What if "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" was revived?
May 13, 2011 8:46:57 GMT -5
Doo and dooscoobert0220 like this
Post by wileyk209 on May 13, 2011 8:46:57 GMT -5
All right now, some of you may know, I do not really like the 2002-2008 Scooby-Doo TV series that Warner Bros. Animation produced (with the obvious exception of the new and more superior "Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated"), after having absorbed Hanna-Barbera and producing the direct-to-video Scooby movies since 1998. Here are reasons why:
"WHAT'S NEW, SCOOBY-DOO?" - was basically a bright dumbed-down parody of the original series. Fred got demoted to village idiot, Daphne got promoted to semi gang-leader and fashion expert, Velma almost always had to lose her glasses, they always had to do the door-chase in nearly every episode, the villains always had to say the "meddling kids" line or some parody/variation, they try to show that Fred's traps are supposed to be funny (in the original series the traps would up being unintentionally funny), the show kept making jokes about the Internet (ala "The Fairly Oddparents"), the music, voices and sound effects were completely different, and the show kept trying to desperately be more hip and "realistic" than the old series.
"SHAGGY & SCOOBY-DOO GET A CLUE" - this is wrong on so many levels! Shaggy and Scooby being rich and having nano-powered Scooby snacks giving them temporary super powers, an on-the-lam uncle and an idiotic robot butler (distant cousin of Inspector Gadget?), more different music, sound effects and voices (including Shaggy!) altered personalities (Shaggy and Scooby rarely showed fear), very little mystery involved (despite "Get a Clue!" being in the title), a terrible theme song with bad dancing, and horrible animation with crude designs that look like a first-grader's attempt at drawing the live-action Scooby gang.
BUT... knowing these faults they made to the adult Scooby gang, I would actually like to see Warner Bros. Animation revive "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" and produce a fourth season of the show for Cartoon Network! Now I don't want people saying "Oh, it's gonna suck!" or "I hate the babyfying trend!" Because the truth is, I LOVE "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo!" There are a few reasons why the crew responsible for "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" would be better off animating the Pup Named Scooby-Doo version than the adult counterparts...
The characterizations and plots, of course. Like "What's New," Fred was heavily dumbed down (and I believe this was the inspiration for the dumb Fred we've seen on WNSD and some of the later direct-to-video Scooby movies) and frequently used the "Let's split up, gang!" bit. Daphne was totally obsessed with her hair and fashion, and sometimes her girl-power would kick in and she could help run the gang when Fred goofs up again. Velma doesn't speak much: just "Jinkies!" whenever a clue is found, and explaining how they solved the mystery at the end. Shaggy and Scooby, of course, were already exaggerated to begin with.
This show was a parody of the original series, but was actually funny while "What's New"'s wasn't, IMO. They loved poking at "Let's split up, gang!", the standard Socoby formula, the musical chases (complete with the gang stopping to dance a bit, and them turning on the music some way like a record player!), the "meddling/pesky kids" line, Scooby-Doo's "reech rinrediment" ("No, speech impediment!") and ending each episode with "Scooby-dooby-DOOOOOOOOOOO!" In fact, some of the episodes/villains featured in WNSD could've easily been done in "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo!"
And as far as the whole "modern technology" thing goes, in the Pup series we often saw Daphne with a cell phone, and Velma with a giant desktop computer. Here they actually put them to better use than WNSD did! WNSD often just incorporated them as "Look how up to date this show is compared to the old series!") In fact, I could picture this in a newer Pup episode...
(Velma pulls out her giant computer to type data into it.)
Shaggy: Like Velma, why don't you just get a laptop?
They could even take their usual conventions/running gags even further, like this sort of thing...
Freddie: The monster is none other than... (Daphne stomps on his foot hard) OUCH!!!
Daphne: Don't even THINK about it, Freddie!
As far as music/songs go, they can simply just use the 1988-1991 "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" intro, but add the Warner Bros. Animation logo at the beginning (used on the new Batman series) so they'd know it's a newer episode. And they could easily rehire John Debney to write the chase songs for the episodes, and have him write some new background music (as well as reuse the background music he wrote for the H-B series, because that music is VERY distinctive to that show). I know the opening theme runs 60 seconds, and the closing credits run 25 seconds, which is standard running times for WB Animation's current opening and closing credits too.
And as for voices, they'd probably need a new voice for young Fred, and I imagine Mindy Cohn could pass off doing a decent Young Velma voice. But I am sure Matthew Lillard would be able to voice Shaggy (I seem to recall Shaggy was also a vegetarian in this series, but since Kasem retired, I am going with Lillard), Kellie Martin could reprise the role of Daphne, and Frank Welker would take over as Scooby-Doo. He's gotten quite better with the voice recently, I'm happy to say.
As for animation, this could easily be done. Why? Because there was a 2005 episode of "What's New, Scooby-Doo" entitled "A Terrifying Round with a Menacing Clown" that does a flashback sequence to Velma's fifth birthday, and they show the gang (as well as the clown that destroy's Velma's encyclopedia set) drawn perfectly in the "Pup Named Scooby-Doo" style! It looked almost exactly like a scene out of the first season of the Pup series! I mean, look at this:
And if they're able to lure Glen Kennedy back to Warner Bros. Animation (after the trouble he caused with some early Tiny Toons episodes), they could have him animate the wild takes and dance numbers like he did in the show's first season! Or if not, they could at least reuse the dance cycles like the show did in the second season after Glen left. The wild takes and the dancing was one reason why I enjoyed this show so much. It was very Bob Clampett/Tex Avery-ish, with a hint of "The Mask" as well.
I think WB should go for it! If not, this could be a pretty good direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movie idea, or maybe once "Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc."'s time comes, this would be a suitable replacement. Any comments?
"WHAT'S NEW, SCOOBY-DOO?" - was basically a bright dumbed-down parody of the original series. Fred got demoted to village idiot, Daphne got promoted to semi gang-leader and fashion expert, Velma almost always had to lose her glasses, they always had to do the door-chase in nearly every episode, the villains always had to say the "meddling kids" line or some parody/variation, they try to show that Fred's traps are supposed to be funny (in the original series the traps would up being unintentionally funny), the show kept making jokes about the Internet (ala "The Fairly Oddparents"), the music, voices and sound effects were completely different, and the show kept trying to desperately be more hip and "realistic" than the old series.
"SHAGGY & SCOOBY-DOO GET A CLUE" - this is wrong on so many levels! Shaggy and Scooby being rich and having nano-powered Scooby snacks giving them temporary super powers, an on-the-lam uncle and an idiotic robot butler (distant cousin of Inspector Gadget?), more different music, sound effects and voices (including Shaggy!) altered personalities (Shaggy and Scooby rarely showed fear), very little mystery involved (despite "Get a Clue!" being in the title), a terrible theme song with bad dancing, and horrible animation with crude designs that look like a first-grader's attempt at drawing the live-action Scooby gang.
BUT... knowing these faults they made to the adult Scooby gang, I would actually like to see Warner Bros. Animation revive "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" and produce a fourth season of the show for Cartoon Network! Now I don't want people saying "Oh, it's gonna suck!" or "I hate the babyfying trend!" Because the truth is, I LOVE "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo!" There are a few reasons why the crew responsible for "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" would be better off animating the Pup Named Scooby-Doo version than the adult counterparts...
The characterizations and plots, of course. Like "What's New," Fred was heavily dumbed down (and I believe this was the inspiration for the dumb Fred we've seen on WNSD and some of the later direct-to-video Scooby movies) and frequently used the "Let's split up, gang!" bit. Daphne was totally obsessed with her hair and fashion, and sometimes her girl-power would kick in and she could help run the gang when Fred goofs up again. Velma doesn't speak much: just "Jinkies!" whenever a clue is found, and explaining how they solved the mystery at the end. Shaggy and Scooby, of course, were already exaggerated to begin with.
This show was a parody of the original series, but was actually funny while "What's New"'s wasn't, IMO. They loved poking at "Let's split up, gang!", the standard Socoby formula, the musical chases (complete with the gang stopping to dance a bit, and them turning on the music some way like a record player!), the "meddling/pesky kids" line, Scooby-Doo's "reech rinrediment" ("No, speech impediment!") and ending each episode with "Scooby-dooby-DOOOOOOOOOOO!" In fact, some of the episodes/villains featured in WNSD could've easily been done in "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo!"
And as far as the whole "modern technology" thing goes, in the Pup series we often saw Daphne with a cell phone, and Velma with a giant desktop computer. Here they actually put them to better use than WNSD did! WNSD often just incorporated them as "Look how up to date this show is compared to the old series!") In fact, I could picture this in a newer Pup episode...
(Velma pulls out her giant computer to type data into it.)
Shaggy: Like Velma, why don't you just get a laptop?
They could even take their usual conventions/running gags even further, like this sort of thing...
Freddie: The monster is none other than... (Daphne stomps on his foot hard) OUCH!!!
Daphne: Don't even THINK about it, Freddie!
As far as music/songs go, they can simply just use the 1988-1991 "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" intro, but add the Warner Bros. Animation logo at the beginning (used on the new Batman series) so they'd know it's a newer episode. And they could easily rehire John Debney to write the chase songs for the episodes, and have him write some new background music (as well as reuse the background music he wrote for the H-B series, because that music is VERY distinctive to that show). I know the opening theme runs 60 seconds, and the closing credits run 25 seconds, which is standard running times for WB Animation's current opening and closing credits too.
And as for voices, they'd probably need a new voice for young Fred, and I imagine Mindy Cohn could pass off doing a decent Young Velma voice. But I am sure Matthew Lillard would be able to voice Shaggy (I seem to recall Shaggy was also a vegetarian in this series, but since Kasem retired, I am going with Lillard), Kellie Martin could reprise the role of Daphne, and Frank Welker would take over as Scooby-Doo. He's gotten quite better with the voice recently, I'm happy to say.
As for animation, this could easily be done. Why? Because there was a 2005 episode of "What's New, Scooby-Doo" entitled "A Terrifying Round with a Menacing Clown" that does a flashback sequence to Velma's fifth birthday, and they show the gang (as well as the clown that destroy's Velma's encyclopedia set) drawn perfectly in the "Pup Named Scooby-Doo" style! It looked almost exactly like a scene out of the first season of the Pup series! I mean, look at this:
And if they're able to lure Glen Kennedy back to Warner Bros. Animation (after the trouble he caused with some early Tiny Toons episodes), they could have him animate the wild takes and dance numbers like he did in the show's first season! Or if not, they could at least reuse the dance cycles like the show did in the second season after Glen left. The wild takes and the dancing was one reason why I enjoyed this show so much. It was very Bob Clampett/Tex Avery-ish, with a hint of "The Mask" as well.
I think WB should go for it! If not, this could be a pretty good direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movie idea, or maybe once "Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc."'s time comes, this would be a suitable replacement. Any comments?
