Scooby-Doo: Agence Toutou Risques

This show is a great parody of the original Scooby Doo series. You can tell that the writers really loved the original show and it made a lot of inside jokes. If you don't know a lot about the original series, you probably wont find it as funny. For example no episode goes by without fred saying "lets split up, gang", even if its the last line in the episode. Those who think this show is a rip off just don't get it.

The 80s were a goldmine decade of great animated shows. Stuff we got in those ten years we just don't see any more. Quite literally. I don't think we'll ever see Denver the Last Dinosaur or Centurions on DVD. One of the forgotten shows among dozens of others was A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. The Scooby-Doo franchise suffered a heavy blow in the 80s when some silly man wearing a suit thought it would be a good idea to introduce Scrappy-Doo, a highly irritating doggy who never kept his mouth shut for more than two seconds. Freddy and Velma also disappeared for a while and Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy would go off solving mysteries with just Daphne.

Desperate for a new way to re-invent the franchise, Warner gave us A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, an interesting, if failed attempt.

The show features the Mystery Inc. gang as kids and Scoob as a little puppy. The humor and animation is more offbeat and Looney-Tunes orientated but the mysteries are still substantial and the locations still occasionally Gothic and atmospheric.

Shaggy and Scooby are still voiced by Casey Kasem and Don Messick. Since they are the backbone of the show it's good to have this consistency. The childhood angle also gives us new insight into their background.

Many have criticised this show, claiming it to be aimed at under-tens and that it an embarrassment to the Scooby-Doo franchise. Well, I never found it to be that way. As a Scooby-Doo fan I thought this show was very amusing and I loved the score and songs by John Debney. There should be a soundtrack CD released. It really is a shame it never lasted for longer.

Since there were only 26 episodes made I can't help but be angry at Warner's awful DVD presentation of the show. Since they are releasing loads of their back-catalogue animation in beautifully packaged box sets (Premier Collections/Spotlight Collections/Golden Collections) I find it baffling that A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (a show that would have suited this format well) gets a horrid DVD release with 4 episodes per disc, a crappy snap-case box (we're STILL getting these in 2005!) and no extra features. The 1.33:1 full frame picture and Mono sound are perfectly adequate but, even though the show failed, it still deserves a much better DVD release than the one it got.

Shame on you Warner for neglecting this one instalment of a cash-cow that has generated you billions of dollars.

I know I'm going to make a lot of enemies here, but I have to say it: the original Scooby Doo series wasn't that great.

There. It's done.

I know I'm stepping on a lot of great memories here, but if you go back and watch Scooby Doo, Where Are You? you'll find it's hardly the sophisticated entertainment you remember from childhood. The animation looks cheap, the jokes are lame, and the characters are cardboard cutouts.

A Pup Named Scooby Doo, though a lot of fans seem to revile it, is more successful than the original, in my opinion. Because of the liberal changes made to the formula, this functions more as an affectionate spoof of Scooby Doo than a continuation of it. Freddy's character shifts from humorless leader to incompetent moron; Daphne is a spoiled rich girl whose butler will appear out of nowhere to catch her in mid-faint; and, in spite of the fact that this takes place years before the original series, Velma has state-of-the-art (as of 1988) computer technology to aid her in catching the villain. I'm not sure why people get so worked up over these changes; in their original characterizations, everyone but Shaggy and Scooby were pretty dull, anyway. What's wrong with giving them an overhaul?

The show itself was pretty formulaic (again, in the same vein as the original), but it was a fun formula. I particularly love the sequences where the kids run from (and occasionally dance with) the monster, set to groovy 1950s-style rock and roll music. Everything here is bigger than big; no-holds-barred wackiness generally ensues. And it's fun.

I love this show. It's the whole Scooby Doo gang as kids, and boy are the cute. I especially love Scooby and Shaggy, but who doesn't. The kids go around solving mysteries just like they do in the regular version of the show, but it's even more entertaining. I think it's an awesome show for kids and adults alike. You just have to be young at heart like myself, I guess. I'm not sure, but I think it might come on every so often on Cartoon Network. I watched it all the time, and if it were to come on again, I'd watch it still.

Although not as good as the original series, it is undoubtedly one of the best incarnations of Scooby-Doo. With very good jokes, fabulous entertainment and a good incarnation of the characters. Highly recommend.