WHV Announcement: Scooby-Doo! Mystery Machine Limited Edition Collection (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

 

[LeoA]

Too bad they didn't include the two seasons of the Scooby Doo Show (Just the third season that went under the Scooby Doo Where Are You? title is here).


They're pretty much the same thing with a different show introduction. And the second season hasn't been released on DVD at all yet (Although it's widely available in various digital download services).

 

[Joe Tor1]

Originally Posted by LeoAmes

Too bad they didn't include the two seasons of the Scooby Doo Show (Just the third season that went under the Scooby Doo Where Are You? title is here).


They're pretty much the same thing with a different show introduction. And the second season hasn't been released on DVD at all yet (Although it's widely available in various digital download services).

Wasn't the Second Season the one with the revised opening credits, that began the "musical slapstick chase bits", and had copyright 1970 dates on them? That featured Mr. Hyde, The Creeper, The Mask of Zin Two, The Frozen Caveman, The Tiki God, The Wax Phantom, etc.?

I have the original set from 2004 that was labeled "The Complete First and Second Seasons", and the follow up of some years later that they called "SD WHERE ARE YOU Season 3".

And the SD Dynomutt Set and the New Scooby-Doo movies?

What else is missing - in the original "Where Are You" vein? I don't mean "Laff-a-Lympics", "13 Ghosts" and other later odd series.

 

[younger1968]

not to mention the 8 episodes from Scooby-doo allstars that are yet to be released. I would have rather seen all the episodes for Scooby-doo released. Plus, i already have the three dvds, which is Scooby-doo where are you, Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour, Scooby Show from the 1970s.


I recommend the purchase to anyone who grew up with scooby-doo and has not bought the previous dvds. I grew up with scooby-doo and 1970s cartoons, which were a joy as a kid. It is hard to believe that saturday morning cartoons are over 40 years old.

 

[LeoA]

The Scooby Doo Show is the blanket name for the last three seasons of the classic Scooby Doo franchise and is the name they carried in syndication.


The first season were segments of the 'Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour'.[COLOR= #000000] The second season of The Scooby Doo Show ran as segments of 'Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics' [/COLOR](Which are the 8 episodes we're all talking about that are unavailable on DVD). And the third season ran either as segments of Scooby's All Stars or were titled 'Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!' (Only 6 episodes ever carried that name).


And they were all titled as the Scooby Doo Show in syndication and carry those opening and closing credits on DVD where available (Including the third season of the Scooby Doo Show released as season 3 of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!).


So it's really nonsense that they've decided the third season is part of "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" and not the first two seasons, especially when the middle season isn't even on DVD in any form. They're the same thing and belong in this set. Most of the season 3 episodes never even had the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! name anyways in first run airings.


"Wasn't the Second Season the one with the revised opening credits, that began the "musical slapstick chase bits", and had copyright 1970 dates on them? "


That's right. But I was talking about season 2 of the Scooby Doo Show, not the original 25 episode two season run of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! that is available on DVD together currently and which is also slated to be on this complete collection.


What myself and many others consider the classic Scooby Doo franchise are the first two seasons of 'Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!' (Which are on this complete collection), 'The New Scooby Doo Movies' (Which I'm not complaing about not being on a complete set since they aren't willing to pay or can't secure the rights to every episode anyways and what they have the rights to are released on DVD already), and the three seasons of what are known as 'The Scooby Doo Show' (Of which only the third season is on this collection, leaving season 2 unreleased on DVD in any form) that ran under various names during it's initial run.


It's really nonsense that season 1 and 2 of the 'Scooby Doo Show' isn't here, and the third season is. They need to get those 8 season 2 episodes out on DVD. It's nonsense after all this time and all the rereleases of classic Scooby Doo content over the past few years that these 8 episodes are still only available digitally. I've bought them digitally off Xbox Live's video service (They're also on the Playstation Network, iTunes, and probably other digital services), but I really want a physical release of these 8 episodes.

 

[Joe Tor1]

Originally Posted by LeoAmes


What myself and many others consider the classic Scooby Doo franchise are the first two seasons of 'Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!' (Which are on this complete collection), 'The New Scooby Doo Movies' (Which I'm not complaing about not being on a complete set since they aren't willing to pay or can't secure the rights to every episode anyways and what they have the rights to are released on DVD already), and the three seasons of what are known as 'The Scooby Doo Show' (Of which only the third season is on this collection, leaving season 2 unreleased on DVD in any form) that ran under various names during it's initial run.

That clears things up. I didn't watch many cartoons in the seventies and eighties, and one of the things I continue to find bewildering is the MANY, MANY different mix-and-match incarnations a series or character had back then. As such an enduring franchise, Scooby-Doo may have been the worst example of this Mad-Programmer's-Syndrome!

For all we know, if *I'M* not certain of what's out there, perhaps the drones at WHV may not even realize what's missing -- in their mad rush to package, re-package, and re-re-package Scooby! Same, sadly, for Tom and Jerry.

Actually, I'm GLAD those 8 remaining Scoobys are not "exclusive content" to this mega-set! I'd say most of us would be VERY angry if this were so!

 

[LeoA]

I suspect it's absent because they don't know how to market it.


I'm assuming they don't want to pay the rights (Or do transfers) to all the other programs involved (Just a guess) in order to release those 8 episodes under the Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lynpics title. And they don't want to release a season 2 of The Scooby-Doo Show when there's nothing out there labeled as season 1 on store shelfs to avoid consumer confusion (Season 1 was released with the other show that ran with it under the The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour title).


I don't know why they don't get those 8 out under some name like "The Best of The Scooby-Doo Show). It's not like most publishers actually pick out the fan favorites when they label a DVD release similarly anyways.


That's the only theory I can dream up to explain why it's absent unless they've slowly been working on the other three programs that ran with it to release a complete Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics release (Which I'd be shocked to find out was true). There are clearly available uncut transfers of it that are in decent shame and no rights issues since it's widely available digitally.


It's just not out on DVD...

 

[Joe Tor1]

Originally Posted by LeoAmes


I don't know why they don't get those 8 out under some name like "The Best of The Scooby-Doo Show). It's not like most publishers actually pick out the fan favorites when they label a DVD release similarly anyways.

Considering the cheap, bare-bones, single disc sets WHV is putting out these days (See Batman the Brave and the Bold), I don't see why they CAN'T just put out a (double-sided just to make it more annoying) single-disc release of these 8 "lost episodes" -- and maybe throw in the pilot for the new CN Scooby series as a bonus (...and to promote the new series).

But, hey... I'm only a consumer. What do I know...

 

[Ockeghem]

Leo,


This is very useful information. I might have been tempted to pick this up, but since I own the 1969-1970 episodes (at least those that are available on DVD), I don't see any reason to purchase this collection. But to be sure that I won't be missing out on some episodes (those that I don't already own) by not purchasing the above collection, I had better show which set I already own:




If there are any different episodes from the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Machine Limited Edition Collection which are not included on the set posted here, I may have to reconsider.

 

[younger1968]

They are listing 41 episodes. So, if you do the map then it should work out to these episodes


1. Scooby-Doo Where Are you (25 episodes)


2. Scooby doo show (16 episodes)


What is missing as alluded to earlier is the following


1. Scooby-doo Dynomutt hour epsiodes

2. Scooby doo (8 lost episodes, which were part of scooby-doo allstars)


I find this released double dipping and it does not complete the original scooby-doo shows or before scrappy-doo was introduced. The only one i am looking for is the the last 8 episodes of scooby-doo. I do have one disk with the richie rich/scooby-doo hour from the early 1980s, but, included scrappy-doo, which is not one of my favourite characters.


I have looked at the movies, but, it is not a complete set, so it did not interest me. So, i passed on that set.

 

[Ockeghem]

^^^


Thanks. I too would love those other eight episodes. I already own the films, so that wouldn't be a selling point for me.


I'll send all of my Scrappy-Doo material to you, as you are a huge fan of the Scrapmeister.

 

[LeoA]

You also need this set to have all the content that is included on this complete collection (This is actually the third season of The Scooby Doo Show which for 6 episodes ran under the title of Scooby Do Where Are You! during it's first run only) with the publisher deciding to use that name for the DVD release since it's better remembered.





Other classic Scooby material that is out there on DVD outside of what's included on this complete collection are The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour - The Complete Series (Season 1 of The Scooby Doo Show), The Best of the New Scooby-Doo Movies (15 of the 24 episode run), Scooby-Doo Meets Batman (Two additional episodes of the New Scooby Doo Movies), and Scooby-Doo Meets The Harlem Globetrotters (Two additional episodes of The New Scooby Doo Movies).


What's missing on DVD of classic Scooby material are the eight season 2 episodes of The Scooby Doo Show and 5 episodes of The New Scooby Doo Movies. That is unless you actually like Scrappy-Doo and consider subsequent series as classic Scooby Doo (Which I certainly don't). I don't fault them for the edited introductions and end credits of The New Scooby Doo Movies and those missing 5 episodes if it was just too impractical to secure those licenses (Either due to high cost and/or difficulty dealing with the rights holders), but there's no good reason for those 8 Scooby Doo Show episodes to still be absent on DVD.

Originally Posted by Ockeghem

Leo,


This is very useful information. I might have been tempted to pick this up, but since I own the 1969-1970 episodes (at least those that are available on DVD), I don't see any reason to purchase this collection. But to be sure that I won't be missing out on some episodes (those that I don't already own) by not purchasing the above collection, I had better show which set I already own:




If there are any different episodes from the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Machine Limited Edition Collection which are not included on the set posted here, I may have to reconsider.

I too passed on the Movies sets by the way. The missing episodes and edited introduction/end credits was too much so I made a DVD set myself thanks to Boomerang airing it so often (And uncut I believe), including the episodes with rights issues in regards to home video releases.

 

[Joe Tor1]

Originally Posted by LeoAmes

What's missing on DVD of classic Scooby material are the eight season 2 episodes of The Scooby Doo Show and 5 episodes of The New Scooby Doo Movies. That is unless you actually like Scrappy-Doo and consider subsequent series as classic Scooby Doo (Which I certainly don't). I don't fault them for the edited introductions and end credits of The New Scooby Doo Movies and those missing 5 episodes if it was just too impractical to secure those licenses (Either due to high cost and/or difficulty dealing with the rights holders), but there's no good reason for those 8 Scooby Doo Show episodes to still be absent on DVD.

Leo:


I just want to thank you for all the useful information regarding Scooby-Doo. Back in ancient times, I watched the original two seasons of "Where Are You", and dropped out somewhere along the "New Movies" run. Not so much gave it up, as I began working on Saturdays, and no longer spent them in front of the TV.

Your posts have been quite helpful in my assessment of what remains to be collected due to (as I said earlier) the MANY, MANY different mix-and-match incarnations that Scooby-Doo had, after I stopped watching.

Someday, I'd like someone to explain to me why Scooby-Doo (even WITH Scrappy) needed to share a show with Richie Rich! Yeah, I know... ratings. But it STILL doesn't make sense.

 

[derosa]

I agree with all the other comments, that it really makes no sense that they released these episodes as "season 3" especially when you put the first DVD into your player and you watch the opening theme for "the scooby doo show", so they didn't even make the effort to include the original "Where are You" opening for the first episodes that aired that way.

I'll forgive all, if HB finally releases a complete Laff-a-lympics episode or two on one

of the Saturday Morning compilation DVD's, with all the bumpers.

But i'm not holding my breath for the 4 Blue Falcon and Dynomutt episodes they never included on the Dynomutt hour discs....just how did they think they'd fit those in somewhere? It's a real shame nobody at WHV is looking at the big picture, and doing these releases right. The rest of Vol.2 and Vol.3 of Richie Rich/Scooby Doo show would be nice too...

Originally Posted by LeoAmes

You also need this set to have all the content that is included on this complete collection (This is actually the third season of The Scooby Doo Show which for 6 episodes ran under the title of Scooby Do Where Are You! during it's first run only) with the publisher deciding to use that name for the DVD release since it's better remembered.

 

[Mark Y]

Given that Scooby-Doo is the Hanna-Barbera library's major cash cow, a lot of this really doesn't make a whole lot of sense.


Not to get into another rant about the Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt DVD set, but seriously...given that all they did was compile the separate half-hour versions of those shows (rather than restore the "Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour" properly with its correct titles, etc.) then why did they leave off the rest of the Scooby-Doo and Dynomutt episodes from the following season? (I appreciate the effort to be accurate as far as which segments were from which season, but they were really working with re-edited syndicated half-hour versions in the first place, so what's the difference?) The only guess I can make is that maybe they originally intended to do some kind of comprehensive release for "Laff-A-Lympics" (which is where those segments would have first aired) instead of the bare-bones releases of (some of) the LAL half-hour edits they eventually released. I'm thinking they probably were considering a LAL "Classic Collection" release before everything tanked. But even if they were -- there would have been no point in trying to reconstruct that show back into its original two-hour format, since apart from the small set of new SD/D segments aired that year, the rest were repeats. (And is there any extant record of which ones were repeated, from which seasons, in what order?) Any way you slice it, it would have been a mess. But that was probably the plan from a marketing standpoint.


This set as announced is superfluous. Well, maybe apart from whatever extras it will include, but we'll see. (Didn't at least one of the "missing" Scooby-Doo episodes show up on some previous single-disc release a few years back, maybe even before they started releasing the season sets?)

 

[Ockeghem]

"You also need this set to have all the content that is included on this complete collection (This is actually the third season of The Scooby Doo Show which for 6 episodes ran under the title of Scooby Do Where Are You! during it's first run only) with the publisher deciding to use that name for the DVD release since it's better remembered."


Leo,


Many thanks. I've found it a bit cumbersome trying to determine what episodes I thought I needed and which ones I already have, given the sets that are out there. This clears it up quite nicely.

 

[derosa]

Originally Posted by Mark Y

..."Laff-A-Lympics" -- there would have been no point in trying to reconstruct that show back into its original two-hour format, since apart from the small set of new SD/D segments aired that year, the rest were repeats. (And is there any extant record of which ones were repeated, from which seasons, in what order?) Any way you slice it, it would have been a mess)

I've looked, but never found an accurate list of even the show segment order for

Laff-A-Lympics block. It contained SD, Dynomutt, Captain Caveman, and the L-A-L

segments. But the Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels episodes are only 11mins,

but i've never found out if 2 segments aired per block (like L-A-L did, split in the block)

or if bumpers or commercials made up the time that the CC&TA segment would be

short on run time versus the other shows in the block. Anyone know?

 

[Mark Y]

I audiotaped a single, solitary ABC airing of Laff-A-Lympics in 1977. If that tape is ever found, it could answer some questions. But I presume it's long gone. I wonder if anyone else did that. Heck, people had Betamaxes in 1977. Some people did, anyway. All I remember from watching it originally is that Captain Caveman was the first cartoon, before any of the competition stuff. I would have been 9 or 10 years old.

Originally Posted by derosa




I've looked, but never found an accurate list of even the show segment order for

Laff-A-Lympics block. It contained SD, Dynomutt, Captain Caveman, and the L-A-L

segments. But the Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels episodes are only 11mins,

but i've never found out if 2 segments aired per block (like L-A-L did, split in the block)

or if bumpers or commercials made up the time that the CC&TA segment would be

short on run time versus the other shows in the block. Anyone know?

 

[Scamp]

Originally Posted by LeoAmes
Other classic Scooby material that is out there on DVD outside of what's included on this complete collection are The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour - The Complete Series (Season 1 of The Scooby Doo Show), The Best of the New Scooby-Doo Movies (15 of the 24 episode run), Scooby-Doo Meets Batman (Two additional episodes of the New Scooby Doo Movies), and Scooby-Doo Meets The Harlem Globetrotters (Two additional episodes of The New Scooby Doo Movies).


What's missing on DVD of classic Scooby material are the eight season 2 episodes of The Scooby Doo Show and 5 episodes of The New Scooby Doo Movies. That is unless you actually like Scrappy-Doo and consider subsequent series as classic Scooby Doo (Which I certainly don't). I don't fault them for the edited introductions and end credits of The New Scooby Doo Movies and those missing 5 episodes if it was just too impractical to secure those licenses (Either due to high cost and/or difficulty dealing with the rights holders), but there's no good reason for those 8 Scooby Doo Show episodes to still be absent on DVD.


I too passed on the Movies sets by the way. The missing episodes and edited introduction/end credits was too much so I made a DVD set myself thanks to Boomerang airing it so often (And uncut I believe), including the episodes with rights issues in regards to home video releases.

Leo,


Have enjoyed reading your posts on Scooby: very informative. However, I have one minor correction to make to your info on the dvd releases. The Best of the New Scooby Doo Movies dvd release does include the Batman and Harlem Globetrotters episodes, so there are still 9 episodes that have not been released on dvd, which I assume were unreleased due to rights issues with the "star" characters featured in them although the Josie & the Pussycats exlcusion still perplexes me as they were able to release their own show on dvd. While I did purchase the New Movies set, I did just recently record the missing 9 eps off of Boomerang as well to complete the series.


Like yourself and others have been saying, I think to really call this set a Complete Series release it needs to include those missing 8 episodes of the Scooby Doo Show, given they have yet to be released on dvd. For good measure, they should also include the episodes that were released as part of the Scooby Doo/Dynomutt dvd release as well.


I am curious to learn what is on the 8th bonus disc though.

 

[derosa]

Mark, we're about the same age! I wish I had audio taped some shows. There is a big Archie's fan who taped "the Archie's Comedy Hour" when he was a kid, and I think he's one of very few people who actually got the details right about the content of that show. Many websites had the content listed incorrectly, until Bob started setting the record straight.


If you ever find that tape, you'd have to post the audio of the bumpers on YouTube.

Originally Posted by Mark Y

I audiotaped a single, solitary ABC airing of Laff-A-Lympics in 1977. If that tape is ever found, it could answer some questions. But I presume it's long gone. I wonder if anyone else did that. Heck, people had Betamaxes in 1977. Some people did, anyway. All I remember from watching it originally is that Captain Caveman was the first cartoon, before any of the competition stuff. I would have been 9 or 10 years old.