Scooby-Doo It Some More

Way back in this post, I expounded on the latest incarnation of eveybody's favorite enigma-solving and ghost chasing pooch - Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorportated.

This is a quick status update.

I’d spoken of how it has brought a much needed new element to the Scooby-verse - a narrative story arc. Well, it hasn’t lost sight of that. Far from it. It’s not only kept it up, but has layered it upon itself. What on earth do I mean? Simple.

 I’d told you of how the Scooby gang had been receiving strange leads and clues from someone hailing as Mr. E. Well, we’ve since learned who he is. I don’t want to spoil it for you if you’ve yet to see the whole saga, but suffice to say it’s not a superfluous character. Rather Mr. E is imbedded into the tale already. And once we learn more of this pre-established backstory, it doesn’t stop there. We’re suddenly privy to a clearing up of what happened long ago in Crystal Cove’s past. Yet it still doesn’t stop there! We delve into the mystery that had been around long before, one that the mystery-solving team prior to Scooby’s took on and only partially succeeded in figuring out. Thus, we have fresh story with backstory in a backstory derived from a backstory. Wow. They really took their time developing this concoction. It may sound as if it were convoluted, but I assure you, it’s not. Well, it’s not so far as a Scooby Doo cartoon is concerned.

And all the while, they have not dropped any of the side issues among characters, nor ignored any of the great avenues to explore.

On the whole, they’ve managed to bolster the world of Scooby into something practically logical. And we all know how preposterous it had been in the first place.

I should mention that a friend of mine who has long moved away now and happens to be a big Scooby fan also enjoys the show, but he feels that the overlaying storylines get a bit thick and out of hand, perhaps even unnecessary or in the way. But by the same token, he didn’t pooh-pooh them or wish they were entirely absent.

And then there’s Zoey, who watches it peripherally when her kids do. She thinks it truly awful what they’ve done with the franchise. She specifically cited the Shaggy and Velma “romance” (which fails- no mystery there!) as one of the offenses. You might recall that I also raised an eyebrow at this notion, but kept on with it only to see how well it had been handled - and that it brought along with it a character development that had been sorely needed after so many manifestations. So I told her she’d have to see it all from the beginning and let it do its thing, since it most definitely relies on the power of the Story Arc to work.

So, to the entire team who brought us Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorportated, I say:
BRAVO! Bravo, indeed.