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Scooby Doo's Original Mysteries
 To
purchase this DVD, Click Here.
The Film : Scooby Doo was one
of the highlights of Saturday Morning cartoons, when such entertainment
was at its peak. The resulting mysteries are timeless as well,
in their own way. With numerous "clone"/spin-off cartoon
shows in later years --and a possible live-action movie, in the
works as I write this-- Scooby is a classic cartoon character!
The series, as if you didn't know, revolves around a group
of teenage kids --Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy-- and their
pet dog, Scooby Doo. They travel to spooky mysteries via their
Mystery Machine; a groovy-looking van. It is up to the
Scooby Gang to unmask each villain and reveal their crime. The
climax would always involve a chase scene, complete with '70s
songs that were so-bad-they-were-good. Afterwards, the mystery
always ends happily, with each villain grumbling some variation
of, "It would've been all mine, if not for those meddling
kids!"
This collection is of the first episodes ever made.
See the cartoon's pilot episode, "What a Night For a Night,"
as well as the following first episodes, "Hassle in the
Castle," "A Clue for Scooby Doo," "Mine Your
Own Business," and "Decoy for a Dognapper." Five
episodes...? You bet; another DVD perk.
Sure, these cartoons are pretty dated. There is also Scooby-Doo's
constant penchant for having a not so surprising villain in each
episode, eliminating most of the alleged mystery. However, it's
still an amusing ride, in a sort of "Colombo" way,
to see how the Scooby Gang solves each crime, and apprehends
the crook, often with very amusing contraptions to capture them
(the series creators must've been big fans of the classic board
game, Mouse Trap).
The bottom line is, Scooby Doo's Original Mysteries
is a perfect addition to anyone's DVD collection. Generation
Xers will love the nostalgia, while modern kids will finally understand what all the fuss is about, whenever this cartoon
series is referred to over and over again. Buffy the Vampire
Slayer fans will get to see the origin of the "Scooby
Gang" reference. This classic cartoon effected us all; a
nice slice of 1970's Americana...
The DVD : One cool element of the DVD is the
perfect way the original episodes have been translated to Digital
Video Disc form. Frame by frame, the conversion is perfect in
every way. The episodes are also able to be heard in French and
Spanish as well as the original English voices. Sure, this is
a common feature of most DVDs, though in this case it's even
a little fun. Hearing Scooby-Doo speak French is a real hoot.
As if that wasn't enough, there are intriguing bonuses. When
making the latest Scooby Doo VHS movie, "The Witch's
Ghost," they made two music videos, which are included
on the disc. Also on the disc are excerpts from the official
Scooby Doo soundtrack CD. There are even some sample snack recipes
(!) from the book, Scooby Doo's Guide to Life( a particularly
amusing Scholastic book for pre-teens, released just last year).
Such recipes include none other than the official recipe
for --you guessed it-- Scooby Snacks. Coooool!
This DVD is extremely well made and gets Techtite's second-highest
rating. Bravo to Warner Bros., for such excellent respect of
(another) classic. The half notch missing from its rating is
I guess for the 1-10th of USA that doesn't like Scooby Doo (talk
about wet blankets!). A cynic might also grumble that Cartoon
Network shows Scooby Doo episodes each and every day (FYI, these
eps have been edited for more commercial time). Any Scooby
fan, though, couldn't want anything more in this DVD...
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copyright 2000; all rights reserved. Pictures of DVD box covers
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with TECHtite and the distributors of that DVD. For further "legalese"
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