More Fifty-Fifty-Doo!
Is it the same show? Is it its own show?
That … is its own mystery.
That is, The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries.
During the last series, Daphne returned to Mystery Incorporated as an investigative reporter, and brought her newly-brilliant expertise with her to help Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy solve mysteries the world over -- or rather help Scrappy, as Shag and Scoob are too busy making viewers laugh. Now, in this series, our favorite gang (at least in the second episode) are all certified reporters for Daph’s employer Peep-Hole Magazine (which sounds less like an investigative piece collective and more like a ripoff rag of Playboy and Penthouse). This development makes some sense, as it gives Mystery Inc some bigger clout to continue travelling the world to solve them and fight crime. At least it’s all on Peep-Hole’s dime and not for some reason come out of wherever they store money -- cause it damn sure ain't their pockets.
And now, to this theory: As I implied during my last review, I pondered as to whether The Scooby-Doo Mysteries is either yet another incarnation of the Scooby-Doo franchise or actually the second season of The New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show.
Here’s why:
-The characterization I mentioned during my review of TNS-D&S-DS (smart reporter Daphne, smart and mature Scrappy) has been firmly cemented;
The gang still travels the world to get to the bottom of random mysteries;
The episode format is still two-shorts;
Even the title card is the same (in fact, that title card has been the exact same card since Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo in 1979 with rare changes [3/4ths of the gang appear in the background but stay until season 3 of V2]. I guess the budget is so important for everything but the title card, since it has the title characters’ names in it so ehhh close enough [even though this show’s title doesn’t have Scrappy’s name]). Just...nah.
The reason I say this is because Wikipedia calls S-D Mysteries the second season of TS-D&S-DS. Other places say otherwise for sake of convenience.
The only thing different here are the show’s title, title sequence, theme song and animation.
And speaking of…
The animation is better than the last series, everything is more fleshed out, the movements are more fluid, and colors are still vast and sometimes bright, if not still pretty flushed (in fact, a bit more flushed than New S-D and S-D). Later episodes do much better and give a more clearer, brighter and warmer appearance and atmosphere -- that’s thanks to a very neato (yet primitive) pioneering animation technique Hanna-Barbera used in the 80s in which its cartoons' ink and paint are drawn digitally, instead of physically by hand with a camera recording the process. This technique and technology all sound awesome. The episodes painted under the system start from "A Code Through the Nose" to "The Nutcracker Scoob".
Like last time, the group crossed paths with “guys-in-costume” villains and real monster villains. Honestly, I’m cool with a mix of both; I’ll never know which I’ll get until the end of an episode and while it’s corny for me to say the reveals of this kids show legit surprises me, I haven’t watched any of them in this franchise in years. So… I’m legit surprised by the reveals of this kids show. It’s the fun of guessing it all.
Some of the best were in “Happy Birthday, Scooby” and “Scoo-be or Not Scoo-be”.
But the most important surprise came in the first episode… Fred and Velma are back!
Yes, folks, after an absence of five years, the other two members of the gang have returned and have appeared in occasional roles in several episodes. In their absence, Velma brought her brilliant mind and awesome analytic skills to NASA as an assistant research science apprentice, and Fred took his talents of leading and… helping...solve mysteries to become an aspiring mystery novelist. Their disappearances from the series/franchises were heavily felt, and even if it took me a couple weeks of rewatching to get to see them again, I’ve missed them a lot -- and I feel sorry for the fans of either or both to wait all that time to see them again, even if for a few episodes in a single year. Their fates during their time away though are perfectly created and obviously fit their skills nicely, and they both deserved nothing less. Good on the writing staff for that. Velma appears in “A Night Louse at The White House”, Fred pops up in "Sherlock Doo" and "A Nutcracker Scoob", and both are in “Happy Birthday, Scooby-Doo”, "A Halloween Hassle at Dracula’s Castle" and “Ghosts of the Ancient Astronauts” (all two-part episodes). (Also, when Scoob immediately figures them out as guests of his televised birthday party [from their catchphrases no less], his reactions with both strongly heartwarming [no surprise that he missed them as much as we did and that he was so happy] and extremely hilarious [him jumping into Velma’s arms like she was Shaggy, and especially knocking over Fred and licking his face]).
The writing was alright, and consistent with the rest of the franchise. Some good laughs, genuinely fascinating mystery solves and reveals (especially in “Scoo-be or Not Scoo-be” which I didn’t see coming, and whom I rightly knew did it was the first villain), but nothing to write home about. It’s all good fun though, and that’s the point here.
Oh yeah, the theme song. It’s frickin’ awesome!
It pretty much rips off “Thriller” by Michael Jackson based on his late-Motown and early-Epic eras of his career. It’s hot, fun, upbeat and instantly memorable. Every time I play it, I’m dancing in my seat and singing the lyrics (especially the high notes, cause I’m tone-deaf like that); it’s that infectious. It’s mostly replicated twice in the title sequence where typical monsters are doing the most iconic part of the music video's iconic dance -- as in thrust-raising their arms like an egyptian on one side then on the other. It’s funny, cute and incredible all at once. The rest is just typical Mystery Inc. hijinks, except with more Hip-Hop and graffiti. It’s the same we’ve seen before in other Scooby titles, but I’ll call this the best since New Scooby-Doo Movies because of its bouncy, colorful atmosphere ang likable goofy nature (especially when seeing the fact that Scooby moonlighted for a long time despite one year passing).
And for now the mystery is solved.
That’s The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries.
Next week is probably something we’ve all waited for. And I’ve got TH1RTE3N reasons why. It's The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo.
See you then.
I'm Andrew Pollard saying "Rooby-Rooby-Roo!"
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