Scooby-doo sucks.
I realized that when I was about five. Scooby-doo was an insult to my intelligence. It was the same thing every week. The kids drive into a new town and find there is a ghost/vampire/werewolf, what have you. Everyone is afraid except the gang. They don't believ in ghosts. The wander around the haunted house/amusement park/junkyard, whatever, having misadventures with the ghoul of the week. Then Velma loses her glasses and, usually literally, stumbles across a clue. Fred figures it all out and tells the police that there was no monster, it was Mr. Blank and that he was doing it to get the diamonds/oil/gold, etc. And he would have gotten away with it "except for those meddling kids". The end.
It's boring. It's always the same. It would be fairly easy to write a computer program to generate Scooby-doo scripts. Even the writers seemed to realize this. In the first series they had some sort of horribly cheerful and upbeat song during the ghost chase scene. Later they did away with the music and started having famous people come on, Don Knotts, Mama Cass, even Cher. Then they added Scrappy-Doo, who is universally reviled. Later they made the kids pre-teens.
It's just such a cliche, I don't understand why it's such a loved show. Some people seem to love it because it's so horrible. People wear Scooby-Doo trucker hats or what have you. Others seem to love it because it's a blank slate so they can add whatever subtext they like to it. I dated a girl from Smith college who had this theory that all the characters were representations of students from different schools. Fred was from Princeton, Scooby was from the University of Vermont. Everyone else was from some Ivy league school or the other. I said, "So, what, Velma was from Smith?"
She gasped in horror, "No, Daphne was from Smith!" Which totally wasn't what I knew of the colleges....I thought Smith girls were all frigid lesbians...needless to say that girlfriend lasted about a month. What do I know? I went to a small southern state college. I wouldn't recognize post-modernist Michel Foucault if he jumped up and bit me on my "other".
Others, though, seem to love it in a non-ironic and non-postmodern way. They laugh while I'm so bored I'm setting there trying to analyze the sub-text of the show. I watch them and try to figure it all out while they laugh their asses off.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - The Theory
I watched the schooby doo movie sunday afternoon. it was a riot.
2 - Al Barger
Most likely, the biggest attraction of Scooby Doo now is just pure nostalgia. A less than bright 5 year old might minimally get a chuckle out of minor stuff like just the sound of Scooby's voice. Twenty years later, the re-runs give you some minor flashback to pleasant Saturday mornings of your youth.
To that end, I personally would prefer Hong Kong Phooey.
3 - duane
I challenge anyone to name a good cartoon show that Hanna-Barbera produced, besides The Flintstones, Jonny Quest, and Wacky Races. I hate Lippy the Lion the most.
4 - Al Barger
Re: Hanna-Barbera- Yogi Bear? Huckleberry Hound? The Jetsons?
5 - duane
Yogi sucks.
Huck sucks.
Jetsons, ripoff of The Flintstones...well, this deserves some thought....no, it sucks, too.
Next you'll bring up Punkin Puss and Mushmouse.
How's that for an in-depth analysis, Al?
6 - Natalie Davis
I loved Quick Draw McGraw during my very young years. And Augie Doggy and Doggy Daddy.
7 - Taloran
My younger son loved Scooby when he was 3, and still likes it now that he's seven. My older boy still gets a kick out of it as well. It even makes me chuckle once in a while.
8 - Natalie Davis
My seven-year-old loves Scooby and the gang too (though not the execrable Scrappy Doo). In fact, I saw the Scooby movie and did enjoy Scrappy getting it in the end. (Hope I didn't spoil it for anyone -- in any case, outside of that and a joke involving the song "Pass the Dutchie," it isn't really worth seeing anyway.)
9 - JR
Nigella Lawson: definitely hot
10 - Chris Wilson
"Scooby Doo" is to animated cartoons what "The Brady Bunch" is to TV sitcoms. Excessively awful, but comfortable in a fuzzy teddy bear kind of way. Both are best served in small doses. And besides, wasn't the best episode of "The Brady Bunch" when they solved the ghost mystery on Halloween? You know, that episode where the ghost comes down the stairs on a string? Everyone loves a good ghost story......
11 - Eric Olsen
The movie was pretty funny and had bodacious tatas and whatnot, but the cartoon has always been lame - even our 4 year-old said "they're all about the same."
But I love Hanna Barbera's Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw ("Queeekstraw"). The Flintstones had its moments, Wally Gator rocked, and the Banana Splits is among the highlights of TV history ("Tra la la, Tra la la la ..."). The rest is pretty much crap - chronology here
12 - Natalie Davis
Ah, the Splits! Love love love Fleagle and Co.
Lily is a bright kid. So is my David, who also has noticed the similarity of each ep -- every damn time he sees the show, he recites the line along with the baddies at the end: "And I would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those meddling kids!" Still, he likes it. Go figure. Better than crack and video games, I guess, and he's not hanging out with weird pop stars.
Who was the mountain lion character who always said, "Exit -- stage left"? Was that Snagglepuss? He was kinda lame.
13 - Eric Olsen
Nat, I have zero doubt you have two very bright, sweet, tough kids.
Lily likes the character Scooby-Doo and will watch as a result. Who doesn't like the character? Too bad the cartoon isn't as good as the character.
Yeah, Snagglepuss, "Heavens to Mergatroid."
14 - Natalie Davis
That's the one. I do like that line.
Yeah, my kids rock, though Christy has been especially surly of late. Tell Lily to go from 14 to 16; 15 is hell.
Another question: Is Droopy Dog a Hanna Barbera creation?
15 - Eric Olsen
Kristen was a total pain in the ass at 15 also, weren't you Kristen? (she reads sometimes). Chris wasn't too bad, been a little testy since he's been 16.
I don't see any reference to Droop in the HB chronology
16 - Natalie Davis
Ah, that is right; you are the voice of experience with teenagers. Which means we actually may survive this. Bless you, Eric Olsen.
Thanks for the Droop scoop.
17 - Eric Olsen
My pleasure Nats! I'm sure you will all come out of the Dark Ages just fine. It seems to require a very finely calibrated unreeling of the line to allow just enough freedom but not too much, just enough responsibility but not too much, staying in tune but not conducting too vehemently, etc.
And then they are back to normal - at some point, anyway.
18 - Al Barger
Wait, don't be bad mouthing Yogi Bear. He's my role model.
Smarter than the a-ver-age bear!
19 - Eric Olsen
I thought it was "smarter than the average pic-a-nic basket"
20 - visualsimplicity
The new Scooby Doo cartoon movies are good, mostly because they are able to joke about the old cartoon cliches they created.
Oh and Quick Draw McGraw is probably the best of the the HBs, El Kabong!
21 - Nyx
Snagglepuss was so gay. He was even pink.
Droopy was by Tex Avery. I think Hanna-Barbera might own the rights today, though.
22 - Natalie Davis
"Snagglepuss was so gay. He was even pink."
Cool!
23 - Michael Croft
I challenge anyone to name a good cartoon show that Hanna-Barbera produced, besides The Flintstones, Jonny Quest, and Wacky Races.
Dexter's Lab
24 - Hank Delisle
Scooby Doo is pure animated feces. They should call it "Scooby Doo-Doo."
If I were going into the same situation as the Scooby Dorks, I'd carry a 9-millimeter semiautomatic and plenty of ammo and open fire on any ghoul who tried to scare the bejesus outta me. Then I'd say: "Sorry. I didn't know it was some idiot in a costume."
On a side note, the "Three Stooges" who guest starred on one episode were not the real Three Stooges. How do I know? They weren't smacking each other silly.
25 - Josh
Wouldn't Tom and Jerry be one of the HB cartoons? If so. I do believe that this one beats out ALL others