Five years ago today, I wrote up my Series in Review post for Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?. The series had just finished airing internationally the prior week, several months before it would conclude in the US.

During this lengthy period of no Scooby shows or movies, I've felt inspired to check out some of my less-revisited Scooby content. At the end of last year, I revisited all of the DTV films from 2012 through the present, which I hadn't seen in a long time. After recently revisiting season 1 of Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! (which I also hadn't rewatched in full for a while), I was thinking about the fact that I hadn't seen some episodes of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? since they first aired.

Back in March, I decided to do a full rewatch of the series. Since airing, I had soured a bit on the series for its blandness and heavy reliance on guest stars to carry the episodes. I was hesitant to invest the time in rewatching all 52 episodes, but I'm so glad I did!

Throughout my rewatch, my thoughts and feelings on the series became so much clearer.  During its original run, there was something beyond the blandness that I didn't like about the show, but I couldn't quite articulate what it was. Now, my thoughts on the show feel very clear, and I finally feel like I can fully explain precisely what I like and dislike about the show.

I actually hadn't even intended to write a post on here originally. As I got to the end of my rewatch, I decided it would be fun to do a five-year anniversary post sharing how my thoughts have evolved.

Overall, I feel Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? is a below-average series. The show's intention is clearly recapturing the feel of the classic era. However, the writing doesn't consistently take into account all of the aspects that actually made the classic era great.

The writers seem to heavily latch onto the gang's limited characterizations. Objectively, this was a defining aspect of the classic era. The first four series were excellent at creating compelling stories with limited characterizations of each gang member. However, the series seems to latch onto the "limited characterizations" bit without fully understanding how other elements also played a huge role in creating the vibe of the classic series.

​The classic era also had incredible atmospheres. There are literally entire websites dedicated to showcasing the background paintings. Guess Who isn't consistently great at creating those strong atmospheres. There were episodes that stand out as doing it as well as the classic era ("What a Night, for a Dark Knight!", "The Wedding Witch of Wainsly Hall!," "The Feast of Dr. Frankenfooder!", and "The Legend of the Gold Microphone!" to name a few). However, there are many episodes where the atmosphere is pretty basic. More often than not, the atmospheres lack the charismatic aesthetic needed to make it as appealing as the classic era.

The classic era's mysteries were also almost always strong. In Guess Who, the mysteries often feel underdeveloped. There is minimal focus on the clues, and they are often basic enough where the mystery is very easy to figure out. Personally, I feel the mystery and atmosphere were a bigger part of the classic era's appeal than the Guess Who writers often took into account.

I also found the monsters very unmemorable. So many of them felt like they had the same personality. It seemed like the writers were trying to make all of the monsters feel like one archetype of "the traditional Scooby-Doo monster," which caused a lot of the villains to blend together. In the classic era, all of the monsters arguably had their own personalities. I found it odd the writers tried to extend the "limited characterization" aspect to the monsters as well.

I'd mentioned in my original series in review post that the guest stars were also inconsistent. In that 2021 post, I talked mainly about how I felt the guest stars' performance varied in quality. This was definitely something I still found to be an issue on rewatch. There were guest stars that felt totally checked out. Chris Paul, Halsey, Kacey Musgraves, and Joey Chestnut particularly come to mind as guest stars that felt like they were going through the motions (I'll cover my thoughts on Joey Chestnut later, because omg, his episode was next-level bad lol). Other guest stars felt so charismatic and invested in their roles. Kristen Schaal, Jason Sudeikis, Sean Astin, Terry Bradshaw, Carol Burnett, and many others felt incredibly passionate about their roles, and it made their episodes so fun to watch. The New Scooby-Doo Movies had such a strong roster of guest stars. However, this series struggled to pick guest stars that consistently deliver strong performances.

On rewatch, I realized my issue goes beyond just what the guest star brings to the table. The New Scooby-Doo Movies also did an excellent job balancing the gang's world and the guest star's world. It never felt like we were stepping too far outside of the gang's world, but we also had one foot inside the guest star's world. The series was consistently able to strike a good balance between both worlds ("Mystery in Persia" being the only exception).

I've brought it up before, but a comment someone left on here in 2022 really sticks with me. The comment argued that a big part of The New Scooby-Doo Movies' magic was that it put the guest star in a quirky role or situation. I think this is absolutely true, and Guess Who lacks balance in this area. It often felt like the gang was fully inside the guest star's world, or the guest star was fully coming inside the gang's world. This is just my personal preference, but I think Scooby-Doo crossovers work best when there is a balance struck between both worlds. Usually, my favorite Guess Who episodes were the ones that struck a good balance, and put the guest star in a quirky role. All of the charismatic guest stars I listed above fall into this category.

I think the biggest shortcoming of this series - the aspect I didn't like, but couldn't quite put my finger on before - is that its attention is focused in the wrong places for recapturing that classic era vibe. Besides limited characterizations, I was struck during my rewatch by how much this series focuses on classic tropes. I've used the phrase "forced nostalgia" to describe this series in the past, and I think the tropes are the biggest part of that. The big difference between this series and the classic era is that the tropes flowed more naturally. In Guess Who, they feel obligatory at times. An excellent example of this is that each time Velma loses her glasses in this series, she says "My glasses! My glasses! I can't see without my glasses!" This was something she said in the original series, but it flowed so much more naturally. The writers didn't force her to say that full phrase verbatim every time; it was a trope that naturally occurred alongside whatever was happening in the episode. The door gags are another great example of this. The series frequently feels like it's just checking trope boxes as a quick and easy way to give it a "classic" feel, rather than fully fleshing out that classic tone in the episode.

In trying to use the classic formula, I also feel Guess Who sometimes makes the formula feel overly structured. It was super interesting to rewatch the series, and notice the creative shifts between seasons. I've talked on here before about how it feels like season 3 of The Scooby-Doo Show has a creative shift from the first two seasons. Season 3 feels like it focuses much more on Shaggy and Scooby's antics, pushing Fred, Daphne, and Velma to the background. The first 11 episodes of Guess Who season 2 seem to also have a creative shift like this. And oof, they were rough to get through as a result.

The beginning of season 2 seems to double-down hard on making the formula very structured. In most episodes, act 1 is the gang meeting the guest star, then meeting the suspects. Act 2 involves the monster chasing the gang, Shaggy and Scooby dressing up to fool the monster with a guest star, and someone (usually Velma) finding a clue. Act 3 is mostly taken up by the trap and unmasking.

The worst offender for this was "The Crown Jewel of Boxing!" There is very little meat to the episode at all. Act 2 is almost completely chasing around, and there are literally three "Shaggy and Scooby dress up to fool the monster" gags. Another episode that encapsulates this issue well is "A Moveable Mystery!" Towards the middle of act 1, Fred literally says "Okay gang, let's look for suspects!" This particularly stood out to me as structuring the formula to the extreme. The gang typically encounters suspects naturally throughout the episode. Actually dedicating several minutes of the episode to having the gang seek out suspicious people felt really forced and awkward.

Most of the time, it felt like the overstructuring was to the episode's detriment. "The Internet on Haunted House Hill!" feels like a perfect example of this. Liza Koshy mentions that she's trying to make a viral video at this haunted house. This could have been a super cool premise to shape the episode around. Instead, this plot is completely pushed to the background so that the episode can be structured in the way I outlined above. It's such a bummer, because Liza stood out to me as one of the more charismatic guest stars, but they completely waste the episode's potential on trying to adhere to a formula that doesn't even feel natural.

To sum up my issue here, this series feels too scripted at times. The writers' attention feels too focused on the limited characterizations and classic tropes. In doing so, creating strong atmospheres, mysteries, and guest star dynamics is not prioritized as much as it should be. The limited characterizations and rigidly scripted writing feel almost confining at times. It makes the series feel hit or miss, because the writing tries to ground the show in a way that lacks balance in several areas.

Another thing I noticed during my rewatch is at points, the series tries to frame the gang as this "legendary group of mystery solvers that everyone knows." This is mentioned a few times by guest stars and the gang. In "The Crown Jewel of Boxing!", Laila Ali mentions that she thought Mystery Inc. was "an urban legend." At numerous points, Velma is also specifically mentioned as one of the smartest people in the world. If I remember correctly, her intellect is said to be on a similar level with Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson. In "The Lost Mines of Kilimanjaro!", Velma says she's one of five people to know a lost language.

I have no evidence to base this off of, but I almost wonder if the creative mindset was trying to frame the franchise as this "legendary group of mystery solvers" that everyone knows, in attempt to draw in a new generations of viewers. It doesn't really factor into my opinion of the series much, but I do prefer the canon of the gang being normal teens. Because of how this series is written, having them be "world famous" feels like it indirectly frames the franchise as being so successful because of its adherence to these classic tropes and formula.

This is a perfect segway into my last point. The main reason why this series feels below average is that I think the series is too quick to typecast the franchise as being carried by the classic tropes and limited characterizations. However, the franchise is so much more that. In my opinion, I think the franchise has remained relevant after 50 years because it's continued to slightly evolve the classic formula and explore it in different ways. This series doesn't feel like it has much of a creative identity, beyond trying to recapture the magic of the classic era.

I feel bad that I didn't say all that much positive about the show lol. Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? is a cute little series that has its moments. However, it is a very bland show that is tough to come up with highlights for. The show plays it quite safe, but when it's willing to branch outside its bubble, the series demonstrates that it can really shine.

The episodes I enjoyed most during my rewatch were the ones that weren't afraid to mix things up, and create unique, quirky plots. On rewatch, "What a Night, for a Dark Knight!" surged up to the top of my rankings. The episode is much more humorous than any other episode of this series. It felt like a novelty episode of sorts, because it's almost like a parody of a classic episode by giving it a humorous spin. I actually think this would have been a perfect way to approach the series. Be Cool gave us this from an absurdist humor standpoint, but this episode felt more like more of a novelty with its witty comedy. "One Minute Mysteries!" is another great example of this. Y'all know I'm sick to death of recreating classic mysteries, but having short clips of The Flash interfering with all of these mysteries felt like a perfect novelty episode.

It wasn't just the novelty episodes that stuck out to me. Episodes like "Dance Matron of Mayhem!," where the gang has to save Maddie Ziegler's dance academy, and "A Run Cycle Through Time!" where Malcolm McDowell sends the gang to the future, are really fun! The episodes that put the gang in quirky situations almost always worked very well for me. Even the gang becoming firefighters in "Fear of the Fire Beast!" was pretty cool, despite only being for part of the episode.

The other episodes that stood out to me most are the ones that were actually effective at recreating the classic era atmospheres and mysteries. "Too Many Dummies!", "The Wedding Witch of Wainsly Hall!", "The Feast of Dr. Frankenfooder!", and "The Legend of the Gold Microphone!" did amazing with this. After that rough patch in season 2, I'd forgotten that there did seem to be a stronger effort on the writers' part to make the episodes more well-rounded recreations of the classic era. I was surprised that a number of the episodes like "Falling Star Man!", "Dark Diner of Route 66!" and "The Movieland Monsters!" actually felt pretty close to that The New Scooby-Doo Movies vibe.

And of course, charismatic guest stars were always a huge bonus! Kristen Schaal, Jason Sudeikis, Sean Astin, Terry Bradshaw, and Carol Burnett stood out to me as being so warm and charismatic that they infused a burst of energy into their episodes. Minor side note, but I laughed so hard at Jason Sudeikis saying "The only mystery that matters to me is finding the lost shoes. The rest is all tropes and filler!" It was literally a perfect encapsulation of the issues I was having with the show during my rewatch. I didn't even mention that joke in my original review, but I think it is my favorite joke of the entire series now.

All of this shows that the series had the potential to be quite good. When the writers weren't afraid to break outside the formula and put the gang in a quirky situation, the show shined. However, the show needs a boost beyond its average vibe to reach its full potential, which is a major shortcoming imo.

I was originally thinking about re-reviewing my favorites and least favorites of the series. However, I actually think it'd be more interesting to spotlight the episodes that my opinion changed the most on since my initial watch. We'll start with the eight episodes that grew on me the most!

​Later in the post, when I re-do my rankings, you'll notice this list is slightly out of alignment with the biggest gainers in my rankings. The episodes included in this list are ones where my thoughts notably changed in the sense that I see them in a new way. There were some episodes in my rankings that were boosted merely by other episodes falling below them, but my thoughts didn't significantly change enough to have new things to discuss.

What a Night, for a Dark Knight!
I already talked about this one a bit in the context of the article, but this grew on me so much! It was towards the middle of my series rankings previously. On rewatch, this episode had such a different vibe than the rest of the show. The tone feels like a tongue-in-cheek twist on the classic era, and it works so well. The atmosphere is also one of the strongest of the series. There is that awkward bit where Scooby has a tantrum over breaking his phone (not sure what that's about), but it didn't bother me nearly as much this time. It's a small oddity in an otherwise great episode!

Now You Sia, Now You Don't!
The first time I watched this, I was amongst the sickest I'd been in my life. What I thought was a cold turned out to be pink eye, and it took me weeks to get over it. That said, I wasn't in the best mood when I watched it the first time around lol. (Honestly, this may have applied to "What a Night, for a Dark Knight!" too) This is one I had rewatched since it aired. It popped up in one of the polls we did on here last year, and I remember someone encouraging me to rewatch it. On second (and now third) watch, I like this so much better. Sia brings a lot of energy to this episode. The contrast between her zany house and the creepy doppelgänger works surprisingly well. I love the atmosphere here, and I'd argue that bedroom scene is amongst the creepiest scenes in the entire series. The silly-creepy mix works surprisingly well, and it makes for a great episode.

Space Station Scooby
It was fun to reread my reviews for these the first time around. I remembered not liking Neil very much as a guest star, but it would appear from rereading my original review from 2020, I also thought Bill's performance was phoned in, and I considered it a generally unmemorable episode.

This time around, I really enjoyed this episode. Having the gang go to space with Bill and Neil was a fun switch-up. I actually found the episode quite memorable for mixing it up from the traditional format of the series. I remember watching Bill Nye videos back in school, so I found myself feeling nostalgic about him while watching this episode. Neil was pretty good too. This definitely didn't deserve to be my fourth least-favorite the first time around. This is a really fun one!

The Feast of Dr. Frankenfooder!
This was just inside the top 20 in my original rankings. I liked it a lot even on first watch, but it's now an episode I consider a show highlight. They nail the classic tone and atmosphere here better than 90% of the episodes in this show. Alton's house is very creepy. Alton is one of the most engaged guest stars of the show imo; he seems super into his role. The quirky mystery and villain makes this one works super well. Despite being in that rough patch of the first half of season 2, the plot flows very naturally and is engaging to follow. This comes close to that New Scooby-Doo Movies vibe for me, which is something that very few episodes of this series are able to do.

The 7th Inning Scare!
​I ranked this in the bottom half last time, but it was a real standout this time. He's fallen out of popularity in recent years, but I still find some of his hits from back in the day to be fun. I thought he was an amazing guest star here! He seemed so engaged with the role, and I liked how they worked the plot around his real-life love of baseball. This episode felt like the beginning of the creative shift between the rigidly-structured first half of season 2, and when they started actually making quality episodes that understood being "classic" was more than just tropes and limited characterizations. The atmosphere feels quite reminiscent of the classic era to me, and I think they did a great job creating a strong mystery.

Fear of the Fire Beast
Another episode that falls into the "why was this so low?" category. I ranked this in my bottom 10 of the show originally, and really don't understand why lol. From reading my original review, it seems like I thought it was boring. It was funny to see I also complained about the Italian stereotypes. I'd actually just gotten back from a trip to Italy the prior summer, so they must have stuck out to me back then lol. Rewatching it, some of the stereotypes are a tad flamboyant, but I didn't find any of them to be offensive or anything. The only one that stood out to me was Steve assuring the gang that this old man who threatened a curse on him was just "Italian passion." From my experience, Italians definitely speak more passionately than people from other countries might be used to. However, I can assure you that nobody is walking around putting vile curses on each other lol.

I'd actually rewatched this one last year for our countries/continents poll series. The episode has grown on me a lot in my past two rewatches. Steve was a strong guest star! Steve training the gang to be firefighters is a cute little subplot, and it works well to mix up the formula. It goes to show that when this series isn't afraid to switch it up (even if it's just part of the episode), it can be quite fun.

Falling Star Man!
While I was doing the rewatch, I was talking with one of my friends in the fandom, and he highlighted "Falling Star Man!" as a top-tier episode of this show. I remembered liking it well enough, but I had no memory of a strong opinion of it. Rewatching this, I now consider it one of the best episodes of the series. Terry's ranch has an incredibly spooky atmosphere, and I really like the alien design! What makes this one so amazing though is Terry. He has so much charisma here, and shows so much enthusiasm for the role. The atmosphere and cool mystery already gave this one bonus points, but Terry boosts it to feeling on the same level as The New Scooby-Doo Movies.

The Movieland Monsters!
My thoughts on this one are very similar to "Falling Star Man!" Carol was an incredible guest star that has as much charisma as anyone they picked for The New Scooby-Doo Movies. The gang going through a virtual world of classic movies is such a fun novelty plot! The Silver Screen Spectre (I'm not calling him the "Ghost Monster" lol) has one of the best villain designs in this series. I loved Carol's closing song too.

I take back what I said originally about how they should have made "A Haunt of a Thousand Voices!" the series finale. This one is a perfect ending to the series! ​It honestly feels a little weird that this is the most recent Scooby episode we've gotten from a traditional series. It feels so long ago at this point.

We're now moving on to the five episodes that were the biggest droppers in my rankings. Any long-time readers who remember my original Guess Who reviews are in for a big surprise with the last two!

The Hot Dog Dog!
​This was one of my least favorites the first time too, but I wanted to highlight it here because my opinion changed from "boring" to "next-level awful" lol. The mystery feels incredibly thin here. It feels quite rushed, and is one of the worst examples of overstructuring issue I mentioned. I like the Gnarled One's design, but the potential is completely wasted by giving it a very generic personality that's indistinguishable from any other villains in this series.

The worst part of this episode for me was Joey. His role in this episode is so boring. With most of the guest stars that I don't know, I usually have a better sense of who they are after watching the episode. With Joey, I honestly still can't say I know anything about him or his personality after watching this. 90% of his lines are him saying he likes food, or filler lines that only serve as exposition for the plot. It makes it even worse that his delivery is incredibly monotone here. If Joey wasn't in this episode, I don't think it would have changed at all. He contributes almost nothing here and is almost entirely background. Even the random announcer guy has more lines than he does in this episode lol.

Speaking of which, oh god lol. The announcer gag was so irritating here. The joke is essentially that this announcer has an extreme, exaggerative personality. It wasn't really funny the first time, yet they keep calling back to it every few minutes of the episode. It was obnoxious to the point that I actually felt relieved when the episode was over lol, because they stacked three of those jokes in a row at the very end. 

On the positive side, I did enjoy the recurring joke of Scooby and Shaggy accidentally winning the competition by stress-eating while watching the actual contestant, lol.

Hollywood Knights!
This was another one that was already bottom 10, but this was another episode that felt like a whole new level of awful after rewatching it. Unlike the previous two, I basically have one problem with this episode. The gang is written as being super eager-to-please here for George, and it's really strange lol. Much of their dialogue in this episode seems like they're bending over backward to compliment George. Throughout the episode, the gang consistently fawn over his "beautiful voice." At one point, one gang member even gives him a list of random words that they want him to say aloud just to hear how it sounds. There's another scene where they all say something like, "We were just admiring your voice!" at the same time.

Don't get me wrong, George seems like a cool guy who has had a lot of great achievements. I wouldn't have thought this the first time I saw it, but now, I've grown to feel that there's a difference between respecting cool people for their accomplishments, and feeling like you have to bend over backwards to stroke their ego. At the end of the day, we're all just people, and having cool accomplishments doesn't give someone the permission to act superior to others. I don't think I'd fully adopted this mindset yet when I first saw this, but it really bugged me watching this episode now.

This whole episode feels it's tripping over itself to stroke George's ego. George acts in a way that feels haughty and arrogant throughout the episode, which rubs me the wrong way. They could have kept the compliments to a minute and left it at that. It made me wonder if George somehow got a say in the writing process, because the compliments are just so over-the-top compared to any other guest star in this series. The bit with George ripping his shirt off to fight the knight was in this same vein for me. It felt like there was an intentional effort by the writers to write him as this "super cool guy" who could do everything, and it was very weird lol.

The Crown Jewel of Boxing!
This was actually my third time rewatching this episode! The first two times were within a month of each other, because I remember Mr. Neither suggesting I write a fun fact where I counted the number of times the robot said "destroy" (spoilers: it was 66 lol). Laila is a decent (albeit unmemorable) guest star, and there aren't any annoying jokes here. However, this one stood out to me as the episode that suffered the most from that rough patch of early season 2.

As mentioned earlier, what could have been a cool plot feels short-changed by the rigid overstructuring. Act 1 sets the episode up to seem pretty average. However, act 2 and 3 fall off a quality cliff imo. After a brief gag where Laila teaches Shaggy and Scooby about mental strength training, the entire episode becomes - in the immortal words of Jason Sudeikis - "tropes and filler" lol. Most of the second act is chasing around, followed by the door gag, followed by more chasing. We get three "Shaggy and Scooby fool the monster" gags in this episode, which reaches the point of essentially being filler imo. In the last minute of act 2, we get a brief bit of exposition where Velma figures out the mystery, despite very little investigation shown. Act three is entirely comprised of the trap and unmasking. This was an issue I had with several early season 2 episodes. The worst offender was "Scooby on Ice!", where there's nearly a five minute chunk of the episode dedicated to the gang chasing the Snow Devil back and forth on the ice.

There's nothing wrong with the guest star or villain, but there is so little substance to this episode. I latched onto this one as being a textbook example of why Guess Who feels bland. The writing of this one feels like they're trying to achieve a "classic" feel by stacking trope after another, and then wedging all the exposition into like five minutes of the episode. This approach doesn't work for me at all. I think it is a very good example of how Guess Who often looks in the wrong places to achieve that "classic" feeling.

Cher, Scooby, and the Sargasso Sea!
This was close to top 10 when I first saw it. However, on rewatch, I thought the execution was underwhelming. I think they copied "The Secret of Shark Island" too much. "The Dreaded Remake of Jekyll and Hyde!" works for me because remaking the movie feels like a natural fit with Sandy's career. However, there was no reason to try to recreate the original episode here imo. The attempt to do so felt like it confined the episode from its potential. The episode feels like a forced retread of the original mystery (even down to copying the villains, plan, and motive). Cher, Shaggy and Scooby going around the ship doing different birthday activities for the entire first act also felt like awkward filler. Cher did a great job here, but the writing of the episode felt bland and uninspired. I think it goes to show that reimaginings are best done when a natural idea to expand on the original manifests, instead of trying to force it for the sake of nostalgia.

A Haunt of a Thousand Voices!
This was in my top 3 for the series last time, but it tumbles close to the bottom for me on rewatch. I still think having an episode dedicated to the gang meeting their voice actors is such a fun idea! I really enjoyed all the voice acting jokes, and thought the episode had potential to be enjoyable. Had this episode been released pre-SDMI, I think it would have been a home run. However, having a classic reimagining episode in a series that already feels overly nostalgia-driven is...not the best choice imo.

I found the mystery to be quite forced and poorly written. It was obvious from the start who the culprits would be, and having the Where Are You villains reappear has been done to death at this point. If they wanted to do it again, I think it would have been better to go all in. Having the gang wonder why these classic villains are appearing from their past, and developing the mystery a lot more would have been an improvement. It's approached very topically here and there's just very little substance to this. This one is cute for the voice actor interactions, but otherwise it's a pass for me.

I Put a Hex on You!
I told you it would be a surprise! I remember being super excited about a Hex Girls episode where we got to see more of their normal lives. I can actually vividly remember watching this episode for the first time, because it was the day before everything shut down for the pandemic. However, rewatching it, I think I liked the idea of it, but I looked past the execution being subpar.

The Hex Girls are good guest stars in the sense that they have a lot of personality. I wasn't the biggest fan of their personalities here, though. They come off as kinda caricaturish and out-of-character. Thorn needing her own tranquilizer gun particularly stood out to me this time. It feels like they're characterized as these crazy rockstars, but they're missing the depth that their characters previously had. The idea of them being "cursed" to be girly and so unlike their traditional vibe also stood out to me as such a cool idea on first watch. However, again, the execution feels kinda subpar. Thorn and Luna's girly characterizations feel a bit stiff and one-dimensional. 

It's certainly not a bad episode. I like that the episode shows more of the girls' lives, and the villain is very cool. I think the episode struggles from the typical Guess Who issues though, and I'd consider it to be middle of the road. This is far from the best written episode of the series.

Despite this series being inconsistent quality-wise, I really enjoyed doing this rewatch! It was fun revisiting these episodes that I haven't seen in so long. This series may be below average, but I still found there to be quite a few hidden gems. It was fun to see how my thoughts on this series had changed over the past five years! This rewatch made my thoughts on this series so much clearer, so I'm curious to hear if others' thoughts have changed too!

To conclude this post, it's time to update the Star-Studded Scoreboard for the first time in five years!

Star-Studded Scoreboard
1. Falling Star Man! (+19)
2. The Legend of the Gold Microphone (=)
3. The Movieland Monsters! (+16)
4. One Minute Mysteries! (+6)
5. The Feast of Dr. Frankenfooder! (+13)
6. What a Night, for a Dark Knight! (+16)
7. Returning of the Key Ring! (+5)
8. Lost Soles of Jungle River! (+24)
9. Too Many Dummies! (+7)
10. Dance Matron of Mayhem! (+1)
11. Now You Sia, Now You Don't! (+27)
12. The Wedding Witch of Wainsly Hall! (+16)
13. Dark Diner of Route 66! (-5)
14. The Horrible Haunted Hospital of Phineas Phrag! (-9)
​15. The 7th Inning Scare! (+14)
16. The Dreaded Remake of Jekyll and Hyde! (-9)
17. Total Jeopardy! (-13)
18. Scooby-Doo, Dog Wonder! (-4)
19. Space Station Scooby (+30)
20. The Last Inmate! (-14)
21. A Run Cycle Through Time! (+4)
22. Elementary, My Dear Shaggy! (-7)
23. The Sword, The Fox, and the Scooby-Doo! (-14)
24. Fear of the Fire Beast! (+21)
25. The Tao of Scoob! (+15)
26. Scooby-Doo and the Sky Town Cool School! (+11)
27. The Scooby of a Thousand Faces! (+9)
28. The Internet on Haunted House Hill! (-7)
29. When Urkel-Bots Go Bad! (-12)
30. The Nightmare Ghost of Psychic U! (-4)
31. A Fashion Nightmare! (-4)
32. I Put a Hex on You! (-31)
33. The Cursed Cabinet of Professor Madds Markson! (-7)
34. Attack of the Weird Al-osaurus! (-11)
35. The Fastest Food Fiend! (+16)
36. A Moveable Mystery! (-2)
37. The Lost Mines of Kilimanjaro! (+6)
38. The High School Wolfman's Musical Lament! (+1)
39. Peebles' Pet Shop of Terrible Terrors! (+9)
40. Scooby on Ice! (-9)
41. A Haunt of a Thousand Voices! (-38)
42. Caveman on the Half Pipe! (-9)
43. Revenge of the Swamp Monster! (-8)
44. Cher, Scooby, and the Sargasso Sea! (-31)
45. The Crown Jewel of Boxing! (-15)
46. The Phantom, the Talking Dog, and the Hot Hot Hot Sauce! (-4)
47. The New York Underground! (-6)
48. Quit Clowning! (-1)
49. Ollie Ollie In-Come Free! (+1)
50. The Hot Dog Dog! (-4)
51. Hollywood Knights! (-7)
52. A Mystery Solving Gang Divided (=)

Following last year's Fortnite collab, another unexpected Scooby-Doo video game collab has been announced! The game's producer announced an upcoming Scooby collab yesterday during its 10th Anniversary Broadcast. Instead of having Scooby and the gang appear directly in the game, the game will instead feature Scooby-themed skins. This is likely because Dead by Daylight is a mature horror game involving extreme violence, so WB likely did not want the characters directly appearing (similarly to how they didn't want Scooby in the Velma series). The Scooby skin can be seen above. No date has been officially announced yet. Thank you to ScoobyVerse for the heads up about this announcement!

The plot of "Dance of the Undead" from Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated is based on a real-life historical event. On July 14, 1518, a woman named Frau Troffea and her daughter, Emma Gotz, began dancing uncontrollably in the streets. Frau Troffea continued dancing for a week straight, stopping only to sleep and eat. Some people who witnessed their strange dance began to mimic them. By August 1518, between 50-400 people began dancing in the streets for weeks at a time.

Historical records explain the phenomenon as stress-induced mass hysteria. Other modern theories for the bizarre phenomenon include food poisoning, and a condition in which the affected people's blood was overheating. It was believed that the dancing cooled down the victim's overheated blood through continuous full-body movement.

Some sad news for fans of the Boo Brothers! Ronnie Schell, the voice actor for Freako, passed away on Friday. He was 94 years old, and died of natural causes. Schell was most known as a comedian, and for his role as Duke Slater on Gomer Pyle - USMC. Hanna-Barbera fans may also know him as the voice of Gilly from Goober and the Ghost Chasers. Besides Freako, Ronnie Schell also voiced Colonel Calloway in Ghoul School, and additional voices in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.

The first round of the guest stars poll series is in the books! We have an unexpected tie for last week's poll results between Simple Plan and Weird Al Yankovic. That means both will move ahead to the Winner's Circle round on July 19. Here are the final results:

Who is your favorite singer to guest star in Scooby-Doo?
Simple Plan - 13
Weird Al Yankovic - 13
Sonny and Cher - 7
KISS - 7
Sia - 4
Smash Mouth - 4
Davy Jones - 2
Jerry Reed - 2
Cass Elliot - 2
​Lindsay Pagano - 2
J.C. Chasez - 2
Halsey - 2
Kacey Musgraves - 2
Reverend Run - 1
Axl Rose - 1
Macklemore - 0

Since the news of the merger in December, I've been sporadically giving updates on the WB-Paramount merger. Yesterday saw some big news for the merger, which has needed to go through an approval process. The New York Times has reported that The U.S. Justice Department has now approved the Paramount-Warner Brothers merger. Officially, this is the last formal obstacle the merger needed to go through in order to be approved.

However, some states are considering legal action to block the merger according to BBC . California attorney Rob Bonta has expressed his intent to sue over the merger, arguing that the merger would consolidate power in the Hollywood industry down to just a few studios. Last week, Bonta announced that he would soon decide whether to take legal action.

While the merger could still face obstacles to being approved, in terms of official processes, it is considered a done deal now that the Justice Department has approved it. Unless there's significant likelihood of one of the cases reversing the merger, this will likely be the last article I'll publish about it.

A listing has popped up on Funko's official website for some new Scooby figures! As a part of the Spooky Rides collectible line, Scooby-Doo and the Space Kook will be released as Mystery Minis! They are being packaged alongside Gremlins and Beetlejuice figures. Each figure is $6.99. The figures are being sold in "collect-them-all" style where figures are packaged at random, a la "fast food toys." This means purchasing one may give you a Gremlins or Beetlejuice figure instead of a Scooby-Doo figure, since they are all being packaged together. You can pre-order the new figures here! No release date has been announced yet, but the official site lists them as coming soon. Thanks to Mr Neither for sharing the news!

Update 6/11: The ScoobyDooINFCP Instagram page has shared some behind-the-scenes footage of filming. The shared footage shows we'll be getting a reference to Captain Cutler! You can also check out additional behind the scenes pics via Scooby-Doo Brazil's Instagram. Thanks Velmsters for the links!

Deadline has shared another exciting announcement on the heels of the big Scooby reveal from Monday! Fifteen brand new cast members have been announced for the upcoming show. No character details have been announced yet. The show's cast will include:

• Rusty Schwimmer
• Peter Macon
• Maxwell Simkins
• Jona Xiao
• Dani Deetté 
• Elysée Sanvillé
• Alex Isles
• Avery Kristen Pohl
• Pamela Mitchell
• Ross Kimball
• Sara Gilbert
• Wynn Everett
• Sauriyan Sapkota
• Bruce McGill
• Sherilyn Fenn

Update 6/9/26: TV producer Ted Biaselli has confirmed that Scooby will talk in response to a fan's comment on Instagram.

Netflix has shared a couple pieces of exciting news about the upcoming live-action series, Scooby-Doo: Origins. The official Scooby-Doo Netflix page shared a teaser clip showing Scooby will be a real puppy. You can check out this teaser featuring Shaggy (Tanner Hagen) and Scooby-Doo here.

The post caption also revealed another highly anticipated piece of info: the release year! Netflix has officially confirmed the show will be coming in 2027. No specific release date has been announced yet.

In "I Scooby Dooby Do" (Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!), the wedding guest book is filled with the real names of people who worked on the episode! The following names can be seen in the guest book throughout the episode:

• Kent Butterworth (animation timer)
• Desiree Craig (assistant production designer)
• Liza Dodson (assistant production designer)
• Robbie Erwin (background designer)
• Lance Falk (prop designer)
• Brian Hogan (animation timer)
• Cheryl Johnson (background designer)
• Zac Moncrief (series producer)
• Hannah Partlow (color stylist)
• Amy Pijanowski (assistant production designer)
• Kyle Stafford (editor)
• Swinton Scott III (animation timer)
• Wade Wisinski (line producer)