Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! is the tenth incarnation of Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo series of Saturday morning cartoons. It debuted on September 23, 2006 and ran on The CW TV Network on Saturday mornings. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Cosgrove Hall Films was the last cartoon series produced by co-creator, Joseph Barbera. The second season premiered on Teletoon in Canada on September 6th, 2008 at 8:30 a.m., and is also available online at The Kid's WB Online.
Synopsis
The premise of the show revolves around the fact that Shaggy Rogers' incredibly rich Uncle Albert Shaggleford disappears and names Shaggy as his sole heir for an inheritance. With the help of the inheritance, Shaggy has upgraded the Mystery Machine so that it now has the ability to transform itself into a number of other different vehicles, like the Hotdog Making Machine.
Dr. Albert Shaggleford had made some enemies before disappearing. Among the most dangerous is the archetypal evil genius and technology pirate out to take over the world and or become immortal; Dr. Phineas Phibes (who gets his name from the villain The Abominable Dr. Phibes). Dr. Phibes recruits various sidekicks and minions to help him with his plans, among them Dr. Trebla.
It appears that the supposedly-late Dr. Shaggleford was, beyond being rich, an inventor in his own right, and his clueless young heir is now in possession of some very interesting nanotechnology. The top secret nanotech formula has been mixed in with Scooby Snacks, which, when eaten, cause a variety of day-saving side effects.
Shaggy and Scooby-Doo have a mission: armed with an updated Mystery Machine, a loyal robot servant named Robi, their new riches, and the new and improved Scooby Snacks, they must stop the evil plans of Phineas Phibes and save the world. In episode 2, Shaggy upgrades the Mystery Machine from its original form, to a high-tech transforming vehicle. However, it usually transforms into machines inappropriate for the tasks at hand (however, in episode 11, it does transform into vehicles appropriate to finish the Polar Bear 3000). In their spare time, Shaggy and Scooby are fans of the show Chefs of Steel, the famous mystery solver Chad Chatington, and the giant monster-fighting robot named Badgerly, the Adverb.
Cast
- Scott Menville - Shaggy Rogers, Dr Trebla, Agent 4,
- Frank Welker - Scooby-Doo, Agent 3, Agent 13, Menace, Fred Jones
- Jim Meskimen - Robi, Agent 1, Agent 7, Mark
- Casey Kasem - Dr. Albert Shaggleford
- Jeff Bennett - Dr. Phineas Phibes, Agent 2, Rick, Mr. Invisibe
- ? .... Agent 5:
- Grey DeLisle - Misty Swiss, Daphne
- John DiMaggio - Bruce
- Jean Kasem - Cat Lady
- Mindy Cohn - Velma Dinkley
Production
The characters have been re-designed to look like animated versions of how they appeared in the live action film Scooby-Doo; Scooby is drawn with dots for eyes. It is the third show i the Scooby-Doo series, after A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and What's New, Scooby-Doo? that is not animated or drwan in the usual Hanna-Barbera style. Fred, Daphne and Velma, play incidental roles as Shaggy's friends but are not inloved in the cases. This is also the first series in which Casey Kasem does not voice Shaggy, but is instead done bt Scott Menville, although Scott Innes or Billy West portrayed the character in many of the Scooby-Doo animated movies made for television or home video. However, in this series, Kaseem does voice Shaggy's rich. on the run, Uncle Albert. Another noticeable difference is that Shaggy now wears a white short-sleeved shirt with a green strip across the middle and green sleeves instead of his trademark green t-shirt. In addition, Shaggy and Scooby's cowardice tendencies have been reduced to some extent.
Much like the short lived The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, on ABC in 1985 (which had actual ghosts and monsters), this show is different from the usual "crooks masquerading as ghosts and monsters" series. Fred Jones, Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley still make occasional appearances. They only appear in two episodes of season one. Fred and Daphne appear as a cameo and silent in one season two episode when they were not allowed to the party. Their silhouettes run across the screen in the opening credits in amongst the silhouettes of all the show's regular cast.
Other features of the show
With this show, The Scooby-Doo shows have been broadcast on four different networks during nearly four decades. The channels that have carried the Scooby-Doo cartoons are CBS (which aired the original show and the second incarnation), ABC (which aired the following six incarnations), The WB (which aired the ninth), and The CW (which aired the tenth). This does not include the reruns aired on cable and the upcoming (eleventh) series on Cartoon Network.
This is the first Scooby-Doo animated series since 1991 to make extensive use of the Castle Thunder sound effect, which Hanna-Barbera began to stop using around 1994, and was very rarely used on What's New, Scooby-Doo? and on none of the post-2003 direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movies, to be replaced with new digitally-recorded thunderclaps.
In episode 8, there is one scene where actual footage from a few of the recent Scooby-Doo direct-to-video movies is used. Shaggy even converses about the events in that episode.
It is unconfirmed, but the show may have been scheduled for a third season, as the series ended in a cliffhanger (Phibes states 'I will be back, more powerful and feared than before!' as he blasts away on his personal fueled jet pack, which Shaggy tampered with). Where, however, is yet to be seen, as the entire Kids WB block was discontinued in spring 2008 in favor of a new block programmed by 4Kids Entertainment (which has since dropped all Warner Bros. programming), leaving the most likely destination as Cartoon Network or a Web exclusive at one of Time Warner's sites. This particular series has ended, though it is possible that the eleventh incarnation of the Scooby-Doo franchise could pick up from this point.
DVD releases
- Volume 1 was released on October 30, 2007.
- Volume 2 was released on July 8, 2008.