The 80s were a goldmine decade of great animated shows. Stuff we got in those ten years we just don't see any more. Quite literally. I don't think we'll ever see Denver the Last Dinosaur or Centurions on DVD. One of the forgotten shows among dozens of others was A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. The Scooby-Doo franchise suffered a heavy blow in the 80s when some silly man wearing a suit thought it would be a good idea to introduce Scrappy-Doo, a highly irritating doggy who never kept his mouth shut for more than two seconds. Freddy and Velma also disappeared for a while and Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy would go off solving mysteries with just Daphne.
Desperate for a new way to re-invent the franchise, Warner gave us A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, an interesting, if failed attempt.
The show features the Mystery Inc. gang as kids and Scoob as a little puppy. The humor and animation is more offbeat and Looney-Tunes orientated but the mysteries are still substantial and the locations still occasionally Gothic and atmospheric.
Shaggy and Scooby are still voiced by Casey Kasem and Don Messick. Since they are the backbone of the show it's good to have this consistency. The childhood angle also gives us new insight into their background.
Many have criticised this show, claiming it to be aimed at under-tens and that it an embarrassment to the Scooby-Doo franchise. Well, I never found it to be that way. As a Scooby-Doo fan I thought this show was very amusing and I loved the score and songs by John Debney. There should be a soundtrack CD released. It really is a shame it never lasted for longer.
Since there were only 26 episodes made I can't help but be angry at Warner's awful DVD presentation of the show. Since they are releasing loads of their back-catalogue animation in beautifully packaged box sets (Premier Collections/Spotlight Collections/Golden Collections) I find it baffling that A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (a show that would have suited this format well) gets a horrid DVD release with 4 episodes per disc, a crappy snap-case box (we're STILL getting these in 2005!) and no extra features. The 1.33:1 full frame picture and Mono sound are perfectly adequate but, even though the show failed, it still deserves a much better DVD release than the one it got.
Shame on you Warner for neglecting this one instalment of a cash-cow that has generated you billions of dollars.
