Unmasking The Scooby-Doo Tropes You Think You Know

 

On and off since 1969 the Scooby-Doo franchise has been giving kids fun haunts and cool mysteries that most of the time they can try to solve before the characters, which is one of the draws of mystery stories for many people. Me, I just liked seeing them try to solve it and the wacky hijinks that made the story light and fun, but that’s probably because I kind of suck at solving mysteries. Nobody’s hiring me to be a detective anytime soon. Not being able to solve a Scooby mystery is one of my running gags.

As with any long-running franchise various opinions of what is the “real” Scooby-Doo and friends have come up…mostly the response of people who can’t accept a fun kids show at the intended face value and insist “this is what’s really going on, but they can’t get away with it in a kids show”. In other cases the Mandela Effect comes into play and what people are convinced was ALWAYS part of the franchise turns out to not really stand up to the actual watching, either because the exceptions have been ignored or forgotten, the parody and modern interpretations based on those misunderstandings have taken over what the culture believes was “always” part of Scooby-Doo, or both. So since I’m doing a whole lot of Scooby stuff this October and another one of these has just reared it’s ugly head again, let’s get into what the message boards told you is Scooby-Doo and what is actually Scooby-Doo. Let’s see who these tropes really are.

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“Yesterday’s” Comic> Sonic The Hedgehog #25

Shiny covers really don’t scan well.

Sonic The Hedgehog #25

Archie Comics (August, 1995)

“Go Ahead…Mecha My Day!”

WRITER: Mike Gallagher

PENCILER: Pat Spaziante

INKER: Harvey Mercadoocasio

COLORIST: Barry Grossman

COVER COLORING: Heroic Age

LETTERER: Mindy Eisman

EDITOR: Scott Fulop

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BW’s Daily Article Link: How Kelley Jones Saved Mr. Freeze

Mr. Freeze’s character model shown in the show bible for Batman: The Animated Series.

Despite the resurgence of Mister Freeze thanks to the DCAU retake of the villain, Batman comic editor Denny O’Neil wasn’t a fan and didn’t want to use him in his period of Batman books. At least not until artist Kelley Jones redesigned him into something that won the former Batman writer over. I can’t say I like the 90s look…a comment I’ve made so many times…but I have to give Jones credit for working to bring back a character he liked without being a jerk about it and O’Neil being a good enough editor to give his creators a chance to win him over. I wish comics had more stories like this.

Why Marvel Studios Should Recast T’Challa…And Why It Won’t

 

In a rather controversial decision by Marvel Studio head Kevin Feige T’Challa has died in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

T’Challa, the head of Wakanda and the titular Black Panther lost the actor who brought him to live-action for the first time with the passing of Chadwick Boseman. Boseman played the role in that one Captain America movie I won’t watch out of protest for anything related to Marvel’s “Civil War” nonsense, some of the Avengers movies, and finally in his own film, Black Panther. This of course isn’t the first appearance of the character ever as he was a Marvel superhero, appearing in comics and cartoons (including a rather terrible solo series loosely adapting a story from the comics in the 2000s–he totally deserves better than something only slightly more animated that The Marvel Super Heroes).

Not that this matters to Hollywood of course. I’ve been chronicling a lot lately how little Hollyweird cares about the “lesser media” of comics and cartoons along with video games. While Marvel Studios used to care about faithfully representing the comics this seemed to disappear when Disney bought Marvel Comics and Paramount stopped releasing the MCU movies in favor of the House Of Mouse who seems almost embarrassed by their animation roots outside of TV and Pixar. Feige has given his reason for not re-casting and frankly I think he’s full of it. No offense to Boseman, who I’m sure did a good job–I haven’t seen enough of him in the Avengers films and Black Panther is on the Finally Watched list…though now it’s rather tentative given how little interest they seem to have in the character–but that’s my point. Black Panther isn’t Chadwick Boseman, but that’s the current presentation, which is disrespectful to the character, and to the fans…and possibly Boseman’s own wishes.

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“Yesterday’s” Comic> Star Trek: Voyager–Avalon Rising

This reimagining of Prince Valiant just isn’t working for me.

Star Trek: Voyager–Avalon Rising

Wildstorm (September, 2000)

WRITERS: Janine Ellen Young and Doselle Young

ARTIST: David Roach

COLORIST: Dan Brown

COVER ARTIST: David Wenzel

LETTERER: Maghmeh Zand

DESIGN: Alex Sinclair

EDITOR: Jeff Mariotte

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BW’s Daily Thought: When Can The Doctor Become Merlin?

First, a clip from Doctor Who.

This is from the Seventh Doctor episode “Battlefield”, aka the episode where Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart finally gets to shoot a threat (there’s a line in the Third’s period where the Brigadier wishes for once he could meet an enemy that wasn’t immune to bullets) and win in one of my favorite moments of the classic series. It took a special bullet mind you but it’s a great farewell to the character as he never got to appear again in the series classic or new, just an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures before Nicholas Courtney’s passing, and some audio dramas with a new performer. I’m bringing this episode up to ask just when does the Doctor become Merlin? Morgaine (stand-in for Morgan Le Fay) also refers to him as Merlin and the Doctor tells Ace that maybe someday he will be.

Now, outside of forgetting an adventure, when would the Doctor get to travel to the Camelotian dimension and become Merlin? My best guess is the War Doctor, after his using the Moment to end Galifrey, or perhaps this got screwed up in the timeline when the Moment called in two later Doctors to alter the end of the Time War, the War Doctor goes on something of a pilgrimage to re-find himself before actually regenerating into the Ninth Doctor. Going through other official adventures, knowing or assuming the people he meets in Camelot saw him regenerate as some comments imply, and knowing it has to happen after this so the Doctor/Merlin can tell Ancelyn about the events of “Battlefield”, it’s the only place that really fits…in the same way of trying to explain Jaime and the Second Doctor helping the Time Lords in “The Two Doctors”, but it’s still a possibility.

Here’s a truncated version of the episode, from the official Doctor Who YouTube channel.

The Many, Many Intros Of Scooby-Doo: Mysteries 5, Intros 3

After the success of Filmation’s adaptation of Archie Andrews and the Riverdale crowd, CBS Executive producer Fred Silverman wanted more stories that would make the parent groups happy. Originally envisioned as a group of musicians called Mysteries Five, the show underwent numerous changes (I’m not going over it all, use this fanwiki article) until became the show we know and love today…Scooby-Doo Where Are You! Since then numerous shows and incarnations have come forth and for the month of October I want to look at the many, MANY intros of this franchise. As in previous versions of this subseries of the My Favorite/Not-So-Favorite Intros series I will not be looking at theatrical movies, TV movies, or other media. It’s just the TV series, because their intro has to grab your attention as you spin through channels, or at least had to as we take in media differently these days thanks to channel guides and streaming options.

So put yourself in the mind of a kid on Saturday morning. You’ve had your cereal and now it’s time to watch cartoons. Suddenly on your screen comes a show about a talking dog and his four human friends. And this is the intro you see.

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