Scooby-Doo

Scooby-Doo! Where Are You?
A scene from "What a Night for a Knight", the first episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Clockwise from top: Shaggy, Fred, Scooby-Doo, Velma, and Daphne.
Genre	Mystery / Adventure / Comedy
Format	Animated series
Created by	Joe Ruby Ken Spears
Voices of	Don Messick (1969-1994) Casey Kasem (1969-1997, 2002-2009) Frank Welker (1969-present) Nicole Jaffe (1969-1973, 2003) Indira Stefanianna Christopherson (1969-1970) Heather North (1970-1997, 2003) Pat Stevens (1976-1979) Lennie Weinrib (1979-1980) Marla Frumkin (1979-1984) Susan Blu (1985) Vincent Price (1985) Carl Stevens (1988-1991) Christina Lange (1988-1991) Kellie Martin (1988-1991) Scott Innes (1997-2001) B.J. Ward (1997-2001) Billy West (1998) Mary Kay Bergman (1998-2000) Grey DeLisle (2001-present) Mindy Cohn (2002-present) Scott Menville (2005-2008) Matthew Lillard (2010-present)
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	23
No. of series	11
No. of episodes	301 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Running time	22 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS (1969–1976) ABC (1976–1986, 1988–1991) The WB (2002–2005) The CW (2006–2008) Cartoon Network (2010-present)
Original run	September 13, 1969 (1969-09-13) – Present
External links
Official website

Scooby-Doo! is an animated television series produced for Saturday morning television in several different versions from 1969 to the present. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, was created for Hanna-Barbera Productions by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears. Hanna-Barbera produced numerous spin-offs and related works until being absorbed in 2001 into Warner Bros. Animation, which has handled production since then. All versions of the show feature a talking dog named Scooby Doo; the original series included four teenagers or young adults: Fred "Freddie" Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers. These five characters (officially collectively known as "Mystery, Inc.", but never referred to as such in the original series) drive around in the Mystery Machine van,^[1] solving mysteries by exposing seemingly otherworldly ghosts and monsters as flesh and blood crooks. Later versions of Scooby-Doo featured different variations on the show's supernatural theme, and include characters such as Scooby's cousin Scooby-Dum and nephew Scrappy-Doo in addition to or instead of some of the original characters.

Scooby-Doo was broadcast on CBS from 1969 to 1976 when it moved to ABC. ABC aired the show until canceling it in 1986, and presented a spin-off, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, from 1988 until 1991, which featured the characters as children. The series was revived for The WB Network's Kids' WB programming block and ran from 2002 to 2006, when it began running on the The CW network until 2008. The current Scooby-Doo series, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, premiered on Cartoon Network on July 12, 2010.^[2] Repeats of the series are broadcast frequently on Cartoon Network and Boomerang in the United States and other countries.

Creation and development

In 1967, parent-run organizations, most notably Action for Children's Television (ACT), began vocally protesting what they perceived as an excessive amount of gratuitous violence in Saturday morning cartoons during the mid-to-late 1960s.^[3] Most of these shows were Hanna-Barbera action cartoons such as Jonny Quest, Space Ghost and The Herculoids, and virtually all of them were canceled by 1969 because of pressure from the parent groups. Members of these watchgroups served as advisers to Hanna-Barbera and other animation studios to ensure that their new programs would be safe for children.

Fred Silverman, executive in charge of children's programming for the CBS network at the time, was looking for a show that would revitalize his Saturday morning line and please the watchgroups 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", was the most successful Billboard number-one hit of 1969). Silverman was eager to build upon this success, and contacted producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera about possibly creating another show based on a teenage rock group, but with an extra spice: the kids would solve mysteries in between gigs. Silverman envisioned the show as a 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.^[4]

Hanna and Barbera passed this task along to two of their head story writers, 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, Linda's brother "W.W." and their dog, Too Much, who were all members of the band "Mysteries Five" (even the dog; he played the bongos). When "The Mysteries Five" were not performing at gigs, they were out solving spooky mysteries involving ghosts, zombies, and other supernatural creatures. Ruby and Spears were unable to decide whether Too Much would be a large cowardly dog or a small feisty dog. When the former was chosen, the options became a large goofy German Shepherd 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 sheepdog, Hot Dog, in their band). Ruby and Spears feared the Great Dane would be too similar to the comic strip character Marmaduke, but Barbera assured them it would not be a problem.^[5]

Takamoto consulted a studio colleague who happened to be a breeder of Great Danes. After learning the characteristics of a prize-winning Great Dane from her, Takamoto proceeded to break most of the rules and designed Too Much with overly bowed legs, a double chin, and a sloped back, among other abnormalities.^[6][7]

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 "Geoff" (later renamed "Fred", at Silverman's behest),^[8] Kelly was renamed to "Daphne", Linda was now called "Velma"(Linda, coincidentally, is the first name of the actress who played Velma in the first two live action Scooby Doo films.), and Shaggy (formerly "W.W.") was no longer her brother. Also, Silverman—not being very fond of the name Mysteries Five—had renamed 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 too spooky for young viewers and, thinking the show would be the same, decided to pass on it.^[5]

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, Silverman was inspired by a combination of the "scoo-be-doo" section in Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People" and Frank Sinatra's scat "doo-be-doo-be-doo" he heard at the end of Bert Kaempfert'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-rechristen the show Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!^[5] The revised show was re-presented to CBS executives, who approved it for production. For no apparent reason all episodes take place only during the night.

Original television series run

The CBS years

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! made its CBS network debut on Saturday, September 13, 1969 with its first episode, "What a Night for a Knight." The original voice cast featured veteran voice actor Don Messick as Scooby-Doo, Top 40 radio DJ Casey Kasem as Shaggy, actor Frank Welker as Fred, actress Nicole Jaffe as Velma, and musician Indira Stefanianna Christopherson as Daphne.^[9] Scooby’s speech patterns closely resembled an earlier cartoon dog, Astro from The Jetsons (1962–63), also voiced by Messick.^[1] Seventeen episodes of Scooby-Doo were produced in 1969. The series' eponymous theme song was written by David Mook and Ben Raleigh, and performed by Larry Marks.

Influences on Scooby-Doo

The influences of I Love a Mystery and Dobie Gillis were especially apparent in these early episodes; Mark Evanier, who would write Scooby-Doo teleplays and comic book scripts in the 1970s and 1980s, identified each of the four teenagers with their corresponding Dobie Gillis character: "Fred was based on Dobie, Velma on Zelda, Daphne on Thalia and Shaggy on Maynard."^[10] The similarities between Shaggy and Maynard are the most noticeable; both characters share the same beatnik-style goatee, similar hairstyles, and demeanours. The core premise of Scooby-Doo, Where are You! was also similar to Enid Blyton's Famous Five books. Both series featured four youths with a dog, and the Famous Five stories would often revolve around a mystery which would invariably turn out not to be mysterious but a plot to disguise the villain's true intents.

The roles of each character are strongly defined in the series: Fred is the leader and the determined detective, Velma is the intelligent analyst, Daphne is danger-prone, and Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are cowardly types more motivated by hunger than any desire to solve mysteries. Later versions of the show would make slight changes to the characters' established roles, most notably in the character of Daphne, shown in 1990s and 2000s Scooby-Doo productions as knowing many forms of karate and having the ability to defend herself, and less of a tendency towards getting kidnapped.

The New Scooby-Doo Movies

In 1972, after 25 half-hour episodes, 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. Among the most notable of these guest stars were the Harlem Globetrotters, the Three Stooges, Don Knotts and Batman & Robin, each of whom appeared at least twice on the show. Hanna-Barbera musical director Hoyt Curtin composed a new theme song for this series, and Curtin's theme would remain in use for much of Scooby-Doo's original broadcast run. After two seasons and 24 episodes of the New Movies format from 1972 to 1974, the show went to reruns of the original series until Scooby moved to ABC in 1976.

Every episode of the original Scooby-Doo format contains a penultimate scene in which the kids unmask the ghost-of-the-week to reveal a real person in a costume. From Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! season two, episode one ("Nowhere To Hyde", September 12, 1970).

The ABC years

1976-1978

On ABC, the show went through almost yearly format changes. For their 1976–1977 season, new episodes of Scooby-Doo were joined with a new Hanna-Barbera show, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, to create The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour. (It became The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Show when a bonus Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! rerun was added to it in November 1976.) This hour-long package show later evolved into the longer programming blocks Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics (1977–1978) and Scooby's All-Stars (1978–1979).

New Scooby episodes, in the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! format, were produced for each of these three seasons. Nicole Jaffe had retired from acting in 1973, and Pat Stevens took over her role as the voice of Velma. The rest of the voice cast remained the same. Four of these episodes featured Scooby's dim-witted country cousin Scooby-Dum, voiced by Daws Butler, as a semi-regular character. The Scooby-Doo episodes produced during these three seasons were later packaged together for syndication as The Scooby-Doo Show, under which title they continue to air. For the Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics and Scooby's All-Stars programming blocks, Scooby-Doo was packaged alongside Laff-A-Lympics, a new Hanna-Barbera cartoon featuring many of its characters in parodies of Olympic sporting events. Scooby-Doo appeared on the show as the team captain of the "Scooby Doobies" team, with Shaggy and Scooby-Dum among his teammates.

1979-1984

The Scooby-Doo characters first appeared outside of their regular Saturday morning format in Scooby Goes Hollywood, an hour-long ABC television special aired in prime time on December 13, 1979. The special revolved around Shaggy and Scooby's attempts to have the network move Scooby out of Saturday morning and into a prime-time series, and featured spoofs of then-current TV shows and films such as Happy Days, Superman, Laverne & Shirley, and Charlie's Angels.

In 1979, Scooby's tiny nephew Scrappy-Doo was added to both the series and the billing, in an attempt to boost Scooby-Doo's slipping ratings. The 1979–1980 episodes, aired under the title Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, succeeded in regenerating interest in the show. Pat Stevens voiced Velma in the first eleven episodes, but Marla Frumkin took over the role for four episodes. Velma didn't speak in the last episode of the 1979 series.

As a result of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo's success, the entire show was overhauled in 1980 to focus more upon Scrappy-Doo. At this time, Scooby-Doo started to walk and run anthropomorphically on two feet more often, rather than on four like a normal dog as he did previously. Fred, Daphne, and Velma were dropped from the series, and the new Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo format was now composed of three seven-minute comedic adventures starring Scooby, Scrappy, and Shaggy instead of one half-hour mystery. This version of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo aired as part of The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show from 1980 to 1982, and as part of The Scooby-Doo/Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour from 1982 to 1983. Most of the supernatural villains in the seven-minute Scooby and Scrappy cartoons, who in previous Scooby series had been revealed to be human criminals in costume, were now real within the context of the series. Daphne returned to the cast for The All-New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show in 1983, which comprised two 11-minute mysteries per episode in a format reminiscent of the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! mysteries. This version of the show lasted for two seasons, with the second season airing under the title The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries and featuring semi-regular appearances from Fred and Velma. Marla Frumkin continued voicing Velma.

The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo

1985 saw the debut of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, which featured Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, and new characters Flim-Flam and Vincent Van Ghoul (based upon and voiced by Vincent Price) traveling the globe to capture "thirteen of the most terrifying ghosts upon the face of the earth." The final first-run episode of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo aired in March 1986, and no new Scooby series aired on the network for the next two years. Reruns of previous Scooby episodes, however, continued to air, both as part of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Funhouse package and under the New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show banner.

Spinoff productions, reruns, and revivals

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

Hanna-Barbera reincarnated the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! cast as junior high schoolstudents for a new series entitled A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, which debuted on ABC in 1988. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo was an irreverent, zany re-imagining of the series, heavily inspired by the classic cartoons of Tex Avery and Bob Clampett, and eschewed the quasi-reality of the original Scooby series for a more Looney Tunes-like style, including an episode where Scooby-Doo's parents show up and reveal his real name to be "Scoobert." The series also established "Coolsville" as the name of the gang's hometown; this setting was retained for several of the later Scooby productions. The retooled show was a success, and lasted until 1991.

Telefilms, reruns, and direct-to-video films

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). These three films took their tone from the early-1980s Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo entries, and featured the characters encountering actual monsters and ghosts rather than masqueraded people. Scooby-Doo and Shaggy later appeared as the narrators of the made-for-TV movie Arabian Nights, originally broadcast by TBS in 1994 and later released on video as Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights.

Reruns of Scooby-Doo have been in syndication since 1980, 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 1990 to 1994). In 1993, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, having just recently ended its network run on ABC, began reruns on the Cartoon Network. With Turner Broadcasting in control of the Hanna-Barbera library by this time, the Scooby-Doo franchise became exclusive to its networks: Cartoon Network, TBS Superstation, and TNT. Canadian network Teletoon began airing Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! in 1997, with the other Scooby series soon following. 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.

With Scooby-Doo's restored popularity in reruns on Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. Animation and Hanna-Barbera (by then a subsidiary of Warner Bros. following the merger of Time Warner and Turner Entertainment in 1996), began producing one new Scooby-Doo direct-to-video movie a year beginning in 1998. These movies featured a slightly older version of the original five-character cast from the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! days. The first four DTV entres were 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). Frank Welker was the only original voice cast member to return for these productions. Don Messick had died in 1997 and Casey Kasem, a strict vegetarian, relinquished the role of Shaggy after having to provide the voice for a 1995 Burger King commercial. ^[11] Therefore, Scott Innes took over as both Scooby-Doo and Shaggy (Billy West voiced Shaggy in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island). B.J. Ward took over as Velma, and Mary Kay Bergman voiced Daphne until her death in 2000, when she was replaced by Grey DeLisle.

These first four direct-to-video films differed from the original series format by placing the characters in plots with a darker tone and pitting them against actual supernatural forces. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island featured the original 1969 gang, reunited after years of being apart, fighting voodoo-worshiping cat creatures in the Louisiana bayou. Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost featured an author (voice of Tim Curry) returning to his hometown with the gang, to find out that an event is being haunted by the author's dead great Aunt Sarah, who was an actual witch. Witch's Ghost introduced a goth rock band known as The Hex Girls, who became recurring characters in the Scooby-Doo franchise.

Also in 2001, Cartoon Network produced Night of the Living Doo, a half-hour parody of the New Scooby-Doo Movies format featuring "special guest stars" David Cross, Gary Coleman, Mark Hamill and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, complete with a classic retro-feel.

Scooby-Doo theatrical films

Warner Bros.' 2002 live-action Scooby-Doo feature film was a box office success, and resulted in a sequel two years later.

A feature-length live-action film version of Scooby-Doo was released by Warner Bros. in June 2002. directed by Raja Gosnell, the film starred Freddie Prinze, Jr., as Fred, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne, Matthew Lillard as Shaggy, and Linda Cardellini as Velma. Scooby-Doo was created on-screen by computer-generated special effects. Scooby-Doo was not well reviewed, ^[12] but was a financially successful release, with a domestic box office gross of over $130 million.^[13] A sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, followed in March 2004 with the same cast and director. Scooby-Doo 2 earned US$84 (€55,98) million at the U.S. box office.^[14]

2000s series revival

In 2002, following the successes of the Cartoon Network reruns, direct to video franchise, and the first feature film, Scooby-Doo returned to Saturday morning for the first time in 17 years with What's New, Scooby-Doo?, which aired on Kids' WB from 2002 until 2006, with second-run episodes also appearing on Cartoon Network. Unlike previous Scooby series, the show was produced at Warner Bros. Animation, which had absorbed Hanna-Barbera after William Hanna's death in 2001. The show returned to the familiar format of the original series for the first time since 1978, updated for the 21st century with modern technology and culture, as well as new, digitally-recorded sound effects and music.

Beginning with this series, Frank Welker took over as Scooby's voice actor, while continuing to provide the voice of Fred as well. Casey Kasem returned as Shaggy, with the caveat that the character be depicted as a vegetarian like Kasem himself. ^[11] Grey DeLisle continued as the voice of Daphne, and former Facts of Life star Mindy Cohn voiced Velma. The series was produced by Chuck Sheetz, who had worked on The Simpsons.

After three seasons, What's New, Scooby-Doo was replaced in September 2006 with Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, a major revamping of the series which debuted on The CW's Kids' WB Saturday morning programming block. The premise centers around Shaggy inheriting money and a mansion from an uncle, an inventor who has gone into hiding from villains trying to steal his secret invention. The villains, led by "Dr. Phibes" (based primarily upon Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers series, and named after Vincent Price's character from The Abominable Dr. Phibes), then use different schemes to try to get the invention from Shaggy and Scooby, who handle the plots alone. Fred, Daphne, and Velma are normally absent, but do make appearances at times to help. The characters were redesigned and the art style revised for the new series. Scott Menville voiced Shaggy in the series, with Casey Kasem appearing as the voice of Shaggy's Uncle Albert.

The direct-to-video productions continued to be produced concurrently with at least one entry per year. Two of these entires, Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire and Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico (both 2003) were produced in a retro-style reminiscent of the original series, and featured Heather North and Nicole Jaffe as the voices of Daphne and Velma, respectively. Later entries produced between 2004 and 2009 were done in the style of What's New, Scooby-Doo, using that show's voice cast.

In addition, a live-action prequel to the original series, Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins, was released on DVD and simultaneously aired on Cartoon Network on September 13, 2009 (the fortieth anniversary of the series' debut).^[15] The film starred Nick Palatas as Shaggy, Robbie Amell as Fred, Kate Melton as Daphne, Hayley Kiyoko as Velma, and Frank Welker as the voice of Scooby-Doo. A second live-action telefilm, Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster, has been announced and will air in October 2010.

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated

Warner Bros. Animation's current Scooby-Doo series, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, premiered on the Cartoon Network on July 12, 2010, and runs on Monday evenings.^[16]. Set in a haunted town known as Crystal Cove, the series is a reboot of the franchise. The series is set in the present day, though the characters retain their original 1969 costumes and many of the other characters and settings reflect 1970s feel. Unlike previous Scooby series, Mystery Incorporated features continuing story arcs: a budding relationship between Velma and Shaggy, Daphne's unrequited love for ghost-trap-obsessed Fred, and a mysterious character named "Mr. E" - a play on "mystery" - that the gang must deal with while solving mysteries of the original "man in a mask" format.

Mystery Incorporated retained the voice cast from the WB/CW productions, save for Matthew Lillard, who portrayed Shaggy in the theatrical live-action Scooby-Doo films, taking over as Shaggy's voice. Lillard also began voicing the character in the series of direct-to-video films at this time, beginning with Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo (2010).

Critical reaction and awards

Scooby-Doo has maintained a significant fan base, which has grown steadily since the 1990s due to the show's popularity among both young children and nostalgic adults who grew up watching the series.^[17] The show's mix of the comedy-adventure and horror genres is often noted as the reason for its widespread success.^[18] As Fred Silverman and the Hanna-Barbera staff had planned when they first began producing the series, Scooby-Doo's ghosts, monsters, and spooky locales tend more towards humor than horror, making them easily accessible to younger children. "Overall, [Scooby-Doo is] just not a show that is going to overstimulate kids' emotions and tensions," offered American Center for Children and Media executive director David Kleeman in a 2002 interview. "It creates just enough fun to make it fun without getting them worried or giving them nightmares.^[19]

In recent years, Scooby-Doo has received recognition for its popularity by placing in a number of top cartoon or top cartoon character polls. The August 3, 2002, issue of TV Guide featured its list of the 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time, in which Scooby-Doo placed twenty-second^[20] Scooby also ranked thirteenth in Animal Planet's list of the 50 Greatest TV Animals.^[21] Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ranked first in the UK network Channel 4's 2005 list of the 100 Greatest Cartoons of All Time.^[22] For one year from 2004 to 2005, Scooby-Doo held the Guinness World Record for having the most episodes of any animated television series ever produced, a record previously held by and later returned to The Simpsons. Scooby-Doo was published as holding this record in the 2006 edition of the Guinness Book of Records.^[23]

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 movies). A plethora of other media properties have referenced or parodied Scooby-Doo, among them the TV Funhouse segment of NBC's Saturday Night Live, the online comic Sluggy Freelance, the Fox animated series, The Simpsons, and the Cartoon Network program Johnny Bravo and Adult Swim's The Venture Bros., and Adult Swim's Robot Chicken

In January 2009, entertainment website IGN named Scooby-Doo twenty fourth in its list of the Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows.^[24]

Merchandising

A 1966 Chevrolet Sportvan 108, painted to look like the Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo. A number of Scooby fans have decorated vans in this fashion.

The first Scooby-Doo-related merchandise came in the form of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! comic books by Gold Key Comics, which initially contained adaptations of episodes of the cartoon show when publication began in December 1969. The book soon moved to all-original stories, and continued publication until December 1974. It ran for 30 issues, #21-25, 27, 29 and 30 written by Mark Evanier and drawn by Dan Spiegle. Charlton published Scooby comics, many drawn by Bill Williams, from February 1975 to October 1975, with a total of 11 issues. Since then, Scooby-Doo comics have been published by Marvel Comics (9 issues, all written by Evanier and drawn by Spiegel), Harvey Comics (reprints of Charlton, 3 regular issues, 2 Giant size, and 2 big book), Archie Comics (Ran for 21 issues, #10, 14 and 17 written by Evanier and drawn by Spiegel, #1-13 were the only Scooby comics in US to ever feature Scrappy in stories, Archie also did a one shot of a Pup Named Scooby-Doo (Hanna-Barbera Presents #5)), and DC Comics, who continue to publish a monthly Scooby-Doo series. One comic featured references to Hanna, Barbera, Don Messick (the original voice of Scooby), Nicole Jaffe (the original voice of Velma), Frank Welker (current voice of Scooby-Doo and Fred), and Casey Kasem (former/current voice of Shaggy)

Other early Scooby-Doo merchandise included a 1973 Milton Bradley board game, decorated lunch boxes, iron-on transfers, coloring books, story books, records, underwear, and other such goods.^[25] When Scrappy-Doo was introduced to the series in 1979, he, Scooby, and Shaggy became the sole foci of much of the merchandising, including a 1983 Milton-Bradley Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo board game. The first Scooby-Doo video game appeared in arcades in 1986, and has been followed by a number of games for both home consoles and personal computers. Scooby-Doo multivitamins also debuted at this time, and have been manufactured by Bayer since 2001.

Scooby-Doo merchandising tapered off during the late 1980s and early 1990s, but increased after the series' revival on Cartoon Network in 1995. Today, all manner of Scooby-Doo-branded products are available for purchase, including Scooby-Doo breakfast cereal, plush toys, action figures, car decorations, and much more. Real "Scooby Snacks" dog treats are produced by Del Monte Pet Products. Hasbro has created a number of Scooby board games, including a Scooby-themed edition of the popular mystery board game Clue. In 2007, the Pressman Toy Corporation released the board game Scooby-Doo! Haunted House. Beginning in 2001, a Scooby-Doo children's book series was authorized and published by Scholastic. These books, written by Suzanne Weyn, include originals stories and adaptations of Scooby theatrical and direct-to-video features.

From 1990 to 2002, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo appeared as characters in the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera simulator ride at Universal Studios Florida.^[26] The ride was replaced in the early 2000s with a Jimmy Neutron attraction, and The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera instead became an attraction at several properties operated by Paramount Parks. Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are costumed characters at Universal Studios Florida, and can be seen driving the Mystery Machine around the park.

In 2005, Scooby-Doo in Stagefright, a live stage play based upon the series, began touring across the world. A follow-up, Scooby-Doo and the Pirate Ghost, followed in 2009.^[27]

Scooby-Doo filmography

TV series

TV specials and animated telefilms

• Scooby-Doo Goes Hollywood (1979)
• Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987)
• Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988)
• Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (1989)
• Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration (1989)
• Arabian Nights (1994)
• The Scooby-Doo Project (1999)
• Night of the Living Doo (2001)

Direct-to-video films

• 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 (2002)
• Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico (2003)
• Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster (2004)
• Aloha, Scooby-Doo! (2005)
• Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy? (2005)
• Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! (2006)
• Chill Out, Scooby-Doo! (2007)
• Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King (2008)
• Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword (2009)
• Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo (2010)
• Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare (2010)

Live-action films

• Scooby-Doo (2002)
• Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)
• Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (2009, telefilm)
• Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster (2010, telefilm)

Video games

• Scooby-Doo, a 1986 arcade computer game published by Elite Systems (later re-released on Elite's budget label Encore) and developed by Gargoyle Games for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.
• Scooby-Doo Mystery, two separate games of the same title created in 1995; one for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the other for the Sega Genesis.
• Scooby Doo! Mystery of the Fun Park Phantom, a 1999 mystery computer game developed by Engineering Animation, Inc. (EAI) and published by SouthPeak Interactive. The game was released for Microsoft Windows.
• Scooby Doo! Classic Creep Capers, a 2000 console game published by THQ and released for Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color.
• Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, A 2001 console game produced by THQ.
• Scooby-Doo. A 2002 action/puzzle game produced by THQ. The game is based on the 2002 film and was made for the Game Boy Advance.
• Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights, a 2002 console game published by THQ.
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Mayhem, a 2004 console game developed by A2M and published by THQ.
• Scooby-Doo! Unmasked, a 2005 console game published by THQ.
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Adventures, created in 2000 by The Learning Company as a CD-ROM for Microsoft Windows. It contained 3 different adventures on three CD-ROMS (sold separately): Scooby-Doo: Showdown in Ghost Town, Scooby-Doo: Phantom of the Knight, and Scooby-Doo: Jinx at the Sphinx.
• Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, a game based on the movie
• Scooby-Doo Case Files, created in 2003 by The Learning Company as a CD-ROM for Microsoft Windows. This is the second version set created by The Learning Company The three games are: Scooby-Doo, Case File No. 1: The Glowing Bug Man, Scooby-Doo Case File #2: The Scary Stone Dragon, and Scooby Doo Case File #3 Frights, Camera, Mystery!
• Scooby-Doo! First Frights (2009)
• Scooby-Doo! And The Spooky Swamp (2010)

Stage plays

• Scooby-Doo in Stagefright (2005; world tours in 2005, 2007, 2009)
• Scooby-Doo and the Pirate Ghost (2009)

Main cast

See also

• List of works produced by Hanna-Barbera
• Five-College folklore – A campus legend about the show.

Footnotes

References

• Banks, Clive. "Scooby-Doo". Retrieved from http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Scooby-Doo%20Intro.htm on September 4, 2005.
• Baxter, Joel (2003). The Complete Scooby-Doo Episode Guide. Originally retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20050826000359/http://www.execulink.com/~joelb/scooby/doobydoo.htm on September 3, 2005. Archive of page retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20050311090933/http://www.execulink.com/~joelb/scooby/doobydoo.htm on October 23, 2006.
• Burke, Timothy and Burke, Kevin (1998). Saturday Morning Fever : Growing up with Cartoon Culture. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-16996-5.
• Handy, Aaron III. "The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour Episode Guide". Retrieved from http://www.angelfire.com/la/aaronh3d/SDDH.html on September 4, 2005.
• "Hanna-Babera Studios" (and sub-articles). The Big Cartoon DataBase. Retrieved from http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Hanna-Barbera_Studios/index.html on September 3, 2005.
• McNeil, Alex (4th ed., 1996). Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-024916-8.
• Ruby, Joe and Spears, Ken (2002). "Scooby Doo...The History of a Classic". Rubyspears.com. Retrieved from http://www.rubyspears.com/scooby.html on March 27, 2006.

External links

• Official Warner Bros. site
• Scooby-Doo at Cartoon Network
• "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" at the Internet Movie Database