SCOOBY DOO (original) (raw)



SCOOBY DOO "Rooby Rooby Roooooo!" Popular opinion has it that Hanna-Barbera�s Scooby Doo went all crap upon the introduction to the series of his pint-sized nephew Scrappy. In reality, Scooby Doo was a steaming pile of talking dog mess long before this. In fact, Scooby Doo was never good. The adventures of the anthromorphosised Scooby, dashing-bit-dull high-school jock Fred, goggle-eyed fatso Velma, red-legged, red-headed saucestress Daphne, and possibly drug-toking, unshaven, hippy coward Shaggy were about as unpredictable as dusk Every week the same thing happened: Scooby and the gang would visit some relative, let�s call him "Uncle Johnny", who lived in an old house/airfield/circus near a swamp. Upon arriving at the house, Uncle Johnny would be acting odd/evil/absent, and the house would seemingly be haunted. The ghosts would chase a terrified Scooby and Shaggy, who would intermittently distract it by posing as barbers/butchers/soldiers and give it a haircut/chicken/orders, and then run away. In the meantime Fred, Daphne and Velma would�ve found a box of balloons, and a cannister of helium, which would lead them to deduce that the ghost is nothing but a helium-inflated puppet operated by the evil local sherrif/circus ringmaster, who has been posing as Uncle Johnny, since having locked the real Uncle Johnny in the basement. Then the evil fiend would reveal a scheme to dredge for diamonds in the lake at the back of the house, which he would�ve gotten away with if it wasn�t for "You meddling kids". This was all nonsense. Firstly, he would�ve gotten away with it if he�d have just murdered Uncle Johnny and his meddling relations within five minutes of them arriving at the house. Secondly, he�d have probably gotten away with it if he didn�t spend so much time arsing around with balloons and sheets and stuff, and just gotten on with looking for the loot. Lastly, he�d have gotten away with it if he hadn�t been such an obvious badguy, with a perma-scowl, and gruff voice. The "reveal" at the end of each episode was no more surprising than drawing back your bedsheets of a morning to find the rest of your body nestling beneath. Admittedly, when Scrappy Doo - a smart-arsed, pint-sized version of Scooby, who would tackle badguys while screeching "Puppy Power!" - arrived on the show, it had achieved a new nadir. The appearance of Scrappy (he really should have been called "Crappy Poo Poo") pushed out Velma and Fred, and resulted in episodes splitting into two self-contained stories, yet this wasn�t the first time the show�s format had been toyed with. Who remembers the Scooby Doo and Dyno-Mutt hour, or Scooby�s Laugh-Olympics? Nobody. The fact remains that Scooby Doo was awful right from the very beginning. Bet you didn�t know this, though: Scooby Doo got his name from a line in Frank Sinatra�s version of Strangers In The Night, in which the blue-eyed, Mafia-affiliated crooner sang "Scooby-dooby-doo". Straight up. Pop-O-Quiz Pick the correct answers by using the drop down menus. When you're done click submit to see your score. If you get any wrong you will have a tick against the question then you can try again. ADVERTOONS