Oh, yeah, good point. I overlooked that. Thanks!
LTTP: Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc.
- Thread starter HP_Wuvcraft
- Start date
- Status
Oh, yeah, good point. I overlooked that. Thanks!
My wife and I were really into the first season but around the start of the second we were without cable for about a year so we didn't keep up.
This thread reminded me about the show, so I added it to my Netflix queue. For some reason I thought the first season was only 12 or so episodes and I had assumed the second was the same - it was a very pleasant surprise to see that each season is 26 episodes so I have a hell of a lot to see. And, of course, I'm going to rewatch the first season.
I loved all the references/homages to other media. The 90210 characters in an early episode, the National Lampoon's Vacation characters in another, and so on.
This thread reminded me about the show, so I added it to my Netflix queue. For some reason I thought the first season was only 12 or so episodes and I had assumed the second was the same - it was a very pleasant surprise to see that each season is 26 episodes so I have a hell of a lot to see. And, of course, I'm going to rewatch the first season.
I loved all the references/homages to other media. The 90210 characters in an early episode, the National Lampoon's Vacation characters in another, and so on.
Random Painted HIghway
Member
Great show. Watched it due to my four year old. We got one of the toy sets and he plays with them all the time. Really a surprisingly complex show, very unexpected.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Fred is both the best and worst character on the show.
neogaffer1
Banned
That Scrappy shoutout was fucking hilarious.
I'm a few episodes into seaons two, and I feel that its best moments were the first two episodes. At first it seemed intent on self-deprecating humor, so much so that it almost felt like a parody. After those, though, it kind of settled down to what you'd expect out of a modern scooby doo show, which isn't bad so much as it is kind of a let down.
The overarching narrative is a bit weird though. I feel like a new one would've started in the second season but it's just continuing the one from the first season without any real payoff.
I'm a few episodes into seaons two, and I feel that its best moments were the first two episodes. At first it seemed intent on self-deprecating humor, so much so that it almost felt like a parody. After those, though, it kind of settled down to what you'd expect out of a modern scooby doo show, which isn't bad so much as it is kind of a let down.
The overarching narrative is a bit weird though. I feel like a new one would've started in the second season but it's just continuing the one from the first season without any real payoff.
Polioliolio
Member
Just watched the episode where they're in the underground trap mansion. That was actually kinda spooky and it would have been genuine horror if someone got stabbed in the chest, and that almost happened!
neogaffer1
Banned
neogaffer1
Banned
Just finished the series. I read the spoiler in the other thread about how it ended so I think that is part of the reason I feel the way I do, but
Overall, after a bit of thinking I came to realize why Scooby Doo as a concept is such a verified and successful show idea and why exacty Mystery, Inc. was so invigorating as a series. The best and most long lasting cartoons are able to appeal on multiple levels to multiple age groups, usually in the form of deeper humor and meanings that most children miss but are aimed at adults. Think "finger Prince" as an example of this. This is especially true of Scooby Doo--while most kid's shows either aim too low and end up with a show incredibly stupid that only has child appeal (Johnny Test, for example), the best can weave more adult and serious themes into the show itself--the DC shows were especially good at this by taking famous comic villains and arcs and adapting them in a matter that both respected the source material and appealed to kids. With Scooby Doo, I think it's a rare case of a show that doesn't even attempt to focus on introducing more adult themes into a kid's universe, but rather taking a kid's show and trying to pull it off in a manner that doesn't make it incredibly ridiculous from the beginning. Taking the plot frame of a ghost/creature is haunting a certain area and a bunch of kids and their dog solve the mystery and prove that the monster is actually just a guy in a costume and applying it over and over without any variation sounds repetitive and stupid, but the way it's pulled off creates a sort of poetic simplicity. In a world full of debt, war and depression it's nice to just fall into a world where a bunch of kids have nothing to worry about and just go around solving mysteries.
What's so incredibly interesting about Mystery, Inc., though, is that it's able to take the original simplicity and funness of the idea of a bunch of kids solving mysteries with their dog and interweave it with the more adult and grounded themes that modern cartoons use to appeal to multiple age groups, and it does so while still keeping the original appeal of the show and without undermining why people love Scooby Doo in the first place. It's a brilliant execution, and I'm incredibly surprised that it gets so little credit for doing what it was able to do.
While the first two episodes were the best and the most satirical of the series, and the overarching story felt a bit backloaded, the rest of the series still stands up as a incredible modern re-imagining of the series even if they fall short of the bar set by the first two episodes.
Now, anybody know if any of the other series are any good? I remember watching "Get a Clue, Scooby Doo!" as a kid but don't remember much of the series. Also that new series ("Be Cool, Scooby Doo!") looks awful.
ugh
I think the ending was very fitting and very fulfilling, and while I'm a bit sad this show is already over like I am with most shows, I don't feel as sad/angry/upset with this show over, but I think this is mostly because I already knew how it was going to end and was well aware that the endgame was here.
What's so incredibly interesting about Mystery, Inc., though, is that it's able to take the original simplicity and funness of the idea of a bunch of kids solving mysteries with their dog and interweave it with the more adult and grounded themes that modern cartoons use to appeal to multiple age groups, and it does so while still keeping the original appeal of the show and without undermining why people love Scooby Doo in the first place. It's a brilliant execution, and I'm incredibly surprised that it gets so little credit for doing what it was able to do.
While the first two episodes were the best and the most satirical of the series, and the overarching story felt a bit backloaded, the rest of the series still stands up as a incredible modern re-imagining of the series even if they fall short of the bar set by the first two episodes.
Oh, and for an alternate universe where everything's supposed to be more peaceful and happier, making all of Daphne's sisters "disappointments" in the eyes of Daphne's parents just as a way to make Daphne feel better and gain approval from her parents in marrying Fred seemed pretty harsh.
Now, anybody know if any of the other series are any good? I remember watching "Get a Clue, Scooby Doo!" as a kid but don't remember much of the series. Also that new series ("Be Cool, Scooby Doo!") looks awful.
ugh
I've been watching this too. It's pretty cute. And it has a hilariously dark sense of humor at times. Like Daphne casually mentioning several times about how her mom had a mental breakdown and they had to send her away for a few months, or that time they made a guy in the hospital flatline and then just wandered off like nothing happened while doctors rushed into the room in the background.
neogaffer1
Banned
there's a similar scene in one of the last episodes with certain animal hybrids that's very much in the vein of this.
edit: rewatching from the beginning and the backstory stuff of "this group disappearing" and "this group coming to crystal cove" that is explored in detail in season two is actually mentioned in the first episode. that's actually pretty well planned if they knew where they were going all along.
edit 2: man i forgot how hard daphne got friendzoned in these early episodes. puts the beginning episodes of season 2 in perspective.
I don't think it really does.
Fred is messed up. Daphne knew this going in, and it's one of the things she likes about him. He's got aspergers, and his mother ran away when he was just a baby, leading him to obsess about traps, because if only he had trapped his mother, she couldn't have run away from him. Daphne: "He's like one of those geniuses nobody understands until they're dead."
Fred is shown to believe that friends = forever (his plan for life after school involves living with the gang in bunk beds), and he has a broken view of love and marriage and family (while playing house with Daphne, he pushes her away and tells her she's not supposed to look happy).
When she finally got him to notice her as a woman (bikini + oil) and was then snatched away from him, he became broken mentally, and was unable to effectively launch a rescue. His takeaway was that he should never have allowed himself to think of her in that way, because he can't deal with his own emotions. It's better for their friendship if he mentally blocks out her lady-parts.
But she didn't give up and she eventually got through to him and got him to open up. He told her that he was afraid of losing the people he loved, and she told him "You're never going to lose me."
Then Fred finds out that his entire life was a lie. His father was a lie, his mother and her running away was a lie, his resulting obsession with traps was a lie, his entire world is shattered. She says they'll figure this out together, and he responds saying he needs to figure this out alone (and calls off their engagement).
Then he comes back (after wandering the streets like a hobo), and she's dating an anti-Fred out of spite. Fred starts trying to appeal to her (in a role reversal), and she's shutting him down pretty brutally (and letting the town go to hell). And then she agrees to run away with this new guy (who turns out to be a kidnapper and probably a rapist), which breaks Fred mentally because that's his weak spot. She broke her way through his defenses and told him that love couldn't hurt him, and then when he was at his lowest point, she repeated his mother's betrayal (which he was able to trap and overcome, this time around).
Fred is shown to believe that friends = forever (his plan for life after school involves living with the gang in bunk beds), and he has a broken view of love and marriage and family (while playing house with Daphne, he pushes her away and tells her she's not supposed to look happy).
When she finally got him to notice her as a woman (bikini + oil) and was then snatched away from him, he became broken mentally, and was unable to effectively launch a rescue. His takeaway was that he should never have allowed himself to think of her in that way, because he can't deal with his own emotions. It's better for their friendship if he mentally blocks out her lady-parts.
But she didn't give up and she eventually got through to him and got him to open up. He told her that he was afraid of losing the people he loved, and she told him "You're never going to lose me."
Then Fred finds out that his entire life was a lie. His father was a lie, his mother and her running away was a lie, his resulting obsession with traps was a lie, his entire world is shattered. She says they'll figure this out together, and he responds saying he needs to figure this out alone (and calls off their engagement).
Then he comes back (after wandering the streets like a hobo), and she's dating an anti-Fred out of spite. Fred starts trying to appeal to her (in a role reversal), and she's shutting him down pretty brutally (and letting the town go to hell). And then she agrees to run away with this new guy (who turns out to be a kidnapper and probably a rapist), which breaks Fred mentally because that's his weak spot. She broke her way through his defenses and told him that love couldn't hurt him, and then when he was at his lowest point, she repeated his mother's betrayal (which he was able to trap and overcome, this time around).
Basically, I don't think the early episodes had anything to do with it. It was pretty much only the last episode of season 1 which triggered the beginning of season 2, and I don't think Daphne was being fair to Fred. But then, nobody ever said that teenage girls have to play fair.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Wait.
Fred has AS?
Generic Power Ranger
Member
been hearing a lot about it. Really wanna see it. Hopefully it comes on netflix here at some point
Maybe not specifically, scientifically speaking, but in the "Hollywood" sense, I think he's supposed to.
I was seriously considering making my own LTTP for this show. I got into it recently and just finished season 1 and this shit is legit
That one felt like a straight up Saw parody. This show is wasted on kids
That one felt like a straight up Saw parody. This show is wasted on kids
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Velma covering her underpants as she flies through the air so the audience doesn't see.
neogaffer1
Banned
i wasn't really using that seriously like it seems you took it to mean, i was just using it as a figure of speech to point out the parallels between those episodes and the ones in season 2.
edit: also i think you're reading too much into fred's mental condition at times--the marriage thing was meant as a joke more than anything and most of his emotionlessness i came to see as a parody of how masculinity is viewed in modern day society more than anything.
neogaffer1
Banned
just finished the show for the second time. really disappointed there isn't more of this--even though it's 52 episodes, it's only two seasons so a lot of that is just filler. would've liked it to go on for a bit longer--i'm starting to think about watching some of the other scooby doo shows now, even though the general consensus seems to be they're mostly terrible.
- Status