Quoi d'neuf Scooby-Doo ?

"What's New Scooby-Doo?" You brand-new TV show!!

The lame attempts to recapture the magic of the famous "scooby-Doo" franchise fell flat during the 1980s (remember "13 ghosts of Scooby-Doo" and "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo"?, among several other stinkers). Plus, the addition of Scrappy-Doo in 1979 didn't help matters either. After the last original series ended in 1991, the franchise dropped Scrappy, bought back Fred and Velma, and made a string of decent direct-to-video animated features. But the success of the 2002 live-action feature prompted this cartoon, and a renewal to the famous franchise many of us Gen-Xers have grown to love.

I was never really a fan of "Scooby-Doo" until last year. Sure, I watched the reruns of every weekend from about 1985 until 1991, but that was because my brother liked it, and we only had two TV's in our house (the other was in my parents room, and since they were sleeping, the other TV was the only one we could watch. I survived.) The problem was, in the mid-80s, "Scooby-Doo! Where are You?" was a rarity on the local syndication channels. We had to watch "Scooby and Scrappy-Doo," which was god-awful, and I wouldn't force anyone to watch it. I turned away the cartoons in 1991, after "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" aggravated me. Last year, I saw the live-action movie out of curiosity, and then this cartoon premired on Cartoon Network in March 2003, and I couldn't resist. I was hooked.

It's actually a funny show, and capitalizes on what made the movie fun. It emphasizes bright color, and gives the show a modern-day approach. The beauty part is, they maintained much of the character personalities from the film, and added on to the original concepts: Fred isn't as much of a show-off credit-hogger as he was, Daphne is way more resourceful, and not nearly as "damsel-in-distress-esque", Velma speaks, is shown more, and has GREAT one-liners (I think this may have been because Linda Cardellini was so great in the movie, they most likely had to captialize on what she bought to the character), and Shaggy is great and sounds terrific, due in no small part to the return of the great Casey Kasem, who was sorely lacking in the cartoon movies. Frank Welker as Fred is what makes this cartoon. Welker and Kasem are the heart and soul of this series--it isn't a cartoon without either of them. Besides, Fred has a trademark voice--no one could copy it. Sadly, Don Messick (Scooby's original voice) is no longer with us, and Welker tries to capture that speech-impediment, and it does work. It's a shame that Messick's last original series run as Scooby was in the pitiful "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" (I'm sorry, but I really don't like that cartoon. It's painfully obvious.)

I highly recommend this as a good introduction series for the youngsters, but I would most likely say to watch "Scooby-Doo! Where Are You?", which still is (and always will be) the best. This series is also fun for those who love the original series. It captures the magic of the original, and still holds the charm that made it special--jokes, mystery, and of course, the famous lines. Plus, Fred is sans ascot.

So, What's new, Scooby-Doo? You just got a good review from this 20-year old fan!

It is not bad, the update is more geared towards Fred's shirt, the sound, and the theme song than anything else.

Otherwise the bulk of the series is much like the original runs, straight down to the masks.

The animation is sleeker, less repetitive in the backgrounds, but over all we have the same show that we fell in love with all those decades ago.

It's hard not to like the series when it is Scooby Doo to the core.

What's New Scooby-Doo is a welcome return of Scooby and the gang back to television with their last show, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo being the last TV incarnation over 10 years prior. The series was able to stay in the popular consciousness thanks to the above average in quality direct-to-video films released from 1998 to 2001 and showed there was still life in the franchise.

Like other incarnations, the show features the adventures/mysteries of perpetually hungry coward Shaggy, the optimistic but not always aware Fred, fashion/image conscious Daphne (who also has the ability to concoct solutions in MacGyver esque style), brains of the group Velma, and their gluttonous, cowardly, and talking dog Scooby-Doo. The gang are all voiced well by their respective voice actors, and despite originally voicing these characters 30 years prior, Frank Welker as Fred and Casey Kasem as Shaggy still fit the characters so well you'd hardly know they aged a day.

The series takes a more self aware approach to the established Scooby-Doo formula calling attention to the various tropes and story beats the series is known for as a way of lovingly sending itself up. The episode always ends with the misquote of "and I would've gotten away with it, if it wasn't for you meddling kids" or some variation thereof despite the phrase never actually having been said in the original cartoon (not unlike "Play it again Sam" from Casablanca). For the most part the tone of the series works well in its favor and does provide some humorous sequences.

The capers the gang investigate are a slightly more mixed bag. While the original show's mysteries were never masterpieces of intrigue and suspense, they did at least try to maintain some semblance of credibility (even if it was tenuous at best) by keeping the gang's mysteries in confined and isolated areas with the mysteries being small enough in scale that they could with in the context of the world established be somewhat plausible. What's Ne Scooby-Doo's mysteries go far more over the top with large scale events that are often witnessed by dozens if not hundreds of people and strain credibility during the series trademark wrap up segments where everything is explained.

What's New Scooby-Doo isn't as good as the direct-to-video films that inspired its success, but it's also not a cynical affair like arguably the worst Scooby-Doo property Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue. What's New Scooby-Doo is first and foremost a comedy and as a comedy it gives just enough humor to justify itself. The voice acting is still spot on with Casey Kasem being welcome in his return to voicing Shaggy and the show has just enough self awareness to lovingly poke fun at the well worn formula.

This series is Scooby Doo back to it's very best. Having seen several episodes now, I am a big fan. The fact that it's under new production is better, to be honest. It's a Scrappy free zone and whilst the animation is suitably modern, the characters and plots are tried and tested.There are plenty of in jokes and any fan of the original series should support this show. Go, Scooby, go!

I have read complaints regarding this latest addition to the TV Scooby shows. People can say what they want, but this cast does a real good job!

Casey Kasem as 'Shaggy' - There is no other 'Shaggy'. (Apologies to Scott Innes, Who has done an ok job as 'Shaggy' and a pretty good job as 'Scooby'). Frank Welker as 'Freddy' - Again, there is no other.(Although I do believe someone else could do a better 'Scooby'. Sorry Frank. Don Messick is definitely the only 'Scoobert'.) Mindy Cohn seems to do a pretty good 'Velma' and Grey DeLisle's version of Daphne, as heard in previous 'Scooby' movies, is perfectly acceptable.

For me Nicole Jaffe will always be 'Velma'. Heather North will always be 'Daphne'. Stefanianna Christopherson from the original 1969 series will always be the first 'Daphne', but Heather is the voice I'm most familiar with.

Despite all the dynamic changes, it's a really good show! Keep up the good work!