Scooby-Doo

"Scooby-doo" is also British naval divers' slang for "civilian sport scuba diver".

Scooby-Doo is the main character in a long-running series of animated series produced for television by Hanna-Barbera Productions (now Cartoon Network Studios) from 1969 to 1986, 1988 to 1991, and from 2002 to the present day. Originally broadcast on CBS (1969–1976), and then on ABC (1976–1986, 1988–1991), it is currently broadcast on the WB Network during the Kids WB programming block. Repeats of the original series, as well as second-run episodes of the current series, are broadcast frequently on Cartoon Network in the USA and other countries.

Though the format the show and the cast (and ages) of characters have varied significantly over the years, the most familiar versions of the show feature a Great Dane named Scooby-Doo and four teenagers: Fred "Freddie" Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers (from whom the contemporary reggae artist Shaggy took his name). These five characters drive around the world in a van called the "Mystery Machine," and solves 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 attempting to scare people away so that he/she could commit crimes). Later versions of the show featured different variations on the supernatural theme of the show. Although the appalation "Mysteries Inc." is frequently applied to these characters, it was never a part of the original series.

As of October 2004, Scooby-Doo holds the Guinness World Record for having the most episodes of any cartoon series ever produced, a record previously held by The Simpsons. It will first be published as holding this record in the 2006 edition of the Guinness Book of Records. [1].

Production history

Creation and development

Starting in 1968, a number of parental watchdog groups began vocally protesting what they perceived as an excessive amount of gratuitous violence in Saturday morning cartoons during the mid-to-late 1960s. 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 had begun to serve as advisors to Hanna-Barbera and other animation studios to ensure that their new programs would be safe for children. In 1968, then-CBS executive in charge of children's programming Fred Silverman was looking for a show that would revitalize his Saturday morning lineup 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, hit #1 on the Billboard pop chart in September 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 sort of 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.

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 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 big shaggy sheepdog, Hot Dog, in their band).

Takamoto consulted a studio colleage who happened to be a breeder of Great Danes. After learning all of the characterisitics of a prize-winning Great Dane from her, Takamoto proceeded to break every rule, giving Too Much spots (no Great Dane has spots), bowed legs, and a double-chin, among other abnormalies.

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), 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.

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[2], Silverman was inspired by an ad-lib he heard in Frank Sinatra'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! The new and improved show was re-presented to CBS executives, who greenlit it for production.

Ratings success and follow-ups

Main entry: Scooby-Doo series guide.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was a major ratings success for CBS, and they renewed it for a second season in 1970. In 1972, 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. After two seasons of the New Movies format, the show went to reruns of the original series until Scooby moved to ABC in 1976.

On ABC, the show went through almost yearly format changes, including the additions of characters (Scooby-Dum from 1976 to 1977 and Scrappy-Doo from 1979 on) and the subtraction of others (Fred and Velma were absent from the series between 1980 and 1983 and in 1985, and Daphne was missing from the show between 1980 and 1982). Also, the show abandoned the familar supernatural mystery plots. These series are considered by most fans of the show as very weak. After its sixteenth season on the air and its thirteenth first-run season of new episodes during the 1985–1986, ABC cancelled Scooby-Doo. H-B reincarnated the Mystery Inc. gang during their junior high days for A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (ABC, 1988–1991)

In 2002, following the success of the direct-to-video Scooby-Doo releases, the original version of the gang was updated for the 21st century for What's New, Scooby-Doo? (Kids WB, 2002–present.) The show returned to the familiar format of the original series; the only real difference being the gang's frequent visits to foreign countries.

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 1989 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. 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.

Telefilms and direct-to-video features

Telefilms

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 addtition, Scooby-Doo and Shaggy appeared as the narrators of the made-for-TV movie Arabian Nights, originally broadcast by TBS in 1993 and later released on video as Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights.

Direct to video features

Starting in 1998, 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 entiries 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), and Aloha, Scooby-Doo (2005).

Deviations from Scooby-Doo formula in these films

A number of these Scooby-Doo telefilms and direct-to-video feature the gang encountering actual supernatural beings. In Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988) (set during the early-1980s Scooby and Scrappy-Doo series), Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy-Doo sign up as gym teachers for Miss Grimwood's school for girls, only to find 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 Phantom of the Opera.

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998) featured the gang a number of years after their eailer adventures (ingoring the Scrappy years, as mentioned above). The gang had since (mostly) disbanded. However, Daphne, now a talk-show host, reunites the gang in search of a real supernatural mystery for her show. After numerous failed attempts they stumble upon an estate in Louisiana haunted by real zombies. Eventually, the gang discovers that their hosts are acutally a trio of malevolent cat demons who steal the life-force of living people to stay young, and the zombies are merely their former fictims. In Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost (1999), the gang are invited to Oakhaven by a famous horror writer, Ben Ravencroft, where they discover that the ghost of his ancestor, who was persecuted as a witch, is haunting the town. Though the witch ghost is initially revealed to be a fake, it turns out that his ancestor really was a witch, and Ben uses her spellbook (rediscovered with the aid of the gang) to bring her back from the grave. The following two entries also featured true supernatural phenomenom.

The later, What's New, Scooby-Doo 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 live-action feature 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 CGI special effects. Scooby-Doo was extremely successful, with a domestic box office gross of over $130 million. In March 2004, a sequel followed entitled Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, which earned $84 million at the U.S. box office.

The Scooby influence

The show is responsible for many pop-culture catchphrases, such as "Scooby Snacks" and "if it weren't for you meddling kids I'd have gotten away with it" (alternatively, "I would've got away with it if it wasn't for those pesky kids!", sometimes with "...and their dog!" added for emphasis), traditionally said by the culprit when caught. The question of Velma's name (Velma or Thelma) has even been the subject of Internet polls.

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 movie.) Even South Park paid homage to Scooby-Doo in an episode entitled Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery. TV Funhouse poked fun at the Pup Named Scooby Doo depiction of the characters at a younger age with its own, even younger-aged version, Fetal Scooby Doo. In 2002, the online comic Sluggy Freelance featured a weeks-long guest strip culminating in the reincarnation of the Scooby Gang from other comic characters.

Merchandising

Cereal

Kellogg introduced a Scooby Doo Cereal in 2002, a marshmallow/cinnamon type cereal for children. The marshmallows are shaped like ghosts.

Dog Treats

Reward took the idea of the Scooby Snack and made it into a real Dog treat.

Scooby-Doo filmography

Original TV series

• Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969–1972, CBS)
• The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972–1974, CBS)
• The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour (1976–1977, ABC)
• Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics / Scooby's All-Stars (1977–1979, ABC)
• Scooby and Scrappy-Doo (1979–1980, ABC)
• The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show (1980–1981, ABC)
• The Scooby-Doo/Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour (1982–1983, ABC)
• The All-New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show (1983–1984, ABC)
• The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries (1984–1985, ABC)
• The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985–1986, ABC)

Spin-off TV series

• A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988–1991, ABC)

Series Revival

• What's New, Scooby-Doo? (2002–present, Kids' WB/Cartoon Network)

TV Special

• Scooby-Doo Goes Hollywood (December 13, 1979, ABC)

Made-for-TV movies

• Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987)
• Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988)
• Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988)
• Arabian Nights (also known as Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights) (1993, TBS)

Direct-to-Video movies

• Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)
• Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost (1999)
• Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (2000)
• Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase (2001)
• 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 live action theatrical releases

• Scooby-Doo (2002)
• Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)

See Also

• Scooby-Doo series guide
• Scrappy-Doo
• Five Colleges — for a popular rumor about the show

External Links

Orignal Scooby-Doo series / General

• Cartoon Network's Scooby-Doo site
• Scooby Doo, Where Are You! at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! at the Internet Movie Database
• Scooby Doo Tribute & history
• Joe Ruby and Ken Spears' recollections on the creation of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
• Sluggy Freelance parodies Scooby-Doo
• Slate.com analyzes the endurance of Scooby Doo

What's New, Scooby-Doo?

• The What's New, Scooby-Doo? Homepage on CartoonNetwork.com
• What's New, Scooby-Doo? at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• What's New, Scooby-Doo? at the Internet Movie Database
• What's New, Scooby-Doo? TV Tome entry

Live-action features

• Warner Bros. Scooby-Doo site for the 2002 live action movie
• IMDB entry for Scooby-Doo (2002)
• IMDB entry for Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)