The Scooby Doo appreciation thread

[Captain Kelsten]

As a kid I bloody loved Scooby Doo. Specifically “Scooby Doo where are you?” and, to my shame, I even enjoyed the Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo show (I was young and later saw the error of my ways, don’t worry). 

Scooby Doo kickstarted my life-long love of horror and mystery and all things supernatural. 

 

Over the years I stopped watching it, loads of new series were released that I never checked out, the awful live action movies and so on, but recently I’ve really gotten back into watching Scooby Doo thanks to my kids. 

So, which are worth watching these days?

 

Scooby Doo, Where Are You? Is the still-amazing original series with the classic theme. There’s no overarching story, it’s pure monster of the week stuff. There’s absolutely no character development, but the way it riffs on all the old horror movies and mysteries is great. It’s fun, it’s family-friendly, it’s a classic. 
 

What’s new, Scooby Doo (2002) was an update on the original series set in modern (well, 2002) times. The gang had more time-appropriate clothes, they used cell phones, that kind of thing. It was a pretty decent modern-day reimagining of the cartoon, the first in over a decade and the first in a long while to have the whole gang back together. It was pretty good, actually. 

 

Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated, from 2010ish, though is a really great show and the best since the original. Going back to the classic character designs, it features series-long story arcs alongside the mystery of the week stories. It was more mature (but still appropriate for kids), has some really fun jokes and Easter eggs  and jokes for the adults (e.g Daphne finding a magazine with a bikini clad girl on the cover hidden in Fred’s room and him diving over and trying to snatch it off her saying “I read it for the articles!” and it turns out it’s “Traps Illustrated”). It also has proper character development for the Mystery Inc gang (relationships, arguments, “real life” stuff) that actually works well for the most part. Fred turned from boring one dimensional leader jock into someone who loves creating and foiling traps to catch ghosts. His dad is the town mayor. Daphne’s parents are rich but her parents don’t like Fred. Shaggy’s parents are constantly on at him to get a job. Velma’s parents run the town’s ghost museum. 
 

None of the others are really worth watching, imo. 

Anyway. Scooby Doo is great. Anyone else a fan? 

[AK Bell]

My 4 year old is really into it. It's a nice cheap treat when we're out shopping to get him some DVD for next to nowt in a second-hand shop. 

 

The original series is still the best mostly for that theme tune. Great percussion for a TV theme! 

 

Be Cool Scooby Doo is very good despite it looking like Family Guy. It's actually structured a lot like the original series but the jokes are properly funny. 

 

Of the movies, I prefer the fun ones rather than the "good" ones. Zombie Island is meant to be the best one but I found it a bit dull. But Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo! probably isn't "good" but it does have a Batman baddie, Elvira and the second half is basically Mad Max Fury Road. Or the newer Batman one which is Brave and Bold. 

 

My kid always leans towards picking Witch's Ghost because he likes the music in it, and Lock Ness Monster and Cyber Chase. I have the Alien Invasion one on dvd somewhere that I need to hunt down in the attic. Generally that period of movies was solid. 

[Waggo]

Love Scooby Doo always have and doubtless always will, to the extent that in my late forties I have a Scooby room guard protecting my study!!!!
 

Think you have pretty much nailed it with the best series though in that the original is never going to be topped, and the next best imo is probably Mystery Incorporated.

 

I would suggest taking another look at the movies though (Animated not the live action bollocks), as there is some decent stuff amongst them.  My personal recommendations would be ‘Camp Scare’ and ‘Where’s My Mummy’.

 

Also if you are into Lego the Scooby Doo sets are well worth a look.  I have the lot of em.

[Spiceymike]

I was never crazy on Scooby Doo as a kid but I still had an appreciation for it. My daughter is also getting into it now, I showed her one they did with puppets, I think it's called "Scooby Doo Adventures: The Mystery Map". I haven't seen anything similar and from what I read it seems to be the only one that got released in that style. It's a shame as my daughter keeps asking for more of them and I end up having to show it on repeat for her 😕 .

[Jammy]

Loved the original Scooby Doo cartoon. Absolutely hated Scrappy. Did enjoy that they made him the villain in one of the live action movies and the rest of them got to say how much they hated him too

[SeanR]

Some of the OAV scoobies are great.

 

There’s one, zombie island I think, where they rip off a zombie mask, and the whole head comes off and they realise the zombies are real. I think it also has cat people?

 

The KISS one is good. The WWE one is lame. And we’ve got the Batman crossover collection somewhere.

[Camel]

Yes I was really pissed off with Zombie Island as it changes the whole premise of the show for little ones.

[Not Thread Owner]

Yeah, the show jumped the shark when they made ghosts and zombies and stuff real instead of just ludicrous special effects and creepy men in masks.

[SeanR]

Caught episode one of be cool Scooby-doo today. It’s pretty good, in that post-modern cartoon way.

 

clocked the bad guy immediately, though.

[AK Bell]

My kid is watching Be Cool Scooby-Doo on a loop. It is actually really good. I'll allow it. It really shows you can just give it a bit of twist to modernise, keep it 90% the same, and it still holds up. You don't have to go all Velma on it.