ROCKS 12B: A Pup Named Scooby Doo

WELCOME EVERYBODY TO THE SECOND DISCUSSION IN THE TWELFTH STRAND OF "R.O.C.K.S." - REWATCHING OLD CLASSIC KIDS SHOWS!
A big thanks to everyone that are joining us through all of this.

This set of threads will focus on the various incarnations of Scooby Doo over the years. This week we're looking at the prequel series, "A Pup Named Scooby Doo" which ran from 1988-1991. This is a noteworthy series in that it's the only time in the animated Scooby Doo series that the voice of Fred was not provided by Frank Welker. Of course, that's because the characters are all a bit younger in this! Although Casey Kasem is still voicing Shaggy here, and Don Messick was still voicing Scooby.

Mark M has picked some episodes for us:

- A Bicycle Built For Boo
- Terror Thy Name Is Zombo
- The Were-Doo Of Doo Manor


Just a friendly reminder to everyone that, whilst fans are obviously welcome to passionately discuss and give their views on these episodes, please remember to keep things on a friendly footing and respect your fellow posters.
Also, please do not post where or how to find the full episode online. And do not post asking others to PM it to you. You are however allowed to watch the show in whatever manner you want.

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo was a pretty cool show. :)

A Pup Named Scooby Doo was a rather interesting series, not so much content wise but the way they changed things and tried new ideas to keep Scooby relevant to the audience. The show was a departure from the more realistic style of previous shows and had a more Looney Toons style to it. Ironically the team working on the show would defect from Hanna Barbera to work on Tiny Toons and Animaniacs.
Interesting how in the mid 80's Shaggy and Daphne both got an image change starting the previous series The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo. Shaggy's usual green t-shirt and brown pants were changed to a red t-shirt with blue pants. Daphne seems to have taken on the popular 80's jumpsuit look. Both changes were kind of taken on in APNSD except for the fact that Shaggy's t-shirt was green again.
The character designs were later re-used in a flash back sequence in an episode of the What's New Scooby Doo cartoon series.
The series had a really great list of voice talent working on the show.

As for the episodes.

A Bicycle Built For Boo.
A nice intro to the new series. A few characters to make it not so obvious who the villain is.

Terror Thy Name Is Zombo.
I picked this episode as its about a clown. What with IT being in the cinema it seemed a good choice.
Pretty fun episode. Not the easiest to pick the culprit since they all looked similar.

The Were Doo Of Doo Manor.
Another pretty fun episode that again wasn't to obvious who the culprit was.

I love the Scooby Doo cartoons but I must admit this is still one of my least favourite series of the franchise. The musical chase scenes are really annoying. they were the main reason I wasn't too keen on this show growing up.

Curious series. Prequel nature aside, this show is pretty much faithful to the tried and trusted formula.

It does give more of an angle to some of the main characters too. OK, so not always in a likable way but they're easier to tell apart. Freddie is the mouth, always spouting wild conspiracy theories and blaming "Red Herring" - I read somewhere that there is one episode where Red Herring actually is the guilty party, and it's the only time Freddie doesn't suspect him going in. Daphne is a little more vain. Velma is a bit of a cliche when it comes to nerddom, but she's still the brains of the outfit.

Casey Kasem and Don Messick as Shaggy and Scooby are still supplying the voices. This is the one show where Fred isn't voiced by Frank Welker, although interestingly he is credited in the voices at the end, he must have been some guest character(s) or other.

As for the episodes:

A Bicycle Made For Boo
Fairly straightforward introduction to the series, and I thought fairly obvious who the villain was. At least there are more guest characters in this series though.

Terror Thy Name Is Zombo
This is the only one where I didn't get who the bad guy was. With so many family members, I thought they were going to do the Agatha Christie thing and have it be the seemingly-random cab driver, after he made a remark that suggested a motive, but no, he was actually random. There were so many brothers and sisters in that episode, I lost track!

The Were Doo Of Doo Manor
Interesting meeting Scooby's parents! And again, fairly obvious, I thought, who the villain was. The protestor lady was a bit random mind you.

The trouble with the formula of Scooby Doo is that it's very difficult to single out points of specific interest in individual episodes of any of the various series. Still, it's worth mentioning that the theme tune to this show manages to feel both contemporary (for the time it was made) and faithful to the 1960s origins of the show at the same time. I'm less a fan of the "musical chase" bits where they just sort of dance around while the chase goes on. Don't get me started on the dancing numbers in Dogtanian or Willy Fog while I'm at it!

"LiamABC, post: 122477, member: 25438" said:

The trouble with the formula of Scooby Doo is that it's very difficult to single out points of specific interest in individual episodes of any of the various series. Still, it's worth mentioning that the theme tune to this show manages to feel both contemporary (for the time it was made) and faithful to the 1960s origins of the show at the same time. I'm less a fan of the "musical chase" bits where they just sort of dance around while the chase goes on. Don't get me started on the dancing numbers in Dogtanian or Willy Fog while I'm at it!

I completely agree about the chase scenes. I had to edit my post as I meant to mention them. I really can't stand the musical chase scenes in this series. The musical chase scenes are fun enough but the dancing sequences during said chase scenes completely ruin them.