52 years of mystery- The history of Scooby Doo
Chase Bridges, Assistant Editor
On September 13th, 1969 a cartoon character entered pop culture and began a legacy that would last over fifty years. Scooby-Doo is an animated (and sometimes live-action) dog who has a big history and even bigger fan base.
Saturday morning cartoons were a huge staple in the sixties. Kids and adults alike loved watching all of the wacky characters to kick off the weekend. However, towards the end of the decade, cartoons started to face backlash from parent-run organizations due to all of the violence.
Most of the cartoons that were getting so much hate were created by the animation studio Hanna-Barbera. This caused the company to lose most of its flagship shows. With their lineup in shambles, Hanna-Barbera began developing cartoons that were safe for children.
Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears pitched a show called “The Mysteries Five,” a show featuring five teenagers (Geoff, Mike, Kelly, Linda, and W.W) who also had a pet dog, who played the bongos, named Too Much.
The Mysteries Five were not only a group of teenage friends, but they were also a band. And when they weren’t busy playing gigs, they were solving mysteries. The writers, along with artist Iwao Takamoto continued to work on the concept, making some changes.
They got rid of the character, Mike. Then changed Geoff’s name to Ronnie, who eventually became Fred. Kelly’s name became Daphne, Linda became Velma, and W.W became Shaggy. They even changed the name of the show to “Who’s S-S-Scared?”
The studio decided that it was too scary for children and passed on the show. But Ruby and Spears continued working on the concept. They decided to make it more comedic in tone and dropped the rock band element to focus more on Shaggy and his dog Too Much.
This version is almost the show we know and love today, but it wasn’t until hearing Frank Sinatra scatting “Doo Be Doo Be Doo” that they changed Too Much’s name to Scooby-Doo. They then renamed the show “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” This new version of the show was pitched to CBS and was picked up for their Saturday morning cartoon lineup.
“Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” ran from 1969 until 1978 with a total of forty-one episodes and three seasons. The show was a huge success for the studio and quickly became a fan favorite.
During the show’s initial run, the studio began producing other Scooby-Doo content such as “The New Scooby-Doo Movies.” Hour-long episodes featuring guest stars like the Harlem Globetrotters, Batman and Robin, and The Addams Family. “The New Scooby-Doo Movies” ran from 1972-1973 and released twenty-four episodes.
“The New Scooby-Doo Movies” finished its run, and reruns played of “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” on CBS until 1976. This is when CBS decided not to renew their option with the show.
This led to the television network, ABC made a deal with Hanna-Barbera to bring a new Scooby-Doo show onto their network.
The ABC era of Scooby-Doo lasted from 1976 until 1991 and went through several changes over the years. Starting with the creation of “The Scooby-Doo Show.”
“The Scooby-Doo Show” was made fresh by introducing Scooby-Dum as a recurring character. Scooby-Dum is Scooby-Doo’s dumb country cousin who would show up and be frustratingly stupid.
After ratings started to slip for Scooby and the gang, ABC threw in a new character to add some excitement to the show. Just like that, Scooby Doo’s nephew, Scrappy, made his debut. The idea actually worked, as the ratings started making their way back up. This led the studio to rename the show “Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo.”
ABC also didn’t care much for all of the members of Mystery Inc. and wanted to focus mainly on Scooby and Shaggy. As well as Scooby’s family members like Scrappy and Scooby Dum. This led to the characters of Fred, Velma, and Daphne being removed from the show for some iterations.
Scooby-Doo and Scrappy (along with Shaggy) would continue to get new animated shows as “The Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Shorts”, and “The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show.” began to air on ABC.
After these two versions went off the air, Scooby-Doo would quickly return with a new show, “The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby-Doo.” This version of the show, airing in 1985, brought back the character Daphne from the original “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?”
“The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby-Doo” saw Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, Daphne, and new characters Flim-Flam and Vincent Van Ghoul, traveling around the globe trying to capture the thirteen most dangerous ghosts in the world.
After Thirteen Ghosts aired its final episode in 1986, it would be two whole years before we saw Scooby again.
In 1988, Hanna-Barbera revamped the original cast of “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” as elementary schoolers – a common television trend at the time. The show “A Pup Named Scooby-Doo” was a big hit, going on to air for four seasons.
For the rest of the eighties and most of the nineties, Scooby-Doo reruns were all that you were going to get when it came to Scooby-Doo content. It wasn’t until 1998 that Warner Bros, who had acquired Hanna-Barbera, began to release direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movies every year.
They would go on to release four direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movies. “Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island”, “Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost”, “Scooby-Doo and Alien Invaders”, and “Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase.”
These movies took the original characters of “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” and made them a bit older. These films also saw Mystery Inc solving mysteries that featured actual ghosts, as opposed to just men in masks. The direct-to-video model was so successful that they continue to release new ones every single year.
However, the direct-to-video movies aren’t the only Scooby-Doo content that has been released since 1998. In 2002 and 2004, two live-action Scooby-Doo movies were released theatrically. The movies did very well in the box office and continue to be fan favorites.
On the television side of Scooby-Doo, 2002 was the year that “What’s New Scooby-Doo?” started airing on the Kid’s WB network. This version of the show was very similar to the original, however, it was set in the 21st century. Most of the original voice cast came back to reprise their roles for this series.
After three seasons of “What’s New Scooby-Doo?”, which were very successful, a new Scooby-Doo show aired in 2006 titled “Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get A Clue.” This show was very different from what we had seen before, changing up the art style and even the format of the mysteries.
“Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get A Clue” followed the ABC format of only starring Shaggy and Scooby. Although this time, unlike in previous incarnations, Fred, Daphne, and Velma would make appearances from time to time. The show lasted for two seasons and did not do well critically.
It was time for a new version of Scooby-Doo and the gang to hit the small screen. In 2010 on Cartoon Network, it came back in a big way. “Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated” was a complete reboot of the classic franchise.
The show reintroduced the classic characters, villains, relationships, and stories while expanding the world of Scooby and creating a lot of new characters and lore. The show built on the long and dense history of Scooby-Doo to flesh out a really in-depth show.
The show also introduced a long arcing story format. Each episode acts as a chapter in one big mystery. The show was a huge fan favorite and ran for fifty-two episodes over the course of two seasons.
After the huge success of “Mystery Incorporated”, a new Scooby-Doo series was released. “Be Cool Scooby-Doo” hit Cartoon Network in 2014. The show saw our favorite crime-solving best friends, in a more adult animated setting. Following the format of shows like “The Simpsons” and “Rick and Morty.”
The show ran until 2018 when it was canceled by Cartoon Network. Scooby-Doo fans didn’t have to wait long for a new show, however, as “’Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?” aired in 2019.
The show still currently airs and features tons of guest stars, much like the format of “The New Scooby-Doo Movies” show from the seventies. The show is currently airing on the Boomerang Streaming Service App and features guests such as Bill Nye, Wonder Woman, and Sherlock Holmes.
Scooby-Doo has had a very long history in pop culture. Every generation grew up with some version of these characters, whether it be the original series, the direct-to-video movies, or the more recent shows. North Greenville Students have their own favorite incarnations of the beloved franchise as well.
Elementary education major, Lydia Kytle said that her favorite version of Scooby-Doo was the 2010 iteration, “Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.”
“It’s the version I’m most familiar with,” Kytle said. “I remember watching episodes of it when I was growing up, and I recently binge-watched all of it with my sister.”
Senior football player Jacob Stone, had a different opinion when it came to Scooby and the gang. Choosing the show “What’s New Scooby-Doo?” as his personal favorite. He was not alone.
A poll created for North Greenville students showed that “What’s New Scooby-Doo?” was the overall NGU fan favorite for current students. However, NGU Alumni had different ideas.
Alumni Caroline Hartzog said that her favorite version of Scooby-Doo is the direct-to-video movies from 1998-2002.
“I loved Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders.” Hartzog continued, “That whole era.”
As this month marks the 52nd anniversary of the beloved cartoon dog, it’s fun to look back on everything that has been created. The hundreds of hours of television and film that one cartoon character has created for half of a century. All of the memories, laughs, and childhoods that it formed. And it all started on a Saturday morning.
*Featured Image: The Mystery Machine – photo courtesy of Unsplash.com.
