Scooby Doo, Where Are You?
If you are like me, when you grew up, before you left the house on Saturday mornings, you watched cartoons. It seems like I met some of my best friends over a bowl of cold cereal and the sports page. Folks like Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, The Pink Panther, George Jetson, and many more. To this day, I still look back fondly at those times as days of innocence, joy, and just pure fun. One of my other favorites was a rather late entry into the cartoon wars, Scooby Doo. Scooby was a talking dog who helped his merry band of investigators solve untold mysteries while getting into all sorts of trouble. It was so popular, another character, Scrappy Doo came out of that cartoon, and recently a live action movie was made about all of them and their famous van, The Mystery Machine.Last Saturday, I had the rare chance to enjoy a morning in bed watching cartoons. I grabbed my breakfast, the paper, and much to my surprise, Scooby Doo was on. But not the Scooby I knew! What I saw was a Scooby who could change into a dolphin, and was now some sort of adventure hero. Kids, this was definitely not your father's Scooby Doo.  Even the animation was horrible. I have posted both pictures here for you to compare, but I gots to tell ya, the newer hipper version looks like it was drawn by a five year old. I don't know, maybe I am just biased, but I miss the old hand drawn style of animation. The colors were more vivid, the characters moved better, and it just looked richer. I mean in this new stuff, there is absolutely no attention to the background, it's just all fuzz. Is it any wonder kids minds are numb? Look at the cartoons they have to watch. |
posted by Dave Miller at 8:15 AM
Comments on "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?"
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Patrick M said ... (8:11 PM) :
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Dave Miller said ... (9:28 AM) :
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Dionne said ... (5:11 PM) :
post a commentHadn't heard about that newest (and obviously crappy) Scooby Doo. I know there have been a few reincarnations of the gang (some almost watchable) but this is proof that there are far too many people who try to generate more stuff when all they have to do is rerun the old stuff.
Two other points:
1. It's the writing that matters, not necessarily the animation. The best toons, whether it be the old Bugs Bunny or anything that comes from the likes of Pixar, is great because they write on several levels, from simple gags for the kids to jokes only adults can get. Far too may shows spat out today are mindless attempts at cashing in on something. Watch a Pokemon episode and feel your brain dissolve.
2. Even classic cartoons are not immune to destruction by the dumbing down of TV. I've seen several Tom and Jerry cartoons where surgical cuts wor made to remove things like blackface and Chinese stereotypes, as well as the black housewife getting overdubbed to make her sound less ethnic. But the worst transgression is the banning of Speedy Gonzales by Cartoon Network for fear of offending Hispanics. I wish politics wouldn't infect my toons.
Also, this is why I only watch cable. I can find all the good cartoons that way and avoid the crap that has taken the place of my old Saturday morning cartoons.
Great points Patrick. I too have have seen what you have spoken about regarding the changing of classic cartoons.
I have long said that the newer cartoons pale in comparison to what we grew up on. There are so many that I watched that I consider classics and the stuff my kids watch has never been as good.
I think this has inspired me to do a fun cartoon post on the classic oldies cartoons.