A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo
🎵“There’s a mystery in town, so call the coolest pup around. Oh, Scooby, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo!”.....🎵
Genre: Comedy Mystery Self-parody Horror Running Time: 22 minutes Country: United States Release Date: September 10, 1988 – August 17, 1991 Network(s): ABC Created by: Joe Ruby Ken Spears Distributed by: Worldvision Enterprises Starring: Don Messick Casey Kasem Carl Steven Kellie Martin Christina Lange Seasons: 3 Episodes: 27 (30 segments) Previous show: The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo Next show: What's New, Scooby-Doo?

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo is an American animated mystery comedy series produced by Hanna-Barbera that revolves around Scooby and the gang as children. It ran for four seasons from September 10, 1988 to August 17, 1991.

Summary

A pup version of Scooby-Doo, with a pint-sized version of Mystery Inc., go on mysteries around their suburban town.

Why It Rocks

1. It’s one of the very few times where the writers of a show take the "younger version of main characters" spin-off cliché and actually do a decent job with it.
2. Awesome voice acting.
3. The animation is very nice and well-drawn with cartoony tune to it. It was one of the first Hanna-Barbera shows in general that shyed away from limited animation.
4. The gang's parents actually make appearances (that are relevant to the story most of the time), giving the characters at least somewhat of a background.
5. It stay’s true to the original Scooby-Doo franchise with its mixture of humor and mystery.
6. The character designs are amazing, especially the child versions of Scooby and the gang.
7. The theme song is fast-paced but very catchy.
8. Memorable 1950s rock and roll style soundtrack, particularly for the chase montages, in many instances, the gang, as well as the monster, would actually take a moment to dance to the music!
9. Likable and memorable characters.
10. The pacing’s very quick but well-done.
11. A decent amount of, and not too many, fourth-wall breaking moments.
12. Clever use of squash and stretch to create exaggerated Tex Avery/Bob Clampett-esque wild double takes when characters run into ghosts and monsters for comedic effect.
13. Unforgettable running gags, like the one of how Fred blames almost everything on a bully named Red Herring, which often prompts him to appear to assert that he was innocent.
14. Scooby-Doo as a pup is adorable.
15. One episode, Scooby-Dude, has a decent “Don’t do drugs” message to the kid viewers.

Bad Qualities

1. Despite the good episodes, the show was horribly formulaic, as Freddie blaming Red Herring got overused, Daphne would be petty about her clothes (among other things) and would deny the existence of any supernatural and worst of all, the culprits were ALWAYS the nice suspect the gang met.
   • Adding onto this, the fact that the culprits were always the nice person accidentally spends a false message that there are no genuinely kind people and that anyone you meet who is kind is always hiding a hidden agenda.
2. Daphne and Fred were very flanderized and out-of-character.
   • Daphne was turned into a spoiled rotten and extremely vain rich brat who always refusing to believe in monsters and calling her butler to do simple things that she can do herself. This makes wonder why the hell is the rest of the gang friends with her.
   • Fred became a complete idiot who always blames Red Herring for no reason and insist that the nonsense he reads in comic books are the culprits of the case, making ridiculous theories.
3. The only bad episode is "The Computer Walks Among Us".

Trivia

• The What's New, Scooby-Doo? episode, "A Terrifying Round with a Menacing Metallic Clown", would feature a flashback to Velma's fifth birthday, using the character designs from this cartoon, albeit with some modifications, such as Daphne wearing purple instead of pink.
• In 2013, a direct-to-video puppet movie entitled Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map would feature traits similar to that of this cartoon.
• This was the final Scooby-Doo series to be produced by Hanna-Barbera, due to the fact that the studio was purchased by Turner Broadcasting System in 1991 before it merged with Time Warner (the parent company of Warner Bros.) in 1996, and until Hanna-Barbera was absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation in 2001.

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