Can a Scooby-Doo cartoon in DTV style work?

powerjake

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If Warner Bros made a Scooby-Doo cartoon series on HBO Max or Cartoon Network in the Art Style of the 2010's Direct-to-video movies such as Abracadabra-Doo and Moon Monster Madness. Would this work well enough to be a hit or not catch on?.

Would it feel similar to these half hour long Direct-to-video short films.

Scooby-Doo! Spooky Games (2012)
Scooby-Doo! Haunted Holidays (2012)
Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Scarecrow (2013)
Scooby-Doo! Mecha Mutt Menace (2013)
Scooby-Doo! Ghastly Goals! (2014)
Scooby-Doo! and the Beach Beastie (2015)


What would the fans think of that for a cartoon.
 
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Asa

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Yes. After Guess Who, it would be nice to see a new series that has the same art style in the vein of the current art style used in the recent DTV films.
 

powerjake

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Yes. After Guess Who, it would be nice to see a new series that has the same art style in the vein of the current art style used in the recent DTV films.

That would be a fresh way for Warner Bros to make a new Scooby-Doo cartoon.
 
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wiley207

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It's possible, but there wouldn't be as much of a novelty between the TV shows and the direct-to-video movies. Those "13 Spooky Tales" cartoons were essentially 22-minute "mini-movies," some of them even having a similarly-animated title sequence as the DTV movies of the time, but the pacing and flow was often better and more reminiscent of the older shows' stories.
With the aforementioned novelty thing, it seems that a Scooby-Doo TV show nowadays has to have some kind of "gimmick" so that Warner Bros. Animation can be sure they aren't just repeating the same old stuff the franchise was often criticized for in the 1970s. Their first series, "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" was more like a somewhat serious and bright action cartoon that redesigned the gang in Warner's "house" style of the time (ala their DC Comics movies and shows, and other similar action cartoons of the time) and kept showing off modern trends and technology in a manner not unlike "The Simpsons" and "The Fairly OddParents" were doing at the time ("Uhh... Internet?") Thus when the direct-to-video movies adopted that same style in 2004 with "Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster" (after the last two were done in a retro format intentionally invoking the 1970s Scooby-Doo cartoons), they basically became 70-minute episodes of "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" Though the next Scooby-Doo series had a stronger gimmick, albeit not a very well-received one, in that it eschewed the old mystery formula in favor of making Shaggy and Scooby incredibly wealthy and using nano-powered Scooby Snacks to try and save the world from an evil mastermind and his agents (ala "Kim Possible" or "Inspector Gadget"), complete with a very different art style and character designs (basically going for a stylized thick-lined version of the gang's theatrical live-action counterparts). During that time, the direct-to-video movies remained in the "What's New" style, thus making them very different from whatever Scooby series in production was at the time (though the last two in that style experimented with real supernatural creatures to try and shake things up), and Warner must've realized that seemed to work better, since the next three shows were still in a different style from the direct-to-video movies of the time, which adopted a much darker and moodier style with the gang back in their classic 1969 designs again. "Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated"'s big gimmick was that overarching story arc involving Mr. E, Professor Pericles, the history of Mystery Inc. groups and that Evil Entity thing (which was certainly enough to get ME hooked!), along with being much more serious and edgy and violent, and had the gang slightly redesigned in a manner similar to "The Flintstones on the Rocks" TV movie, i.e. taking the classic designs and stylizing them somewhat (and many of the other characters would have that Iwao Takamoto-esque look to them as well). While the next show to come after that, "Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!", went for a more comic and light-hearted approach, despite mostly sticking with the familiar formula, albeit like a G-rated "Family Guy" or something, and thus had the gang heavily redesigned again in a more exaggerated and "comical" style, which was also not that well-received. The show coming after THAT is "Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?", which basically revisits the premise of "The New Scooby-Doo Movies" where the gang teams up with a guest star in each episode to solve the mystery, and as part of this it's done in a strong "retro" format with everyone rendered in that classic Iwao Takamoto style, and the gang's classic designs are tweaked very slightly this time to still look different from the direct-to-video movies (like the shape of their eyes, and Daphne's more exaggerated hourglass figure.)
 
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Kirben

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I would like to see a return of the style in 'What's New Scooby-Doo', or the earlier DTVs of that era, or these specials, but I don't see it happening. The last special (Scooby-Doo! and the Beach Beastie) was rather bad though, especially over doing the traps aspect.

I think Scooby-Doo might as well be dead at this stage, all we got in the last few years are cross-overs (celebrities, LEGO), and poor attempts at sequels. Even the upcoming King Arthur DTV is cross over of sorts, to Camelot. I wouldn't even class S.C.O.O.B. as Scooby-Doo, just a poor attempt to expand the universe.
 

powerjake

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I would like to see a return of the style in 'What's New Scooby-Doo', or the earlier DTVs of that era, or these specials, but I don't see it happening. The last special (Scooby-Doo! and the Beach Beastie) was rather bad though, especially over doing the traps aspect.

I think Scooby-Doo might as well be dead at this stage, all we got in the last few years are cross-overs (celebrities, LEGO), and poor attempts at sequels. Even the upcoming King Arthur DTV is cross over of sorts, to Camelot. I wouldn't even class S.C.O.O.B. as Scooby-Doo, just a poor attempt to expand the universe.

Warner Bros has not used the What's New, Scooby-Doo style sinse 2009. That cartoon was popular during that era.
 

Kirben

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Warner Bros has not used the What's New, Scooby-Doo style sinse 2009. That cartoon was popular during that era.
I just want to see a return to when the focus was more on the actual mystery, rather than gimmicks. The Scooby-Doo DTVs from 2010 - 2013 were the last movies, that still managed to do that,.
 

AdrenalineRush1996

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I would like to see a return of the style in 'What's New Scooby-Doo', or the earlier DTVs of that era, or these specials, but I don't see it happening. The last special (Scooby-Doo! and the Beach Beastie) was rather bad though, especially over doing the traps aspect.
Well, anything is possible since I felt the current DTV art style has been overused.
I think Scooby-Doo might as well be dead at this stage, all we got in the last few years are cross-overs (celebrities, LEGO), and poor attempts at sequels. Even the upcoming King Arthur DTV is cross over of sorts, to Camelot. I wouldn't even class S.C.O.O.B. as Scooby-Doo, just a poor attempt to expand the universe.
I don't think the franchise is dead at this stage since I do think they'll bounce back with something that embraces their legacy.
 

AdrenalineRush1996

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That is very common for the current run of the DTV movies to have that look. Still odd a 52 episode Scooby-Doo cartoon was not in that DTV art style.
Yes but it's been overused. I think it's time for a new art style and to be fair, said art style was based on the art style from Mystery Incorporated.
 

SweetShop209

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Funny thing is you can still tell Mystery Incorporateds art style from the DTV movies. Gives me a Ben 10 feeling.
The character designer for Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated is Derrick J. Wyatt, who would later use a similar style on Ben 10 Omniverse. Though many Scooby Doo projects for the past 20 years have used people mainly known for their work in action shows, whether its writers, directors, or storyboard artists. As for the DVD movies, I'm guessing it's to cut costs. They pump out at least 2 of them a year on average (movies taking at least 2 years to make), so they probably stick to this style to save on money.

AS for the question of this thread, I think it's possible, but I don't think it could happen, at least not right away.
 

powerjake

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The character designer for Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated is Derrick J. Wyatt, who would later use a similar style on Ben 10 Omniverse. Though many Scooby Doo projects for the past 20 years have used people mainly known for their work in action shows, whether its writers, directors, or storyboard artists. As for the DVD movies, I'm guessing it's to cut costs. They pump out at least 2 of them a year on average (movies taking at least 2 years to make), so they probably stick to this style to save on money.

AS for the question of this thread, I think it's possible, but I don't think it could happen, at least not right away.

Thats interesting no wonder the art style gave me that Ben 10 feeling for Mystery Incorporated.
 

wiley207

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Though many Scooby Doo projects for the past 20 years have used people mainly known for their work in action shows, whether its writers, directors, or storyboard artists.
Yeah; I know "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" was more or less an action cartoon in the same vein as "Static Shock," "Ozzy and Drix," "Teen Titans" and the Justice League stuff, or Adelaide Productions's "Men in Black: The Series" and "Jackie Chan Adventures." This was largely attributed to Sander Schwartz, who came from the aforementioned Adelaide Productions, basically reorganizing Warner Bros. Animation into mostly producing more realistic action cartoons in the early 2000s like Adelaide was typically known for. And then of course "Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue" took the action/superhero thing WAY too far, dropping the classic mystery formula for something more "Kim Possible"-esque, to the point where it became the franchise's equivalent to "Loonatics Unleashed."
 

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