A Pup Named Scooby-Doo



A Pup Named Scooby-Doo was the eighth incarnation of the long-running Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo. This spin-off of the original show was created by Tom Ruegger and premiered on September 10, 1988 and ran for three seasons on ABC as a half-hour program. Thirty episodes were ultimately produced (thirteen in 1988, eight in 1989, and nine in 1990-1991).

Overview
The new format followed the trend of the "babyfication" of older cartoon characters, reducing the original Scooby-Doo, Where are You! cast to junior-high age. This new show also used the same basic formula as the original 1969 show: the gang (referred to in this show as the "Scooby-Doo Detective Agency") solved supernatural-based mysteries, where the villains were always revealed as bad guys in masks and costumes. The biggest difference was the tone of the show: With A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, producer Tom Ruegger built upon the slightly irreverent humor he had established along with producer Mitch Schauer with Scooby's previous incarnation, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo. This resulted in a wackier, more extremely comic version of Scooby-Doo: it was not uncommon for the characters to do wild Bob Clampett-esque takes when they ran into ghosts, Fred was constantly blaming a character appropriately called "Red Herring" for each and every crime on the show (true to his name, Red was always innocent, except for the one episode in which Fred didn't blame him) and shots of the characters (and even the monsters) dancing were inserted into the obligatory rock-music-scored chase sequences. The monsters themselves were also more comedic, such as a creature made out of molten cheese, and the ghost of a dogcatcher.

The characters themselves were general parodies of their "grown-up" incarnations: Freddy was portrayed as a conspiracy theorist and tabloid-loving goof with little leadership skill, Daphne as a spoiled and vain rich girl and valley girl with a butler (named Jenkins) at her constant beck and call, and Velma as a generally silent cute child prodigy who spoke mostly to point out clues and solve the case. Shaggy's and Scooby's characters remained relatively intact (perhaps due to the fact they were already very exaggerated to begin with.)

Rock and roll styled songs (specifically about the monster-of-the-week) were played during the chase scene in each episode, similar to the second-season episodes of Scooby-Doo, Where are You!. The show's theme song featured lyrics by series creator Tom Ruegger and music by composer John Debney.

The show premiered on September 10, 1988, and lasted until August 31, 1991 on ABC. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo was the first Scooby series to be re-run on the Cartoon Network, in 1993.

Trivia
Following the show's first season, much of Hanna-Barbera's production staff, including Tom Ruegger, left the studio, and helped to revive the Warner Bros. Cartoon Department, beginning with Tiny Toon Adventures. This is the only animated Scooby-Doo production in which Fred Jones was not voiced by Frank Welker. However, he did make a guest appearance as the voice of Fred's uncle, publisher of the National Exaggerator. This was the last Scooby-Doo series to feature Don Messick as the voice of Scooby-Doo. "Ghost Who's Coming to Dinner" and "The Spirit of Rock 'n' Roll" are the only episodes in which Freddy does not accuse Red Herring of being the monster.

DVD Releases
The show is currently being released on DVD in volumes. There have so far been four volumes released, each with four episodes in chronological order. A fifth volume is slated to be released on January 9, 2007, which will also include four episodes.

Episode Guide
Season one (1988 – 1989)

1 "A Bicycle Built For Boo!" September 10, 1988 1

2 "The Sludge Monster from the Earth's Core" September 17, 1988

3 "Wanted: Cheddar Alive" September 24, 1988

4 "The Schnook Who Took My Comic Book" October 1, 1988

5 "For Letter Or Worse" October 8, 1988 2

6 "The Babysitter From Beyond" October 15, 1988

7 "Snow Place Like Home" October 22, 1988

8 "Now Museum, Now You Don't" October 29, 1988

9 "Scooby Dude" November 5, 1988 3

10 "Ghost Who's Coming For Dinner?" November 12, 1988

11 "The Story Stick" November 19, 1988

12 "Robopup" November 26, 1988

13 "Lights...Camera...Monster" December 3, 1988 4

Season two (1989 – 1990)

14 "Curse of the Collar" September 9, 1989 4

15 "The Return of Commander Cool" September 16, 1989

16 "The Spirit of Rock 'n' Roll" September 23, 1989

17 "Chickenstein Lives!" September 30, 1989 5

18 "Night of the Living Burger" October 7, 1989

19 "The Computer Walks Among Us" October 14, 1989

20 "Dog Gone Scooby" October 21, 1989

21 "Terror, Thy Name is Zombo" October 28, 1989

Following the final first-run episode on October 28, reruns from the first seasons were rerun alongside episodes from the second season.

Season three (1990 – 1991)

22 "Night of the Boogey Biker" September 8, 1990

23 "Dawn of the Space Shuttle Scare" September 15, 1990

24 "Horror of the Haunted Hairpiece" September 22, 1990

25 "Wrestle Maniacs" September 29, 1990

26 "The Mayhem of the Moving Mollusk" July 6, 1991

27 "The Were-Doo of Doo Manor" July 13, 1991

28 "Catcher of the Sly" July 20, 1991

29 "The Ghost of Mrs. Shusham" July 27, 1991

30 "The Wrath of Waitro" August 31, 1991