The original thirty-minute version of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo constitutes the fourth incarnation of the Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo. It premiered on September 22, 1979, and ran for one season on ABC as a half-hour program. A total of sixteen episodes were produced. It was the last Hanna-Barbera cartoon series (excluding prime-time specials) to use the studio's laugh track.
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 This season might have been a bad start for a certain character...but this is still a classic that did help save the franchise.
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Summary
The Scooby-Doo gang still travel in their bright green van called the "Mystery Machine" solving more strange and hilarious mysteries, while returning from or going to a regular teenage function, they also come across Scooby-Doo’s nephew, Scrappy-Doo, who becomes a member of the gang and looks up to his Uncle Scooby as heroic and brave.
Why This Season Rocks
- Good animation.
- It’s the fourth show of a beloved franchise.
- The mystery solving idea from the first series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! still works here as always.
- The characters are still interesting with different types of personalities.
- Many of the main characters still have catchphrases that'll never get old.
- For example: Velma's catchphrase "Jinkies!", Shaggy's "Zoinks!" or Daphne's "Jeepers!".
- There are still funny moments and running gags, such as Scooby and Shaggy's endless craving for food or how the others have to convince Scooby to continue the mystery by bribing him with Scooby-Snacks.
- The new theme song is okay, as it gave us a decent introduction to Scrappy-Doo, Scooby’s nephew.
- The memorable phrase "I would've gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for you meddling kids!" from the villains, as always.
- Interesting idea to have a nephew puppy of one of the most famous dogs in cartoon history, which really helped save the franchise.
- Great voice acting (except for Leenie Weinrib), especially from Don Messick, Casey Kasem, and Frank Welker.
- Velma’s voice is also still decent. When her voice changed to Marla Frumkin, she also decently voiced the character.
- Scooby-Doo’s nephew, Scrappy-Doo, while he did have a rough start (see below), he did help save the franchise, and has some good moments.
- "The Ransom of Scooby Chief" was a decent season finale, as it took a break from the usual formula to have Scrappy reunite with his old puppy friends, Duke and Annie, in New York City, and also face two criminals who kidnap Shaggy and Scooby, and all together, they ended up defeating the bad guys and saved the day.
Bad Qualities
- Scrappy did not make a first good impression. While he did save the franchise and was interesting, we quickly saw he was an annoying puppy with catchphrases that grow old very quickly, frequently tried to fight bad guys when his Uncle Scooby and the gang tries to keep him safe, and he was poorly voiced by Leenie Weinrib, as its below average and pretty annoying. He also speaks in an unnecessary Brooklyn accent.
- Thankfully, after this season, Scrappy started to get better in the later classic Scooby titles from the next season to Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (his last appearance in a Scooby-Doo cartoon), with a better voice and personality.
- A rather obnoxious laugh track that sometimes plays at things that aren't even funny.
- Fortunately, versions that don't have the laugh track exist.
- And even more fortunate, this is the last Scooby-Doo and Hanna-Barbera cartoon to use the laugh track.
- The animation, while good, is frequently recycled, especially the running animations.
- There are also animation errors all over the place, which was typical of '70s and '80s television animation.
- The dialogue heavily uses exposition. Characters frequently state the obvious, even things that are being shown on-screen.
- Still yet, not all of the jokes land, especially the one-liners.
Trivia
- This series was Pat Stevens final role as Velma before retiring.
- This series was the only time Leenie Weinrib voiced Scrappy, before leaving the main cast shortly after.