Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:23:20 — 40.3MB) | Embed
Podcast (main): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:23:20 — 40.3MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More
Podcast (nostalgia): Play in new window | Download (40.3MB) | Embed
The ABC Years
The Scooby-Doo Show (1976-1978)
Scooby, along with several other Hanna-Barbera properties, moved to ABC for the 1976 season. Another rebranding saw Scooby share a one-hour block with another canine hero for a show collectively called The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour. The running time was changed back to 30 minutes, with Dynomutt’s show airing in the second half. Other than that, the format was still much the same as the previous years. The only other thing of note is the addition of another character, Scooby’s cousin Scooby-Dum, voiced by the legendary Daws Butler.
The Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show (1979-1980)
1979 saw the removal of Scooby-Dum and the addition of Scrappy-Doo to the cast. Messick would do double duty as Scooby and Scrappy for most of the following seasons.
Scooby and Scrappy-Doo (1980-1983)
The show got the biggest revamp yet in 1980. Not only was it paired with another Ruby-Spears creation, Richie Rich, but the format was changed entirely. Instead of regular 30-minute episodes, The Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show was made up of several short stories. Only Scooby, Scrappy, and Shaggy appeared regularly, as the other characters were removed for the next few seasons.
The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries (1983-1985)
The episode format was changed from three 7-minute stories per episode to a pair of 11-minute ones. Daphne returned to the
The 13 Ghosts Of Scooby-Doo (1985)
1985 again saw the show rebranded, this time into The 13 Ghosts Of Scooby-Doo. While there still was no Fred or Velma, the show finally returned to its classic format of 30-minute episodes. Shaggy’s wardrobe got an update with a red shirt to replace his traditional green. Another departure from previous seasons was the inclusion of an ongoing story, with each episode being a chapter.
Perhaps the most popular element of this season was the addition of horror icon Vincent Price. Price voiced the regular character Vincent Van Ghoul, who was modeled after him.
Susan Blu also joined the cast as Flim Flam. Blu went on to have a notable career in voice acting as well as voice directing. Her most notable work in directing was for the 1980s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.
Ultimately the show ran its course without revealing the final 13th ghost. Reruns of previous Scooby seasons continued on ABC for a few more years.
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988-1991)
The first new episodes of any Scooby-Doo show premiered three years later in the form of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. As the name implied, this depicted all the classic characters as children and Scooby himself as a small puppy. This all-new take was likely made to capitalize on the “kid versions of characters” craze that started with Muppet Babies.
This is also where the self-parody elements began in the franchise. Nerd-Girl Velma would have a supercomputer she could pull out of a briefcase. Daphne was an uber-rich girl with ridiculous assets. And naturally, villains resorted back to the classic “I would’ve gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you kids!”. Fred also at least once an episode would accuse the villain of being a bully kid named Red Herring, a pun on the storytelling term.
When A Pup Named Scooby-Doo ended in 1991, no new Scooby shows would air on ABC. And none would appear anywhere else until the new millennium.