It?s probably one of the most predictable shows I?ve ever seen, and I loathe Scrappy-Doo with a passion. And the gags, especially with Scooby-Doo (why is he the titular mascot when he does fuck all again?), are quite weak. The only ones I?ve really watched is one I can?t remember the name of with Scrappy-Doo, The Scooby-Doo Show, What?s New Scooby-Doo (I think there actually was one episode where the monster was real) and Mystery Incorporated. The first one?s obviously crap, the second one?s tolerable but nothing special, the third one?s genuinely entertaining for its running time (even with the cheesy pop-rock segments) and the fourth one?s OK but I hate the overt focus on Fred & Daphne and Shaggy & Velma?s relationships (ugh?).
It definitely deserves its popularity. I liked it more as a kid, but I still tune in occasionally (on my available channels, it?s mostly just reruns of What?s New Scooby Doo on CBBC if there?s nothing else to watch on TV after school). On the topic of the characters, none of them by themselves are that noteworthy, apart from maybe Velma (because she?s a hot nerd and the only in-universe essential member of the team). Daphne was just useless filler in the earlier ones, but in the recent revisions, they?ve actually given her some use, probably to reflect the changing times where an attractive female could actually be more than just pin-up material or a damsel-in-distress.
If you?d permit me to be analytical of a Saturday morning cartoon for a moment, I just want to address a few things that I always thought about. How are these ?meddling kids? allowed to drive to all these places unsupervised? Why aren?t they at school (excluding the most recent version)? Why isn?t brainy Velma doing something better with her life, rather than hanging around with guys she?s so much smarter than? If Shaggy and Scooby are complete cowards, why do they hang around with a bunch of guys whose hobby is to solve mysteries and inevitably get chased around by ghosts? And how do they have enough money to fund their apparently compulsive eating habits from which they never get fat from?
