For over 50 years Scooby-Doo has been a stalwart of every generation it has passed through. Since its creation by Hanna-Barbera in 1969, Scooby-Doo has been a part of comics, TV shows, movies and even video games, taking millions and millions of people on a journey from its humble beginnings with the first ever series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! up to the most recent series in the franchise Scooby-Doo And Guess Who?
Following the release of the standalone Velma series created by Mindy Kaling in 2023, Scooby-Doo has once again hit the headlines. This time in a more negative manner than ever before, with Velma becoming the worst-rated animated show in IMDb history thanks to the change in character storylines and the removal of Scooby as a character overall.
But if you are a fan of the canine detective and his meddling friends Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy, then below I have compiled a list of the five best Scoob- Doo series to hit our screens instead of watching Velma.
5. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated
The newest of all the Scooby shows to be added to this list is Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. A new generation needed a new Scooby-Doo show and Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. smashed it out of the park. Released in 2010, this show took Scooby and the gang back to their little home town to solve local mysteries in the community. Unlike all of its previous shows this one came with a serious undertone, with the show investigating much darker theories than before such as the different relationships between the main five characters.
Another big difference between this show and any of the others released before and after is that this one was serialised so that all episodes were able to link together. It was also the first series since The 13 Ghosts Of Scooby-Doo that used real ghosts and monsters and not just people in masks, which allowed the creators to make links to real life horror movies such as Saw and Nightmare On Elm Street. All of these differences is what sets Mystery Incorporated apart from all the others.
4. Scooby’s All Star Laff-A-Lympics
This show is something a little bit different to any of the other shows on this list. It may have first seemed like a filler series with Hanna-Barbera trying to get their finger in every Scooby-Doo-shaped pie. A show which was loosely based on the real life Olympic Games, pit three teams of awesome animated characters against each other to win the Laff-A-Lympics. These teams were known as the Scooby Doobies, Yogi Yahooeys and the Really Rottens.
Even though the show only ran for two seasons, it went down in history as one of the best animated children’s shows of all time. What better than sitting down on a Saturday morning and watching all of your cartoon favourites taking on jokey versions of real life olympic events while travelling all over the world from England to Australia to the Himalayas.
3. Scooby-Doo Where Are You!
How can you do a list of the best Scooby-Doo TV series without including the show that started it all. The year was 1969 and along came the creation of Scooby-Doo Where Are You, Hanna-Barbera went down the route of Scooby-Doo, so as to introduce a non-violent TV show on a Saturday that would appeal to parents as well as children. What better than a group of young adults running around with their food obsessed canine trying to unmask crazy old men in monster costumes.
A mix of slapstick comedy provided by the scaredy cats Shaggy and Scooby combined with that of a detective show helped the show gain a cult following. This then led to Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. having to expand the show much further than they had ever anticipated with all of the films, TV shows and video games that followed suit over the next 50 years.
2. The New Scooby-Doo Movies
You may be thinking: ‘Movies? But isn’t this a list of the best TV series?’ Yes, you’re right, but this one is slightly different. It was actually a series of feature length episodes made to feel like movies. 24 episodes were made altogether, 16 across season one and then eight throughout season two, all reaching one hour long. This show also led to the introduction of special guests and celebrities making appearances in Scooby-Doo. Such as series favourites The Three Stooges, The Harlem Globetrotters and Batman and Robin, with the latter two going on to have their own shows with Warner Bros. after the release of The New Scooby-Doo Movies.
This would also be the last time audiences would see The Mystery Gang together until they were reunited in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo in 1988, with the show going through major changes of either including just Shaggy and Scooby or Scoob all behind himself. But if you wanted to watch a series of Scooby-Doo that also included weekly special guests then this is the one for you.
1. What’s New Scooby-Doo?
For me, What’s New Scooby-Doo has to take the top spot for the best Scooby-Doo TV show of all time. Spanning over four years, it is the third longest Scooby-Doo series, with 42 episodes. Any fan of Scooby Doo born in the late ’90s and early noughties would have been glued to their TVs as soon as they heard the opening credits. After a long hiatus with no newly released Scooby-Doo shows from 1991-2002, Scooby-Doo came back with a bang including all five of the main cast unlike other shows before that.
What’s New Scooby-Doo opened up eyes to a more modern Scooby-Doo show, based heavily on the original show Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, but this time allowing a much more modern take with the episodes focusing a lot on the internet and futuristic technology. This show meant Scooby-Doo could go back to its roots with people in disguise acting like monsters rather than real monsters. A real standout episode for this show was Gold Paw (Series 3 – Episode 12).
If you are an avid Scooby-Doo fan then you’ll already know about all of these, however, if you are new to the franchise then give the best 5 Scooby-Doo Series a try and I assure you, you’ll be a fan in no time.
