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What would the world be like without the great Scooby
Doo? A sadder and darker place to be sure... Some of my fondest
childhood memories (and some not from my childhood...) revolve around Scooby:
Coming home from school and sitting in front of the TV for a half-hour
of pure FUN. Or watching it with my son, who is as hooked on Scooby
as I ever was. Yea, the mysteries were cheesy, the villains weren't
all that scary, and there were a lot of technical mistakes on the show
(is Scooby Dumb Scooby Doo's Brother or Cousin? Before you
answer be sure to watch the episode The Headless Horseman of Holloween,
Shaggy calls Dumb BOTH...) but all-in-all they just didn't make 'em any
better, and thanks to cable TV stations like The Cartoon Network, TNT and
TBS a whole new generation of Scooby fans are getting their fill of that
lovable hound.
Originally you had Scooby Doo, Where Are You? with "The Gang": Fred Jones, Velma Dinkley, Daphne Blake, Norville "Shaggy" Rogers and, of course, Scoobert "Scooby" Doo. And, let us not forget, the Mystery Machine, which was almost a character unto itself. And they were all happily driving around, stopping at all the haunted houses, eating EVERYTHING in sight, and solving mysteries. I wish I could have that much fun without ever having to work (Fred and Shaggy did get construction jobs once but....)
And then they added some other characters: Scooby Dumb, Scooby Dee and a host of other Scooby relatives (the Scooby Doo Show), and various guest stars including: Jonathan Winters, Tim Conway, the Three Stooges and Don Knotts (the New Scooby Doo Movies) And it still was a good show. I love these episodes almost as much as I love the original ones from 1969, although some of the Movies did get a touch out of hand...
The only real drawback to the whole Scooby Doo experience has been, you guessed it, sCRAPPY DOO, the terror of true Scooby fan's everywhere. (I'm not overly fond of A Pup Named Scooby Doo either but at least sCrappy isn't in it...) I don't know who was responsible for the invention of the sCrappy one... but they should be taken out and shot, several times. The show has survived many changes since it was first introduced September of 1969, but, in my opinion, The Scooby and sCrappy Doo Show and The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo (another sCrappy version) came near to killing it forever... Now the mysteries were even cheesier, half of the gang was missing, and sCrappy was constantly giving us such forgettable quotes as, "ta-da-da-Da-da-da, Puppy Power!", over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. Pardon me while I get sick (yech!!!)
But Scooby has not only survived, he has thrived... retaining his place as one of the best loved characters in Cartoon history. Currently shown just about around the clock on such channels as The Cartoon Network, and the Turner Networks. (TNT and TBS) Thanks to them; Scooby will live forever.
And
he has! On the 22nd of September 1998, Warner Bros. home video
released Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, a fresh look
at those characters we all love so much. Updated for the new generation
of Scooby Lovers, as well as the old (OK so I'm old, so what?), The story
picks up by filling us in on just what the gang has been up to since the
end of the TV series... Would you believe Velma as the owner of a
mystery book store? Daphne as the host of a TV talk show, with Fred
as her producer? Shaggy and Scooby as customs agents at an airport?
Soon they are all drawn together (in a BRAND NEW Mystery Machine!) to go on a quest for a REAL haunted house to use on Daphne's show. And do they ever find one! Not just another "bad guy in a monster mask" story about the gang; this is the story about what happens when they really do stumble across a bunch of Zombies. Set on a haunted island in the Bayous of Louisiana, it even has new "chase" music, just like the good old days! A must have for any true Scooby Lover.
