Scooby-Doo!
Mar. 31st, 2015 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
polychrome_pen I have to admit, I never thought I would admit to unabashedly enjoying a Scooby Doo show. Prior to now, my only experience with Scooby-Doo as a franchise was catching old episodes on my Grandparents' cable when I was sick as a kid and stayed home from school.
But Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated isn't just good for a Scooby Doo show. It might be the best thing I've watched so far this year. I can hear the cries of shock, I know. You say, "But Ry, Scooby Doo is a weird 70s relic about mystery-solvin' teens and their hungry great dane - not good television." And before finishing Mystery Incorporated, I would have agreed with you! Such is the power of this show.
You see, for the first time in 40+ years, the characters actually have character. Sure, Fred is all about traps, Shaggy and Scooby eat a lot, Daphne gets captured, and Velma is the genius who looses her glasses and says "Jinkies!". But this go around, the creators were actually allowed to create interpersonal relationships and conflcts. The show starts out with Shaggy and Velma dating, and progresses to add Fred and Daphne into the mix. The interpersonal relationships between the characters are never static, and it always takes into account material from the preceeding episodes. The gang are given parents for the first time, too, and live in a town called Crystal Cove that bills itself "The Most Haunted Place on Earth" and depends on monster tourism. So when they unmask criminals who could be potential tourist draws, they really are "meddling kids!" Genius.
This is without even mentioning all the delicious backstory. It starts with another group calling themselves Mystery Incorporated who disappeared in the caves beneath the town twenty years ago, and goes all the way back to ancient Mayan prophecy. Every episode has a more or less self-contained mystery, but the writers deftly weave the central mystery in and out through most of the episodes. Suffice to say the climax of S2 is epic and an incredible payoff. I mean, Velma brings up string theory in the final few episodes. How is that not amazing?
The show is full of hilarious sci-fi and horror references and great voice acting too. Fred and Scooby are voiced by the one-of-a-kind Frank Welker, who is an animation voice-acting legend and has been portraying these characters for something like 40 years. For the Monster High/Ever After High crowd, Kate Higgins (Frenkie Stein/Briar Beauty) voices the mayor in the second season, which was a fun treat. Patrick Warburton turns in a great performance as the Sheriff.
So yeah, apparently I totally fell in love with a Scooby-Doo show. I'm actually afraid to go and check out any of the other material produced for this franchise, though, because I know it won't be as good as what I've just finished. And ye gods, I totally want to get a little bit of merchandise for my toy collection now. >_<
But Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated isn't just good for a Scooby Doo show. It might be the best thing I've watched so far this year. I can hear the cries of shock, I know. You say, "But Ry, Scooby Doo is a weird 70s relic about mystery-solvin' teens and their hungry great dane - not good television." And before finishing Mystery Incorporated, I would have agreed with you! Such is the power of this show.
You see, for the first time in 40+ years, the characters actually have character. Sure, Fred is all about traps, Shaggy and Scooby eat a lot, Daphne gets captured, and Velma is the genius who looses her glasses and says "Jinkies!". But this go around, the creators were actually allowed to create interpersonal relationships and conflcts. The show starts out with Shaggy and Velma dating, and progresses to add Fred and Daphne into the mix. The interpersonal relationships between the characters are never static, and it always takes into account material from the preceeding episodes. The gang are given parents for the first time, too, and live in a town called Crystal Cove that bills itself "The Most Haunted Place on Earth" and depends on monster tourism. So when they unmask criminals who could be potential tourist draws, they really are "meddling kids!" Genius.
This is without even mentioning all the delicious backstory. It starts with another group calling themselves Mystery Incorporated who disappeared in the caves beneath the town twenty years ago, and goes all the way back to ancient Mayan prophecy. Every episode has a more or less self-contained mystery, but the writers deftly weave the central mystery in and out through most of the episodes. Suffice to say the climax of S2 is epic and an incredible payoff. I mean, Velma brings up string theory in the final few episodes. How is that not amazing?
The show is full of hilarious sci-fi and horror references and great voice acting too. Fred and Scooby are voiced by the one-of-a-kind Frank Welker, who is an animation voice-acting legend and has been portraying these characters for something like 40 years. For the Monster High/Ever After High crowd, Kate Higgins (Frenkie Stein/Briar Beauty) voices the mayor in the second season, which was a fun treat. Patrick Warburton turns in a great performance as the Sheriff.
So yeah, apparently I totally fell in love with a Scooby-Doo show. I'm actually afraid to go and check out any of the other material produced for this franchise, though, because I know it won't be as good as what I've just finished. And ye gods, I totally want to get a little bit of merchandise for my toy collection now. >_<
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no subject
Date: 2015-04-01 06:50 am (UTC)And this reminds me, I gotta finish watching it...
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Date: 2015-04-01 07:50 pm (UTC)Haha, what did you try watching after seeing Mystery Inc?
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Date: 2015-04-01 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-01 08:35 pm (UTC)[there was an adorable sequel fic on ff.net at one point]
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Date: 2015-04-01 08:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-01 08:54 pm (UTC)https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8754092/1/A-Grimwood-Postscript - the sequel fic I mentioned.
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Date: 2015-04-01 09:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-01 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-01 09:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-01 09:19 pm (UTC)And I could buy Tone and the ones that stayed behind doing just that.
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Date: 2015-04-01 11:04 pm (UTC)But yeah, since the boys are basically reincarnations of the Knights of the Round Table, it makes sense that there would be a Gwen in the future as well. :)
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Date: 2015-04-01 11:24 pm (UTC)I wonder how they would have used Mordred in that universe. Thoughts?
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Date: 2015-04-02 12:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-02 12:22 am (UTC)(I would have loved that instead of the samurai we got in S2. That made no sense)
What did you think of the Tone/Morgana romance, even if it was the result of magic on her part?
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Date: 2015-04-02 12:27 am (UTC)....Nor do I remember the Tone/Morgana romance!
Apparently I need to rewatch that series. XD
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Date: 2015-04-02 12:33 am (UTC)Um.. I want to say Tone/Morgana happened in the last episode (Tone's Triumph)
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Date: 2015-04-01 08:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-01 09:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-02 06:21 pm (UTC)[and I think Mystery Inc had a few shout-outs to it - such as Vincent Van Ghoul being an actor that Shaggy liked and that Flim-Flam was incarcerated/"we must never talk of him again"]
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Date: 2015-04-02 06:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-02 07:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-01 01:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-01 07:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-01 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-01 09:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-01 09:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-02 06:20 am (UTC)But the kid designs are actually kind of cute!no subject
Date: 2015-04-02 09:46 am (UTC)..you may definitely groan
bwahaha
Date: 2015-04-01 09:52 pm (UTC)and ha! I'm Velma ::laughs::
Re: bwahaha
Date: 2015-04-02 05:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-02 05:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-02 05:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-02 01:37 pm (UTC)Such a catchy song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D04Mk4y1PP4
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Date: 2015-04-02 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-02 07:19 pm (UTC)[and le gasp! It had airs of the Phantom of the Opera]
Which reminds me I need to poke at a Phantom rabbit at some point XD ...because Beauty and the Beast isn't my only love XDno subject
Date: 2015-04-04 04:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-06 02:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-08 03:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-15 10:02 pm (UTC)found another Scooby Doo quiz for you :D
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Date: 2015-04-15 10:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-15 10:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-30 05:13 am (UTC)I think I'll put the next few discs on hold from the library. =D Since I'm too cheap to pay amazon for episodes, I'd rather watch glitchy library dvds.
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Date: 2015-04-30 05:38 am (UTC)As much as I liked how just...weird they make Fred in this version of the show, the Fred/Daphne relationship is a really slow burn. But by the end of the first season it's gotten really good (and it continues into the second season, too!) Once you find out more about Fred's past you'll see why he's such a bonehead at relationships, too.
Haha, I almost picked up the Matrix sequels (because I just watched Jupiter Ascending again in our second-run theater) from the library the other day and ended up putting them back due to the scratchy bottoms!
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Date: 2015-04-30 06:06 am (UTC)Also I have been watching My Little Pony and like everybody else in the world I have been bonked between the eyes by how good that show is.
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Date: 2015-08-11 01:41 am (UTC)granted, pretty much while he was wearing the mask.no subject
Date: 2015-08-11 02:18 pm (UTC)Do I see shades of BatB?As much as I liked that they took the time to separate Fred and Daphne, I (of course) love that they get back together in the end. I also love that Shaggy and Velma never truly get back together. It was super refreshing!
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Date: 2015-08-11 02:31 pm (UTC)Maayyyyyyyyyybe....Agreed on the Shaggy/Velma not getting back together angle. That was nice to see that sometimes couples just don't work out for whatever reason and don't have to get back together to preserve the status quo