The Scooby-Doo Show

The "Scooby Doo Show" was the third iteration of Scooby Doo following the original "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" show of 1969-70 and "The New Scooby Doo Movies" of 1972-73. This show, which ran from 1976-78, was undoubtedly one of the very best. It succeeds more than the hour long movies and the later Scrappy Doo cartoons because it keeps the basic 30 minute story format of the original show, which is part of what made Scooby so successful. When I was a kid, I had no idea these were all different shows with different productions, etc. (I had to look it up to realize that these old shows came out years apart from each other). As an adult, it's interesting to see how the creators had different ideas and themes for each new Scooby show they would make.

This "Scooby Doo Show" lasted 40 episodes and the monsters are very entertaining and mostly all memorable. The vampire is definitely one of scariest vampires of any cartoon up until that time. The Tar Monster is one of the greats. The maniac doctor at the sanitarium is very scarily drawn. The scariest one for me as a kid was the Diabolical Disc Demon - that one stuck with me for years. Even the weaker monsters are fun in a nostalgic way. Joe Ruby and Ken Spears had a wonderful technique and formula for this show. The formula essentially starts with the introduction of the monster. The gang then comes to town and gets on the case and they start investigating. Velma says, "Jinkies!"; Fred says, "Let's split up"; They find a clue; Shaggy and Scooby look for something to eat; Daphne says, "Jeepers"; Shaggy says, "Zoinks!"; Fred makes Shaggy and Scooby trap the villain and they overcome their fear and catch them in some crazy chase. Once caught, the villain is unmasked and tells everyone, "I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids"; Scooby then says, "Scooby-dooby-dooooo!!!" and it ends. This formula is Scooby Doo at his very best and this 1976-78 show followed it to a "T".

As the previous reviewer rightly stated, the mysteries are actually pretty good and complex for a kids show and the animation is classic Hanna Barbera. Scooby Doo was never ha-ha funny, but there's always several funny bits in every episode and the magic comes from that Scooby is such a good-natured and lovable character. Scooby never once gets mad and he always overcomes his fears to somehow (and sometimes accidentally) catch the villain. I once saw that the characters of Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy are loosely based on their counterparts in the old Dobie Gillis show and that they included the Great Dane and made him the star of the show. Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy act like kids from that generation and always accept each other and work together and we never see them argue or fight. It works perfectly as a kids show as kids never question why these young adults never go to work - they just solve mysteries. I see kids today still getting engrossed in and enjoying these classic episodes that are now 50 years old! The hook is the mystery and the spooky atmosphere that make it stand out from other cartoons. And the endings are always wonderful with the capture and unmasking of the villains.

If you like Scooby Doo and don't know where to start, this and the original two seasons of "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" are the definitive shows to watch. I'll always appreciate the good natured character of Scooby and his friends, especially Shaggy, who is his closest pal. These kinds of characters are like old friends and when you're a kid, you simply enjoy it. When you're an adult and you look back, it's a good memory. Cheers to the creators of this show!

When you're a child from 4-8 years old, these may seem fun, but as you get older, you see that Hanna-Barbera team was letting too many people take too many liberties with their status. In the 60s, Hanna-Barbera was on top of cartoons. They topped Disney, Harley, Warner Brothers Looney Toons, Walt Lantz Cartunes, and the Network studio contracts. But, parent groups against violence, vices, and other sinful acts fought to ruin Saturday morning cartoons. Enter Ruby and Spears from Hanna-Barbera. And what do we get? This nonsense. Ruby and Spears ended up splintering off and continuing on in even worse Saturday morning cartoons which ultimately ruined the Saturday morning experience. Back to this nonsense. When cartoons were animals and adult cartoons like the Flinstones and the Jetsons, we were just fine. Parents intervened. So, Hanna-Barbera got Ruby and Spears to create a less violent show without drinking, smoking, things dripping on animals, things exploding, and so on.

How Scooby Doo kept on getting redone into a more and more nonsensical mess, I'll never know.

Here's the run down. You have a twenty something stoner and his stoner Great Dane who want to be left alone but still feel relavent and are a sucker for the drugs they are given to always be thrown into the frey first. You have an elitist ascot wearing jock who thinks he's better than everyone else. You have an elitist wannabe beauty pagent girl who hangs out with the jock. Lastly, you have a supposedly smart average looking outcast who is willing to sacrifice the stoner and the Great Dane at any cost.

Why did Shaggy and Scooby continue to be the slaves of Fred, Daphne, and Velma?

Shaggy and Scooby weren't so much chicken as they were tired of being used as bait and scapegoats for the three elitist teens.

Velma was the biggest backstabbing chicken of them all. Daphne was too stupid to do anything else. Fred, oh Fred, you never were masculine. And this isn't a knock against Frank Welker, but Frank, everyone knows it's you when you voice a character. You are not Mel Blanc. Every single one of your voices are the same.

Back to Scooby Doo. Somehow through all of the nonsense of the three teens, Scooby or Shaggy or both foil the bad guys in the end. But, somehow, Velma knows everything all along. And we get hers and Fred's know it all epilogue.

Also, this whole group of kids just somehow drove into mysterious and dangerous adventures wherever they went. They weren't a super slouth group. They just fell into mysteries.

And this is why as the different Scooby Doo iterations drug on, the cast changed. The original, then the guest star movies, this, and then the removal of the three useless teens. Children were actually not watching the show, so Ryby and Spears kept changing it to attract children. Long before Scooby Dum and Scrappy Doo came along, this show was doomed. After the first three years of the original, Hanna Barbera should have shelved this concept and stopped trying to make sequels. Of course, Hanna-Barbara was notorious about trying to keep cat and mouse shows alive under different characters, which some weren't bad, but at least they changed the characters and theme enough. Scooby Doo in my opinion was a forerunner for networks to punish viewers with show sequels for prime time shows. Think all the mind numbing police procedurals, the Simpsons, Family Guy, etc. All of these silly primetime silly soap operas that drag on and on. Sticking to cartoons, Scooby Doo, especially this 3 season outing, was the show to start the downfall of Saturday morning cartoons. The best way to watch this show is to either be a stoned twenty something, an elitist teenager with a very serious inferiority complex, or a huge stoned Great Dane, or a relative of Ruby and Spears. Did they really think children would be dumb enough to fall for this concept? Yes, I was around for the original runs. Cool at first because I didn't know better, but a little older and I wised up. There is so much more wrong with this show, but let's put it in the past and remember the cool original theme song,something this one was even missing.

The Scooby Doo Show is in My Opinion next to the original Scooby Doo, Where are You! In quality.

The Mysteries are fairly complex and The Episodes feature very good Writing, so even as a 25 y/o, I still enjoy The Series as much as I did when I was just 5. Many Episodes also feature Relatives of Scooby or The Gang, so there is even some Character Development.

The Animation is lovely like It's Predecessors, featuring those beautiful Hand-Painted Backgrounds which give The Show that classic look You can only get from Old Fashioned Cel Animation like This.

The Acting however is where I think This Series exceeds It's Predecessors, The Victims of The Ghost/Monster Attacks especially sound genuinely terrified, so much that even as an Adult, My hair still stands on end a little.

My One and Only Negative is that many Depictions of Ethnic Groups are very Stereotypical, which is The One and Only Reason I subtract 1 Star from My Rating. I would remove more then 1, but I am lenient given that This Series is now 45+ years old.

My Closing Statement; The Scooby Doo Show deserves a Solid Thumbs Up, just remember that at 46 years old, It can be rather dated in Diversity.