Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (TV series)

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This article refers to the TV series. For other uses, see Scooby-Doo, Where Are You (disambiguation).
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (TV series)
WAY title card.png
Season 1's on-screen title card.
Created by Joe Ruby
Ken Spears
Iwao Takamoto
Network CBS
Production company Hanna-Barbera
Distributor Taft Broadcasting
Original release September 13, 1969October 31, 1970
Run time 22 minutes
Starring Don Messick
Casey Kasem
Stefanianna Christopherson
Frank Welker
Nicole Jaffe
Heather North
Producer(s) William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Music composed by Ted Nichols
Writer(s) Joe Ruby
Ken Spears
Bill Lutz
Director(s) William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Animation director(s) Charles A. Nichols
Series navigation
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Second title card
WAY S2 title card.png
Season 2's on-screen title card.
Third title card
WAY early title card.png
Pre-release version.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is an American animated mystery comedy television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera (H-B) for CBS' Saturday morning children's programming. Every episode was produced and directed by Hanna-Barbera founders, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. It ran from 1969 to 1970, airing 25 episodes that spanned two seasons. The name was brought back by ABC for eight episodes in 1978 (constituting a third season of sorts), although these are usually better known for being part of The Scooby-Doo Show. The series has been rerun on Cartoon Network and Boomerang, and spawned several spin-offs, TV specials, and films.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is about the exploits of four teenagers (damsel in distress Daphne, brainy Velma, nervous hippie Shaggy, brave leader Fred Jones) and their Great Dane named Scooby-Doo who usually happen to walk into a mystery usually involving the exaggerated crime of a criminal (who can be anything between a real-estate developer or jewel thief), who tries to cover up his misdeeds by dressing up as a ghoulish monster. Clues are left in its wake, which the kids (dubbed Mystery Incorporated in later incarnations) find and put together, leading to the discovery of who the culprit is, which the local authorities are unable to do themselves. A large part of the premise of the series is the bungling of Scooby and his owner, Shaggy, who inevitably run into and accidentally capture the monster in one of Fred's intricately devised traps, despite trying to do everything to avoid it.

The entire series has been released on both DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

Production

Development

Fred Silverman, head of daytime/children's programming at CBS, was inspired by the 1940s radio show I Love a Mystery, and elements of the CBS sitcom The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis.[1] Joseph Barbera also tried to do it as the 1934 film House of Mystery, but he felt that it was "too bland."[2]

Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, past editors at Hanna-Barbera, were tasked with creating the story for the show, while Iwao Takamoto designed how each character would look. The concept draft was that Geoff Jones, Mike Andrews, Kelly Summers, Linda Blake, and Linda's brother W.W. attend Laguna Beach High in Southern California. When not attending school, they are a band and mystery solvers called Mystery's Five, with the bongo-playing mascot Too Much, a big shaggy dog.[3]

Too Much was changed to a Great Dane called Scooby-Doo, to avoid comparisons to Marmaduke. "Scooby-Doo" apparently came from CBS children's programming executive, Fred Silverman, who was on a plane one day listening to Frank Sinatra sing "Strangers in the Night," although according to Takamoto in his book My Life with a Thousand Characters, there was another dog called Scooby he saw in the Hanna-Barbera archives dating back to the early 1960s.[4]

W.W. was also removed, while Linda became Daphne, Kelly became Velma, Mike became Shaggy, and Geoff became Ronnie and finally Fred (at the behest of Silverman). The idea of them being in a band was removed as well as the high school setting, with only the implication that they still live in California. After the spookiness was ill-received, Scooby was put at the forefront, with the working title of Who's S-S-Scared? now called Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

Casting

Frank Welker was doing a Friskies dog food commercial when he was informed by the casting agent's fiancé that she was casting for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You![5] He initially went in to read for Scooby-Doo,[6] but was told not to worry, as that would go to H-B veteran Don Messick.[5] He also wanted to audition for Shaggy Rogers, who he found more appealing than the "guy in an ascot." Casey Kasem also came into an audition for Fred, but Hanna-Barbera preferred the actors in the opposite roles.[5] Barbera advised Welker to just use his own voice because he and Fred were around the same age, and to think of Jack the All-American Boy.[6]

Kasem auditioned for Shaggy a few times, drawing inspiration from both KRLA disc jockey Dave Hull and Richard Crenna's performance as Walter Denton in the film Our Miss Brooks.[7]

Nicole Jaffe was spotted by Gordon Hunt when she was playing Peppermint Patty in a stage production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. She had no aspirations in voice acting, simply taking the job because she needed to make a living.[8] She adlibbed Velma's catchphrase, "Jinkies."[6]

Stefanianna Christopherson was the first to voice Daphne, but left after the first season to get married. She was replaced with Heather North, who auditioned at the suggestion of her roommate at the time, who just happened to be none other than Jaffe.[9]

Music

The theme song's lyrics were written by David Mook, while Ben Raleigh wrote the music, which was performed by Larry Marks in the first season, then by George A. Robertson, Jr. in the second. The music was composed by Ted Nichols, who was credited as the musical director. Also in the second season, La La Productions produced seven "chase songs" set to bubblegum pop genre, which were also performed by Robertson Jr., and written mainly by Danny Janssen, with contributions from both Robertson Jr. and Susan Steward.

Episodes

Title Number Original air date
"What a Night for a Knight" 1x01 September 13, 1969
"A Clue for Scooby-Doo" 1x02 September 20, 1969
"Hassle in the Castle" 1x03 September 27, 1969
"Mine Your Own Business" 1x04 October 4, 1969
"Decoy for a Dognapper" 1x05 October 11, 1969
"What the Hex Going On?" 1x06 October 18, 1969
"Never Ape an Ape Man" 1x07 October 25, 1969
"Foul Play in Funland" 1x08 November 1, 1969
"The Backstage Rage" 1x09 November 8, 1969
"Bedlam in the Big Top" 1x10 November 15, 1969
"A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts" 1x11 November 22, 1969
"Scooby-Doo and a Mummy, Too" 1x12 November 29, 1969
"Which Witch is Which?" 1x13 December 6, 1969
"Go Away Ghost Ship" 1x14 December 13, 1969
"Spooky Space Kook" 1x15 December 20, 1969
"A Night of Fright is No Delight" 1x16 January 10, 1970
"That's Snow Ghost" 1x17 January 17, 1970
"Nowhere to Hyde" 2x01 September 12, 1970
"Mystery Mask Mix-Up" 2x02 September 19, 1970
"Jeepers, It's the Creeper" 2x03 September 26, 1970
"Scooby's Night with a Frozen Fright" 2x04 October 3, 1970
"Haunted House Hang-Up" 2x05 October 10, 1970
"A Tiki Scare is No Fair" 2x06 October 17, 1970
"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Werewolf" 2x07 October 24, 1970
"Don't Fool with a Phantom" 2x08 October 31, 1970

Release

Dates are in order of release:

Cast

Credits

These identical credits appeared at the end of every episode.

Season one

Season two

Crossovers

Title Number Original air date
Johnny Bravo: "Bravo Dooby-Doo" 1 July 21, 1997
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law: "Shaggy Busted" 2 July 7, 2002
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law: "Identity Theft" 3 October 23, 2005
Supernatural: "Scoobynatural" 4 March 29, 2019
Teen Titans Go!: "Cartoon Feud" 5 October 4, 2019

Legacy

The formula of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! proved so popular that Hanna-Barbera repeated it ELEVEN times throughout the next decade: Josie and the Pussycats, The Funky Phantom, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, Speed Buggy, Butch Cassidy, Super Friends, Goober and the Ghost Chasers, Clue Club, Jabberjaw, Pebbles, Dino and Bamm-Bamm, as well as Ruby-Spears' Fangface.

Hanna-Barbera did its first extended-length episode with a TV special called Scooby Goes Hollywood, which retconned Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! as a TV series the characters filmed. It also included an origin of how Scooby was adopted from a pet store.

After the last spin-off, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, died out in 1991, the franchise laid pretty much dominant until 1998, when Hanna-Barbera revived it with the direct-to-video film Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, that had the gang grown out of their mystery solving phase and found real jobs as adults, only to get together again to solve a real supernatural mystery. The movie was successful in the video market, and Hanna-Barbera was able to produce three others, with Warner Bros. as their distributor. These first four dropped the signature outfits of Daphne and Fred, giving them a mature look.

When Hanna-Barbera ceased operations in 2001, Warner Bros. could officially use their own animation department, Warner Bros. Animation, and since 2003, have returned to the familiar nostalgic look presented in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! essentially continuing the series in movie form (similar to when feature-length films would continue where Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation left off).

These include:

In a similar fashion, there had also been several direct-to-DVD short films from 2012 to 2015.

In 2002, after being in several script stages since the 1990s, Warner Bros. Pictures released a big screen live-action adaptation called Scooby-Doo, followed by a 2004 sequel called Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. There have also been two other live-action versions that went straight-to-DVD, with both being origin stories; the first being Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins and Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster, which were marketed as prequels to Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, and the second and last but definitely least, Daphne & Velma. *cricket* What's notable about the movie is not just its emphasis on female empowerment (which happens to be during the Me Too movement), which nobody is saying is a bad thing, but had to do it without having Shaggy or Fred, or even Scooby-Doo. Oh, I've only there was a way around having independent young women without losing the rest of the team.

In 2020, Warner Bros. Pictures rebooted Hanna-Barbera's properties into a unified cartoon universe called Scoob!, which presented a new take on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

There have also been television reboots in the form of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated and Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!, both firmly set in their own isolated universes as reboots usually are, although the former apparently made such a big impact on Warner Bros. Animation that the feature-length direct-to-DVD films have had several references that apparently made the continuity of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo no longer possible.

When The Lego Group was licensed by Warner Bros. to manufacture toys, they also collaborated with Warner Bros. Animation to release the TV special, Lego Scooby-Doo! Knight Time Terror (2015), and two DTVs, Lego Scooby-Doo! Haunted Hollywood (2016) and Lego Scooby-Doo! Blowout Beach Bash (2017).

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was eventually continued in a loose way with Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?, from 2015 to 2019.

In 2021, The CW aired a prime-time "reunion special" (despite never spending time apart, as pointed out by Velma) called Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now!

In popular culture

  • In the film Toy Story 3, Mr. Potato Head says "meddling toys" in the way a villain would say "meddling kids."
  • In The Cleveland Show episode "A Nightmare on Grace Street," Cleveland and Rallo are forced to put an end to their feud by staying in a spooky mansion at night on Halloween. Rallo says it's nice, but Cleveland responded that it "seemed a little Scooby-Doo." He then says "Zoinks" like Shaggy, and jumps on Rallo like Scooby would jump on Scooby, with appropriate sound effects. Rallo then feeds him a dog biscuit, with Cleveland responding in a happy Scooby-like tone.
  • In the Comic Book Men episode "Ghostbusting in the Stash," Kevin Smith ends the show with "They would've gotten away with it, too."
  • In the Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy episode "Tough Luck Chuck," Hot Shot and Whirl chase a malfunctioning Tough Luck Chuck through doors in their base, similarly to how the monsters chase the gang through doors.
  • In the Superstore episode "Biscuit," store manager Glenn tried to get Dana back to overseeing security (after she had filled in from him while he was self-isolating during a possible COVID-19 infection), by creating a poorly made threatening letter, causing Dana to scoff and say, "Cut out letters from a magazine? What is this, Scooby-Doo?"

Disney's Doug

  • "Doug's Bloody Buddy:" A fantasy in the teaser depicts Doug and his friends as the Scooby Gang, who are looking for the Bluffington Vampire.
  • "Quailman VII: Quail Dad:" Golden Salmon said, "I would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those Quails."

The Fairly OddParents

Main article: The Fairly OddParents
  • Channel Chasers: Timmy, Wanda and Cosmo are sent into a parody of Scooby-Doo called "Snooper Dog and the Clue Crew."
  • "The Wand That Got Away:" Timmy and the fairy gang take on the roles of Mystery Inc.

Jeopardy!

Main article: Jeopardy!

Robot Chicken

Main article: Robot Chicken
  • "Operation Rich in Spirit:" In the last skit, "A Scooby Friday," Mystery Inc. goes sleuthing at Camp Crystal Lake where they all get killed by Jason Voorhies, except for Velma, as she is a virgin. Jason Voorhies, who's really an old man, rectifies this by sleeping with Velma. The voices of Mystery Inc. are provided by those who starred in the first two live-action movies, except for Dave Coulier as Scooby.
  • "Help Me:"
  • "Malcolm X: Fully Loaded:" Zune Man breaks the CD on CD's chest, responding with a mocking, "Ruh-roh."
  • "Punctured Jugular:"
  • "Cheese Puff Mountain:"
  • "Scoot to the Gute:"
  • "Jew #1 Opens a Treasure Chest:"
  • "Snoopy Camino Lindo in: Quick and Dirty Squirrel Shot:"
  • "May Cause the Need for Speed:"

Supergirl

  • "Prom Night!:" Alex said that when Kara was younger she and her boyfriend had appointed themselves Midvale's "Scooby-Duo" by all the rescues they had made.
  • "Welcome Back, Kara!:" Supergirl is so shaken from her time in the Phantom Zone, that she says couldn't even take an episode of Scooby-Doo.

Teen Titans Go!

Main article: Teen Titans Go!

The Venture Bros.

Main article: The Venture Bros.
  • "Ghosts of the Sargasso:" Dean unmasks a fake ghost pirate as if the latter was a Scooby-Doo villain.
  • "Return to Spider-Skull Island:" The opening of the episode begins with the team returning home after having been involved in a ghost case at a cineplex, which involved them wearing ridiculous disguises and tearing off the mask of a criminal.
  • "Assassinanny 911:" Kim makes the connection between Fred and Hank by referring to the latter as "the Scooby-Doo kid."
  • Twenty Years to Midnight: Colonel Gentleman had made a list when he was an old man of toys he would've wanted when he was a kid, but hadn't been invented yet, which includes a Scooby-Doo monster game of some sort.
  • "Victor. Echo. November.:" Triana directly points out that Hank Venture dresses like Fred.
  • "¡Viva los Muertos!:" The gang are reenvisioned as middle-aged serial killers and radical figures: Fred is Ted (Ted Bundy), Shaggy is Sonny (David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz), Daphne is Patty (Patty Hearst), Velma is Val (Valerie Solanas), and Scooby is Groovy (Harvey, Berkowitz's neighbor's dog), who are collectively known as the Groovy Gang who drive in the Groovy Van. Ted bribes Sonny to get out of the van with pills called "groovy treats," which makes Sonny run toward them in a comical effect.
  • "The Buddy System:" The Pirate Captain offers an activity at Dr. Venture's boy adventurer day camp, which allows a camper to learn how to be, for example, the ghost Miner Forty-Niner to stop meddling kids from getting their gold.
  • "Now Museum--Now You Don't:" J.J. described what his brother was wearing as a "Scooby-Doo purple suit."
  • "The Lepidopterists:" The Monarch was criticized for using the word "retard," but he wasn't going to say "bungling boobs" or "meddling kids."
  • "Self-Medication:" Action Johnny mocks the group after seeing a real snake, that it isn't an old lighthouse keeper in a rubber mask. Also, while in the car ride to Nightin' Ale's, Dr. Venture responds to a discussion on whether or not Daphne and Velma had sex, with him believing Daphne got around, while Velma didn't because she was gay, although he never gets to finish the latter though. Jonny reveals that the herpes he got from her says otherwise.
  • "Sphinx Rising:" When Mrs. The Monarch asks the Monarch how exactly they're going to get into the Venture compound even with their disguises, he has no idea and simply responds, "With our Scooby-Dooby-Doo magic masks."

Merchandise

Home media

VHSes began in the 1980s, DVDs began in 2000, while Blu-ray Discs began in 2020.

Reading material

The first comics to feature Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! were published by Gold Key Comics between the first and second seasons, which originally began with a mixture of episode adaptations and original stories, before only doing the latter. The series lasted 30 issues (and from the seventeenth was retitled Scooby-Doo... Mystery Comics), between 1970 to 1975. The current publisher is DC Comics, a subsidiary of Warner Bros.' parent company TimeWarner/AOL-TimeWarner/TimeWarner/WarnerMedia/Warner Bros. Discovery.

Between 2016 to 2019, DC Comics published a horror post-apocalyptic retelling called Scooby Apocalypse. They referred to it as their "crown jewel" among the other dramatic modern retellings of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, but was canceled in 2019 when Warner Bros. reportedly no longer appreciated this darker version, ending the entire line-up. The cancellation did not interfere with the ending, however.

Toys

Toys of Scooby, Fred, Shaggy, Daphne, and Velma first popped up via Equity in 1999, when Warner Bros. knew Scooby-Doo was a goldmine in sales. In Europe, Character Toys were given the license.

As mentioned above, The Lego Group released minifigures and playsets inspired by episodes of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Eventually, these were discontinued when Playmobil took over.

Since 2017, Figures Toy Company released action figures based on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, which included monsters with removable masks.

Board game mysteries

Milton Bradley released the first board game in 1973 entitled Scooby-Doo Game: Where Are You!

Joystick mysteries

The first video game based on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was Mattel Electronic's Scooby-Doo's Maze Chase in 1983.

A reel good time

Viewmaster reels based on the episodes have been sold infrequently between 1972 to 1999, by companies such as GAF, Tyco, and Fisher-Price.

References

  1. ^ Sennett, Ted (October 30, 1989). The Art of Hanna-Barbera, page 157. Viking Studio Books. Retrieved November 25, 2022.
  2. ^ Mallory, Michael (May 5, 2022). "What Will Scooby Do?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  3. ^ Takamoto, Iwao, Mallory, Michael (March 30, 2009) Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters, page 127. University Press of Mississippi. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  4. ^ Takamoto, Iwao, Mallory, Michael (March 30, 2009) Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters, page 125. University Press of Mississippi. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Alter, Ethan (September 13, 2019). "'Scooby-Doo' at 50: Original cartoon voice talks spinoffs, pot jokes and who's the gang's stealth MVP". Yahoo. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  6. ^ a b c Ryan, Patrick (September 3, 2019). "'Scooby-Doo' at 50: Cast, creative team reflect on celebrity guests, origins of 'Jinkies!'". USA Today. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  7. ^ Korkis, Jim (June 18, 2021). "In His Own Words: Casey Kasem on Shaggy". Cartoon Research. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  8. ^ Nobleman, Marc Tyler (October 10, 2011). "Super ‘70s and ‘80s: “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!”—Nicole David (Jaffe) (Velma 1, 1969-74)". Noblemania. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  9. ^ Nobleman, Marc Tyler (October 11, 2011). "Super ‘70s and ‘80s: “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!”—Heather Kenney (North) (Daphne 2, beginning in season 2, 1970)". Noblemania. Retrieved July 22, 2022.