Fan Spotlight 2022 Day 1: Tom

Hi everyone! I’m really excited to be doing these fan spotlights again for the next 13 days, and so I can introduce you to 13 amazing Scooby fans! Kicking off our fan spotlights this year is Tom, who is an avid Scooby-Doo fan that discovered this site through the chronological timeline that SDF and I created together back in 2019. It was also super cool to learn that he’s a Whovian, given I’m an avid Doctor Who fan myself! Without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to our first fan spotlight of this year!
 
1. What is your name?
I just go by Tom, my real name. This comes from the days when I was in a Muppet online forum where they made the very good case that people were much more likely to be nice to someone named Tom or Bill or Jenny than to someone named GONZOSNOSE39. Of course, this was the days before Facebook where people constantly rage against their own friends and families. Also, as companies get more nosy, I've come to appreciate the need for anonymity. Still, I use my real name when I can, for a more personal touch.

2. How did you get into Scooby-Doo?
I would have been almost six years old in 1980, when (according to the wikis) "Scooby-Doo" went into daily rerun syndication, so I probably saw it first there. I was living in the Chicagoland area at the time, and a local station called WGN showed it. (Eventually WGN also had a sister cable station across the U.S. with a different schedule.) If I recall correctly, Mondays were "Where Are You"; Tuesdays and Wednesdays were NSDM split into two parts; Thursdays were "The Scooby-Doo Show"; and Friday was the first season of "Scrappy-Doo" (as the second season was just premiering on Saturday mornings at the same time). I loved it then and I love it now! The shows had the laugh track removed for the reruns, BTW, so it sounds odd to me now when I hear the laugh track restored.
 
3. What is your favorite Scooby-Doo episode and film? Why?
Tough call. "A Night of Fright is No Delight" is so iconic, especially those monster designs; the reveal of the villain is rather obvious, but it's so much fun otherwise. As for movies, I know that the '02 live-action movie isn't a favorite of a lot of Scooby fans, but it reawakened my Scooby fandom after years of it laying dormant, so that's a big selling point for me even now!
 
4. What ways are you involved in the Scooby fandom online?
I mainly visit this site. I found it a few years ago when I was curious if anyone had tried to compile all the Scooby productions into a single cohesive timeline. Your site has done so, and you're still making tweaks to it years later! I love that, and it's still my favorite place to visit on the site! I do check out the other articles, though, of course. I've visited some Scooby sites on other places like Facebook, but none of them have the fun and interactivity that this site does!
 
5. In your opinion, what is the best series or era of Scooby?
Hmm, another tough call. No one can deny the impact that "Where are You" has had on all future versions. "The Scooby-Doo Show" has my favorite theme; I sometimes find myself singing it softly to myself when I'm washing dishes or something. "Pup" brought a fresh new Tex Avery-like animation style to the franchise. I actually liked a lot of the updates to the show in "What's New." "Mystery Incorporated" has such a satisfying overall story arc. And I was reluctant to try "Be Cool," but it's arguably the funniest incarnation. Does that answer your question somewhere? :)
 
6. What one Scooby-Doo series or film would you want a sequel to someday?
Hmm, I don't know. We've gotten a couple of long-awaited sequels that didn't live up to fans' expectations. On the other hand, "Guess Who" was a decent follow-up to NSDM. And "Spooky Games"  acknowledged "Laff-a-Lympics." What's left? Maybe we could get a new visit with some of Scooby's relatives that we haven't seen in a long time, like Scooby-Dum or maybe even Yabba-Doo? Speaking of family members, see the next question.
 
7. What direction would you like to see the franchise go in the future?
What I would most like is a movie or show that could finally redeem Scrappy-Doo. I didn't care for him that much, and (full disclosure) I actually thought it was funny that the '02 live-action movie finally acknowledged many fans' animosity towards the character in an official production. But it's been 20 years, and I'm so tired of every single production bringing things to a screeching halt with a prolonged "We hate Scrappy" or "we don't even remember him" joke. Okay, we get it already! Give him some credit, at least; he saved the show from cancellation, and he was a major part of the franchise for 9 years. Turn things around -- find a fresh new angle on the character that feels consistent with what we know, but also allows him to shine and be a hero and be likable again. Maybe even acknowledge how hard people have been on him so that he can engender some sympathy, and then have him triumph over it. If not, please just drop it and never bring Scrappy up again. The joke has been beaten to death at this point; let's all move on.
 
8.  Who is your favorite member of the gang and why?
When I was a kid, I would have easily answered Scooby or Shaggy. Most of the time, I would still probably say them. But Fred in "Mystery Incorporated" is my favorite version of that character, being funnier than he ever had before while also going on a huge emotional journey. Welker should have won an Emmy for that performance (it looks like at least he won a BTVA Television Voice Acting Award for it).
 
9. What is your favorite villain? Why?
Sorry to sound like a broken record about "Mystery Incorporated," but Prof. Pericles is the most layered and interesting villain in the franchise. A lot of those early classic villains had great designs, though, including Space Kook and Charlie the Robot. 
 
10. In your opinion, who is the best recurring (non-gang) character in the franchise?
OK, I'm stuck with another "Mystery Incorporated" answer. LOL! Fred's adoptive dad is one of the most layered and interesting characters, a compelling but sympathetic villain. Gary Cole did such a great job with the role.
 
11. Do you have a Scooby-Doo collection? If so, what’s in it?
Alas, I don't really have many collections of anything anymore. I had a book called "Scooby-Doo in the Haunted House" by Horace J. Elias for a really long time, and I got much delight out of a "Scooby-Doo Mad Libs" book I had with Scooby trying to get water out of a fire hydrant on the cover. Sadly, I had to get rid of a lot of stuff from my childhood about 20 years ago at a garage sale when I was out of money, and although I'm doing better now, I haven't had much time to rebuild any collections. Lest I have my geek card completely revoked, I do like looking for odd bits of rare video and holding on to them. For instance, I recently came across an upload of a Scooby-Doo marathon from Cartoon Network in the mid-90's that someone put on the Internet Archive, so I downloaded that to make sure it's preserved. Hopefully that kind of thing counts for something! 
 
12. What do you think has made the franchise so popular that it’s still going strong after 50 years?
The show is certainly funny, and the characters continue to resonate as writers find new angles to them. The character designs and voices are great, too. But I've often wondered why Scooby has endured more than most of the other entries in the Hanna-Barbera library. And I think that it comes down to that desire to overcome our fears, particularly in kids but also in adults. There's something very comforting about a show that constantly reminds us that our fears can be captured, unmasked, and robbed of their power over us.
 
13. What is one fun fact about you in real life?
One of my other geeky interests is puppetry. I helped my parents with their church puppet shows for many years, and even ran my own church puppet team for six years myself!
 
14. Please feel free to share anything else you’d like to here!
I love the site and I look forward to meeting other fans. I hope the franchise and this site continue for many years to come!
 
I’d like to give a huge thank you to Tom for participating in this fan spotlight, and for being such a big supporter of the blog over the years! I hope you enjoyed getting to know Tom a little better, and be sure to check back tomorrow to meet another amazing Scooby fan!