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STUDIO: Turner Home Entertainment
MSRP: $14.99
RATED: Not rated
RUNNING TIME: 264 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
* Interactive map of Coolsville
* Pencil test of alternate opening credits
THE PITCH
Even
in grade school, Fred Daphne, Velma and Shaggy were those pesky kids,
with a certain chowhound, fraidy cat puppy solving crimes.
THE YOUNG SCOOBY GANG
Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne and Velma.
The
Scooby Gang just couldn’t bear to look when Freddy’s ghost trap
involving a pit full of needles, cactus, broken glass and rubbing
alcohol went horribly, tragically wrong…
THE NUTSHELL
Way
before they ran into the 10,000-Volt Ghost or the Creeper as teenagers,
Scooby and the gang were a young group of kids and their puppy solving
crimes in Coolsville, USA. Of course, even at that tender age, they
were encountering creepy villains like the Headless Skateboarder, the
Sludge Monster From the Earth’s Core and the Cheese Monster.
THE LOWDOWN
A Pup Named Scooby Doo
is possibly the most fun incarnation of the Scooby franchise,
functioning as a prequel back to the Scooby Gang’s younger days as The
Scooby Doo Detective Agency, solving crimes in their hometown of
Coolsville. Whereas the original Scooby Doo, Where Are You? went for more chills and thrills, Pup focused more on laughs and outright insanity, which typically made for a funny watch.
Absolutely worst villain for young Scoob? Scooby Snack Monster.
All
of the character elements were included in the show, except the gang’s
various idiosyncrasies were played up more than in previous
incarnations. Fred was a conspiracy nut who often jumped to wild
conclusions that the various perps were either aliens, mole people or
the like. Of course, his first assumption would always go to Red
Herring, who was the town bully. Velma was an extreme nerd who
rarely spoke and carried around a crime computer / lab with her
virtually everywhere. But when she said “jinkies”, you knew a clue had
been found. She shouldered the heavy lifting of solving the crimes
while Fred was busy making his latest accusation to Red Herring.
Meanwhile, Daphne was a spoiled rich girl who hated getting dirty.
Shaggy and Scooby were basically themselves, only even more cowardly
and wild. Thankfully, Casey Kasem returned as Shaggy, and this was the
last incarnation of longtime Scooby voicer, Don Messick.
Little Jason MacEndale was off to an early start as well…
A
signature of this version of Scooby was the exaggerated Bob
Clampett-type of reactions of the gang whenever they would encounter
the big bad of the episode. You could frequently count on bulging
eyes, agape mouths and various nutty expressions, accompanied by monkey
whines and elephant wails. This single element of the show would
invariably make me laugh like a retard and made Pup
one of the funnier cartoons I recall. The villains were usually a
little goofier, which was fine as this cartoon was aimed at a younger
audience than the older cartoons. There were also the standard musical
chases, and many times the Scooby Gang would pause to boogie to it. A Pup Named Scooby Doo was and still is a fun cartoon to watch and is perfect for younger kids.
You’d freak too if you saw Fred and Daphne getting busy at this age…
THE PACKAGE
The sound is pretty good on this two-disc offering, although the video is showing a little grit from 20 years ago, but it’s not as bad as the Smurfs disc was. There’s two
special features, one being an interactive map of Coolsville with
featurettes at various locations. The other is a pencil test of an
alternate opening credit sequence.