Quick quiz: who around here doesn’t like Scooby Doo?
Odd that a cartoon that first aired before I was even born can be so popular, yet it’s even a favorite of my three-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn. And of course, it’s on my list of favorite cartoons, too. Well, the “classic” stuff, anyway.
Nostalgia. What’s it good for, eh?
Anyway. My definition of “classic” Scooby Doo is pretty much limited to the original series, “Scooby Doo, Where are You?“. Some of “The New Scooby Doo Movies” are amusing (these aired right after the original series in the early ’70’s), but some are really bad (badly drawn/animated, badly conceived) and it’s hard to reconcile them into “canon” anyway. Anything after that I could just throw out— especially anything dealing with Scrappy Doo. Ugh.
(Ironically, Kaitlyn loves Scrappy Doo. I wonder if she’ll grow out of that?)
I’ve gotten a big kick out of the newer animated movies, though (especially the first of them, Scooby Doo on Zombie Island). They fit perfectly into my notion of what the Scooby “universe” should be, give or take. Well-done and modern art and animation, too.
So, I was excited today to find out that there’s a new Scooby Doo cartoon series on TV— the first in at least 12 years— that seems to fit canonically into the Scoobyverse between the original series and the new movies: “What’s New, Scooby Doo?” It just came out last September on the WB. Looks to be the same animation artwork/style from the new movies. And it’s going to be airing on Cartoon Network starting the end of this month. Is that cool or what?
(Jeez… I am such a geek… but I couldn’t resist.)