Fifty-Difty-Doo!: The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries

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!"

Fifty-Difty-Doo!: The New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show (82-83)

Fifty-Fifty-Doo time again!

She’s baaaaack!

Yes everyone, Daphne has returned after three years -- and one show’s (or version?) -- of television silence to rejoin Mystery Incorporated and our S Club-3. In her absence, she became an investigative reporter for a major… let’s say news service, and utilizes her occupation to get hot, fresh scoops involving (or discounting) the usual “bad-guy-in-costume” hoax and unusual oddity involving the supernatural. But this is Scooby-Doo, so guess what happens.

Welcome to The New (and Improved?) Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show.

We’ll get to more on Daph in a moment, but first...

As you know, the franchise has gone through a lot of changes since the addition of Scooby’s nephew Scrappy-Doo to the franchise in 1979.

• His addition
• A new name
• Less of Fred, Velma and Daphne
• The show morphing from one-story eps to a three-shorts format
• Changing from bad guys in costumes as monsters to actual monsters
• The same show and format going back to two-show hour-block form
• Fred, Vel & Daph being dropped altogether
• The change of partners of the hour-block, and
• Change in location from wherever the monster is to a detective agency

(If you think learning about all this makes your head spin, try typing it down from memory.)

Fortunately, the staff decided to cut loose the extra stuff (We barely knew ye but ye won’t be forgotten, Yabba-Doo and Deputy Dusty.) and take us back to basics here. Sure, ghosts and monsters are still around, but the “guy-in-costume” villains are back, one of the human members of the gang is back (bringing us back to half of it) and the show is now in a longer-but-now-split-in-half two-shorts format (this format was never done before), and unlike the three-shorts format I like this more because I can watch two stories in a snappier-yet-satisfying pace.

Daphne also got some major character development during her time away: she’s now the leader of Mystery Inc. and is more smarter. While she was never stupid or unaware of her surroundings before, throughout the franchise she was known by the rest of the gang as “Danger-Prone” -- as in captured by villains and monsters and used to their creepy advantage a lot. Fortunately this trait has been toned down gradually as the show(s) come and go, and Daph is more capable of taking care of herself -- as in not get herself in any major crap by the villains. Because Fred and Velma are still out of the picture, the staff decided to give her their well-known characteristics -- Vel’s intelligence and skills in analytics and Fred’s leadership and skills in driving the Mystery Machine (succeeding Shaggy during V2 ...and Scrappy-Doo [probably for the better]). Episode 4 also introduces family members of Daph’s -- her high-school-aged cousin Jennifer in “The Creature Came From Chem Lab” and her parents (along with the reveal that her fam is loaded) in “No Thanks, Masked Manx”.

(Speaking of fam, Scooby has yet another cousin in Dooby Dooby Doo as introduced in “The Dooby Dooby Doo Ado”

One thing I find weird about Daphne’s new employment here is: While she has made very clear is that she is a reporter, she never mentions which news company she works for. Even during the first episode, nothing has been mentioned there isn’t even any exposition about her rejoining Mystery Inc. The series just begins with her back in the gang as if nothing happened. I know it shouldn’t matter cause Daph is back anyway, but it’s just baffling to think about. Anyway, it's great to have Daphne back in the franchise and I think it's in a much better state since her return.

Scrappy too got some needed development: He’s also smarter and less oblivious to danger, with less of an urge to fight  While he wasn’t dumb either, his new smarts are much more noticeable as he is more engaged in converstations about the monsters/villains of the week with Daphne (while Uncle Scooby and Shaggy take care of the comedy as usual). His wanting to beat monsters (and the excitement of such) also gets toned down more here, and there are even times where Scrapps even backs down from actual threats. (This trait should be refreshing to see for everyone, because that’s all people who hate him see him as -- but with more of the jittery-ness of a squirrel on LSD laced with sugar). And his adoration for his unc was toned to only when Scooby accidentally finds a clue integral to solving a mystery (which is very cute). Plus, his voice has matured along with his new characteristics, sounding much less like a child and more like a growing puppy (even if he is still a puppy height-wise).

The animation here is unpleasant to me in two ways:

--The ink and paint here look cheap and flat, like a show by DFE Films or if The Christmas Tree got a slightly bigger budget. The characters movements are wooden and robotic, the backgrounds look like they were drawn by a really talented child, and the colors look both bright and flushed. There is a positive, as the characters do look the same as before (thin outlines notwithstanding).

--Another positive, as the animators do make the monsters actually look scary and threatening. The most haunting are The Baskerville Hound (“Hound of the Scoobyvilles”), The Gremlin (“The Fall Dog”), The Chem Lab Creature (“The Creature Came From Chem Lab”), and that damn building in the title sequence.

If that ain’t the definition of chilling, I don’t know what is.

There’s a brilliant balance of comedy and mystery on this series. Since there are now four members of Mystery Inc. a split creates two teams that perfectly go their own ways. While Shag and Scoob bring the laughs as usual, Daphne and Scrappy team to scrounge for and analyze the clues, and converse about the oddities surrounding the town and people they’re visiting. It's this balance that makes this incarnation one of the best in the classic era of Scooby-Doo.

I think The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show is one of the best classic-era Scooby-Doo incarnations ever. Why? Lemme count the ways...

-Daphne returning, with bigger smarts and new reigns as leader

-Scrappy being smarter and mature

-Leaving the laughs to Scooby and Shaggy

-Going back to guys-in-costume villains, and

-Surprising us every so often

I'm surprised I didn't watch this version a lot more as a kid, because I never remembered or seen even the theme song and title sequence before. Which is a shame as Wikipedia cites this as a full series with the next series as it's second season. Maybe Boomerang skipped it from rotation or did air it in some fashion and I missed it. Speaking of…

Coming up soon, I'll review that "second season" … or full series (whatever) of Scooby-Doo, entitled The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries. We'll see if there's enough evidence to prove it's the former. (Either way, I swear at this point this franchise has become a bit of the television version of The Fast and the Furious.)

I'm Andrew Pollard saying, "Shaggy-Shaggy-D"--

I mean... "Rooby-Rooby-Roo"!

Chloe x Halle's Halle Bailey Cast as Ariel in Disney's "The Little Mermaid" Live-Action Remake

So...another year, another Disney live-action remake.
While I believe some of them are good (I got to see the new Aladdin in May and loved it), I wasn't a fan of the idea. The original animated Disney films are well-beloved classics (I got to see the originals of the remakes and am definitely a fan of them all) and we all know them enough to give the company a lot of clout on social media and money from buying them from iTunes and Google Play (yes, the latter still exists). And on the concept of Hollywood remaking films... I tolerate it. But I'm in agreement with a lot of people who say that good films should not yet be remade (actor Michael Caine has said that bad films are the ones that should be remade, which I also agree with). But I also hate the argument some people always throw that Hollywood has ran out of ideas -- seriously, either there's a movie you're not interested in or not even looking for that shows the opposite, and even if one film rips off another older film even a lot, at least they have a different touch to the concept and genre.

All that aside, all the criticism didn't stop Disney from plans of remaking yet another animated classic. The Little Mermaid is joining the other recent films getting the real-life flesh-and-blood treatment (and that's after four remakes this year alone: Dumbo, Aladdin, The Lion King and Lady and the Tramp [along with Maleficent sequel Mistress of Evil]). And while that news didn't get my attention, this news got everyone's unbridled attention (and then some): who got cast as the titular character herself, Ariel. That lucky lady is Halle Bailey. Not Berry, as in Monster's Ball, BAPS, Catwoman (shiver) and X-Men; Halle Bailey is one half of popular musical sibling duo Chloe x Halle. They also act, as prevalent in their starring roles Jazlyn "Jazz" and Skylar "Sky" Forster on Grown-ish.

They even sang the theme song.


They also performed America the Beautiful at Super Bowl LII (in one of the few best parts of the whole telecast):


So yeah, they're a perfect double threat (triple if they dance too). So you can at least see why Disney would cast her as ... wait. Ariel??

Yeeeaaaaah. You guys know, Ariel is a white female mermaid. And as you saw, Chloe Bailey is black. As you can expect, a lot of people were furious by the casting news. Many (mostly white) took to Twitter and Facebook to blast Disney for casting a black girl as a "white" mermaid and wanted her to be dropped from the production.

In my opinion... I'm cool with this. I don't care about the mermaid controversy because it's stupid, and because mermaids are mythological creatures based on fish, one feature of which is that they were never tied down by race. While the mermaids we've seen in TV and movies over the decades were usually (mostly) white (TLM is one of them), we've seen black and brown mermaids too in both. So it really shouldn't matter who gets cast in the film as Ariel as long as the actress or singer can act and sing. And I very much think Halle can do both. Otherwise she wouldn't have been on Grown-ish or have a music career with sister Chloe. Black Ariel will be only the second black Disney princess in over 70 years of Disney animated productions -- and the last, Tiana from The Princess and the Frog, was introduced only 10 years ago.
And we can't forget this isn't the first time Disney had a black actress and singer portray a Princess.

To anyone who thinks Halle won’t make a good Ariel just because she’s black, throwback to when Brandy absolutely killed it as Cinderella in the 90s 😍😩 pic.twitter.com/cq0WVWo21F

— Common Girl (@girlhoodposts) July 3, 2019

Brandy played Cinderella in the 1997 live-action TV movie, and she absolutely slayed the role (not to mention one of the Evil Stepsisters was also black [implying Lady Tremaine had a black lover] and Prince Charming was biracial and played by a Filipino-American actor).

It's a shame that Disney hasn't had even had more than one Black Princess more years ago than they'd like to admit because it really is time for more diversity in the line of Princesses, and this is a big great step.

The backlash is so unnecessary and annoying and the people who spewed such hate at Halle for starring in a film about a mytho who wants her sea legs to become real legs, please do three things:

• Calm down and take a breather
• At least look her up to know who she is to get an actual legit opinion, and
• Know that mermaids were never legitimately white (or any other race) in the first place

The backlash would've been warranted had people had legit things to say like the film being made in the first place.

As much as the Disney live-action remake-churning machine makes me roll my eyes continuously, I have faith in the new The Little Mermaid. And I wish Halle nothing but the best in her role. Grown-ish already made her a star, but this film will take her star to the stratosphere. I say congrats to Halle Bailey, just like Halle Berry did too post-confusion. (And yes, I was one of the many who thought that Berry was cast as Ariel, and not Bailey). But if Disney wants to have a scene in the future after Ariel marries Prince Eric and features them as royalty with a family, have Ms. Berry's number on Speed dial.

Wait, isn't Ariel a redhead?

    

Okay, good.

Conservatives Triggered by Nike Cancelling Code-Violating Shoes with 'Racist' Betsy Ross Flag

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Nike Air Max, both here
looking like the multi-material money-wasting forsaken failures they are

Well, fellow Americans -- freedom-lovers, freedom-fighters, equality-givers and right-wingers alike, another Independence Day has come and gone. Another day of celebrating our country's birth and beginnings (big, wide, breathing pulsating warts and all) in the history books. And yet another controversy has come and gone with it, and conservatives are angry about it. Not, not the continuing drama of the crisis of immigration on our Southern border--that shit is irrelevant (to them). No, something they're genuinely furious and passionate about.
NIKE HAS CANCELLED DISTRIBUTION OF A NEW LINE OF SHOES DESIGNED WITH THE BETSY ROSS AMERICAN FLAG!!!

OH, THE HUMANITIES!!!!!

Yes, this was a thing. With the shoe, and Republicans' piss-tivity of its being held back by Nike.
Here's what happened.

The Air Max, a pretty good-looking shoe, besides the heel
The Geek Herald

Nike was to release a new line of shoes tied to the 4th of July called the Air Max 1 featuring a design of the colors of the American flag, with an image of the original American flag representing the 13 Colonies designed and sowed by Betsy Ross in 1776 featured on the heels. These were to be released shortly before the birth of our nation. That is until Colin Kaepernick put a stop to it.

Esquire

Kaepernick, a hero of civil rights for people of color (especially African Americans) today, looked at the shoe and asked Nike (he has an endorsement deal with the company) not to sell as the BR flag represented a time in United States history where slavery and oppression were still running strong against natural Africans, plus the fact that these days white nationalist groups have used the version of the flag as their rallying symbol. After news of Kap's stopping the presses on the Air Max hit the web, Republican politicians and Conservative talking heads alike did what they did best(?) at: bitching about it.

Now, look. I'm not a certified sneaker-head. I love to own a good pair of sneakers every once in a while, and most of them I'm lucky to have. Although most of them come from thrift stores rather than the actual stores that sell them hot and fresh off the assembly line. But this is absolutely ridiculous. I will believe that right-wingers do have a certain style and appetite for sneakers -- designer or comforting -- as much much as the next guy (some more than the more important's issues of the matter sadly). But had Kap not said anything about the Air Max shoes, right-wingers wouldn't have cared about it, let alone bought them. And its' this is yet another example of them putting their politics and policies aside (as if they had any that benefits us) for a non-issue that affects literally no one (even though I'm talking about it now, it certainly as hell didn't affect me). In fact, this isn't the first time they've done this; fuck, this isn't the first time they done it involving Nike.

Remember the "controversy" of Fox News Channel hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham that sponsors to drop their deals with their shows last year? The former said misogynistic, homophobic and racially insensitive remarks on Florida radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge’s program, (That got companies like Lexus, Jaguar, Pacific Life, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and bedding maker Sheex saying adios to “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, which later experienced a y-t-y revenue drop in 2018.) while the latter mocked Parkand Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor David Hogg for not getting into four prestigious universities. David then decided brilliantly to hit back at Ingraham where it hurts: her wallet. He took to Twitter to ask his supporters to boycott the companies that support her show and directly convince said sponsors that they are supporting a white supremacist (supporter) whose views on such are toxic and racist, and they should think about what they're buying into. They agreed and dropped her like Precious' evil bitch mom dropped her baby.

Or the time fellow Fox News host Sean Hannity saw his show lose sponsors like Yeti coolers and Keurig coffer makers. It's this sponsor boycott that got Hannity's and Fox News' viewers and other conservatives really in blood-boiling tizzy as it got them to destroy the products in various ways while recording them doing the deeds and posting them to YouTube and social media; they also comment on the boycotts saying in unison that they won't be buying the companies' products after the boycotts. The companies have since come back to Hannity, but nothing as of yet in some cases in Carlson's and Ingraham's cases as of this MMost's posting. But here's the thing: they bought Yeti's and Keurig's products anyway... and they gave the companies their money anyway, so... yeah, that was pointless and stupid.

And the Nike thing was also stupid. Speaking of...

Remember the "controversy" of kneeling Kaepernick gave during renditions of the Star Spangled Banner, in which he believes (agreeably to me) that the song was made during a time of inequality in the U.S., and does not fully represent black people whom have suffered brutality at the hands of law enforcement for the past several years?

Yeah, that got him to lose his job with the NFL after they threw him under the bus for rightfully expressing his free speech and brilliant race rights. Fortunately, he dusted off the crap and become a beloved civil activist fighting for equal rights for people of color -- which I love wholeheartedly. (While at the same time, being an enemy to stupid racist white people who know nothing about the realities of oppression in black and brown America and rejoice their supremacy. Other athletes like U.S. Women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe have since joined him in his iconic stance to similar praise) and Nike recognized this fight in him and gave him a lucrative enforcement deal leading to this incredible, beautiful ad campaign encouraging people to  beat the odds the be the best while being themselves.


And Republiconservatives were seething. And they showed their seeth by destroying Nike products in foolish and over-the-top ways and posing videos of it on YT ans SoMed. Oh and not buying any more products too.




Again, they bought the Nike stuff, and gave it their money. So what's the point of all of this?!?! Nike (and all those other companies mentioned earlier) are not suffering from GOP's "suffering". They are all multi-million-dollar (some billion-dollar) companies who don't give a sweet, sappy shit about who buys their products and who doesn't buy them. As long as they're still in the green afterwards, cry away babies--cry away. It just makes them all look dumb.

Which leads back to this issue with the Swoop Troop.


Many Republiconservatives are triggered by the cancellation because they are driven by greed and corruptions disguised as love for "their" country. They don't care about what truly keeps her heart beating today but about the past that's slowly and severely killing it. And almost buying and mourning the death of a shoe that is more a cartoon of that love instead of a celebration of its founding and startup shows it proudly.
This Air Max 1 isn't something everyone's got to have; it isn't like the iPod or the Atari or Walkman or even the Slinky. Even if it was a hit today, the popularity and trendiness would die off soon after it's hit the store shelves, as another product would beat it to be the king of the moment. It's like literally every meme on the internet before and since.  It doesn't give you life or anything that is necessary to keep you alive; it's just a pair of something to keep your feet from getting dirty and damaged. And the design isn't something to write (or text) home about. It's just a few colors wrapped around the exterior; whoopie.
But the real reason people care about it now at all because of the Betsy Ross flag on the heels. They don't even look good, the design (to me, at least) looks very tacky, sloppy and it violates the United States Flag Code.


Oh, bet'cha didn't know that exists huh? Well, it does.

According to Wikipedia,

The United States Flag Code establishes advisory rules for display and care of the national flag of the United States of America. It is Chapter 1 of Title 4 of the United States Code (4 U.S.C. § 1 et seq). This is a U.S. federal law, but the penalty described in Title 18 of the United States Code (18 U.S.C. § 700) for failure to comply with it is not enforced. 

Some important sections of the code to to gawk a gander at include:

•  The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free.
• The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard.

And most importantly:

• No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform.

So, unless you work for law enforcement, a fire brigade or the military, YOU CANNOT WEAR THE AMERICAN FLAG ON YOUR FUCKING CLOTHES!
It's ILLEGAL. And it's also obnoxious, tacky and cringe-worthy.
Tomi Lahren did it in 2017 as part of a Halloween costume, and learned about the code the hard way, thanks to her favorite thing, social media.

And all of you "American patriots" came very close to doing the same in time for the 4th of July. You Republicans think you are in love with the very fabric of America, but don't jack shit about it under the surface of it out side of the flag, the bald eagle, Mount Rushmore, the plains and prairies and oceans and the guy in the most famous address who really doesn't know or care about any of them--and you. Just like the last boycott, this didn't work, because people on the left bought Nike products just to support Nike and Kaepernick, showing them as more sensible to progressing history and him as much more patriotic then the hatriots were before and ever will be. So keep it up, y'all. It all won't work like it did those last time, but Nike will keep reaping the rewards of and raving Republicans ranting about a pair of footwear. So shame on all the Republicunts ignoring the real issues of the world to bitch about something most of them probably won't even have the care (or money, mostly money) to have in the first place once again showing them to be what they are: greedy, insignificant, uncaring, self-absorbed taints with no business being even near political discourse -- let alone office.

Now, about the thing about Nike being a cesspool of harassment and discrimination for women...?

Fifty-Difty-Doo!: Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (V2 3-shorts / 80-82)

Literally the same show...

but fifteen minutes less...

times three...

plus yet another Doo.

Fifty-Difty-Doo!: Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (V1 full / 79)

Scooby...
Meet Scrappy.
He's... your nephew.

Fifty-Difty-Doo!: The Scooby-Doo Show (76-78)

Hi everyone. I’m Andrew, and I welcome you back to Fifty-Difty-Doo!

Meet Fred.

No, not this Fred.

This Fred.

Fred Silverman is a legendary television executive and producer who, during his decades-long tenure at all of the Big 3 Networks, is directly responsible for shepherding some of the most iconic and memorable long-running hit TV series of all time. Specifically, At CBS he went from heading daytime to leading the entertainment division, and for nearly wholesale changing TV schedules and in turn helping making TV history. From sitcoms (M*A*S*H, The Bob Newhart Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show (and its spinoffs Rhoda and Phyllis), All in The Family (and its spinoffs The Jeffersons and Maude [and it's in-turn spinoff Good Times]), to dramas (The Waltons, Cannon, Barnaby Jones and Kojak) to game shows (most of the shows by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman including revivals of The Price is Right and Match Game), Silverman was a wunderkind of television and helped -- no, lead CBS to continue it’s gargantuan record at the top of the Big 3 networks during his tenure.

After leaving CBS in 1975, Silverman took his talents to ABC where he successfully turned around that network’s fortunes. Some of TV’s most iconic and memorable long-running series of all time also aired on the Alphabet network during Silverman’s reign: including Charlie’s Angels, Three’s Company, Eight is Enough, Soap, Fantasy Island, Donny & Marie, and several hit games shows like Family Feud -- whether these series were hits because of their characters, stories and classic moments or because of female characters with big boobs and butts (this was known in industry circles as “Jiggle TV”), you can thank Silverman for the changes he made to make ABC a major success on TV in the mid- to late-70s.

One of those successes is a little-known cartoon about a small group of  tenacious teenagers and their dippy, daffy, ‘dorable dog with their awesome adventures capturing vile, vicious and vicarious villains who just want to ruin other people’s businesses and lives on pure greed and domination.

Oh, and let’s also throw in some family members for the titular character to lighten up the situations that don’t need lightening up. Yeah.

Welcome to The Scooby-Doo Show.

After two seasons of our favorite gang solving mysteries for an hour and with our favorite icons of entertainment, it’s back to square one. As it back to a half-hour and back to just them solving mysteries with no more or less. The gang are still at it and haven’t missed a beat despite (or even because of) their major network move. Sure, it's still the same format in and of itself, but at ABC it had much more of a sense of security, as not only new episodes air to major success, ABC made sure to actually give the show a renewal every year, no matter the title or format.

Oh and yeah, The Scooby-Doo Show isn’t the actual official title of the series. It’s actually a package name for it during its run in syndication, as during it’s three-year run on ABC, it aired as part of three(!!!) hour-long duo series along with three other shows. (Those shows: Dynomutt, Dog Wonder (76), Laff-A-Lympics (77), and Scooby’s All-Stars (78) were the second half of the hours of powers).

As mentioned earlier, this series introduces members of Scoob’s family -- which, outside of Scrappy, I had no idea was a thing. I guess watching a lot as a kid then forgetting as you grow can do a lot to surprise you when you come back to it. Appearing in The Show is Scooby-Doo's cousin Scooby-Dum. And as you can tell by the name, he's a genius. Just kidding, he's a moron. While Dummy-Dum does help his... sensible cuz and the gang with solving their mysteries, he's also an unnecessary character. His stupidity is irritating, his Southern accent is ah-noI-yin’, and he's even more of a punk than Scoob and Shaggy combined -- which is the worst of them all. And to be honest, the fact that he partially shares Scooby's name (making me think the rest of his family have names like the native Chinese) is also…well, Dum.

And then there's Scooby-Dee, sweet as can be. Lovely as a cherry blossom tree. Always brings the joy and... splee. ...I don't care for thee. (But she's better than Dum in most aspects despite appearing in less episodes.)

Now a few tidbits about the production:

• The animation is on-par with the franchise so far. Great drawings with simple, flat looks and near-flushed yet slightly-bright colors and shadings -- especially during night scenes. While most viewers didn’t assume much as they just want to watch the show, help solve the mysteries with Fred, Daph and Velm, and laugh along to Shag and Scoob’s latest antics (me included), some thought this was a case of a smaller budget. Wouldn’t put it past me. One place to spot is Velma’s hair -- which is lighter than usual.
• Speaking of, Velma has a new voice actress: Pat Stevens who succeeds Nicole Jaffe, who retired after WAY! and The New Movies (fitting as it’s the first S-D show on a new network).
• Even the background music is very scary here. This series features new incidental music that fits very well like a glove. And it’s not the same stock (used nicely) background tunes we’ve heard (and sometimes hummed to) ever so fondly from the last two series. Yes, they’re still there but sparsely (although still noticeable) here. I like the new music-- it’s well done, adds to the intensity and drama of the mystery and ghost scenes. I am happy the old stuff keeps making appearances here.
• Then comes the theme song. Despite the darker tone this series took over the previous two, this one sounds and feels much lighter and cheery, despite the shrieks of alien noise (?) throughout, especially the beginning (which turns it up from The New Movies and even WAY!). I guess it’s a warning for the kiddies to prepare themselves for the super scary stuff to slip in soon.

There were some episodes that, while great, felt weird under the surface. And especially “The Spirits of ‘76”, which felt like a random mystery in DC disguised as a commercial for our nation’s capital and the Smithsonian Institute of Natural History (even though I won’t lie, I fell for the ad and I’m planning a trip there as we speak. It’s for late August.)

Now to what you guys wanted the most. The Scooby-Doo Show introduces some of the most memorable and even best villains and monsters of the franchise. These baddies came with the same intentions: to steal stuff, make themselves rich and scare people away to reap in the undeserved rewards. The Show takes it all to the next level. They’re not just being evil, they’re being vicious with their motives. They’re not just stealing money, jewelry and treasures; they’re also coming close to beating or even killing people to keep their plans under wraps and on track. The tension as their plans progress while Mystery Inc. are steps behind them is palpable and the scares feel more genuine than the ones in the other series combined. It’s real impressive that two series across five years and another three years plus a move to another network can really energize the staff of Scooby-Doo to put out some damn good product and quality.

Let’s meet the Rogues Gallery.

--The Spirits of ‘76: The “ghosts” of Benedict Arnold, William Demont and Captain John Andre (a British soldier), three of the most infamous traitors in mankind history. Their worst moment was charging at the gang snarling and foaming, with a car chase coming close to running them over.

--The Ghosts of “The Ghost of the Bad Humor Man”: Three ice cream color-coordinated ghosts haunt --of all things-- an ice cream factory. But they’re not making the food that makes kids happy; they’re making Mystery Inc. feel petrified.

--Mamba Wamba: a witch doctor who uses voodoo on victims.

--Doctor Coffin, a creepy mad doctor ghost with a scary evil laugh, an organ that he can play blood-curling music on and terrifying glowing eyes that can turn your blood into ice water.

--The Ghostly Gondolier, a hooded "ghost" from Venice whom terrorizes and… does terrible things to people from the shadows. Not who you want to give you a fancy boat ride on the Tuscan river.

--The ghost of Ebenezer Crabbe, with his blue hair, deep yellow eyes and one spine-tingling laugh. And you won't believe what happens in his episode "High Rise Hair Raise" when his sister arrives.

--The Headless Horseman; if you read the story of Ichabod Crane, you know where this is going. In fact his relatives are featured in his eponymous episode. And there's a reveal that'll shock the crud out of you.

All these guys are the definition of “villain” and them some. The producers and writers really had their creative juices flowing here, and I’ll forever admire and respect them for their talents on this show.

Rive Ravorite Monsters: (so many here, but I’ll stick with five)

- The Spirits of ‘76

- Ebenezer Crabbe

- The 10,000 Volt Ghost (I also find it cute for some reason)

- Doctor Coffin

- The Headless Horseman

Rive Ravorite Scares (again, so many but):

- The reveal of HH's new… friend

- The Spirits of '76 chasing the Scoobies

- Crabbe's sister

- All scenes with The 10,000 Volt Ghost

- The Salem-style torture on Shaggy and Scooby

Rive Ravorite Laughs (all of course courtesy of Shag and Scoob):

- Them pretending to work on a movie to evade the episode's monster in "A Frightened Hound Meets Demons Underground"

- Scooby bumping into a skeleton and then it gaining sentience and running like Scoob ("A Highland Fling With a Monstrous Thing")

- Shaggy's response to this line by Daphne

"That mean old demon stuffed me into this piano!"

"What a dirty trick. But it could have been worse: At least he didn't stuff you into a harmonica."

- Scoobys Doo and Dum's creepy weirdo crush on Scooby-Dee (again, their cousin). Plus, the kisses she gives them after saving him were NOT on the cheek. (I am not surprised with southern hick Dum, but Eww. Come on, Doo.) I don't know what dogs think about and do when it comes to family, but hopefully not that. I thought southern white people were into that.

- Shaggy impersonating a girl to bait a vampire villain.

So, the original Scooby gang were back (on ABC) and better than ever. The Scooby-Doo Show was only the third outing (or technically third, fourth and fifth outings, depending on your view) in the franchise, but it firmly (and deservedly) cemented it in the American public consciousness and became the pop-culture phenomenon still running strong for the next several decades. It was also not only the first time we’ve had family members in Scooby’s family… it won’t be the last.

Next week, we'll take a look at Series #4 and the one that pretty much saved the series and kept it going...and going...and going today.

And despite the… (unwanted… unnecessary… unnerving… unhealthy) hate towards him, you gotta admit, without him this franchise wouldn't have continued the way it has been and still does today (unless WB would've began the DTV series somewhere in the late 2000s at least). Yeah, I'm sure you know where I'm going with this.

Next Sunday, it's Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo.

Hope to see you then! But for now, I'm Andrew Pollard saying "Rooby-Rooby-Roo!"

Fifty-Difty-Doo!: The New Scooby-Doo Movies (72-73)

Rello. Relcome to a rextravaganza of repic rares, rexcitement and raughs! Relcome to... Fifty-Difty-Doo! A Scooby-Doo 50th Ranniversary Relebration!

When I was a kid in a family with access to cable and satellite (and during spells where we just used the cords and boom! Instant un-encryption, I was open to many types of TV shows of the classic nature: sitcoms, dramas, variety, sports, specials, TV movies and especially cartoons. Like any kid, animation was not only a fun time for me, but it was escapism; watching cartoons felt like a chance to get away from real life and enjoy the laughter and zaniness with your favorite characters. So what do you get when you mix some of the most famous personalities of each of the genres of TV into 60 minutes of one weekly cartoon? Let’s find out, gang.

After the out-of-the-blue monster (rardon the run) success of the first series of what is at this point a franchise, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, executives at CBS have decided to do the first steps of helping create and grow out a television phenomenon: constantly air reruns. From the WAY!’s end in 1970 (on Halloween no less!) and throughout that year, ‘71 and ‘72, the Eye network got the eyes of the youngsters tuned into the (grand)daddy of the litter, and from that collected the revenue they never realized they could make from any Saturday morning cartoon before and since. But on the other side of the office, the creators and producers at Hanna-Barbera wanted to actually continue the franchise with new shows, even wanting another season of Where Are You! since they realized how much of a 300-pound gorilla they had on their hands. After months of negotiations and back-and-forth, CBS finally agreed to a new Scooby-Doo series. And this series would be extravagant: scarier villains, guest stars, music, and double the length of typical WAY! Episode! And the viewers were all for it.
But it would be the beginning and end of Scooby-Doo as we knew it!
(Well, end for CBS, and beginning for the franchise itself.)

It’s The New Scooby-Doo Movies.



So, for this one, our favorite gang from Mystery Incorporated is joined on their usual snooping investigations with some of our favorite icons of entertainment.

Season 1:
- Jonathan Winters – Himself and Maude Frickert (character) / “The Frickert Fracas”
- Phyllis Diller – Herself / "A Good Medium Is Rare"
- Sandy Duncan – Herself / "Sandy Duncan's Jekyll and Hyde"
- Sonny & Cher – Themselves / "The Secret of Shark Island"
- Laurel and Hardy - “Themselves” / "The Ghost of Bigfoot"
- Davy Jones (The Monkees) – Himself / "The Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall"
- Jerry Reed (Country music star) – Himself / "The Phantom of the Country Music Hall"
- from The Addams Family:
-- John Astin – Gomez Addams
-- Jackie Coogan – Uncle Fester
--Ted Cassidy – Lurch
-- Jodie Foster (future award-winning actress) - Pugsley Addams [yes, she voiced a boy; it’s not new]
-- Carolyn Jones – Morticia Addams / “Wednesday is Missing”
S1 Multiple Episodes: - Don Knotts (The Andy Griffith Show, later Three’s Company) – Himself / "Guess Who's Knott Coming to Dinner?" and "The Spooky Fog of Juneberry"
- From The Three Stooges:
-- Pat Harrington (The Inspector, One Day at a Time) – Moe
-- Daws Butler (voice acting legend) – Larry & Curly Joe / “Ghastly Ghostly Town” and “The Ghost of the Red Baron”
- The Harlem Globetrotters - Themselves / "The Ghostly Creep from the Deep" and "The Loch Ness Mess" (plus "The Mystery of Haunted Island" [Season 2 premiere])

Season 2:
--Tim Conway (The Carol Burnett Show) – Himself /
"The Spirit Spooked Sports Show"
-- Don Adams (Get Smart, later Inspector Gadget) – Himself / "The Exterminator"
--Cass Elliot (The Mamas and the Papas, later a solo musician) –
Herself / "The Haunted Candy Factory"
--Dick Van Dyke (The Dick Van Dyke Show, later Diagnosis: Murder) – Himself / "The Haunted Carnival"
And the casts of:
--Jeannie (the sort-of cartoon version of I Dream of Jeannie) / (“Mystery in Persia”) {I’m honestly surprised no one mentioned or even played a subplot about how Daphne and Jeannie look like twins}
-- Speed Buggy (“The Weird Winds of Winona”) and
-- Josie and the Pussycats (including Casey Kasem [again] also voicing Alexander Cabot, essentially voicing two versions of the same character) /
"The Haunted Showboat" (all in Season 2)

While it may not seem like much back then (maybe it does, I don’t really know), I see this format as something epic. Some of the biggest names of television, film and music joining one of my favorite cartoon ensembles to get to the bottom of some questionable wares in an abandoned location in 60 minute installments. What’s not awesome about it?? Well...

- While I kind-of enjoyed the hour-long format, I feel there’s some lengths of padding in each episode. There are some moments in the padded scenes I do like, but they mostly drag until we reach the case of the week again and get closer to finding the villain.
- And when M.I. and the special guest(s) finally do reach the villain, the shock awe and surprise don’t come in as strong or the revealed people don’t appear as much in the episodes - making their appearances blink-and-you-miss-it moments while also making their unmaskings dull (or at least to me). As for the episodes, I blame the trend of combo hour shows influencing the decision of the hour-long show story-wise, but hey, more adventure is still fine by me, I suppose. While the writers tried their best to keep the viewers hooked throughout (and I appreciate it greatly), it didn’t with me (which might explain why the show was split in half like 60s Batman for syndication; to have some modicum of interest from the first half to the second).
- Also, unlike Where Are You!, The S-D Movies doesn’t have the high amounts of tension or genuine scares (or at least that’s what I think when I was a kid). While I enjoy this one for its own merits of entertainment, this (along with the padding) feels like a turn-off to me.
-Also, a turn-off, the way the gang just so happens to meet the special guest by happenstance -- if not plot-based contrivance. It's one thing to meet your favorite star where you know they'll be at (even if you run into them), but meeting them as the plot calls for it makes little to no sense. Especially when they meet the characters from another Hanna-Barbera show (see when they meet the cast of Jeannie or Josie and the Pussycats. Unless they're all in the same universe, they must watch CBS on Saturday mornings like the rest of us. Well, rest of you, I wasn't even a sperm/egg in 1972).
- Plus, the fact that despite being titled The Scooby-Doo Movies, it’s obvious that each episode really not. Then again, after the decade where TV-movies and miniseries reigned supreme, anything these days can count as a movie (just ask Nickelodeon during the 2000s to now), so I’ll give this a pass.
I also love that, years and generations down the line, that The New S-D Movies introduced many kids to these guest stars -- especially those they’ve never heard of (like in my instance: Phyllis Diller, Jonathan Winters, Laurel & Hardy, Cass Elliot (and later The Mamas and The Papas), The Harlem Globetrotters, Davy Jones (and later The Monkees) and Tim Conway. Thanks to The S-D Movies, I now have a great appreciation for these actors/singers/ and their works and appearances on other shows.

Finally, after over two years of rerunning Where Are You!, The New Scooby-Doo Movies debuted on CBS on September 9, 1972. With its characters, mystery aspect, goofy co-main characters, and the fact it came after the first series, it - like its predecessor - was an instant success. Kids loved it, critics enjoyed it. And it later got its second season (which aired from September 1 where it also received high ratings. Then… CBS went back to rerunning it and WAY!. Why? Because, according to one source, as thought by the execs at the time, the network could make as much money rerunning old shows instead of making new ones with Hanna-Barbera. (Like, while that is all fine and good for like one year, this annoys me, because the folks at Hanna-Barbera have said they were open to more S-D shows or even new episodes of New Movies or Where Are You!--and the popularity was there. But to CBS’ Eye, the almighty dollar won out) Reruns of The New Scooby-Doo Movies (along with Where Are You!) continued for almost three more years from November 3, 1973 until the network’s option on the franchise ran out on August 25, 1976.

While Scooby-Doo and Mystery Inc. may have solved its last mysteries here on CBS, it wasn’t the end of their adventures as thanks to a namesake certain television executive whom taken the gang with him to his next destination: ABC.


I don’t have many (or any, really) favorite villains from this series. Because of the hour-long format, the dragging, the weak scares, and the fact that I can guess who it is within the first fifteen minutes. So here are my five favorite guest stars, scenes and funny scenes (known hereafter in honor of the franchise I'm reviewing as my "Rive Ravorites".)
Rive Ravorite Guest Stars:
- The Three Stooges
- Don Knotts
- The Addams Family
- Phyllis Diller
- The Cast of Josie and the Pussycats

Rive Ravorite Scenes:
- Don Knotts’ costuming and changing fracases ("Guess Who's Knott Coming to Dinner?")
- The key scene with Laurel & Hardy ("The Ghost of Bigfoot")
- Any scene with any Addams (“Wednesday is Missing”)
- The introduction of Maude Frickert (“The Frickert Fracas”)-  All scenes involving Shaggy and Alexander together (knowing they're both voiced by Casey Kasem). ("The Haunted Showboat")

Rive Ravorite Laughs:
- Again, Don Knotts’ costuming and changing fracases (Again, "Guess Who's Knott Coming to Dinner?")
- The Globetrotters' bank shot ("The Ghostly Creep from the Deep")
- Every scene with Laurel & Hardy ("The Ghost of Bigfoot")
- Shaggy, Scooby & Alexander jumping ship... to a lower level ("The Haunted Showboat")
- Anything with Uncle Fester (“Wednesday is Missing”)

The series is d available on DVD and digital on Warner Home Video. But… a funny story to tide over. When it was released to VHS, not every episode was released because of licencing rights pertaining to the estates of the special guests or the company that owns the shows that feature the guests (that being The Addams Family episode [and very aptly-titled at that] “Wednesday is Missing”). And the DVDs didn’t get better in that regard, as only all but eight episodes got cleared for release on the plastic disc as The Best of The Scooby-Doo Movies. That is, until on June 4, 2019 (five days ago as of posting this), when WHV released those eight other episodes under the title “The Lost Episodes”, and almost all episodes on DVD and Blu-Ray as The (Almost) Complete Collection. “Wednesday is Missing” is still missing (unless...).

In conclusion, The Scooby-Doo Movies was a fun, intriguing, entertaining and hilarious literal hour of stars, scares, scams, solves and Scooby. It's not my favorite of the franchise, but it's still a "wail" of a good time. regardless.

Thank you everyone for joining me for the start of the Fifty-Difty-Doo! A Scooby-Doo! 50th Anniversary Relebration. Tune in next week when I discuss the first S-D series during its thrice-as-long run on ABC, the start of a decidedly darker nature than before, and the first under more names than Saturday Night Live: The Scooby-Doo Show.

I'm Andrew, and until next week... Rooby-Rooby-Roo!!!