, so I sloped his back. A strong chin, so I under-swung his chin...and I think straight hind legs she mentioned. So I bowed them..."
  6. ^ (2006). Interview with Ken Spears. Eerie Mystery of Scooby-Doo and Dynomutt's History [documentary featurette from The Scooby-Doo/Dynomut Hour: The Complete Series DVD bonus features.]. New York, Los Angeles, CA: Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Excerpt: "That character [Fred] started out...I think his name was 'Geoff'...and then he became 'Harvey'. And then all of a sudden, Fred [Silverman] came in and said [the character] was going to be 'Fred'. So, I guess he had something to do with that."
  7. ^ Ruby and Spears, "Scooby Doo...The History of a Classic"
  8. ^ Ruby and Spears, "Scooby Doo...The History of a Classic"
  9. ^ (2005) "Scooby Doo, Where are You!" IMDb.com Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063950/ on August 12, 2006
  10. ^ Evanier, Mark. (July 10, 2002). Post on "News from Me" blog for Povonline.com. Retrieved from http://povonline.com/2002/News060902.htm on March 27, 2006.
  11. ^ Burke, Timothy and Burke, Kevin. Saturday Morning Fever. pg. 110 - 111.
  12. ^ Chris Suellentrop. (March 26, 2004). "Hey Dog! How do you do that Voodoo That You Do So Well?". Slate.com. Retrieved from http://www.Slate.com/id/2097818/ on June 9, 2006.
  13. ^ Variety (January 27, 2006). "Weekend Box Office preview". Retrieved from http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117937030&categoryid=1082 on June 9, 2006.
  14. ^ "Awards for What's New, Scooby-Doo?" IMDb.com Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306274/awards on August 13, 2006.
  15. ^ Malanowski, Jamie (May 12, 2002). "One for the Scooby Cognoscenti". The New York Times.
  16. ^ Burke, Timothy and Burke, Kevin. Saturday Morning Fever. pg. 108.
  17. ^ Berardinelli, James (June 2002). Review for Scooby-Doo [feature film]. James Berardinelli's Movie Reviews. Retrieved from http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/s/scooby-doo.html on August 13, 2006. Excerpt: "Unfortunately, there is an audience out there for Scooby-Doo. It is comprised primarily of Generation X'ers, who wax nostalgic about the "classic" cartoon series, and their children, who are too young to know any better."
  18. ^ Elias, Justine (Feb. 24, 2002). "Scooby-Doo Forever: The Curious Cachet of a Cowardly Dog." The New York Times. Excerpt: "Both the [Cartoon Network] and children's TV critics point to Scooby's mix of thrills, gas and reassurance as the key to its longevity."
  19. ^ Elias, Justine. "Scooby-Doo Forever."
  20. ^ Burke, Timothy and Burke, Kevin. Saturday Morning Fever. pg. 106.
  21. ^ Chambers, Bill March 2000). Review for Scooby Doo's Original Mysteries DVD. Film Freak Central. Retrieved from http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/scoobydoo.htm on August 13, 2006.
  22. ^ (Aug. 22, 2002). 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time". TV Guide.
  23. ^ (Jun 20, 2003). "Animal Planet Picks Top 50 TV Animals". Scoop. Retrieved from http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=2787&si=121 on August 13, 2006.
  24. ^ (2005). "The 100 Greatest Cartoons of All Time". Channel4.com. Retrieved from http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest/cartoons/results.html on August 13, 2006.
  25. ^ (25 Oct. 2004). "Scooby-Doo breaks cartoon record". BBC News. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3949579.stm on March 27, 2006.
  26. ^ Burke, Timothy and Burke, Kevin. Saturday Morning Fever. pg. 108.
  27. ^ Larsen, Dana (Jan. 8, 2003). "Celebrity stoners." Cannabis Culture Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2606.html on August 11, 2006.
  28. ^ Larsen, Dana. "Celebrity stoners."
  29. ^ Ruby and Spears, "Scooby Doo...The History of a Classic"
  30. ^ Burke, Timothy and Burke, Kevin. Saturday Morning Fever. pg. 106.
  31. ^ Burke, Timothy and Burke, Kevin. Saturday Morning Fever. pg. 106.
  32. ^ "Scooby-Doo according ot Wingnut: Collectables". Wingnuttoons.com. Retrieved from http://www.wingnuttoons.com/Scooby-Doo_Collection2.html on August 12, 2006. Contains an extensive illustrated list of Scooby-Doo-related merchandise, from the 1970s to the present.
  33. ^ Stokes, Trey (2002). "The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera". Retrieved from http://www.trudang.com/simulatr/hbsim.html on August 12, 2006. Article on the creation of the ride, written by one of its programmers.

References

Original Scooby-Doo series / General

What's New, Scooby-Doo?

Live-action features

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