"What's New Scooby-Doo?" You brand-new TV show!!
The lame attempts to recapture the magic of the famous "scooby-Doo" franchise fell flat during the 1980s (remember "13 ghosts of Scooby-Doo" and "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo"?, among several other stinkers). Plus, the addition of Scrappy-Doo in 1979 didn't help matters either. After the last original series ended in 1991, the franchise dropped Scrappy, bought back Fred and Velma, and made a string of decent direct-to-video animated features. But the success of the 2002 live-action feature prompted this cartoon, and a renewal to the famous franchise many of us Gen-Xers have grown to love.
I was never really a fan of "Scooby-Doo" until last year. Sure, I watched the reruns of every weekend from about 1985 until 1991, but that was because my brother liked it, and we only had two TV's in our house (the other was in my parents room, and since they were sleeping, the other TV was the only one we could watch. I survived.) The problem was, in the mid-80s, "Scooby-Doo! Where are You?" was a rarity on the local syndication channels. We had to watch "Scooby and Scrappy-Doo," which was god-awful, and I wouldn't force anyone to watch it. I turned away the cartoons in 1991, after "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" aggravated me. Last year, I saw the live-action movie out of curiosity, and then this cartoon premired on Cartoon Network in March 2003, and I couldn't resist. I was hooked.
It's actually a funny show, and capitalizes on what made the movie fun. It emphasizes bright color, and gives the show a modern-day approach. The beauty part is, they maintained much of the character personalities from the film, and added on to the original concepts: Fred isn't as much of a show-off credit-hogger as he was, Daphne is way more resourceful, and not nearly as "damsel-in-distress-esque", Velma speaks, is shown more, and has GREAT one-liners (I think this may have been because Linda Cardellini was so great in the movie, they most likely had to captialize on what she bought to the character), and Shaggy is great and sounds terrific, due in no small part to the return of the great Casey Kasem, who was sorely lacking in the cartoon movies. Frank Welker as Fred is what makes this cartoon. Welker and Kasem are the heart and soul of this series--it isn't a cartoon without either of them. Besides, Fred has a trademark voice--no one could copy it. Sadly, Don Messick (Scooby's original voice) is no longer with us, and Welker tries to capture that speech-impediment, and it does work. It's a shame that Messick's last original series run as Scooby was in the pitiful "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" (I'm sorry, but I really don't like that cartoon. It's painfully obvious.)
I highly recommend this as a good introduction series for the youngsters, but I would most likely say to watch "Scooby-Doo! Where Are You?", which still is (and always will be) the best. This series is also fun for those who love the original series. It captures the magic of the original, and still holds the charm that made it special--jokes, mystery, and of course, the famous lines. Plus, Fred is sans ascot.
So, What's new, Scooby-Doo? You just got a good review from this 20-year old fan!
