Chuck Jones and other great studio animators sneered at the cheap look and lazy craftsmanship of Hanna Barbera's television cartoons in the 1960s, but there's no question HB's original, 35-year-old Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is enduringly beloved. The Complete First and Second Seasons includes all 25 stories first broadcast from September '69 to October '71, a growth period in which canine hero Scooby's voice (by Don Messick, who also voiced The Jetsons's pup, Astro) was gradually refined from murky garble to Scoob's more familiar, "Rrroowwrr"-inflected, human-like speech. This set also represents the pre-frills Scooby-Doo: no guest appearances by Don Knotts or Batman, no Scrappy-Doo--just adventure and occasional bubblegum pop tunes by Danny Janssen and sundry co-writers (e.g., "Pretty Mary Sunlite" in the episode "Don't Fool with a Phantom").
Watching all the shows back-to-back reveals evolving complexity in the scripts. Over time, Scooby-Doo's creators added multiple bad guys in cahoots with major villains, and developed sub-plots, backstories, and even appealing allies and friends of Mystery, Inc., a traveling band of young debunkers of supernatural phenomena. Riding around in their psychedelic Mystery Van, preppie leader Fred and his friends--haughty Daphne, brainy Velma, quasi-hippie Shaggy, and Shaggy's best pal, Scooby, an excitable Great Dane--chase down and are chased by alleged ghouls who generally turn out to be venal humans running various scams.
Cast and Characters Voices
Don Messick as Scooby-Doo
Casey Kasem as Shaggy
Frank Welker as Fred
Nicole Jaffe as Velma
Stefanianna Christopherson as Daphne (1969)
Heather North as Daphne (1970-1971)
Mystery, Inc.
Scooby-Doo
Shaggy Rogers
Fred Jones
Daphne Blake
Velma Dinkley
Scrappy Doo
Scooby-Dum
Yabba-Doo
Broadcast History First Telecast:September 13, 1969 Last Telecast: September 2, 1972 Number of Episodes: 25
Number of Seasons: 3
Original Network: CBS
Theme Song and Opening Credits
Theme by David Mook and Ben Raleigh
Scooby-Dooby-Doo, Where Are You?
We got some work to do now.
Scooby-Dooby-Doo, Where Are You?
We need some help from you now.
Come on Scooby-Doo, I see you... pretending you got a sliver
But you're not fooling me, cause I can see, the way you shake and shiver.
You know we got a mystery to solve,
So Scooby Doo be ready for your act. [Scooby Doo] Uh-uh Uh-uh
Don't hold back!
And Scooby Doo if you come through
you're going to have yourself a scooby snack!
That's a fact!
Scooby-Dooby-Doo, here Are You.
You're ready and you're willing.
If we can count on you Scooby Doo,
I know you'll catch that villian.