What's New, Scooby-Doo?

What's New, Scooby-Doo?
What's New, Scooby-Doo? title card
Format	Animated Series, Adventure, Mystery, Comedy
Created by	Hanna-Barbera Productions Joe Ruby Ken Spears Sander Schwartz
Developed by	Sander Schwartz
Starring	Frank Welker Casey Kasem Grey DeLisle Mindy Cohn
Opening theme	What's New Scooby Doo? performed by Simple Plan written by: (Rich Dickerson)
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	42 (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Warner Bros. Animation
Running time	30 minutes
Distributor	Warner Home Video (USA Video & DVD Release)
Broadcast
Original channel	Kids' WB! Cartoon Network
Original run	September 14, 2002 (2002-09-14) – July 21, 2006 (2006-07-21)
Chronology
Preceded by	A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988–1991)
Followed by	Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! (2006–2008)
External links
Official website

What's New, Scooby-Doo? is the ninth incarnation of the Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo, and a revival of the original show Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. It was the first time the franchise was revived in over a decade. The animated series' was developed and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It is currently airing on Boomerang.

Production

With Don Messick's retirement in 1996 (he died the following year), Frank Welker, the voice of Fred, took over as Scooby's voice. Casey Kasem returned as Shaggy, Grey DeLisle took over Daphne's role (having previously voiced the character in Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase after Mary Kay Bergman committed suicide), while former Facts of Life actress Mindy Cohn took over Velma's.

The new show follows the same format as Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, updated for the 21st century, with music from contemporary genres and all-new, original sound effects to replace the classic Hanna-Barbera sound effects. Even a distinctive thunderclap sound that was used frequently on older Scooby-Doo TV series was very rarely used on the show. A laugh track was only used for the Halloween special. The classic formula was also frequently parodied throughout (in a manner similar to A Pup Named Scooby-Doo), including the line "And I would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids." The show was produced by Warner Bros. Animation, the studio famous for bringing Looney Tunes to life, which had by this time absorbed Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. (It should be noted, however, that the copyright notice at the end of each episode credits "Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc." as the author. Also, Joseph Barbera was one of the Executive Producers.)

The band Simple Plan is strongly connected to What's New, Scooby-Doo? They perform the theme song, and appeared as themselves in the episode "Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman". Two of their songs appeared in chase scenes: "I'd Do Anything" in the episode "It's Mean, It's Green, It's the Mystery Machine", and "You Don't Mean Anything" in "Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman". Also, they contributed to the theatrical movie Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.

This is the first Scooby Doo series to have a strong internal continuity, as characters and places would recur from time to time. Some examples include Gibby Norton, a geek who has a crush on Velma and most of the time as a villain in each episode; and the Secret Six, six prize winning puppies that would help out the gang on their cases. The Hex Girls, who first appeared in "The Witch's Ghost" movie and again in "Legend of the Vampire", were also featured in one episode. The gang also mentions places they've been in previous episodes (e.g. if they were in Paris one episode, they mention their visit at the beginning of the next episode). The episode titled "A Terrifying Round with a Menacing, Metallic Clown" established this show in continuity with A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, in which a flashback uses their kid forms from that show.

What's New, Scooby-Doo? aired for three seasons on The WB Television Network's "Kids' WB" programming block as a half-hour program, before being put on an indefinite hiatus in 2005. Reruns are shown on the Cartoon Network. Forty-two episodes have been produced so far (fourteen in 2002-2003, fourteen in 2003-2004, and thirteen in 2004-2005, and one in 2005-2006).

Characters

Main Characters

• Scooby-Doo: A nice scaredy-pants Great Dane who is best friends with Shaggy Rogers. Two things that they have in common are that they love to eat and are always scared of monsters. Voiced by Frank Welker.

• Shaggy Rogers: A beatnik teenager who is best friends with Scooby. He and Scooby are always scared and hungry; a running gag in the show. Voiced by Casey Kasem.

• Fred Jones: The leader of the Mystery, Inc. gang who is the master of making traps to catch the villains. However, sometimes the traps fail to work when Shaggy and Scooby mess them up then use the parts to catch the villain in their own fashion. Voiced by Frank Welker.

• Velma Dinkley: The smartest of the gang. Gibby Norton has a crush on her. She is the youngest of the gang. She has 3 love interests. Those are Patrick, Ben Ravencroft, and Jeffrey P. Dennis. She is voiced by Mindy Cohn.

• Daphne Blake: The fashionable one of the gang who defends herself with her great fighting skills, but will occasionally end up being kidnapped by the monster. Voiced by Grey DeLisle.

Recurring Characters

Characters in the series who appear more than once.

• Nancy Chang: A TV reporter. Voiced by Lauren Tom.

• Elliot Binder: A competitive kid who often loses to Velma in contests. Voiced by Kimberly Brooks.

• Melbourne O'Reilly: An Austrailian adventurer/explorer who is one of Fred's heroes. Voiced by Steven Blum.

• J.J. Hakimoto: A famous director. Voiced by Brain Tochi.

• Gibby Norton: A computer nerd who has a crush on Velma. He often turns out to be the villain to impress Velma. Voiced by Eddie Deezen.

• Burr Batson: Racer who drives a monster truck. Voiced by James Arnold Taylor.

• Professor Laslow Ostwald: An inventor whom the gang meets. Voiced by Dave Foley, later by James Arnold Taylor.

• The Hex Girls: Thorn, Dusk and Luna, are the members of the famous eco-goth rock band, The Hex Girls, whom Scooby and the gang are acquainted. Thorn is voiced by Jennifer Hale, Dusk by Jane Wiedlin and Luna by Kimberly Brooks.

• Mr. B: The owner of the Secret Six puppies who may do anything to save them. Voiced by Jeff Bennett.

• Crissie: The Secret Six's mother.

• The Secret Six puppies: Maize, Flax, Jingle, Knox, 14-Carat and Bling-Bling. They are six very well-trained, prize-winning puppies who have a knack for getting into trouble. Maize and Knox are voiced by Jennifer Hale.

Celebrity Guest Stars

• Chris Klug
• Lindsay Pagano
• Mike Piazza
• Ryan Sheckler
• Simple Plan
• KISS
• Brett Hull
• Smash Mouth
• JC Chasez
• Taylor Lautner

Episodes

DVD releases

The series was initially released in ten volumes of four or five episodes until the complete series was released. Warner Brothers then announced that they would begin releasing the show in season sets, starting with The Complete First Season, set for release on February 20, 2007.^[1]

Volume releases

The episodes in each volume were at first picked in chronological order but were later picked to be part of a theme. The volumes and the episodes they include in the United States are as follow:

• Volume 1: Space Ape at the Cape (August 19, 2003)
  • "There's No Creature Like Snow Creature"
  • "Space Ape at the Cape"
  • "3-D Struction"
  • "Big Scare in the Big Easy"
• Volume 2: Safari So Goodi! (March 9, 2004)
  • "It's Mean, It's Green, It's The Mystery Machine"
  • "Riva Ras Regas"
  • "Roller Ghoster Ride"
  • "Safari, So Goodi!"
• Volume 3 Halloween Boos and Clues (August 10, 2004)
  • "Vampire Strikes Back"
  • "Mummy Scares Best"
  • "High-tech House of the Future"
  • "She Sees a Sea Monster by the Sea Shore"
• Volume 4:Merry Scary Holiday (October 5, 2004)
  • "A Scooby-Doo Christmas"
  • "Toy Scary Boo"
  • "Homeward Hound"
  • "Recipe for Disaster"
• Volume 5: Sports Spooktacular (June 14, 2005)
  • "The Unnatural"
  • "The Fast and Wormious"
  • "Wrestle Maniacs"
  • "Diamonds are a Ghoul´s Best Friend"
• Volume 6: Monster Matinee (August 9, 2005)
  • "A Scooby-Doo Halloween"
  • "San Franpsycho"
  • "New Mexico Old Monster"
  • "A Big Appetite in Little Tokyo"
• Volume 7: Ghosts on The Go (November 8, 2005)
  • "Large Dragon At Large"
  • "It´s All Greek to Scooby"
  • "Pompeii and Circumstance"
  • "Ready to Scare"
• Volume 8: Zoinks!Camera!Action! (February 21, 2006)
  • "Lights,Camera,Mayhem"
  • "E-Scream"
  • "Simple Plan and the Invisible Man"
  • "A Scooby-Doo Valentine"
• Volume 9: Route Scary 6 (June 6, 2006)
  • "Fright House of a Lighthouse"
  • "Go West Young Scoob"
  • "Farmed and Dangerous"
  • "Gentlemen, Start Your Monsters"
  • "Camp Comeoniwannascareya"
• 'Volume 10: Monstrous Tails (December 5, 2006)
  • "Uncle Scooby and Antarctica"
  • "Block Long Hong Kong Terror"
  • "Reef Grief"
  • "Gold Paw"
  • "A Terrifying Round with a Menacing Metallic Clown"

References

• Banks, Clive. "Scooby-Doo". Retrieved from http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Scooby-Doo%20Intro.htm on September 4, 2005.
• Baxter, Joel (2003). The Complete Scooby-Doo Episode Guide. Retrieved from http://www.execulink.com/~joelb/scooby/doobydoo.htm on September 3, 2005.
• "Hanna-Babera Studios" (and subarticles). The Big Cartoon DataBase. Retrieved from http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Hanna-Barbera_Studios/index.html on September 3, 2005.

External links

• WhatsNewScoobyDoo.com: Official Warner Bros. Site
• What's New, Scooby-Doo? at the Internet Movie Database
• What's New, Scooby-Doo? at TV.com