Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
Genre	Mystery Adventure[1][2] Comedy
Created by	Joe Ruby & Ken Spears
Developed by	William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, Iwao Takamoto, Fred Silverman
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Voices of	Don Messick Casey Kasem Frank Welker Stefanianna Christopherson Heather North Nicole Jaffe Pat Stevens
Theme music composer	David Mook & Ben Raleigh
Opening theme	"Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" performed by Larry Marks (1969–70)[3] George A. Robertson Jr. (1970)
Composer	Ted Nichols (1969–70)
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	25 (41 including The Scooby-Doo Show episodes) (list of episodes)
Production
Producers	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Running time	approx. 21 minutes
Production company	Hanna-Barbera Productions
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	September 13, 1969 (1969-09-13) – October 31, 1970 (1970-10-31)
Network	ABC
Release	September 9 (1978-09-09) – December 23, 1978 (1978-12-23)
Related
The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972-1973)

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is an American animated comedy television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. The series premiered as part of the network's Saturday morning cartoon schedule on September 13, 1969, and aired for two seasons until October 31, 1970. In 1978, a selection of episodes from the later animated series Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics and The Scooby-Doo Show were aired on ABC under the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! title name, and was released in a DVD set marketed as its third season.^[4] It also aired on BBC One in the UK from 1970 to 1973.^[5] The complete series is also available on Boomerang, Max, and Tubi streaming services.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is the first incarnation of a long-running media franchise primarily consisting of animated series, several films, and related merchandise.

Overview

The show follows the adventures of teenagers Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and their dog Scooby-Doo. They travel in a van known as The Mystery Machine, encountering and solving mysteries. Once solved, the group typically discovers that the perpetrator of the mystery is a disguised person who seeks to exploit a local legend or myth for personal gain.^[6]

Episodes

Voice cast

• Don Messick as Scooby-Doo and miscellaneous characters
• Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rogers and miscellaneous characters
• Frank Welker as Fred Jones and miscellaneous characters
• Stefanianna Christopherson as Daphne Blake (season 1)
• Heather North as Daphne Blake (seasons 2 and 3)
• Nicole Jaffe as Velma Dinkley (seasons 1 and 2)
• Pat Stevens as Velma Dinkley (season 3)

Production

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was the result of CBS and Hanna-Barbera's plans to create a non-violent Saturday morning program that would appease the parent watch groups that had protested the superhero-based programs of the mid-1960s.^[7] Originally titled The Mysteries Five and later Who's S-S-Scared?, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! underwent several changes from script to screen (the most significant being the downplaying of a musical group angle).^[8] However, the basic concept—a group of teenagers and their dog solving supernatural-related mysteries—was always in place.^[9]

Scooby-Doo creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears served as the story supervisors on the series.^[10]

Home media

On March 14, 2000, Warner Home Video released five episodes from the series on a DVD entitled Scooby-Doo's Original Mysteries. They later released all 25 episodes on DVD in Region 1 on March 16, 2004 under the title Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! The Complete First and Second Seasons.^[11] A DVD entitled Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! The Complete Third Season was released on April 10, 2007, made up of episodes produced in 1978, added to the Scooby's All-Stars package, and later syndicated as part of The Scooby-Doo Show.^[12][13]

On November 9, 2010, Warner Home Video released Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series. The eight-disc set features all 25 episodes of the series plus the 16 episodes produced in 1978 which aired as part of Scooby's All-Stars. The set is encased in special collectible packaging in the form of a Mystery Machine replica. It also features a special bonus disc filled with new and archival material.^[14] The set was re-released on November 13, 2012. A Blu-ray version of the Complete Series was released on September 3, 2019, for the series' 50th anniversary.^[15]

Starting on January 27, 2009, Warner Home Video released DVDs with four episodes each, plus an episode from Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue. Four volumes have been released through October 19, 2010.^[16]

Reception

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was a hit for Hanna-Barbera and CBS,^[17] which led Hanna-Barbera to eventually create series with similar concepts on ABC, NBC, and CBS, including, Josie and the Pussycats, The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, The Pebbles, Dino and Bamm-Bamm segments on The Flintstone Comedy Show, The Funky Phantom, Speed Buggy, Jeannie, Jabberjaw, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, Inch High Private Eye, Goober and the Ghost Chasers, Clue Club, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, and The New Shmoo.

In 2005, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! came 49th in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Cartoons,^[18] in the UK, and was more recently voted the 8th greatest Kids' TV Show by viewers of the same channel.^[19] It was ranked the 24th greatest cartoon on IGN's Top 100 Animated Series.^[20]