Over the years, members of the gang have been pigeonholed and retconned into fitting certain stereotypes; Shaggy as a stoner and Velma identifying as a lesbian being the two most prominent examples. However, one stereotype is often thrust upon a member of this gang, but has not been explored in much depth over the years. Fred is sometimes labelled as a jock, despite not really displaying any athletic ability and being quite quirky at times.

In many of the earlier series, although Fred is the leader of the gang, he displays a number of quirky traits. He seems to really enjoy being the glue that holds the gang together, and is the type of person who enjoys structure. Typically, at least in the early episodes, he's the one who always suggests the gang split up. If you look closely in the early episodes, he's almost always got his hands in his pockets, which is an interesting little quirk in itself. Occasionally, he'll seem somewhat fixated on things, for example, in "The Ghost of Bigfoot," he mentions going skiing at least a dozen times. In these early episodes, we never see Fred wanting to play sports or displaying the traits of the stereotypical 'macho man.' However, it's perhaps worth pointing out that when Frank Welker first auditioned for the role, he was told to "think Jack Armstrong! Channel the All-American Boy!", which he revealed in a recent interview.

It is also worth noting, however, that Fred seems to go through a bit of a phase in season one of The New Scooby-Doo Movies. In the first episode of the series, he makes an odd joke out of nowhere about women, saying "This desert is like a woman...it goes on and on and on!" Besides this, his general behavior in some episodes is very odd. One example of this is in "Wednesday Is Missing," in which Daphne asks where a door goes. Fred tries to open the door, and when he realizes it's locked, he says "we'll never know!" in a very serious voice. In "The Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall," Shaggy says that he doesn't know if he has the spine to deal with the hauntings, to which Fred very sassily replies "What spine?" Perhaps most prominently in "The Phantom of the Country Music Hall," he acts as if he's only half listening to what Jerry says, which I detailed in my review here. Fred also lashes out at Shaggy inexplicably when Shaggy is scared of a dummy head falling down the stairs, shouting "You oughta be ashamed of yourself!" While perhaps the writers just had a different vision for his character in this season, it could be argued in-universe that Fred was perhaps going through some sort of mental health issues in this season, further showing his three-dimensionality beyond the two-dimensional "jock" stereotype.

Fred's quirkiness goes into overdrive in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, which represents him as a conspiracy theorist. In the series, Fred is regularly very invested in various conspiracy theories posed by his favorite magazine The National Exaggerator, which his Uncle Eddie owns. He is shown to have a lot of anxiety about these theories, regularly becoming alarmed about what he reads in the magazines.

The closest we've ever seen to Fred fitting this "All-American Boy" stereotype is What's New, Scooby-Doo? A recurring joke throughout the series is that Fred can bench 220 pounds. However, we still never see Fred display an overt interest in sports, besides in "Toy Scary Boo" in which Fred asks Shaggy if he watched the game last night. It may also be worth noting he wears a football helmet to cover a poodle haircut he's accidentally given in "Homeward Hound." Still, Fred is never directly shown to have an interest in playing sports. I would argue a more accurate depiction of Fred from What's New is someone who's interested in travel. Repeatedly through What's New and some of the DTVs around that time, Fred attempts to learn some aspect of the language of the place the gang is visiting, but the running joke is that his translations are awkward and often incorrect. He seems to have a wide variety of interests in this series, but he's never explicitly stated to enjoy sports.

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated provides an interesting case study, because the jock stereotype is being thrust upon Fred by his father, Mayor Jones. Mayor Jones continuously laments that he wishes Fred could be more like normal boys his age, at one point suggesting he join the soccer team. However, Fred remains interested in building elaborate traps. SDMI almost feels like a commentary on that stereotype that Fred is a jock.

Speaking of commentaries, Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! provides an excellent one on Fred. In this series, Fred's leadership style expanded upon. Fred's shown to be someone who likes rigid structure, and becomes frustrated when something does not go according to plan. In one episode, "Trading Chases," he becomes so frustrated with the gang not listening to him that he switches places with a tour guide to lead a bunch of kids. Although Daphne's often given the "quirky" label in this series, I would argue Fred has his fair share of quirks. You could argue that Fred was retconned for this series, but I believe Jon Colton Barry simply amplified and expanded upon traits that were already there. Even in the early series, Fred could be a bit of a control freak and enjoyed structure. He definitely wasn't the "average boy."

Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins provides an interesting contrast here, because this is one of the few pieces of Scooby-Doo media where Fred is officially confirmed to be a jock. In this film, Fred is on the football team, hangs out with all the kids who are into sports, and struggles with making genuine friendships where he can feel open about everything. At one point, when Daphne asks how Fred could possibly be friends with a selfish jerk who's bullying Shaggy on the school bus, Fred defends himself by saying that they're just friends because this guy happens to be on the football team. Despite this defense, Fred seems genuinely uncomfortable with the fact that someone he considered a "friend" was being cruel to another person. This alludes to the fact that Fred may be having issues being in tune with his emotions and open with others.

Ultimately while I think it's an interesting plot point to explore, Robbie Amell's portrayal didn't really fully feel like Fred. A lot of people attribute it to him not being blonde, but I think part of it has to do with the writing. Making Fred a jock plays into the stereotype of the "average American boy" who likes sports, is tough and unfeeling, and can't be vulnerable with others. In my opinion, this demonstrates a superficial understanding of Fred's character. Fred is not really shown to be a leader in this film, his love of structure isn't really touched upon, and he doesn't really have of the quirks that make Fred seem like himself. The fact that Fred's character in this film feels a bit off, given it's heavily based around being a jock, goes to show that Fred doesn't really fit the jock stereotype.

A second interesting contrast comes from another live-action movie, the original Scooby-Doo from 2002. Freddie Prinze Jr. portrays Fred as the stereotypical "frat guy": full of himself, aggressive, and not in touch with his emotions at all. This made Freddie's portrayal of Fred come off almost as a parody of the character. Like Amell's peformance, it didn't really fully embody Fred as a character. It's also worth noting that the 2002 film drew upon a lot of stereotypes in general - there's a scene in which Shaggy and Scooby are having a cookout, which begins with a shot of the outside of the van in which you can see smoke coming out. The joke here is that Shaggy and Scooby are supposedly getting high in the van, but once the scene pans in, you can see it's just a cookout. There's another scene which was ultimately cut from the movie where Velma makes out with Daphne, which plays upon the stereotype of Velma being lesbian. These two portrayals of Fred provide further evidence that traditional stereotypes of being a jock (Amell) or hypermasculinity (Freddie Prinze Jr.) doesn't really fit Fred, since it comes off as a bit unnatural. 

If Fred doesn't really have the traditional characteristics of a "jock," then why do some fans see him this way? I would argue that interpretation of Fred is an oversimplification of his character based on stereotypes. Physically, he looks like the average "all-American boy," in the same way that Shaggy looks like a hippie, and a common stereotype about hippies is that they smoke marijuana. Similarly, many people assume that Velma might be lesbian because she has short hair and isn't interested in traditionally "girly" things. All of these character interpretations are based on mere stereotypes from the gang's physical appearance. However, when you really get to know the characters through the plethora of episodes and movies, you can clearly see the characters are actually quite three-dimensional, and so much more than the two-dimensional stereotypes that the general public has imposed on them.

There's a lot of Scooby content out there that entered production, but was ultimately never shown to the world. From an official Scooby film fully animated in anime style to a movie that would have essentially been the result of mashing-up two DTV ideas into one, there's so much Scooby content we could have seen but never got to. Many of these ideas aren't necessarily common knowledge, so I wanted to highlight all of them in this post. The scope of this article only covers projects that were started and never completed, not existing projects that were significantly reworked (such as SCOOB! for example, which, fun fact, was originally going to be written by Be Cool writer Jon Colton Barry). I'm approaching this article as a new project that is a work-of-progress, rather than a finalized post. If there's any Scooby content that you're aware of that was officially confirmed to have entered development that I don't have here, please feel free to let me know and provide a link to a reliable source where you saw the info!

Of course, we have to start with all the original versions of the show that Scooby could have been. The first of these was House of Mystery, which was heavily based on The Archie Show, which was popular at the time. The series would have featured Geoff, Mike, Kelly, Linda, and Linda's brother W.W., along with their dog Too Much, who played the bongo drums. Collectively, they made up the band Mysteries Five. Too Much was a large sheepdog, intended to have a resemblance to the Archies' dog Hot Dog. However, this was rejected because it was felt to be a ripoff of Marmaduke, and it was changed to a Great Dane. Later on, the show was changed to be more based on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis as opposed to The Archie Show. The title of the show was changed to Mysteries Five, the name of the teenagers' band. There was later one more title change to Who's S-S-Scared? after the kids' names were changed to reflect what we know them to be know: Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby. However, the show was rejected by CBS president Fred Stanton due to being too scary for young viewers. Thus, as we know, after some revisions the show was changed into what we now know as Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?.

A multi-universe series called Hanna-Barbera Babies was once pitched by Iwao Takamoto after the success of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo in 1991, but was ultimately never picked up.

Scott Jeralds apparently pitched a series featuring Scooby's son according to an interview with the Unmasked Scooby-Doo Podcast, but it was declined in favor of What's New, Scooby-Doo?.

The resumé of art director Ted Blackman informs us that Scooby-Doo! Music of the Vampire and Big Top Scooby-Doo were originally one movie, titled Scooby-Doo and the Circus of Vampires. Presumably, this was changed due to it being too similar to the 1972 horror film Vampire Circus​ and the plot was divided into two films.

In an interview, the voice of Velma from Scooby-Doo Adventures: The Mystery Map, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, mentioned that she believed the puppet film was meant to be a pilot for a potential series, but the series never entered development.

Jon Colton Barry has shared that he originally planned to write an episode of Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! featuring the Hex Girls. In addition, the Halloween episode was originally supposed to feature Scrappy. However, the episode was scrapped because WB wanted to do two 11-minute shorts instead. Apparently, according to the article The Hex Girls, How a Fictional Rock Band Become Cult, Queer, Girl Power Icons, Rick Copp also gets called from time to time about a Hex Girls spinoff that never took off.

On January 6, 2022, character designer Tracy Mark Lee revealed on his Instagram page that there was originally going to be episodes of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? featuring Mel Brooks and Dolly Parton. He also shared that Stephen Silver had drawn character designs for Dolly and Mel, posting Dolly's on that same day. A few weeks later, on January 25, 2022, Tracy posted Mel's design on his Instagram account as well. The episode ideas were never used, because both celebrities politely declined the roles.

In addition, according to a Scoobypedia interview with Chris Bailey, an episode featuring Michael Phelps and Jabberjaw, and a King Kong parody with Grape Ape were also considered. Presumably, the Grape Ape/King Kong episode would have been "The Lost Mines of Kilimanjaro!".

A follow-up to SCOOB! titled Scoob! Holiday Haunt was announced on December 22, 2021 by Tony Cervone on Instagram, after previously being hinted in an interview in June. The film was set to be directed by Michael Kurinsky and Bill Haller, written by Tony Cervone and Paul Dini, and produced by Tony Cervone and Mitchell Ferm. The cast who voiced the young gang in the original SCOOB! (Frank Welker, Iain Armitage, Ariana Greenblatt, McKenna Grace, and Pierce Gagnon) were all set to reprise their roles. Mark Hamill, Cristo Fernandez, Michael McKean, Andre Braugher, and Ming-Na Wen also were a part of the cast. A test screening for the film occurred in April, and we also got a first look at the film on April 6, 2022. However, on August 2, 2022, after production had nearly been finished, the film was suddenly cancelled due to a shakeup in WB leadership with the Discovery merged. The new CEO of Warner Discovery, David Zaslav, cancelled the film citing his desire to move WB towards a more cost-effective theatrical model of films, and citing that he felt streaming projects were not as profitable. Here is what would have been the description for the film:

To celebrate Scooby Doo's first Christmas, 10-year-old Shaggy and the gang take him to a holiday-themed resort owned by Fred's favorite Uncle Ned. When the park is beset by a ghostly haunting, the kids must solve a 40-year-old mystery to save the resort and show Scooby the true meaning of Christmas.

We've finally come to the end of our voice talent rankings, and the last character I'll be ranking is none other than Scooby himself! Since there's only five actors we're ranking, these were the easiest rankings to write up as they are either iconic or completely unmemorable in my opinion.

5. Neil Fanning

Neil's voice isn't bad, it's just not really memorable in any way. I will admit that, like Hadley Kay, he was sandwiched between two of the biggest icons in voice acting history (that being Don Messick and Frank Welker), so it would have been extremely difficult for him to beat those two.
​
4. Hadley Kay

Yeah, not much to say here. It's fine, but completely unmemorable given Hadley appeared in two short Johnny Bravo episodes and a commercial that wasn't even technically from the Scooby-Doo franchise. He does a fine enough job, but admittedly he was placed in the nearly impossible shadow of following Don Messick.

​3. Scott Innes

For someone who was sandwiched between Frank and Don, Scott did an incredible job voicing Scooby. His voice feels a lot more natural as Scooby than Neil's or Hadley's did, and I really enjoyed hearing his Scooby voice in the four films he was in. I think it's really cool he continued to do the voice of Shaggy and Scooby in commercials even after they replaced him with Frank Welker. I'm a big fan of his Scooby voice, and if (God forbid) Frank ever retires, I would be satisfied if Scott replaced him.

2. Frank Welker
This is where it gets really tough, because Frank and Don are such icons. Frank did such an incredible job taking over the role of Scooby after Don passed away, and I think his Scooby voice sounds very close to Don's. However, although Frank is one of my favorite voice actors in animation history, I have to go with the original voice of Scooby on this one, that being...

​1. Don Messick

For as much as I love Frank, Don will always define the original Scooby to me. He fits the role perfectly and really brings Scooby to life as a character.

Today concludes our Voice Talent Appreciation Week! I hope you've enjoyed this week appreciating the voice talents and live-action portrayers of the gang! This week has been a lot of fun, and I've really been enjoying reading everybody's rankings and hearing others' perspectives on the voices in the comments! I always love doing these themed weeks, and I can't wait to do more of them in the future!

Surprise! I wasn't going to write up rankings for Scrappy's voice actors initially, but I've been having so much fun seeing everybody's rankings throughout this week that I thought I'd do Scrappy's as well, given he was a main character across multiple series for ten years of the franchise.

3. Lennie Weinrib
I wouldn't say I hate Lennie's Scrappy portrayal, but the voice definitely can be a little obnoxious at times. I don't feel Lennie's voice in general is annoying, because fun fact, if you weren't aware, he also voices Uncle Nat from "The Loch Ness Mess" and I loved him there. I suppose it could have just been Lennie's personality though, as I have read some things about how he was a very "in your face" type of person to work with. If you didn't know, he was one of the few voice actors who didn't willingly step down from a voice role on this series. He was fired from the role after the first Scrappy series after demanding his salary to be raised to an outrageous amount. I don't have anything particularly against Lennie, I just found the other two portrayals better and with this one, it could be just a little bit annoying at times. 

2. Scott Innes
Although Scott kinda catered more to Lennie's Scrappy voice than Don's, somehow I didn't have that same "this is a little annoying at times" feeling that I did with Lennie's portrayal. Maybe it's because Scott was kind of trying to be annoying with the voice, since that's the characterization they were going for in the live-action film, but I would say I liked his voice just a little bit better than Lennie's.

1. Don Messick
Don's Scrappy voice fits the best for me, and is miles above the other two. I feel like Don's voice almost shifts his characterization to be overeager but in a sweet, misunderstood way, whereas Lennie's voice made him feel a little bit more in-your-face at times. This is interesting because I like The Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show better than The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show which is when Don started voicing him, but I would say that's mainly because the mysteries were obviously far more solid in the former. Even if Don's portrayal still had Scrappy be kind of a scrapper (a pun may or may not have been intended there haha), I felt Don's voice allowed for a little bit gentler side of the character to come out. It allowed his character to evolve and become more toned-down in 13 Ghosts and the movies he was in, whereas I don't think that would have been as easy if Lennie was still the voice, in my opinion.

That about does it for my rankings of Scrappy! I hope you enjoyed this little surprise post, and I'm looking forward to seeing some of your rankings as well!

This ranking of Fred's portrayals notably includes whom I consider to be the worst portrayal of any main character in the franchise. My favorite is already pretty clear from the beginning, and I would be very surprised if somebody picked somebody other than him, but nonetheless here are my rankings!

6. Freddie Prinze Jr.

While I don't want to come off overly negative, Freddie Prinze Jr. is hands down the worst portrayal of any main character in the history of the franchise in my opinion. He comes off like a narcissist who thinks he is the coolest man to ever exist, and admittedly, people who are full of themselves is one of my least favorite personality traits. I feel Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! pulled off something similar so much better. In that series, Fred is a bit of a control freak. However, it's executed in a funny way in that series, whereas here he just comes off like an unlikable jerk. This goes below Marla Frumkin levels of bad in my opinion, and is truly the bottom of the barrel for portrayals.

5. Pierce Gagnon

Like I said when I talked about Ariana in Velma's rankings, I hope this ranking improves when I see Scoob! Holiday Haunt. I really have no quips against this portrayal of Fred, other than it's just kind of unmemorable compared to the other four.

4. Zac Efron

Similar to his younger counterpart, the only real issue I had with Zac's Fred portrayal is it comes off a little flat. Granted, this is miles above Freddie Prinze Jr.'s portayal of him and I did really enjoy him in SCOOB!. However, compared to the other three SCOOB! voices, Zac's was probably my least favorite. Guess he just needed to get his head a little more in the game (bonus points to anybody who got that reference haha). 

3. Robbie Amell

I think this was a much better execution of Fred, even if it still wasn't amazing. Having Fred be a macho jock feels at least like a more natural characterization for Fred than making him into a complete jerk like they did in the first two live-action films. I also recently saw Robbie in another show, Upload. I really enjoyed him in that series and would highly recommend it.

2. Carl Steven

Guess it just goes to show iconic #1 is when Carl Steven makes it to #2. I love Carl's portrayal of the more zany, wacky Fred. He gets the voice down perfectly and is my second favorite of the child actors in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. However, I do always feel bad now when I see his name, since he had such a sad life after this show ended and died alone in prison in 2011. 

1. Frank Welker

Those two words are all that needs to be said. He is Fred and I'm going to be really sad when he retires, which hopefully is a long way away.

If anyone else wants to share their rankings for Fred's portrayals over the years, feel free to do so in the comments!

Daphne has arguably had the second most actress changes over the years compared to Velma. While I didn't dislike any of the actresses she has had like I did with Velma, there were definitely some I liked more than others. In this post, I will be ranking every portrayal of Daphne, including her live-action actresses and voice actresses. There's a bit of a hot take in here, so you can look forward to that haha.

10. Kate Melton

Once again, I want to make it clear that this getting bottom ranking doesn't mean I disliked Kate's portrayal, but I felt her version of the character wasn't quite as strong as some of the others here. It felt like a very similar situation to Nick Palatas, where she was decent in the role, but nothing about it screamed "this is Daphne." Also like Nick, it's sad that her acting career never really took off after this film, because I do think she's a good actress.

9. McKenna Grace

The young voices of the gang are kind of hard to rank at this time, since we only see them for such a brief period of SCOOB!. However, I thought McKenna was one of the strongest of the young voice actresses for the gang. She's also in Young Sheldon alongside Iain Armitage, playing Sheldon's friend Paige in a recurring role, so part of it might be that I'm more familiar with her acting than Velma and Fred's young voice talents. I also discovered when looking up the picture of her that she played young Sabrina Spellman in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which I've seen before but didn't realize it was her! So I guess I'm familiar with her in quite a few different roles haha.

8. Amanda Seyfried

Amanda was the standout voice actress to me in SCOOB!. She did a great job as Daphne, arguably the best job out of any of the four celebrity voice actors. However, I wouldn't say she was particularly memorable compared to many of Daphne's other voice actresses, thus her ranking here.

7. Sarah Michelle Gellar

I really debated about this one, because I do like her portrayal of a more strong, empowered Daphne, but I feel like part of the reason I like her is over nostalgia from Sarah's role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Setting that aside, I don't feel like her portrayal of Daphne was a case of "yes, this fits Daphne's character" exactly. She was certainly very good in the role, but I would say the remaining six actresses top her for me.

6. Kellie Martin

Kellie did a great job providing a different spin on Daphne's character. She really gets down Daphne's bossiness and standoffishness. While I would say I'd probably put Velma and Fred's young voice actors above hers, Kellie's portrayal of Daphne was still excellent.

5. Mary Kay Bergman

Although her role as Daphne was very brief given it was only for a few films, I thought she did an excellent job as Daphne and made a great replacement for Heather North. She did a great job portraying a more strong, independent version of the character than we'd previously seen. 

Alas, we have arrived at my hot take haha. While I know a lot of people are not a fan of this film and are probably reading this saying "how could you rank her so high?" One of the things I most like in a voice actor is their ability to provide a different take on the character. Sarah's version of Daphne explored her quirkier, sheltered, more optimistic side, which is something we've seen throughout the franchise but it was never really explored in the depth it was here. While it was certainly a very different take on Daphne, Sarah Jeffery's version of Daphne was my favorite of the live-action Daphnes. It's certainly an unpopular opinion, and if anybody chooses to rank these in the comments, I would be very surprised to see anybody put her as high as I did, but I really appreciated this different take on Daphne. She felt more natural as Daphne than Kate Melton and Sarah Michelle Gellar did, in my opinion.

3. Indira Stefanianna Christopherson

This is one of the few cases where I didn't choose the original voice actress as my top choice. I really like Indira's voice and think she fits the role of Daphne exceptionally well, but given she was only in one season, I guess her voice didn't stand out quite enough to feel as iconic to me as Grey's and Heather's.

2. Grey Griffin

Grey Griffin is such an amazing actress, and I think she fits the role of Daphne perfectly. One of my favorite parts of Grey's Daphne voice is that she can adapt it to fit so many different versions of Daphne: the more fashionista version of her in What's New Scooby-Doo?, the quirkier version of her in Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!, and the more typical version of Daphne in SDMI, Guess Who and the DTVs. Grey is an all-around amazing voice actress in my opinion and shows great versatility in her portrayal of every character I've heard her voice.

1. Heather North

Was there ever any doubt? haha Heather is iconic as Daphne and gets her voice down so well. When I think of classic Daphne's voice, I think of Heather North. She did such an amazing job with the role.

I hope you enjoyed reading my rankings! If you'd like to share your own, feel free to leave them in the comments!

Eight years ago on this day, Casey Kasem tragically passed away. To honor one of the most iconic voice actors this franchise has ever seen, today I will be doing my rankings of Shaggy's portrayals over the years.

8. Nick Palatas

Although Nick is ranked last, I really have nothing objectively wrong with his portrayal of Shaggy. Looking at it from a memorability standpoint, it was a cute portrayal, but it didn't scream "Shaggy" as much as some of his other actors did. Don't get me wrong, I do like how Nick portrayed Shaggy, but there wasn't as much personality here as some other portrayals. It's a shame Nick's acting career never really took off, as he seems like a good actor.

7. Scott Menville

I like Scott's portrayal of Shaggy as well, but this is kind of a similar case to Kate Micucci and Velma for me. I thought he fit Shaggy's characterization in Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue really well, but I don't think his voice would fit quite as well in other series.

6. Iain Armitage

If I haven't shared it on here already, I'm a big fan of Young Sheldon, which Iain Armitage stars in. I thought he did a great job playing young Shaggy; the best out of any of the actors in my opinion. I can't wait to see more of his Shaggy voice in Scoob! Holiday Haunt​. I'm still wondering what the heck happened to his cameo in Scooby-Doo! Where Are You Now? It's really weird they would just not include him when they announced he had a cameo three weeks before it aired, and then just not say anything about it.

​5. Will Forte

Will's Shaggy voice was my second favorite of the SCOOB! voices. While he did a good job with the voice, I definitely wouldn't put him up there with the more iconic versions of Shaggy. I liked his voice in that particular iteration, but I don't think I'd want him to be all Scooby shows and media. There were more iconic "one-time wonders" who voiced Shaggy, namely...


​4. Billy West

Thus far, all of the Shaggy voices ranked have only portrayed him for a single film or season (at least at the time of writing this). Out of all of them, Billy West is the only one where I feel like "yes, this is Shaggy." I like his more nasally Shaggy voice, and while he could never replace Casey Kasem, I felt like he was an amazing substitute for Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. He channels a voice that's really similar to Casey's in my opinion, and does a great job with this role. If for some reason Matthew Lillard ever stepped down, I wouldn't mind at all if Billy returned to voice Shaggy.

3. Matthew Lillard

In comparison to the other live-action actor we've had for Shaggy, Nick Palatas, Matthew always felt more like Shaggy to me. While Nick does a good job with the role, I didn't have that same "yes, he fits the role of Shaggy perfectly" like I did with Matthew Lillard. When they announced Casey Kasem was retiring and would be replaced by Matthew Lillard, I honestly was not worried at all. While it was sad Casey had to step down, Matthew Lillard did such a good job as Shaggy in the first two live-action films that he seemed like a logical choice for the role.

​2. Scott Innes

Although he only has voiced Shaggy in three DTVs (and some commercials), something about Scott's voice just has more of the original Casey Kasem charm than Matthew's does. If Matthew Lillard ever has to step down, I can confidently say I'd be really happy if Scott Innes stepped up to voice Shaggy again, because he does an amazing job. When I saw the movies when I was a kid, I honestly couldn't really tell that Shaggy had changed voice actors (although maybe I just didn't think about that sort of thing as much either haha) because he and Billy sound pretty similar to me. However, I would say now as an adult, I prefer Scott's voice to Billy's, although both are good.

​1. Casey Kasem

Honestly, I probably only would have need to put "Casey Kasem" here and that would have been enough explanation lol. The man is an icon, and he made Shaggy into the character he is today.

I hope you enjoyed these rankings! Feel free to post your rankings of Shaggy's voice actors in the comments.

Over the years, each member of the gang has had so many different voice actors, not to mention the several actors and actresses that have portrayed each member of the gang in the live-action adaptions. In this article, I'm going to be doing a deep dive and ranking every single talent that has voiced or portrayed a member of the gang. I decided to divide it up by character rather than ranking all the voice actors in one list, since while I do like some better than others, once you get towards the top, all the voice actors are good in different ways. I honestly don't think I could choose between Frank Welker, Casey Kasem and Don Messick. Let's start with the member of the gang who has had the most voice actors, none other than Velma!

Velma has been portrayed by more actresses than any of the rest of the gang, totaling an impressive thirteen. We've seen so many different characterizations of Velma, from a more sarcastic, witty Velma with Mindy Cohn, Kate Micucci and Sarah Gilman, to a more polite, down-to-Earth Velma with B.J. Ward. I admittedly liked some iterations of Velma much more than others, and Velma has the only voice actress I really disliked.

13. Marla Frumkin

While I do feel bad for being so negative, I really am not a fan of Marla's Velma voice. It comes off flat and lifeless, and sort of feels like her Velma doesn't have any personality. I know many people say that Fred and Velma didn't really have much personality in the Scrappy series, and while I agree to an extent, I would say this is the peak of Velma not having a personality. While her Velma voice wasn't displeasing to the ears or anything, at least in my opinion, her voice was overly generic and didn't really bring much energy to the character. I give this portrayal an F...for "Frumkin" lol.

​12. Ariana Greenblatt

I think this ranking could certainly go up after we've seen Scoob! Holiday Haunt, but Ariana's voice of young Velma in Scoob! is another one that feels pretty generic and unmemorable. In fact, I had to look up the name before typing this because I couldn't remember it. Granted, she is just a kid, so I wouldn't say I dislike her Velma voice like Marla's. Not much to say here, but I hope this ranking goes up when she has a more prominent role in Scoob! Holiday Haunt​.

11. Stephanie D'Abruzzo

I liked Stephanie D'Abruzzo's Velma voice in Scooby-Doo Adventures: The Mystery Map, and clearly the director did too, as I read in an interview the other day that Mystery Map was originally supposed to have the gang voiced by their respective puppeteers, but ​Stephanie was the only one they kept. I'm not really sure if it was because WB was already thinking of pushing Mindy Cohn out at this point, but I think it could be. I have no real quips with Stephanie's voice, other than the same "unmemorable" complaint I had with Ariana.

10. Gina Rodriguez

I know a lot of people complain about the Scoob! voice actors, but I really liked Gina's Velma voice here. It's an unpopular opinion, but I really didn't mind them switching the voice actors for Scoob!. I wouldn't have wanted it to be permanent, but just doing it for the one film felt like a fun novelty thing to do for this film and I had no problem with it. I really don't have much to say about Gina's voice other than I enjoyed it and she did a good job.

9. Hayley Kiyoko

This is where it gets hard. I don't really want to place any of them this low, but I think Hayley Kiyoko has to be my next choice. Her characterization of Velma was super interesting and I liked seeing different interpretation of a witty Velma after we'd just seen that for the first time with Mindy Cohn's Velma. On a semi-related tangent, her cover of "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers popped up for me as a "recommended video" on YouTube the other day. Thus, I decided to check it out. I hadn't listened to much of her music before that, but I was actually really impressed! If you have the chance, I'd definitely recommend checking her Mr. Brightside cover here if you're interested!

8. Sarah Gilman

I really liked Sarah's portrayal of Velma in Daphne & Velma. While both she and Hayley did a great job (and kind of portrayed similar versions of the character in the sense that they are both sarcastic at times), I enjoyed Sarah's portrayal a bit more. I really liked the witty,  standoffish (at least at first) energy she brought to Velma's portrayal, because it allowed for Velma to grow as a character in the film. Sarah seems like she really got into the role, and I applaud her for her excellent portrayal.

7. Pat Stevens

This was a difficult one to rank. I wanted to rank her super high just because of my nostalgia for The Scooby-Doo Show, but when I thought about it a bit more, there isn't really anything particularly special about her Velma voice. If she were to have voiced Velma in a recent series that I wasn't as nostalgic about, I admittedly wouldn't have that same desire to rank her high. Her voice comes off matter-of-fact and doesn't really have a ton of personality, although it does avoid being Marla Frumkin levels of generic. I definitely like Pat Stevens' voice, but I think her remaining voices had a bit more personality to them than she did.

6. Kate Micucci

I thought Kate Micucci was the perfect fit for Be Cool, Scooby-Doo Velma. Her sarcasm and wit really fit well with the somewhat socially awkward version they were going with for that series; however, I don't think Kate's voice is quite as much of a fit for other series. Don't get me wrong, I like her voice, but I don't find it fits quite as well as it did in Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! specifically. That being said, I've seen quite a bit of hate for Kate's voice simply because she replaced Mindy, which I don't think is fair. This was a decision made by Warner Brothers, so regardless of which actress you like better, it's a bit unfair to project that hate onto Kate when she had nothing to do with the decision. While I also like Mindy's voice a bit better, I think voice talents should be judged on their own merits rather than comparing them to somebody else. 

5. Christina Lange

Speaking of people whose voice really fits the series, I thought Christina did an amazing job portraying young Velma in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. Her meek and mild mannered personality fit Velma's shy character in this series so well. She was my favorite of the new voice talents in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.

4. Linda Cardellini

Just like how I found Matthew Lillard to be a good replacement for Casey Kasem, I would feel the same way if for some reason they ever brought Linda back. Of all the live-action voice actresses, she did the best job playing Velma hands down. She really brought a personality to the film that felt extremely natural as Velma, unlike Freddie Prinze Jr. (I'll discuss my thoughts on him in more detail later) where it felt like playing Fred didn't really come naturally to him. 

3. B.J. Ward

My third favorite portrayal of Velma is none other than the amazing Betty Jean Ward. Whereas previous versions of Velma had come off as having her intelligence be the most prominent personality trait, I felt B.J.'s portrayal of Velma brought something completely different to the table. Velma felt much more down-to-Earth and sweet in the four revival DTVs, and I have to say, I really liked it. I realize the characterization might not be for everyone, but I thought it worked super well and it's one of my favorite versions of Velma.

​2. Nicole Jaffe

I have a ton of nostalgia over Nicole Jaffe's Velma. She's the actress who started it all, and she gets down the role of the "smart girl" perfectly. While this isn't a criticism, I would say her portrayal sometimes gives Velma a know-it-all feeling that none of her other voice actresses really did. While I love Nicole, one actress surprasses her, and that is none other than...

1. Mindy Cohn

Mindy is hands down my favorite version of Velma. She was the actress that started the trend of Velma being witty and sassy, and I think she gets it down the best out of any of the voice actors. She really brings a lot of spunk and personality to Velma, and it's such a shame she was ultimately pushed out without much of a say. She was the most iconic Velma in my opinion, and it would be tough to surpass her.

That about does it for my Velma rankings! With the weekly polls recently, I've been loving how people have shared their rankings in the comments. If anybody wants to share how their own lists differ from mine in the comments, I'd love to see them!

Beginning with Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, the Scooby franchise has had a considerable amount of Easter eggs. Most prominently, classic villains makes cameos quite often in the franchise, particularly a select group of Where Are You villains. It has arguably gotten to the point where Easter eggs have become a regular part of the franchise. It made sense for Mystery Incorporated to do this, as it was sort of a love letter to the franchise that expanded on elements people loved about the original series. It was also quite soap opera-ish and included some mature jokes, which are not things children are typically looking for in television shows. Given this, the series was arguably at least somewhat catered towards the adult fanbase. Be Cool continued this trend a bit by regularly including Easter eggs within episodes, as well as reimagining critically acclaimed episodes featuring redesigned classic villains. Guess Who took a bit of a different approach to the matter by trying to make the tone match with the original Where Are You show almost exactly. The DTV films have also commonly incorporated classic Where Are You villains during the opening credits.
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In general within media, I love Easter eggs. They can be such fun bursts of nostalgia and can bring back good memories. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated sprinkled tons of references throughout each episode, which made it enjoyable to try to catch them all as you watched. I think the surplus of Easter eggs worked well with SDMI's format, since it was a show that took elements of the franchise that fans loved and tweaked them, such as making Velma's parents run a Spook Museum full of monster costumes representing Crystal Cove's supposed "lore" (which were actually just Easter eggs of classic villains). I also loved what Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! did with reimagining classic episodes, giving viewers the fun of searching what parts of the classic episode influenced how certain elements of the reimagined episodes were developed. Personally, I don't enjoy the way Guess Who and some of the DTVs incorporate Easter eggs quite as much. Especially in the first season, the Easter eggs felt constant. Along with the nostalgia that felt a bit forced in my opinion, the use of Easter eggs got to be a bit much. One of my favorite things about Easter eggs is that they are often obscure, or they reference things that the audience hasn't seen in a long time.

Guess Who tended to reference things that had already been referenced quite a bit, for example, having Redbeard, Charlie the Robot, Captain Cutler and The Creeper appear in "A Haunt of a Thousand Voices!" To me, that felt like less of an Easter egg and more like an "ugh, those villains are appearing yet again?" I think it would have been much more fun, at least personally, if they would have included some more obscure villains in the episode that hadn't been used in a long time (take the Wax Phantom for example). I thought SDMI and Be Cool always had a good mix of Easter Eggs, but it felt like Guess Who mainly pulled Easter Eggs from Where Are You with the exception of a few times, which got to feel a bit old after a while.

One of the biggest problem I have with Easter eggs is that it's often old villains making cameos in some way. I am fine with them doing this, but I would prefer they expand their pool of villains. How many times have we seen Captain Cutler, the Miner 49er, Charlie the Robot, the Ghost Clown, the Mummy, the Zombie, Space Kook, Redbeard, the Green Ghosts, and The Creeper, among others, appear now? In my opinion, the references to these particular villains has begun to feel a bit forced. Part of the charm of an Easter egg is not expecting it for it to pop up, and making illusions to the same pool of series and episodes begins to feel expected after it keeps happening.

Bringing it back to the conversation about nostalgia driving people liking certain Scooby-Doo shows, nostalgia in general is huge right now. Nostalgia is a very marketable concept, because it brings back fond memories from a simpler time, whether that be childhood or some other happy point in a person's life. This gets into a much broader concept than just Scooby-Doo, but I would argue sometimes nostalgia can get in the way of people liking updated incarnations of classic shows. With Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!, many people refused to watch the show just because of the designs. The common refrain from a lot of critics of the show was "this ruined my childhood!" I think what these people actually mean to say is "I'm concerned this will change the vision of the show I had in my head from childhood." It's the same refrain with things like Daphne & Velma. That movie is arguably very different and is basically Scooby if it was a Disney Channel Original Movie, so it's understandable some might not like it if they don't like that genre of film. However, nostalgia often drives fear of change, which in turn makes people not give shows a chance at all. On this topic, as much as I hate to say it, I think there is a very small chance Velma will be successful. It's sad, because the show isn't even out yet and we know little about about, but so many people have already written off the show in their heads that I don't think it has much of a chance. The appeal of cartoons for some fans is the nostalgia of the Saturday Morning experience. Most likely, this isn't going to be anything like what they remember the show, so therefore it will probably get a lot of hate. In some cases, people end up just not liking things for different reasons unrelated to nostalgia, but I do think nostalgia is a common reason why adaptions of Scooby that are "too different" are disliked.

Tying these two concepts together, for me, what makes the best nostalgia is references that allow the show to grow. Guess Who and some of the DTVs focus a lot on the same pool of episodes. Particularly Guess Who tried to make the show's tone exactly what it was in Where Are You and The New Scooby-Doo Movies, but I think most people can agree it didn't really capture that tone. What I liked most about the Be Cool and SDMI references is that they used those Easter eggs and callbacks while also doing something very different - Be Cool more directly by reimagining classic episodes, and SDMI through working the Easter eggs into the lore of Crystal Cove. I think the best references and Easter eggs are the ones that genuinely surprise you, and don't try to shove the nostalgia in your face, or pull from the same pool of shows/villains over and over. I am not saying that every reference in Guess Who was terrible and you should never watch it - but in a general sense, I feel the references were incorporated better in the previous two shows (bonus points if you got the pun there). I think SDMI kickstarted future shows and DTVs having frequent references, but with the exception of Be Cool, the references weren't always as cleverly worked into the lore of the show in a pleasantly surprising way. To be clear though, I'm not saying I hate Guess Who. There were a lot of things about the show I enjoyed; I just liked Be Cool and SDMI​ quite a bit more.

​Personally, I most love references to things you never thought you'd hear about again, or haven't heard about in forever. One recent non-Scooby example is The Gruesomes' appearance in Jellystone!, which I recently praised in a fun fact post. For those not familiar with The Flintstones, the Gruesomes are weird, Addams Family like characters who briefly moved next door to Fred and Wilma for three nonconsecutive episodes. I honestly never thought I'd hear about them again since they hadn't appeared since the 1970s, so it was such a pleasant surprise to have them randomly pop up again. They are worked into the episode by appearing in a horror film Magilla Gorilla is going to see, which is what sets up the episode's plot of a burglar breaking into his store. I feel like this is a perfect example of how to make a good reference, because it's completely unexpected, and also worked excellently into the plot.

The question of "how much nostalgia is too much nostalgia?" is ultimately something I think each person has to answer for themselves. I think it makes for a much richer show when nostalgia is somewhat limited, because it makes it feel more special. I really like when the franchise tries completely new things (Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated) or puts a new spin on certain elements of the franchise (Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!). That's what keeps it interesting and allows room for change and growth. This is one thing I dislike about Guess Who: it tries to make the show too much like the "classic" years, and doesn't do anything different or particularly unique. That exploration of different elements is what keeps things interesting, in my opinion; I wouldn't just want to have a scenario where we're all like "alright, guess it's time for season 49 of Where Are You!" A lot of these "off" Scooby shows and films, like Daphne & Velma and Get A Clue are nothing like Scooby, but I enjoy the experimental nature of them and they're fun for what they are. Of course, there are some instances where it just doesn't work very well, due to poor writing or a bad concept, Arabian Nights or the Scrappy shorts being good examples. In general, it's fun to see different elements become more prominent in different series.

To summarize this article in simple terms, nostalgia is good in moderation. However, if it is used too heavily, it can hold series back or make them feel boring or bland. I would prefer new series to bring something different to the table that hasn't been explored in the franchise previously. What's New, Scooby-Doo? did it by providing a modernized 21st century update to the characters and atmosphere of the franchise. SDMI did it by adding a more mature tone, relationship drama, an overarching plot, and reimagining certain elements of the original show in a different timeline. Be Cool did it by focusing more on character dynamics and providing a more humorous spin on the show. There is always the risk of experimental concepts not working, but I would argue never exploring anything new within a franchise also comes with a cost; that being the plot becoming stale. When series and films retread old ground, and use the same types of references over and over that the nostalgia begins to feel too much. As long as references are done in decent moderation and the series/film is exploring something unique, I think nostalgia can be a very positive thing. At least in my opinion, a healthy balance is very important when incorporating nostalgia into series.

One of the most hotly debated issues among the Scooby-Doo fandom is the use of fake monsters versus real monsters. Many people feel fake monsters should be exclusively used, to abide by the classic "person in a mask" formula that Scooby started out with. Others don't mind if real monsters are used in the franchise, and some even prefer the use of real monsters because of the dark tone it creates. In my 14 years in the online fandom, I definitely see and respect both sides of the argument, but in this article, I would like to provide another perspective of the fake vs. real monster debate.

I want to start out by providing a brief history of the use of real monsters in the franchise, as compared to the more traditional fake ones. The first real monster appeared in The New Scooby-Doo Movies episode "Mystery in Persia." The episode involved Scooby and the gang  teaming up with two genies, Jeannie and Babu, who were trying to get rid of an evil djinn named Jadall. Besides random little cameos that may or may not have been real monsters (i.e. the creatures in the Addams Family house, random talking skeletons that showed up for a moment like in "Hang in There, Scooby-Doo, etc.), the monsters in the franchise remained exclusively fake for the first 10 years of the franchise, besides the one exception with Jadall. Beginning in 1980, when Fred, Velma and Daphne left the show, so did the fake monsters. When they weren't running away from angry doctors and irked carnival owners, the monsters Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy faced were always real. This lasted until 1983 when Daphne returned to the series. The mystery-solving format returned to the show, although occasional episodes did have plots where the gang was dealing with real spooks. Examples of this include "Scoobygeist," in which Daphne and the guys stay the night in a haunted house, and "A Halloween Hassle at Dracula's Castle," where the gang attends a Halloween Party, which unbeknownst to them, was hosted by real monsters from Dracula's realm. Starting in 1985 with The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, the plot shifted completely to including only real monsters, as the gang had to help Vincent Van Ghoul recapture 13 of the most terrifying ghosts on Earth. The three Superstars 10 films succeeding the show also included real monsters, although Boo Brothers leaves it open to interpretation if some of the ghosts were real or not.

When the franchise went back to its roots in 1988 by getting rid of Scrappy and reintroducing the whole gang as regulars, the real monsters also went out the window as well. No real monsters were included in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo or What's New, Scooby-Doo? (with the exception of the Coral Creature in the latter, who only briefly appears). In between those two series, we did see real monsters in three of the first four DTV films which revived the franchise, which is an interesting phenomenon I will return to later. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated presented a fascinating balance of real versus fake monsters, as the monster-of-the-week was always a person in a mask, but the overarching plot included supernatural entities. Be Cool and Guess Who included only fake monsters. The DTVs have been inconsistent when it comes to including real monsters, but the vast majority of them were fake.

If someone were to ask me to choose between real or fake monsters, I would honestly choose a third option: good writing. While this perhaps seems like a cop-out answer, I don't think real or fake monsters has to be a binary concept like many fans have made it. There are a number of factors that play into this.

At its core, Scooby-Doo is about mystery-solving. I think we are all in agreement that if they permanently removed the mystery aspect from the show, it would not feel as much like Scooby-Doo. Even as someone who moderately likes Get A Clue, that's a main reason why the show didn't work for so many people: they changed too much. Going off and fighting criminal masterminds and spies doesn't have that core element of the franchise that people loved. Even the two episodes that did have monsters fell a bit flat, because there was no mystery solving aspect. That being said, I think there are a number of examples of real monsters working because of that mystery-solving element still being present. 

In Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, although all the monsters are real, the majority of the movie's plot is still focused on the gang trying to figure out if Simone and Lena's house is haunted. When Morgan Moonscar's ghost carves "get out" into the wall, the gang realizes through looking at the footage that the ghost only shows up on camera. This leads to further investigation throughout the movie, until the eventual realization at the end that the monsters are real when Simone and Lena reveal their true intentions. The same goes for Witch's Ghost: most of the film is dedicated to the gang investigating Oakhaven with Ben Ravencroft, until the huge twist happens at the end when we find out Sarah is a witch. Mystery-solving is still a core aspect throughout those entire films, even though there is a reveal at the end that the monsters were real. 

Another interesting exhibit for this argument is Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. Each episode featured a monster that was a person in a mask, but the overarching plot featured a real supernatural entity from ancient times. What made this work so well is that besides the individual mysteries in each episode, the entire plot of the series was a mystery in itself, as the gang put together the pieces of the planispheric disc and discovered the truth behind the old Mystery Incorporated.

In contrast, let's look at some examples where it wasn't done well. It's common knowledge that The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show and The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo Puppy Hour aren't exactly the most well-liked shows in the franchise. My opinion used to be that the seven-minute runtime was too short to develop the plot, but my thoughts on that have shifted over the years. Honestly, I don't think I'd want those episodes to be any longer than they were, as most of them would be drudgery to get through for many fans. The plots to all of those episodes consists of Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy bumping into a real monster, running around, and somehow escaping at the end. There simply wasn't much of a cohesive plot there, and the mystery-solving aspect completely disappeared. Extending the episodes so there could have been 22 minutes of running around aimlessly would not have improved anything, because the plot simply wasn't there. In The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo Puppy Hour, there were some episodes that had Shaggy and the dogs solving cases assigned to them by Shaggy's Uncle Fearless, although the mysteries were poorly developed, and consisted mostly of antics rather than actual investigation. The majority of the cases also had the gang fighting super criminals and gangsters, which did not stay consistent with the format of the franchise.

Interestingly, the episodes of The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show and The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries that had real monsters were excellent. The biggest difference for me was that both of these episodes had an actual mystery to them. "Scoobygeist" had the mystery of the gang trying to figure out if the house was haunted or not. Moreover, while some of the "A Halloween Hassle at Dracula's Castle" plot revolved around the real monsters, the episode was still mainly centered around the mystery of Van Helsing's ghost before the shocking reveal at the end.

Those of you who know me are aware how much I love Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King. It's a top 10 Scooby film for me, which makes it difficult to say this, but I don't think that film was a good example of how to work real monsters into the plot. The mystery element that makes Scooby what it is wasn't there, which is what makes it feel so different as a film. The whole film has a very fantastical, magical vibe to it, which is what makes it work for me as it puts me in the Halloween mood. If you asked me if I wanted a whole series or more films like it, I honestly think it would be challenging to make that work. Most of what makes it work for me is the Halloween vibe of it, but I don't think I would want to see the franchise go in that direction. It's sort of the same thing as Get a Clue to me; I like the premise fine enough by itself, but it doesn't fit with the format of the rest of the franchise. The same goes for 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo: it works fine as a standalone, but the series feels like it's missing the mystery-solving aspect. The fact that the mystery was never wrapped up in the original series hurt it a bit as well. I think these types of series and films can work fine every now and then, but personally, I think the mystery element is more important than whether the monsters or real or fake.

Of course, I can't write an article about this without a mention of Curse of the 13th Ghost and Return to Zombie Island, as these two films sparked a lot of discussion of the use of real and fake monsters in the franchise. Ultimately, my issue with these two is that the tone of the original is just not there at all. If they would have made a compelling mystery that expanded upon the original plot, I think I would have enjoyed the films more than I did. However, in Return to Zombie Island, the corny-looking zombies and most of the plot revolving around making a zombie movie on the island is what really made this not enjoyable for me. Between the tone and the lack of expansion on the original, a sequel felt very unnecessary. While some people may have been bothered by the lack of real monsters, I would have been totally open to the monsters being fake if the tone was consistent with the original film. The same goes for Curse of the 13th Ghost. I think both of these films would have been fine as normal DTVs, but the franchise has grown and changed a lot since 13 Ghosts and Zombie Island were made. Making the two sequels in the tone of the current DTVs simply didn't work, and made both films feel completely different from the original material in a jarring way. With Curse of the 13th Ghost, I will say that I really like Tim Sheridan's intentions behind making the film open-ended, where it's possible that the 13th ghost was real, and also possible that it was fake. I like films that really make you think about what might have happened without directly telling you. It's one of the things I love about Boo Brothers. Even after you're done watching the film, you still don't know whether the ghosts were fake or not, even though there was an unmasking. I would love to see another Scooby film do something like that again. The problem with Curse of the 13th Ghost is that Velma's perspective that the ghosts are fake is shoved in the viewer's face so much that we don't really get to hear a compelling argument for what the rest of the gang believes. It was a great way to get around the studio mandate at the time of "no real monsters" for either of those two films (which is a bit silly), but ultimately, Velma's in-your-face perspective is what made Tim Sheridan's otherwise good idea not work in my opinion.

All of this said, I respect anyone who may have different beliefs on the matter. Maybe you are someone who feels the monsters need to always be fake to stick with the classic "person in a mask" format, or prefer a more adventure-focused format for the series. That's a perfectly valid opinion to have, and it's understandable why people might feel that way. However, for me, having a compelling mystery that we as viewers can follow along with has always been a plot device I find more important in the franchise than whether or not the monster is real. As I've outlined, there are a number of examples of plots with real monsters being executed poorly. In my opinion, there are just as many plots with fake monsters that have been executed poorly. Many people found some episodes of Guess Who to be flat due to an over-focus on the guest star and not enough mystery, and I agree with that opinion. The best episodes of Guess Who were always the ones that had a compelling mystery and a good balance with the guest star's presence, at least in my opinion. It all just goes to show the question of inclusion of the supernatural doesn't have to be as simple as picking between whether you prefer real or fake monsters. A throughly developed mystery and well-written plot can be just as important, if not more, than abidance to the "person in a mask" tradition within the franchise.