A Pup Named Scooby-Doo



"There's a mystery in town, so call the coolest pup around, oh

Scoo-oby, a pup named Scooby-Doo (Scooby-dooby doo, scooby-doo!)"

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo is a cartoon show featuring younger versions of the Scooby Doo cast (but is NOT set in the same continuity). It featured the "Scooby-Doo Detective Agency" as pre-teens who, like their older counterparts, solved supernatural themed mysteries in which the Monster of the Week turned out to be some crook in a mask. The show lasted from September, 1988 to August, 1991, a total of 30 episodes.

The show was a lot wackier and zanier than the original show. It hung plenty of lampshades on tropes used by the previous incarnations of the series. The show also made significant changes in the primary cast from the original source, justified in that they were younger and less mature versions of the original characters.

If that description sounds familiar, by the way, there's a reason for that: The team at H-B that created APNSD is also responsible for Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs. They left for Warner Bros after the first season was finished.

More recently, the concept of revisiting the cast in their earlier years appeared in the movie Scooby Doo: The Mystery Begins (meant to be a prequel to the original Scooby-Doo live action movie series) and the video game Scooby Doo: First Frights. The movie set them as meeting in high school while the video game had them meet in elementary school.

Notable as the last series Don Messick played Scooby Doo in.

The show uses several of the same tropes as the original series as well as many of its own.

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo provides examples of:
"Shaggy: "Get it, Scoob?"
 * Adorkable: Velma
 * Agent Scully: At the end of "Ghost Who's Coming to Dinner" Daphne still doesn't believe in ghosts even after spending nearly the whole episode interacting with one.
 * Amusing Injuries
 * Animation Bump: Common when Glen Kennedy was animating; the characters suddenly moved in a more fluid, bouncy manner, and were more prone to bizarre movements and bouncy wild takes.
 * Bag of Holding: Sugie's diaper bag.
 * Big Eater: Both Scooby and Shaggy.
 * Bigger On the Inside: Scooby's dog house. It looks like an ordinary doghouse from the outside, but inside it's a luxurious mansion, enough to make even Daphne a little jealous.
 * Catch Phrase: Many of the same from the original series and many others.
 * "Jinkies."
 * "Velma said, 'Jinkies.' It must be a clue."
 * After Shaggy makes an Incredibly Lame Pun:

Scooby: (after much laughing) "I don't get it.""

""DRUGS?! Drugs can mess you up!""
 * "Zoinks!"
 * "I would've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you pesky kids. Oh, and that puppy."
 * That one is more of an example of a group Phrase Catcher than a Catch Phrase
 * One time the gang said it for the culprit, she said "how did you know I was gonna say that?".
 * "Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?"
 * Averted in "The Computer Walks Among Us." Scooby enters a dark closet when Velma kisses him.
 * "That will do, Jenkins."
 * "Yes, Miss Blake."
 * "It could only be...Red Herring!"
 * "Let's split up, gang!" (always said when splitting up is completely inappropriate)
 * "There's no such things as ghosts!" Ironically, Daphne doesn't even believe the slightest possibility of monsters existing (even when they met an actual ghost), while in most series she believes (along with Scooby and Shaggy) the monster might be real.
 * Character Exaggeration: Done to Fred, Daphne, and Velma. Shag and Scoob are about the same as ever. That may be because it's close to impossible to exaggerate Shag and Scoob. They've always had bottomless stomachs, they've always been complete cowards, and they've always done anything for a Scooby Snack or twenty. Sometimes a whole box.
 * Scooby simply adores Velma in this show. She gets as many "wet puppy kisses" from Scooby as Shaggy does.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Freddy
 * Conflict Ball: In "Night of the Living Burger" Shaggy and Scooby have fallen out and spend the whole episode bickering, and we never find out what they were arguing about in the first place.
 * Crazy Prepared: Velma. She has a Bag of Holding.
 * Delicious Distraction
 * Deadpan Snarker: Daphne
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: Daphne's parents "count money" on Tuesday nights, which lasts until the next day. Also, Scooby's reaction to eating a Scooby Snack. He moans with pleasure, then shoots into the sky as fireworks go off, and finally drifts back to earth with a happy smile on his face. Oh, and Shaggy usually holds him afterwards. This seems to be a Shout-Out to Snuffles the Tracking Dog from Quick Draw McGraw, who would often react that same way to getting a biscuit. Muttley has also done this.
 * Drugs Are Bad:

""DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE!!!!!!!!!! OH, DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE!!!!!!!!!!"
 * This was made all the more deliciously ironic considering that Shaggy seemes every bit the stoner he always was, even as a kid in this series. Or maybe he's just a goof.
 * Efficient Displacement: In the opening sequence.
 * Everybody Do the Endless Loop: Lampshaded by the characters yelling "Start the music!" whenever one started. The chase montages were even filled with clips of the characters (and sometimes the monster) dancing.
 * The Drag Along
 * Fair Play Whodunnit
 * Feud Episode: Shaggy and Scooby refusing to speak to each other throughout one episode, which hinders the gang's attempts at solving a mystery involving a giant monster hamburger.
 * Five-Man Band
 * Free-Range Children: The kids run about Coolsville with little concern from moms or dads.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Pretty much a given, considering who created this version of Scooby-Doo. See also Does This Remind You of Anything? for one of the more blatant examples.
 * Hanna-Barbera
 * Headless Horseman: Actually, the headless skateboarder. No joke.


 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Becca from Life Goes On was Daphne.
 * Ma-Ti -- and the later (temporary) voice of Shaggy -- is Red Herring.
 * I Broke a Nail / Super OCD: Daphne
 * Identity Amnesia: Shaggy loses his memory and believes himself to be his hero, Commander Cool.
 * Idiot Hero: Fred becomes a hilarious ignoramus in this show, a characterization that stuck for a while, showing up in the live action movies, and every once in a while in What's New Scooby Doo, the animated movies and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Inc..
 * Just Eat Him: "Like, Scooby-Doo just ate the Cheese Monster!"
 * Lampshade Hanging
 * Lighter and Softer: While the original wasn't necessarily all that scary, this is even more lighthearted.
 * Also Denser and Wackier, as this series is also a LOT more cartoony than the original series.
 * Limited Wardrobe
 * Lost in Imitation: This show developed the personalities of the heroes much more than the original show - Velma's braininess, Daphne's wealth, and Freddy's idiocy all became signature traits and have been a part of the franchise since.
 * Meaningful Name: Red Herring. Freddy always suspects him, to the point where other characters start to Lampshade Hanging this, but he was only the culprit once.
 * And that one time was the one time Freddy wasn't allowed to accuse him.
 * Monster Clown: Zombo
 * Monster of the Week
 * Narrative Shapeshifting: Scooby would often change his appearance to that of the Monster of the Week.
 * No Fourth Wall: In some episodes, the characters would talk to the viewers directly after catching the monster, asking them if they had figured out who the monster is.
 * Notable Original Music: Many episodes had an original song based around the Monster of the Week, which was often played during the chase
 * Occult Detective
 * Once an Episode: Freddy blames Red Herring for being behind everything.
 * Panty Shot: Velma and Daphne in a couple of episodes. In past series, Velma's panties were colored the same as her skirt. Here they're white.
 * Pepper Sneeze: Occurred with newspaper ink instead of pepper.
 * Pounds Are Animal Prisons: There's an evil dog-catcher that sometimes goes after Scooby. What kind of a dog-catcher goes after dogs that aren't strays?
 * An evil one.
 * Pre-Teen Genius: Velma went from being The Smart Guy to being an Omnidisciplinary Scientist, having a super-computer devoted solely to crime-solving stuffed in a briefcase, and doing work for NASA even.
 * Pro Wrestling Episode: "Wrestle Maniacs".
 * Red Herring: Short of using an actual red fish, you just can't get more literal than this: Red Herring was the name of an actual character. Once an Episode, Freddy would accuse him of being the culprit; the accusation always came out of nowhere, with zero evidence to support it. Fred's logic was that Red was a jerk, and thus must be the villain. Red would always respond with an airtight alibi. There was one episode where Red actually WAS guilty. This was, of course, the one time Fred didn't accuse him (the other characters had made a bet with Freddy that he couldn't go a case without accusing Red of anything). This led to him have a miniature Heroic BSOD, where he lay on the ground, pounding it with his fists while crying "I knew it! I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it!"
 * Running On the Spot
 * Running Gag: Among others, Freddy accusing Red Herring of everything.
 * Scooby-Doo Hoax
 * Shaggy Search Technique: Surprisingly, Scooby pulls it off more frequently than Shaggy.
 * Shrinking Violet: Velma. In early episodes her only lines in the entire show were "Jinkies" and the name of the real crook. (When this happened, the other characters would usually exclaim: "Velma talked!" in complete astonishment.) Later episodes gave her more lines, with Jinkies instead becoming her Verbal Tic that she'd found a clue.
 * Snub By Omission: After the villains are revealed, they will say the traditional, "And I would've gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you meddling kids." Many times, Scooby would have to remind them to finish by saying, "Oh, and that puppy."
 * Speech-Impaired Animal
 * Spin-Off Kids
 * Spoiled Sweet: Daphne
 * Strictly Formula: Find bad guy, interview suspects, find clues, trap the monster, and let Velma solve who the monster is. Of course, this formula has been found in many Scooby spin-offs, so it's naturally lampshaded to no extent.
 * The Television Talks Back
 * Title Drop: At the beginning and end of every episode.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Although Shaggy and Scooby are known to eat just about anything, there's nothing they love more than Scooby Snacks.
 * Unnamed Parent
 * Wild Take: Several. The animators seemed to have a running bet to see who could make the next wild take even more outrageous and surreal. Glen Kennedy's wild takes have often been the most off the wall.
 * You Meddling Kids: with emphasis on kids this time.