   #copyright

Scooby-Doo

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Cartoons; Television

   Scooby-Doo
   A scene from "What a Night for a Knight", the first episode of
   Scooby-Doo, Where are You! Clockwise from top: Shaggy, Fred,
   Scooby-Doo, Velma, and Daphne.
   Genre Animation/ Mystery
   Running time
   Creator(s) Joe Ruby and Ken Spears
   (uncredited; official credit is given to William Hanna and Joseph
   Barbera)
   Starring
   Country of origin Flag of United States  United States
   Original channel CBS ( 1969– 1976)
   ABC ( 1976– 1986, 1988– 1991)
   The WB ( 2002– 2005)
   CW ( 2006–)
   Original run September 13, 1969–
   No. of episodes 374 (as of October 18, 2006)
   Official website

   Scooby-Doo is the longest-running American animated television series
   produced for Saturday morning television in several different versions
   from 1969 to the present. The series was created by Joe Ruby and Ken
   Spears for Hanna-Barbera Productions, who produced numerous spin-offs
   and related works until being absorbed in 1997 into Warner Bros, which
   has handled production since then. Though the format of the show and
   the cast (and ages) of characters have varied significantly over the
   years, the most familiar versions of the show feature a talking Great
   Dane named Scooby-Doo and four teenagers: Fred "Freddie" Jones, Daphne
   Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers.

   These five characters (officially referred to collectively as "Mystery,
   Inc.", but never referred to as such in the original series) drive
   around the world in a van called the "Mystery Machine," and solve
   mysteries typically involving tales of ghosts and other supernatural
   forces. At the end of each episode, the supernatural forces turn out to
   have a rational explanation (usually a criminal of some sort trying to
   scare people away so that they can commit crimes). Later versions of
   the show featured different variations on the supernatural theme of the
   show, and include additional characters, such as Scooby's cousin
   Scooby-Dum and nephew Scrappy-Doo, in addition to or instead of some of
   the original characters.

   Scooby-Doo was originally broadcast on CBS from 1969 to 1976, when it
   moved to ABC. ABC cancelled the show in 1986, but presented a spin-off,
   A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, from 1988 until 1991. A new Scooby-Doo series,
   What's New, Scooby-Doo?, aired on the WB Network during the Kids' WB!
   programming block from 2002 until 2005. The current Scooby-Doo series,
   Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, airs Saturday mornings on The CW
   network. Repeats of the original series, as well as second-run episodes
   of What's New, Scooby-Doo?, are broadcast frequently on the Cartoon
   Network and Boomerang in the United States and other countries.

Production history

Creation and development

   In 1968, Fred Silverman, executive in charge of children's programming
   for the CBS network, was looking for a show that would revitalize his
   Saturday morning line-up and please the watchdog groups at the same
   time. The result was The Archie Show, based upon Bob Montana's teenage
   humor comic book Archie. Also successful were the musical numbers The
   Archies performed during each program (one of which, " Sugar, Sugar",
   was the most successful Billboard number-one hit of 1969). Silverman
   was eager to expand upon this success, and contacted producers William
   Hanna and Joseph Barbera about possibly creating another show based
   around a teenage rock-group, but with an extra element: the kids would
   solve mysteries in-between their gigs. Silverman envisioned the show as
   a cross between the popular I Love a Mystery radio serials of the 1940s
   and the popular early 1960s TV show The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

   Hanna and Barbera passed this task along to two of their head storymen,
   Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, and artist/character designer Iwao Takamoto.
   Their original concept of the show bore the title Mysteries Five, and
   featured five teens (Geoff, Mike, Kelly, Linda, and Linda's brother
   "W.W.") and their dog, Too Much, who were all in a band called "The
   Mysteries Five" (even the dog; he played the bongos). When "The
   Mysteries Five" weren't performing at gigs, they were out solving
   spooky mysteries involving ghosts, zombies, and other supernatural
   creatures. Ruby and Spears then had to decide what to make their dog.
   At first, they chose between a large cowardly dog, and a small fiesty
   dog. When the former was chosen, then the options became a large goofy
   Great Dane or a big shaggy sheepdog. After consulting with Barbera on
   the issue, Too Much was finally set as a Great Dane, primarily to avoid
   a direct correlation to The Archies (who had a sheepdog, Hot Dog, in
   their band). Ruby and Spears had feared the Great Dane would be too
   similar to the comic strip character Marmaduke, but Barbera assured
   them it would not be a problem.

   Takamoto consulted a studio colleague who happened to be a breeder of
   Great Danes. After learning the characteristics of a prize-winning
   Great Dane from her, Takamoto proceeded to break most of the rules and
   designed Too Much with overly bowed legs, a double-chin, and a sloped
   back, among other abnormalities.

   By the time the show was ready for presentation by Silverman, a few
   more things had changed: Geoff and Mike were merged into one character
   called "Ronnie" (later renamed " Fred", at Silverman's behest), Kelly
   was renamed to " Daphne", Linda was now called " Velma", and Shaggy
   (formerly "W.W.") was no longer her brother. Also, Silverman, not being
   very fond of the name Mysteries Five, had rechristened the show Who's
   S-S-Scared? Using storyboards, presentation boards, and a short
   completed animation sequence, Silverman presented Who's S-S-Scared? to
   the CBS executives as the centerpiece for the upcoming 1969–1970
   season's Saturday morning cartoon block. The executives felt that the
   presentation artwork was far too frightening for young viewers, and,
   thinking the show would be the same, decided to pass on it.

   Now without a centerpiece for the upcoming season's programming,
   Silverman turned to Ruby and Spears, who reworked the show to make it
   more comedic and less frightening. They dropped the rock band element,
   and began to focus more attention on Shaggy and Too Much. According to
   Ruby and Spears, Silverman was inspired by an ad-lib he heard in Frank
   Sinatra's interpretation of Bert Kaempfert's song "Strangers in the
   Night" on the way out to one of their meetings, and decided to rename
   the dog " Scooby-Doo" and re-rechristened the show Scooby-Doo, Where
   are You! The revised show was re-presented to CBS executives, who
   approved it for production.

Scooby-Doo television series

The CBS years

   Scooby-Doo, Where are You! made its CBS network debut on Saturday,
   September 13, 1969 with its first episode, "What a Night for a Knight".
   The original voice cast featured Don Messick as Scooby-Doo, Casey Kasem
   as Shaggy, Frank Welker as Fred, Nicole Jaffe as Velma, and Stefanianna
   Christopherson as Daphne. Seventeen episodes of Scooby-Doo were
   produced in 1969.

   The influences of I Love a Mystery and Dobie Gillis were especially
   apparent in these early episodes; Mark Evanier, who would write
   Scooby-Doo teleplays and comic book scripts in the 1970s and 1980s,
   identified each of the four teenagers with their corresponding Dobie
   Gillis character: "Fred was based on Dobie, Velma on Zelda, Daphne on
   Thalia and Shaggy on Maynard." The similarities between Shaggy and
   Maynard are the most noticeable; both characters share the same
   beatnik-style goatee, similar hairstyles, and demeanours. The roles of
   each character are strongly defined in the series: Fred is the leader
   and the determined detective, Velma is the intelligent analyst, Daphne
   is danger-prone and vain, and Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are cowardly types
   more motivated by hunger than any desire to solve mysteries. Later
   versions of the show would make slight changes to the characters'
   established roles, most notably in the character of Daphne, shown in
   1990s and 2000s Scooby-Doo productions as knowing many forms of karate
   and being able to defend herself.

   The plot of each Scooby-Doo episode followed a formula that would serve
   as a template for many of the later incarnations of the series. At the
   beginning of the episode, the Mystery, Inc. gang bump into some type of
   evil ghost or a monster, which they learn has been terrorizing the
   local populace. The teens offer to help solve the mystery behind the
   creature, but while looking for clues and suspects, the gang (and in
   particular Shaggy and Scooby) run into the monster, who always gives
   chase. However, after analyzing the clues they have found, the gang
   determines that this monster is simply a mere mortal in disguise. They
   capture the monster and have the criminal behind the mask or costume
   arrested.

   Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was a major ratings success for CBS, and
   they renewed it for a second season in 1970. The eight 1970 episodes of
   Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! differed slightly from the first-season
   episodes in their uses of more slapstick humor, Archie Show-like "chase
   songs" during climactic sequences, Heather North performing the voice
   of Daphne in place of Christopherson, and a re-recorded theme song.
   Both seasons contained a laugh track, which was the standard practice
   for U.S. cartoon series during the 1960s and 1970s.

   In 1972, after 25 half-hour episodes, the program was doubled to a full
   hour and called The New Scooby-Doo Movies; each episode of which
   featured a different guest star helping the gang solve mysteries. Among
   the most notable of these guest stars were The Harlem Globetrotters,
   The Three Stooges, Don Knotts, and Batman & Robin, who all appeared at
   least twice on the show. After two seasons and 24 episodes of the New
   Movies format from 1972 to 1974, the show went to reruns of the
   original series until Scooby moved to ABC in 1976.

The Scooby clones

   Having established a successful formula, Hanna-Barbera then proceeded
   to repeat it many times over. By the time Scooby-Doo had its first
   format change in 1972, Hanna-Barbera had produced three other
   teenager-based shows that were very similar to Scooby in concept and
   execution: Josie and the Pussycats (1970), which resurrected the idea
   of the rock band to the teenage-crime-fighter formula; The Pebbles and
   Bamm-Bamm Show (1971), which re-imagined the toddlers from The
   Flintstones as high-school students; and the most blatant Scooby clone,
   The Funky Phantom (also 1971), which featured three teens, a real ghost
   and his ghostly cat solving spooky mysteries.

   Later cartoons such as The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (1972);
   Goober and the Ghost Chasers, Speed Buggy, Butch Cassidy and the
   Sundance Kids, and Inch High, Private Eye (all 1973); Clue Club and
   Jabberjaw (both 1976); Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels (1977);
   Buford and the Galloping Ghost (1978); and the Pebbles, Dino, and
   Bamm-Bamm segments of The Flintstone Funnies (1980) would all involve
   groups of teenagers solving mysteries or fighting crime in the same
   vein as Scooby-Doo, usually with the help of a wacky animal, ghost,
   etc. For example, Speed Buggy featured three teens and a talking dune
   buggy in the role of "Scooby", while Jabberjaw used four teens and a
   talking shark in a futuristic underwater environment. Some of these
   shows even used the same voice actors and score cues. Even outside
   studios got in on the act: when Joe Ruby and Ken Spears left H-B in
   1977 and started Ruby-Spears Productions, their first cartoon was
   Fangface, yet another mystery-solving Scooby clone.

   During the 1970s, the imitating programs successfully coexisted
   alongside Scooby on Saturday mornings. Most of the mystery-solving
   Hanna-Barbera shows made before 1975 were featured on CBS, and when
   Fred Silverman moved from CBS to ABC in 1975, the mystery-solving
   shows, including Scooby-Doo, followed him.

The ABC years

   On ABC, the show went through almost yearly format changes. For their
   1976 - 1977 season, new episodes of Scooby-Doo were joined with a new
   H-B show, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, to create The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour
   (It became The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Show when a bonus Scooby-Doo, Where
   are You! rerun was added to it in November 1976). This hour-long
   package show later evolved into the longer programming blocks Scooby's
   All-Star Laff-a-Lympics (1977 - 1978) and Scooby's All-Stars (1978 -
   1979).

   New Scooby episodes, in the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! format,
   were produced for each of these three seasons. Four of these episodes
   featured Scooby's dim-witted country cousin Scooby-Dum as a
   semi-regular character. The Scooby-Doo episodes produced during these
   three seasons were later packaged together for syndication as The
   Scooby-Doo Show, under which title they continue to air.

   In 1979, Scooby's tiny nephew Scrappy-Doo was added to both the series
   and the billing, in an attempt to boost Scooby-Doo's slipping ratings.
   The 1979–1980 episodes, aired under the title Scooby-Doo and
   Scrappy-Doo, succeeded in regenerating interest in the show, and as a
   result, the entire show was overhauled in 1980 to focus on Scrappy-Doo.
   Fred, Daphne, and Velma were dropped from the series, and the new
   Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo format was now comprised of three
   seven-minute comedic adventures starring Scooby, Scrappy, and Shaggy
   instead of one half-hour mystery. This version of Scooby-Doo and
   Scrappy-Doo aired as part of The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show from 1980
   to 1982, and as part of The Scooby-Doo/Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour from 1982
   to 1983. Most of the supernatural villains in the seven-minute Scooby
   and Scrappy cartoons, who in previous Scooby series had been revealed
   to be human criminals in costume, were now "real" within the context of
   the series.

   Daphne returned to the cast for The All-New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo
   Show, which comprised two 11-minute episodes in a format reminiscent of
   the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! mysteries. This version of the
   show lasted for two seasons, with the second season airing under the
   title The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries and featuring semi-regular
   appearances from Fred and Velma.

   1985 saw the debut of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, which featured
   Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, and new characters Flim-Flam and
   Vincent Van Ghoul (based upon and voiced by Vincent Price) traveling
   the globe to capture "thirteen of the most terrifying ghosts and ghouls
   on the face of the earth." The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo was cancelled in
   March 1986, and no new Scooby series aired on the network for the next
   two years.

   Hanna-Barbera reincarnated the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! cast
   as junior high school students for A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, which
   debuted on ABC in 1988. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo was an irreverent, zany
   re-imagining of the series, heavily inspired by the classic cartoons of
   Tex Avery and Bob Clampett, and eschewed the quasi-reality of the
   original Scooby series for a more Looney Tunes-like style. The retooled
   show was a success, and lasted until 1991.

Reruns and revivals

   Reruns of the show have been in syndication since the mid-1980s, and
   have also been shown on cable television networks such as TBS
   Superstation (until 1989), and USA Network (as part of the USA Cartoon
   Express from 1990 to 1994). In 1993, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, having
   just recently ended its network run on ABC, began reruns on the Cartoon
   Network; the other versions of Scooby-Doo joined it the following year
   and became exclusive to Turner networks such as the Cartoon Network,
   TBS Superstation, and TNT. Canadian network Teletoon began airing
   Scooby-Doo, Where are You! in 1997, with the other Scooby series soon
   following. When TBS and TNT ended their broadcasts of H-B cartoons in
   1998, Scooby-Doo became the exclusive property of both Cartoon Network
   and sister station Boomerang.

   In 2002, following the successes of the Cartoon Network reruns and four
   late-1990s direct-to-video Scooby-Doo releases, the original version of
   the gang was updated for the 21st century for What's New, Scooby-Doo?,
   which aired on Kids WB from 2002 until 2005, with second-run episodes
   also appearing on Cartoon Network. Unlike previous Scooby series, the
   show was produced at Warner Bros. Television Animation, which had
   absorbed Hanna-Barbera in 2001. The show returned to the familiar
   format of the original series for the first time since 1978, with
   modern-day technology and culture added to the mix to give the series a
   more contemporary feel, along with new, digitally-recorded sound
   effects and music. With Don Messick having died in 1997, Frank Welker
   took over as Scooby's voice actor, while continuing to provide the
   voice of Fred as well, and Casey Kasem returned as Shaggy. Grey DeLisle
   now provides the voice of Daphne (she first took the role on Scooby-Doo
   and the Cyber Chase, replacing Mary Kay Bergman, who committed suicide
   shortly before the release of Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders) and
   former Facts of Life star Mindy Cohn voices Velma. However, Scooby-Doo
   himself was very rarely focused on in most of the show's episodes.

   After three seasons, What's New, Scooby-Doo was replaced in September
   2006 with Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, a major revamping of the
   series which debuted on The CW (a merger of The WB with the UPN
   Network). The premise centers around Shaggy inheriting money and a
   mansion from an uncle, an inventor who has gone into hiding from
   villains trying to steal his secret invention. The villains, led by
   "Dr. Phibes" (based primarily upon Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers
   series), then use different schemes to try to get the invention from
   Shaggy and Scooby, who handle the plots alone. Fred, Daphne, and Velma
   are normally absent, but do make appearances at times to help. The
   characters were redesigned and the art style revised for the new
   series.

Televisions specials, telefilms, and direct-to-video features

   The Scooby-Doo characters first appeared outside of their regular
   Saturday morning format in Scooby Goes Hollywood, an hour-long ABC
   television special aired in prime-time on December 13, 1979. The
   special revolved around Shaggy and Scooby's attempts to have the
   network move Scooby out of Saturday morning and into a prime-time
   series, and featured spoofs of then-current TV shows and films such as
   Happy Days, Superman: The Movie, Laverne & Shirley, and Charlie's
   Angels.

   From 1986 to 1988, Hanna-Barbera Productions produced Hanna-Barbera
   Superstars 10, a series of syndicated telefilms featuring their most
   popular characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, The
   Flintstones, and The Jetsons. Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo, and Shaggy
   starred in three of these movies: Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers
   (1987), Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988), and Scooby-Doo
   and the Ghoul School (1988). In addition, Scooby-Doo and Shaggy
   appeared as the narrators of the made-for-TV movie Arabian Nights,
   originally broadcast by TBS in 1994 and later released on video as
   Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights.

   Starting in 1998, Warner Bros. Animation and Hanna-Barbera (by then a
   subsidiary of Warner Bros.), began producing one new Scooby-Doo
   direct-to-video movie a year. These movies featured a slightly older
   version of the original five-character cast from the Scooby-Doo, Where
   Are You! days, and disregards the later Scrappy-Doo years as
   non-canonical. The movies include Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998),
   Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost (1999), Scooby-Doo and the Alien
   Invaders (2000), and Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase (2001). Also in
   2001, the Cartoon Network produced Night of the Living Doo, a half-hour
   parody of the New Scooby-Doo Movies format featuring "Special guest
   stars" David Cross, Gary Coleman, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

   The success of the direct-to-video movies led to Scooby's return to
   Saturday morning, What's New, Scooby-Doo?, and Hanna-Barbera based
   later entries in this series of Scooby movies on it rather than the
   previous editions. The series continued with Scooby-Doo and the Legend
   of the Vampire (2003), Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico (2003),
   Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster (2004), Aloha, Scooby-Doo! (2005),
   Scooby Doo in Where's My Mummy? (2005) and Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!
   (2006).
   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   A number of these Scooby-Doo telefilms and direct-to-video features, as
   well as many of the early-1980s shows featuring Scrappy-Doo, feature
   the gang encountering actual supernatural beings. In Scooby-Doo and the
   Ghoul School (1988), Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy sign up as gym
   teachers for Miss Grimwood's school for girls, only to find it is
   actually a school for ghouls, where the trio end up teaching the
   daughters of the Frankenstein Monster, Dracula, The Werewolf, The
   Mummy, and the stereotypical ghost monster (called the Phantom).
   Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998) featured the original 1969 gang,
   reunited after years of being apart, battling voodoo-worshiping cat
   creatures in the Louisiana bayou. The later What's New,
   Scooby-Doo-based entries in the direct-to-video series returned to the
   original formula, and are basically extended episodes of the What's
   New, Scooby-Doo series. Ironically, in the later movies, Scooby-Doo is
   not featured as much as the older cartoons, as they tend to focus more
   on Fred, Daphne and Velma.

Live-action Warner Bros. feature films

   A feature-length live-action film version of Scooby-Doo was released by
   Warner Bros. in 2002. The cast included Freddie Prinze Jr. (Fred),
   Sarah Michelle Gellar (Daphne), Matthew Lillard (Shaggy) and Linda
   Cardellini (Velma). Scooby-Doo was created on-screen by
   computer-generated special effects. Scooby-Doo was extremely
   successful, with a domestic box office gross of over $130 million. A
   sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, followed in March 2004, which
   earned $84 million at the U.S. box office.

   Roger Ebert gave Scooby-Doo one star (on a scale of zero to four),
   saying: "I feel no sympathy with any of the characters, I am unable to
   generate the slightest interest in the plot, and I laughed not a single
   time." Ebert admitted in his review, somewhat amazingly, that the movie
   was his first exposure to the characters.

   Both of these films followed the standard Scooby-Doo formula, while at
   the same time parodying various elements of that formula. While the
   first film had generally original characters as the villains (except
   for one villain revealed as a surprise plot twist), the second film
   featured several of the monsters from the television series, including
   the Black Knight, the 10,000 Volt Ghost, the Pterodactyl Ghost, and the
   Miner 49er. One could also see Chickenstein, a villain from A Pup Named
   Scooby-Doo.

The Scooby influence

Critical reaction and awards

   While a successful series during its three separate tenures on Saturday
   morning, Scooby-Doo won no awards for artistic merit during its
   original series runs. The series has received only two Emmy nominations
   in its four-decade history: a 1989 Daytime Emmy nomination for A Pup
   Named Scooby Doo, and a 2003 Daytime Emmy nomination for What's New,
   Scooby-Doo's Mindy Coln in the "Outstanding Performer in an Animated
   Program" category. Like many Hanna-Barbera shows, Scooby-Doo was
   criticized for poor production values and formulaic storytelling. In
   2002, Jamie Malanowski of the New York Times commented that
   "[Scooby-Doo's] mysteries are not very mysterious, and the humor is
   hardly humorous. As for the animation -- well, the drawings on your
   refrigerator may give it competition." Even proponents of the series
   often comment negatively about the formula inherent in most Scooby
   episodes.

   Nevertheless, Scooby-Doo has maintained a significant fan base, which
   has grown steadily since the 1990s due to the show's popularity among
   both young children and nostalgic adults who grew up with the series.
   The show's mix of the comedy-adventure and horror genres is often noted
   as the reason for its widespread success. As Fred Silverman and the
   Hanna-Barbera staff had planned when they first began producing the
   series, Scooby-Doo's ghosts, monsters, and spooky locales tend more
   towards humor than horror, making them easily accessible to younger
   children. "Overall, [Scooby-Doo is] just not a show that is going to
   overstimulate kids' emotions and tensions," offered American Centre for
   Children and Media executive director David Kleeman in a 2002
   interview. "It creates just enough fun to make it fun without getting
   them worried or giving them nightmares." Many teenage and young adult
   audiences enjoy Scooby-Doo because of presumed subversive themes which
   involve theories of drug use and sexuality.

   In recent years, Scooby-Doo has received recognition for its popularity
   by placing in a number of "top cartoon" or "top cartoon character"
   polls. The August 3, 2002 issue of TV Guide featured its list of the
   "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time", in which Scooby-Doo
   placed twenty-second Scooby also ranked thirteenth in Animal Planet's
   list of the "50 Greatest TV Animals". Scooby-Doo, Where are You! ranked
   forty-ninth in the UK network Channel 4's 2005 list of the "100
   Greatest Cartoons of All Time". For one year from 2004 to 2005,
   Scooby-Doo held the Guinness World Record for having the most episodes
   of any animated television series ever produced, a record previously
   held by and later returned to The Simpsons. Scooby-Doo was published as
   holding this record in the 2006 edition of the Guinness Book of
   Records.

   Subsequent television shows and films often make reference to
   Scooby-Doo, for example Wayne's World and the television series Buffy
   the Vampire Slayer, in which Buffy and her monster-slaying friends
   refer to themselves as the " Scooby Gang" or "Scoobies," a knowing
   reference to Scooby-Doo. (Coincidentally, Sarah Michelle Gellar, who
   played Buffy, later played Daphne in the live-action movies.) Even
   South Park paid homage to Scooby-Doo in an episode entitled " KoЯn's
   Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery". The Kevin Smith film Jay and Silent Bob
   Strike Back included a scene where Jay and Silent Bob are picked up in
   the Mystery Machine while hitchhiking and both they and Mystery, Inc.
   get "high" off of "dooby snacks". A plethora of other media properies
   have referenced or parodied Scooby-Doo, among them the TV Funhouse
   segment of NBC's Saturday Night Live , the online comic Sluggy
   Freelance, the FOX animated series Family Guy and The Simpsons, and the
   Cartoon Network programs Johnny Bravo, The Grim Adventures of Billy and
   Mandy, and The Venture Bros..

Assumed "adult themes"

   As with many Saturday morning cartoons, Scooby-Doo is often proposed by
   sectors of the public to have hidden subtexts, in this case involving
   sex and drug use. Such assumptions often find their way into Scooby-Doo
   parodies done by comedians, musicians, and film/television producers.

   Drug use is the most prominent of these charges, in particular because
   of Shaggy's beatnik origins. He and Scooby-Doo are shown to have
   voracious appetites, which has been interpreted as being evidence of a
   case of "the munchies" resulting from marijuana use. Some parodies go
   on to propose that the "Scooby Snacks" present in many episodes contain
   drugs instead of typical dog treat ingredients. The most direct
   references to the Scooby-Doo drug use theory were produced by Warner
   Bros. and Cartoon Network themselves. The first Scooby-Doo film makes
   several joking references to Shaggy and Scooby's proposed drug use and
   even has Shaggy fall in love with a girl named "Mary Jane" (a common
   slang word for marijuana), while an episode of an Adult Swim Cartoon,
   Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, finds Shaggy and Scooby-Doo arrested
   for "possession." These "drug use" themes seem to be misplaced due to
   an episode of A Pup Named Scooby Doo showing Scooby and his friends
   finding drugs. When Velma finds the drugs, Scooby says "Drugs?! Yuck!"

   Also discussed and parodied are the presumed sexual activities going on
   among the Scooby-Doo characters. While working on the original series,
   Joe Ruby and Ken Spears often wrote their " straight men", Fred and
   Daphne, out of the episode so that they could focus on their
   "comedians": Shaggy, Scooby, and Velma. As a result, Fred and Daphne
   are missing from a significant amount of the action in most episodes,
   leading to assumptions that the two are off having sexual intercourse
   instead of finding clues. Like the drug use, this assumed theme has
   also been self parodied, with the "Bravo Dooby Doo" episode of Johnny
   Bravo, and both live-action and direct-to-video Scooby-Doo features
   making light of Fred and Daphne's presumed sexual relationship.

   Another debated topic of the series centers around whether or not the
   tomboyish Velma is a lesbian. The character has a considerable fan base
   among real-life lesbians, who see her as one of their own. The idea of
   Velma as a lesbian is parodied in the 2001 motion picture Jay and
   Silent Bob Strike Back, the " ¡Viva los Muertos!" episode of " The
   Venture Bros.", as well as in both Scooby-Doo live action films. Many,
   but not all, of the lesbian-themed gags from the first Scooby-Doo film,
   which centre around a hinted crush Velma has on Daphne in the film,
   were excised from the final release print to secure a "PG" rating.
   A 1968 Chevrolet Sportvan 108, painted to look like the Mystery Machine
   from Scooby-Doo. A number of Scooby fans have decorated vans in this
   fashion.
   Enlarge
   A 1968 Chevrolet Sportvan 108, painted to look like the Mystery Machine
   from Scooby-Doo. A number of Scooby fans have decorated vans in this
   fashion.

Merchandising

   The first Scooby-Doo-related merchandise came in the form of
   Scooby-Doo, Where are You! comic books by Gold Key Comics, which
   initially contained adaptations of episodes of the cartoon show when
   publication began in December 1969. The book soon moved to all-original
   stories, with many of the stories published up to December, 1974.
   Charlton published Scooby comics, many drawn by Bill Williams, from
   February 1975 to October 1975. Since then, Scooby-Doo comics have been
   published by Marvel Comics (written by Mark Evanier and drawn by Dan
   Spiegle) , Archie Comics (reprints of the Charlton stories), and by DC
   Comics, who continue to publish a monthly Scooby-Doo series.

   Other early Scooby-Doo merchandise included a 1973 Milton Bradley board
   game, decorated lunch boxes, iron-on transfers, coloring books, story
   books, records, underwear, and other such goods. When Scrappy-Doo was
   introduced to the series in 1979, he, Scooby, and Shaggy became the
   sole foci of much of the merchandising, including a 1983 Milton-Bradley
   Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo board game. The first Scooby-Doo video game
   appeared in arcades in 1986, and has been followed by a number of games
   for both home-consoles and personal computers. Scooby-Doo multivitamins
   also debuted at this time, and have been manufactured by Bayer since
   2001.

   Scooby-Doo merchandising tapered off during the late 1980s and early
   1990s, but increased after the series' revival on Cartoon Network in
   1995. Today, all manner of Scooby-Doo-branded products are available
   for purchase, including Scooby-Doo breakfast cereal, plush toys, action
   figures, car decorations, and much more. Real "Scooby Snacks" dog
   treats are produced by Del Monte Pet Products. Hasbro has created a
   number of Scooby board games, including a Scooby-themed edition of the
   popular mystery board game Clue.

   From 1990 to 2002, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo appeared as characters in the
   Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera simulator ride at Universal Studios
   Florida The ride was restructured in the early 2000s as a Jimmy Neutron
   attraction. Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are costumed characters at Universal
   Studios Florida, and can be found driving the Mystery Machine around
   the park.

Scooby-Doo filmography

TV series

   Title Broadcast run
   Scooby-Doo, Where are You! 1969– 1972, CBS
   The New Scooby-Doo Movies 1972– 1974, CBS
   The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour ^1, 2 1976– 1977, ABC
   Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics ^1, 3 1977– 1979, ABC
   Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo 1979– 1980, ABC
   The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show ^4 1980– 1981, ABC
   The Scooby-Doo/Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour ^4 1982– 1983, ABC
   The All-New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show ^5 1983– 1985, ABC
   The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo 1985, ABC
   A Pup Named Scooby-Doo 1988– 1991, ABC
   What's New, Scooby-Doo? 2002– 2005, Kids' WB!; 2003 – 2006, Teletoon
   (Canada)
   Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! 2006–(present), Kids WB! on The CW;
   Notes:
    1. These program blocks featured new episodes of Scooby-Doo alongside
       several other series. The Scooby-Doo episodes from these years are
       now broadcast under the title The Scooby-Doo Show. For details on
       these episodes, see Scooby-Doo (1976-1979 television series).

    2. Aired as The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Show from December 1976 until
       September 1977, after a rerun of Scooby-Doo, Where are You! was
       added to the block, making the runtime 90 minutes.

    3. Aired as Scooby's All-Stars from September 1978 to September 1979.

    4. These program blocks featured new seven-minute episodes of
       Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo alongside several other series. The
       Scooby-Doo episodes from these years are now broadcast under the
       title Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo title, distinguished from the
       original thirty-minute 1979 episodes of the show by a slightly
       different opening credits sequence. For details on these episodes,
       see Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1980-1983).

    5. Aired as The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries from September 1984 to
       September 1985.

TV specials and telefilms

     * Scooby Goes Hollywood ( December 13, 1979, ABC)
     * Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987)
     * Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988)
     * Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (1989)
     * Arabian Nights (also known as Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights) ( 1994,
       TBS)
     * Night of the Living Doo (2001, Cartoon Network)

Direct-to-video films

     * Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)
     * Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost (1999)
     * Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (2000)
     * Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase (2001)
     * Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire (2003)
     * Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico (2003)
     * Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster (2004)
     * Aloha, Scooby-Doo! (2005)
     * Scooby Doo in Where's My Mummy? (2005)
     * Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! (2006)

Live-action theatrical releases

     * Scooby-Doo (2002)
     * Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)

Video games

     * Scooby Doo, a 1986 arcade computer game published by Elite Systems
       (later re-released on Elite's budget label Encore) and developed by
       Gargoyle Games for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.
     * Scooby Doo Mystery, two separate games of the same title created in
       1995; one for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the other
       for the Sega Genesis.
     * Scooby Doo: Mystery of the Fun Park Phantom, a 1999 mystery
       computer game developed by Engineering Animation, Inc. (EAI) and
       published by SouthPeak Interactive. The game was released for
       Microsoft Windows.
     * Scooby Doo: Classic Creep Capers, a 2000 console game published by
       THQ and released for Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Colour.
     * Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights, a 2002 console game published by
       THQ.
     * Scooby Doo: Mystery Mayhem, a 2004 console game developed by A2M
       and published by THQ.
     * Scooby-Doo! Unmasked, a 2005 console game published by THQ.
     * Scooby-Doo! Mystery Adventures, created in 2000 by the Learning
       Company is a CD-Rom for Windows. It contained 3 different
       versions/challenges/CD-Roms (sold separately): Scooby-Doo: Showdown
       in Ghost Town, Scooby-Doo: Phantom of the Knight, and Scooby-Doo:
       Jinx at the Sphinx.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby-Doo"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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