When do you think was the peak(s) of Scooby-Doo?

[moonscar]

Scooby's been on the air now for 55 years and has had many ups and downs over the decades but when do you think were the absolute peaks of Scooby-Doo? I love many of the shows and movies but for me there's 2 definitive eras that display the very best the franchise has to offer:

1969-1970 - Scooby-Doo Where Are You!
1998-2001 - Mook Scooby-Doo DTV Movies!

What's yours?

[sdf]

My top 3 are:

1)The WNSD era (2002-2009): This is my childhood. WNSD is such a nostalgic series for me, the movies of this era (the 2 live action included) were the first i ve ever watched and owned (and still think to this day that they had the best animation) and i am ok with the get a clue series.

2)The Dark DTVs era (1998-2001): 4 amazing movies with the most mature plots and some of the creepiest moments in the franchise.

3)TSDS era (1976-1978): My favorite classic series

Bonus my least favorite:

The modern crossover era (2018-today): There were some good movies and episodes but overall i dont like it. Plus the whole WB mess is really hurting the franchise

[Doo]

I will do my top 3:

1. The Mook DTV Era (1998-2001)
2. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? era (1969-1970)
3. The Scooby-Doo Show era (1976-1978)

What's New, Scooby-Doo? was definitely close. Also, the modern DTV/Guess Who era is for sure my least favorite as well. There's been a huge overreliance on crossovers, and I find the gang's characterizations feel rather bland and flat lately.

[Ark]

I agree with the ones posted. Just want to point out that Camp Scare, Lake Monster, & Mystery Incorporated came out the same year! That was a huge year for Scooby (and I was without a television that year!)

[matt]

1. (Tie) Mook Era (98-01)- Pretty much complete gold. Even beyond the movies, these years also had The Scooby Doo Project and Night of the Living Doo, as well as those Behind the Scenes shorts which are nostalgic for me from being on the Greatest Mysteries VHS. I might even push it a year forward to 97 and include Bravo Dooby Doo. Either way, this is the only pretty much flawless era imo.

1. (Tie) Classic Era (69-80)- I pretty much consider everything from Where Are You up to the first Scrappy series to be what I consider to be the "Classic era". This era is not nearly as flawless as the Mook era, but the sheer amount of quantity that is, well, classic and legendary, makes me at least give it a tie here because they are hard to compare. I guess it depends on if we are doing total quality or quality per capita, LOL. I think of all of these shows as the same era rather than different eras even if they are different series. I would also throw Goes Hollywood in here too

3. Early WNSD era (02-06)- I am pretty much the opposite of everyone else as while I consider the classics all to be one era in my personal scale, What's New is split into two because they don't feel like they go quite as much together to me personally. What would qualify here is the What's New series, Legend of the Vampire and Monster of Mexico which kinda go together, and then Loch Ness Monster, Aloha Scooby Doo, and I guess Where's My Mummy as well

I'm with everyone else that the era that started immediately after Be Cool went off up until now is easily the worst era. Curse of the 13th Ghost, Return to Zombie Island, and Guess Who was a triple serving of bad that made that title pretty much guaranteed

[CommanderKarateOtter]

I agree mostly with what has been said above. And would like to add that I think the previous era from 2010-2018 was very good with two solid shows and a fairly consistent output of DTV movies. Not all of the movies were 10/10s but, comparing it to the last few years of movies it was impressive they had as good of a run as they did over that near 10 year span.

[waxphantom85]

1. Classic era (1969-1973) - Had to include my all time favorite series “The New Scooby Doo Movies” in my favorite era.
2. Mystery Inc. era (2010-2013)
3. Superstars 10 movie era

[drtewksbury]

This is an impossible question to an answer; “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?”, “Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers”, the best of the DTVs…?! Who can really say?! Anyway, Happy 17th Anniversary to ScoobyAddicts.com!

[Ark]

Feb 1, 2024 18:09:00 GMT -5 drtewksbury said:

This is an impossible question to an answer; “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?”, “Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers”, the best of the DTVs…?! Who can really say?! Anyway, Happy 17th Anniversary to ScoobyAddicts.com!

Yeah, all the peaks mentioned have their merits. Nothing will top the "Turner" era for me, but mostly childhood bias here.

[Dyland]

I'd say a tie between SD:WAY/TNSDM, so the 1970s, when new Scooby & rerun Scooby was at its height.

And the Mook/What's New, Scooby-Doo era - simply because it also saw the dawn of DVD. All* eras of Scooby became more easily available, and reruns had their own block on Boomerang. Best of both worlds imo.

Nostalgically, I grew up in the Turner rerun & Mook era, so I have a soft spot for that too. Wish we could get the no laugh-track masters sometime. Some episodes (Backstage Rage) are particularly creepier that way. Doesn't quite have the same bite with the laugh tracks - which are the now standard version on all releases & streaming.

*some episodes & seasons are STILL unreleased on physical media... Get on it WB!

[Ark]

It would be such an easy sell too. All they do is change the audio track and they can sell it to us again. Ideally, they could do a version with both as selectable audio tracks.

[Ark]

I'd be willing to bet that Warner Archive will eventually do a release with brighter original colors and the laugh track removed. It could be a decade, but it would seem like a release they'd be up for eventually.

[Dyland]

Fingers crossed, Ark.

I'd like to think that, since they've already spent so much effort & money on rescanning the various series' into HD or higher-res than before, we'll eventually see these released onto DVD/Blu-ray again. The laugh-less audio tracks as a bonus feature would be an awesome sell. Maybe in a box set?

Warner Archive does some great stuff.