Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is the first installment of the Scooby-Doo series. It was created by Hanna Barbera as a none-violent Saturday Morning Cartoon. Scooby-Doo Where Are You! premiered on September 13, 1969 at 10:30 EST via Taft Broadcasting. The series ran for three seasons from 1969 to 78.
Synopsis[]
A gang of young adults, Mystery Inc, take on the role of young detectives, and encounter seemingly supernatural forces, only to use deduction to reveal the fraud.
Characters[]
Main Characters[]
- Daphne Blake - Daphne's family provided funds for the Mystery Machine [?].
Fred Jones
- Norville "Shaggy" Rogers - Shaggy was on the high school track team before the gang began solving mysteries. He's skilled at ventriloquism [SDWAY: What a Night for a Knight], voice/sound impression [SDWAY: Go Away Ghost Ship; SDWAY: Mine Your Own Buisness), and disguise. Shaggy tried briefly to be a Vegetarian but his love for all kinds of food caused him to abandon the pursuit [?].
- Scooby-Doo
- Velma Dinkley
Other Characters[]
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Episodes[]
Scooby-Doo, Where are you ran for 38 episodes over a period of three seasons, and nine years.
- What a Night for a Knight
- A Clue for Scooby-Doo
Notes on the Setting[]
The Economy[]
Over the course of 38 episodes ## of the fake where people who had hit hard economic times. Most of the run down locations the gang visits are recreational areas such as amusement parks, resorts, or carnival grounds.
The Military[]
In the episode Spooky Space Kook it was determined that Henry Bascomb had fabricated the Spooky Space Kook story to terrorize residents near an abandoned air force base so that they would move away. Bascomb had learned that the base was going to be reopened. He understood that the base would need to be modified to be used with jets which require longer runways, so he tried to get control of all the nearby land so he could sell it to the government.
World History[]
- ????: Red Beard the Pirate
Production[]
Writing[]
Scooby-Doo creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears served as the story supervisors on the series. Ruby, Spears, and Bill Lutz wrote all of the scripts for the seventeen first-season Scooby episodes, while Lutz, Larz Bourne, and Tom Dagenais wrote the eight second season episodes with Ruby and Spears. The plot varied little from episode to episode. The main concept was as follows:
- The Mystery, Inc. gang turn up in the Mystery Machine, en route to or returning from a regular teenage function, when their van develops engine trouble or breaks down for any of a variety of reasons (overheating, flat tire, out of gas, etc.), in the immediate vicinity of a large, mostly vacated property (ski lodge, hotel, factory, mansion, cruise ship, etc.).
- Their (unintended) destination turns out to be suffering from a monster problem (ghosts, Yetis, vampires, witches, etc.). The gang volunteers to investigate the case.
- The gang splits up to cover more ground, with Fred and Velma finding clues, Daphne finding danger, and Shaggy and Scooby finding food, fun, and the ghost/monster, who gives chase. Scooby and Shaggy in particular love to eat, including dog treats called Scooby Snacks which are a favorite of both the dog and the teenage boy.
- Eventually, enough clues are found to convince the gang that the ghost/monster is a fake, and a trap is set (usually by Fred) to capture it; or, they may occasionally call the local sheriff, only to get stopped by the villain half-way.
- If a trap is used, it may or may not work (more often than not, Scooby-Doo and/or Shaggy falls into the trap and/or they accidentally catch the monster another way, usually if the plan is explained in detail beforehand, then the attempted execution fails). Invariably, the ghost/monster is apprehended and unmasked. The person in the ghost or monster suit turns out to be an apparently blameless authority figure or otherwise innocuous local who is using the disguise to cover up something such as a crime or a scam.
- After giving the parting shot of "And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids" (sometimes adding "...and your stupid dog!"), the offender is then taken away to jail, and the gang is allowed to continue on the way to their destination.
Broadcast History[]
Taft Broadcasting (September 13, 1969 to 1978)
Boomerang