History WesternAnimation / ScoobyDoo

"Scooby Doo" is so thoroughly embedded in American popular culture that the ad-hoc vampire-hunting team that formed around Buffy Summers in ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' called themselves "The Scooby Gang". (The ''Scooby Doo'' kids never refer to themselves as such; their name in the pilot script is "Mystery, Inc." It has also become Cockney Rhyming Slang for "clue" (as in "Haven't a Scooby, mate").

Recently made into a trilogy of live-action movies (starring Sarah Michelle Gellar of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' fame as Daphne and her husband Freddy Prinze Jr. as [[TheDanza Fred]]). The first two movie were theatrical films, the third (which was a prequel and featured a different cast) went straight to video. These were loaded with {{Continuity Nod}}s, and [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] the show's own cliches.

In 2005, the show briefly beat ''TheSimpsons'' for most episodes produced of an American cartoon.

The most recent incarnations are ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo'' (A modernized return to the mystery format) and ''WesternAnimation/ShaggyAndScoobyDooGetAClue'' (which is much flatter animation-wise and rather weird, featuring nanotech Scooby snacks and a [[LampshadeHanging message from Fred]] [no relation] in the title). A new series called ''ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' premiered July 12, 2010 (containing possible character development, an overarching plot, and a DarkerAndEdgier feel).

* FortuneTeller: In the Where Are You episode "A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts", the gang meets a [[{{Romani}} Gypsy]] fortune teller who gives them dire warnings. She turns out to be the episode's {{villain}} in disguise.
* FrankWelker: Fred is his first role and one of his best known roles, and Frank ''still'' voices the character today many years since he had started. With the passing of Don Messick, Welker voices Scooby, too.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: The [[{{Romani}} Gypsy]] FortuneTeller in the Where Are You episode "A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts".

* {{Romani}}: See FortuneTeller.

** In the 2002 live-action movie, the heroes discover that the creatures were given lessons in how to act human. The lessons included some bizarre slang which no normal person would ever speak in. The reason for the slang is never explained, and the slang itself never appears again.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: They look like teenagers to you? Possibly lampshaded in the Valentine's Day special of ''What's New, Scooby Doo?'' where a flashback shows a much more teenage-looking Shaggy breaking up with his then-girlfriend. ([[YourMileageMayVary It's a little subjective]], but the beginning of ''Zombie Island'' heavily implies the characters are now college-age and subsequent animated versions of the franchise usually seem to tacitly follow suit even if the continuity is often vague...)

* ''The All-New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show'' (1983-1984, ABC)

** Or that the monster was helping them build the barricade...

* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler:Scrappy-Doo]] in the live-action movie.

*** [[spoiler: Velma]] would explain that [[spoiler: she]] didn't let the others in on the hoax because [[spoiler: it was dangerous and she didn't want anybody to get hurt.]]

* BroadStrokes: The SharedUniverse they exist in is notably very vague with The Original Series, ''Thirteen Ghosts'' and ''The New Adventures'', taking place firmly within each other, the nineties movies taking place after their retirement from the former adventures, ''A Pup Named Scooby doo'' as a SpinoffBabies prequel and ''What's New Scooby Doo'' and its movies as taking place (ostensibly) with in the same universe. The Live Action Film series and Shaggy and ''Scooby Doo Get A Clue'' are in question however and both ''The Mystery Revealed'' and ''Mystery Incorporated'' take place in Ultimate Universes.

* CaptainColorbeard: Redbeard in "Go Away, Ghost Ship." He makes a second appearance in 1972's "The Ghostly Creep From The Deep," but in that story, he and his pirate crew are all ghost white and the voice is different (John Stephenson in "Ghost Ship," Lennie Weinrib in "Ghostly Creep").

** All five members of the gang and some of the other characters sing throughout the 2012 made-for-video feature ''Scooby Doo: Music Of The Vampire''.

** Not necessarily, this was just the live-action version after all. More likely could be considered an AlternateUniverse.

* CousinOliver: Scrappy-Doo, Scooby-Dum, Flim Flam

** They also met Series/TheAddamsFamily once, and the Blue Falcon twice.

** An episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!" features a segment, drawn and animated in the same style as the ''New Scooby Doo Movies'' episodes, with the gang meeting up with Batman and Robin, as well as WeirdAlYankovic. It aired in America on AprilFoolsDay 2011.

The new series, ''Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated'', although not much. It's definitely not cynical, but the universe as a whole is a little less idealistic, and the jokes, characters and events are more mature.

* DeadpanSnarker:

* EasilyForgiven: ''"What's New Scooby Doo"'' occasionally had the culprit be let off the hook if they had arguably sympathetic reasons or if nobody got hurt, even if by their actions the monster would have very nearly killed someone. ''"Roller Ghoaster Ride"'' is a good example of this, involving among other things Fred, Daphne and Velma almost getting diced up by a giant fan thanks to the monster's sabotage, along with tons of dangerous situations coming from ''sabotaging amusement park rides'' which would've ended up fatal if not for dumb luck or quick thinking, with no real consequences for the culprit.

** In the first season of ''The New Scooby Doo Movies,'' scenes running roughly a minute and a half were made but not used until season two. The scenes never showed up in syndication, CN/Boomerang airings or DVD releases. Among the scenes were Jonathan Winters flipping a coin with Shaggy to see who would go up to the grist mill window ("The Frickert Fracas"), and Scooby trying to get the kids' attention to tell them he found a secret passage out of Moody Manor ("Guess Who's Knott Coming To Dinner").

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: The death of [[spoiler:the cat people]] in ''Scooby Doo on Zombie Island'' goes straight into NightmareFuel. Also the death of the former inhabitants. Being forced to go into a sea where alligators (or crocodiles?) just wait for their meal? Charming.

* FoodAsBribe: Shaggy and Scooby can be coaxed into doing anything for food, namely Scooby Snacks.

* FrankWelker: Fred is his first role and one of his best known roles, and Frank ''still'' voices the character today many years since he had started. With the passing of Don Messick, Welker voices Scooby, too.
* FreeRangeChildren: The gang probably isn't that old, yet they run all about creation solving mysteries. This wasn't changed at all in ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo''. Well, in ''Pup'' they mostly stayed in one town, at least.

* LongRunner: Still making new episodes/movies, 40+ years later. In those years of the franchise, there have been 420 series episodes (these include eleven-minute and seven-minute installments), 10 guest appearances on other shows, two parody spots, 6 specials, 5 made-for-TV movies, two theatrical movies, two commercial shills (2005 spot for Dove shampoo with Velma, Wilma Flintstone and Jane Jetson; 2006 spot for [=DirecTV=] with the whole gang), A movie theater spot (the gang busts Daffy Duck for jabbering on a cell phone in a theater), and (so far) 17 direct-to-DVD movies.

* MagicSkirt: Velma in the first live action movie (where [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Velma_8925.jpg she's dangling upside down by one foot]]--word is that Linda Cardellini had her skirt taped to her legs), and Velma and Daphne in the ''What's New'' episode "Ready To Scare" (the entire gang suspended by their feet).

** In "Guess Who's Knott Coming To Dinner," Don Knotts (in the guise of Captain Moody's first mate) identifies Fred as Captain Moody's nephew Ronald. This is probably a nod to Ronnie, which was Fred's original name until he was renamed after CBS programming head Fred Silverman.

* NameDrop: In "The Frickert Fracas" (Scooby-Doo Movies ep with Jonathan Winters), Maude Frickert tells Fred he looks like Glen Campbell.

* TheOtherDarrin: The show went through many voice actors. The only cast member to stay consistent throughout the whole series (save for ''A Pup Named Scooby Doo'') is Fred.

** In "Decoy for a Dognapper", while warding off a flock of bats, Velma kicks her knees up high enough to show her panties, but they are colored the same as her skirt.
** In "Scooby's Night With A Frozen Fright", she, Shaggy and Scooby get startled at the door slamming behind them and you can see her panties which are the same color as her dress.

** In "Wanted Cheddar Alive," the gang is chasing the guy in the blue suit until Daphne's skirt flips up to show her panties. Meanwhile Daphne and Fred jump up higher then fall down to show Daphne's pink panties.

** In 1978 episode "Creepy Creature Of Vulture's Claw the gang heads to the old aaretaker's cabin to open the door to save Daphne; in the process it showed her black panties.
** In 1984 episode "Scooby's Peephole Pandemonium" after the gang heads to Norman Deathman's bedroom Daphne and Scrappy hide under the bed to show her upskirt of her panties.

** It's possible that they might actually be late teens. Late enough to be considered legal adults and allowed to go off on their own or they're really college age/

* PopularityPolynomial

** Number one is now contested between ''ScoobyDooOnZombieIsland'' and ''ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated''. Either or both can be considered canon to the original, or to each other (Zombie Island takes place years after either, with Mystery Inc. in their mid-to-late twenties, so it's possible), both are DarkerAndEdgier than the original. Of all the ''movies'' of Scooby-Doo, it's pretty darn unanimous that Zombie Island is number 1.

** ''The New Scooby Doo Movies'' - the first, and direct sequel to the show.

* SignatureLaugh: Scooby's "heHeHEHeHehe" chortle, often followed by, "Rooby Roo!"
* SkeletonKey: In the book, ''Scooby Doo! and the Skeleton Key'', Scooby and the gang find an old-fashioned skeleton key - which the ghost of a pirate wants.

** According to studio bios from the cast we know, Fred and Shaggy are 17, Daphne is 16 and Velma is 15. WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo would chronologically have Fred and Shaggy at age 10, Daphne at 9, and Velma (who in this series sleeps in a jumper) at 8.

* StoryBreakerTeamUp: The various team ups with characters from other shows.

* TakeThat:

-->'''Shaggy:''' And there goes the bladder!

* WalkingTheEarth: Or ''driving'' it, anyway.

** Not to mention that there were never any witches burnt at the stake in America. They were either hanged, crushed with stones, or sentenced to imprisonment.

* EfficientDisplacement: Scooby and Shaggy in ''Where Are You!'' episode "Spooky Space Kook".

* AbsurdlyIneffectiveBarricade: Many episodes involve the gang building a barricade, only to discover the door opens OUTWARDS as opposed to inwards.

**** Not to mention Don Adams of GetSmart playing an exterminator in the house of LonChaney.

The original Breakfast Club, a popular SaturdayMorningCartoon from {{Hanna-Barbera}} that premiered in 1969 and lasted in various forms up to the early Eighties (and episodes are again being made today) featuring four teenagers (Fred Jones, Velma Dinkley, Daphne Blake and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers) and their talking dog Scooby Doo (a classic SpeechImpairedAnimal) in a [[CoolCar van called the Mystery Machine]]. Each episode they'd encounter a mystery involving some form of spooky supernatural monster which would more often than not [[ScoobyDooHoax turn out to be a hoax meant to frighten the locals away from the villain's real operation]], and which would be resolved at the end by unmasking the villain, who would inevitably utter "I would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for YouMeddlingKids, and that dog too." Reportedly also [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar full of drug references]] (hey, it ''was'' TheSeventies), depending on how you read it (what the hell do they put in those Scooby Snacks, anyways?).

* ''ScoobyDooAndTheReluctantWerewolf'' (1988, made-for-TV movie)

* ''ScoobyDooMeetsTheBooBrothers'' (1988, made-for-TV movie)

The most recent incarnations are ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo'' (A modernized return to the mystery format) and ''ShaggyAndScoobyDooGetAClue'' (which is much flatter animation-wise and rather weird, featuring nanotech Scooby snacks and a [[LampshadeHanging message from Fred]] [no relation] in the title). A new series called ''ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' premiered July 12, 2010 (containing possible character development, an overarching plot, and a DarkerAndEdgier feel).

* ''ShaggyAndScoobyDooGetAClue'' (2006-2008, The CW)

* ''ScoobyDooAndTheGhoulSchool'' (1988, made-for-TV movie)

* ''ScoobyDooCampScare'' (2010)

* ''[[APupNamedScoobyDoo A Pup Named Scooby-Doo]]'' (1988-1991, ABC)

''APupNamedScoobyDoo'' mercilessly lampooned and lampshaded these. And invented several new ones. And then lampooned and lampshaded ''those''.\\

* AnthropomorphicShift: Scooby himself was suffering this by the mid-80s. He was seen walking on two legs all the time (it didn't help that his four legged design was not changed) and he was becoming somewhat less of a SpeechImpairedAnimal. It seems to have been reversed beginning with ''APupNamedScoobyDoo'' where he became more of a quadruped again.\\

* ContinuityNod: ''What's New Scooby Doo?'' featured a batch of these during its run. One even to ''APupNamedScoobyDoo''.

* ContinuityReboot: ''Scooby-Doo!: The Mystery Begins'' deletes everything ''[[APupNamedScoobyDoo A Pup Named]]'' set in the continuity other than it taking place in Coolsville.

* FreeRangeChildren: The gang probably isn't that old, yet they run all about creation solving mysteries. This wasn't changed at all in ''APupNamedScoobyDoo''. Well, in ''Pup'' they mostly stayed in one town, at least.

** A flashback to Velma's childhood in ''What's New, Scooby Doo?'' uses the art style of ''APupNamedScoobyDoo''. It depicts why she's afraid of clowns.
*** In addition, one of the episodes features Fred and Velma indisposed, leaving only Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby to solve the mystery by themselves, a la all the later shows before APupNamedScoobyDoo.

* NoFourthWall: In ''APupNamedScoobyDoo''.

** ''APupNamedScoobyDoo'', to many, comes in at a very close second. Again, it played with a lot of the conventions of the original, and lampshaded quite a bit of them as well. Again, can be considered canon to the original series.

* RedHerring: "I didn't do it!" Lampshaded in ''APupNamedScoobyDoo'', with a character [[MeaningfulName named Red Herring]], [[RunningGag who is accused by Fred of ''every'' single crime in every episode]], save the one time where Red was actually the monster and Fred couldn't accuse him because of a prior agreement made with the rest of the gang.

--->'''Scooby:''' Rat's ''Rooby! Roo!''

--->'''Scooby:''' Ri, Raggy.
--->'''Shaggy:''' Ri, Rooby.
* SpinoffBabies: ''APupNamedScoobyDoo'', although technically they're 10-year-olds rather than actual infants.
** According to studio bios from the cast we know, Fred and Shaggy are 17, Daphne is 16 and Velma is 15. APupNamedScoobyDoo would chronologically have Fred and Shaggy at age 10, Daphne at 9, and Velma (who in this series sleeps in a jumper) at 8.

* ''The13GhostsOfScoobyDoo'' (1985-1986, ABC)

* The ghosts being real, at least for two series, and The13GhostsOfScoobyDoo.

The most recent incarnations are ''WhatsNewScoobyDoo'' (A modernized return to the mystery format) and ''ShaggyAndScoobyDooGetAClue'' (which is much flatter animation-wise and rather weird, featuring nanotech Scooby snacks and a [[LampshadeHanging message from Fred]] [no relation] in the title). A new series called ''ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' premiered July 12, 2010 (containing possible character development, an overarching plot, and a DarkerAndEdgier feel).

* ''WhatsNewScoobyDoo'' (2002-2006, The WB)

* ''ScoobyDooMonstersUnleashed'' (live-action movie, 2004)

* BrotherhoodOfManimals: Depending on the writer.

* ''[[ScoobyDooMysteryInc Scooby-Doo! Mystery Inc.]]'' (2010-present, Cartoon Network)