I confess that I ran out of words beginning with J
and so the premise for this posting has come from a sudden remembering of a
word from a cartoon series of my youth. But now I’ve started it – why not go
for it?
SO – Scooby Doo. The Scoobster. Scoobert Doobert.
Scoob. For 50 years now (FIFTY YEARS) this Great Dane and his gang of
teenage mystery solvers have been entertaining the world with their zany
animated adventures. We all know the shows. We all know the themes. We all know
the catchphrases, the cliches and the characters. They got it so right first
time out that they’ve never had to change the basic format. The world has
changed and it keeps on changing, but almost every year there has been a new
batch of output from the Scooby team that fits the trend of the day whilst also
remaining timeless. It is one of those things that is so remarkably consistent
and ever-present that no-one seems to appreciate it as they should. It is just taken
for granted that Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy, and their loveable, chatty pet
will always be with us in one form or other. The animation changes, but the
gang remains the same. The Mystery
Machine just keeps on rolling.
But how far, and for how long, has it rolled,
exactly? I have researched it and added it all up for you. Here is a list of
each consecutive series, with the number of episodes produced and the average
run time per episode.
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? – 41
episodes (21 mins each)
New Scooby-Doo Movies – 24
episodes (43 mins each)
The Scooby-Doo Show – 40 episodes
(22-24mins)
Scooby and Scrappy Doo (v1) – 16
episodes (22mins)
Scooby and Scrappy-Doo (v2) – 33
episodes (21 mins)
New Scooby and Scrappy/ New Scooby-Doo
Mysteries - 26 Eps (22mins)
13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo – 13 eps
(22mins)
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo – 27 eps
(22mins)
What’s New, Scooby-Doo – 42 (22)
Shaggy & Scooby get a clue –
26 (22)
Scooby Doo, Mystery Inc – 52 (22)
Be Cool, Sooby-Doo – 52 (22)
Scooby Doo and Guess Who? – 39
(22) as of the day of this posting
By my reckoning, and my maths, that is a grand total
of 165
hours and 12 mins of televisual entertainment. And that doesn’t
include two blockbuster live-action movies, a series of one-off direct-to-video
animated movie specials, and a 2020 CGI version called ‘Scoob!’ which, were it
not for the pesky virus we’ve had this year, would almost certainly have been a
worldwide smash hit in the cinemas.
50 years. Three generations. Countless millions of
children delighted, intrigued, scared, excited and thrilled.
Bravo.
RC 27-10-20
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