Scooby Doo, Scooby Moo, Scooby You? [OK It Was Hard To Think Of A Title :(] (Scooby Doo)

Member Name: GramiWay

Product:	Scooby Doo
Date:	16/06/09 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: See review

Disadvantages: See review

In my opinion, alongside possibly Tom and Jerry and The Flintstones, Scooby Doo is one of the greatest cartoons ever made. The show actually began in 1969 under the title 'Scooby Doo - Where Are You?'. Since then it has gone on to spawn various other cartoon spin offs and had a revival in the middle of this decade due to the two feature length movies made about the characters.

Like the aforementioned shows as well as other classics, Scooby was the brain child of the Hannah and Barbara camp and its fair to say that the show was on fine form until the irritating Scrappy Doo was introduced in the late 1980s though it seems that people saw sense and the runt was removed from later adaptations as well as being a central villain in one of the cinema features.

The title character is a clumsy, greedy and cowardly great dane who accompanies his companions on various mysteries that often involve a criminal masquerading as some form of ghost to get treasure or some other object. Scooby has had many companions over the years though the original four and in my personal opinion, the only ones worth mentioning are Fred, Shaggy, Daphne and Velma - four teenagers who drive around in their hippy inspired van known as the mystery machine solving crimes as they go.

Each episode follows the same sort of structure with the gang somehow or other stumbling across a town or old building that is being plagued by some type of 'monster'. They start to investigate gathering clues as they go and being spooked by the creature in question until through some sort of crazy trap they manage to capture the culprit and unmask them.

What makes the franchise so successful even now 40 years on is that the jokes never wear thin. The show has moved on from the retro and rather camp, innuendo based comedy of its early years and has now become all trendy and modern to appeal to a new audience as well as keeping the show alive.

The unforgettable catchphrase 'and I'd have gotten away with it to, if it wasn't for those meddling kids' and Scooby and Shaggy's fondness for Scooby Snacks are just some of the pop culture sayings the show has created.

Even myself at 21 have fond memories of Scooby Doo from my childhood and I have to say growing up it was my favourite show to watch.

There's a character that everybody can identify with, even if they are a little stereotyped from the cowardly yet loveable Shaggy who is Scooby's best friend and presumably owner, to the authoritarian Fred who is the leader of the group and often comes up with ideas for plans and comes across as a bit of a know it all. We then have the ditzy Daphne who is usually the one to get captured buy the villain or bumble about and cause some sort of misfortune to the group's plans.

Finally we have the brainiac with glasses that is the wonderful Velma and her saying 'Jinkies'! Not only is it hilarious when she loses her glasses but she is usually the member of Mystery INC who delivers a lot of dialogue at the end of the episode and puts all the clues together the gang have gathered whilst also appearing as the brains of the group.

I've already mentioned the pest that was Scrappy Doo but depending on the various reincarnations of the show that you watch you can also come across Scooby's cousin Scooby Dum, Flim Flam or psychic Vincent Van Ghoul. After two series of 'Scooby Doo - Where Are You?', there has also been 'The Scooby Doo Show', 'The Scooby Doo Mysteries', 'A Pup Named Scooby Doo' and more recently 'What's New Scooby Doo?' and a large number of straight to television animated movies as well as the live versions from 2002 and 2004.

Finding information on the cartoon is easy just by entering 'Scooby Doo' into Google for example, you can come across pictures, episode guides and practically everything you need to know about this classic show. And of course there's still merchandise available everywhere proving the continued popularity of the show.

The franchise essentially at its core is about promoting wrong and right and that crime is bad.

It's a great moral message for children delivered through witty and camp dialogue and bright and energetic characters. Some of the ghosts that have shown up over the years had me a bit freaked such as the ghost of Hyde or the zombies and cat people from the feature length movie, 'Scooby Doo On Zombie Island' but I think its safe to say that is a great show to let your children watch as Scooby Doo is one of those things that will never die and will continue to capture the minds of children for generations to come whilst still holding a firm place in many people's hearts.

Summary: One of the best TV shows ever if not the best children's show