As I mentioned, I said I would have more Scooby Doo What ifs, and now I have a few more in addition to what I previously posted; the reason I didn't post more What ifs in the first blog is because I wanted to take a break, get some lunch, etc.
But now, I have returned and with more What ifs from Scooby Doo's history.
Let's pick things up with this: we know that Scooby was canned in 1986 and he didn't get back on the air until 1988 on ABC, but let's do a bit of revisionist history here and say that what if Scooby managed to either good ratings that kept him on the air for 1986 on ABC, or an executive or someone from Hanna Barbera or the network saved the show and Scooby aired in a new incarnation in 1986-1987.
For starters, what would the show have been called? What kind of mysteries would have been shown, would they have been involving real ghosts or fakes like before? Would Scrappy have been there, would Fred, Daphne and Velma have been there? Would there be new characters?
First, I did see or read somewhere that Scooby Dee was supposed to possibly be on Scooby Doo in 1986-1987, possibly as his girlfriend, so let's start with that; I think if Scooby Dee was Scooby's girlfriend, there would probably be no need for Scrappy Doo and he would be gone for 1986.
And without Scrappy, what would the Superstars 10 movies have been like? Would Scooby Dee have been on those as well? Like i've said before, who knows?
And speaking of those movies and where they were aired, this leads to another what if: What if Hanna Barbera took a chance and did what they did with The Jetsons in 1985, specifically putting Scooby Doo in syndication with 65(or whatever number of new episodes they decided to do)shows and airing them on the same stations the Scooby reruns aired back then.
Again the casting becomes an issue here, as there were a couple cast members that would be easily obtainable, Casey Kasem and Don Messick; as for the other cast members, would there be a need for any others? Would the whole gang have been in the series, would Fred, Daphne and Velma have been there? What about Scrappy Doo, would he have been there?
What would the format have been? Would there have been real ghosts or monsters or just fakes? It's an interesting question, that could have been answered; remember, the Jetsons were only on for one season back in the 60's on ABC, however the shows were rerun on Saturday mornings on the major networks for many years afterwards.
Becuase those reruns were succesful enough, Hanna Barbera decided to put new Jetsons shows in syndication; Scooby Doo meanwhile was a network show and had been a network show for most of its run, but what if Hanna Barbera figured Scooby Doo could work on Weekdays in new shows?
Eventually Warner Brothers(who now owns and bought out Hanna Barbera in the 90's) decided to make a new Scooby series called What's New Scooby Doo? and in the later stages of that show's run, WB(and Kids WB) decided to run new episodes on weekdays; oddly enough, Kids WB ran on some of the same stations that ran the syndicated reruns of Scooby back in the 80s(thanks to research done by yours truly, i've found few markets that aired Scooby reruns and WNSD on the same stations, albeit with a gap of 20 or so years; i.e. St. Louis, Chicago, and a few others).
So, in theory if some of the same stations aired WNSD and Scooby reruns, then maybe Scooby could have worked in syndication with new episodes; remember that in 1985, syndication was a lot different from today, there was no Fox(yet), no UPN and no WB Network, so a lot of cartoons(new ones, done specifically for syndication) aired in first run on various stations around the country in syndication.
Bottom line, in my opinion, yes Scooby Doo could have worked in new episodes and new adventures in syndication, but it would have made for interesting competition in a lot of markets; with reruns of shows, shows like He-Man and Thundercats and others, and other first run competition, Scooby might not have been succesful in syndication, but still it would have been worth a shot.
Moving on, we have a short what if; What if Scooby Doo and the Goblin King was made earlier and with no Fred, Daphne and Velma, but with Scrappy Doo there and with maybe a different plot.
I think Scooby Doo and the Goblin King was a decent movie, but it was ruined by the ending; if Fred, Daphne and Velma didn't appear in the movie and Scrappy was there instead, maybe it would have been recieved better and besides, didn't that movie seem like a long Scooby and Scrappy episode anyway?
Our final what if is one of the biggest what ifs in Scooby's history; we know that Shaggy and Scooby were solving mysteries on their own in various series and movies, and we know that those two are the most popular characters in the franchise, but what if, what if the other three characters solved mysteries on their own, in their own adventures and own series?
Fred, Daphne and Velma have their own fan bases and their own fans, and people who write fan fics about them solving cases by themselves(like me for example), so let's take things a step further; let's say that Fred, Daphne and Velma got their own series and got to solve cases on their own a la the 1980-1982 Scooby and Scrappy Doo series maybe.
In Shaggy and Scooby Get a Clue, we did see in the episode "Almost Ghosts" that Fred and the girls were asked to investigate a ghost at a military base(where they saw Shaggy and Scooby and all 5 solved the case together); however, it seems that Fred, Daphne and Velma were solving their own cases when they were called to the military base, so let's go with the fact that the three of them took a few cases without Shaggy and Scooby and managed to be succesful detectives without Shaggy and Scooby.
I definitely think Fred and the girls could support their own half hour series, with their own challenges and own cases, it could happen and Warner Brothers should do this eventually, it would work; the problem WB has is that they are afraid to try new things, and if Scooby was owned by another company, like Disney for example, they would be more then willing to try Fred, Daphne and Velma solving cases by themselves.
Another reason why WB won't do this ever is that they are afraid the fans would complain and that the show would turn into a soap opera with Fred and Daphne and their romance, and that Velma would be a third wheel; that is so untrue, because every fan fic i've read that has Fred and the girls on their own solving cases is written very well, and those three could be succesful detectives on their own.
The problem as I said is with Warner Brothers, they are afraid to write for their "straight men" Fred, Daphne and Velma and want to milk Shaggy and Scooby dry as far as comedy; part of the reason why Scooby Doo is so succesful is that every body does their part and that Fred, Daphne and Velma are as capable at solving cases as Shaggy and Scooby.
However, the people who own Scooby Doo are unwilling to try anything new, which is why they refuse to do anything with Scooby other then what they usually do; they don't make any movies or series that deviate from the usual Scooby idea, four teens and a Great Dane unmasking ghosts and monsters who turn out to be people who are trying to commit some sort of crime or steal some treasure or valuable asset.
WB refuses to write stories that have real ghosts and monsters and when they do people complain, the fans complain, parents complain, etc. If Warner Brothers would do some different things with Scooby, then maybe people would like the franchise more and more fans would get into the show.
Until that point, Warner Brothers will have to put up with fans who want these things I mentioned and until they start to do things differently, the show and franchise will be as stale as a loaf of bread from the Clinton administration; and with that, I bid you farewell for now, but rest assured I will have more Scooby Doo blogs and other blogs soon.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
What If: Scooby Doo edition Part 1
Well, it's the end of the football season(Congratulations Auburn and the Green Bay Packers) and Scooby Doo Mystery Inc. reruns are still on the air(although the 14th episode was on I Tunes, Amazon.com and a few other places; I've seen it BTW and it's very good), so I will wait until Cartoon Network airs that episode to do a blog on it.
However, the topic of this blog is indeed Scooby Doo, but it's not what you think it's about; actually this blog is about what could have been in Scooby's history, kind of a what if, if you will.
For hundreds of years people have been debating What if this and What if that as far as history, politics, music and sports goes, like if the South won the Civil War, or if there never was a British Invasion, or if John Elway played for the Baltimore(Indianapolis) Colts; but those are aren't for this conversation and blog, this blog is for what if topics on a certain cartoon dog we all know and love: Scooby Doo.
For our first what if, let's start at the beginning of Scooby's history; in 1968, parental watch groups such as the Parents Television Council and others began protesting the violence in children's television and the super hero shows on the air such as Superman, Space Ghost and others, so with that the networks decided to get rid of all except a few of those shows.
Meanwhile at CBS, the Tiffany Network was looking for a new show for their 1968-69 Saturday Morning season; eventually they decided on a Television adaptation of Bob Montana's Archie comic strips and comic books and The Archie Show debuted in September of that year, but this is also the beginning of Scooby's creation as well.
The following year CBS was looking for a new show as a centerpiece for their 1969-1970 saturday morning schedule, and for starters they looked towards the past; Fred Silverman(head of CBS's daytime and Saturday morning programming at the time) decided on a comedy/mystery show for the schedule and decided on a cross between the old detective shows of the old time radio days in the 30s and 40s such as I Love A Mystery, and the teen TV comedies of the 50s such as The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
So with ideas in hand, he, two animators named William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and two of Hanna Barbera's staff members named Joe Ruby and Ken Spears went about trying to create a show that would work for 1969 and would work for kids; after much thought and much creativity, the group came up with a series called Mystery Five, which centered on five teenagers, who comprised a rock band and a dog.
In between the musical gigs though, the group would solve mysteries at various scary or haunted locations; originally the show was to have been composed of two cliff hangar segments that would fill the half hour, however CBS brass was not impressed saying the show might be too frightening for kids because of the artwork and Hanna, Barbera, Silverman and Ruby and Spears went back to the drawing board.
Even a retitling of the show to Who's S-S-Scared didn't help, and the project was on thin ice, and almost went to animation history as a flop, that is until Fred Silverman heard the phrase "Scooby-Dooby-Doo" in the Frank Sinatra song Strangers in the Night and the rest was history; he repitched the show as Scooby Doo, Where Are You? with new renamed characters and new animation, not to mention dropping the rock group angle.
Needless to say with that name, the show was on CBS in 1969 and became a hit, and still runs worldwide to this day; but this leads us to a what if, what if Hanna Barbera stuck with their original idea? Would it have been aired on another network? Would it still have aired for so long?
Well, to answer that first question, remember the climate of TV back then, people wanted comedy mixed with mystery, not full out horror, so after about 10 or 15 years or so, maybe the show would have aired as Mystery Five, but with a few changes and such.
As for the second question: who knows? With Mystery Five maybe Hanna Barbera could have competed with some of the shows that were on in the late 80s, or 1990s; although a few shows wouldn't have existed without Scooby Doo's help, like the Super Friends(a Hanna Barbera creation, and which was created from Batman and Robin's appearances on Scooby Doo in 1972) and some of the Scooby knockoffs.
Sure, Mystery Five might have aired, but not in the 60s, and it might not have been as big a hit as Scooby was; who knows? maybe it would have toiled in obscurity like many other shows of the day, only running on Boomerang every so often.
For the next What if Scooby style, we move to the late 70's; at that time, Fred Silverman left ABC to go to NBC and become programming head for that network, but what if Fred did like he did with Scooby after he left CBS for ABC, and took Scooby to NBC with him?
First, ABC's Saturday lineup other then American Bandstand and Super Friends and Scooby Doo was not really anything to write home about in the late 70's; sure there were a few hits and those are what made ABC number one on Saturdays, but that lead would vanish when the Smurfs debuted on NBC.
But with Scooby and the Smurfs on NBC, the network at Rockefeller Center might have had a lead that no one could beat them in as far as Saturdays went; but the problem with this becomes another what if, would NBC have dumped Scooby and the smurfs for live action and a Saturday version of the Today show in the early 90s?
The answer to that would be Yes, because it was where Saturday morning television was headed then, and FOX and cable channels were already making inroads; it also brings up a great question though: would Scrappy have still come about? Or would NBC have gone the Prime Time route, maybe airing a few Scooby specials, based around holiday themed mysteries? It's a great question for sure.
Now, for the next What If, well it's not really one What if, it's several; but we'll explain each one at a time: first, what if Velma was around instead of Scrappy, and Velma, Shaggy and Scooby had the mysteries in the 1980 Scooby and Scrappy episodes?
The short answer for this is because Velma was probably concentrating on her career and might have gone to NASA at this point, so we can't really guess if this would have happened or not, but it's fun to think about huh?
The next what if is what if Madelyn(Velma's sister from Abracadabra Doo) was introduced earlier and she was around for the Scooby and Scrappy mysteries instead of Scrappy; or if she was there with the guys and Scrappy for the 1980-82 shows and the three Hanna Barbera movies(Ghoul School/Reluctant Werewolf/Boo Brothers).
First, Madelyn was voiced by Danica McKeller(Winnie Cooper from the series The Wonder Years), so availability might have been an issue back then; but could B.J. Ward have stepped in? Or someone else? I say yes; because B.J. Ward voiced Googie in Scooby Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf and was Velma i the 1998-2001 DTV movies, so she could have without a doubt been in those movies and I think would have done a great job as Madelyn.
As for Madelyn's personality in the movies if she was around then, I would say she would have been the same as she was in Scooby Doo Abracadabra Doo, complete with her crush on Shaggy(which would have made for an interesting plot development in Reluctant Werewolf and Boo Brothers; the former though she would have replaced Googie and the latter, that Southern girl Sadie Mae would have made for an interesting competition).
For the next What if, how about if Daphne was in those three movies, dating Shaggy like she probably was in 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo; this one might have been tricky, as Heather North might not have been available for those movies, but maybe Hanna Barbera could have gotten Kellie Martin or B.J. Ward for that role, so who knows?
Next we come to a great what if: what if Scrappy wasn't in the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo, but Fred and Velma were; I think the show would have been fine and might have made for a great send off for the gang after being on the air since 1969, heck maybe we would have had an actual resolution for that show instead of the cliff hangar that we got.
And who knows, maybe the ending would have been colossal and stupendous, and amazing, or not.
Which leads to another what if: what if Fred, Daphne and Velma were all around for the Hanna Barbera Superstars 10 movies, which were already listed above; the key issue here is casting, Frank Welker would have been easy to get because of his voice work for Hanna Barbera and other roles, while Daphne and Velma might have been tricky casting, but maybe Kellie Martin or B.J. Ward might come to voice the two roles, or maybe someone else, some undiscovered talent possibly.
There's too many more what ifs to llist them all in one blog, so i'll return at a later time and date with more what ifs; although I would like to get some comments on this one, like what your opinions are of what I came up with.
Don't forget to comment and i'll be back again with more what ifs soon.
However, the topic of this blog is indeed Scooby Doo, but it's not what you think it's about; actually this blog is about what could have been in Scooby's history, kind of a what if, if you will.
For hundreds of years people have been debating What if this and What if that as far as history, politics, music and sports goes, like if the South won the Civil War, or if there never was a British Invasion, or if John Elway played for the Baltimore(Indianapolis) Colts; but those are aren't for this conversation and blog, this blog is for what if topics on a certain cartoon dog we all know and love: Scooby Doo.
For our first what if, let's start at the beginning of Scooby's history; in 1968, parental watch groups such as the Parents Television Council and others began protesting the violence in children's television and the super hero shows on the air such as Superman, Space Ghost and others, so with that the networks decided to get rid of all except a few of those shows.
Meanwhile at CBS, the Tiffany Network was looking for a new show for their 1968-69 Saturday Morning season; eventually they decided on a Television adaptation of Bob Montana's Archie comic strips and comic books and The Archie Show debuted in September of that year, but this is also the beginning of Scooby's creation as well.
The following year CBS was looking for a new show as a centerpiece for their 1969-1970 saturday morning schedule, and for starters they looked towards the past; Fred Silverman(head of CBS's daytime and Saturday morning programming at the time) decided on a comedy/mystery show for the schedule and decided on a cross between the old detective shows of the old time radio days in the 30s and 40s such as I Love A Mystery, and the teen TV comedies of the 50s such as The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
So with ideas in hand, he, two animators named William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and two of Hanna Barbera's staff members named Joe Ruby and Ken Spears went about trying to create a show that would work for 1969 and would work for kids; after much thought and much creativity, the group came up with a series called Mystery Five, which centered on five teenagers, who comprised a rock band and a dog.
In between the musical gigs though, the group would solve mysteries at various scary or haunted locations; originally the show was to have been composed of two cliff hangar segments that would fill the half hour, however CBS brass was not impressed saying the show might be too frightening for kids because of the artwork and Hanna, Barbera, Silverman and Ruby and Spears went back to the drawing board.
Even a retitling of the show to Who's S-S-Scared didn't help, and the project was on thin ice, and almost went to animation history as a flop, that is until Fred Silverman heard the phrase "Scooby-Dooby-Doo" in the Frank Sinatra song Strangers in the Night and the rest was history; he repitched the show as Scooby Doo, Where Are You? with new renamed characters and new animation, not to mention dropping the rock group angle.
Needless to say with that name, the show was on CBS in 1969 and became a hit, and still runs worldwide to this day; but this leads us to a what if, what if Hanna Barbera stuck with their original idea? Would it have been aired on another network? Would it still have aired for so long?
Well, to answer that first question, remember the climate of TV back then, people wanted comedy mixed with mystery, not full out horror, so after about 10 or 15 years or so, maybe the show would have aired as Mystery Five, but with a few changes and such.
As for the second question: who knows? With Mystery Five maybe Hanna Barbera could have competed with some of the shows that were on in the late 80s, or 1990s; although a few shows wouldn't have existed without Scooby Doo's help, like the Super Friends(a Hanna Barbera creation, and which was created from Batman and Robin's appearances on Scooby Doo in 1972) and some of the Scooby knockoffs.
Sure, Mystery Five might have aired, but not in the 60s, and it might not have been as big a hit as Scooby was; who knows? maybe it would have toiled in obscurity like many other shows of the day, only running on Boomerang every so often.
For the next What if Scooby style, we move to the late 70's; at that time, Fred Silverman left ABC to go to NBC and become programming head for that network, but what if Fred did like he did with Scooby after he left CBS for ABC, and took Scooby to NBC with him?
First, ABC's Saturday lineup other then American Bandstand and Super Friends and Scooby Doo was not really anything to write home about in the late 70's; sure there were a few hits and those are what made ABC number one on Saturdays, but that lead would vanish when the Smurfs debuted on NBC.
But with Scooby and the Smurfs on NBC, the network at Rockefeller Center might have had a lead that no one could beat them in as far as Saturdays went; but the problem with this becomes another what if, would NBC have dumped Scooby and the smurfs for live action and a Saturday version of the Today show in the early 90s?
The answer to that would be Yes, because it was where Saturday morning television was headed then, and FOX and cable channels were already making inroads; it also brings up a great question though: would Scrappy have still come about? Or would NBC have gone the Prime Time route, maybe airing a few Scooby specials, based around holiday themed mysteries? It's a great question for sure.
Now, for the next What If, well it's not really one What if, it's several; but we'll explain each one at a time: first, what if Velma was around instead of Scrappy, and Velma, Shaggy and Scooby had the mysteries in the 1980 Scooby and Scrappy episodes?
The short answer for this is because Velma was probably concentrating on her career and might have gone to NASA at this point, so we can't really guess if this would have happened or not, but it's fun to think about huh?
The next what if is what if Madelyn(Velma's sister from Abracadabra Doo) was introduced earlier and she was around for the Scooby and Scrappy mysteries instead of Scrappy; or if she was there with the guys and Scrappy for the 1980-82 shows and the three Hanna Barbera movies(Ghoul School/Reluctant Werewolf/Boo Brothers).
First, Madelyn was voiced by Danica McKeller(Winnie Cooper from the series The Wonder Years), so availability might have been an issue back then; but could B.J. Ward have stepped in? Or someone else? I say yes; because B.J. Ward voiced Googie in Scooby Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf and was Velma i the 1998-2001 DTV movies, so she could have without a doubt been in those movies and I think would have done a great job as Madelyn.
As for Madelyn's personality in the movies if she was around then, I would say she would have been the same as she was in Scooby Doo Abracadabra Doo, complete with her crush on Shaggy(which would have made for an interesting plot development in Reluctant Werewolf and Boo Brothers; the former though she would have replaced Googie and the latter, that Southern girl Sadie Mae would have made for an interesting competition).
For the next What if, how about if Daphne was in those three movies, dating Shaggy like she probably was in 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo; this one might have been tricky, as Heather North might not have been available for those movies, but maybe Hanna Barbera could have gotten Kellie Martin or B.J. Ward for that role, so who knows?
Next we come to a great what if: what if Scrappy wasn't in the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo, but Fred and Velma were; I think the show would have been fine and might have made for a great send off for the gang after being on the air since 1969, heck maybe we would have had an actual resolution for that show instead of the cliff hangar that we got.
And who knows, maybe the ending would have been colossal and stupendous, and amazing, or not.
Which leads to another what if: what if Fred, Daphne and Velma were all around for the Hanna Barbera Superstars 10 movies, which were already listed above; the key issue here is casting, Frank Welker would have been easy to get because of his voice work for Hanna Barbera and other roles, while Daphne and Velma might have been tricky casting, but maybe Kellie Martin or B.J. Ward might come to voice the two roles, or maybe someone else, some undiscovered talent possibly.
There's too many more what ifs to llist them all in one blog, so i'll return at a later time and date with more what ifs; although I would like to get some comments on this one, like what your opinions are of what I came up with.
Don't forget to comment and i'll be back again with more what ifs soon.
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