Wednesday, October 28, 2015

On The Air: Be Cool, Scooby-Doo (2015)

18 months after it'd been first announced by Cartoon Network, Be Cool, Scooby-Doo hit the airwaves 3 weeks ago. That's the good news. Unfortunately, I also have to give you the bad news.

It's being done by the same team of idiots, led by Michael Jelenic, responsible for that other atrocity, Teen Titans Go!. That would explain some of the poor character designs. Also, because CN would still air replays during the week if it was a weekly series like every other Scooby series, Be Cool is airing 5 nights a week minimum. I'm not even sure if they have enough material ready for that sort of thing, and remember, CN screwed the pooch on the last series, Mystery Incorporated, by burning off the 2nd season episodes in daily format a couple of years ago. Did the same thing with The Tom & Jerry Show last year. Do they really know what their audience wants? Or is Rob Sorcher from the Vince McMahon School of Audience Manipulation?

Also, it seems they decided to throw away the classic designs, other than wardrobe. Well, then again, Daphne (Grey Griffin) apparently dresses like she's in junior high, swapping her pink hose for pink socks. Those nylon-encased legs were a big selling point to a lot of young boys back in the day. Now, she's slightly off-center, as if she's being dumbed down after the way Fred had the same thing done to him the last 13 years.

Following is a sample excerpt:



Scooby on bass? We know Shaggy can rock out. We saw that on Mystery Incorporated. What grade are they supposed to be in now?

I tried to watch an episode On Demand. 5 minutes in, I turned it off, and I thought, I can write better than these clowns. Unfortunately, I may be too qualified to work for them.

Rating: D.

9 comments:

Silverstar said...

You think, therefore you're over-qualified.

Goldstar said...

I don't know if there was any influence or not, but I swear those designs make Scooby and the gang look like they were drawn to resemble Seth MacFarlane's "Family Guy" characters. And yeah, I've noticed that "Be Cool, Scooby Doo"'s writers seem to have taken Daphne's ditz meter and cranked it up to 11. This honestly seems more like a parody of Scooby Doo than the genuine article.

hobbyfan said...

@Silverstar: LOL! Does that mean we have a low class of writers at WB?

@Goldstar: You're not the only one to make the assumption that the artists on this show were trying to copy the FG look, but they failed in that aspect. If it's a parody, then it's on the same level of attempted comedy as Teen Titans GO!. Not much of a stretch, considering Jelenic is involved.

Steven Dolce said...

Why won't the Scooby-Doo franchise end?

hobbyfan said...

Steven, it's been around for 46 years. The earlier shows are better than the dreck now being foisted upon us. However, Scooby still sells a lot of merchandise (i.e. backpacks, t-shirts, comic books), and as long as the cash registers are still ringing, WB will continue to create new shows. They just need better writers.

Steven Dolce said...

Lego released a Scooby-Doo toy line in the summer. Do you collect Lego toys?

hobbyfan said...

Nope. I don't collect toys, period.

Steven Dolce said...

How come?

hobbyfan said...

I was never interested.