What's New, Scooby-Doo? is the ninth incarnation of the long-running Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo. A revival of the original show, What's New, Scooby-Doo? debuted on the now-defunct WB Television Network's Kids' WB Saturday morning programming block as a half-hour program. It was the first new Scooby-Doo series since A Pup Named Scooby-Doo ended its run in 1991.
Overview
The show follows the original mystery-solving formula of the series, but done in a more real manner compared to the previous shows, with the classic gang encountering monsters who invariably turn out to be people in disguise. Most of the stories make an attempt to modernize the Scooby universe by introducing plots spotlighting modern trends and technology, such as the Internet. The characters remain mostly the same as always, with a few cosmetic changes (most notably, Fred no longer wears his famous ascot in this series), and a few minor personality changes (most notably Fred being less intelligent than he was in the franchise prior to the late 1980s.)
With Don Messick's retirement in 1996 (he died the following year), Frank Welker, the voice of Fred, took over as Scooby's voice. Casey Kasem returned as Shaggy, Grey DeLisle took over Daphne's role, having previously assumed the role in 2001 for Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, while former Facts of Life actress, Mindy Cohn, took over Velma's. The new show follows the same format as Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, updated somewhat for the 21st century, but with new-age music genres and unique newly-recorded Foley effects to replace the classic Hanna-Barbera sound effects. The show was produced by Warner Bros. Animation, the studio famous for bringing Looney Tunes to life, which had by this time absorbed Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. (It should be noted, however, that the copyright notice at the end of each episode credits "Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc." as the author).
Cast
- Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo and Fred Jones
- Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rogers
- Grey DeLisle as Daphne Blake
- Mindy Cohn as Velma Dinkley
Recurring characters
Episode guide
- Main article(s): List of What's New, Scooby-Doo? episodes
- Season overview
Production
The series was first announced on January 15, 2002 as a joint venture between Kids' WB and Cartoon Network, with the working title of All-New Scooby-Doo! The Animated Series.[1]
DVD releases
Volumes
- Volume 1: Space Ape at the Cape (August 19, 2003)
- Volume 2: Safari So Goodi! (March 9, 2004)
- Volume 3: Halloween Boos & Clues (August 10, 2004)
- Volume 4: Merry Scary Holiday (October 5, 2004)
- Volume 5: Sports Spooktacular (June 14, 2005)
- Volume 6: Monster Matinee (August 9, 2005)
- Volume 7: Ghosts on the Go (November 8, 2005)
- Volume 8: Zoinks! Camera! Action! (February 21, 2006)
- Volume 9: Route Scary Six (June 6, 2006)
- Volume 10: Monstrous Tails (December 5, 2006)
Complete seasons
The complete first season released in February 20, 2007.
| Name | Release date | Special features |
|---|---|---|
| What's New, Scooby-Doo?: Complete 1st Season | February 20, 2007 | A Scooby-Doo Valentine |
| What's New, Scooby-Doo?: Complete 2nd Season | June 5, 2007 | |
| What's New, Scooby-Doo?: Complete 3rd Season | January 8, 2008 |
Notes/trivia
- The band Simple Plan is heavily connected to What's New, Scooby-Doo? They perform the theme song, and appeared as themselves in the episode Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman. Two of their songs appeared in chase scenes: "I'd Do Anything" in It's Mean, It's Green, It's the Mystery Machine, and "You Don't Mean Anything" in the former.
- This is the second show (first being The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo) of the franchise in which Daphne doesn't wear her trademark Takemotos shoes.
- In some episodes it is seen that Velma is a fan of hockey.
- In a flashback to Velma's fifth birthday, the characters are drawn as they are seen in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, indicating that the two shows take place in the same continuity.
- Daphne, Velma, and Fred are in all but one episode of the series, and appear less in subsequent episodes of Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!.
- This is the first Scooby-Doo series since 1970 that didn't feature Heather North as the voice of Daphne.
- The Hex Girls, a band who previously appeared in the direct-to-video films, Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost and Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire, are featured in the episode The Vampire Strikes Back.
- The opening and closing credits features silhouettes of the gang running across the screen, similar to the titles in the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, but for some reason, the opening credit silhouettes omit Fred. Fred is present in the closing credit silhouettes.
- This is the second Scooby-Doo series to have the characters drawn in a slightly different animation style (the first one being A Pup Named Scooby-Doo).
- In the Halloween episode many ghosts from the original series appear as monsters, for example the Creeper and Werewolf.
- This is also notably the final series where Casey Kasem voices Shaggy.
In other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Arabic | مغامرات سكوبي دو | The Adventures of Scooby-Doo |
| Italian | Le Nuove Avventure di Scooby-Doo | The New Adventures of Scooby-Doo |
| Polish | Co nowego u Scooby'ego? | What's new at Scooby? |
References
- ↑ (January 15, 2002) "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? On Kids' WB!". Warner Bros. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
External links
- TBA