I can’t believe the fiftieth anniversary of Scooby-Doo just crept up on me, despite me having written about The Fifty Names of Scooby-Doo.
Ruh-roh.
This Friday the 13th, the juggernaut neverending series hits its fiftieth birthday. This Great Dane has haunted me for my entire life and beyond. (Fun fact: my mom watched the first-ever airing of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? way back when.) I thought it’d be fun to reflect on it briefly.
Except…uh…I never really liked Scooby-Doo. Not that much. Let me clarify: I didn’t care about the original series or anything close to that, I especially disliked What’s New, Scooby-Doo? because I thought it was supremely boring, and just about everything else was a program I would just sit and stare at, forming no memories. Even A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. For as many times as I’ve seen Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, I can’t remember forming opinions on it. It was all just TV. TV that existed.
But I did actively enjoy Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get A Clue, which everyone else hates.
Come on, people! It’s like The Venture Bros. without 85% of what makes The Venture Bros. good – which means it’s still 15% good!
Now that I’m older, I do like going back to old Scoobies. I can appreciate things I didn’t care about as a kid. For example, now I think the original series is fun and comfortable, and yet also moody, because things are dark almost all the time. The Scooby-Doo Movies and their guest stars are famously ridiculous. And in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Shaggy says, “Like, who were you expectin’ – the bluebird of happiness?”
Although I haven’t finished it so I don’t know if it dropped the ball, I love, love, love Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated. A serialized Scooby show? That’s a humdinger of an idea. I could tell that the creators had a ton of fun putting it together, crafting one big mystery, messing with the Mystery Gang’s dynamics, devoting an entire episode to the forgotten Scooby-like mascots of Hanna-Barbera’s past.
Except… Once I read an article about how it’s weird and regressive that Daphne and Velma are defined mainly by their romantic interest in Fred and Shaggy (and therefore unhappy) while Fred and Shaggy are defined mainly by their interest in traps, brotherhood, and food (and therefore happy). They’re…I think they’re right! When will I see Cool/Funny Daphne!?
Hey, this might be weird to bring up after writing about romance, but did you know that you can compare the cast dynamics to brothers and sisters? Group Fred and Daphne as older siblings, and Velma and Shaggy as younger. This “explains” why the gang splits up the way they do. It also “explains” why Shaggy gets the ridiculousness and the silly dog. I’m not sure why I’m calling Velma a little-sister type, though. Maybe because book smarts don’t equal intelligence or maturity? But…makeup doesn’t equal maturity either. Hmm…
Anyway, Velma is the superior member of the cast and Shaggy is the hottest one.
That’s my thoughts on Scooby-Doo in a nutshell. Incidentally, there’s a song by the band Lake called “Scoobie Doobies” that has nothing to do with Scooby-Doo. Just with drugs.
One YouTuber calls it a “classic song which has everything.”
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If that tune didn’t scare you off, take a gander at how I published my little sci-fi comic, why 4Kids theme songs might be alright, or my thoughts on the incredible, Bumsteadable Blondie…!