SCOOBY-DOO! WHERE ARE YOU : SEASON 1 EPISODE 1 – WHAT A NIGHT FOR A KNIGHT

SCOOBY-DOO! WHERE ARE YOU 

SEASON 1 EPISODE 1 – WHAT A NIGHT FOR A KNIGHT

[Animation, Mystery, Comedy]

This was the first official episode of Scooby-Doo! ever made. The start of it all, the crème del-la crème of the Scooby-Doo! legacy and it featured the voice talents of Don Messick as Scooby-Doo, Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rodgers, Nicole Jaffe as Velma Dinkley, Frank Welker as Fred Jones, and Stefanianna Christopherson. The story takes Scoob and the gang to a creepy old museum to investigate an ancient suit of armor called the “Black Knight” that according to legend is said to come to life when the is full.  

Art-wise – The style in the ’60s, ’70s, and most of the ’80s was pretty simplistic and hand-drawn so flaws are pretty easy to point out. There is one scene where Shaggy falls down and literally looks flatter than humanly possible. The “Black Night” design is fine and serves its purpose. The design of the characters is so iconic at this point that if your characters in whatever new version of the show don’t strongly resemble the original designs it feels like we are watching a completely different show. One of the craziest things is Shaggy’s arms and chin hair. The hair on his chin looks wildly different in a lot of frames and his arms change length all the time. The show was known for its iconic painterly backgrounds.

Story-wise – I find it pretty interesting that they choose not to even introduce the character's backgrounds at all. Everyone just shows up as if they have been solving mysteries for a while already. Fred even says that it looks like they have “another” mystery on their hands. This probably also explains why no one is shocked a bunch of teenagers showed up at the museum to investigate. This is also evident when Fred almost appears to be able to read Velma’s mind after she says “are you thinking what I’m thinking”. It indicates that Fred had been around the group long enough to know how they thought because he instantly says they pretty much have the mystery solved. Having an actual “Mystery Machine” van also probably didn’t hurt. The show doesn’t waste any time having Velma lose her glasses, it happens about half-way into this episode. 

Fact – Scooby Doo is patient enough to sit through two movies at a theater in one night. Apparently, he is really into “Dog Ranger of the North Woods”. 

Fact 2 – We find out that Shaggy can use ventriloquism. I actually took a class for this in the 6th grade, but never got good at it. 

Fact 3 – Shaggy is apparently the swinging-est gymnast in school. 

Fact 4 – It took a while before we found out that Scooby Doo could drive in the Mystery Incorporated series, but in the original series, he literally flies a plane that probably shouldn’t even have had gas in it, in the first episode. 

Oddities – Probably one of the first “Scooby Logic” mechanisms in the show is the fact that the Mystery Machine contains a wooden ladder that looks like it couldn’t have possibly fit in the van. “Scooby Logic” or “Scooby Doo Logic” refers to a series of events in the show that only make sense in the framework of the show. Another example in this episode is Scooby dismantling dinosaur bones to gnaw on them, then throwing all the bones into the air and having them land in exactly the right spot. In today’s world, you almost never hear a “laugh track” in the background, but all of the early episodes of Scooby-Doo! incarnations used them.

Scooby Snack Counter: Scooby - 2 

Overall this is a pretty fun episode with a fantastic score. There aren’t really any dull moments and the hijinks were quite a bit of fun. 

This one gets a 7 out of 7. Clearly, because it's the first one ever. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF HANNA-BARBERA PRODUCTIONS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.