The Scooby-Doo Show

The third installment in the series returned to the premise of the original show and improved with it's villains like in the case of Jaguaroo but while it improved on one aspect it declined on another. Like the show before it the hidden jokes were toned down. However, still managed to be entertaining.

What is sad and best remembered about this show is that it's the last good Scooby-Doo series before the infamous Scrappy makes his big debut.

Ever since Hanna Barbara's original "Scooby Doo, Where Are You!" in 1969-1970, the premise of the entire show had gained such an audience that it became the subject of several reboots in the 1970s and later years. Nothing can touch exactly the quality of the original, which in its two seasons already managed to be great, yet this reboot in the mid-70's is good enough to where is creates a fine followup. Granted, since only half of "The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour" was the real Scooby-Doo show (the other half being taken up on a cartoon series about Dynomutt) it is maybe not the most proper thing to write a review focusing only on the first part - although the forty episodes listed on IMDb all are entirely Scooby-Doo ones, so it is probably acceptable to do so. Very few of the reviewers already here have actually gone into both halves of the hour anyway, since most of them are here for the Scooby-Doo side alone (I had never heard of Dynomutt before, and I doubt most people outside those from the 70's remember him).

There are several reasons why this revival is not as good as the original "Scooby-Doo!", none of which are huge and unbearable flaws, but which do slightly detract from the quality of the series overall. To begin with the positives, the new series contains some of the most interesting monsters we have ever seen, including Ironface, the Moon Monster, the ghost of Merlin, the Warlock of Wimbledon, and more. Since we had seen all twenty-five of the original series countless times, it was interesting to see these new monsters, many of which were quite creative. The series has the same overall feel of the original too, and manages to remain entertaining as the gang of Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby continue their exploits in solving mysteries.

However, there are some flaws in the show, the first one being that Velma's voice is completely different, with no attempt whatsoever to make the new voice actress Pat Stevens sound like Nicole Jaffe. Jaffe's voice gave Velma a childish, nerdy, smarty-pants feel that ultimately carried her character and made her the brains behind the gang. Stevens, on the other hand, sounds boring and turns Velma into a bland and uninteresting character, with a voice that is as monotone as a radio station announcer saying what the next piece on the station will be. It sucks the life out of Velma ultimately, a sad thing considering how great she used to be. Let's hope Pat Stevens ended her voice-acting career after this, realizing how much of a failure she was as a replacement. (Fortunately, the rest of the original actors are there, so thank goodness they only had to change one).

Secondly, the next problem is the inclusion of Scooby-Doo's brother, Scooby-Dum in several episodes. As you might guess, Scooby-Dum is indeed dumb, and as such dumbs down the entire show in some ways through his stupid mistakes and escapades. While not a horrible character, he does tend to shift the spotlight from Scooby-Doo quite a bit, and ultimately wasn't necessary at all when it came to entertainment value. Scooby-Dee, Scooby's actress cousin, wasn't as bad, but also entirely unnecessary in her one-episode appearance. Why did they have to fancy things up so much by adding extra characters? Can't we just have Scooby-Doo and that be all?

The third flaw is that the new music isn't nearly as good as the original music, tending to be more tech-based than before, and not really setting that great mood that we had in the first show (the original mood being suspenseful, this mood being more cheerful). This includes the theme song, which is more triumphant and fan-fare despite its spooky opening, and ultimately not at all the feel they should have gone for. Also, some episodes of this series are just plain ridiculous to boot. One of them involves an ice cream factory being haunted by three flavor phantoms, one vanilla, one chocolate, one strawberry. The whole premise is so absurd it's clear the producers were running out of good ideas, and had to either make up nonsensical ones, or copy a little from the original (as in the one episode which uses a witch doctor...for the third time).

Nonetheless, even despite these noticeable and defective changes, "The Scooby Doo Show" remains a fun and enjoyable reboot. If one has tired of seeing the original over and over again, it might be time to check this one out. The differences may be a little jarring at first, but after several viewings they do become natural, and regardless of how they make one feel, it goes without saying that this is a worthy enough entry in the Hanna Barbara canon.

The Scooby Doo Show is a very good show, though not as good as my childhood favourite Scooby Doo Where Are You? and this is coming from a biased Scooby Doo fan. The animation is perhaps a little dated by today's standards, but not that bad at all. The theme tune is perfectly fine too. Scooby and Shaggy have still got their fun and charm, and there are one or two appearances from Scooby Dumb. As much as I love Fred, Velma and Daphne, Scooby and Shaggy will always be my favourite characters, these two never fail to make me laugh. There are some very memorable villains like the Ice Cream Ghosts, The Gator Ghoul, Ironface and the Jaguaroo, and again, I can't decide which one's my favourite. All in all, not as good as Scooby Doo Where are You, but is still an improvement over most of the stuff with Scrappy in. 9/10 Bethany Cox.

The "Scooby Doo Show" was the third iteration of Scooby Doo following the original "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" show of 1969-70 and "The New Scooby Doo Movies" of 1972-73. This show, which ran from 1976-78, was undoubtedly one of the very best. It succeeds more than the hour long movies and the later Scrappy Doo cartoons because it keeps the basic 30 minute story format of the original show, which is part of what made Scooby so successful. When I was a kid, I had no idea these were all different shows with different productions, etc. (I had to look it up to realize that these old shows came out years apart from each other). As an adult, it's interesting to see how the creators had different ideas and themes for each new Scooby show they would make.

This "Scooby Doo Show" lasted 40 episodes and the monsters are very entertaining and mostly all memorable. The vampire is definitely one of scariest vampires of any cartoon up until that time. The Tar Monster is one of the greats. The maniac doctor at the sanitarium is very scarily drawn. The scariest one for me as a kid was the Diabolical Disc Demon - that one stuck with me for years. Even the weaker monsters are fun in a nostalgic way. Joe Ruby and Ken Spears had a wonderful technique and formula for this show. The formula essentially starts with the introduction of the monster. The gang then comes to town and gets on the case and they start investigating. Velma says, "Jinkies!"; Fred says, "Let's split up"; They find a clue; Shaggy and Scooby look for something to eat; Daphne says, "Jeepers"; Shaggy says, "Zoinks!"; Fred makes Shaggy and Scooby trap the villain and they overcome their fear and catch them in some crazy chase. Once caught, the villain is unmasked and tells everyone, "I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids"; Scooby then says, "Scooby-dooby-dooooo!!!" and it ends. This formula is Scooby Doo at his very best and this 1976-78 show followed it to a "T".

As the previous reviewer rightly stated, the mysteries are actually pretty good and complex for a kids show and the animation is classic Hanna Barbera. Scooby Doo was never ha-ha funny, but there's always several funny bits in every episode and the magic comes from that Scooby is such a good-natured and lovable character. Scooby never once gets mad and he always overcomes his fears to somehow (and sometimes accidentally) catch the villain. I once saw that the characters of Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy are loosely based on their counterparts in the old Dobie Gillis show and that they included the Great Dane and made him the star of the show. Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy act like kids from that generation and always accept each other and work together and we never see them argue or fight. It works perfectly as a kids show as kids never question why these young adults never go to work - they just solve mysteries. I see kids today still getting engrossed in and enjoying these classic episodes that are now 50 years old! The hook is the mystery and the spooky atmosphere that make it stand out from other cartoons. And the endings are always wonderful with the capture and unmasking of the villains.

If you like Scooby Doo and don't know where to start, this and the original two seasons of "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" are the definitive shows to watch. I'll always appreciate the good natured character of Scooby and his friends, especially Shaggy, who is his closest pal. These kinds of characters are like old friends and when you're a kid, you simply enjoy it. When you're an adult and you look back, it's a good memory. Cheers to the creators of this show!

I've seen this "Scooby" show on Cartoon Network, and also when it used to be on TNT. Of course, it was known as "The Scooby Doo Show". This was a great show, pretty much like the other "Scooby" shows before it, but it had some flaws. One was that the groovy music was replaced with a more campy kind of music, and the occasional appearances of Scooby Dumb Scooby Doo's dimwit cousin. I wasn't too crazy for that character. I sometimes wonder if this was the path that led to Scrappy Doo (since we had Scooby Dumb). But overall, it's still a great show. 9/10.