"What's New, Scooby-Doo?" (2002) TV series 2002-????

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Jeffrey Gatrall

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | unknown

Release Date:

September 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy | Family | Mystery

Plot Keywords:

Villain | Problem Solving | Surrealism | Hero | Ghost

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Casey Kasem	...	Shaggy (42 episodes, 2002-2006)
Frank Welker	...	Scooby-Doo / ... (42 episodes, 2002-2006)
Mindy Cohn	...	Velma / ... (41 episodes, 2002-2006)
Grey DeLisle	...	Daphne / ... (41 episodes, 2002-2006)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Canada:G | USA:G | USA:TV-Y7 | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Sherman Oaks Galleria - 15301 Ventura Boulevard, Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Animation

Trivia:

The first regular series to use all of the original Scooby characters since _"Scooby and Scrappy-Doo" (1979)_. "The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries" (1984) featured Velma and Freddy in a few episodes, but most only feature Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo, Shaggy, and Daphne.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the episode Lights! Camera! Mayhem!, Fred has to do a stunt involving bees. He, Shaggy and Scooby all get stung and have to go to the Security Office for First Aid ointment. While there, Velma finds an old scrapbook. As the Gang gather at the couch to see it, Daphne's pantyhose are missing. After the close-up on the book, they return.

Quotes:

Nancy Chang: And how will these high profile games be affected by the loss of Olympic Bronze Medalist, Chris Klug, under mysterious circumstances?
Bruce Wilkenson: Nancy, I'm sure with a million dollars at stake the other competitors will be hungry for victory.
Fred 'Freddy' Jones: Chris Klug injured?
Velma Dinkley: Mysterious circumstances?
Daphne: One million *dollars*.
Norville 'Shaggy' Rogers: Hungry?

Movie Connections:

Spin off Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

What's New Scooby Doo?

3 stars -- The least exciting incarnation

After over a decade of inaction following A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Joseph Barbera and company decided to give Scooby and the gang a makeover with 2002's What's New, Scooby Doo? The show doesn't really stray away from the original format; what brings things down is the voices.

Here's the thing: the only original voice actors that returned for this series are Frank Welker (Fred) and Casey Kasem (Shaggy). Mindy Cohn takes over as the voice of Velma (but that's not really surprising because Velma has had a different voice in just about every series; plus, the voice isn't as annoying as whoever took over in 1979 after Patricia Stevens left), and even Heather North failed to reprise her role of Daphne (to be fair, though, North didn't do the voice in 1969); she is replaced by Grey DeLisle.

The strangest thing of all is Scooby-Doo's new voice. Since Don Messick died back in 1997, Frank Welker does the voice, and to say that he doesn't sound the same would be an understatement. It's not that I was expecting the voice to be identical, but Welker's version sounds, well, weird. Not only that, but he does it in a way that ANYone could be doing the voice. Another thing about it is that Scooby hardly ever talks now; the only thing he really says is "Scooby-dooby-doo!" at the end of each episode, as well as saying "Yeah!" followed by a snippet of what Shaggy just said. Isn't this supposed to be HIS show?

Since the format of the show hasn't changed, people will probably argue over whether the series is classic or dated, but I personally am just going to stick with the episodes from the show's glory days: the 1970s.

Anthony Rupert