Fun Fact of the Week #581

11/10/2025

On the languages DVD menu for What's New Scooby-Doo? volume 2: Safari So Goodi, an odd combination of stock art is used. A background of the gang in front of the Mystery Machine from "It's Mean, It's Green, It's the Mystery Machine" is used. Daphne is shown in her classic era outfit, and Fred's design is a combination of his What's New Scooby-Doo? era shirt and orange ascot. Thanks to Juan for suggesting this week's fun fact!

11 Comments

ZoinksDude

11/10/2025 09:13:45 am

seeing Fred's ascot and blue striped shirt at the same time is just cursed imo 🤣 like is this image where Fortnite came up with the idea for their design??

Becker

11/10/2025 10:03:43 am

Omg it really is Fortnite Fred! Multiverse magic

WildwindVampire link

11/10/2025 10:05:49 am

Lol! It honestly might have been haha.

Boo Borthers #1 Fan

11/10/2025 01:57:41 pm

Fred's outfit clashes so bad omg. The two shades of blue on the collar and stripe are taking me OUT lmaooo

Spooky Space Ghost

11/10/2025 06:49:38 pm

Wow, it's such a shame the What's New Scooby-Doo complete series DVD doesn't have that background. I don't know if you have Hanna-Barbera DVDs like that, but most of mine have a completely black background with the episode titles to select. Only my Tom and Jerry and Scooby-Doo Where Are You DVDs have a more interesting background. Thanks for the fun fact!

I agree that most movies from before 2010 don't have any messages, except maybe Scooby-Doo Goes Hollywood and the Arabian Nights films.

I also saw Arabian Nights last week. I was expecting it to be really bad, but the few moments with Scooby-Doo and Shaggy were interesting. The fact that they were food tasters made it easier to integrate them into the film's oriental setting. It would have been more interesting to have a monster, but the antics were better than those in some of the franchise's shorts. I didn't like the Yogi Bear story, since he was a secondary character and dependent on the wishes of the evil prince and Aliyah-Din, but the Magilla Gorilla story was great, especially the roller coaster scene. It was a good idea to mix elements of Eastern folktales with more modern elements like cruise ships and roller coasters. I'm waiting to finish The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Yogi Bear Show before watching the Magilla Gorilla episodes, but he seems to me to be just as well-developed a character as his predecessors. Did you enjoy the Yogi Bear and Magilla segments?

Regarding the films' messages, I also think Velma's jealousy of Daphne was one of the main lessons of Moon Monster Madness. However, I found this somewhat unnatural, since we already know Velma and Daphne are better partners and we've never seen them clash. I think it wasn't necessary to include this in the film, given that it already deals with the place of machines and life in space. The rest of the film was quite enjoyable. It has a slightly less assertive style than Frankencreepy, probably to stay in line with the 2010 films. The only major flaw in this film is its ending. The culprit is unmasked too early, and as in Legend of the Phantosaur, the remaining 15 minutes are much less epic, since we all know the gang will survive. It would have been possible to find a more original ending than the one offered by Moon Monster Madness, ideally where the monster is captured later. The confinement of the space station provides an atmosphere that would have allowed for the exploration of more unsettling scenarios.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen Straight Outta Nowhere or Trick or Treat yet. I have the former on DVD, but I wonder if it wouldn't be better to watch episodes of Courage the Cowardly Dog to appreciate the film more? As for Trick or Treat, I don't have it on DVD, but I'm trying to find it in a library. I'd rather wait for it to be released in a compilation, since it's currently as expensive as a 4 Kids Favorites set, which contains important films like Ghoul School and Legend of the Vampire.

A quick comment on Scooby-Doo Gokko: I also rewatched Cyber Chase recently, and I'd forgotten that the animation for the revival era was done by a Japanese studio. I'd be surprised if that happens, but perhaps we'll get designs similar to those of the revival era. Personally, I think it will be at the level of the drawings of Tom and Jerry Gokko, but Scooby-Doo being a more realistic series, it would be possible to have another drawing style.

WildwindVampire link

11/10/2025 08:45:17 pm

That's really interesting that the Diamond Collection sets have a black background! The Hanna-Barbera DVDs that I own all feature backgrounds like the What's New image above. I think I mainly have Golden Collection DVDs, although the newer Scooby sets from the 2010s mainly have a generic blue background with the episode titles. I really miss how cool and detailed some of the original DVDs were! A few of the early ones like Where Are You seasons 1 and 2, and The Best of the New Scooby-Doo Movies even had a neat interactive DVD menu. The newer DVD menus aren't nearly as good imo.

Glad you enjoyed Arabian Nights! I liked both of the Yogi and Magilla stories, but the Magilla one was my favorite. Despite the bad reputation Arabian Nights has, I think it works quite well for what it is as a Hanna-Barbera crossover film. I'm guessing they chose to market it as a Scooby film since Scooby-Doo has remained the most popular of the three franchises. I haven't watched many Magilla Gorilla series either!

While it was a positive message generally speaking, I agree with you that the jealousy subplot was odd. It seemed like the writers maybe wanted to develop Velma and Daphne's friendship dynamic specifically around that time, since Curse of the Speed Demon (released the year after Moon Monster Madness) also includes a subplot about Daphne remembering Velma is her real best friend, after Daphne unsuccessfully tries to befriend Stephanie McMahon. It seems like the writers were quick to drop that though, as it's not explored again after those two films. The monster being unmasked early in Moon Monster Madness actually didn't bother me, but I have a sort of similar issue with it. It didn't feel like the villain appeared very much in the film. It only appeared a few times and that was it. While the mystery was neat, I would have liked to see the villain have a little more of a presence in the film.

Tbh, I don't think you need to watch any episodes of Courage unless you want to! The movie does a great job introducing the viewer to Courage and his family without any prior knowledge required. I think I did watch a couple of episodes before the film came out, but honestly, I don't think any background knowledge of Courage was needed. It's strange that they haven't included Trick or Treat in any compilations! I think it would have made sense to put it on this most recent 4-movie set that came out last month, instead of Return to Zombie Island which was already on a compilation. It also would have made more sense to include Trick or Treat in a chronological sense, since the other three films were from 2021 and 2023.

That would be cool if we got designs similar to Cyber Chase, but I think you're right about the style probably being more along the lines of Tom and Jerry Gokko.

Spooky Space Ghost

11/12/2025 07:39:09 pm

I also have two DVDs with the blue background. That's also the background used on the Flintstones movie and special compilation.

I miss the interactive backgrounds too! I really like the ones for A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and Where Are You. Ideally, I'd like all the backgrounds to be like the one for Where Are You, but the ones for A Pup Named Scooby-Doo would work too. My Where Are You DVD also has season 3 of The Scooby-Doo Show, but there's no cutscene on the main menu. It's strange, since it makes it even more obvious that Where Are You isn't supposed to have three seasons.

I know Warner Bros. kept some interesting background information on the 2020 re-release of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection. I would love to have a Scooby-Doo DVD similar to the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, since it has many special features that showcase the work behind the creation of the cartoons and allow us to meet the franchise's key directors. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we only have one documentary about the work at Hanna-Barbera Studios, on the Where Are You DVD. This documentary was made after Warner Bros. bought the studio, and the people interviewed mostly give a retrospective of their creative years. Perhaps interviews or other footage from the 1960s to 1990s would have been possible. Interesting fact: I have a 4 Kids Favorite Looney Tunes collection that includes the original disc of each of the features. It's a bit more expensive, $15 instead of $10, but the experience is much more enjoyable since the special features are included along with the film's original background. I'd be curious to know why Scooby-Doo's four favorite kids aren't like this one. Perhaps only two of the four Looney Tunes DVD contents are movies?

I agree that Arabian Nights is a good Hanna-Barbera crossover. I'm glad the film's atmosphere brought together the worlds of Scooby-Doo and Yogi Bear, which are quite different. Arabian Nights remains a very original concept, and it would have been interesting to have more films like this (I imagine the studio's anniversary specials are similar). If the film were longer, it would have been possible to add a Flintstones or Jetsons story. It would be fun to see what the Orient would look like in the Flintstones' universe!

It's a shame that the friendship between Velma and Daphne wasn't developed further after those two films (would the live-action Daphne and Velma also count?). I think showing their friendship more often would allow their main strengths as characters to shine through more frequently, as is the case with Shaggy and Scooby. This would be particularly beneficial for Daphne, as her character would then be less dependent on Fred. Fred is, in my opinion, the only member of the gang who doesn't need one of his friends to reach his full potential. It's often his passion for traps and his clumsiness in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and What's New? that shape his personality. I think it's to achieve a similar result that the writers changed Daphne's behavior so much in Be Cool. I prefer her version in What's New?, but Be Cool is certainly the series that did the most for Daphne.

Thanks for the information, I'll be able to see Straight Outta Nowhere sooner than expected! I hope Trick or Treat will be included in a future compilation. I don't really see the point of putting Return to Zombie Island and The Sword and the Scoob on the new compilation. The Warner Bros. Best of DVD already includes most of the films released since 2020 (except for the last two). Perhaps Warner Bros. wanted to make these films more accessible, since the price of Warner Bros. Best of DVD can vary from store to store (I paid $45 without a discount, but other stores sell it for $65). I still think Trick or Treat will eventually be released as a compilation, so why not a Halloween-themed DVD with A Halloween Hassle at Dracula's Castle and Happy Halloween? It would be a DVD like Winter Wonderdog, but better.

WildwindVampire link

11/12/2025 09:52:47 pm

That's super odd about the Where Are You DVD! I own the season 1 & 2 set and season 3 set separately, so that's really interesting to know that they just re-used the same disc from the season 3 set without changing the cutscene.

I'm not 100% sure on there being one documentary about Hanna-Barbera Studios, but I believe you're right about that. I agree iwouldbe really neat to have more interview special features with the creatives behind the shows! It seems like they phased that out after the early 2000s, for whatever reason. I would be interested to know WB's reasoning behind shifting to just including bonus episodes as special features instead of interviews/featurettes. Even if they really wanted to start including bonus episodes, I think it would have been more fun if they'd mixed it up, and had bonus episodes on some DVDs and interviews/different kinds of special features on others. That's really interesting about that one Looney Tunes DVD including special features when none of the others do. Given it's more expensive than the other DVDs, maybe it saves WB money to exclude the special features on compilations? I don't own any of the 4 Kids Favorites DVDs myself (I just bought all of the standalones as they came out), but if they're trying to fit multiple films on one disc, I imagine they would have to produce more discs to have room for the special features.

I wouldn't have minded having more films like Arabian Nights for other Hanna-Barbera properties. A film with both a Flintstones and Jetsons story would have been cool! I'm not sure how they decided to group Yogi, Magilla and Scooby together, but I feel like Hanna-Barbera could have come up with a bunch of cool franchise combinations had they made more of this style of movie.

You make a really good point about Daphne & Velma! I'm not sure why that film totally slipped my mind for fitting the friendship theme lol. I would argue Daphne & Velma developed their friendship in much more depth than the surface-level subplots of Moon Monster Madness or Curse of the Speed Demon. In that film, they don't yet know Fred, Shaggy and Scooby, and they meeting each other for the first time when Daphne moves to Velma's school. That said, it likely would have been much harder to develop this type of storyline in such depth with the rest of the gang there. Daphne and Velma being alone allows the film to fully focus on their dynamic. I think a greater focus on their friendship could be incorporated into typical Scooby films gradually though, even if it was just in small details within their interactions. I hadn't thought about this topic before, but I think you're right about Fred standing on his own the best of any gang member. I would argue Velma is probably has the next strongest characterization of any of the gang. Her personality feels very strongly developed throughout the entire franchise, whereas Shaggy and Scooby are much more often characterized as a duo, and Daphne's characterization has been more of an evolution. Fred's personality somewhat has too, but I think he had a very strong, consistent characterization all throughout the classic era, and his quirkier, sillier characterization has also been quite strong and charismatic since his character's shift away from being a stoic leader starting with A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. I would agree with you that Pup and WNSD were the most prominent series responsible for his characters' shift. With Daphne, I think there has been a gradual shift, but her character (at least thus far) isn't nearly as consistent from series to series as Fred's has been. I would say Be Cool Daphne is my favorite Daphne for how unique her characterization is, but like you, I also love her What's New personality!

I also am not sure why they re-released those two films on this most recent compilation again. I guess it's possible that WB may have done it for accessibility reasons like you suggested. I didn't realize the compilations were that expensive! I really like your idea of having a Halloween compilation similar to Winter Wonderdog. It seems like a lot of fans have a ton of nostalgia over the Winter Wonderdog set (since it was one of the first themed DVDs in the franchise), so I feel like a Halloween counterpart to it would be super popular! It seems like they kind of tried to do that with the 13 Spooky Tales: Run for Your Rife set, but it feels like a missed opportunity since there are very few Halloween episodes on it (despite having a new Halloween special as the thirteenth episode). Surprisingly, the original press release included both parts of "A Halloween Hassle at Dracula's Castle" as a part of that set, but it was removed in favor of two Where Are You episodes instead for an unknown reason. I always found that to be very odd, as surely those Where Are You episodes didn't need yet another release when "A Halloween Hassle at Dracula's Castle" was only ever released on that rare Cartoon Network VHS.

Alexandra Rutt

11/11/2025 02:30:55 pm

I prefer the combo look. Fred always looks weird without the ascot

Michael Kenchington

11/12/2025 09:22:50 pm

I wish that Fred Jones' design should've been considered for "What's New, Scooby-Doo?"-era shows and movies IMHO.

Scooby snacks

11/12/2025 07:21:40 am

Daphnes arms look really weird! 🤣

Fun Fact of the Week #581

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