Why do people like Scooby Doo?

[MJC]

This is one of those things that, try as I might, I just can't understand.

It's probably the most repetitive and predictable show ever, especially the original. And the animation sucked, even for the time it was made. The new ones are a little better, but it still sucks.

[Jaguar]

Because people like watching things that make them feel smarter because the characters are stupid.

Either that or because no one has taste anymore.

But then again, it was like the late 60s-early 70s when SD came out so everyone was high anyway.

[Mojo_Jojo]

Actually, I've always liked the show since I was little. It looks like another thread dedicated to trashing Scooby Doo! :rolleyes: I like the older ones than the newer ones! The original is always best! I also liked guessing who the villian or bad guy was.

[Jaguar]

Oh yeah, that's right:

"Hey! Look! That's not a _______! It's _________, getting back at _______ for ______! He used _______ and ________ to trick us!"

"And I would have gotten away with it to if it weren't for you meddling kids!"

Sorry, but if I want predictable, I'll stick with Pokemon.

[raykremer]

The only thing worse than Scooby Doo is Scooby Doo when Scrappy's in the episode.

If they at least put the clues together and figured out who the bad guy was before they took his mask off, that would be something.

[Ferquin]

Feh. A lot of you guys wouldn't understand 'cause you kids grew up with better stuff, i.e. you're spoiled.

The original series was great. Not too predictable, and pretty decent animation and writing for its time. Sure, it's not anime or Batman: TAS, but it was a pretty good series, and right up there with stuff like Jonny Quest. After the first two series, it got pretty campy with the addition of new characters like Scooby Dum and Scrappy, and with the corny old-style Batman & Robin, and various celebrity appearances, but it was still somewhat fun to watch even though it was extremely hokey.

Yup, this is just gonna be another mindless Scooby Doo trash fest...

[Jaguar]

So pointing out the annoying amount of repetition in the show makes this thread "mindless?"

[Ferquin]

No it means people are just going to jump in and say that Scooby Doo sucks without really giving a good arguement as to why it sucks. And merely saying it's old and repetitive really doesn't hold any water to me. Therefore, it's mindless bashing. Prove to me that Scooby Doo did indeed "suck" as you guys claim. Otherwise, this debate will amount to nothing. I explained already that Scooby Doo was a decent animated series in its heyday and that before modern animated series, this was considered top notch. Sure it's campy and hokey, but it's still looked upon as a classic. Because you kids grew up with better stuff, it's hard for you to grasp how great it was because you've got this new stuff to compare it to. Hardly a fair comparison when you didn't grow up with it.

Now, care to explain your reasoning? You claim people didn't have taste back then. What, compared to your modern-day tastes? Society was different back then. You claim that the characters were stupid and it made you feel smarter? How so? They're a quartet of generally level-headed (albeit sometimes naive) teenagers and a talking dog. Just because they don't grasp the entire situation doesn't mean they're stupid. It's a mystery show. It wouldn't be entertaining unless you walked through every clue with the characters. You claim that everyone was high back then. That's just absolutely preposterous.

I think if you're going to have a serious debate on the entertainment value of Scooby Doo, you'd better throw out any cynicism you may have and address the facts instead of making smart-ass remarks.

[Sir T. Ghostal]

Why do people like Spongebob? Why do people like Batman, Invader Zim, and Cowboy Bebop?

Everyone likes different things.

[Jaguar]

No it means people are just going to jump in and say that Scooby Doo sucks without really giving a good arguement as to why it sucks. And merely saying it's old and repetitive really doesn't hold any water to me. Therefore, it's mindless bashing. Prove to me that Scooby Doo did indeed "suck" as you guys claim. Otherwise, this debate will amount to nothing. I explained already that Scooby Doo was a decent animated series in its heyday and that before modern animated series, this was considered top notch. Sure it's campy and hokey, but it's still looked upon as a classic. Because you kids grew up with better stuff, it's hard for you to grasp how great it was because you've got this new stuff to compare it to. Hardly a fair comparison when you didn't grow up with it.

Now, care to explain your reasoning?
:) You've backed me into a corner, so I have no choice.

Believe it or not, I actually did grow up watching Scooby Doo [just before the revolution was televised (aka just before Toonami) (when I first got Cartoon Network they showed it more than any other show, except maybe Superfriends or The Flinstones). Believe it or not for a while I liked the show. But then I started to notice a few things.

There is absolutely no character development. Scooby and Shaggy yuk it up all the time and then a lot of other characters come along like Scrappy and Scooby Dum but the characters stay exactly the same and never seem to change at all.
Fred, Daphne, and Velma= paper thin. Basically Velma is neglected until she actually figures out who-did-what and still doesn't get as much praise as she deserves. Fred is really a bit of a flake and doesn't seem to do much except get caught in a random trap or save Daphne when she gets caught in one.
And even when compared with other classics instead of this "new stuff" you keep talking about, IMO it's still REPETITIVE. Of course there is a little repetition in every 'toon, but Scooby Doo is a bit too repetitive. I understand that it has a formula where the bad guys are caught at the end and everything is explained and whatnot but it just seems like we've seen it all before.
And in hindsight, "Where are You?" seems to be the most repetitive. "13 Ghosts" was less (but probably because it was only 13 episodes and only had half the cast).


Don't get me wrong: Scooby Doo was a strong competitor back in the heyday like you said, but when you stack up everything it just doesn't even out.

Just like everyone who likes Scoob, I'm just voicing my opinion. If you don't like the way I do it--fine. More power to you.

[Ferquin]

Believe it or not, I actually did grow up watching Scooby Doo [just before the revolution was televised (aka just before Toonami) (when I first got Cartoon Network they showed it more than any other show, except maybe Superfriends or The Flinstones). Believe it or not for a while I liked the show. But then I started to notice a few things.

I'm 26. I watched it before Cartoon Network existed, when Scooby Doo was still relatively fresh as a popular animated property. It was syndicated on local small TV stations when I grew up, and broadcast brand new in the very early 80s for the later series. I also watched it on TBS. The reason you're burned on it is because Cartoon Network shoved it down your throat every chance they got 'cause they pretty much had nothing else but old HB and classic WB cartoons to show.

There is absolutely no character development. Scooby and Shaggy yuk it up all the time and then a lot of other characters come along like Scrappy and Scooby Dum but the characters stay exactly the same and never seem to change at all.

Well what did you expect? Shakespeare? This is late 60s/early 70s Hanna Barbera we're talking about. By then, just about all animation was relegated to cheap children's entertainment fodder. As such, there was really no motivation to create characters with any sort of development at all. You simply had vanilla characters that each reflected about one or two simple types of human psyche, i.e. the smart one, the funny one, the stupid one, etc. But at least Hanna-Barbera made the attempt to create a show that required more thought - a mystery show. Sure, it was played for laughs, but it made a crude attempt to make you think. That's about as mature as you can get for animated series back then. Sure, the characters didn't develop. So what? Like I said, cartoon shows back then weren't really written like they are today.

Fred, Daphne, and Velma= paper thin. Basically Velma is neglected until she actually figures out who-did-what and still doesn't get as much praise as she deserves. Fred is really a bit of a flake and doesn't seem to do much except get caught in a random trap or save Daphne when she gets caught in one.

Again, character development wasn't a focal point for animated series back then. This was played more for laughs, but again, it retained a tiny bit of a cerebral element by being a mystery show that gave you clues to help figure out the culprit. Being a comedy mystery show, Fred is your usual straight man. Daphne is also played straight, but occasionally played the damsel in distress. I think you underestimate Velma's role. She (the smart one) was almost always paired off with Shaggy and Scooby to balance out their dumbness and those two elements played off each other. She wasn't neglected. She's the one that always picks up on the clues unless one of the other characters accidentally stumbled upon one. She explained various elements to the viewer. The other characters aren't smart enough (except for maybe Fred) to do so.

And even when compared with other classics instead of this "new stuff" you keep talking about, IMO it's still REPETITIVE. Of course there is a little repetition in every 'toon, but Scooby Doo is a bit too repetitive. I understand that it has a formula where the bad guys are caught at the end and everything is explained and whatnot but it just seems like we've seen it all before.

Well of course it's repetitive! It's a mystery show! That's how mystery shows were written back then! You start with a crime, you start with various happenings that attract the SD gang and draw them into the story. Then it's up to them to piece together the clues. Once the full picture is revealed, they trap the criminals. Hey this sounds familiar! Ever read a Sherlock Holmes novel? Exactly the same! But of course, something like Sherlock Holmes is much more detailed and thought out, but they essentially share the same features. Crime --> find clues --> solve puzzle --> mystery unraveled! We've all seen it before because it's a tried and true formula. Just the type of solid storytelling needed for a simple little children's mystery cartoon. Being somewhat experimental for its time, it's not necessary to take too many risks, especially for something as "trivial" as a cartoon.

And in hindsight, "Where are You?" seems to be the most repetitive. "13 Ghosts" was less (but probably because it was only 13 episodes and only had half the cast).

I think if anything, the Scooby Doo Movies were the least repetitive. You had a whole hour to fill so it couldn't be simply summed up with simple stuff. There was definitely more of a story to those episodes. I'm surprised at how people overlook this and focus on the hokey celebrity appearances.

Don't get me wrong: Scooby Doo was a strong competitor back in the heyday like you said, but when you stack up everything it just doesn't even out.

Again, you're judging based on today's standards. If you take it at its original face value and not think about it too much, it's an enjoyable, campy romp.

Just like everyone who likes Scoob, I'm just voicing my opinion. If you don't like the way I do it--fine. More power to you.

As long as you argue it in an intelligent manner, I don't mind that you hate it. Just don't simply bash it without just cause.

[Jaguar]

As long as you argue it in an intelligent manner, I don't mind that you hate it. Just don't simply bash it without just cause.
To tell the truth that was actually a lot more intelligent that some other cases whre someone would probably have scratched my eyes out.

Accordingly, I think what may be setting me apart is my attitude toward the show. I guess after watching 800 hours worth of anime and going nearly three years without sitting through a single Hanna-Barbera cartoon for the length of thirty minutes, you start to become an entirely different person. So you were right when I said I kept basing it on today's standards.

Of course, I still don't like the show, but thanks for giving me something to think about.

[Ferquin]

Meh, Scooby Doo isn't for everyone, especially younger audiences who've been spoiled on free anime and tight storytelling from Paul Dini or Bruce Timm. I too have watched countless hours of anime and do so on a regular basis compared to American-animated shows, but I still retain a fondness of nostalgia that I will also admit affects my admiration for old campy stuff like Scooby Doo. That is why I still enjoy the old classics I grew up on (no matter how bad they actually turn out to be in hindsight), but I am also fascinated at how animation has evolved since then and become this much more viable storytelling medium.

[Rune]

Being born in the 60s I very much enjoyed the original and early shows of Scooby Doo. Living in the UK we only had a choice of 3 TV channels and they used to actually shut down at certain times in the day so there was no TV at all.

BBC1 - the channel that Scooby aired on had a kids segment between 4pm and 5.45 every day and usually showed one decent length cartoon one day and a heap of shorts on the others such as Bugs, Deputy Dawg, Astronut etc. Some days it showed no cartoons at all.

Scooby Doo was something that grabbed the imagination of kids at that time - it certainly grabbed mine. Scooby and Boss Cat (Top Cat) were the highlight of the TV week for those of us of primary school (elementary) age and the nostalgia they make me feel 30 years down the line is enough to make me stand up and say yes I still like them. The Flintstones would be shown occasionally on Sundays but to me it was almost alien, the concepts were more adult, and the characters far less likeable. Scooby was show about kids for kids.

I can understand why people don't feel the same way about any 'single' childhood cartoon now, the market is glutted, you have whole channels devoted to animation - something we would have sold our souls, nay our entire collection of pop bottle caps for back in the early 70s. Having a favourite cartoon today is great but its not quite the same thing because you have to take the time scale into consideration, the original Scooby Doos were an animation beacon in a time when we didn't sit in front on TVs and computers and games consoles day after day but had to provide our own entertainment for much of the day and that feelgood factor still makes the original Scoobies dear to me.

Incidentally I don't feel the same way about the later Scooby shows at all.

[Craig Crumpton]

Instead of arguing why Scooby Doo sucks, I'm offering 10 reasons why people like Scooby Doo:

10. Intrigue -- mysteries are cool.

9. Repetition -- kids like familiarity, and especially to laugh at the same silly gags over and over.

8. Travel & Independence -- they live in a van on a perpetual road trip, with a complete absence of parental types.

7. Friendship -- they have their own gang, and humans have an inate need for social interaction; everyone wants to be part of a group.

6. Nostalgia -- sometimes people like watching shows from their childhood, only to discover sometimes how crappy they were (and how easily amused we were as children).

5. One word: Mini-skirts.

4. Food & Drugs -- stoners are funny, am I right?

3. Celebrities -- they meet cool, funny, poorly-animated people like Don Knotts, Davey Jones, and Momma Cass.

2. Bathroom Humor -- it's got "Doo" in the title, for crying out. Poo gags = comedy gold.

And the Number One reason why people like Scooby Doo:

You can't go wrong with a talking dog.

[Hades]

well, i grew up watching reruns of the original series, as well the movie and Scrappy series. when i got older i stuck with the original series and kept watching its reruns. now that i'm an adult, i think that they are good cartoons for kids, but thats all. mind you, if adults still enjoy Scooby, then great, there's nothing wrong with that. i think that most of us just grow up, see Scooby as a predictable show with some annoying characters and move on to something else.

[RKillian]

I think you hit the nail on the head Ferquin. You think the recent number of EEnE showings is bad? They had nothing on Scooby Doo and his spin-offs 2 years ago! That's what I think has killed the show for alot of us. However, that is only as far as the _original_ goes. The sequels I have no sympathy for.

Later series, which didn't even involve a mystery, I loathe. They resorted to alot of cheap gags in place of advancing a plot. While it may be funny for a five year old, I can only watch Shaggy fall down so many times before it gets old. The funniest part of the original show was when Scooby and Shaggy would try to trick the monster, selling it hotdogs or a haircut or whatever, and taking that away seriously hurt the appeal of the show.

Flim Flam was also irritating, and positively maddening when paired with Scrappy Doo (who I normally didn't find too bothersome otherwise).

I really wish people would lay off Hanna Barbera for a change. They've produced alot of great shows, that people overlook or sneer at because of who's credited for their creation. Look, not everyone likes anime a million times better than all other forms of the art. I like this thing called "animation", which I find lacking in a good deal of stare-fests dressed up as something else. But, I digress...

It was indeed a different time. Not that we should go back to it and it's limited access to cartoons, though, just to give people some perspective...or should we?

[STASHONE]

Being born in the 60s I very much enjoyed the original and early shows of Scooby Doo. Living in the UK we only had a choice of 3 TV channels and they used to actually shut down at certain times in the day so there was no TV at all.

BBC1 - the channel that Scooby aired on had a kids segment between 4pm and 5.45 every day and usually showed one decent length cartoon one day and a heap of shorts on the others such as Bugs, Deputy Dawg, Astronut etc. Some days it showed no cartoons at all.

Scooby Doo was something that grabbed the imagination of kids at that time - it certainly grabbed mine. Scooby and Boss Cat (Top Cat) were the highlight of the TV week for those of us of primary school (elementary) age and the nostalgia they make me feel 30 years down the line is enough to make me stand up and say yes I still like them. The Flintstones would be shown occasionally on Sundays but to me it was almost alien, the concepts were more adult, and the characters far less likeable. Scooby was show about kids for kids.

I can understand why people don't feel the same way about any 'single' childhood cartoon now, the market is glutted, you have whole channels devoted to animation - something we would have sold our souls, nay our entire collection of pop bottle caps for back in the early 70s. Having a favourite cartoon today is great but its not quite the same thing because you have to take the time scale into consideration, the original Scooby Doos were an animation beacon in a time when we didn't sit in front on TVs and computers and games consoles day after day but had to provide our own entertainment for much of the day and that feelgood factor still makes the original Scoobies dear to me.

Incidentally I don't feel the same way about the later Scooby shows at all.



The voice of reason.

Cartoons don't need to possess great depth in order for them to be entertaining.

[Kolbar]

The reason I like Scooby is that when I was growing up I used to watch it all the time on TBS and TNT especially when they had marathons and I just really liked it. Mainly I always liked the different villains and trying to figure out who the bad guy was. Of cource you knwo it's going to be a guy in a mask, but the show was just really enjoyable to me and it still is. I like the show so much that I even have a website devoted to it, ScoobyHQ.com (http://www.scoobyhq.com).

[Speedy Boris]

While I don't despise Scooby Doo, I would hardly consider it a classic, in the same realm as Looney Tunes or The Simpsons. Like has been said above, it's repetitive. Not just for the plotlines ("Mr. _?!", the person that's always trying to help them in the beginning of the episode turns out to be the monster), but the animation- the shots of the gang running are constantly repeated in each episode. I realize that cartoons had a minimalistic look back then, but the point still stands. If I had a choice between Scooby Doo or Bugs Bunny, I'd choose Bugs any day.

[Obi]

I like the original Scooby Doo. There's just something about it that I can watch voer and over, even though I know its the same thing every episodes. It's funny....once they started trying to be different, it started to get bad. REALLY bad.

[Elven Moon]

I used to love Scooby Doo. I had every early episode on tape including some of the movies, but I grew out of it and am just not interested any more.

[Juu-kuchi]

Meh, even if Scooby Doo isn't one of my favorite cartoons anymore, it has some quality that makes it appealing to kids.

If you want bad Scooby Doo watch A Pup Named Scooby Doo or anything with Scrappy Doo.

I sortof liked the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo except Flim-Flam and Scrappy.

[DaphHime]

I've been a Scooby fan since I can remeber. I think the main reason I liked it is that it proved you didn't need super powers or anything like that to fight crime. You can easly do good with your own wits and sometimes dumb luck. Even though I lived in a time were there were alot of super hero shows, I personally thought they were boring. :yawn: I liked the interaction, and how they sometimes played off of one another and used their own strangths and weaknesses to sovle the mystery.

Besides, most of the old seires don't hold a candle to the direct to video movies, espeally Zombie Island.

[Chris Wood]

A lot of this criticism of Scooby Doo (the original series that is, the others are all just pale imitations) is pretty silly.

No character development?
Of course not, it's slapstick comedy for kids. How much character development is there on Tom and Jerry? It's unnecessary.

Predictable?
Of course it is. It's one of the hundreds of kids cartoons that rigidly follows a formula week in and week out. How many episodes of the Transformers end with the Decepticons victorious? Sure some spontaneity would be nice, but that's just not really the nature of the genre.

Poorly animated?
Of course it is. It's a product of 60s/70s Hanna Barbera, the masters of the animated hack job. Still, does it matter here? I don't think it's much of an issue for a silly comedy. Most of the Cartoon Cartoons have pretty basic animation themselves.

If you want to complain about something, a better target would be all the horrible spin-off and knock-off series that Scooby Doo's popularity gave rise to. Jabberjaw anyone? Yuck.

[Wesyeed]

Noone back when scooby was made thought kids shows deserved the same money adult shows were getting. That's why the animation is so very very crappy. No matter. The background art was really dark and spooky and the characters' animations were good enough. Watching scooby Doo with the lights off, all quiet, was a fun and scary experience for me as a kid.


The legendary Wesyeed

[Sparvid]

How many episodes of the Transformers end with the Decepticons victorious?Megatron's Master Plan (part 1, that is) ;)

[Brainatra]

Why do I like SD? Nostalgia and "it's an OK cartoon", I guess...


-B.
Admits that wasn't an overly elaborate reason...

[candy17]

This is one of those things that, try as I might, I just can't understand.

It's probably the most repetitive and predictable show ever, especially the original. And the animation sucked, even for the time it was made. The new ones are a little better, but it still sucks.

I like it because I like to laugh at the bad animation, especially in the episodes where the Mystery Machine gang meet celebrities like Don Knotts (you have to see the one where he's a state trooper. Probably the worst animated episode ever!) and The Harlem Globetrotters.

I also like it because of the underlying drug content, especially the ones associated with Shaggy and Scooby.

[Dr. Dave]

When you start talking about Scooby Doo, you're covering a lot of ground. There are 12 or so TV series, direct-to-video movies, and live action feature films spread over 34 years. The quality of these efforts spans the spectrum from enjoyable to just awful.

I remember when Scooby Doo, Where Are You? premiered on Saturday morning in September 1969. The show was an immediate hit. I enjoyed it from the beginning and thought it was better than probably 90-95% of the Saturday morning lineup.

I found the gang on the show to be quite believable. The looked and acted like kids I knew. A good looking, popular guy (not me, believe me!), a pretty girl mostly interested in fashion (the kind who wouldn't give me the time of day), the plain looking smart girl (still reminds me of my first love, but that's another story), and the do-your-own-thing guy.

I enjoyed the mystery element of the show. I'd read many Hardy Boys mysteries when I was younger, so the idea of a group of kids solving mysteries appealed to me. True, things were repetitive, but hey, this was Saturday morning.

It's also true that there was very little character development on the show. Like I said, this was Saturday morning, not Masterpiece Theater.

The animation was on par with most Saturday morning shows, although it seemed to me that they used more backgrounds to establish a mood for each episode.

I think the quality went steadily down after the first series. The New Scooby Doo Movies just didn't look as good as the original, and I found the guest stars to be a tiresome gimmick (although I must confess that I enjoyed the episode with Jonathan Winters and the giant chicken). By the time you got to the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo, you couldn't pay me to watch it.

However, I have found some of the direct-to-video movies in recent years to be pretty good. I thought that the live action film stunk, and I'm sure that the sequel will be worse.

All in all, it's a mixed bag; Some good, some bad. Either way, Scooby's been with us for 34 years and there is no sign of it stopping.

[Chris Wood]

Noone back when scooby was made thought kids shows deserved the same money adult shows were getting. That's why the animation is so very very crappy. No matter. The background art was really dark and spooky and the characters' animations were good enough. Watching scooby Doo with the lights off, all quiet, was a fun and scary experience for me as a kid.


The legendary Wesyeed

I agree about the spooky part. That's one of the show's strong points.

As far as the animation quality, you have to remember that well-animated US TV shows did not start to be produced until the mid-80s (and the good ones usually were animated overseas anyway). Scooby Doo was pretty slick looking next to a lot of the junk that came out in the 70s.

[Roger Smith]

there a classic rule for all Cartoon dedicated to kids call

Good guy always win..

[Conekiller]

I used to like Scooby Doo, back in the day. I still thin,k 13 Ghosts was decet, at least for giving us a central plot and continuing story line (but FlimFlam was kinda annoying, but come on, Vincent friggin Price was in it!)

But as RKillian said, it was over saturated a few years back (I swear when somehting specific wasn't on CN, it was a fair bet to assume it was SD or Dexter, like W.E. and Xena) and I burned out (not that I was still following it , mind you) I just got so ick of seeing the talking dog, ane beatnik, the "leader" the hottie and the smart chick going on adventures.

I was then opened up to the "adult" aspects of Scooby Doo
-Shaggy as a stoner
-Fred and Daphne fooling around
-Velma as an un-loved dweeb (and possibly, lesbian)
-Scrappy as Scooby and Velma's love-child (don't blame me for that one)

I was also happy to see Johnny bravo parody this.


The characters will always hold a place in my heart, but there is where they will stay. I'll let them come out if they wanna indulge in how I view them now (IE Johnny bravo) but if not, i think it's best to leave them there, in the past.

Zombie Island is the pinnacle of Scooby-Doo-ness

[raykremer]

Okay Ferquin, I'll concede that Scooby Doo may have been the best thing around at the time it was made. When everything on TV is crap, the better crap will still stand out. Doesn't mean it's not still crap. Are we spoiled by modern day cartoons that have actual storytelling? You betcha. That means we don't have to settle for watching the best of the crap.

[Chris Wood]

Okay Ferquin, I'll concede that Scooby Doo may have been the best thing around at the time it was made. When everything on TV is crap, the better crap will still stand out. Doesn't mean it's not still crap. Are we spoiled by modern day cartoons that have actual storytelling? You betcha. That means we don't have to settle for watching the best of the crap.

Wow! What do you have against Scooby? What are the "modern day" comedic kids cartoons that have "actual storytelling" so superior to Scooby?

At any rate, the very first Scooby series was a great show. Very spooky and mysterious for kids programming, and some wacky comic hijinks from Shaggy and Scoob. The many Scooby series that followed inevitably became weaker and weaker as time went on.

[MJC]

The episode of Johnny Bravo with the Scooby gang>Any episode of Scooby Doo, ever

The episode of Harvey Birdman with Scooby gang>Any episode of Scooby ever

Then again, maybe CN's constant showing of Scooby reruns soured my opinion of the show. It's bad when you've seen almost every episode of a show you don't even like.

[Vekou]

I have no idea. It's a kid thing... as old and dated as it is, I remember liking it when I was a kid. I find it completely sickening now, though.

[Jade_GL]

I used to really enjoy Scooby Doo. I am 20 years old and I remember watching reruns of it on USA when they had a solid block of animation, that also included such greats as Jem and the Smurfs. :D

Anyway, I always thought it was fun. I liked seeing what the villain would be, whether it was a ghostly pirate or a robot, and I like how they always seemed to wrap it up at the end with a kooky, almost Rube Goldberg-type occurence, like the baddy falling in a mining cart and then getting covered in potato sacks, or something like that, you get my point. :)

Dude, it's an old show and it's pure nostalgia for most people. It is for me, even though I wasn't around when it first came out, it was still a part of my childhood. And that's what makes it classic. You can say it's not all you want, but when almost every adult and every kid knows the names of the characters, the premise, and debates it, well I think it's about as classic as you can get.

Man, some people are just too harsh. I mean, I don't watch it anymore, but I won't act like anyone who watches it or enjoys it now is somehow brain dead.

Ferquin - Great points in your posts. I'm treading ground you already covered, but I just had to say my piece. :)

[Chris Wood]

The episode of Johnny Bravo with the Scooby gang>Any episode of Scooby Doo, ever

The episode of Harvey Birdman with Scooby gang>Any episode of Scooby ever

Then again, maybe CN's constant showing of Scooby reruns soured my opinion of the show. It's bad when you've seen almost every episode of a show you don't even like.

Harvey Birdman is an Adult Swim show, so obviously it is not a relevant comparison for a kids show like Scooby Doo. I agree that episode was great though.

I'm not sure whether Johnny Bravo is really a relevant comparison or not. Even the Cartoon Cartoon programs seem to be skewed a bit older and have fewer restrictions than Saturday morning network toons like Scooby. Johnny is certainly more spontaneous and creative than Scooby, but it's debatable which is really funnier. Johnny himself is rather an acquired taste, and I can only stomach him in small doses.

[raykremer]

I don't enjoy shows where the foundation of the show are idiots, in this case Shaggy and Scooby. That, and the previously mentioned point that every episode is exactly like every other episode.

[Baltofan]

Scooby Doo has been one of my animated fave dogs since the 70's where I began to read some of the SD comics.
I haven't seen the newer episodes or the movies yet, but I don't think they are that especially worth.

[Mister Intensity]

I think that part for people's distaste of Scooby-Doo is not only due to the constant reruning of episodes but the constant reruning of the first twenty-five episodes and the The New Scooby-Doo Movies. Scooby-Doo had 200+ episodes but you wouldn't know it from the constant reruns that show the same set of episodes over and over. Not only do they ignore most of the Scrappy episodes but they ignore the 40 episodes, three seasons, immediately before Scrappy that were syndicated as The Scooby-Doo Show for the most part. It's interesting that most of the people that mention the Scrappy era, refers to The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, the one Scrappy era series -- with the possible exception of the first Scrappy season with the gang -- that CN constantly reran during CN's Scooby oversaturation of recent years and that show is not even representative of the Scrappy era. I can't remember the last time Cartoon Network aired a complete Scooby-Doo run.

I personally like Scooby-Doo but I also think CN has run the same Scooby episodes to the ground. Why air Scooby-Doo three or four times a day when in those time slots they are airing 25 out of about 224 episodes? The constant airing of the same episodes of a longer series several times of day is what turning people off. Personally, I would put Scooby in one 1 hour long time slot that runs the entire series from "Where Are You" to "A Pup Named" in the cycle, not just recycling the 25 episodes "Where Are You" ad nauseum.

Mister Intensity

[MJC]

I didn't even know there were that many episodes. :eek:

[Lucky Bob]

Why do people like Scooby Doo? Why do people like Plan 9 From Outer Space? http://forums.toonzone.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Chris Wood]

I think that part for people's distaste of Scooby-Doo is not only due to the constant reruning of episodes but the constant reruning of the first twenty-five episodes and the The New Scooby-Doo Movies.
Mister Intensity

Yeah, but that is the best Scooby Doo has to offer. The rest of the Scooby adventures really aren't very spooky, and the mystery solving and Scooby/Shaggy hijinks take a backseat to a parade of ever more annoying guest stars - including Scrappy, Scooby Dum, Cher, Globetrotters, etc.

[Znath]

i dunno :D i've been trying to figure out how it's been reincarnated so often

personaly i think scooby "jumped the shark"*
soon as they added scrappy...then it died slowly
then suddenly people forgot about scrappy and the show came back

from what i've seen and tolerated
the show consists of a few clues and then
at the end they make some stuff up and it's the first guy they meet
stuff like "so he wanted the mayors money so he could buy the town"
instead of the mayor faking the money stolen so he could get insurance money :D

soon as they made that "kids version" with them as kids
that was what temporarily paralyzed it i think
i absolutely cant stand that one... at all but theres worse..the 13 ghosts one

don't ask how i know this... i don't even know why i bother knowing
so much about a show i don't care for...

er... to answer why people like it
maybe some people like mild mysteries...
but if you compare it to spicey peppers...this show is more like a peppered tomatoe

* "jumping the shark" essentialy means when a show dies
it refers to the happy days episode where the "Fonz" jumps a shark

[Mister Intensity]

Yeah, but that is the best Scooby Doo has to offer. The rest of the Scooby adventures really aren't very spooky, and the mystery solving and Scooby/Shaggy hijinks take a backseat to a parade of ever more annoying guest stars - including Scrappy, Scooby Dum, Cher, Globetrotters, etc.

I'll admit that the entire series isn't goal and while the show moved more and more away from its atmospheric roots as time went on, the later episodes get a bad rap from many people. Besides, the less often the earlier episodes are seen, the more they are appreciated.

Mister Intensity

[ToonamiFanatic]

I liked Scooby doo mostly because of the mystery and the nostalgia. I also grew up in the 80's so i mostly seen it on local stations like TBS way before CN.
its funny now to look back on it and see the drug references with Shaggy and Scooby. but why did it seem like Fred and Daphne always went off by theirselves I now find it funny. I really enjoy scooby universe on CN. I have yet to see the live action scooby movie but ill get around to it someday.
but seeing a pup named scooby doo on CN was the first time seeing that series but i dont know why most people hate a pup named scooby doo.

Kolbar awesome site about scooby I really enjoyed it

[raykremer]

I suppose I should note here that 13 ghosts actually stands out as the only Scooby series that breaks from the standard Scooby plot. Of course, it's still fundamentally annoying due to the presence of Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy, but at least they tried to do something different.

[SirLemming]

I have an intense hatred for Scooby Doo himself. I just find him ugly, unpleasant, and annoying. Not much more to it than that... I haven't even seen the show all that much.

I think this drawing I did, which was my avatar right before I started using Warren, sums up my opinion quite succinctly:

http://sir_lemming.tripod.com/plugs/RenegadEin-web.jpg

[PowerZord]

Well i like some of scooby doo eps. I grew up with them And i wasn't born in the 60's and 70's.


Before i had cable the local channels used to air Scooby doo dubbed in spanish. I like some of their series. But My fav of all time

is " A pup named scooby doo."

[StrangerAtaru]

Do I like Scooby Doo? Well it depends on which series and at what time you are talking about. I don't really remember when I discovered the mutt (as I now occasionally call him, even if he is a purebred Great Dane), but like Jade_GL, I suspected I started watching it back on the old USA Cartoon Express, before Cartoon Network existed. (or it did exist, but they didn't have the rights to it at the time...but I still didn't have it at the time anyway so it wouldn't have mattered) The original series from 1969/1970 were a lot of fun even if they were a bit formulaic: the kids had personality, albeit a bit one-dimensional, and watching Shaggy and Scooby get into wacky situations was great stuff as they found ways to outsmart the "ghost of the moment". (although one of my favorites was the one with the robot...partially because it wasn't a person in a costume!) I admit to even liking both the hourlong episodes from the early 1970s (not all of them, just the guest stars that worked well on the show or ones I found culturally relevant at that moment...but then again, who doesn't hate Don Knotts?) and "The Scooby Doo Show" from the mid 1970's (it was starting to get worse, but the shows were still pretty inventive at the time...and I could actually tolerate Scooby Dum!) But once Scrappy shows up...forget it. The shows just lose steam and don't interest me much anymore. (even though I do like Vincent Price in "13 Ghosts") Sure these shows weren't the classic Looney Tunes I loved at the time or the anime I would love later, but they were fun.

So what killed it IMHO. Many things. For one, the demise of Scooby Doo cartoons in the late 1970's and early 1980s were partially to do with Hanna-Barbera milking the show to death, not just by itself, but by creating other, worse mystery shows. Second is, of course, the overplaying. While it is good that we have a Cartoon Network, sometimes they really don't give other shows a chance while they keep showing what they think is good over and over again. But what really gets my beef lately is how they've been trying to introduce this stuff to a whole new generation to keep it going! While I like Scooby as a bit of 1970's nostalgia (which explains why I found that Johnny Bravo ep. funny...even though I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s), I hated when WB started shoving the show down the throats of new kids, trying to make Scooby an "eternal" cartoon icon when he was just a silly nostalgia piece. But then again, some of the stuff that has come out due to it has been pretty good ("Scooby Doo on Zombie Island" and "Alien Invaders" I personally liked), but something just doesn't seem right about "What's New Scooby Doo"....or maybe I just grew out of it.

So in the end, I still like Scooby Doo as it is, but not what it has become. I think the mutt, while not put out of its misery, should not be on TV everywhere for several years so we could remember how good it was before we occasionally get it back on TV every once in a while. But then again, I can't make that decision.....

[Chris Wood]

I admit to even liking both the hourlong episodes from the early 1970s (not all of them, just the guest stars that worked well on the show or ones I found culturally relevant at that moment...but then again, who doesn't hate Don Knotts?) ..

Don Knotts rocks!! He ruled on Three's Company. I don't know if I ever saw a Scooby Doo episode with him though. Are you sure you're not thinking of Don Adams (from Get Smart)?

[raykremer]

:wakko: Don Knotts!!!! :wakko:

[Craig Crumpton]

Don Knotts rocks!! He ruled on Three's Company. I don't know if I ever saw a Scooby Doo episode with him though. Are you sure you're not thinking of Don Adams (from Get Smart)?

In "The New Scooby-Doo Movies," Knotts guest starrred in 2 episodes:

- plays himself as a bumbling detective (ala "The Private Eyes", 1981) in "Guess Who's Knott Coming to Dinner?" [pic - http://www.execulink.com/~joelb/scooby/episodes/nsdm/gwkctd.htma ]

- reprises his Barney Fife role (although playing himself) in "The Spooky Fog" [pic - http://www.execulink.com/~joelb/scooby/episodes/nsdm/tpf.htm ]

Knotts also has a voice cameo as the "spooky groundskeeper" in the PC game "Scooby-Doo: Night of 100 Frights". Came out last year.

[Carolina Red]

I was looking elsewhere that reruns of these Scooby Doo shows are getting good ratings on Cartoon Network. It is obvious that the station would keep showing them if they are doing such a good job....but for me, that is unfortunate.

I think that Scooby Doo one of the most overrated cartoons of all time. Every episode is the same thing:
A madman is on the loose.
The characters investigate.
When they get to a lead, the villian tricks them.
Scooby and friends nab the villian.
The villian is unmasked.
Now this villian says that he/she would have gotten away with his/her plan if it wasn't for Scooby and friends, who are better known as "those meddling kids."

Not only that, but the guest stars were annoyances, and they couldn't create a character to make the show worth watching - I think that Scrappy is good enough of a point in this argument. And of course, the characters didn't have much depth at all. They seemed to be one-dimensional.

And the people who own the franchise obviously seem to be more interested in selling out. Why else would they have made lots of movies and spinoffs? (don't get me started on A Pup Named....)

Seriously, this show is popular today because kids do watch it, but I think that a good part of why it is still popular today is because kids are getting Scooby Doo related merchandise stuffed down their throats. Snacks, apparel, games - I don't see lots of this stuff for the Flintstones or other cartoons from 25+ years ago. And as for the fact that they play it so often on CN - if they are constantly going to play that, why don't they play other classic cartoons?

I almost forgot: I did like the Harvey Birdman episode where they parodied it...especially when
the eagle devours Scrappy in the end.
"i would have gotten away with this if it wasn't for-"
"Yes, I know, those meddling kids."
And I liked the parody of it they had in "Jay and Silent bob Strike Back." Even I will admit that some of those characters were high!

[Wanted]

OK, let me join in. Scooby-Doo is a great show. Repetitive, but great. If it were more like the "Hardy Boys", would you still be complaining? Probably not (or so), but that's besides the point.

Later.

[BrendaBat]

I love Scooby-Doo: Where are you. It has this unexplainable charm that just draws me in. I've always loved Velma (not in THAT way, you pervs :p) and its fun to guess who the villian is. I even liked the Scooby movies! The celebrity cameos were campy, but for some strange reason I enjoyed watching the gang solve mysteries with Cher and The Globetrotters :D
I also liked the recent DTVs

Everything after the Scooby movies blows, IMO. It seemed like poor Shaggy and Fred lost IQ points with each new Scooby series :(

[Daffyfan2003]

Personally, I don't see why there are so many people on these threads who don't like Scooby-Doo. I've been into it when I was little and at the time I was sort of too young to understand the mysteries and everything. But now that I understand it more I find it really interesting. It's fun to guess whodunnit. I also like the comic relief by Shaggy and Scooby. I also like those Fred/Daphne hints. Those musical chase scenes are great too. I was watching "The Phantom of Country Music Hall" yesterday and I really liked the part where Jerry Reed was singing in order to help the gang find him. Even Scrappy, wasn't too bad sometimes. Remember, he did mature a little bit in the later episodes when Don Messick started doing his voice. It's too bad the rest of the gang wasn't there at that point.

[Maxie Zeus]

Basically recapping what a lot of others have said:

If you're talking about Where Are You?, then I loved -- and continue to love -- the show. It was a creepy comedy-mystery, like Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein that had simple but distinctive personalities caught up in simple but compelling "ghost" stories. Of course, the ghosts were never real, and you knew they were never real, but that only meant that things would turn out right in the end. The comedy was never pitched very high (it was for kids, after all) but were always moderately clever. I still laugh at Shaggy's reply to "If he's a phantom shadow, why is he leaving footprints?" "Dirty feet?" It doesn't make any sense, but that's one reason I like it.

People complain about the animation, but really, I don't see it as being much worse than what's common today. Yeah, lots of cycled animation, but the characters were drawn with personality and they all moved in distinctive ways, from Shaggy's footflops to Velma's pumping forearms. And the backgrounds were terrific. Just look at one of the old shows and notice how dark they were, with lots of browns and dark greens and blacks. It was definitely not "toony" and had much more in common with, say, the original Johnny Quest than with any other show that was on.

And they did have some spooky villains. The alien ghost with his ghost spaceship; the Phantom Shadow (great concept, that); the ghost in the diving suit. The Abominable Snowman actually gave me nightmares when I was a kid.

I also loved the music. Yes, it was stock music and the cues were repeated endlessly, but they were powerful and really enhanced the mood.

I actually don't think you have to do any special pleading for the show and talk about "consider it for its time."

A few of the Scooby Movies were okay, like the one where they met the Addams Family, but most of them were overlit and tiresome. The season (seasons?) of Scooby that came between the Movies and the introduction of Scrappy (yeah, definitely a shark jumped there) also had a few good eps, like the 10,000 volt ghost, but it was still a step down. I can't abide anything that came after Scrappy.

[The Landstander]

The big problem I have with Scooby Doo is the aforementioned repititiveness. Really, it's the exact same thing each episode. The formula in and of itself isn't bad, but when repeated over and over with little/no variation throughout even ONE series (much less the many series Scooby has gotten over the years), it's just stupid. If you've seen one episode, you've seen them all.