When Scooby-Doo Looked Like Family Guy (Kinda?)

can't believe we sat through 5,069 episodes of Scooby-Doo what a treat the few black sheep of the Scooby-Doo franchise tend to be departure from the traditional mystery format but despite feeling like a modern take on that classic formula 2015's beol Scooby-Doo is often grouped with them why is that well let's take a look at the first image released to promote it everyone I mentioned this series 2 calls it the Scooby-Doo that looks like Family Guy which I think is I know what the title says I know what the title said if I decided to change it but no matter who it's made for if your cartoon has thin line art slightly unpleasant character designs and seemingly simple animation then it's going to get compared to Family Guy now I won't deny the connection especially when they got John Viner to guest star in episode 2 if you've seen anything Family Guy adjacent you've heard his voice Fred where is your respect for history I'm going to retread a point made to defend slacker cats which has a similar Legacy because of its art style from friend of the show to rfic Tariq that phrase is weird he's not my friend he's only my shows friend Family Guys ATT tribute to multi- camera sitcoms like all in the family or Marvin Marvin that's why the framing is typically pretty static and they don't usually go for big cartoony poses because the focus is on the dialogue not only do the character designs not resemble the Seth McFarland style especially in their proportions besides maybe the lips on female characters but it's shot like a single camera show with terrifically detailed backgrounds atmospheric lighting and moments of wacky character movement the CGI is a little Hit or Miss like it looks better in brief background or vehicle shots but the tech isn't used all that often early on almost every episode had some impressive visual flare that helped the look grow on me but I understand why it prevents many longtime fans from giving be cool a chance because even I'm not the biggest fan of the character designs I like how every member of Mystery Incorporated has a clear pathetic silhouette Scooby's big nose and Droopy mouth is a especially cute he looks so silly when he's disguised usually in drag I refuse to allow you to spend the entire trip back here and I think you would agree that there's only one solution indeed besides some of the guys having big quasi Moto siiz chins my main issue is how restrained the facial acting is they don't go for big takes as much as I like them to most promotional art has the gang drawn with smaller rounder eyes with Expressions coming from the eyebrows and instead of the eyelids and maybe it's just because they're closer to what I know Scooby-Doo is supposed to look like but I wish the drawings got a little closer to these on the upside there's an incidental with my hair and the characters do pull off a smug look perfectly sometimes too well like with Scooby's talking K9 rival so scoob you understand if we come across anything suspicious like say a trash monster I'm in charge I think it's important to get the look of beekle Scooby-Doo out of the way before discussing it because it's part of the reason why I never gave it a second thought after watching its first five episodes this was actually one of the first cartoons I reviewed on this channel so I thought it's about time to give it a second look long after it's wrapped up a 52 episode run now I know that $2 bills can add up to $15 and my voice has finished going through puberty but as bad as it is there are shows out there with worse animation forget I said this I have a legacy to protect special thanks to a podcast Named Scooby-Doo for providing a wealth of insight into production by talking to writers artists directors and composers involved with be cool I listen to 8 hours of interviews in one day and I regret absolutely nothing I need to go to sleep a bias I never mentioned 8 years ago was that Mr Incorporated had only wrapped up 18 months before I covered the show I did and still see it as the ultimate incarnation of Scooby-Doo iing up the comedy visuals and darkness with an overarching mystery deboot although it has everything you love and hate about early 2010's TV dramas here I am again the only one really working you always were the most determined of your little group were you just waiting there of course the motto behind Scooby-Doo Mis Incorporated was food fear and flashlights but an unfinished promotional piece reveals that be cool wanted to add another F fun originally this iteration was to be a 60s throwback about the gang on a road trip during their last summer break together before College it was going to have a rubber Hos look inspired by underground Comics like the works of rrum developed by season 1 art director Richard Lee this is where the name be cool Scooby-Doo came from and it was one of many elements that the project was stuck with when showrunner Zack monrie and head riter John Co and Barry were brought in the former was a director on Family Guy Brickleberry so he naturally wanted to take things in a very different direction and give the designs more of a prime time feel this caused friction with Lee who at that point in pre-production couldn't be replaced forcing mon creef to compromise in order to get the visuals to a place that the art team was comfortable with so the end result was a victim of circumstance the creative team always knew that the broad range of Comedy they wanted to reach wouldn't work as well with the classic more realistic hanahar bear designs if you expect cutaways and pop culture references like your average adult cartoon you aren't wrong there are a few cutaways early on and I was happy to see a blink and you'll missing Austin Powers reference but if the comedy reminded me of anything it's Phineas and furb and both of the main creatives were hired because of their work on that series it's a natural fit a song in each episode lots of catchphrases General expectations for what to expect from each story that you can play around with and of course bird [Applause] [Music] violence to look at all the unique characteristics that be cool brings to Scooby-Doo let's look at season 1 episode 1 m hisory 101 I get it each episode begins with a cold open similar to the opening scene of a horror movie in Prior series they focused on Exposition or building up the threat of the monster of the week beool usually does both but turns the openers into comedic sketches interrupted by an attack giving a solid first impression that still feels familiar they take advantage of the fact that most of these scenes don't feature any important characters so you get out there gags like dog trainers showing their pets how to clear a course at a dog show or a nervous baseball pitcher looking a bit nervous with rumors abound of a ghost haunting the team bad time for free Poncho night I think those Point white Hood should have gotten another design pass in this very first scene we begin with a father giving his son a tour of his Alma moer that doesn't make sense that's exactly what I said to my father wait what and I said that too and he said exactly what I'm saying to you right now word for word how is that possible that's what I said roundabout who's on first type gags pop up a few times there's a tendency to lean on drawn out comedy or Runners that are very Hit or Miss however this first joke is a strong introduction to the wordy quick and silly brand of humor and be cool then I'll make her break your enjoyment if you can get over how it looks leave my University okay that's me the ghost of Elias Kingston featured in mystery 101 is actually a returning villain from the Scooby Do Where Are You episode what the hex is going on John Colton Barry wanted the show to answer the question of what Scooby was like if it had been made by this team for the first time in the 2010s leading a few episodes to reimagine Classic villains space cook is now a shape-shifting alien terrorizing a space station and Captain Cutler became Fred's Nemesis with The Uncanny ability to escape being captured because the cops left there aren't really any references to the more modern parts of scuba Doo history although locations like a Renaissance feir or premises like a monstrous Mystery Machine come to life r TR Concepts from Mystery Incorporated or what's new the showrunners knew this and they didn't care this slightly annoyed me as a longtime fan but I think every episode of beool with some recycled element is still worth watching because of the unique personalities given to the gang each is showcased in the admittedly Bland opening titles the generic instrumental another element the showrunners were stuck with isn't memorable and the visuals aren't too stylish but it gets the job done this didn't need to be one of the best theme songs ever it's just a disappointing followup to some of the the best theme songs ever at least this is one of the few Scooby shows that doesn't peek at the intro what are you going to do about that what's new fans after you oh no look my puppet of me's puppet of me has a puppet of me and some by modern standards this might be one of the most formula Scoobies an intentional Choice made to prevent the Monty Python like absurdity from alienating longtime fans new gimmick spr added most notably the Daphne dour Daphne has been characterized as a clumsy Damsel in Distress a girl boss and Fred's love interest instead of being defined by female stereotypes beol Daphne is a foil to Fred he called us the m word the what word what innocent person even says meddling oh beol Fred is this single-minded control freak driven by the thrill of solving a mystery he's very competitive very prideful and very paranoid what are you hiding in fact aren't eyelasses nothing but a prescription mask dinkle in season 2 we learn that Fred's nature is the result of the Mysteries he wasn't able to or struggled to solve one of which was on Halloween Daphne there's always a mystery and you all know perfectly well you can't solve a mystery on Halloween it's impossible everyone's wearing a mask Daphne is similarly a product of her wealthy family's uptight and comedically tragic upbringing I guess I'm not immune to the old Blake family tendency to you know go completely mad with power while altering the very fabric of history from the Shadows this is a shelter girl who's seeing the world for the first time at a pace of approximately once every mystery so it's skating today DNE that's how I roll what seems like an outlet for random humor always helps solve the mystery or bring the gang back together in some form and often the dour Naturally Fit the current setting in any case they're distraction for Fred to overcome Excuse me while I put on my irony hat H not the irony hat heightening the energy of Mr Incorporated Fred and giving it to Daphne but keeping Fred's passion gives their Dynamics such a breath of fresh air the versatility of both characters makes it easy to buy their more Mantic moments and it helps that the vocal Direction might be at its very best I've never heard Frank Welker deliver a fredline like this I can't believe Shaggy and Scooby are really gone well it's not as if they were legally bound to solve Mysteries with us no they wouldn't sign the contract my main gripe with the voice acting is that they only hire two or three extra actors to play the suspects so you'll hear the main cast doing tons of bit parts or someone like Tom Kenny playing three characters in mystery 101 I'm sure this was a budgetary strain it's just noticeable when you hear three to five new characters in every episode of course be cool was the first Scooby-Doo project where Kate makuchi took over for retired Mindy con as the voice of VMA and she really came into her own over the course of two seasons like in the episode where she runs for mayor so VMA you don't have any regrets about giving up all that political power nah though I guess it would have been kind of fun to declare martial law sco be do wait what early on I wasn't fond of season 1's UNS satisfying habit of having Velma face a challenge she couldn't overcome sure this was occasionally funny but I'm glad the series slowly but surely gave her some wins sometimes by tapping into a great Dynamic pairing realist Velma with Optimist Daphne Velma I apologize for what I said about you not appreciating comedy I see now by totally disengaging from it on an emotional and visceral level you understand what's funny on a level the rest of us aren't even capable of is that a joke you tell me vilm was described by her friends as a t at all but it's how she copes with being antisocial and easily frustrated uhma you okay am I okay okay I think the question is are you okay I don't think she's okay this Mystery Incorporated is like some sort of machine that solves Mysteries and it won't work if you take one of the pieces out but it's clear that Velma is carrying the team sometimes literally there's a running theme of Vilma being offered to leave the gang for riches or higher education like she's too gifted to use her talents for catching Crooks and masks the strangest and my personal favorite episode has VMA grapple with the possibility that solving Mysteries is holding her back it's a parody of A Christmas Carol where Mr Inc tries to catch the ghost haunting Eon or Scrooge and Velma has to face her past present and future not only is this a great execution of a Banana's premise but as someone who sometimes considers of making YouTube videos should still be a part of my incredibly busy life the ending really speaks to me there's no reason I can't be me and part of the gang I can have it all me too I can continue being greedy and nothing bad will happen hooray this one also Hit me hard as a Ducktails reboot fan so maybe Scrooge isn't the nicest sanest person in the world but he's not doing anything [Music] illegal these may be the strangest events in which I've ever willingly participated so scoo do you think these are the strangest events velma's ever willingly participated in the day is Young unlike a surprising majority of the TV shows Fred Daphne and Velma hold more importance than Shaggy and Scooby who are introduced wearing fish and Mariachi costumes seems kind of out of left field but it's foreshadowing and expanded recurring element haircut scenes moments where the cowards go on the offensive and put on disguises to confuse and distract a monster these have been around since where are you but now they're much more frequent and much more bizarre they don't always hit but like Fred's toy tic transforming Mystery Machine they fit The Surreal sensibility of the series pretty well T man there he is like where have you been scarecrow hello l Road follow shag and SC are probably the most familiar in how they're portrayed although they're very transparent about not wanting to be here can you believe that we're actually here no let's go there's a natural camaraderie between these two thanks in part to Fred's obsession with splitting up hey splitting up is essential when being chased by a monster that way if one group doesn't make it the other still has a chance to solve the mystery logical you're sociopathic when writing dialogue for Scooby-Doo John Colton Barry decided that he should speak no more than four or five words at a time I'm uncomfortable this resulted in the great Dame becoming a vehicle for delivering blunt catchphrases teetering on the edge of the fourth wall he would unironically say check please but also enter your home and insult your livelihood I love this dog so like I didn't know you were an allseeing precognitive portal of wisdom and future divination just my day job with all the Care and attention put into characterizing Mr Incorporated be cool becomes the rare Scooby-Doo product where the gang is more engaging than the monsters I kept watching because of the character Centric bpls where there's personal sticks behind each Mystery we even see the gang figure everything out before the big reveal given careful viewers a chance to guess who done it prior to the unmasking the writers weren't afraid to have culprits secretly work together or be someone who never physically appeared before the reveal which I'm always easily impressed by um some random guy each villain usually has a thematically fitting backstory and a shockingly complex explanation that are explained through stylish Exposition dumps the one that looks like the cowboy bbop intro is my personal favorite although I think the costume designs are somewhat dull and the heavily formula nature of episodes meets that the monsters have few moments to leave a unique impression fortunately this also improved in season 2 canover the rat snake demon from Belgium sit zimol the South American demon monster heo Goblin I think he's from Idaho the centerpiece to mystery 101 is this super elaborate Library musical Chase sequence known internally as a ROM these allow for some creative staging or exciting action however the songs behind them are a mixed bag illegally chopping down a tree illegally riding down the river and illegally crashing even worse I didn't personally care for the music playing while it happened unlike the charmingly dated license tracks of what's new be cool initially had John colon Barry worked with composer Jake Monaco to write a new vocal track for every Chase when that proved to be too much work to fit into the tip production schedule Monaco was forced to use a mix of instrumentals and compositions for Warner's stable of [Music] composers e five of the best were written by Andy sturmer a legendary composer and songwriter for animation but he's best known as the lead singer for the shortlived 60s inspired power pop band jellyfish so he was a perfect fit still we're left with a lot of generic pop punk or 60s Throwbacks that strike me as being slightly out of place which is too bad because I the few original songs like the gorgeously animated Fred and ginger Style dance number during the dog show episode in season 2 when we're dancing to to toe or when Velma sung the wrap up in a painfully 2010's episode his name [Applause] [Music] isie the background music is solid too giving a slightly more modern and Jazzy feel to the classic Scooby sound especially since the sound effects are more grounded inheritance deserve his pillow inherent pillow and more pillow new instruments or styles are adopted depending on the setting going all the way to add those touches to the end credits theme you wouldn't see the full credits unless you were watching the show on demand or on streaming so I really appreciate how Monaco went the extra mile [Music] here uh scoob are you about to go off now that we've kind of gone through mystery 101 from start to finish give or take a few tangents dma losing her glasses Shaggy and Scooby eating tons of food or the pair getting bribed with food were downplayed as the writers didn't think some of these gags had much comedic potential that could be iterated on that could be grammatically incorrect I don't really care it's 11:15 when I'm recording this as I've Illustrated the show has less repetitive ways of challenging the characters or depicting how silly or cowardly they are but these staples are still accounted for remember the three FS we do fear and food they do flashlights while these episodes are not intended to be binged trust me watching them out of order means you'll be missing out on some fun callbacks to the dapne J drawers Monsters of the week and even background details puppets no the episodes I recommend the most feel like stories only be cool could have done plus they never ever broke from the format so the mystery quality is pretty consistent Gremlin on a plane has an expansive setting and unique fredd and dapne conflict some Fred time has him at his most Manic and disturbing mystery on the disorient express is exciting and joyfully confusing in space and do not disturb our silly but atmospheric takes on the respective genres there's a very good reason why we're hurdling through the dangerous vacuum of space right Fred parked on a shuttle the people versus Fred Jones is basically their take on the Seinfeld finale what a the odds that literally everywhere he goes someone wearing a mask is committing an overly elaborate crime which Fred Jones just happens to foil any impartial jury should find this extremely suspicious by itself but in that video you made 6 years ago I thought you said you didn't like the Seinfeld finale hey I didn't say you could be in this video billium from the YouTube channel billium get lost get lost when you get to the end of season 2 finish it off with the more action-oriented and serialized omet are forever ghost in the Mystery Machine Professor hob part one and professor H part 6 and A2 in that order those feel like a solid transition between traditional Mysteries and Mystery Incorporated I would only skip be quiet Scooby-Doo which doesn't commit to its premise of being a mostly silent Episode by constantly showing the gang's inner thoughts the relationships haven't quite been figured out yet and the ending gag has the character cycle between two poses for 30 whole [Music] [Music] seconds even if you wanted to give be scoobydoo a chance its roll out made the series hard to keep up with Cartoon Network aired the first 20 episodes switching between weekday and weekly releases that burn through episodes fast there was a 15 month Hiatus before it was permanently moved to their sister Channel Boomerang and its separate paid Subscription Service all while season 2 premiered early overseas and didn't receive a DVD release marketing materials even misrepresented the show by pushing Shaggy and Scooby on keyart instead of featuring the entire gang a season 3 was considered possibly with a slightly rushed 11-minute format which I'm surprised it never had in the first place considering where and when it was coming out but Warner Brothers quickly put a new incarnation in a production now the show Legacy is velma's Voice or takes on characters like Daphne being adapted to other projects like happy Halloween Scooby-Doo and keeping up [Music] burp I hope that more fans can come around on be cool Scooby-Doo like I did for me personally it's still a seven out of 10 for being Faithfully repetitive but now that I know the time restraints and development choices that were holding it back I can now respect all the lovingly C visuals as well as the intricate and self-aware comedic character writing that make this one of the best Scoobies ever will I change my tune on other cartoons from some of the same creative team like The Adventures of Kid [Music] Danger I could be wrong it could be right nothing is simple nothing's black and used to be fun but now there's none it used to be easier today but now I'm done wasting life away yes I'm done there's too high a price to pay yeah I'm done now there's nothing get lost I think that's good I'm sorry I'm not an [Music] actor but now I'm done wasting life away yes I'm done there's too high a price to pay yeah I'm done now there's nothing left to say yes I'm done h

Channel: NICKtendo

Views: 144,499

Keywords: Scooby-Doo, Scooby Doo, Scooby Doo Mystery Incroporated, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incroporated, Cartoon Network, Scooby-Doo Cartoon Network, Animation, Cartoon, Cartoon Review, Cartoon Analysis, Animation Analysis, Animation Review, Animation Rant, Cartoon Rant, NICKtendo, velma, Be Cool Scooby-Doo, Be Cool Scooby Doo, Be Cool, Be Cool Scooby-Doo!, Be Cool Scooby Doo Review, Be Cool Scooby Doo Retrospective, NICKtendo Scooby Doo, Scooby-Doo Family Guy, Family Guy

Id: W3NyEjfIpmg

Length: 23min 29sec (1409 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 29 2023