Thursday, October 12, 2006

THURSDAY THEME SONG: SHAGGY & SCOOBY-DOO

This week's Theme Song is about the ever-loving duo of Shaggy and Scooby-Doo. The cowardly couple were first seen in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! in 1969. They were part of a mystery investigative group along with their friends Fred, Daphne and Velma.

While Fred was the leader, Daphne was the damsel in distress and Velma was the brains, Shaggy and Scooby were the comic relief. They never wanted to go in the spooky house or look for the creepy monster and Scooby-Doo would always need to be bribed with a Scooby Snack or two.

Scooby-Doo went through many incarnations over the years but the look of the characters and the show always stayed the same. Every series had the same format: The gang would be minding their own business, they would meet a character that would explain the plot of the episode and present a mystery of the gang to solve. The gang would meet a monster and Shaggy and Scooby-Doo would get scared. The monster would be revealed to be the character that the gang met at the beginning of the episode! It wasn't until September of 2006 when Shaggy and Scooby went through a dramatic change.

This week's theme is the tenth show starring Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! which debuted on Cartoon Network in September. It follows the adventures of Shaggy who just inherited a gazillion dollars. He and Scooby live in a mansion, have a transforming Mystery Machine and Scooby now has Scooby Snacks that allow him to transform too! The rest of the gang is gone and the show has a more action/adventure feel.

The thing that has Scooby fans in an uproar is the new designs. Shaggy and Scooby got a complete overhaul for this show and fans say it isn't for the better. The style was changed to fit in with other CN shows like Danny Phantom and Johnny Test.

You be the judge. What do you think of these new designs? The clip below contains the theme song plus the first half of the premiere episode so you can get a feel for the new show. Enjoy!

4 comments:

J said...

Eh-heh. TWO CENTS.

Personally, I don't find the character designs a complete departure; they're an overhaul, sure...but they're not like those crazy re-designs WB fronted out for Bugs & co. a while ago. It's modernized; I'm not yet offended.

Ditching the whole gang seems like a step in the wrong direction, though. Shaggy and Scooby are great and all...but they need some kind of support. Without overhauling their personalities as well I'm skeptical as to how they can stand on their own.

coolshades said...

I hate to admit this...but I've never seen Scooby-Doo :S

If this is a long-running series that has always had the same core characters, I don't think it's a good idea to just ditch all but two of them. From what I've heard about Scooby-Doo, it's like a sitcom with an ensemble cast...you need all of them to really make it work.

I kinda like the new character design. Shaggy's voice is annoying, though. Has it always sounded like that? haha

And the song is OK...but too long, imo...

Kurtis Findlay said...

I like the new character designs too. They are nicely streamlined yet still recognizable. An the bell-bottom pants have been replaced with cargo pants.

Shaggy's voice has always been that annoying. The actor that is doing his voice now is quite good at imitating the original.

Here is an interesting fact: Casey Kasem was the voice of Shaggy in the original Scooby-Doo cartoons of the 60s and 70s as well as the voice of Robin in the old Batman cartoons of the 60s and 70s. The modern voice of Shaggy, Scott Menville, also is the modern voice of Robin in the Teen Titans cartoon!

Anonymous said...

I think that isn't the same.I like more the old characters and Ithink that they do't should to destroy a greatest cartoon like Scooby Doo whit this new image.