We’re coming to the end of our journey of Scooby intros, at least for now. Next time should be the last series we have to look at…because I’m not listing Velma’s Cosplayer as a “Scooby-Doo” show. The next one on our list is one I admittedly haven’t seen a lot of but that’s a scheduling issue more than anything else, and now it’s only available behind the paywall. Be Cool, Scooby-Doo is a bit more of a parody of the show than anything else, but one that was smart enough to retain the mystery aspect. In many ways it’s A Pup Named Scooby-Doo with the characters graduating high school and beginning their trip around the world.
When I first saw the art style and the silly parody tone I thought this was going to be terrible, one of those quirky for the sake of being quirky shows. And yet, from the few episodes I’ve watched it may actually be one of the better shows in the franchise…though I’m still not a fan of the art style.
Well, we’ve finally reached that point in the intro journey, where we’re lucky if we get more than just a logo. Modern intros might as well not exist and as a fan of intros that disappoints me to write. Still, it does take a cue from Mystery Incorporated in that it shows off the personalities of the characters in this version. Fred is a bit more action-oriented and tied to his spooky van. Velma continues to be the researcher and trivia buff of the group. (This would be the first one post-Mindy Cohn, who left to battle breast cancer.) Shaggy and Scooby are…still them. The odd one out is Daphne. I don’t buy into the theory that until recently Daphne didn’t have a personality. She was the heart of the group, the only one besides Scooby and Shaggy to be up front in the mystery solving (it’s her goal as a reporter to find a real haunting after years of fake ones that starts the events of the early direct-to-video period with Scooby-Doo On Zombie Island), and yet she develops new skills depending on the show. One writer wants to put her into martial arts, this wants to give her a different quirk every episode, but why not just make her the clever one that she evolved into over time?
My biggest problem with the art style are those “Family Guy eyes”. You know, the ones that appear to have a lower eyelid? That almost always looks wrong, even on Bluey where I oddly tolerate it more. As someone who does a comic where the main characters have oversized eyes I know it’s hard to have eyes narrow into a squint or “stink eye” but the lower eyelid just doesn’t work for me as a solution.
The theme song does match the style of the show, upbeat and fun. I think the forgiveness I give here is the same reason as A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, being a more comedic take to the point of parody allows them to get away with a bit more. While 13 Ghosts humor doesn’t work because it’s trying to be silly and serious at the same time rather than serious with bits of humor it feels like the show is lying to us, but with the pup and the cool incarnations it’s meant to be more comedic and thus is fully acceptable.
I wish I had more to say but the intro is short and I was only able to catch a few episodes on Boomerang before it jumped up a tier on the cable package and stuck the library behind a paywall. I actually like it. There was more heart and love of the franchise in there than I was expecting and how much of a fan the creators were I can’t say. The results are quite good though, following Velma’s insecurities, Fred’s interest in mysteries and his van (which I’ll take over being obsessed with traps or removing masks like in other versions), the usual Shag and Scoob hijinks, and sometimes even Daphne’s search for a quirk made me laugh…though at other times I thought it was stupid. Daph really got the short end on this show.
Next time is the final version, as they repeat an old concept…and prove why it worked better in a hour than a half-hour.
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