Scooby's Greatest Friends

"Scooby-Doo..." was semi-revolutionary at the time of his first broadcasts; or he wouldn't still be around today.

Of course, "Scooby..." and the rest of the Mystery Inc. crew introduced the trope of teenaged mystery solvers and masked miscreants; and I previously broke down my favorite masked monstrous menaces over the first several iterations/seasons of the franchise.

Another trope, introduced in and explored most obviously over "The New Scooby-Doo Movies" of the early 70s, were the plethora of "guest" heroes/celebrities/mystery-solvers.

If Scooby's masked miscreants earned a Top 10 list, his one-off pals and guests can certainly receive the same treatment in a Top 11.

*"Scooby-D00..." was introduced around 1969. He has new series/episodes to this day. Throughout those iterations, there have been several friends and guests to come and go. This is NOT a comprehensive list any more than the "...Monsters..." one was. These are MY favorite guests (occasionally, if for no other reason, than due to the episodes surrounding them). There is plenty of room for HEALTHY debate on this topic; especially when restricted to only ELEVEN spaces...

11. JEANNIE ("New Scooby-Doo Movies;" "Mystery in Persia/...Meets Jeannie and Babu.")

This is DEFINITELY one of my favorite New Scooby...Movies; if for no other reason than for the exact same reason that Scooby and Shaggy themselves always enjoy seeing Hanna-Barbera's animated form of Jeannie one more time.

Yeah; I wasn't THAT deep of a young man who, at age four or so when first beholding this episode, was already appreciating beautiful animated women.

In all honesty, this, and a lot of the "New Scooby...Movies," was crass cross-promotion (Hanna-Barbera was ready to do a "Jeannie" animated series, throwing out Tony Nelson and Roger in return for two lame teenagers named Cory and Henry and introducing Babu, a bumbling apprentice genie; the crossover with "Josie and the Pussycats" was to cross-promote THAT series; "Batman and Robin" could have been an easy advertisement for "Superfriends;" "Speed Buggy" was...well, you understand).

And THESE were all my favorite New Scooby Movies.

...Anyway; back to Jeannie.

Teaming Scooby with a magical genie, in all honesty, was going to be a bit hairy. "Bad guy in a monster mask?" Zap; "monster" unmasked. End credits.

Instead, this episode went the extra mile and actually UNLEASHED a GENUINE evil djinn on Scooby, Jeannie, and company.

Don't get me wrong; even Hanna-Barbera's ANIMATED Jeannie was definitely easy on the young eyes and was a powerful teammate for Scooby. That's just it; to follow the regular formula of the series, she would have been TOO powerful and audiences would have wound up with THE shortest "mystery" on record.

Kudos to this episode FOR going the extra mile and introducing a genuine evil genie; and the true culprit who RELEASED him...

10. SPEED BUGGY ("The New Scooby-Doo Movies"; "The Weird Winds of Winona/...Meets Speed Buggy")

More cartoon crossovers from Hanna-Barbera; but it, surprisingly, worked (honestly, I found this a lot more enjoyable than any of Speed Buggy's adventures).

Tinker, Debbie, Mark, and Speed Buggy connect up with Scooby and the kids in the town of Winona; a tiny village besieged by mysterious midnight winds; and the hooded hoodlums BEHIND the wayward winds. Can Scooby and "Speedy" solve the case?

9. MELODY AND...(SLIP OF THE TONGUE)

9. JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS ("THE NEW SCOOBY...MOVIES;" "THE HAUNTED SHOWBOAT/...MEETS JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS").

Scooby and friends board an abandoned showboat (for how cowardly Scooby and Shaggy were, even THEY never learned...)

Anyway, before long SEVEN SHADOWS are running right at them!

Crash, kabang; Mystery Inc find themselves face to faces with Josie and her friends (having last been seen stranded in space. Oh well, potato-potahto; it's always refreshing to the eyes to see Melody and Josie again; and that Bleepity Bleeping-Bleeper Bleep thing appears to be [thankfully] all but forgotten).

Okay, this was indeed one of the more enjoyable episodes. However, 7 "pussycats" (including Sebastian) and 5 members of Mystery Inc (who could forget Scooby?) make for a grand total of TWELVE regular characters alone; let alone the ghosts of Injun Joe and Captain Scavenger AND a crooked Mississippi gambler who comes and goes throughout the episode. That makes for ONE full episode to keep straight; made worse by the fact that Shaggy and Alexander can't yell or talk one right after the other (both are Casey Kasem, utilizing the EXACT same voice, personality, and mannerisms) and, obviously, can't yell in terror simultaneously. Therefore, Alex switches in and out of using his regular voice and using Velma's.

So, yes, there are aspects of this episode that prevent it from being an instant classic to a critical reviewer. It is definitely in my Top 5 favorite "New Scooby...Movies;" and that's enough for me to give Josie and the ...cats their due credit as guest stars.

8. THE THREE STOOGES ("THE NEW SCOOBY...MOVIES"; "GHASTLY GHOST TOWN"/"THE GHOST OF THE RED BARON"/"...MEET THE THREE STOOGES" TWICE).

...When Scooby's movies weren't cross promoting other HB franchises, he was meeting the animated alter-egos of celebrity guest stars; living to voice their own cartoon caricatures or dead and relying on sound-alikes.

The "3 Stooges" episodes were NEVER my favorites. Facts are facts and they were Scooby's very first celebrity guest stars in the premier "Ghastly Ghost Town."

Besides, if not for "Ghastly Ghost Town," I wouldn't know where that Robot Gunslinger from the opening credits belonged.

7. SHERLOCK HOLMES ("THE SCOOBY AND SCRAPPY-DOO SHOW"; "THE NIGHT GHOUL OF WONDERWORLD.")

Say what you want about Scrappy; I've never pulled any punches. However, as a family member of Scooby's, he can come up later.

I want to talk about the greatest of Scrappy's episodes, wherein Scooby, Scrappy, Velma, and the others team up with...Sherlock Holmes???

Welllll...

No.

Velma wins a free trip to "Wonderworld," a multi-tiered, robot filled amusement park. She specifically chooses "Londonworld" and "solving a mystery with Sherlock Holmes."

"Sherlock..." is no more real than most of the inhabitants of Londonworld (Save the fact that there are not one but TWO Nightghouls running around; and only ONE Nightghoul is an established robot).

And the mystery surrounding London's Crown Jewels? It happens to be more legitimate than Wonderworld's mechanical denizens...

6. THE ADDAMS FAMILY ("NEW SCOOBY...MOVIES"; "WEDNESDAY IS MISSING/...MEETS THE ADDAMS FAMILY").

Who own those pairs of eyes scaring the Scooby Snacks out of Scooby and Shaggy just before the title lyrics to "The New Scooby-Doo Movies" begin?

...Why, it's the Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall; but you wouldn't know THAT until THESE Bluray/DVD releases as that episode was missing from the originals.

No? (Don't mind me; I'm still convinced these episodes are RUINED now that the guest stars were removed from the opening credits).

They were the Addams Family; and they were in need of housekeepers before Gomez and Morticia (voiced by their ACTUAL ACTORS!) would leave on vacation.

Enter Mystery Inc. as a pack of hapless haunted-house keepers.

The Addams Family episode was not only a lot more creative and slightly better written than some of the other episodes; THIS animated version of the Addams Family was voiced by their reallife actor counterparts (The Hanna-Barbera Addams Family series that followed shortly thereafter used different voices; especially for Gomez).

Sadly, to this day, "Warner Home Video" canNOT get the rights to put THIS sole episode onto DVD/Bluray (mostly thanks to the retainers for John "Gomez" Astin). Therefore, not only is THIS episode the only one missing from disc medium, it is also the sole reason that the beloved opening credits for EVERY episode remain heavily edited.

5. THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS ("THE NEW SCOOBY...MOVIES;" Three separate appearances).

The Harlem Globetrotters episodes of "The New Scooby-Doo Movies" were NEVER my favorites.

This doesn't change the facts and they were iconic enough guest stars that Hanna-Barbera centered THREE separate episodes around them.

There must be a reason and, despite my personal reservations on these particular episodes, they remain popular and important...

4. THE HEX GIRLS ("WHAT'S NEW, SCOOBY-DOO?")

The Hex Girls originally appeared in What's New Scooby-Doo?

They proved so popular that they expanded their way into some of the subsequent direct-to-video movies and rocked their way right into Scooby-Doo lore.

3. SCOOBY'S RELATIVES

"Scooby-Dum" was introduced in "The Scooby-Doo Show" and, depending on which episode we're watching, he is (correctly) ...Doo's cousin or (mistakenly) his brother (the Headless Horseman episode).

"Scooby-Dee" was (I believe) Doo's sister and appeared in "The Scooby-Doo Show" once as an actress dog (despite her being Scooby's sister, I think there was a gag written in there where Scooby was uncomfortably smitten with her).

"Scrappy-Doo" was, of course, Scooby's doting, daredevil nephew; and if you didn't know him already, you're reading about the wrong franchise.

2. THE BLUE FALCON AND DYNOMUTT, DOG WONDER ("THE SCOOBY-DOO SHOW"/"DYNOMUTT, DOG WONDER"/"THE SCOOBY-DOO/DYNOMUTT HOUR;" SEVERAL APPEARANCES).

"The Scooby-Doo Show" was Scooby's third regular series (following two seasons each of "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" and "The New Scooby-Doo Movies.")

Season 1 of "The Scooby-Doo Show" did not appear on Saturday mornings alone when it could bring along a COMPANION series!

The Blue Falcon (Space Ghost's Gary Owens) was a serious, straight-laced superhero accompanied by his goofy computerized canine companion, the titular Dynomutt, Dog Wonder (Scooby-Doo’s Don Messick). They had pledged to save Big City from the likes of Mr. Hyde, Lowbrow, The Worm, The Gimmick, Superthug, and a multitude of other rogues for a sixteen episode season 1 (three more episodes comprised a second season but, when released on DVD, the "Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour" was packaged with only each series' first season companion episodes, broken up by their syndicated credits).

Anyway, Blue Falcon and Dynomutt more closely resembled a send-up of the old "Batman" series than anything else. Nevertheless, more than once, Scooby and the gang would turn up in Big City to aid and abet their heroes and idols, Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder, in catching one of their crooks. (Right now, only Hyde and Swamprat really stand out).

HONORABLE MENTIONS

"Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?" is a Boomerang original that is REALLY trying to modernize the success of the "New Scooby...Movies" and, sometimes, it even works a little better than others.

The "...Guess Who?" episodes opposite the "Funky Phantom" kids or "Steve Urkel" were, honestly, almost entertaining.

Now, we've completed MOST of the list and even the honorable mentions.

Let's give it up for a pair of REALLY "super" friends; a Dynamic Duo; a Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder, if you will...

1. BATMAN AND ROBIN ("THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MOVIES;" "THE DYNAMIC SCOOBY-DOO AFFAIR"/"THE CAPED CRUSADER CAPER"/"...MEET BATMAN AND ROBIN [ALONG WITH JOKER AND PENGUIN]" TWICE!)

Batman and Robin opposite Scooby-Doo and the crew could have just played out as really weird if they were only after another crook in a mask; OR could have been REALLY AWESOME, providing that the Dynamic Duo didn't show up alone.

Thank goodness for Joker and Penguin leaving Gotham City long enough to come along for the ride too.

"The Caped Crusader Caper" was the only "New Scooby-Doo Movies" episode that I officially owned on VHS to watch any time I wanted to and, already familiar with these adventures from television, I instantly recognized what it could possibly be as soon as I saw Scooby, Batman, and Robin on the front of the VHS slip. I was ecstatic to finally own an episode on VHS and could watch it any old time I well pleased!

I took the advent of VHS up on its offer and, well into my young adult hood, probably sold that tape at my Grandmother's antique store just before I could COMPLETELY wear it out...

There you have it, fellow Scooby fans; MY list of greatest guest stars. Again, "Scooby" has used the celebrity "buddy" trope for nearly half of a century now; I'm sure that you disagree with me somewhere ("You ranked that episode WHERE?"/"You left out THAT star???"/"Yo; between you and me, Jeannie wasn't THAT good looking of a cartoon chick.").

Questions one and two are certainly open for healthy debate; to wit...

"What are YOUR favorite guest appearances?"

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