Comprehensive information and links about Scooby Doo

Scooby Doo "scooby-doo" is also British naval divers' slang for "civilian sport scuba diver". Scooby-doo is also slang for a .22 mm firearm. is a popular and long-running animated series produced for Saturday morning television by Hanna-Barbera Productions (now Cartoon Network Studios) from 1969 to 1986, 1988 to 1991, and from 2002 to the present day. Though the format of the show and the cast (and ages) of characters have varied significantly over the years, the most familiar versions of the show feature a talking Great Dane named Scooby-Doo and four teenagers: Fred "Freddie" Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers (from whom the contemporary reggae artist Shaggy took his name).

These five characters (officially referred to collectively as "Mystery, Inc.", but never referred to as such in the original series) drive around the world in a van called the "Mystery Machine," and solve mysteries typically involving tales of ghosts and other supernatural forces. At the end of each episode, the supernatural forces turn out to have a rational explanation (usually a criminal of some sort attempting to scare people away so that heshe could commit crimes). Later versions of the show featured different variations on the supernatural theme of the show, and include additional characters, such as Scooby's cousin Scooby-Dum and his nephew Scrappy-Doo, in addition to or instead of some of the original characters.

Originally broadcast on CBS (1969–1976), and then on ABC (1976–1986, 1988–1991), then was broadcasted on the WB Network during the Kids WB programming block (2002–2004). Repeats of the original series, as well as second-run episodes of the current series, are broadcast frequently on Cartoon Network in the USA and other countries. As of October 2004, holds the Guinness World Record for having the most episodes of any cartoon series ever produced, a record previously held by

Creation and development

Starting in 1968, a number of parental watchdog groups, most notably Action for Children's Television (ACT), began vocally protesting what they perceived as an excessive amount of gratuitous violence in Saturday morning cartoons during the mid-to-late 1960s. Most of these shows were action cartoons such as , and virtually all of them were cancelled by 1969 because of pressure from the watchgroups. Members of these watchgroups had begun to serve as advisors to Hanna-Barbera and other animation studios to ensure that their new programs would be safe for children. In 1968, then-CBS executive in charge of children's programming Fred Silverman was looking for a show that would revitalize his Saturday morning lineup and please the watchdog groups at the same time. The result was . Also successful were the musical numbers The Archies performed during each program (one of which, "Sugar, Sugar", hit #1 on the Billboard pop chart in September 1969, and became #1 for that entire year after the year-end chart was compiled). Silverman was eager to expand upon this success, and contacted producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera about possibly creating another show based around a teenage rock-group, but with an extra element: the kids would solve mysteries in-between their gigs. Silverman envisioned the show as a sort of cross between the popular .

Hanna and Barbera passed this task along to two of their head storymen, Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and artist, and featured five teens (Geoff, Mike, Kelly, Linda, and Linda's brother "W.W.") and their dog, Too Much, who were all in a band called "The Mysteries Five" (even the dog; he played bongos). When "The Mysteries Five" weren't performing at gigs, they were out solving spooky mysteries involving ghosts, zombies, and other supernatural creatures. Ruby and Spears couldn't decide whether to make their dog a large goofy Great Dane or a big shaggy sheepdog. After consulting with Barbera on the issue, Too Much was finally set as a Great Dane, primarily to avoid a direct correlation to The Archies (who had a big shaggy sheepdog, Hot Dog, in their band).

Takamoto consulted a studio colleague who happened to be a breeder of Great Danes. After learning all of the characteristics of a prize-winning Great Dane from her, Takamoto proceeded to break every rule, giving too many spots (no Great Dane has spots), bowed legs, and a double-chin, among other abnormalities.

By the time the show was ready for presentation by Silverman, a few more things had changed: Geoff and Mike were merged into one character called "Ronnie" (later re-named "Fred"), Kelly was renamed to "Daphne", Linda was now called "Velma", and Shaggy (formerly "W.W.") was no longer her brother. Also, Silverman, not being very fond of the name Using storyboards, presentation boards, and a short completed animation sequence, Silverman presented to the CBS executives as the centerpiece for the upcoming 1969–1970 season's Saturday morning cartoon block. The executives felt that the presentation artwork was far too frightening for young viewers, and, thinking the show would be the same, decided to pass on it.

Now without a centerpiece for the upcoming season's programming, Silverman turned to Ruby and Spears, who reworked the show to make it more comedic and less frightening. They dropped the rock band element, and began to focus more attention on Shaggy and Too Much. According to Ruby and Spears[2], Silverman was inspired by an ad-lib he heard in Frank Sinatra's song "Strangers in the Night" on the way out to one of their meetings, and decided to rename the dog "Scooby-Doo" and re-rechristened the show made its CBS network debut on Saturday, September 13, 1969 with its first episode, "What a Night for a Knight". The original voice cast featured Don Messick as Scooby-Doo, Casey Kasem as Shaggy, Frank Welker as Fred, Nicole Jaffe as Velma, and Stefanianna Christopherson as Daphne. Seventeen episodes of character: "Fred was based on Dobie, Shaggy on Maynard [G. Krebs], Velma on Zelda and Daphne on Thalia. Once you know this, when you look at the first season's shows, it becomes obvious." [3] The similarity between Shaggy and Maynard is the most noticible; both characters share the same beatnik- was a major ratings success for CBS, and they renewed it for a second season in 1970. The eight 1970 episodes of -like "chase songs" during climactic sequences, and Heather North performing the voice of Daphne in place of Christopherson.

In 1972, after 25 half-hour episodes, the program was doubled to a full hour and called ; each episode of which featured a different guest star helping the gang solve mysteries. Among the most notable of these guest stars were The Harlem Globetrotters, The Three Stooges, Don Knotts, and Batman and Robin, who all appeared at least twice on the show. After two seasons and 24 episodes of the

Having established a successful formula, Hanna-Barbera then proceeded to repeat it ad infinitum. By the time had its first format change in 1972, Hanna-Barbera had produced three other teenager-based shows that were very similar to (also 1971), which featured three teens, a real ghost and his ghostly cat solving spooky mysteries.

Later shows such as , usually with the help of a wacky animal, ghost, etc. Some of these shows even used the same voice actors and score cues. Even outside studios got in on the act: when Joe Ruby and Ken Spears left H-B in 1977 and started Ruby-Spears Productions, their first cartoon was on Saturday mornings. Most of the mystery-solving Hanna-Barbera shows made before 1975 were featured on CBS, and when Fred Silverman moved from CBS to ABC in 1975, the mystery-solving shows, including

On ABC, the show went through almost yearly format changes. For their 1976 - 1977 season, new episodes of rerun was added to it in November 1976). This hour-long package show later evolved into the longer programming blocks format, were produced for each of these three seasons. Four of these episodes featured Scooby's dimwitted country cousin Scooby-Dum as a semi-regular character. The , under which title they continue to air.

In 1979, Scooby's tiny nephew Scrappy-Doo was added to both the series and the billing, in an attempt to boost , succeeded in regenerating interest in the show, and as a result, the entire show was overhauled in 1980 to center more closely on Scrappy-Doo. Fred, Daphne, and Velma were dropped from the series, and the new format was now comprised of three seven-minute comedic adventures starring Scooby, Scrappy, and Shaggy instead of one half-hour mystery. This version of mysteries. This version of the show lasted for two seasons, with the second season airing under the title , which featured Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, and new characters Flim-Flam and Vincent Van Ghoul (based upon and voiced by Vincent Price) traveling the globe to capture "thirteen of the most terrifying ghosts and ghouls on the face of the earth." was an irreverant, zany re-imagining of the series, heavily inspired by the classic cartoons of Tex Avery and Bob Clampett, and eschewed the quasi-reality of the original

Reruns of the show have been in syndication since the mid-1980s, and have also been shown on cable television networks such as TBS Superstation (until 1989), and USA Network (as part of the USA Cartoon Express from 1990 to 1994). In 1993, , having just recently ended its network run on ABC, began reruns on the Cartoon Network; the other versions of joined it the following year and became exclusive to Turner networks such as the Cartoon Network, TBS Superstation, and TNT. When TBS and TNT ended their broadcasts of H-B cartoons in 1998, became the exclusive property of both Cartoon Network and sister station Boomerang.

In 2002, following the success of the Cartoon Network reruns and the late-1990s direct-to-video Scooby-Doo releases, the original version of the gang was updated for the 21st century for , which has aired on Kids WB, since 2002 as well as Cartoon Network. The show returned to the familiar format of the original series for the first time since 1978, with modern-day technology and culture added to the mix to give the series a more contemporary feel. With Don Messick having passed away in 1997, Frank Welker took over as Scooby's voice actor, while continuing to provide the voice of Fred as well, and Casey Kasem returned as Shaggy. Grey DeLisle now provides the voice of Daphne, and former , a series of syndicated telefilms featuring their most popular characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, The Flintstones, and The Jetsons. Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo, and Shaggy starred in three of these movies: direct-to-video movie a year. These movies featured a slightly older version of the original five-character cast from the series), Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy sign up as gym teachers for Miss Grimwood's school for girls, only to find is actually a school for ghouls, where the trio end up teaching the daughters of the Frankenstein Monster, Dracula, The Werewolf, The Mummy, and the stereotypical ghost monster (called the Phantom). (1998) featured the gang, reunited after years of being apart, battling voodoo-worshiping cat creatures in the Louisiana bayou, and (1999) pits the gang against the vengeful ghost of an executed witch from the days of the Salem witch trials.

The later -based entries in the direct-to-video series returned to the original formula, and are basically extended episodes of the was released by Warner Bros. in 2002. The cast included Freddie Prinze Jr. (Fred), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Daphne), Matthew Lillard (Shaggy) and Linda Cardellini (Velma). Scooby-Doo was created on screen by CGI special effects. influence

The show is responsible for many pop-culture catchphrases, such as "Scooby Snacks" and variants of the phrase "I'd've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you ," a line traditionally spouted by the culprit when caught. This phrase has become so well-known that only the words "meddling kids" need be said to constitute a reference. The question of Velma's name (elma) has even been the subject of Internet polls. Subaru automotive enthusiasts also routinely refer to their cars as Subie or Scooby.

Subsequent television shows and films often make reference to , in which Buffy and her monster-slaying friends refer to themselves as the "Scooby Gang" or "Scoobies," a knowing reference to . (Coincidentally, Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy, later played Daphne in the live-action movie.) Even featured a weeks-long guest strip culminating in the reincarnation of the Mystery, Inc. gang from other comic characters.

Reward took the idea of Scooby Snacks, Scooby-Doo's (and Shaggy's) favorite treat, and made it into a real dog treat.

A number of early 'hippy' vans have been converted to look like the Mystery Machine from the show.