User blog:A Spy in Concealment/My TV Show Review on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

Aloha, Amigos. I’m here today to make my second post for here by making a review on a Scooby-Doo franchise installment. I’m so glad you could make it, because today, I’ll be reviewing “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!”

In this series, a group of characters consisting of four teenagers—Fred Jones (played by Frank Welker), Daphne Blake (played by Indira Stefanianna for the first season, and Heather North in Season 2), Velma Dinkley (played by Nicole Jaffe), and Shaggy Rogers (played by Casey Kasem)—and the title character, a semi-anthropomorphic Great Dane named Scooby-Doo (played by Don Messick), travel the world, solving mysteries involving supernatural beings such as ghosts, monsters, witches, etc.; in doing so, they discover that the perpetrator is almost invariably a disguised person who seeks to exploit the legend for their personal gain. I’m not entirely sure how many people have made in-depth reviews of this show, but hey, if it hasn’t been anyone, I’m glad to step up, do it, and quite possibly even be the first. Scooby-Doo has been one of my favorite shows as a child, and I still love it to this day. The characters, the mystery gang to be precise, are absolutely memorable and wonderful. The vocal performers who played them were also perfect for their roles. My personal favorite characters out of the gang are, of course, Scooby and Shaggy. Every moment with those two is flat-out fun, and to me, they have the most distinguished personalities and qualities out of all of the gang. Casey Kasem and Don Messick play the two perfectly, and they make such an awesome vocal and comedy duo.

The humor of the series, particularly the comedy used with Shaggy and Scooby, are what I’d like to call top-notch, hilarious, and clever in every way. It’s really family-friendly, and it doesn’t get too mean-spirited either. On occasion, I’ve read that the show, along with the rest of Scooby-Doo’s early installments, were often criticized for their storytelling and production values, such as the animation. In contrast to them, however, I actually found myself enjoying this series. I mean, yes, I get that the animation isn’t the best. It doesn’t have what many would expect from others, like say...Disney and Looney Tunes. But, to my point of view, Hanna-Barbera made excellent use of their budget. In other words, the animation is beautiful and amazing for a cartoon with little money used for it.

The storytelling of each episode is actually not bad in addition. True, they aren’t the most complex, but, I always thought that the mystery and comedy were what really drove things forward and made everything fun. I love how they also make it accessible to all audiences by not incorporating actual monsters, ghosts, and witchcraft, but at the same time, make things surprising, and make the enemies seem intimidating. Now if I have to single out one episode I can’t help but have a problem with, it would be this one: Scooby’s Night with a Frozen Fright The problem with that episode, to me at least, was that everything was too simplistic. There was barely any comedy and mystery in it, and the Caveman (who was the episode’s main bogey-man) was barely very threatening.

Other than that episode, though, the show is brilliantly well-done, a special credit I personally give to William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. And hey, if you guys want to see the episode I mentioned, be my guest. I don’t mind. So, I rate “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” five out of five stars.