Inbetweener
Posted:
Feb 27, 2008, 4:50 PM
|
|
What's New Scoony-Doo--why it sucks!
|
|
|
I considered What's New Scooby Doo to be (generally) a return to the good old days of Scooby. It seemed though, that other fans disagreed. But lately, they've been showing them back to back with old episodes on CN, and I think I know what's missing. The old Scooby episodes took themselves more serious then What's New does. The one I saw today was the episode with the puppet masters. There are parts that are genuinely creepy--like when the little puppet opens his eye, and Scooby see the phantom dressed exactly like Shaggy--and others. Young kids will get genuinely spooked by it (I remember that I was) But What's New is too busy being hip--or desperately TRYING to be hip-- to be creepy at all. Has there ever been a villian on the new show to rivel the Ghost Clown, for nstance?
It seems that everyone, even and maybe especially gen-Xers think old cartoons are dorky, that it's almost embarressing that you were creeped out by the origianl Scooby Doo. But I'm not ashamed.
|
|
Supervising Animator / Contributor
Posted:
Feb 27, 2008, 5:16 PM
|
I also disliked "What's New Scooby-Doo" as well, so you are not alone.
But the factors that made it bad in my opinion were several things...
1. The voices. Even though Casey Kasem and Frank Welker reprised their original roles, Daphne and Velma's voices changed completely. The new Velma sounded like a deep cross between Nicole Jaffe and Pat Stevens, and made her sound like Mandy from "Grim and Evil" (Velma was voiced by Mindy Cohn, but Grey DeLisle, the new voice of Daphne, would occasionally voice Velma when Mindy wasn't available) Frank Welker also took over as Scooby-Doo, and as a result, Scooby sounded more like Brain from "Inspector Gadget" (also voiced by Frank Welker).
2. They changed character personalites. Fred bacame pretty clueless and stupid, kinda like how he was shown on "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo," but without the constant Red Herring-blaming. Daphne got smarter and was able to defend herself really well and sometimes it'd seem she was leading the gang! Scooby-Doo very rarely spoke, too, usually just agreeing with what Shaggy would say, and closing each episode with "Scooby-dooby-DOO!"
3. The animation. Termite Terrace did an EXCELLENT job with the animation in the "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island" movie, but then again, most of the animation was done overseas in Japan, and the animation for WNSD was done in Korea, so the animation here looked kinda worse than the animation in the 1969 episodes!
4. The sound effects. Since 1998 with "Zombie Island," they drastically cut down using the classic H-B sound effects, and unfortunately this carried over to "What's New" as well, in an effort to make it more realistic and less cartoony (there'd only be five or six classic H-B SFX in an episode). Pretty ironic, what with the heavy use of H-B sound effects in the Cool Cat cartoons Warner Bros. Animation did in the late 1960s! Even a distinctive thunderclap heard frequently in the old cartoons was only used on a couple of episodes, and only occasionally, due to terrible sound quality of the effect.
5. The music. It'd usually be either modern rock scores in the background, or generic synthesizer music like in most 2000s WB cartoons.
6. The plots seemed to be "borrowed" from older episodes. I guess the writers ran out of ideas and decided to remake classic villians. We saw another Snow Creature, another mummy, etc. There was even a Scooby-Doo impersonator in one episode ala the Ape Man (here, the impostor Scooby was really J.C. Chasez of N'Sync in disguise!)
7. They often made fun of the old formula. Every episode had to have the villain saying "And I would've gotten away with it if too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!" (or parodying it, like having two twin villains saying it together, etc.) and each episode had to have the villain be someone they met earlier in the episode, while some older episodes have the villain really be some total stranger they never met before (ala Harry the Hypnotist or Big Bob Oakley).
8. They did a lot of new technology jokes and references. I remember one doing an Internet joke that was similar to the Fairly Oddparents! In one episode, they also had GPS equipment in their Mystery Machine and a flip-down TV.
And I can think of a lot more, too.
-------------------------
People think I am crazy just because I didn't like "Ratatouille." Am I REALLY crazy, or do I see things differently?
(This post was edited by WileECoyote on Feb 27, 2008, 5:24 PM)
|
|
Inbetweener
Posted:
Feb 27, 2008, 6:11 PM
|
2. They changed character personalites. Fred bacame pretty clueless and stupid, kinda like how he was shown on "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo," but without the constant Red Herring-blaming. Daphne got smarter and was able to defend herself really well and sometimes it'd seem she was leading the gang! Scooby-Doo very rarely spoke, too, usually just agreeing with what Shaggy would say, and closing each episode with "Scooby-dooby-DOO!"
THe reason for the change in Fred's character was total gender politics. They're trying to "improve" on the old series by making fun of Fred. Since Fred's a guy, an the leader to boot, he must be a sexist jerk, right? The same thing with making Daphne more "girl-power", or whatever.
As for the parody (which I've noticed a lot) it's more of that trying-to-be -hip thing.
(This post was edited by Sleestakgod on Feb 27, 2008, 6:12 PM)
|
|
Animator
Posted:
Feb 28, 2008, 11:14 AM
|
Well I'll shamelessly admit I like what's new Scooby Doo. It's not a scratch on the original but I like it. I like what they have done with the characters, it is up to date but not completely ruined like most modern cartoons. It;s still funny to me. I even like the new Fred more than the original. Also I like the artwork, I won't even dare watch get a clue for one reason being the complete redesign (they have lost all characterization in their look). It's so much better than most new characters you have to say at least. I look forward to when it's on.
-------------------------
Shaggy: Gee, Scraps, you didn't have to freak out like a jerk and kill all humanity.
Scrappy Doo: And I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you meddling sons of...
|
|
Director / Contributor
Posted:
Feb 29, 2008, 7:28 AM
|
5. The music. It'd usually be either modern rock scores in the background, or generic synthesizer music like in most 2000s WB cartoons.
I wouldn't call this example modern rock exactly. I remember catching one episode where the kids ran away from/chased a ghost while The Ramones' Rockaway Beach played in the background. It all seemed very odd.
-------------------------
http://exposure.cbc.ca/video/hansel-und-gretel
|
|
Inbetweener
Posted:
Mar 9, 2008, 7:31 PM
|
The format of What's New is the same as the original. That's what's good about it. That's why it's better than shows that change the original format, like 13 Ghosts, or the one where it's just Shaggy Scooby and Scrappy (can't think of the name of that one). There is (or was)newer show called Scooby and Shaggy get a clue, which sounded like they totally diteched the formula again . I can't really say it suced though, as I've never seen it. I avoided it on purpose, actually.
One other thing I didn't like about What's New is Scooby veing voiced by Frank Welker. You'd think this would have been good, since Welker has voiced Buford and other HB canines. But for Scooby he didn't work that well. Don Messick is the only voice for Scooby.
(This post was edited by Sleestakgod on Mar 9, 2008, 7:31 PM)
|
|
Key Animator
Posted:
Mar 24, 2008, 2:05 PM
|
8. They did a lot of new technology jokes and references. I remember one doing an Internet joke that was similar to the Fairly Oddparents! In one episode, they also had GPS equipment in their Mystery Machine and a flip-down TV.
And I can think of a lot more, too.
I don't really think that is a really good reason. No offence but what are they gonna do. It was 2003-2006. All they were trying to do was to modernize it a bit more. I don't think it's bad that they were doing a little update. It's not 1969 anymore.
-------------------------
Scoober Gear
|
|
Supervising Animator / Contributor
Posted:
Mar 24, 2008, 2:27 PM
|
I know, but the jokes they made about modern technology was annoying.
-------------------------
People think I am crazy just because I didn't like "Ratatouille." Am I REALLY crazy, or do I see things differently?
|
|
Key Animator
Posted:
Mar 27, 2008, 9:42 PM
|
Well yeah, that what happens when you have the termite calling the shots
-------------------------
Scoober Gear
|
|
|
|
Mostly when they bring out a newer version of an old cartoon then I totally hate it but this wasn't the case with What's New Scooby-Doo. I would still prefer to watch the original over it but that's not to say that I don't like it, just prefer the original better. 
