Recently, I've been really enjoying the Unmasked History of Scooby-Doo podcast. I'd listened to random episodes in the past, but I've been doing my first full chronological listen-through over these past couple months. I would highly recommend checking the podcast out if you haven't already. Alexa is an amazing interviewer, and she does an excellent job with choosing a diverse range of people to give a broader picture of everything that goes into making a Scooby project. Several episodes feature interviews with Warner Brothers executives and creatives who have overseen the franchise. A few of the interviews in particular have gotten me thinking deeper about whether the person-in-a-mask format is core to the Scooby formula.

I wrote an article in April 2022 along this line. My main argument was that I preferred to take a deeper look at how well-written each piece of media was, rather than choosing between fake and real monsters. I still stand by the points I made there. However, having heard some of the WB execs' different perspectives on it has inspired me to dive deeper on the topic. It's clear that some of the creatives have the mindset that Scooby productions with real monsters are inherently not as good as media that stays true to the classic "person in a mask" formula. I find this topic really interesting, and would like to share my own perspective as a lifelong fan of the franchise.

The person in a mask trope is arguably one of most instantly recognizable elements of Scooby-Doo, both fans and the general public. Although the idea was likely used in occasional media before 1969, Scooby-Doo revolutionized this trope. It's been a core part of the franchise for 57 years and counting. In listening to the interviews on the Unmasked podcast, it was really interesting to hear the creative mindset for and against including real monsters in Scooby.

Several creatives felt that Scooby should stick solely to the person-in-a-mask formula. Jim Krieg seems to have become the face of this mindset to many fans, but it was interesting to gather that this has been a back-and-forth argument since Zombie Island. Following the Mook films, some WB executives felt that the real monsters caused the franchise to drift away from its true identity.

In Christopher Keenan's interview (who is the former Senior VP of Creative Affairs), he shared that the creative mindset during What's New was that there should not be any real monsters. The pendulum swung the other way during Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, which featured an overarching mystery involving real monsters. Following that show, the creative mindset shifted back towards fake monsters only with Guess Who and the DTVs. Noticeably, starting with FrankenCreepy, Velma's characterization also shifted towards being rigidly logic-driven. This reaches its peak in the Curse of the 13th Ghost and Return to Zombie Island, where her personality (imo) becomes in-your-face about asserting that science can explain everything, and that believing in the supernatural is a ridiculous fantasy.

I don't think the mandate against real monsters in What's New was inherently bad. Although I'm open to both fake and real monsters, I totally respect that some creatives may feel that real monsters wouldn't work well with certain shows. As long as it's handled in a way that doesn't feel rigid (such as Curse of the 13th Ghost / Return to Zombie Island, or Velma's characterization change in the recent DTVs), I have no issue with creative mandates against real monsters. The Unmasked podcast does a great job of showcasing how many higher-ups create mandates to keep the franchise grounded and on track. For example, in Christopher Keenan's interview, he shared that there's apparently been a longstanding mandate against "crimes of passion" in Scooby. Writers are expected to make all villains' crimes fall within the realm of theft, fraud and trickery. Which means that the most obvious direction for the next adult Scooby series is Scooby-Doo: Crimes of Passion! Episode 1: "Ruh-Roh, Rit's an Rarsonist!" lol. Jokes aside, I feel like we often tend to hear about the super rigid and limiting mandates, but it helped reframe my perspective to hear executives talk about how they felt certain mandates benefit the franchise by keeping it organized.

From hearing multiple execs' thoughts on this, those in favor of exclusively fake monsters share several similar perspectives. There seems to be a belief that Scooby's core appeal to young audiences lies within the person-in-a-mask trope. They believe the trope is symbolism for one's fears not being as scary as they may think. Memes like this have been floating around for years. There's definitely something empowering in realizing that the things that scare us are simply bad actors motivated by selfish desires.

Some execs seem to deeply believe that this is the core message of the franchise. By this logic, including real monsters negates the positive message of Scooby-Doo. Perhaps some purists of this trope might even believe that it tells kids that their fears are justified. One quote from Christopher Keenan's interview particularly stuck with me: "We also wanted to be sure that there was always the revelation in the end that ghosts are not real...The mystery that they’re actually solving does get solved in a satisfying way, so that we’re not just leaving it open-ended that you know, yes, by the way, werewolves are real. We felt that was really important to the younger audience."

After hearing the different exec arguments, I have a better appreciation for this mindset. To someone who believes this is the core message of Scooby-Doo, it's understandable that deviating from this trope would feel like it removes the heart of the franchise. It's all a matter of taste and personal opinion, and I completely respect any creatives who feel that Scooby works best with fake monsters. Some creatives may feel that fake monsters work better with their vision for the franchise, and I don't think that in itself is inherently limiting. However, I would argue this mentality hinges on the idea that the monsters being fake is the only appeal of the franchise. While I respect that opinion, this belief feels limiting of the franchise's potential.

At the end of each of interview, Alexa asks the same question: why do you think a franchise about a mystery-solving dog has remained popular for 50 years? I think there are so many different answers to this question that go beyond the person-in-a-mask trope. It really shows in the creatives' answers. Few of them mention the idea of fake monsters assuring kids there's nothing to be afraid of being the only reason for the franchise's continuous appeal.

Personally speaking, friendship is a big appeal of the series for me. The gang's friendship, particularly Scooby and Shaggy's, is genuinely very sweet. The franchise repeatedly demonstrates the value of teamwork, and how even an impossible-feeling task like facing your fears can be done through friendship and connection. I think this message applies regardless of whether the monsters are fake or real. Even in the instances of real monsters, the gang always faces their fears by stopping the villain.

Each member also brings something unique to the gang. Several films and series have directly explored this - such as Be Cool, the first two live-action films, and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated to name a few of the most prominent examples. Over the years, a consistent element of the franchise has been exploring how the gang dynamic changes as certain members (particularly Fred and Daphne) have different elements of their personality changed. We've seen Fred become sillier in recent years, and recent series and films have explored Daphne's personality in many different ways.

The mystery component of the formula is arguably a big reason why Scooby has endured. Mysteries tend to be very appealing to kids. At that age, it's exciting to explore how the world works! Mysteries tap into kids' natural curiosity for investigating the world around them, and seeing what's out there. Even for older kids and adults, there's something to be said for a well-written mystery with lots of twists and turns.

I think the mystery element still appeals even in cases where there are real monsters. Even the Mook films and Mystery Incorporated have the same mystery-solving structure. Scooby consistently features the gang investigating what's going on, and slowly unraveling the mystery as the story progresses. Besides The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, and the Scrappy shorts, there aren't any Scooby projects that don't have a mystery involved. I think you could argue even 13 Ghosts features some investigative elements in finding the demon of the week, as does Get a Clue with Shaggy and Scooby having to sleuth out what Dr. Phibes is planning.

Although it's one of the franchise's biggest appeals, I don't think it's just the mystery component alone that has made the franchise endure. The Scooby franchise created a mystery formula that successfully balances comedy, adventure, and friendship in a unique, lighthearted way. Throughout so many iterations, the Scooby formula has retained all of those elements, and continually found new ways to explore them.

In the 74 fan spotlights I've posted on here, I asked everybody I interviewed about what they think the franchise's biggest appeal is. As I was writing this article, I thought it would be interesting to reread each person's answer to that question. Mysteries and strong characters were two of the most common answers. There were a number of fans that also mentioned the franchise's versatility in continually evolving the same formula just enough to keep it interesting.

The franchise has done incredible with this over the years. Each show and era has tweaked elements of the formula to explore the franchise from a different angle. Some shows have a darker tone. Others are more comedy-driven. Some explore different character dynamics or personality attributes. Even the shows that are similar to others on the surface have slight tweaks of different formula elements. For example, The Scooby-Doo Show plays with tone in each episode in a way that differentiates it from Where Are You. What's New has a more lighthearted, modern feel that includes technology. The continual exploration of such a well-developed formula is arguably one of the biggest part of why the franchise has remained relevant for over 50 years.

All of this said, there are so many elements of why the Scooby franchise has remained appealing. One's fears not being as scary as they seem is a wonderful takeaway from the franchise. However, in my opinion, to say it's the only takeaway limits the franchise significantly. There are many other life lessons that you can take away from Scooby - friendship, critical thinking, courage, etc. The true heart of the franchise is more complex than a singular takeaway. Compelling mysteries, great characters, uniquely balanced plot elements, and a strong, evolvable formula are just a few of the reasons why this amazing franchise has remained relevant since 1969.

It's been a few months since I've done a ranking. In the comments of my animation style rankings article, someone mentioned that they also wanted to see my rankings for the art styles of the DTV openings. Eight different DTVs and specials from 2010-2015 featured unique art styles. These include Abracadabra Doo, Camp Scare, Legend of the Phantosaur (which all include the same art style), Spooky Games, Big Top, Haunted Holidays, Stage Fright, Ghastly Goals, FrankenCreepy, and Beach Beastie. With each ranking, I'll do a sub-ranking of each of the gang members like I did for the main animation style article. All graphics are screenshots taken from Scooby Miraculous's YouTube videos of each of the openings, which were very useful for writing this article!

8. Big Top
​I'm not a fan of the gang's designs here. The art style is clearly meant to be more absurdist, but the proportions feel really off to me. The skinniness of Shaggy and Daphne's designs remind me a bit of Be Cool. (The BCSD designs are definitely superior though imo) I think Daphne and Fred look the best of the group, but none are really my style.

Character Rankings (Worst to Best):
5. Velma
4. Scooby
3. Shaggy
2. Fred
​1. Daphne

7. Ghastly Goals
Like in the overall special, I am not a fan of the crude animation here. I tend to prefer more polished designs. I think Velma looks fairly decent, but it's a pass on all the others for me. The outline of Fred, Daphne and Shaggy's eyes particularly look strange to me. 

Character Rankings:
5. Fred
4. Daphne
3. Shaggy
2. Scooby
1. Velma

6. FrankenCreepy
​This is a step in the right direction! I quite like the skeletal figures here. I think the animation fits really well with the movie's creepier tone. The artist did a good job at making them look fairly close to their usual designs. Fred's design seems off to me, but I think the rest look pretty good! I like the detail on Velma and Shaggy's designs. It feels a bit like a precursor to their Be Cool designs, particularly Velma's.

Character Rankings:
5. Fred
4. Daphne
3. Scooby
2. Shaggy
1. Velma

5. Abracadabra Doo, Camp Scare and Legend of the Phantosaur
For the 2010-2011 DTVs, the same animation style is used to open each film. If you weren't aware, we were actually close to getting a series fully in this animation style! (You can read more about it in this fun fact) I don't know if I would have liked an entire series in this style, but I like these designs well enough for what they are. I also really like the songs in all of these openings! Just for Laughs did a great job with making them decently reminiscent of the vibe of the classic chase songs from Where Are You.

Character Rankings:
5. Velma
4. Scooby
3. Daphne
2. Fred
1. Shaggy

4. Stage Fright
​This is cute and works well. I really like all of the gang's designs here. The gang's outfits have a vintage charm to them, which is complemented by the old timey feeling Hollywood backdrop. To me, these designs seem slightly inspired by the SDMI animation style, although Velma's design reminds me of her appearance in What's New.

Character Rankings:
5. Shaggy
4. Scooby
3. Daphne
2. Fred
1. Velma

3. Spooky Games
These are really cool designs! This one feels more polished to me than many of the others. I'm indifferent to Shaggy, but I like the other four a lot. Scooby and Fred look reminiscent of their classic designs. Velma reminds me a lot of the Mook era, and Daphne feels like a cross between SDMI and Guess Who. Fred and Velma are top-tier for me here, but there's also something to be said for how Daphne's features are a nice balanced blend of a couple different eras.

Character Rankings:
5. Shaggy
4. Scooby
3. Daphne
2. Velma
1. Fred

2. Haunted Holidays
I really like these designs! Even though it's basically just their heads and shoulders, I really like the drawing style here. I debated giving this one the top spot. However, I gave the edge to another option, because Velma and Daphne's heads are basically just taken from SDMI. Velma's especially looks like they may have used stock art of her head from that series. Not that it's a bad thing if they did use stock art (if they didn't, the artist did an amazing job mirroring those designs!); they still all look great! However, I wanted to give my top spot to a more unique design.

I'm not even really sure how to rank Velma here lol. I do like Velma's design better than Fred's, but since it's a carbon copy of SDMI, I gave the edge to Fred.

Character Rankings:
5. Shaggy
4. Scooby
3. Velma
2. Fred
1. Daphne

1. Beach Beastie
​These designs are really cute! The more crudely drawn bodies and defined facial features gives these a very cool look. Fred, Daphne and Velma are the standouts for me, but Scooby's is also quite good. Shaggy's is the only one I'm a little middled on. While I like the design a fair amount, I also find it to be a bit basic compared to the others. Overall, I really like this style though. I think it is the coolest and most unique of these openings!

Character Rankings:
5. Shaggy
4. Scooby
3. Velma
2. Daphne
1. Fred

Before I wrap up this article, I just wanted to share a brief aside with you all. Typically, I've posted an article by the end of the first week of each month. Moving forward, I'm thinking of changing my strategy to posting articles whenever I have the inspiration to write one, rather than making it my goal to always post one at the beginning of each month. I don't anticipate that I'll write substantially less articles, but I'd like to try out not having a schedule and see how it goes.
​
I hope you enjoyed reading my rankings! Even if not all of them are in styles that resonate with me, many of these designs are super cool. I'd never thought in much depth about these animation styles before, so it was fun going through these! Since I never hear these designs talked about, I would love to hear what others think of them in the comments!

Back in 2016, I made a post for Scooby's anniversary highlighting where the cast of The Mystery Begins films are now. It's been a decade since that post, and the live-action casts have continued to do a lot of cool things! In anticipation of the live-action series, I thought it'd be fun to do 10-year update of this post, and expand it to include the original live-action cast and the Daphne & Velma actresses. Let's start off with the 2002 cast!

Matthew Lillard is a fun one to start off with, because he literally became Shaggy lol. As we know, he took over when Casey Kasem stepped down in 2010. He's been providing the voice of Shaggy ever since! Besides Shaggy, he's appeared in a wide variety of other films.  He was William Afton in Five Nights at Freddy's. He voiced Peter in the animated film Under Wraps. He's also been in quite a bit of horror content, including starring William Hastings in the third season of Twin Peaks, and reprising his role in the Scream franchise. He has also starred in several action movies, including The Bridge, Bosch, and Good Girls. He also produced and directed his first-ever film in 2011, titled Fat Kid Rules the World​.

Prior to the Scooby-Doo live action films, Linda Cardellini had just broken out into the acting world with her role on Freaks and Geeks. After starring as Velma, Linda would later be cast in a number of horror roles. She starred in A Simple Favor in 2018, The Curse of La Llorona in 2019, and the Netflix series Dead to Me in 2016. She is also currently slated to appear in a Friday the 13th prequel film in 2026.

She would also go on to play Hawkeye's wife in a couple of the Avengers films, and would reprise her role in the Disney+ miniseries Hawkeye in 2021. She also appeared in the blockbuster film Daddy's Home and its sequel as Sara.

She also voice acted in an animated series that's often compared to Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. She was the voice of Wendy in Gravity Falls from 2012-2016. Speaking of Mystery Incorporated, she also came back to the Scooby franchise in 2011 to provide the voice of Marcie!

Shortly following being Fred, Freddie Prinze Jr. starred on the self-titled ABC sitcom Freddie in 2005 and 2006. Right afterwards, he booked a group of three starring roles on Brooklyn Rules in 2007, New York City Serenade in 2007, and Jack and Jill vs. the World in 2008. He became a writer for WWE in 2007-2012, and simultaneously served in a starring role on the show 24 in 2010. In 2014, Freddie became the voice of Kanun Jarrus on the animated series Star Wars Rebels, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. In 2022, he returned to live-action acting, playing one of the two lead roles in a Christmas romcom titled Christmas with You. More recently, he's pivoted towards horror. He starred in two films The Girl in the Pool and I Know What You Did Last Summer in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

Perhaps of most interest to Scooby fans is that he married Daphne's actress, Sarah Michelle Gellar! The couple currently live in Los Angeles, and have two children together. I always thought it was so cute that they married each other in real life!

Sarah Michelle Gellar went on to have an extremely diverse resumé post-Scooby! Right after the second film wrapped, Sarah became involved with Robot Chicken. The show was developed by Seth Green, who played Patrick in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. He and Sarah got connected from their work on that film, and she was cast to provide the voices of several recurring characters in 15 episodes. She also provided two voices in Happily N'Ever After, a film which Freddie Prinze Jr. was also involved with.

Following the birth of her first child, Sarah booked the lead role in the crime thriller show Ringer. A few years later, she also booked  a co-starring role in the CBS sitcom The Crazy Ones in 2013. For the remainder of the 2010s, she played a few roles on pilots that were ultimately never greenlit to air on television.

In 2015, Sarah co-created a food company, Foodstirs, with two entrepreneurs. Foodstirs sells organic baking mixes and kits for families. You can check out her company's website here! Sarah also published a cookbook in 2017, titled Stirring Up Fun with Food​. 

Sarah did not appear in any live-action films from 2009 to 2022. After a few smaller roles, she booked a role in the 2023 series Wolf Pack. In 2025, she starred alongside Freddie Prinze Jr. in the sequel of I Know What You Did Last Summer. Recently, Sarah signed on to executive produce a new spin-off of the show that originally brought her to fame, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

For the Mystery Begins cast, I'm going to approach this as a 10-year update to my 2016 article! Nick Palatas mostly stopped acting after the Scooby films. He had a couple small roles in independent productions a couple of years following The Mystery Begins films. Since 2016, he's only had one role in an independent film, White Ladybug. In an AMA on the Scooby-Doo Reddit page a few years back, Nick mentioned that he was working in a customer service job for SaaS.

After 2016, Hayley Kiyoko pivoted away from acting. She had a minor role in the 2017 film Becks, and starred in a web series Five Points in 2018 and 2019. She now has a very successful music career! She's released two albums, Expectations (2018) and Panorama (2022), and five extended plays. She's embarked on five headlining tours. She's also opened for several other famous artists on tour, including Bridgit Mendler, Panic! At The Disco, and Lauv. She is also a strong advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, and is widely considered a queer icon by her fans. Last year, she got engaged to her partner, Becca.

Robbie Amell is the only member of the Mystery Begins cast to stick with acting. He's had a very successful career, and has also started producing films. He's had many different film roles in the past 10 years, and has also played recurring characters on popular series including The X-Files and A Series of Unfortunate Events.

His biggest accomplishment is playing the main character on the Amazon Prime series Upload. The series takes place in the year 2033, where people can upload their consciousness into virtual reality and continue to live after they die on Earth. After dying from an unexpected accident, Nathan (played by Robbie) must adjust to living in virtual reality. The series ran for four seasons. I've watched the entire series, and it's so good! Robbie does an amazing job. I would highly recommend checking this show out if you're an adult fan! The series creates such an interesting alternate reality, and I loved how it tackled themes of evolving technology like AI. The series is rated TV-14, so it's not appropriate for younger viewers.

Kate Melton didn't continue with her acting career, but she's continued supporting aspiring actors! From her experiences as a child actor in the Scooby films, she was inspired to help other actors start their acting career. She opened an acting school, Kate Melton Coaching. Kate works with actors of all ages, and shares her expertise with prospective actors in her classes. She teaches classes on scene study, audition technique and methodology, improv, and career consulting about the acting business. 

When Sarah Gilman wrapped production on Daphne & Velma, she was still in college! She was just about to go into her senior year as the film wrapped. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a Cinematic Arts degree in 2019. Sarah has continued acting, and booked recurring roles on the series Those Who Can't and CSI: Vegas.

​Outside of acting, Sarah has done significant mental health advocacy work. She's spoken on a number of podcasts and hosted an Instagram live series raising awareness about mental health. She's served as an ambassador with Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, and created a board for the company. She currently serves as an advisor on the board. She is also one of the first 12 members of The Mental Health Coalition, which is a community of mental health advocates and creators.

Sarah Jeffery has also continued her acting career after Daphne & Velma. She stars as Maggie in the reboot of Charmed. She has also continued her role as Audrey in the hit Disney franchise Descendants. In 2023 and 2024, she voiced Zoey on the animated series Lego Dreamzzz.

It was really fun researching all of the live-action actors! It's so cool that many of them have continued their acting careers, and that others have branched out to explore other ventures. I hadn't kept up with many of them, so it was neat seeing what they've been up to since each of their respective productions! 

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 (=)

I’ve always felt that The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo is one of my favourite Scooby series, it really embraced the supernatural although I do wish we had all of the gang (no Scrappy or Flim-Flam slander here!). With 13GSD we meet possibly the goofiest overarching villains of the history of Scooby, Bogel and Weerd! These little fellas trick Shaggy and Scooby into opening the Chest of Demons to release the 13 ghosts thus starting the chain of events to follow throughout the series! Throughout the show, Bogel and Weerd act as lackeys for the ghost of that episode and provide comic relief but they don’t really add much to the story, I think they’re fun but I’m not sure if we were desperate for comic relief especially with Flim-Flam and Scrappy being present. Overall I think I’ll need to quote Professor Phantazmo when talking about Bogel and Weerd, “They made lousy henchmen. But they could do a surprisingly good soft-shoe routine!”.

The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo is a standout series for me too! The demons from the chest were the stars of the show for me. While Weerd and Bogel’s goofy antics can be fun sometimes, they are decent, but not great for me. Their mischievous antics are most appealing to me when they’re working on their own volition. The build-up to them opening the chest in “To All the Ghouls I Loved Before” feels quite suspenseful. “Ship of Ghouls” also stands out to me for how they tortured poor Scooby as he’s having a mental breakdown! The rest of their appearances range from decent to mid imo. They work decently well in “A Spooky Little Ghoul Like You” and “The Ghouliest Show on Earth.” However, there are other instances where they feel like a distraction. “Reflections in a Ghoulish Eye,” “Scooby in Kwackyland,” “Horror Scope Scoob,” and especially “Coast to Ghost” felt like they kinda overshadow the villain’s plan. (Side note: Idk why the writers decided to act like the gang didn’t know Weerd and Bogel in “Coast to Ghost.” It was a very odd creative choice that has always bothered me). Those four episodes feel like they could have been stronger if the villain had received more of a focus.
​

In the past two months, I've published articles about topics that center around my hopes for Scooby-Doo! Gokko and the Netflix live-action series. Given that, I also wanted to do an article loosely inspired by our other upcoming series, Go-Go Mystery Machine. This one was a bit tougher, because there isn't too much to share about my hopes for the show. We've only gotten a very loose premise thus far, and have almost no info about the show beyond this. The info that's been announced gives 13 Ghosts vibes imo. I'm excited to see another series with an overarching plot like this! However, I remain open-minded to whatever format and tone they decide to explore for the series.

My other biggest hope is that I hope they follow "The Curse of Kaniaku" (from Be Cool, Scooby-Doo)'s lead of developing proper representation, given the full show takes place in Japan. I was impressed with how "The Curse of Kaniaku" used accurate Japanese dialogue instead of random gibberish, as we sometimes saw in the classic era with other cultures. I also liked how they developed the Japanese characters to be fully-formed people instead of just stereotypes, like we would also unfortunately see in certain episodes of the classic era. Thankfully, this isn't something I'm significantly worried about. Given it is a full-on anime series, I think it would be very bad press for them if they chose to not do those two things.

Since this is our first anime Scooby series, the related topic that immediately came to mind is animation styles. I was surprised to realize I'd never done an article on this before, but now seems like a great time to share my thoughts and rankings! After sharing my thoughts on each animation style, I'll provide my individual rankings of each gang member's design from least favorite to favorite.

We've gotten twelve distinct animation styles over the years. The classic era had a singular animation style up until 1988. Beginning with A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, every series had its own animation style. The DTV eras also had distinct animation styles, with the exception of the What's New Scooby-Doo? era films. There are some subtle differences within different eras, but I'm keeping it to the 12 styles that had significant differences from each other.

12. LEGO Animation (2015-2017)
From a purely corporate perspective, the purpose of the two LEGO films and special was to promote the Scooby-Doo LEGO sets. In that sense, these designs are probably about as good as they could be. However, when compared to the other animation styles, this is a pretty easy last place. The designs look bulky and aren't particularly attractive to me. Obviously, this was an intentional decision to fit with the typical LEGO brand designs. They don't look very good to me, though.

Note that I guess there is technically also the Playmobil shorts. Given there's only two of them, I won't be including them in my rankings. If I did, I'd easily put them last. I like the bulkiness of the facial features even less than these.

Individual Rankings:
5. Velma
4. Shaggy
3. Fred
2. Scooby
1. Daphne

11. Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! (2006-2008)
I'm usually one of the biggest defenders of this series, but the designs don't do it for me. I feel like cleaner, more realistic designs are a much better fit for the franchise. These designs look a bit rough to me. The facial features are really off for Fred and Velma in particular imo. I'm also not a big fan of how Shaggy's hair looks...well...for lack of a better word, too shaggy lol. Scooby and Daphne are probably my faves of the designs. Neither are my preferred designs, but they look a bit nicer and cleaner-cut than the rest of the gang to me. The settings are fine I guess; the backgrounds just seem kinda generic and don't stand out in any way.

​Individual Rankings:
5. Fred
4. Velma
3. Scooby
2. Shaggy
​1. Daphne

10. Velma (2023-2024)
I'm not usually quick to rank things automatically last as a punishment. I'm sure Velma would be last place for most people, but I didn't want to put this last just because it's Velma. The only factor I'm considering in these rankings is how much I like the animation style. Objectively, I do think the Velma designs are a step up from the LEGO and Get a Clue designs, but I still don't particularly like them. The character design features are pretty basic, and the drawings are a bit more crude. The animation style feels very Family Guy-ish in nature, which isn't a fit for Scooby imo.

If I had to pick a favorite, I'd probably go with Daphne! It feels the most similar to the usual designs for me. There are also aspects of Shaggy's that I like. His clothes are decently well-designed, and I like his hairstyle. Fred and Velma's designs don't do it for me at all, though.

Individual Rankings:
4. Velma
3. Fred
2. Shaggy
​1. Daphne

9. SCOOB! (2020)
SCOOB! is the only animation style that's been used in just a single movie. CGI is hit or miss for me, but it's usually a harder sell for me. Of the five designs, I think Shaggy is the best, and stays most true to his typical design. Fred is pretty good too. I like his hairstyle, and the white-to-blue ratio of his shirt! Scooby's somewhere in the middle for me. I have to say, I'm not usually the biggest fan of CGI animals, and Scooby doesn't work too well for me. As an animation fan, there's a certain appeal for having the designs stay a little cartoonish. CGI animal designs often feel realistic in an odd way for me, and Scooby's design here falls into that box for me. I don't really like Daphne or Velma's designs here. The proportions look off to me, especially Velma's facial features. Although I'm not a fan of the characters, I think they did a great job with the setting and visual design of the locations!

Individual Rankings:
5. Velma
4. Daphne
3. Scooby
2. Fred
1. Shaggy

8. Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! (2015-2017)
These rankings have been really fun to do, because it mixes up the usual order I'd put these series. Unless you just started reading the blog, you probably know by now that I'm a big defender of Be Cool. I don't think any of the hate towards the show because of the animation style was warranted at all. I found it all to be extremely overblown, and the Family Guy comparison is far more applicable to Velma than it is here. That all said...I'm not opposed to this animation style, but I don't love it compared to the others. I think it comes down to me preferring more refined, down-to-Earth designs. These lean a bit too cartoony for me, particularly with the exaggerated features like Shaggy's nose and Scooby's snout. I'm not really a fan of most of the gang's designs, with the exception of Daphne. I actually think her design is really cute! The proportions aren't as off for her compared to the others. The backgrounds are quite nice, but I'll admit they don't stand out to me a ton compared to other shows.

Individual Rankings:
5. Shaggy
4. Fred
3. Scooby
2. Velma
1. Daphne

7. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988-1991)
From this point on, we're getting to the ones that I have nothing but good things to say about. This doesn't hold up to the more standard animation to me, but this works so well for the vibe of this series. The exaggerated reactions work really well to create a goofy, kiddy-feeling vibe for the show. I particularly like Fred, Shaggy and Scooby's designs here. All three of them feel like natural fits with their adult designs, where it feels realistic that they'd grow up to look like their standard designs. Velma and Daphne do to an extent as well! I don't like their designs quite as much as the guys, but I still think they look quite good. The only one I think could have been improved is Daphne's. It looks a bit off, and the comparison between her young and adult self isn't quite as strong imo. The series does a great job with backgrounds as well; they have that same overly cartoonish vibe that works so well to create a zany aesthetic for the show.

​Individual Rankings:
5. Daphne
4. Velma
3. Fred
2. Shaggy
1. Scooby

6. Guess Who (2019-2022)
While Guess Who as a series can be on the blander side at times, these designs are great! They did an awesome job updating the classic designs. While they are quite similar, they feel like just enough of an evolution to have a slightly different feel. These designs were used in both Guess Who and the 2022 DTV Trick or Treat. Honestly, the gang's designs are all pretty even for me here, but if I had to rank them, this is what it would like:

​​Individual Rankings:
5. Velma
4. Daphne
3. Fred
2. Scooby
1. Shaggy

5. Mystery Incorporated (2010-2013)
Mystery Incorporated did an awesome job with redesigning the characters! The style is quite different from the original, but they still look great. I think my favorite part of them is that the gang is wearing the same outfits as they are in most of the classic era. The updated style does a great job balancing difference with familiarity, and I feel like that's what makes it work so well. I really like the detail put into the backgrounds as well! The settings are generally pretty gorgeous here, and you can tell a lot of thought and effort went into the designs.

Individual Rankings:
5. Shaggy
4. Fred
3. Scooby
2. Daphne
1. Velma

4. Current DTV Era (2010-present)
Like the Guess Who designs, the recent DTV era has done a great job of adapting the classic style. It struck the perfect balance between keeping a classic feeling, but having it be ever so slightly different in a way that is appealing. My thoughts on these are pretty much the exact same as the Guess Who ones, but these are two spots up because I like that the designs feel cleaner and more refined.

Individual Rankings:
5. Velma
4. Shaggy
3. Fred
2. Scooby
1. Daphne

3. What's New Scooby-Doo? (2002-2009)
​This animation style was used both in What's New Scooby-Doo? and the 2004-2009 DTVs. Given this was the first series with the gang as adults following a big classic era reboot, What's New absolutely killed it with these designs. They do a great job channeling the vibes of the original, while changing it up enough to create something different. Velma, Daphne and Scooby's designs work so well for me here; they all feel like such natural changes that feel right at home with the characters. All of the characters are great though, and there isn't anything I would change about any of the designs. I really like Daphne and Fred's new outfits! They did a good job picking something close enough to the original that it didn't feel jarring. I feel the same way about the backgrounds here. Everything is designed so well, and the settings create such a cool updated feel that quintessentially channels a 2000s vibe that encapsulates the optimism and wonder people felt towards technology at the time. I found it really cool that they used the same animation style for both the series and the films in that era. I'd love to see them streamline the animation style for both the series and DTVs again.

Individual Rankings:
5. Shaggy
4. Fred
3. Scooby
2. Velma
1. Daphne

2. Classic Era (1969-1988)
I really debated about putting this #1, but ultimately there's one design I think I like better. Don't get me wrong though, these are absolute classics (no pun intended). Because we had them in all media for nearly 20 years (and the fact that they were the originals), these are the go-to designs that I think of when I think of Scooby. The animation style feels very realistic and balanced, and the vibe of them feels very down-to-Earth.I'm including Scrappy in my character rankings below, since he was a part of the gang for nearly half of the classic era.

Individual Rankings:
6. Scrappy
5. Velma
4. Shaggy
3. Fred
2. Daphne
​1. Scooby

1. Mook Films (1998-2001)
​More often than not, the Scooby franchise has done a great job with animation. There have been a couple misses like Get a Clue and Velma, or the couple one-off movies they tried something different, but there are aspects of pretty much all the designs I like. They absolutely hit it out of the park with this re-imagining, though. The animators did a perfect job giving the gang a more mature look.

I assume it wasn't intentional, but the way the characters are standing in the above Zombie Island poster showcases a big part of the reason why they work. Shaggy and Velma's designs lean towards feeling pretty much the same as their classic designs, while Fred and Daphne's designs are significantly changed. However, the changes all feel very tasteful, and like a natural maturation of the characters. Their outfits are a big part of this, arguably. They just feel a bit more adult and formal than their past designs, but in a way that doesn't feel like it would be out of place in the classic era. Scooby's design is somewhere in the middle. His design is definitely a bit different than in the classic era, but he also feels much the same in any way.

Besides just the gang, the amount of detail put into everything is incredible! It's arguably the best animation the franchise has ever seen. The settings are all immaculate in how they create a scenic, peaceful feel for each of the films. I really hope they use this animation style again someday, because I adore this style!

Individual Rankings:
5. Scooby
4. Shaggy
3. Velma
2. Fred
1. Daphne

If I were forced to rank the Go-Go Mystery Machine​ designs right now, I'd probably put them between Velma and SCOOB!. However, I feel like the reactions to the Be Cool designs taught us not to judge a design too quick based on concept art. In my opinion, the Be Cool designs ended up being much better than the concept art showed, even if they still aren't a favorite of mine. 

That wraps up my rankings! I thought I would have done an article like this long ago, so it was fun to finally write this up and share my thoughts. It's interesting to look back at my rankings and discover that Fred's design is never my favorite in any series. It's not something I ever consciously realized before, so it's funny that it comes out that way.

If you'd like to share your rankings of the animation styles, I'd love to read them in the comments!

Longtime readers of the blog know I'm a huge advocate for unreleased episodes being put out on physical media. I used to get really excited about any new DVD compilations to see if we'd get any new episodes. After the pandemic, Warner Brothers has completely fallen off with putting out any new DVDs. Our last compilation set was the 50 Cartoon Collection in 2019. That's why I'm so excited that they're finally releasing the complete series of Laff-A-Lympics!

My first exposure to the series was owning the four VHS tapes released in 1996. For those that are unaware, Hanna-Barbera released one VHS tape for each of the three teams, plus one generic one titled "Heavens to Hilarity." Each VHS had two episodes. I only saw the eight episodes on the VHS until two volumes came out in 2010. I eventually saw season 2 on Boomerang, although I'm pretty sure it was around 2012 when the Spooky Games DVD came out. It's kinda wild to think I saw half of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated before I ever saw all of Laff-A-Lympics!

Given it's been 14 years since the last set, I'm so excited they've finally released the rest of the series! In celebration of the DVD coming out tomorrow, I wanted to do a special project to celebrate. If you like sports stats, this post is definitely for you lol. This is basically a post highlighting all the basic team stats for the series.

To start, I wanted to calculate how many times each team won the Laff-A-Lympics! Here's how it breaks down:

Scooby Doobies - 14
Yogi Yahooeys - 7
Really Rottens - 2
Tie between all three teams - 1

Oh, but we're not done there! Let's break it down even further to see how many times each team won a competition. The Scooby Doobies won almost double the amount of events of any other team.

Scooby Doobies - 46
Really Rottens - 29
Yogi Yahooeys - 28
Scoobies and Yogis - 6
Scoobies and Rottens - 2

There was also that one episode ("Africa and San Francisco") where the judges were apparently feeling a mean streak and disqualified every team lol. That event is not counted here, hence the odd number of events.

Finally, let's take a look at how many events each team member participated in. It's a four-way-tie for the player in the most events! Yogi, Captain Caveman, Grape Ape and Daisy Mayhem were all in 19 events over the course of the series. Mr. Jinks and Blabber from the Yogi Yahooeys only participated in three events, which is the least number of events of any member.

Yogi Bear - 19
Captain Caveman - 19
Grape Ape - 19
Daisy Mayhem - 19
The Great Fondoo - 18
Dinky Dalton - 18
Dynomutt - 17
Mumbly - 17
Blue Falcon - 16
Dread Baron - 16
Scooby-Doo - 15
Doggie Daddy - 15
Dirty Dalton - 15
Orful Octopus - 15
Tinker - 14
Shaggy - 14
Quick Draw McGraw - 14
Babu - 14
Taffy Dare - 14
Wally Gator - 13
Scooby-Dum - 13
Huckleberry Hound - 12
Speed Buggy - 11
Magic Rabbit - 11
Hokey Wolf - 10
Dee Dee Skyes - 10
Brenda Chance - 9
Mr. Creepley - 9
Dastardly Dalton - 8
Sooey Pig - 8
Boo Boo - 7
Yakky Doodle - 7
Cindy Bear - 6
Augie Doggie - 6
Mrs. Creepley - 6
Pixie - 5
Snooper - 4
Dixie - 4
Hong Kong Phooey - 4
Junior Creepley - 4
Mr. Jinks - 3
Blabber - 3

This took a while to calculate out, although thankfully the spreadsheet from this 2021 collaborative project I did made it a lot easier than it could have been! I hope you enjoyed checking out these stats.

This is our last Laff-A-Lympics themed post for the week (because of the way the release fell, I stacked all the posts at the beginning of this week). However, there's still a lot of other miscellaneous content to look forward to this week! I'll be making a post on other topics every day for the rest of the week.

​Don't forget to pick up your copy of Scooby-Doo! Laff-a-Lympics: The Complete Series, which is out today!

Over the years, we've had a number of Scooby-Doo episodes with shorter runtimes than the average 22 minutes. In my opinion, this has been to middling success. We have shows like Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! and The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show that were able to pull the concept off quite well. We also have lousy attempts like The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Hour and The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo Puppy Hour, plus a mixed bag of attempts in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. More recently, we've also had a couple series of web shorts, with the LEGO shorts from 2015 and 2016, and the 2020 Playmobil shorts. As we look towards a potential series of shorts with Scooby-Doo! Gokko, I thought it would be fun to provide my thoughts on all of the previous Scooby-Doo shorts.

So what is the right balance for a well-written Scooby short to strike? This article analyzes what I feel the answer to that question is. We'll first go series by series, and conclude with a review of the positive and negative aspects of each style of shorts.

The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Hour
For those who follow along with the weekly polls, I've been quite vocal about my dislike of these shorts. In the early 1980s, there seemed to be a push at Hanna-Barbera for more comedy-focused cartoons. As a result, the mystery aspect was entirely dropped from the show. Most shorts were run-around antics where the guys inadvertently getting into mischief around town, sometimes with a monster, but other times with a "bully" or someone who's angered by their mischief.

My issues with a lot of these shorts can be boiled down to two factors: the characterizations and the lack of substance. These types of antics-heavy plots often led to the guys doing something ridiculous, then not taking any responsibility for it. At their worst, we see Shaggy and Scooby catfishing a girl, being racist at the Taj Mahal, and taking no responsibility after ignoring all rules and insulting people.

​Do I believe the writers intended to shift the direction of Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy's characters here? No. It seems more like the writers were so focused on trying to create comedy moments that they didn't think about how the guys' characters would come off. Unfortunately, this means the characters are essentially empty plot vessels, who are seen as malleable to whatever the situation requires to create comedy.

This wasn't an issue specific to Scooby. Other Hanna-Barbera shows airing at the time had similar creative mindsets, such as The Flintstones Comedy Show and the Richie Rich segments. I actually recently rewatched Richie Rich for the first time since I was younger, and was surprised how bad they were. The writing had the same "we're not gonna think this out more than 30 seconds ahead" energy that I dislike in the Scrappy shorts. The short I watched, "Mischief Movie," involved a prankster friend of Richie's being kidnapped by the hidden nation of "Obscuria," who have suddenly come out of hiding. When they arrive, Richie discovers that the leader rules through pulling pranks on his citizens. The leader is revealed to be scaring everyone by making the townspeople think he is a giant jack-in-the-box, who they are all terrified of. The plot is genuinely one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen lol. It comes off like the writers approached it as a roleplay where different writers wrote 15 second intervals at a time, without reading what any of the previous writers had written. It was truly up there with the Yabba-Doo short "Law and Disorder" for how little thought was put into making the writing even the slightest bit cohesive lol.

This example perfectly represents one of my biggest issues with these shorts. In essence, the writing often feels like a random stream-of-consciousness, where the writers are just building the plot direction from scene-to-scene without looking at the big picture of making sure the episode is cohesive.

This perfectly segways into discussing my other issue. What I love about the Scooby-Doo formula is that the mysteries are compelling, the characters are well-developed and interesting, and the situations the gang finds themselves in keep you on the edge of your seat. These shorts...have none of that imo lol. The characters aren't really likable here, and the plot has very little substance to it. The plots are often mindless mess-around style antics with no depth. To me, most of these shorts have some major "we're making everything up as we go" energy lol.

Despite not liking most of this series, there are a few shorts that are appealing to me. I feel like "A Fit Night Out for Bats" is a perfect example of what these shorts could have been. There's no "mystery," but the short pulls in so many elements of the classic Scooby-Doo formula. The short begins with the Mystery Machine getting a flat tire, just as it did in so many of the more traditional series. They go into a spooky house for help, and are chased around by a vampire. The house has a similar atmosphere to many of the mysteries, which is really cool and notable for these shorts. Although it's just a simple chase, the presence of the monster and the atmosphere makes the episode feel like a shortened version of a classic Scooby episode. It's balanced in a way that's really fun, and even has some comedy moments with Sylvester being a rather quirky vampire. This feels like a bite-sized version of a Scooby episode that has all of the fun of any other classic episode, and could have been a great direction for these shorts. Many of the other shorts that have a decent atmosphere, a good monster, and a plot with a logical structure are my favorites.

The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo / Puppy Hour shorts featuring Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy are pretty much in the same vein. There is the added elements of the guys working for Fearless Detective Agency, and an emphasis on Shaggy being a teenager. Ultimately, these elements don't really change how the shorts are written. While the occasional short has some level of atmosphere, most of them don't. It's mainly the same mess-around style antics that The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Hour was riddled with.

The Yabba-Doo shorts were written the same way. It's a cool effort as a spin-off, but the formula is a bit of a mess. The plots of these are all so similar, both to each other and previous Hanna-Barbera shows about stopping bad guys. There's nothing that really stands out about these. The same issue with characters being used as plot vessels is present here. (see: Deputy Dusty's inexplicable angry tirade against Scrappy so they could have a "runaway episode" lol) In most of these, the comedy isn't all that funny. These episodes feel repetitive and unmemorable when watching several at a time.

That said, there are episodes that manage to be so badly written that they're funny. "Slippery Dan, the Escape Man" and "Up a Crazy River" both fall into this category for me. Both feature delightfully quirky villains, which helps the poorly thought out writing be more amusing than it would have otherwise been. There are some of the Richie Rich Hour shorts that fall into this category for me too (most prominently "Sir Scooby and the Black Knight," "Surprised Spies," "Scooby-Doo 2000," and "Hothouse Scooby"). I think a campy show of Scooby shorts like these would be awesome, and there's absolutely a place for something like that to be explored in the Scooby franchise. That said, based on the writing style of the rest of these, it feels more like the writers accidentally stumbled into making campy gold, rather than intending to approach these episodes with a different tone.

The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show is a breath of fresh air for many fans. The chaos of the 1980-1982 shorts is thankfully not present here, and the writing feels like a return to form for the franchise. This series features Daphne (who is reintroduced), Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy solving mysteries together. It's framed under the loose premise of Daphne being a reporter looking for mystery stories. The spooky atmospheres are back. The gang's dynamic feels like a return to how it was portrayed in the first four series. Thankfully, the weird malleability of the characters for the purposes of plot is dropped. Shaggy and Scooby are back to their traditional dynamic. Although Fred and Velma aren't here, Daphne and Scrappy seem to take on the role of being the investigators. The one pronounced difference here is that the mysteries are written to be simpler. The clues are much more overt and easy to figure out. Overall, this feels like an adaption that stays faithful to the main formula, while tweaking it just enough for the series to have its own identity.

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo had just five shorts, but this is what makes it so interesting to analyze! The five attempts at adapting the series into shorts are such a mixed bag, because arguably, they were written with different approaches. The three 11-minute shorts include "Night of the Boogey Biker," "Dawn of the Spooky Shuttle Scare," and "The Ghost of Mrs. Shusham." These shorts are approached as shortened versions of regular episodes. They have almost all the same tropes and structure as the 22-minute episodes. The episodes all start with the gang discovering the mystery, meeting the suspects, finding clues, and of course, lots of silliness along the way. The episodes arguably manage their time very well. The plots are written in a way where they don't feel rushed, and are consistent with the vibe of the rest of the series.

There were two other shorts towards the end of the series. "The Wrath of Waitro" is a seven-minute short, and "Catcher on the Sly" clocks in at only three minutes. With "Catcher on the Sly," it feels like the writers threw in the towel immediately on trying to make it faithful to the show's tone. The short is essentially a Tom and Jerry romp, where Scooby is chased around Shaggy's yard by Buster Mcmuttmauler on his bath day. Although it is silly, it doesn't really feel faithful to the rest of the series. The tone is completely different, and it doesn't even make an attempt to approach the writing in a way that's consistent with the rest of its series.

"The Wrath of Waitro" is better, but to me, it still feels oddly off from the rest of the show. To me, this is mainly the result of the different characterizations. Shaggy and Scooby are uncharacteristically brave as Commander Cool and Mellow Mutt, and Fred and Daphne's appearances feel a bit obligatory. Moreover, the writing attempts to establish a different vibe that feels like it's loosely inspired by the show's tone, but it doesn't feel super connected to the rest of the series. It's a fun one-off, but I'm not disappointed that we didn't get other episodes in this vein.

Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! had two 11-minute shorts towards the very end. The head writer, Jon Colton Barry, has stated that these shorts were a "backdoor pilot" of sorts, to see if a third season comprised of 11-minute episodes would work. However, JCB had no involvement in one of the shorts, and very little involvement in the other. Because of this, these two shorts make for really interesting analysis!

"Pizza O'Possum's" is a short I don't particularly like, but it objectively does pretty well with adapting the Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! formula for a shorter length. Like the A Pup Named Scooby-Doo shorts, it takes a balanced approach to remaining faithful to the previously established tone of the series, while trimming the plot details down to fit an 11-minute length. My issues with the episode stem from the characterization of the gang, and the different humor style. Daphne is characterized as being a bit sadistic at one point, taunting Velma with her video game addiction, so that she'll be the bait. Considering Daphne is characterized in every other episode of this series to be kind and thoughtful, this comes off as a bit jarring, to say the least. The humor also feels like a pivot back towards the campy '70s style humor. I like this style of humor in their respective shows, but it doesn't feel like a fit with the tone of Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!. Besides these two issues, "Pizza O'Possum's" otherwise has an excellent atmosphere, one of the season's creepiest monsters, and a solid mystery. There's a lot of good in this episode, but the rest of the series is so high quality that the issues here make this one stand out in a negative way for me.

On the other hand, "The Curse of Half-Beard's Booty" has grown to be one of the best shorts in the franchise. The goofy premise of Captain Cutler asking the gang for help with a mystery is really fun, and I think it fits well into the quirky, ridiculous tone. The villain and atmosphere are both excellent. This feels like a very faithful adaptation of the series' vibe that uses its length well.

In 2015 and 2016, WB released 16 Scooby-Doo web shorts using LEGO animation. Rather than featuring full mysteries, these shorts feature the gang getting into different situations. Most of the shorts show a part of mystery in-progress, but some show the unmasking. A few of the shorts feature the gang merely getting into non-monster related situations, such as building a food machine, getting into a confrontation with a bully, and building the Mystery Machine out of bricks.

From a corporate sense, the goal of producing these shorts was to showcase different fictional scenarios you could imagine while playing with the Scooby-Doo LEGO sets. Every LEGO short featured some aspect of one of the five LEGO playsets released in 2015, whether it be one of the villains, or an object like the Mystery Machine. In that sense, these shorts are fun, but the one-minute runtime does not allow them to be much more than a fun little snippet. As somebody who prefers longer-form content, these shorts aren't something I return to, but I think they did a good job with the runtime they had.

​The same goes for the two Playmobil shorts in 2020. These shorts use the same writing style as the LEGO shorts, by showing a brief snippet of a situation the gang has gotten themselves into. One short has the gang review a line-up of monsters to discover who "the popcorn thief" is, only to discover that it's Scooby. The other short features Shaggy and Scooby trying to pick out a monster movie to watch, which is full of references to Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? villains. I like the LEGO shorts a bit better for staying truer to the tone of the franchise. While somewhat cute, the Playmobil shorts feel a bit too cheesy for my tastes.

Having reviewed all the shorts in the franchise, there are some common themes in the shorts I found to be good. I'm usually a strong advocate for Scooby media that tries something new, but I don't think shorts are the best place to radically reinvent the formula. My favorite shorts were the bite-sized adaptations of the franchise's core formula, that were tweaked to feel balanced despite the shortened runtime. In my opinion, the Richie Rich Hour shorts, the Yabba-Doo shorts, and the non-11 minute Pup shorts didn't have enough time to experiment with something totally new. The short runtime didn't allow for an opportunity to create something both different and compelling in a way that felt true to the franchise. As a result, none of them felt in alignment with the typical tone of the franchise.

The few Richie Rich Hour shorts I liked were all because they felt like an interesting and logical reimagining of the Scooby franchise for a seven-minute format. Shorts like "A Fit Night for Bats" and "Moonlight Madness" were so excellent because they felt like bite-sized adaptations of the classic Scooby formula. This is why The New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show was such a step up from the seven-minute shorts. They took a formula that worked and felt consistent what had been previously established in the franchise, and slightly adapted it in a balanced way for an 11-minute format. Although it dabbled more into spy plots, The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries also felt like a great adaptation. The quirky tone and spooky premises still felt like a logical extension of the franchise's core formula.

Similarly, I preferred the LEGO shorts to the Playmobil ones in the sense that they built something interesting from what the franchise had previously established. The Playmobil shorts were cute, but the premises felt far more corny than something we'd see in a traditional Scooby-Doo mystery.

The most enjoyable shorts also approached the shorter runtime in a balanced way. At times, some of the Richie Rich Hour and Yabba-Doo shorts felt like they were padded for time. In most of the shorts, it didn't feel like the writers thought about the big picture of where the plot was going. It felt like they viewed the runtime as a hindrance, and an excuse to pad the plot with random chaos. The difference between A Pup Named Scooby-Doo's shorts perhaps best represents the point I'm trying to make. I enjoyed the 11-minute shorts, because it seemed the writers thought of the shorter runtime as something that could be approached with balance. There was clearly significant thought put into how to make a shorter episode that remained consistent with the general vibe of the series.

"Catcher on the Sly" and "The Wrath of Waitro" feel like the writers didn't see any possibility to make a typical episode with the runtime they had. While there's absolutely a place for novelty episodes, "The Wrath of Waitro" feels oddly disconnected from the rest of the series in many ways. In my opinion, the shorts that were most successful viewed the runtime as an opportunity to be approached with balance, rather than a difficulty that couldn't stay consistent with the franchise's formula. 

All of that said, what am I hoping for with Scooby-Doo! Gokko? I'm not a Tom and Jerry fan, but I watched a few of the Tom and Jerry Gokko shorts in research for this article. From the three shorts I saw, they seem to be approached as brief snippets of situations. If Scooby-Doo! Gokko is going to have a one-minute runtime, I think showing a part of a mystery like the LEGO shorts did is probably the best direction. I will admit, the LEGO shorts aren't super memorable to me, but I think it's all that a one-minute runtime allows for. Showing a full mystery at 20x speed and having all the gang's voices chipmunked wouldn't work so well lol.

If for some reason Scooby-Doo! Gokko has a longer runtime, I'd love to see it approached as a simplified mystery like The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show. The show does a wonderful job adapting mysteries for a shorter runtime, and is a great example that demonstrates that there is potential in a shortened runtime. Having Scooby-Doo! Gokko be like "A Fit Night Out for Bats" or "Moonlight Madness" also feels like a good option. If the 1980-1982 shorts were more like that, I feel it would fix most of my issues with them. It's a shame that they went another direction, and tried to pivot towards something that felt devoid of the heart of the franchise.

That said, I may not be the best person to speak to this. I'm not the biggest fan of the cultural shift towards short-form content, and have never fully understood TikTok lol. I also don't have any level of interest of heavily antics-based cartoons like Tom and Jerry. My dislike of the 1980-1982 shorts and "Catcher on the Sly" isn't meant to say that type of cartoon is inferior or anything like that. However, I do feel that those types of antics aren't a good fit with the Scooby franchise.

If we are indeed getting full series of Scooby-Doo shorts with Scooby-Doo! Gokko, I don't think it's something that I'll be super excited about if it's in the vein of the Playmobil and LEGO shorts. That said, I'm glad to see them continually adapting Scooby for new audiences and societal changes in media consumption. I'm not as excited for this as I am the live-action series or Go-Go Mystery Machine, but I'm interested to see what they come up with!