Ever since Hanna Barbara's original "Scooby Doo, Where Are You!" in 1969-1970, the premise of the entire show had gained such an audience that it became the subject of several reboots in the 1970s and later years. Nothing can touch exactly the quality of the original, which in its two seasons already managed to be great, yet this reboot in the mid-70's is good enough to where is creates a fine followup. Granted, since only half of "The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour" was the real Scooby-Doo show (the other half being taken up on a cartoon series about Dynomutt) it is maybe not the most proper thing to write a review focusing only on the first part - although the forty episodes listed on IMDb all are entirely Scooby-Doo ones, so it is probably acceptable to do so. Very few of the reviewers already here have actually gone into both halves of the hour anyway, since most of them are here for the Scooby-Doo side alone (I had never heard of Dynomutt before, and I doubt most people outside those from the 70's remember him).
There are several reasons why this revival is not as good as the original "Scooby-Doo!", none of which are huge and unbearable flaws, but which do slightly detract from the quality of the series overall. To begin with the positives, the new series contains some of the most interesting monsters we have ever seen, including Ironface, the Moon Monster, the ghost of Merlin, the Warlock of Wimbledon, and more. Since we had seen all twenty-five of the original series countless times, it was interesting to see these new monsters, many of which were quite creative. The series has the same overall feel of the original too, and manages to remain entertaining as the gang of Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby continue their exploits in solving mysteries.
However, there are some flaws in the show, the first one being that Velma's voice is completely different, with no attempt whatsoever to make the new voice actress Pat Stevens sound like Nicole Jaffe. Jaffe's voice gave Velma a childish, nerdy, smarty-pants feel that ultimately carried her character and made her the brains behind the gang. Stevens, on the other hand, sounds boring and turns Velma into a bland and uninteresting character, with a voice that is as monotone as a radio station announcer saying what the next piece on the station will be. It sucks the life out of Velma ultimately, a sad thing considering how great she used to be. Let's hope Pat Stevens ended her voice-acting career after this, realizing how much of a failure she was as a replacement. (Fortunately, the rest of the original actors are there, so thank goodness they only had to change one).
Secondly, the next problem is the inclusion of Scooby-Doo's brother, Scooby-Dum in several episodes. As you might guess, Scooby-Dum is indeed dumb, and as such dumbs down the entire show in some ways through his stupid mistakes and escapades. While not a horrible character, he does tend to shift the spotlight from Scooby-Doo quite a bit, and ultimately wasn't necessary at all when it came to entertainment value. Scooby-Dee, Scooby's actress cousin, wasn't as bad, but also entirely unnecessary in her one-episode appearance. Why did they have to fancy things up so much by adding extra characters? Can't we just have Scooby-Doo and that be all?
The third flaw is that the new music isn't nearly as good as the original music, tending to be more tech-based than before, and not really setting that great mood that we had in the first show (the original mood being suspenseful, this mood being more cheerful). This includes the theme song, which is more triumphant and fan-fare despite its spooky opening, and ultimately not at all the feel they should have gone for. Also, some episodes of this series are just plain ridiculous to boot. One of them involves an ice cream factory being haunted by three flavor phantoms, one vanilla, one chocolate, one strawberry. The whole premise is so absurd it's clear the producers were running out of good ideas, and had to either make up nonsensical ones, or copy a little from the original (as in the one episode which uses a witch doctor...for the third time).
Nonetheless, even despite these noticeable and defective changes, "The Scooby Doo Show" remains a fun and enjoyable reboot. If one has tired of seeing the original over and over again, it might be time to check this one out. The differences may be a little jarring at first, but after several viewings they do become natural, and regardless of how they make one feel, it goes without saying that this is a worthy enough entry in the Hanna Barbara canon.
There are several reasons why this revival is not as good as the original "Scooby-Doo!", none of which are huge and unbearable flaws, but which do slightly detract from the quality of the series overall. To begin with the positives, the new series contains some of the most interesting monsters we have ever seen, including Ironface, the Moon Monster, the ghost of Merlin, the Warlock of Wimbledon, and more. Since we had seen all twenty-five of the original series countless times, it was interesting to see these new monsters, many of which were quite creative. The series has the same overall feel of the original too, and manages to remain entertaining as the gang of Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby continue their exploits in solving mysteries.
However, there are some flaws in the show, the first one being that Velma's voice is completely different, with no attempt whatsoever to make the new voice actress Pat Stevens sound like Nicole Jaffe. Jaffe's voice gave Velma a childish, nerdy, smarty-pants feel that ultimately carried her character and made her the brains behind the gang. Stevens, on the other hand, sounds boring and turns Velma into a bland and uninteresting character, with a voice that is as monotone as a radio station announcer saying what the next piece on the station will be. It sucks the life out of Velma ultimately, a sad thing considering how great she used to be. Let's hope Pat Stevens ended her voice-acting career after this, realizing how much of a failure she was as a replacement. (Fortunately, the rest of the original actors are there, so thank goodness they only had to change one).
Secondly, the next problem is the inclusion of Scooby-Doo's brother, Scooby-Dum in several episodes. As you might guess, Scooby-Dum is indeed dumb, and as such dumbs down the entire show in some ways through his stupid mistakes and escapades. While not a horrible character, he does tend to shift the spotlight from Scooby-Doo quite a bit, and ultimately wasn't necessary at all when it came to entertainment value. Scooby-Dee, Scooby's actress cousin, wasn't as bad, but also entirely unnecessary in her one-episode appearance. Why did they have to fancy things up so much by adding extra characters? Can't we just have Scooby-Doo and that be all?
The third flaw is that the new music isn't nearly as good as the original music, tending to be more tech-based than before, and not really setting that great mood that we had in the first show (the original mood being suspenseful, this mood being more cheerful). This includes the theme song, which is more triumphant and fan-fare despite its spooky opening, and ultimately not at all the feel they should have gone for. Also, some episodes of this series are just plain ridiculous to boot. One of them involves an ice cream factory being haunted by three flavor phantoms, one vanilla, one chocolate, one strawberry. The whole premise is so absurd it's clear the producers were running out of good ideas, and had to either make up nonsensical ones, or copy a little from the original (as in the one episode which uses a witch doctor...for the third time).
Nonetheless, even despite these noticeable and defective changes, "The Scooby Doo Show" remains a fun and enjoyable reboot. If one has tired of seeing the original over and over again, it might be time to check this one out. The differences may be a little jarring at first, but after several viewings they do become natural, and regardless of how they make one feel, it goes without saying that this is a worthy enough entry in the Hanna Barbara canon.