Kids love Scooby-Doo, but there's a lot of questionable aspects to the mystery series
that they might not catch until after they've grown up.
Here's the most suspect stuff in Scooby-Doo shows that only grown-ups pick up on.
Scooby-Doo is so familiar that we all tend to overlook its central conceit: one of the
main characters is a talking dog.
But even more unbelievable than a Great Dane who speaks and experiences human emotions
are the reactions of the people around him.
"I was saving this for an emergency."
"This is an emergency.
That's the last hamburger."
Shaggy, Fred, Velma, Daphne, and the various criminals they bust are never impressed or
freaked out by Scooby.
Scooby's human-like intelligence and ability to speak should probably make him a marvel
of nature, science, or both.
But everybody converses with Scooby like it's the most normal thing in the world.
Talking dog aside, the cast of most Scooby-Doo shows is led by the same four humans of Mystery,
Incorporated: Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers.
Together, this unlikely foursome travels the land in their psychedelic van, solving mysteries
and debunking supernatural phenomena.
That much is obvious, but what isn't clear is just how old they're all supposed to be.
They'd have to be at least 16 to drive that sweet van, and making them teens would put
them closer to the shows' target demographic of children.
Plus, the villains love to call them "meddling kids."
But it also seems like they must be at least in their 20s, since teenagers wouldn't likely
be found living unsupervised on the open road.
And speaking of the open road, why are they out on their own in the first place?
Are they homeless, or possibly fleeing something ghastly?
Since the show was originally produced in the late '60s and early '70s, one possibility
could've even been that Fred or Shaggy was dodging the Vietnam draft, and Daphne and
Velma just went along for the ride.
"Zoinks!
We’re gonna sink!”
“I’ll fix it!”
“Good work Scoob."
Kids may not pick up on the canned laughter in each episode of Scooby-Doo, but adults
can't help but wonder what business a laugh track has on an animated children's show.
True, the laughter may help remind young viewers that despite its spooky situations, Scooby-Doo
is supposed to be a light-hearted comedy.
But a laugh track suggests that the show was filmed in front of a live studio audience,
which isn't possible with a cartoon like Scooby-Doo.
Then again, in keeping with the spirit of the show, maybe those laughs are coming from
ghosts, or are part of an evil plot hatched by a corrupt amusement park owner.
While kids may not pick up on some of the show's less-than-subtle stoner vibes, among
certain adult viewers, Scooby-Doo cartoons have long been beloved due to Shaggy and Scooby's
telltale habits.
A children's cartoon may not ever explicitly state that its characters are marajuana enthusiasts,
but the clues in Scooby-Doo are bountiful enough that the Mystery Machine doesn't exactly
need a "Legalize It!" bumper sticker to make the theme clear.
For example, Shaggy and Scooby can sometimes be seen emerging from a big smoke cloud.
Additionally, the pair is obsessed with food, particularly junk food.
It's almost as though these two giggling slackers, one of whom wears bell-bottom pants and sports
unkempt hair, always have the munchies.
Which begs the question: if Shaggy smokes marijuana with his dog, isn't that animal
abuse?
Goal number one for Shaggy and Scooby has always been to eat as much as possible, and
the two frequently care more about finding their next meal than doing their job of solving
mysteries.
But while the duo is constantly eating, adults may notice that they actually have a few dietary
restrictions.
In some of Scooby-Doo's more recent episodes, Shaggy often expresses his desire for veggie
sandwiches and other substitutes for typical fast food staples.
This is no accident Shaggy moved away from meat in 2002 at the request of the guy who
provided his voice.
Legendary disc jockey Casey Kasem was a noted vegan, and he wanted to use his platform as
Shaggy to educate kids about the benefits of a vegetarian diet.
"There's aren't burgers."
"We changed managers last week.
Now we’re organic vegan."
Every episode of Scooby-Doo seems to follow a formula: the gang drives through the night,
comes across a potentially haunted location, and gets down to business looking for clues.
Then, although it's never a good idea to go off alone in a dangerous place, the four humans
inevitably decide to split up.
And if things weren't already scary enough, Fred, their self-appointed leader, always
has to go and make things even creepier.
Whenever the pairings are made, Fred's the one who decides who will go off with whom.
Invariably, he pairs himself with Daphne, the subject of his intense romantic interest.
No matter what case they're investigating, Fred never fails to get Daphne alone with
him in darkened rooms, under the guise of doing their jobs.
What a creep!
Adding a young, energetic character to revitalize a show that's getting a little long in the
tooth is a well-known television tradition, and one that almost always fails miserably.
On Scooby-Doo, this sort of cynical attempt to boost ratings resulted in one of the most
universally loathed characters in cartoon history, Scrappy-Doo.
A pint-sized version of Scooby, Scrappy was clearly supposed to be cute, but wound up
just being annoying.
Although he's meant to serve as a contrast to Scooby's laid-back, fraidy-cat energy,
Scrappy-Doo comes across as aggressive and perpetually angling for a fist-fight.
Not only is he a character nobody wanted or asked for, but adults may be concerned about
Scrappy's excessively violent tendencies, and wonder whether he might even be a bit
disturbed.
Have you ever noticed that Scooby-Doo seems to take place in a bizarre world of meteorological
anomalies, where it's always dark and seemingly cold?
While kids may not notice that we rarely see the sun shine on the Mystery, Incorporated
crew, adults may question the persistent nighttime of the extended Scooby-Doo universe.
Additionally, the near-omnipresent fog suggests a perpetually cool climate, as does Fred's
heavy-looking shirt, and Velma's choice to always wear a cozy orange turtleneck sweater.
But Shaggy's always in a T-shirt, which begs the question: just what temperature is it
in this world?
When it began, Scooby-Doo was a silly, formulaic cartoon about a dog and some young people
encountering ghosts, which always turned out to be shady business owners trying to scare
people off their property.
But starting in the '70s, to mix things up, writers and animators had the mystery-solvers
interact with various guest stars, whose real-world counterparts could be living, dead, or even
fictional.
For example, in one installment, Scooby and his friends meet Laurel and Hardy, the famous
comedy duo.
Those are actual people who lived, but both died long before the episode aired.
On other occasions, the Scooby-Doo crew met Sonny and Cher, Don Knotts, Josie and the
Pussycats, and Batman.
The presence of some of those guest stars would suggest that the Scooby characters are
real, since they interacted with actual living humans.
But if some of those humans were dead, does that mean the Mystery Machine is unstuck from
time?
And is Batman real too?
Fiction and real-life are confusingly blurred, making the "reality" of Scooby-Doo a little
tough to define.
For young Scooby-Doo viewers, it may not be obvious that the episodes tend to follow similar
trajectories, which always lead to a version of the same ending.
What was thought to be a haunted building turns out to not be so haunted after all.
The ghosts, goblins, spooks, and specters that scared the Mystery, Incorporated crew
so badly are revealed to be some combination of projections, shadows, sound effects, and
masked bad guys.
In other words, Scooby-Doo constantly reiterates that all of that spooky stuff isn't real,
and that there is always a logical explanation for any supernatural occurrence.
Most of the time, the mystery the characters solve is revealed to be the plot of a developer
or land owner hoping to scare people off their land.
Because greed is usually the only real scary thing in the Scooby-Doo universe.
Yet every time the Mystery, Incorporated team heads out on a new job, they seem to completely
forget this important fact, and the dozens of normal jerks they've unmasked in the past.
Every episode features the gang overreacting to what they think is a ghost or monster,
leading to Shaggy screaming,
"Let's get out of here!"
Then Shaggy and Scooby, and sometimes the entire gang, inevitably flee in terror.
Either they have terrible memories, or their fear of ghosts is so severe that they ignore
all logic.
Which kind of makes you wonder why they're in the supernatural detective business to
begin with.
Based on what happens during every single mystery they've encountered, one of them ought
to walk right up to the monster or ghost the first time they see them and tear off that
mask, but that thought never seems to occur to them.
But of course, if the characters actually learned from their previous cases, there'd
be no more show.
Apart from mowing lawns and selling lemonade, most kids don't worry too much about putting
cash in their pocket.
Grown-ups, though, are concerned with earning a living to provide necessities like food,
shelter, and clothing.
So naturally, adults watching Scooby-Doo might have some questions about how business is
conducted at Mystery, Incorporated.
At first glance, Mystery, Incorporated seems to be a legitimate operation, with the "Incorporated"
part of the name indicating that the detective firm is registered with an oversight agency
and pays taxes.
But despite the official-sounding name, adult viewers may wonder exactly how this company
is able to operate.
Although money rarely changes hands, business still appears to be booming, at least enough
for the firm to afford a company car or in this case, a groovy van.
One wonders what sort of wage the four humans earn, and whether or not Mystery, Incorporated
offers health, vision, and dental benefits.
In classic episodes of Scooby-Doo, the dedicated detectives of Mystery, Incorporated navigate
through the many backroads and country highways of America, forever in search of their next
sleuthing gig.
But if you look closely, that straightforward premise may have some dark undertones.
In the world of Scooby-Doo, all the buildings seem to be falling apart, and the land is
dotted with closed amusement parks and long-abandoned ghost towns.
All of this, coupled with Shaggy's sheer relief whenever he comes across food, suggests that
these young entrepreneurs are trying to get by in a world that has taken a pretty significant
turn for the worse.
Perhaps a severe economic depression left the country in shambles, or some kind of natural
or man-made catastrophe prompted people to flee all those small towns.
The show may be for kids, but all the signs seem to indicate that Scooby-Doo might be
a glimpse at life in a post-apocalyptic nightmare.
Anyone who's caught a few episodes of Scooby-Doo over the past 50 years probably recalls the
words to its bouncy, memorable theme song:
The theme song seems to imply that Scooby-Doo spends most of the show being hard to locate,
and that the Mystery, Incorporated team is constantly searching for him so that they
can get to work.
But that's not actually what the show is about at all.
Scooby-Doo never disappears during the episodes, and he and Shaggy are never apart for long.
Sure, Scooby may run away from scary stuff, but Shaggy is always with him, making the
song's suggestion that Scooby is constantly missing a real mystery.
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