SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE
YOU!:
THE COMPLETE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS
As
a lifelong Scooby-Doo fan, can honestly say that I am overjoyed that SCOOBY-DOO,
WHERE ARE YOU! has finally come to DVD in a boxed set containing
seasons one and two of the cowardly canine sleuths adventures (woo-hoo! no
more episode compilations!!!). When Scooby-Doo hit the airwaves
thirty-five years ago, there was no way to know that the character would
have this tremendous longevity. Nor would anyone have guessed that the
animated character of Scooby-Doo would become a phenomenon; spawning a
whole slew of additional television shows, direct-to-video sequels and
finally, a live action movie, which is giving rise to its own sequel. Let’s
face it, Scooby-Doo is not only one of the most popular animated
characters of all time- he is a franchise with a license to print money
(heck, I haven’t even mentioned the merchandising!).
Ok,
even if time has genetically altered Scooby-Doo, changing him from a Great
Dane into a cash cow, he is still my all time favorite Saturday Morning
cartoon character. I have been steadily watching (and re-watching) the
exploits of Scooby-Doo and the gang from Mystery Inc. for more years than
I care to admit to, but they still remain a whole heck of a lot of fun
(and for this reviewer, have a lot of nostalgic charm). The basic premise
of SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU! finds the members of Mystery Inc.
stumbling onto supernatural happenings that always turn out to be a front
for criminal activity. Following the clues, these "meddling
kids" always manage to solve various crimes that leave "the men
and women of law enforcement" baffled.
Usually
teamed with his pal, eating buddy and fellow coward Norville 'Shaggy'
Rogers, Scooby-Doo and his best bud are the two members of Mystery Inc.
least likely to solve a mystery on their own (or to start investigating
one, for that matter). Of course, the real brains and deductive reasoning
of Mystery Inc. would have to be the bookish Velma Dinkley (whom I’ve
always suspected was a hot babe beneath her glasses and turtleneck
sweater). As a member of Mystery Inc., Daphne Blake has looks, charm and
money going for her (but she didn’t earn the nickname "Danger
Prone Daphne" for nothing). Finally, we come to Freddy Jones, the
blond haired leader of Mystery Inc., who is certainly the driving force
behind the Scooby Gang (but isn’t quite as competent as he’d like
everyone to believe). The vocal talent behind our intrepid heroes
includes, Don Messick, Casey Kasem, Frank Welker, Stefanianna
Christopherson, Heather North and Nicole Jaffe.
SCOOBY-DOO,
WHERE ARE YOU!: THE COMPLETE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS ($65) comes to
DVD in a four disc boxed set that features the following twenty-five
episodes: What A Night For A Knight,A Clue For
Scooby-Doo,Hassle In The Castle,Mine Your
Own Business,Decoy For A Dognapper,What The
Hex Is Going On?,Never Ape And Ape Man,Foul
Play In Funland,The Backstage Rage,Bedlam In
The Big Top,A Gaggle Of Galloping Ghosts,Scooby-Doo
And A Mummy Too!,Which Witch Is Which?,Go
Away Ghost Ship,Spooky Space Kook,A Night Of
Fright Is No Delight,That's Snow Ghost,Nowhere
To Hyde,Mystery Mask Mix-Up,Jeepers It's The
Creeper,Scooby's Night With A Frozen Fright,The
Haunted House Hang-Up,A Tiki Scare Is No Fair,Who's
Afraid Of The Big Bad Werewolf? and Don't Fool With A
Phantom.
.
.
Warner
Home Video has made all the episodes that comprise SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE
ARE YOU!: THE COMPLETE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS available on DVD in
the proper 4:3 full screen aspect ratios of their original television
broadcasts. Overall, Warner has done a very good job with the episodes,
which do look better on DVD, than they do on retransmissions across Cartoon
Network. Of course, the thirty-five-year-old film elements do show a
fair share of minor blemishes. There are some nicks and scratches, plus
there are dust specks that have been printed into the film elements at the
time of the original production.
Of
course, all of this is relatively minor and indicative of the shows age
and production limitations. Additionally, film grain slightly is
noticeable, throughout the episodes. Still, as I am rather fond of saying,
SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU! looks as though it were animated by Team
Xerox, so I don’t think anyone watches the show for its visual
qualities. Colors are stable and appear fairly vivid. Blacks are solid,
whites are fairly clean and contrast is about as good as it gets for this
type of vintage 2D animation. Digital compression artifacts are always
well contained. The Dolby Digital monaural soundtracks are pretty much
what one would expect from Saturday Morning cartoons from thirty-five
years ago; all the dialogue is intelligible, but the sound effects and
music are low to mid fidelity. Still, the tracks are pretty clean sounding
and are free from major distortions. No other language soundtracks are
provided on the DVD, English, French, and Spanish subtitles are included.
Music
and a bit of animation serve to enhance the interactive menus, which
provide access to the standard scene selection and set up features, as
well as some extras. Funky Fashion is a four-minute program
that looks at the Scooby Gang’s ever-unchanging wardrobe. How To
Draw Scooby-Doo And The Gang is a three-minute express course in…
well, you guessed it. Scooby-Doo Street Smarts runs two
minutes and lets average folks talk about what they loved about the show. Scooby-Doo's
Ultimate Fans clocks in at eight minutes and visits with the
Scooby collectors and the Scooby obsessed. America Loves Scooby
is somewhat lame, but it is a music video featuring clips from the show
played to the title song. The Scooby-Doo Challenge is a
brief trivia game, while a few animated promo trailers close out the
extras.
To
reiterated what I stated above, this Scooby-Doo fan is overjoyed that SCOOBY-DOO,
WHERE ARE YOU!: THE COMPLETE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS have finally
arrived on DVD. The episodes look and sound just fine, which should make
fans happy. If you are new to the Doo, or if you have been following the
cowardly canine sleuth’s adventures for the last thirty five years, you
will definitely want to add SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU!: THE COMPLETE
FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS to your collection. Recommended.
As
a lifelong Scooby-Doo fan, can honestly say that I am overjoyed that SCOOBY-DOO,
WHERE ARE YOU! has finally come to DVD in a boxed set containing
seasons one and two of the cowardly canine sleuths adventures (woo-hoo! no
more episode compilations!!!). When Scooby-Doo hit the airwaves
thirty-five years ago, there was no way to know that the character would
have this tremendous longevity. Nor would anyone have guessed that the
animated character of Scooby-Doo would become a phenomenon; spawning a
whole slew of additional television shows, direct-to-video sequels and
finally, a live action movie, which is giving rise to its own sequel. Let’s
face it, Scooby-Doo is not only one of the most popular animated
characters of all time- he is a franchise with a license to print money
(heck, I haven’t even mentioned the merchandising!).
Ok,
even if time has genetically altered Scooby-Doo, changing him from a Great
Dane into a cash cow, he is still my all time favorite Saturday Morning
cartoon character. I have been steadily watching (and re-watching) the
exploits of Scooby-Doo and the gang from Mystery Inc. for more years than
I care to admit to, but they still remain a whole heck of a lot of fun
(and for this reviewer, have a lot of nostalgic charm). The basic premise
of SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU! finds the members of Mystery Inc.
stumbling onto supernatural happenings that always turn out to be a front
for criminal activity. Following the clues, these "meddling
kids" always manage to solve various crimes that leave "the men
and women of law enforcement" baffled.
Usually
teamed with his pal, eating buddy and fellow coward Norville 'Shaggy'
Rogers, Scooby-Doo and his best bud are the two members of Mystery Inc.
least likely to solve a mystery on their own (or to start investigating
one, for that matter). Of course, the real brains and deductive reasoning
of Mystery Inc. would have to be the bookish Velma Dinkley (whom I’ve
always suspected was a hot babe beneath her glasses and turtleneck
sweater). As a member of Mystery Inc., Daphne Blake has looks, charm and
money going for her (but she didn’t earn the nickname "Danger
Prone Daphne" for nothing). Finally, we come to Freddy Jones, the
blond haired leader of Mystery Inc., who is certainly the driving force
behind the Scooby Gang (but isn’t quite as competent as he’d like
everyone to believe). The vocal talent behind our intrepid heroes
includes, Don Messick, Casey Kasem, Frank Welker, Stefanianna
Christopherson, Heather North and Nicole Jaffe.
SCOOBY-DOO,
WHERE ARE YOU!: THE COMPLETE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS ($65) comes to
DVD in a four disc boxed set that features the following twenty-five
episodes: What A Night For A Knight, A Clue For
Scooby-Doo, Hassle In The Castle, Mine Your
Own Business, Decoy For A Dognapper, What The
Hex Is Going On?, Never Ape And Ape Man, Foul
Play In Funland, The Backstage Rage, Bedlam In
The Big Top, A Gaggle Of Galloping Ghosts, Scooby-Doo
And A Mummy Too!, Which Witch Is Which?, Go
Away Ghost Ship, Spooky Space Kook, A Night Of
Fright Is No Delight, That's Snow Ghost, Nowhere
To Hyde, Mystery Mask Mix-Up, Jeepers It's The
Creeper, Scooby's Night With A Frozen Fright, The
Haunted House Hang-Up, A Tiki Scare Is No Fair, Who's
Afraid Of The Big Bad Werewolf? and Don't Fool With A
Phantom.
.
Of
course, all of this is relatively minor and indicative of the shows age
and production limitations. Additionally, film grain slightly is
noticeable, throughout the episodes. Still, as I am rather fond of saying,
SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU! looks as though it were animated by Team
Xerox, so I don’t think anyone watches the show for its visual
qualities. Colors are stable and appear fairly vivid. Blacks are solid,
whites are fairly clean and contrast is about as good as it gets for this
type of vintage 2D animation. Digital compression artifacts are always
well contained. The Dolby Digital monaural soundtracks are pretty much
what one would expect from Saturday Morning cartoons from thirty-five
years ago; all the dialogue is intelligible, but the sound effects and
music are low to mid fidelity. Still, the tracks are pretty clean sounding
and are free from major distortions. No other language soundtracks are
provided on the DVD, English, French, and Spanish subtitles are included.
Music
and a bit of animation serve to enhance the interactive menus, which
provide access to the standard scene selection and set up features, as
well as some extras. Funky Fashion is a four-minute program
that looks at the Scooby Gang’s ever-unchanging wardrobe. How To
Draw Scooby-Doo And The Gang is a three-minute express course in…
well, you guessed it. Scooby-Doo Street Smarts runs two
minutes and lets average folks talk about what they loved about the show. Scooby-Doo's
Ultimate Fans clocks in at eight minutes and visits with the
Scooby collectors and the Scooby obsessed. America Loves Scooby
is somewhat lame, but it is a music video featuring clips from the show
played to the title song. The Scooby-Doo Challenge is a
brief trivia game, while a few animated promo trailers close out the
extras.
To
reiterated what I stated above, this Scooby-Doo fan is overjoyed that SCOOBY-DOO,
WHERE ARE YOU!: THE COMPLETE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS have finally
arrived on DVD. The episodes look and sound just fine, which should make
fans happy. If you are new to the Doo, or if you have been following the
cowardly canine sleuth’s adventures for the last thirty five years, you
will definitely want to add SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU!: THE COMPLETE
FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS to your collection. Recommended.