Thank you to Hailey for coming up with this week's poll idea! Here are the results for last week's poll:

What is your favorite episode with a singer's ghost as the villain?
Dance of the Undead - 29
Legend of the Vampire - 11
Mamba Wamba and the Voodoo Hoodoo - 9
I Put a Hex on You! - 9
Legend of the Gold Microphone! - 4
Screama Donna - 3
The Spirit of Rock 'N' Roll - 2
Now You Sia, Now You Don't! - 1

Despite being two seasons, The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show took less than a year to air both of them, making it the shortest multi-season Scooby-Doo series to date. Season 1 premiered on November 8, 1980, and the season 2 finale aired on October 31, 1981. This is because in 1980, similarly to last year, there was a large SAG-AFTRA strike that delayed the start of the 1980 television season. The strike lasted just over three months, from July 21 through October 23, 1980. Because lines for the season were not finished being recorded yet, The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show was not completed, and thus could not be aired in September when the television season normally began. 67,000 actors went on strike during this time, due to a dispute in which actors felt the residuals they received for home media releases (mainly VHS tapes, at the time) was unfair. Before last year's SAG-AFTRA strike, this 1980 strike was previously the longest actors' strike in history.

For last week's poll, it was a tight race for the winner, but "Hang in There, Scooby-Doo" pulled in the lead last night to take the win!

What is your favorite episode taking place in a cliff dwelling?
Hang in There, Scooby-Doo - 15
Decoy for a Dognapper - 14
New Mexico, Old Monster - 11
Hairy Scare of the Devil Bear - 7
​A Bum Steer for Scooby - 6
​Game of Chicken - 6
The Stoney Glare Stare - 0

On a whim the other day, I decided to watch "Riva Ras Regas" from What's New, Scooby-Doo? and was inspired to listen to Lindsay Pagano's debut album for the first time ever afterwards, since I'd not checked out any of her music outside of the show. As you may also know, I also chatted with Lindsay several years ago, who was super nice, and was kind enough to guest-write the 300th fun fact for the blog. For today's fun fact, I was inspired to do some research into Lindsay's music career before and after her appearance in What's New, since I realized I didn't really know all that much about it.

Lindsay was inspired to pursue music as a career because her parents were in a band, which she mentions in an interview with MTV. She mentions that a pivotal moment for realizing she was interested in becoming a singer was after winning a talent show in fifth grade, where she sung "Hero" by Mariah Carey (who is Lindsay's favorite artist). At her 13th birthday party, Lindsay sang three songs for her friends. A family friend video taped the performance, and sent it to Jude Cole, who loved Pagano's voice, and signed on as her songwriter and producer. 

Lindsay's career started in 2001 when she was 15, and she was quickly launched into popularity through her song "Everything U R" being used in an AOL commercial, as well as appearing on the soundtrack for the American Pie 2. She became known as the "AOL Girl" due to her song being used in the commercial. She also appeared in a number of ads for Reebok. As previously mentioned in Fun Fact #301, "Everything U R" also became the theme song for the NBC sitcom Maybe It's Me. She released her debut album in 2001, which was titled Love & Faith & Inspiration. The album featured 11 tracks, one of them being an extended reprise of the title track at the end.

During the album's development process, Lindsay was introduced to Paul McCartney of The Beatles, who also enjoyed her music. McCartney would later offer to remake his 1983 song "So Bad" for her, and perform it as a duet with Lindsay on the album (you can listen to their song together here).
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In 2002, as Lindsay shared in the 300th fun fact, she guest-starred in "Riva Ras Regas" after her label approached her with the suggestion to appear in What's New, Scooby-Doo?, as a way to get her name out there. Lindsay was 16 at the time of guest starring in the episode. This was a common strategy that Warner Brothers seemed to be piloting with their artists during the time that What's New, Scooby-Doo? aired, as is evident by other new musical acts appearing in episodes, including Simple Plan in "Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman" and Smash Mouth appearing in "Reef Grief." Also during that year, Lindsay went out on tour with singer Aaron Carter to promote her album.

Lindsay mentioned in an interview (the clip is 1:03:30 - 1:04:50) that the songs she sings in "Riva Ras Regas" were not real songs in her discography, and were written by the show's writers. Moreover, full versions of these songs were never made. Lindsay recorded only the parts that appeared in the episode.

She released a single in 2004 titled "Bang!" but her label ended up shutting down and changed management. She mentioned in an interview that she felt her and and the label's new management had creative differences, so she decided to part ways with the label. As a result, the song is also no longer available for download anywhere, and became lost media (in my research, I found there are a number of Reddit threads of people trying to find it).

In 2009, Lindsay released two singles exclusively to YouTube, including "I Gotta Stop" (which was sent to radio) and "Three Wishes." These were the last official songs she released to date. In 2014, Lindsay would become a contestant the hit TV show The Voice. Shakira chose Lindsay to be on her team, but Lindsay was eliminated after three episodes. Although Lindsay has not officially released any other music, she continues to perform live in small venues.

This was a bit of a different style of fun fact than the typical, so I hope you enjoyed it! Also, it's Lindsay's birthday on Saturday, so happy early birthday to her!

Thanks to Shadowscooby for suggesting this week's poll idea!

For last week's dragon poll, the results were pretty close! "Large Dragon at Large" takes first place with 22 votes. We had a tie for second place between "Block Long Hong Kong Terror" and "Sword and the Scoob," each of them getting 15 votes. Third place was another tie between "Heart of Evil" and "Rickshaw Scooby" for 5 votes each. In last place, "The Demon of the Dugout" only received 4 votes.

What is your favorite episode with a dragon as the villain?
Large Dragon at Large - 22
Block Long Hong Kong Terror - 15
Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob - 15
Rickshaw Scooby - 5
Heart of Evil - 5
The Demon of the Dugout - 4

Thanks to GamesRadar+, we have our comic solicitations for September 2024. It looks like they've got quite a bit of special things planned for Scooby's anniversary month!

(Image credit: DC)
​Written by MATTHEW CODY
Art and cover by DARIO BRIZUELA
$2.99 US | 32 pages 
ON SALE 9/4/24
Copyright © 2024 DC Comics and Hanna-Barbera.
Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are scared of pretty much everything, especially ghosts and flying. So when Kite Man rebrands as the Flying Phantom of Wayne Tower, his most inept plot yet is terrifying to our scaredy-cats when they all literally get blown away from Gotham’s tallest building. Will they land safely, or have they had their final Scooby Snacks?

SCOOBY-DOO GREATEST ADVENTURES (2024)
​Written by DEREK FRIDOLFS, SHOLLY FISCH, and SCOTT NEELY 
Art by SCOTT JERALDS and others
Cover by DARIO BRIZUELA
$14.99 US | 424 pages | 6 5/8" x 10 3/16" | Softcover | ISBN: 978-1-77952-790-5
ON SALE 10/29/24
Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. gang celebrate 50 years of spooks, scares, and silliness in this all-ages collection of stories from the pages of Scooby-Doo #1, #10, #35, #68, #72; Scooby-Doo Team-Up #2, #5, #7-9, #12, #18, #37, #40; and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #48, #51, #54, #71, #78-79, #83, and #85! Includes appearances by Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Swamp Thing, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, and a whole menagerie of super-pets!

MULTIVERSUS #1
Written by BRYAN Q. MILLER
Art by JON SOMMARIVA
Cover by DAN MORA
Variant covers by MIKEL JANÍN and RILEY ROSSMO
1:25 variant cover by JON SOMMARIVA
1:50 variant cover by TK
$4.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock) 
ON SALE 9/18/24

Bruce Wayne, Diana Prince, and Clark Kent each wake in a cold sweat, troubled by strange dreams they’ve had about “the rabbit,” “the star child,” and “the witch.” Their investigation into these enigmatic visions brings them to unexpected locales and unusual characters, but none more unusual than the mysterious “rabbit” from their dreams as they find themselves face-to-face with the one and only Bugs Bunny. What the heck is going on here? And who in the name of the Multiverse are “the star child” and “the witch”? The hit video game spills from your screen and into the DCU, and it’s bringing a whole lot of friends from some of your favorite universes with it! 

A large set of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated storyboards have been posted on eBay following animator Craig Kemplin's death. All storyboards are part of his estate, and at the time of this post, they are posted on eBay for $399.99. The listing mentions that the number of storyboards in this collection are in the hundreds. Notably, the listing has a couple of storyboards that provide new details about a couple of different characters. One storyboard is a character model of Hot Dog Water, which mentions in the notes that she was originally designed to look like an evil version of Velma. Another storyboard confirms a fascinating reference to Gremlins, which is especially timely considering the recent announcement about a script being written for a Gremlins and Scooby-Doo crossover film. Ray's pet, who looks like a Mowgai, is confirmed to actually be Mowgai by the storyboard. Thank you so much to Jinkies for finding this listing!

Today on Instagram, Tracy Mark Lee shared a few pictures of original character designs from various episodes of Guess Who. His post included character model sheets for Cher and the gang, from "Cher, Scooby and the Sargasso Sea." However, most notably, he also shared an early image from "The High School Wolfman's Musical Lament," which was slated to feature a cameo from Crunch (from the Hunch Bunch) in Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf. However, Crunch was removed before the episode aired, and he was replaced with a generic hunchbacked man. You can check out the rough design for Crunch above, and also see the other designs on his Instagram page. Thanks to Jinkies for sharing this info!

Some very exciting news was announced today at the Annecy Festival in France! A brand new Scooby-Doo series, titled Go-Go Mystery Machine, will be our next animated Scooby-Doo series. The series will be our first Scooby-Doo anime, and features Shaggy and Scooby accidentally releasing hundreds of mythical monsters while visiting Japan on a food adventure. The series will also feature Scooby's uncle Daisuke-Doo, gadget wiz Toshiro, and their magical friend Etsuko. The Variety article that made the announcement did not mention a release date for the series. It's also worth noting that Fred, Daphne and Velma are not on the series poster.

Series vice president of Warner Brothers Animation and Cartoon Network Studios, Stacy Kim, said this about the series at the Annecy Festival: “We have seen a lot of iterations of ‘Scooby’ over the years, but nothing quite like this one. This is ‘Scooby’ does anime."

According to Sunisa Petchpoo's LinkedIn page, several of the Scooby-Doo specials and films from 2013 and 2014 originally were given different titles. Spooky Scarecrow was originally titled Scooby-Doo and the Scarecrow's Curse, Mecha Mutt Menace was titled Maniacal Mecha Mutt, and FrankenCreepy was titled Curse of the Frankencreep. In addition, Jason Wyatt's LinkedIn page mentions that Ghastly Goals was merely titled Goal.