SHAGGY AND SCOOBY-DOO GET A CLUE!

SHAGGY & SCOOBY-DOO GET A CLUE!

(CW, September 23, 2006-March 15, 2008)

Warner Bros. Animation

MAIN CAST:

Scott Menville – Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, Dr. Trebla, Agent 4

Frank Welker – Scooby-Doo, Agent 3, Agent 13, Menace, Fred Jones

Casey Kasem – Dr. Albert Shaggleford

Jeff Bennett – Dr. Phineas Phibes, Agent 2, Ricky, Mr. Invisible

Jim Meskimen – Robi, Agent 1, Agent 7, Mark, ART

            While What’s New, Scooby-Doo? was a return to the classic Scooby-Doo formula of the 70s, the 10^th incarnation decided to jump ahead to the next era from the 80s.

Shaggy and Scooby enjoying their patented hot dog tacos.

            Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! put a renewed focus on the titular characters, who weren’t as much of one in the previous series. The series introduced yet another uncle for Shaggy (Scott Menville), Dr. Albert Shaggleford (Casey Kasem): a brilliant inventor who had managed to become targeted by some despicable people and was forced to go underground. He leaves his estate, fortune and inventions to Shaggy and Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker) and they become his agents in stopping the world-conquering schemes of the nefarious Dr. Phineus Phibes (named after a Vincent Price character, voiced by Jeff Bennett). Dr. Phibes was a technology thief with a prosthetic hand that could change into a variety of devices, as well as attract lightning strikes leading to his rarely venturing outside himself. To achieve his goals, Dr. Phibes wanted the nanotech formula Shaggleford invented that had a variety of applications; including giving random special abilities to a person if they happened to be ingested (Shaggy frequently baked the formula into Scooby Snacks). Instead of the Scooby “mystery of the week” formula, the show only had the one ongoing mystery of where Shaggleford was since his disappearance; focusing instead on the comedic action and spy-like adventure elements.

Character models for Mystery, Inc., Robi, Albert, Dr. Trebla and Dr, Phibes.

            Warner Bros. had wanted to give the franchise a fresh new take, which was developed by Ray DeLaurentis and overseen by Eric Radomski. The decision was made by Warners to once again dump Fred (Welker), Daphne (Grey DeLisle) and Velma (Mindy Cohn) from the show in order to streamline the ultimate focus and further cement that this was a new incarnation of the franchise. The Mystery, Inc. gang did make a couple of cameos and were full-on guest-stars in one episode, and also continued to be featured in the ongoing direct-to-video movie series. Once again Shaggy had possession of the gang’s transport, the Mystery Machine, which he upgraded to be able to transform into a variety of vehicles (usually the wrong ones for a given situation).

Agent 1 & 2, Ricky, Mark and Trebla look on as Robi joins Dr. Phibes?

            Taking their place was Shaggleford’s defective robotic butler, Robi (Jim Meskimen). Robi tended to break through objects instead of going around them, was a lousy cook, and an impressionist. However, his primary function was to serve as a communication device between Shaggleford and Shaggy; often appearing as a hologram projection to warn of Dr. Phibes’ next scheme. Aiding Dr. Phibes was his army of nondescript agents. They all wore the same uniforms with a number designation on their chests. Agent 1 (Meskimen) was the no-nonsense second in command of Dr. Phibes’ forces, and was often paired with the dimwitted Agent 2 (Bennett). There was also his right-hand man and advisor, Dr. Trebla (Menville), who turned out to be Shaggleford in disguise as a means to spy on Dr. Phibes’ operation. Rounding out Dr. Phibes’ crew were his own personal inventors Ricky (Bennett) and Mark (Meskimen), who were based on the titular character and his brother from Napoleon Dynamite, and Menace (Welker), a recipient of the nanotech formula that made him super strong and steadily drove him mad.

Pimp My Ride: Scooby Edition.

            Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! debuted on The CW as part of the Kids’ WB programming block on September 23, 2006. This would end up being the last series with the involvement of Hanna-Barbera co-founder Joseph Barbera, who would pass away during its production, and the last to originally air on Saturday mornings—Scooby’s lifetime home. The series marked the first time Kasem had not voiced Shaggy on a television show, although he continued to do so in the animated films (notably, Shaggy would return to eating meat in the series), as well as the first time that the episode titles would be shown at the start of the end credits instead of at the beginning of the episode. It was also the third to utilize character designs other than the Hanna-Barbera originals. As animation production had gone mostly digital, it was decided to alter the character designs to best utilize the technology as well as compensate for tight budgets and schedules. The designs were done by Lois M. Lee, taking a strong inspiration from the live-action Scooby films for the Mystery, Inc. gang.

Menace on nanotech.

            The series was predominantly written by DeLaurentis, who served as story editor, with additional writing from Scott Kreamer, Steve Sessions, Reid Harrison, Meredith Jennings-Offen, Jim Krieg, Stephen Sustarsic, and Will Schifrin. Animation duties were handled by Digitial Emation, Inc. and Dongwoo Animation, although the opening titles, designed by Radomski, was animated by Six Point Harness Studios with a theme by Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh. Mothersbaugh’s music production company, Mutato Muzika, handled the rest of the series’ music.

Scooby with elastic powers.

            Get a Clue! aired sporadically over the course of two seasons, taking frequent breaks of a few weeks after a grouping of episodes. Ultimately, the series failed to connect with viewers who were put off by its radically different art style and changes to the well-known format. Although what ended up being the series finale ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, it’s unknown if a third season was ever planned.

The UK DVD cover.

The first 8 episodes were released onto DVD across two volumes by Warner Home Entertainment in 2007 and 2008. Between 2009 and 2019, additional episodes were included as special features of other Scooby releases; including Where Are You! Volumes 1-4, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Complete Second, Third and Fourth Seasons, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo! The Complete Series, 13 Spooky Tales: For the Love of Snack and Surf’s Up, Scooby-Doo! and Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection: Scooby-Doo! Both seasons were made available for streaming on iTunes and Amazon Prime Video, as well as Boomerang’s SVOD subscription service.

EPISODE GUIDE:

Season 1:

“Shags to Riches” (9/23/06) – Shaggy and Scooby explore the mansion Shaggy’s uncle left him after a villain forces him into hiding.

“More Fondue for Scooby-Doo” (9/30/06) – Albert sends Shaggy and Scooby to Switzerland to stop Dr. Phibes from interrupting an anti-global warming conference.

“High Society Scooby” (10/7/06) – Shaggy and Scooby sneak into a country club to protect three scientists from being abducted by Dr. Phibes.

“Party Arty” (11/4/06) – The homeowners’ association comes down on Shaggy and Scooby’s housewarming party, which Dr. Phibes plans to crash.

“Smart House” (11/11/06) – Intercepting Dr. Phibes’ computer virus causes Shaggy and Scooby to release it inside their mansion.

“Lighting Strikes Twice” (11/18/06) – Scooby has to face his fear of lightning to stop Dr. Phibes’ weather machine.

“Don’t Feed the Animals” (2/3/07) – Dr. Phibes plans to destroy the rainforest to find the leaves that could lead to eternal life.

“Mystery of the Missing Mystery Solvers” (2/10/07) – Shaggy and Scooby get so caught up in being honored as mystery solvers that they fail to prevent people from disappearing.

“Chefs of Steel” (2/17/07) – Dr. Phibes creates a hypnotic hibachi to use on Scooby and Shaggy to make them reveal the nano-tech formula.

“Almost Ghosts” (2/24/07) – Mystery Inc. reunites to stop Dr. Phibes’ invisible agents from infiltrating an army base.

“Pole to Pole” (3/3/07) – Shaggy and Scooby enter a race to stop Dr. Phibes’ EMP bomb from wiping out all technology, which they discover has been planted on the Mystery Machine.

“Big Trouble” (4/28/07) – Albert alerts Scooby and Shaggy to Dr. Phibes’ attempt to destroy them with a giant robot.

“Operation Dog and Hippy Boy” (5/5/07) – Dr. Phibes assembles a team of ruthless criminals to destroy Shaggy and Scooby.

Season 2:

“Shaggy and Scooby World” (9/22/07) – Dr. Phibes turns Shaggy and Scooby’s amusement park into a death trap.

“Almost Purr-fect” (9/29/07) – Shaggy and Scooby’s dog show is infiltrated by Dr. Phibes in a cat disguise.

“Inside Job” (10/6/07) – Shaggy and Scooby have to figure out how to purge the nano-bots that Dr. Phibes ingested before he becomes unstoppable.

“Zoinksman” (10/13/07) – Shaggy dons a defective super suit in order to stop Dr. Phibes from raining nuclear winter upon the world.

“The Many Faces of Evil” (11/3/07) – Dr. Phibes produces an army of nano-clones that represent a different aspect of his personality.

“Cruisin’ For a Bruisin’” (11/10/07) – Shaggy, Scooby and Dr. Phibes all decide to take a vacation and end up on the same cruise ship.

“There’s a Doctor in the House” (12/1/07) – When Dr. Phibes’ evilest clone kicks him out of his lair, he ends up shacking up with Shaggy and Scooby.

“Super Scary Movie Night” (1/26/08) – Dr. Phibes builds versions of the Universal monsters onto discs and plans to duplicate them.

“Runaway Robi” (2/2/08) – Robi runs away from home when he overhears Shaggy and Scooby declare he’s not a good personal trainer.

“Don’t Get a Big Head” (2/16/08) – Dr. Phibes makes a new nano formula to make himself super smart and decides to make the world super dumb.

“Scooby-Dudes” (2/23/08) – Dr. Phibes returns to the ranch he grew up on and creates giant vicious animals to help him conquer the world.

“Zoinks The Wonderdog” (3/8/08) – When Shaggy’s original dog returns, Scooby gets jealous and he seeks out his previous owner.

“Uncle Albert Alert” (3/15/08) – Dr. Phibes discovers he has a mole in his organization: Uncle Albert!

WHAT'S NEW, SCOOBY-DOO?

WHAT’S NEW, SCOOBY-DOO?

(The WB, Cartoon Network, September 14, 2002-July 21, 2006)

Warner Bros. Animation

MAIN CAST:

Frank Welker – Scooby-Doo, Fred Jones, various

Casey Kasem – Norville “Shaggy” Rogers

Grey DeLisle – Daphne Blake, various

Mindy Cohn – Velma Dinkley

For more information on the history of Scooby-Doo, check out the post here.

             The early 1990s were a quiet time for the Scooby-Doo franchise, and a period of some sweeping changes.

Shaggy's love of meat drove off Casey Kasem.

Scooby’s ratings had suffered a serious decline. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo came to a conclusion with no new incarnation to follow for the first time in two decades. The Scooby made-for-TV film series that had been running concurrently since 1987 also ended with 1994’s Scooby-Doo! in Arabian Nights; again, with no plan for a follow-up. Casey Kasem, who had voiced Shaggy since the beginning, had left the role in 1995 over a dispute with the producers of having Shaggy appear in a Burger King commercial (Kasem was a vegan and wanted Shaggy to at least be portrayed as a vegetarian). Don Messick, the original voice of Scooby, decided to retire from the role as his quitting smoking made him unable to achieve the rasp needed to do the voice properly. He ultimately retired from acting altogether after a stroke in 1996, and died from a second one in 1997. 

Behind the scenes, Turner Broadcasting System had purchased Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1991 in order to gain access to their library and begin their own network: Cartoon Network. The studio was renamed Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and began producing new content exclusively for Turner networks while the back catalog filled up the majority of Cartoon Network’s—later sister station Boomerang’—air time. In 1996, Turner merged with Time Warner and Hanna-Barbera became part of Warner Bros. Animation, before being absorbed entirely in 2001 following William Hanna’s death.

Johnny Bravo meets the Scooby gang.

Conspicuously absent at this time was any new Scooby content. However, the various Scooby shows were shown regularly in reruns on the Turner networks and saw a significant surge in ratings. This was capped off by the warm reception to the 1997 Johnny Bravo episode segment “Bravo Dooby-Doo”, which featured a crossover with the Mystery, Inc. gang. This would be Heather North’s last outing as the regular voice for Daphne Blake, briefly retiring from acting until 2003 when she would return, along with original Velma Nicole Jaffe, for two direct-to-video movies.

Warner executives wanted some new projects based on Hanna-Barbera’s existing properties and decided to give Scooby a shot with a one-off direct-to-video film. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island was released to home video on September 22, 1998. It was written by Glenn Leopold, who had worked on the franchise since 1979’s Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, based off of his unused SWAT Kats script. Jim Stenstrum served as director, and the driving force behind making the monsters encountered in the film real; a fact that was heavily promoted in the film’s marketing (and ignored the prior television series where this occurred). With very little oversight from Warners, the film’s crew was allowed full creative freedom and made it significantly darker in tone than the previous TV entries, as well as gave the characters a design update. 

Fred discovers that's not a mask.

            Frank Welker was the only original cast member to return, voicing Fred once again. Initially, voice director Kris Zimmerman felt that Welker’s voice had gone down an octave and Welker could no longer do the same voice, which Welker disputed as Fred’s voice was practically his natural speaking voice. Upon review, it was determined that the production crew was misled by the fact that Scooby reruns were time-compressed and sped up slightly, altering the vocal performances. Kasem was offered a chance to return, but as there were scenes already made of Shaggy eating crawfish he declined and was replaced by Billy West. Scott Innes was hired as the voice of Scooby, and Mary-Kay Bergman took over the role of Daphne. B.J. Ward reprised Velma from Johnny Bravo.

            Zombie Island proved a hit in sales and earned two award nominations in 1999. Warner Bros. commissioned additional direct-to-video movies in what would become an ongoing series; although only the first three follow-ups would maintain the same continuity as Zombie Island. Because Scooby was now a viable property, Warner Bros. became increasingly involved in micromanaging the films’ productions, driving out the production crew. WB would slowly bring the series back to the status quo of the original programs while toning down the things that made Zombie Island so successful. Innes would take over Shaggy from West with the second film, assuming double-duty with voicing Scooby, and following Bergman’s death her favorite student, Grey DeLisle, would take over as Daphne for the fourth. Around this time, the first live-action film was also in production and set to hit theaters the following year.

The gang is back with a new look and modern technology.

            With all this new love for Scooby, it was time to look into creating the ninth incarnation of the franchise. Originally announced as a joint venture between Kids’ WB and Cartoon Network called All-New Scooby-Doo!: The Animated Series, What’s New, Scooby-Doo? was the first series not produced by Hanna-Barbera, but instead by Warner Bros. Animation, as well as the first time the entire Mystery, Inc. gang had been together regularly in their teenage forms since 1980. It also completely abandoned the Hanna-Barbera sound library in favor of newer, more realistic sound effects. The ironically named What’s New was a return to the classic mystery-solving format of the franchise, with the Mystery, Inc. gang travelling around to various locations and encountering criminals in disguises trying to frighten people away from their crimes (although, occasionally, a villain would slip through with a sympathetic motive). 

A real dead-head behind the wheel.

            What’s New, Scooby-Doo? debuted on The WB as part of the Kids’ WB programming block on September 14, 2002. Welker was given the additional duties of voicing Scooby after the producers’ first choice, Marty Grabstein, was too busy recording for Courage the Cowardly Dog. Kasem returned after the producers made Shaggy a vegetarian, and would be the final series in which he’d voice the character even though he’d continue to do so in the subsequent animated films. Mindy Cohn also succeeded Ward as the permanent voice for Velma. While the character designs took inspiration from the original Hanna-Barbera models, they were refined by Scott Awley and Scott Jeralds to make them look less two-dimensional. Fred and Daphne also received slight changes to their attire; with Fred losing his ascot and given a blue stripe across his torso and arms, and Daphne no longer wearing her green scarf and her dress having a new design. The characters’ personalities received some tweaking, as Velma’s intelligence was elevated greatly, Fred was dumbed-down slightly in an attempt to give him more of a personality, and Daphne was no longer danger-prone or the damsel in distress and became a woman of action who could take care of herself. Shaggy and Scooby, who became the prominent faces of the franchise for a time, had the focus taken off of them and put onto their friends for a majority of episodes (although they do have a starring role without the others in the episode “Camp Comeoniwannascareya”).

The Hex Girls: Dusk, Thorn and Luna.

            In a first for the teen incarnation of the franchise, there were recurring characters and locations seen in multiple episodes. Amongst them was Elliot Blender (Kimberly Brooks), a spoiled genius that often lost to Velma in contests; Melbourne O’Reilly (Steve Blum), an Australian adventurer and explorer and one of Fred’s heroes; Gibby Norton (voiced by and modeled after Eddie Deezen), a nerd who had an unrequited crush on Velma and often tried to impress her by being the mystery’s villain; Mr. B (Jeff Bennet), who owned a group of mischievous puppies known as the Secret Six: Maize, Knox (both Jennifer Hale), Jingle (Colleen O’Shaugnessey), Flax (Dee Bradley Baker), Bling-Bling (DeLisle) and 14-Karat (Welker); and Professor Laslow Ostwald (Dave Foley & James Arnold Taylor), an inventor. Crossing over from the 2^nd and 5^th animated films were the Hex Girls: an all-female eco-goth rock band comprised of lead singer and guitarist Thorn (Hale), drummer Dusk (Jane Wiedlin) and keyboardist Luna (Brooks). Additional character designs were handled by Strenstrum, Susan Crossley, Dexter Smith, Tim Maltby, Phil Bourassa, Hyunsook Cho, Joe Sichta and Kathi Castillo.

Flashing back to A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.

            The series was written by Jordana Arkin, Chris Brown, Bill Canterbury, Jonathan Collier, Bill Culverius, Nahnatcka Khan, Dwayne McDuffie, Tom Minton, Tom Sheppard, Mark Turosz, Matt Wayne, story editors George Doty IV, James Krieg and Ed Scharlach, and Hanna-Barbera co-founder Joseph Barbera, who also served as a producer for the series. A lot of wink and nods were made towards the past entries in the Scooby franchise, such as having the characters appear in their A Pup character models in the episode “A Terrifying Round with a Menacing Metallic Clown” and the use of a laugh-track and Scooby’s werewolf form from Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf in “A Scooby-Doo Halloween”, as well as some fourth wall-breaking jokes poked at the long-established formula that What’s New revived. 

Simple Plan as they appeared on the show.

The series’ theme was performed by the band Simple Plan, who also appeared as themselves in the episode “Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman”, and had three of their songs, “I’d Do Anything” and “You Don’t Mean Anything” and “The Worst Day Ever”, featured on the show. The theme was written by Rich Dickerson and Gigi Meroni, who composed the rest of the series’ music. Each episode’s chase sequence featured either an original or a licensed song by typically an indie, punk or alternative band (increasingly so following the first season). Along with Lotto Animation, who also handled the opening titles, the series was animated by Wang Film Productions and Dong Woo Animation Co., Ltd.

What’s New spent most of its run on the Saturday morning Kids’ WB line-up, airing several episodes during the weekday version of the block, across three seasons. It went on indefinite hiatus in 2005, and what would be the final episode aired on Cartoon Network in 2006. Between 2003 and 2006, Warner Bros. Home Video released 10 DVD volumes containing for episodes each—usually fitting in with a specific theme indicated on the DVD title. From 2007-08, they released all three complete seasons in individual volumes, then as a single volume in 2019.  Several episodes were adapted into book form by Scholastic, and Phoenix International Publications would publish a look and find book. What’s New designs would be incorporated into the then-ongoing Scooby-Doo comic series by DC Comics as well as the direct-to-video movies until 2009’s Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword. 

EPISODE GUIDE:

Season 1:

“There’s No Creature Like Snow Creature” (9/14/02) – Rumors of a snow creature reach the gang on their skiing holiday, but Velma and Fred end up out of commission for the mystery.

Song: “It’s a Rad, Rad World” – Sebastian Robertson

 

“3-D Struction” (9/21/02) – A trip to a museum in Costa Rica leads the gang to investigate a dinosaur that emerges from the film shown there.

Song: “Gue-Gue-Guepa” – Chicos de Barrio

 

“Space Ape at the Cape” (9/28/02) – An alien egg hatches at NASA and threatens the current shuttle mission.

Song: “Music of America” – Poster Children

 

“Big Scare in the Big Easy” (10/5/02) – While the gang stays in New Orleans, two ghosts re-enact their Civil War battle and drive off the other guests of the housing estate.

Song: “Man with the Hex” – The Atomic Fireballs

 

“It’s Mean, It’s Green, It’s the Mystery Machine” (10/26/02) – Investigating why the Mystery Machine has seemingly come to life leads the gang to its original owners.

Song: “I’d Do Anything” – Simple Plan

 

“Riva Ras Regas” (11/2/02) – The gang wins a contest to meet Lindsay Pagano in Vegas, but end up having to investigate the ghost of a magician that haunts the venue.

Song: “Here I Come Vegas” – Lindsay Pagano

 

“Roller Ghoster Ride” (11/9/02) – Scooby and Shaggy win a contest to design a new roller coaster for a theme park, but a ghost is intent on sabotaging all the rides there.

Song: “Saying Goodbye” – The Muffs

 

“Safari, So Goodi!” (11/23/02) – The gang goes on an African safari where they discover the animals all turning yellow and acting strangely.

Song: “Hatari Safari” – Rich Dickerson

 

“She Sees Sea Monsters by the Sea Shore” (11/30/02) – The gang’s island vacation is interrupted by a sea serpent.

Song: “Rockaway Beach” – The Ramones

 

“A Scooby-Doo! Christmas” (12/13/02) – The gang ends up in a town that doesn’t celebrate Christmas due to a headless snowman terrorizing them.

Song: “Santa Claus, Santa Claus” – Heavy Trevy

 

“Toy Scary Boo” (2/1/03) – The gang investigates a toy store where the toys take over.

Song: “Scooby, Scooby-Doo” – Rich Dickerson

 

“Lights! Camera! Mayhem!” (2/15/03) – The gang gets VIP passes to a Hollywood studio where a production comes under siege by the Faceless Phantom.

Song: “I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You” – The Ramones

 

“Pompeii and Circumstance” (2/22/03) – The gang encounters a zombie gladiator in Pompeii who seems to be connected to illegal waste dumping in Mt. Vesuvius.

Song: “Hal Capito” – Luciano Palermi, Raffaella Camera & Rich Dickerson

 

“The Unnatural” (3/22/03) – The ghost of the homerun record holder tries to stop Luis Santiago from breaking it.

Song: “Play My Game” – The Donnas

 

Season 2:

“Big Appetite in Little Tokyo” (9/13/03) – While in Tokyo, Shaggy eats a mystically-zapped pizza that causes him to turn into an ever-hungry giant.

Song: “Urei” – Puffy AmiYumi

 

“Mummy Scares Best” (9/20/03) – On an archaeological dig in Egypt, the gang encounters a mummy that can turn people into zombies.

Song: “Time Running” – Tegan and Sara

 

“The Fast and the Wormious” (9/27/03) – Fred enters a cross-country race which ends up pitting the gang against a giant worm.

Song: “Punk Rock Y Subversion” – Los Miserables

 

“High-Tech House of Horrors” (10/4/03) – The gang investigates a house of the future attraction at a future fair where a teenager disappeared.

Song: “Another Way” – Paul van Dyk

 

“The Vampire Strikes Back” (10/18/03) – The gag heads to the recording of The Hex Girls’ latest music video in Transylvania where a vampire is on the loose.

Song: “Petrified Bride” – The Hex Girls

 

“A Scooby-Doo Halloween” (10/24/03) – The gang goes to spend Halloween with Velma’s relatives but some scarecrows are eager to spoil the fun.

Song: “Shout it Out Loud” – KISS

 

“Homeward Hound” (10/25/03) – The gang heads to a dog show which comes under attack by a cat creature that steals the puppies of the former winner.

Song: “Now I Wanna Be A Good Boy” – The Ramones

 

“The San Franpsycho” (3/20/04) – The gang visits Ryan Sheckler at the Grind Games in San Francsisco, but the games end up terrorized by the ghost of a former Alcatraz inmate.

Song: “Doing Time” – MxPx

 

“Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman” (3/22/04) – When the gang’s and Simple Plans’ vans are wrecked, they’re forced to stay in a ghost town where something invisible stalks the band.

Songs: “You Don’t Mean Anything” & “The Worst Day Ever” – Simple Plan

 

“Recipe for Disaster” (3/23/04) – The gang heads to the Scooby Snack Factory which is besieged by spies and a monster.

Song: “Sabre Dance” – Love Sculpture

 

“Large Dragon at Large” (3/24/04) – A dragon terrorizes a Renaissance fair in Scotland.

Song: “The Ghosts of Me and You” – Less Than Jake

 

“Uncle Scooby and Antarctica” (3/25/04) – The gang encounters a fish-like creature while trying to return a penguin to Antarctica.

Song: “Southbound” – MxPx

 

“New Mexico, Old Monster” (3/26/04) – An ancient bird terrorizes the Native American reservation that the gang visits.

Song: “No Control” – Blackfire

 

“It’s All Greek to Scooby” (3/27/04) – Shaggy buys a mysterious amulet that causes a centaur to chase him.

Song: “Sahara” – Mikro

 

Season 3:

“Fright House at the Lighthouse” (1/29/05) – While visiting Fred’s uncle the gag tries to stop a ghost from messing with local ships.

Song: “High Five” – Calibretto 13

 

“Go West, Young Scoob” (2/5/05) – The gang visits a western town where the robot inhabitants have gone berserk.

Song: “Haven’t Been Myself in a While” – CIV

 

“A Scooby-Doo Valentine” (2/11/05) – It looks like the gang may be responsible for disappearances on Lovers Lane.

Song: “Walk on the Wire” – Sahara Hotnights

 

“Wrestle Maniacs” (2/12/05) – Fred enters a wrestling competition haunted by the twisted ghost of a former wrestler.

Song: “All Twisted” – CIV

 

“Ready to Scare” (2/19/05) – The gang visits Daphne’s cousin in Paris only to learn she’s been abducted by a gargoyle from the Notre Dame cathedral.

Songs: “Nonchalant” – Chapeaumelon & “Ca Plane Pour Moi” – Plastic Bertrand

 

“Farmed and Dangerous” (2/26/05) – Visiting Mr. B and the Secret Six puppies leads the gang to learn it was built over an ancient graveyard.

Song: “Something’s Going On” – A

 

“Diamonds Are a Ghoul’s Best Friend” (3/5/05) – At the Emperor Cup game between the US and Russian ice hockey teams, a former Russian hockey player makes off with the trophy.

Song: “I’ll Search Forever” – Rich Dickerson

 

“A Terrifying Round with a Menacing Metallic Clown” (3/12/05) – Shaggy’s mini-golf tournament is terrorized by a giant metallic clown.

Song: “Something Special” – CIV

 

“Camp Comeoniwannascareya” (3/19/05) – Scooby and Shaggy volunteer at a summer camp that’s haunted by a slimy creature.

Song: “Stronger” – Taxiride

 

“Block-Long Hong Kong Horror” (3/26/05) – The gang joins Shaggy in Hong Kong to get his rubber duck repaired at the same time the city is terrorized by a dragon.

Song: “Hong Kong Holiday” – E.G. Daily

 

“Gentlemen, Start Your Monsters!” (4/2/05) – Fred competes in a car race that ends up hosting a skeleton driver in a monster truck.

Song: “Hot” – Smash Mouth

 

“Gold Paw” (4/9/05) – The gang visits the Secret Six at Fort Knox, which is haunted by a creature made of gold that turns whatever it touches into gold.

Song: “Pressing On” – Relient K

 

“Reef Grief!” (4/16/05) – A coral monster interrupts Shaggy and Scooby’s Australian sandcastle building contest.

Song: “New Planet” – Smash Mouth

 

“E-Scream” (7/21/06) – Velma tries to relax while the others enjoy a video game convention, but she stumbles upon a virtual-reality game that has come to life.

Song: “Holiday” – Otherstarpeople

Originally posted in 2019. Updated in 2020.

THE NEW SCOOBY AND SCRAPPY-DOO SHOW / THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES

THE NEW SCOOBY AND SCRAPPY-DOO SHOW / THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES

(ABC, September 10, 1983-December 1, 1984)

Hanna-Barbera Productions

MAIN CAST:

Don Messick – Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo, Dada-Doo

Casey Kasem – Norville “Shaggy” Rogers

Heather North – Daphne Blake

For background information on Scooby-Doo, check out the post here.

            The sixth incarnation of the franchise decided to combine a little bit of what the series was currently doing with some of the classic elements it was known for.

Daphne's back and in charge!

The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show saw a return to the mystery-solving format of the original incarnations; once again blending criminals in costumes with the genuine supernatural entities the previous show had embraced. Additionally, it was decided to bring Daphne Blake (Heather North) back to partner up with Shaggy (Casey Kasem), Scooby and Scrappy (both Don Messick). However, rather than being just mystery-solvers, they were given jobs as reporters for a teen magazine that led them to the locations of strange activity (a premise previously used in Hanna-Barbera’s Scooby clone, Goober and the Ghost Chasers). Daphne took on the leadership and deductive roles of the team, while Scrappy’s personality was altered to be a lot more balanced and exhibiting some common sense when it came to his desire to challenge a foe. This freed up Shaggy and Scooby to be the pure comic relief for the series.

Scooby does anything to catch a culprit.

The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show debuted on ABC on September 10, 1983. The show was broken up into two story segments per episode; with the occasional episode where both segments were combined to form a single half-hour story. As this was the period when a lot of new talent was to be found at Hanna-Barbera, a lot of fresh humor was injected into the old format. There was especially an infusion of pop culture references as a number of stories and episode titles took inspiration from film and television shows such as Poltergeist, Tootsie, The Fall Guy and ABC’s own The Hound of the Baskervilles. The season was written by Peter Anderegg, Gene Ayres, Alan Burnett, Cynthia Friedlob, Robert Goldblatt, Charles M. Howell IV, Robert Lees, Glenn Leopold, Richard Merwin, Tom Reugger, Jeff Segal, John Semper, Mark Shiney and Marty Warner, with Reugger serving as story editor. While most of the episodes contained two story segments, several had one story broken up over two parts.

The show was renewed for a second season. The production took that opportunity to reintroduce original characters Fred Jones (Frank Welker) and Velma Dinkley (Marla Frumkin, in her final portrayal of the character) after a 3-year absence. They became recurring characters appearing in various episodes together or individually; with Fred having gained the occupation of a mystery writer and Velma becoming a NASA intern. The show was also renamed The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries, complete with a new funky, upbeat theme that replaced the original pastiche of prior Scooby themes. New writers for the season included George Atkins, Doug Booth, Paul Dini, Ray Parker and Jim Ryan. Hoyt Curtin served as the music supervisor. The series would be the last one for supervising producer Margaret Loesch, who would go on to head up Marvel Productions when the second season was hitting the airwaves. The rest of the crew would continue to try and revitalize Scooby and his format with the next incarnations. 

Don't you hate when unexpected relatives drop by?

“Wizards and Warlocks” was released onto the 1988 VHS Hanna-Barbera Personal Favorites: Scooby-Doo by Hanna-Barbera Home Video. Three of the half-hour episodes were released to VHS between 1996 and 1997 by Warner Home Video and Turner Home Entertainment: A Halloween Hassle at Dracula’s Castle, A Nutcracker Scoob, and Wedding Bell Boos. Beginning in 2012, episode segments were included in various compilation DVD sets, initially as part of the 13 Spooky Tales series with Ruh Roh Robot having the most at six segments. “Scoob-Be or Not Scoob-Be” was included on Favorite Frights; “The Creepy Carnival Caper” on And the Creepy Carnival; “Happy Birthday, Scooby-Doo!” on Happy Spook-Day, Scooby-Doo! and Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection: Scooby-Doo! (the international version of the latter got two additional episodes); and “Who’s Minding the Monster / Scooby a la Mode” on And the Skeletons.  “The Scooby Coup” was included as a bonus feature in the direct-to-video movie Mask of the Blue Falcon. The entire first season had been made available for purchase on the iTunes Store under the title Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, Season 5. After airing in reruns on Cartoon Network and Boomerang, the series would return to television in 2024 on retro animation channel MeTV Toons.

EPISODE GUIDE:

Season 1:

“Scooby the Barbarian / No Sharking Zone” (9/10/83) – A group of Viking ghosts appears at the same time an archaeologist goes missing. / A great white shark and a seaweed monster disrupt a surface competition in their rumored duties of guarding an ancient treasure.

“Scoobygeist / The Quagmire Quake Caper” (9/10/83) – The gang spends the night in a haunted mansion. / The gang investigates a series of Mexican earthquakes that seems to have unleashed a mud monster.

“Hound of the Scoobyvilles / The Dinosaur Deception” (9/17/83) – Scooby is mistaken for a hound haunting Bakerville Hall in Scotland. / The gang tries to find an archaeologist that was kidnapped by a dinosaur.

“The Creature Came from Chem Lab / No Thanks, Masked Manx” (9/17/83) – Daphne’s cousin’s high school is haunted by a slimy chemical monster. / A costume party at Daphne’s parents’ house is targeted by a cat burglar.

“Scooby of the Jungle / Scooby-Doo and Cyclops, Too” (9/24/83) – The gang investigates missing animals from a game reserve. / The gang’s vacation is ruined when it’s revealed that people nearby are being turned into zombies.

“Scooby Roo / Scooby’s Gold Medal Gambit” (10/1/83) – The gang investigates a Neanderthal stealing sheep in Australia. / A criminal master of disguise escapes from prison and sets his sights on the medals of a sporting event.

“Wizards and Warlocks / Scoobsie” (10/8/83) – Scrappy leads the gang to find missing Wizards and Warlocks players. / Scooby is used as bait to lure out a phantom that kidnapped a soap opera star.

“The Mark of Scooby / The Crazy Carnival Caper” (10/15/83) – A play about a masked hero inspires Scooby to daydream about saving the others from tax collectors. / Shaggy and Daphne return to their old school to investigate the disappearance of a teacher.

“Scooby and the Minotaur / Scooby Pinch Hits” (10/29/83) – A group of treasure hunters looking for the Golden Fleece are scared away by a minotaur. / The gang investigates the ghost of a baseball player haunting his old stadium.

“The Fall Dog / The Scooby Couple” (11/5/83) – The gang ends up doing stunts for a movie being haunted by a gremlin. / The gang interviews a car maker at a car show about his new sports car, which ends up being haunted.

“Who’s Minding the Monster? / Scooby a la Mode” (11/26/83) – The gang replaces a short-circuiting Frankenstein as Dracula’s babysitters. / The ghost of a Paris catering school’s founder haunts the school.

“Where’s Scooby Doo?” (12/3/83) – The same time that a mummy appears on a train, Scooby disappears.

“Wedding Bell Boos!” (12/10/83) – The ghost of Shaggy’s ancestor objects to his sister’s wedding.

Season 2:

“Happy Birthday, Scooby-Doo!” (9/8/84) – The gang goes to a television studio for a special about Scooby’s birthday.

“Scooby’s Peep-Hole Pandemonium / The Hand of Horror” (9/15/84) – The gang is hired to interview a recluse that lives with monstrous servants. / The gang ends up at a mansion being plagued by a disembodied hand.

“Scoo-Be or Not Scoo-Be? / The Stoney Glare Stare” (9/22/84) – If sea demons weren’t enough, the ghost of Hamlet appears at the gang’s hotel. / The gang joins forces with a secret agent to stop a villain from turning the world’s leaders into stone.

“Mission Un-Doo-Able / The Bee Team” (9/29/84) – The gang has to stop an evil mastermind from taking over the world. / The gang investigates giant bees haunting a honey farm.

“Doom Service / A Code in the Nose” (10/6/84) – The gang has to find out why a ghost is running guests out of a hotel. / The military hires the gang to find a decoding device stolen by a supervillain.

“Ghost of the Ancient Astronauts” (10/13/84) – The gang reunites with old friends to investigate ancient aliens.

“The Night of the Living Toys / South Pole Vault” (10/20/84) – The gang encounters a toy store where the toys really come to life. / The gang investigates a mad sea lion terrorizing the South Pole.

“A Halloween Hassle at Dracula’s Castle” (10/27/84) – The gang has to help a group of monsters fend off an evil magician and a ghost.

“A Night Louse at the White House” (11/3/84) – Ghosts of former Presidents crash the NASA banquet Velma attends at the White House.

“The ‘Dooby Dooby Doo’ Ado / Showboat Scooby” (11/10/84) – Scooby visits Dooby Doo in Las Vegas. / The gang tries to help keep a ghost away from Dixie Doo’s emerald necklace.

“Sherlock Doo” (11/17/84) – The gang heads to London to participate in a mystery-solvers’ contest.

“A Scary Duel with a Cartoon Ghoul / E*I*E*I*O” (11/24/84) – Mister Mutt emerges from the television to cause chaos in the real world. / A genetically modified field mouse becomes a 30-foot tall monster.

“The Nutcracker Scoob” (12/1/84) – A ghost haunts a children’s home that a scrooge wants for himself.

Originally posted in 2019. Updated in 2025.