The New Scooby-Doo Movies
Series, 1972, The original, Set in Guest-star mysteries
The New Scooby-Doo Movies is #2 of 27 in release order and #3 of 27 in chronological order in the Scooby-Doo.
The story
Aside from doubling the length of each episode, The New Scooby-Doo Movies differed from its predecessor in the addition of a rotating special guest star slot; each episode featured real-life celebrities or well known fictional characters joining the Mystery, Inc. gang in solving the mystery of the week. Some episodes, in particular the episodes guest-starring the characters from The Addams Family, Batman, and Jeannie, deviated from the established Scooby-Doo format of presenting criminals masquerading as supernatural beings by introducing real ghosts, witches, monsters, and other such characters into the plots.
The New Scooby-Doo Movies recap
The same five investigators, now in hour-long episodes, and each mystery brings in a guest star, either a real celebrity playing themselves or a cartoon character from another series. The gang teams up with Batman and Robin twice, the Harlem Globetrotters three times, the Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, the Addams Family, Josie and the Pussycats, Speed Buggy and Jeannie, and stars such as Don Knotts, Phyllis Diller, Sonny and Cher, Sandy Duncan, Davy Jones, Jerry Reed, Tim Conway, Don Adams, Cass Elliot and Jonathan Winters. The guests either bring the gang a haunted problem or get caught up in one, and help unmask the villain, who is still a person in a costume. The show aired on CBS for two seasons, 1972 and 1973, with 24 episodes in all, and it was the first Scooby-Doo series to give the gang longer stories.
The New Scooby-Doo Movies ending explained
The New Scooby-Doo Movies has no finale. The last episode, "Scooby-Doo Meets Dick Van Dyke" (1973), has Dick Van Dyke and the gang solve a haunting at a carnival, and the series stops there, after two seasons on CBS. The gang returned in The Scooby-Doo Show in 1976, and the guest-star format came back decades later in Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? (2019).
Where to watch The New Scooby-Doo Movies
The New Scooby-Doo Movies isn't on a US streaming service right now. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 7.6/10
Where it fits
- Release order: after Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, before The Scooby-Doo Show.
- Chronological order: after Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, before The Scooby-Doo Show.
What to watch before The New Scooby-Doo Movies
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969), which The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972) continues.
Cast
- Don Messick as Scooby-Doo (voice)
- Frank Welker as Fred Jones (voice)
- Nicole Jaffe as Velma (voice)
- Heather North as Daphne (voice)
- Casey Kasem as Ghost of Captain Moody (voice) (uncredited)
- John Stephenson as Spirit of Fireball McPhan / Jay Teller (voice)
- Michael Bell as Gene Haultrey (voice)
- Ted Knight as Amos (voice)
- Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson as B.J. Mason (voice)
- Stu Gilliam as Curly Neal (voice)
- Scatman Crothers as Meadowlark Lemon (voice)
- Richard Elkins as J.C. 'Gip' Gipson (voice)
Created by William Hanna, Joseph Barbera.