Just a note: If you ever see the word 'random' in front of the title, it is not a parenting post.
Okay, so since the newest Scooby Doo series, “Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated”, started a few weeks ago, I’ve made it a point to set aside time every Monday to watch it. The animation is different, but a few voiceovers will sound familiar to longtime fans.
Frank Welker reprises his role as Fred Jones. In fact, he’s voiced Fred since the original series “Scooby Doo, Where Are You!” aired back in 1969. The only series where he did not contribute the voice of Fred was “A Pup Named Scooby Doo” (1988-1991), in which he played Fred’s uncle. His first role as Scooby, which he continues here, was started with “Scooby Doo! And the Legend of the Vampire” (2003).
Mindy Cohn, who has voiced Velma since “Scooby Doo! Christmas” (2004), returns to bring new life into an old favorite.
Grey DeLisle returns as Daphne Blake once again, a role she has voiced since “Scooby Doo and the Cyber Chase” in 2001.
Many might recall Matthew Lillard from the first two live action Scooby Doo movies. Well, he is now the new voice of Shaggy Rogers, his second voiceover as the loveable character, his first being in “Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo” (the newest animated movie as of now, August 2010).
Another favorite would be Casey Kasem, the original voice of Shaggy since “Scooby Doo, Where Are You!” He is now the voice of Colton Rogers, Shaggy’s father. A second celebrity voice is Patrick Warburton as Sheriff Stone, who openly opposes Mystery Incorporated (this series shows the origin of the name).
Now, the characters that we all know and love have been revamped. Some, I love as much as I did in the original series. Some, I wish they had just left alone.
First of all, the true and blue Scooby Doo. He’s the same as ever, loving food more than anything else, running from ghosts at the drop of a hat and Shaggy’s best friend. However, there is a new dynamic there, which is shown when Shaggy has to make a decision on whether or not to let Scooby in on a little secret.
Shaggy is as loveable as ever. He’s long since been my favorite character. His love for food as always is present, but his love for his best friend, Scooby Doo, rivals that for his secret girlfriend, Velma Dinkley. Yes, that’s right. My jaw dropped the second I saw it as well. When Shaggy snuck away from Scooby in order to attend prom with Velma, tension was high because of Shaggy’s supposed betrayal for girls instead of Vincent Van Ghoul marathons. Scooby Doo and Shaggy made up at the end of the last episode, but being that the season has only a few episodes left, it’s anyone’s guess whether Shaggy and Velma are going to make it past the final episode of season one.
Velma is the character who has changed the most. She is noticeably slimmer and fashionable, in her own Velma way of course, but her clothes are about the only thing about Velma that have stayed the same. She wants her relationship with Shaggy to be out in the open, but she doesn’t seem happy with Shaggy himself. She has made efforts to change everything possible about him, from his every present use of the word ‘like’, to his famous baggy pants, and even to his eating habits. She has shown a liking for being disrespectful and rude. Her parents own the local museum for Crystal Cove (another rant for another time), the “Hauntedest Place on Earth”, and she has no problem telling tourists how stupid she finds it. This is not the Velma I liked as a child. The creators of this show should have left her alone.
Fred is different as well, but I find this new him endearing rather than annoying. Fred is absorbed in solving mysteries, but even more than that, creating the perfect traps. So much so, in fact, that he never notices anything but traps, much to the dismay of one Daphne Blake. However, once he is made aware of this phenomenon known as “feelings”, he is more confused than ever. Though I found it funny, Fred’s idea that feelings make him an “un-guy” bothered me a bit. He openly says that he wished he didn’t care about Daphne, which she takes completely out of context. He’s deeply confused at the time. However, he seemed to get his head on straight at the end of last week’s episode, and it appears that Daphne is no longer mad at him.
Now, Daphne is the same in terms of being a girly girl. She is the youngest of I don’t even know how many sisters. I believe there are six or so. The main difference is that her affections for Fred are all too well-known. She swoons over him, and acts disappointed when he never picks up on her hints, even when she told him she always imagined prom with him there. She still gets in trouble a lot, and both times that she disappeared, Fred had breakdowns. Though I don’t care for her live-action strong-willed, can do everything character, I do hate that she won’t just be straightforward with Fred. He finally understood, but we’ll see if his change of heart leads to a new relationship.
All in all, I can’t really complain about this new show. Yes, there are things that I think would have been best left alone, but they captured the heart of the original: solving mysteries.
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