Revisiting My Childhood Favorites

Many of my favorite Scooby episodes as a kid have remained my favorites to this day. I'm a pretty sentimental person, so I usually have a lot of nostalgia over things I loved in childhood! However, there are a handful of my favorites that haven't held up well as I've matured into an adult. I think it's only natural, since our tastes often change as we mature. As a kid, we often like stuff for more surface-level reasons, such as "I love that there's a castle in this episode!" or "The scary monster is really cool!" As we age, we often can better understand the reasons behind why we love different aesthetics, and start developing tastes for different styles of writing. 

I was thinking about this topic recently, and I thought it might be fun to go through some of the episodes that I loved as a kid, but no longer enjoy as much now. I thought about doing this list as a ranking, but this topic feels much more interesting to explore from a qualitative lens of how my tastes have changed. My opinion has changed slightly on lots of episodes as I've grown to understand deeper themes, tone and writing decisions in episodes, so I'm only going to include episodes that I considered my favorites as a kid. At the end of the article, I'll also briefly explore episodes I never cared for as a child that I've grown to love in adulthood.

Jeepers, It's the Creeper!
We're starting off here with a hot take! As a kid, I really liked this one because of The Creeper and the barn dance setting. Something about it was just so cool to me! I remember loving the Creeper's ghoulish green design. As an adult, I've grown to enjoy this one a bit less. It's still decent, but it's on the lower end of Where Are You for me now. I've grown to feel like a bit too much of the episode is spent running around.

The Scary Sky Skeleton
​My childhood favorites from The New Scooby-Doo Movies and The Scooby-Doo Show have remained favorites even in adulthood. We now move on to one of two Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show episodes that I loved as a kid. This is kind of an odd one, because I still like the first half of the episode a lot. When I was younger, I never really noticed that the quality takes a huge dip in the second part. The creepy atmosphere established in the first half feels like it mostly goes away, and the episode begins to feel more silly. I never really thought about things like complexity of tone, or consistency of writing until I was an adult. Little me just really liked the skeleton and airfield lol.

Rocky Mountain Yiiiii!
I remember loving this one for the wintery vibes. I always liked ski lodge settings as a kid (and something about it still appeals to me as an adult lol). The monster's design was also really cool to me! In adulthood, this one doesn't really hold up for me. The ski lodge setting has potential, but the mystery and overall execution of the episode feels kinda meh to me. As an adult, I've grown to realize that the episodes I love most are ones that focus on a compelling mystery. Episodes that focus a lot on running around, or the gang encountering the ghost everywhere are usually not as appealing to me anymore. This and "Jeepers It's the Creeper" are definitely cases of that.

Scooby in Wonderland
When I was younger, this was one of my favorite shorts. I liked Alice in Wonderland, so the idea of Scooby-Doo parodying that was really exciting to me! This is an interesting case because it's not one I realized I disliked until just a couple months ago. As an adult, I never really return to the shorts unless they pop up in a poll. I will pretty much always choose to watch an episode of pretty much any other series over these. The writing of these just isn't on par with the rest of the franchise imo, and even the best episodes only rise to the quality of a mid-level episode of any other Scooby series for me.

I rewatched this one back in August for the VHS Episodes poll series, and oof, it did not hold up well for me lol. The execution just feels really messy . The episode is just a bunch of different Alice in Wonderland scenes crammed together. There's no cohesion to any of it, and it feels like they didn't even attempt to follow the story structure of the film. There are a few "so bad it's funny" moments, like a sea monster attacking Shaggy through one of the doors for no reason lol. I never thought about it much as a kid, but this is another one of those "complexity of tone" cases, where I can better see as an adult what an unmitigated mess this one is haha.

Canine to Five
As a child, sometimes I loved an aesthetic that I've continued loving into adulthood. Other times, I liked episodes for a very simple reason that sort of crumbled when I took the other aspects of the episode into account. This short is an example of the latter. When I was younger, I think I loved the idea of the premise, but didn't consider how subpar the execution was. I still love the idea of the guys' being lab assistants for someone who has created a werewolf potion. Credit where credit is due, the first minute of this short has a really cool setup. However, once we get into the heart of the plot, it's mainly just a chase. We could have gotten a really cool plot about the guys trying to find a way to change the werewolf scientist back (or something like that), but the remaining six minutes are just spent running around, and the guys eventually bumble into the solution of turning him back at the end. It's a really cool premise, but the execution is just so meh to me now.

Me and My Shadow Demon
​As a kid, I couldn't get enough of the house's aesthetic or the Shadow Demon's design! This used to be my second favorite episode of this series, right next to "Scoobra Kadoobra." As I've gotten older, I don't feel like this episode is nearly as strong as young me gave it credit for lol. I certainly still feel that Befuddle Manor is a cool setting, and that the Shadow Demon's design is cool, but it feels like there are some missed opportunities here. I would have really liked to see the Shadow Demon be featured more prominently. The songs also feel kind of unnecessary to me, and detract significantly from the dark tone. This is an example of a favorite that still remains towards the middle of my rankings, but isn't the all-time favorite that it once was.

The Devouring
I'm maybe stretching this one a little since it was 2013, so I wasn't quite as young as I was when the rest of these were my favorites. However, I still think it fits into the overall theme of "episodes you see differently since you've matured." This is an interesting one that I really wanted to include here, because it has to do with understanding life in a more complex way, which is one of the best parts of adulthood imo. When I was younger, I really liked the design of the Gluten Demon. I've always liked the demon from "A Frightened Hound Meets Demons Underground," and the red demon here fit that typical archetype. I also thought it was a cool plot to have a ravenous monster haunting a restaurant, since it ties into Shaggy and Scooby's love of eating.

One of my favorite things about maturing has been growing to be kinder. As an adult, I've gained a better understanding of how everybody's going through different things, which emphasizes the importance of always being thoughtful towards others. In recent years, I've grown weird feelings about this episode. The episode feels framed as sort of a joke about overeating and making fun of people's weight. Not that I thought those types of jokes were funny before or anything like that, but I've grown to see this episode in a way that, at least for me, feels more thoughtful. I'm not a fan of this at all anymore, and would consider it one of the weakest episodes of the series. This could have been executed in a way that didn't feel like one big weight joke. The plot didn't really need to be explored in the way it was.

There are many episodes that my opinion has changed on slightly in adulthood. However, I thought it'd also be fun to take a look at the episodes that I never liked as a child, but now have grown to love today!

The Backstage Rage
This was always my least favorite episode of Where Are You as a kid. I really liked traditional ghosts and monsters as a villain, so a guy in a cloak didn't feel that scary to me. As an adult, I'm happy to report I've realized the cloaked figure is in fact, very scary lol. When we're kids, I think we often don't fully understand all the different  nuances that go into an atmosphere. This one leans heavy into the creepiness all being in the dark tone and setting. I never appreciated that as a kid, but now, this one feels like one of the spookiest episodes of the series. There's an undertone in this episode that feels like something could be lurking around any corner, and I find that extremely creepy now.

The Demon of the Dugout
As a kid, I think my only reason for disliking this was "Don't like sports + mid episode = don't care for this" lol. In recent years, this has grown to be one of my favorites. You may remember it was an honorable mention on my list of most underrated episodes in the entire franchise. Despite still disliking sports, I really love the setting now! The scene where the Dragon Beast follows them to their hotel is super terrifying. This has grown to be one of my favorites of The Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show.

Scrappy Shorts
There are a number of Scrappy shorts I used to hate, but now find to be super fun. Since I've grown to enjoy all of my picks for the same reason, I decided to group them together. As kids, I'm not sure how deeply we can understand the idea of something being so bad or ridiculous that it's good. That concept might have been too big for our tiny brains at the time lol. There are a number of these I've enjoyed much more later in life for the campiness factor. These would include:

• Sir Scooby and the Black Knight
• Surprised Spies
• Scooby-Doo 2000
• Hothouse Scooby
• Slippery Dan, the Escape Man
• Up a Crazy River

Scooby's Gold Medal Gambit
I never cared for this as a kid. As I just mentioned, my preferred humor style was comedy that was blatant, whereas the campiness of this episode is more subtly-conveyed through its corniness. My opinion has done a complete 180 on this episode. As I've gotten older, I've grown to appreciate the wonder of campy things haha. I love how camp this is now lol. The Chameleon isn't a particularly threatening villain, but this is fun for how goofy it is. So glad I came around to appreciating the awesomeness that is this episode!

The Scooby-Doo Project
A few people on here have brought up how I used to hate this. Guilty as charged lol. When I was younger, I didn't care for this at all. I just found it to be too weird. Similarly to the last one, I don't think I fully appreciated satire. As I've matured, I've grown to appreciate a good satire, and find both of these to be great now. I love the campy, novelty feel of this special. I absolutely consider this to be a standout for their unique tone!

On the same token, I watched "Night of the Living Doo" not too long ago, and it still doesn't really work for me. I still find the humor to be a bit too weird in that one, but I do understand why it might appeal to some people.

3-D Struction
This is another cool one that I discovered in the past few years. As a kid, I didn't have a strong dislike for this or anything, but it was towards the bottom of What's New for me as one of the few unmemorable episodes. Wow, my opinion has changed sooo much since then! I absolutely love the museum setting now. The Gigantosaur is a really neat villain, and I've also grown to appreciate Melbourne O'Reiley's contributions to the episode much more than I ever did. He makes a really cool side character! I also really love the mystery here. Basically, every aspect of this appeals to me now lol. 

Uncle Scooby and Antarctica
We've arrived at another one from my underrated episodes list! I just found this kinda meh as a kid. As an adult, the dark tone is 100% why I love this one so much. I don't think I fully picked up on that when I was younger, so this one just kinda fell flat for me. The dark atmosphere and being stranded in a deserted area is so cool to me now! I wish I would have appreciated this one more in childhood.

E-Scream
I always thought this one was too weird as a kid. Now that I'm older, I've grown to love that weirdness. The gang disappearing one by one is such a high-stakes plot, and the Osomons manage to be really creepy villains. Once I got past this one being weird, I realized how cool and intense the bizarreness was, because over the course of the episode it begins to feel like anything could happen. This is an amazing episode that's grown to be one of my favorites of What's New (which is a huge feat considering how much I love so many episodes of the show). 

It was so fun much to explore my old childhood favorites through a new lens! It's super neat to look back at what younger me liked, and see how my tastes have changed over the years because of different experiences I've had. I think younger me would be happy to see that I eventually grew to appreciate some of the episodes I used to dislike lol.

This is a really interesting topic to me, so I'd love to hear everyone else's picks as well! I know we have a mix of adult and kid fans on here, but I think there's absolutely space for everyone to participate if they wanted to share! The younger fans can still maybe share episodes that they used to like (or dislike) when they were really young, but have had their opinions change as they've gotten a little older. I'm excited to see what episodes/movies everyone picks in the comments!