Childhood, Where Are You?



Yes, that is the Mystery Machine.  Yes, that is a DVD set from Amazon.com.  Yes, I did just order that.

Why?  My kid.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Actually, I've said before that I've been looking for excuses to buy up DVDs of movies and shows I watched and loved as a child.  Well, Scooby-Doo is no exception. 

I grew up on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? I grew up on the episodes with Scooby-Dum.  I grew up on The New Sccoby-Doo Movies episodes with guest stars like Davy Jones, Jonathan Winters and the cartoon version stars of Batman, Robin and The Three Stooges.  Granted, all of these were rerun as part of my Saturday Morning Cartoon veg fest in the late 70s and early 80s.   I'm only 36, ya know.  

Yes, I have seen every incarnation of Scooby-Doo known, though I try to block out Scrappy-Doo and the 13 Ghosts iterations.  However, I thought A Pup Named Scooby-Doo was pretty clever and fun to watch.  I even let it slide when my three year old caught reruns of What's New, Scooby-Doo? on television.  That's the one that had Simple Plan do the theme song as well as guest star on the show.

However, when OnDemand started carrying the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? episodes I spied an opportunity to reintroduce the real magic of Mystery, Inc. to my child.  Oddly enough, she loves it.   I have to rewind and play the same episodes over and over.  Now, when it airs on Cartoon Network, she likes to watch them and doesn't seem to notice the difference in the animation or story setup and even the old curmudgeon in me can appreciate the nods to the original series like Velma's museum that has showcased all the monster suits from the first seasons of SDWAY.

And when I found that DVD set of the complete series of SDWAY, I said, "Must have.  I will be the coolest Dad, evah!"   Of course, that just means I will have placated the little demon for a bit and she will totally abuse my gift and pay me back in attitude.   Kids.  Still, it will be a gift for me as much as her.  I get to relive my childhood and she gets a lesson in classic pop culture. 

Let's face it, the stuff that passes as cartoons these days is pretty lame.   I couldn't see the inherent value of owning a box set of new Scooby-Doo episodes as much as the ones from the early days.  And to think, the folks in charge of churning out the schlock that ends up television would have gotten away it if it weren't for my keen sense of kitsch and that meddling kid of mine.