Add Some Sumptuous Silence to Your Halloween Watchlists with Lon Chaney’s ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ September 20, 2021
Witness the Birth and Evolution of a Genius: Three Early Makoto Shinkai Films Land on Blu-ray June 16, 2022
In 1972, the Scooby-Doo franchise wasn’t a franchise. The classic Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ran on CBS for three seasons and 41 episodes in 1969 and 1970, and that was the extent of it. That show, though, was obviously a huge hit. It inspired legions of copycat shows (and, ultimately, 50 years and counting of Scooby cartoons and movies), so it was only inevitable that Hanna-Barbera would bring the Mystery Inc. gang back. Which they did in 1972 with The New Scooby-Doo Movies. Those of you with only a passing familiarity with the Scoobyverse will remember this series as “the one with all the celebrity guest stars.” The series ran for two seasons and a total of 24 hourlong episodes, almost all of which are now collected on Blu-ray for your (or your little Scooby fanatic’s) enjoyment. Seriously, if you’re a fan of the original incarnation of the show, The New Scooby-Doo Movies makes a beautiful pairing. It feels like a natural extension of the original (because it is). It has the entire original cast, features the same animation style, and is just as cheesy as you remember. The new Blu-ray release – The New Scooby-Doo Movies: The (Almost) Complete Collection – features 23 of the show’s 24 episodes, along with a few minor extra features. Why the (almost) complete collection? The rights to these shows have been a mess over the years. Since each episode guest stars real people or fictional characters, Warner Brothers has had to negotiate separate rights for every episode. The previous Hanna-Barbera Golden and Diamond collections of the show only included 15 episodes. This, therefore, is the first time we’ve gotten this many episodes together in one place. The missing episode? Episode #3: “Wednesday is Missing,” which features the Addams Family. Despite the set’s lack of Morticia and Gomez, this is still a must-own for any Scooby fan. The episodes look gorgeous on Blu-ray, so you can watch Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby solve mysteries in pristine clarity with the likes of Batman and Robin, the Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, Don Knotts, Sandy Duncan, Sonny & Cher, the Harlem Globetrotters, Dick Van Dyke, and more! There are three “special features” in the set, but none is truly all that special if I’m being honest. There’s a Hanna-Barbera Kennel Club Roast of Scooby-Doo, which edits together some clips of other HB dogs cracking jokes about Scooby. There’s a quick feature with the real-life Harlem Globetrotters showing some basketball tricks. And there’s a spotlight on Velma and Daphne, which highlights their personal quirks through various clips. My 7-year-old son is still a huge Scooby-Doo fan (as am I, if I’m being 100% honest here), and this flashback to the classic show is a welcome addition to our library. (Disclosure: The Roarbots was provided with a review copy of this Blu-ray. All opinions remain our own.) You Might Also Like...
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