What's New, Scooby-Doo? / YMMV

Alternate Character Interpretation: In "Fright House of a Lighthouse," is Verona a complete Manipulative Bitch just trying to look good and show up Velma? Or is she genuinely interested in solving the mystery of the skeleton sailors, the mysterious van, and other such incidents out of a genuine passion for mysteries and/or desire to atone for her crimes as the Creepy Keeper rather than just to avoid suspicion?
Awesome Music:
- One thing most people agree on is the opening theme song by Simple Plan was exceptional and easily the best Scooby-Doo theme song.
- The vast majority of the chase songs across the show are remarkably catchy (albeit on the short side) as seen here for season 1, here for season 2, and here for season 3.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- The possessed Mystery Machine, the Headless Snowman, the Frozen Fiend, the Mummy, The Gold Monster, the scarecrow robots, the Demon Farmer, the Creepy Keeper, the Scooby Snack Monster, the Baseball Specter, the Snow Creature, the Leland Brothers, and the Menacing Metallic Clown are all consistently praised Monster of the Week villains. In terms of their human alter egos, Galina, the person behind the Frozen Fiend mask, is one of the most popular culprits for her Dark Action Girl moments, calculating plan, and shipping potential. Verona Dempsey/The Creepy Keeper (given her Always Someone Better rivalry with Velma), Adventurer Archaeologist Susie Smythe/the Centaur, Stepford Smiler Terry/The Roller Ghoster, Marcy the maker of the scarecrow robots (for being a flirty Smarter Than They Look Farmer's Daughter who is cousins with Velma), corporate spy Trudy/the second Scooby Snack Monster, and Nervous Wreck Mad Scientist assistant Monroe Hopper/the fish creature are also memorably entertaining culprits.
- Gentle Giant ex-wrestler the Humungous Hammer, Sonny Les Matines (the friendly yet possibly insane gargoyle-obsessed urban explorer and bellringer from "Ready to Scare"), Prof. Ravenmane in "She Sees Sea Monsters by the Sea Shore" (who gets quite a bit of attention due to being guest-voiced by Mimi Rogers, along with being a sexy scientist with a Punny Name that matches her distinctive hair, which Daphne snarks on), Mei Ling and her toymaker friend Louie, and Wrench Wench Chris only have a few scenes but are all very fondly remembered suspects.
- Race car driver Lupe Chesares from "The Fast and the Wormious," the Ren Faire minstrels from "Large Dragon at Large," the tour group from "Mummy Scares Best," Tommy from "A Scooby Doo! Christmas", and Janey The Fashionista from "Hi-Tech House of Horrors" are all opening haunting victims who show up again later in the episode and make good impressions with the fans.
Fandom Rivalry: With Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. They are two popular, new-millennium modernizations of the series on two polar opposite sides: What's New? keeps things mostly traditional and more true to real life, while Mystery Incorporated vastly reworks the personalities, designs, and general series. Both series clearly knew what they attempted to do but clearly rubbed certain sides of the pre-existing fanbase the wrong way. It’s rarer to find someone who liked both equally rather than someone who will claim one was more enjoyable than the other. As time moved on, the Scooby fandom would have further ruffles about what occurred since and whether they improved on WNSD and SDMI.
Friendly Fandoms:
- Mostly anyone that's watched this show growing up also grew up with the original show, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, and the movies up to Samurai Sword.
- Likewise, most people in that group that continued to follow Scooby-Doo also seem to enjoy the newer movies for sharing a similar tone.
Harsher in Hindsight: One episode features the gang at a SeaWorld knock-off called Aqualand where Scooby and Shaggy get dragged underwater by an orca. It's a lot harder to watch when one considers the actual deaths that have happened in those exact circumstances.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- In the teaser of "Toy Scary Boo", the "living" Spaceman Swinton dolls build a long ladder out of building bricks resembling LEGO, which now have Scooby-Doo sets.
- Chris from the episode "Roller Ghoster Ride" bears a striking resemblance in design and personality to Nikki Wong.
- At one point in "3-D Struction", Shaggy is seen holding a huge gold nugget and proclaiming "We're rich!" while wearing a mining helmet, bringing to mind the memetic chant from Deep Rock Galactic under the same circumstances.
It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: While some fans appreciated the Lampshade Hanging of Scooby-Doo tropes and the slight difference in characterization, the series has seen criticism for sticking a bit too closely to the formula.
Les Yay:
- The episode "The Unnatural" has Luis Santiago's publicist, Autumn Summerfield, walk around and examine Daphne in a way that made it look like she was checking Daphne out. Daphne was noticeably perturbed.
- "A Scooby-Doo Valentine" presents Daphne and Velma living together in a single house, with no older relatives of either in sight, when they go back to their home town, lending the whole thing a very domestic feel. The same goes for Shaggy and Fred, but the unintentional subtext with Daphne and Velma is particularly noticeable because of the conversation Daphne and Velma are seen having over breakfast about Valentine's Day, where Velma lightly vents to Daphne about "the pressure to identify oneself as part of a socially-acceptable couple" that comes with the holiday.
Memetic Mutation: The opening theme song is commonly used in random meme videos around social sites, particularly YouTube videos (e.g. gaming montages), TikToks, and old Vines.
Narm: When Freddy tries to pull a courageous You Shall Not Pass! on the sea monster in "She Sees Sea Monsters by the Sea Shore", he doesn't see the monster for a major clue reason - and then gets bonked on the head by a passing sea turtle, which knocks him out and nearly causes him to drown. The moment isn't played for comedy at all, as Scooby has to save him from imminent death and he's treated seriously like an incident survivor afterwards, but Fred talking about how he got "blindsided by sea turtles" understates how hilariously unheroic the moment made him out to be.
Remade and Improved: The series is regarded as being a great modernization of the original show that while not afraid to poke fun at itself, is very faithful to the spirit of the original show, while also improving on it in several aspects (such as making Daphne more proactive and giving Fred more of a personality).
Retroactive Recognition: The theme song was performed by none other than Simple Plan.
Suspiciously Similar Song:
- The theme song by Simple Plan has been compared by some to "No Reply" by The Beatles, with a similar melody but a faster tempo and more modern sound.
- A snippet of background music from the episode "The Vampire Strikes Back" sounds like the theme song for The Mickey Mouse Club, of all things.
Tear Jerker: The show had a noticeable trend of those close to the gang or people they admire being the perpetrator:
- The reveal of who the Cat Creature is in “Homeward Hound” hits Shaggy and Scooby hard since it’s their old friend Meadow who they knew for years.
- Velma has had this happen to her four times:
  - In "Space Ace At The Cape", the perpetrator be Velma's favorite scientist.
  - In "Large Dragon At Large", the perpetrator is an actor she's a fangirl of and was clearly happy to meet him. Even worse, his entire hoax was for nothing as the treasure was just a tourist trap myth.
  - In "Big Appetite In Little Tokyo", has Velma's favorite teacher being the perpetrator and even taking advantage of Velma's intelligence, something even he felt remorseful for.
  - In "A Scooby Doo Halloween", the perpetrator was her cousin. At least with her, she had a sympathetic motive, wasn't trying to hurt anyone, and Velma seemed willing to forgive her.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: While some people praise the show and hail it as a return to "the good old days," this show has received criticism, mostly from those who preferred the older 1970s series, due to changing the character designs and animation, music and sound effects, trying to make it more "hip" and "current," among a few other things. It doesn't detract from the show though and is at most a minor nitpick.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The familial relationship between Velma and Marcy gets little attention in "A Scooby Doo Halloween" beyond their hug during their greeting, and Marcy spends a lot more time feuding with Daphne and flirting with Fred. Given how she and Velma both enjoy science and robotics (while being different in so many other ways) and she is a suspect throughout the episode, their could have been a lot more interactions between the cousins.
Ugly Cute: The bat that Shaggy and Scooby thought was Fred in "The Vampire Strikes Back".
Unintentional Period Piece:
- This show nowadays definitely serves as a look at what the early-to-mid 2000s was generally like for teens and young adults and what was popular back then. The opening being done by Simple Plan is definitely the most overt case; they had three songs in the top 20 in 2003, and pretty much never hit that level again.
- One episode featured a guest appearance from obscure pop singer Lindsay Pagano, who at the time was an up-and-coming singer associated with Warner Bros.^note but quickly fell into obscurity outside of reappearing on The Voice.
- Early episodes would sometimes have a brief moment where one of the gang comments on or uses some popular bit of tech at the time, like Velma looking up an address on her computer or Shaggy discussing a CD he burned.
  - The opening credits proudly make a point to show Velma using a laptop, in lieu of the large book her Where Are You? incarnation referenced in the original series' credits.
- E-Scream in both episode title and setting reference the gaming industry trade event E3. In 2023, E3 would officially be permanently discontinued on December 12th 2023, by the parent company that hosted it, the Entertainment Software Association. The Last E3 having been held previously in 2021, being an entirely virtual event. With many reasons such as The Covid-19 Pandemic & Companies opting to use their own presentation videos online to announce new games
Vindicated by History: This show was controversial among fans, many of whom disliked it for its self-aware nature and being too close in tone to the original show while there are some fans who like it for the same reason. Over the years however, several detractors warmed up to the show and appreciated What's New for being a massive love letter to the franchise as a whole with its clever references to the earlier outings, even having obscure ones. What also helps is later incar nations being seen as much worse.
Visual Effects of Awesome: The animation is exceptional in the opening, using very smooth transitions between scenes.

YMMV / What's New, Scooby-Doo?

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