Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now!

Fred: Well, here we are --

Warner Bros. Studios, home of Hanna-Barbera.

Daphne: They've shot so many great reunion specials here.

Now we get to have our own reunion special.

Velma: But how is it a reunion

if we haven't spent a day apart in 52 years?

Here we are.

Our soundstage where it all began.

Stage 12.

Where we've been filming ever since

our original series -- "Scooby Doo Where Are You!"

premiered on Saturday mornings in 1969.

Dude! I used to love watching that show.

Well, let's go inside. Time to make the doughnuts.

Doughnuts! Doughnuts?

Shaggy: Oh-ho-ho. Ohh.

Daphne: It hasn't changed a bit.

Wow. So many memories, so much history.

I wonder if that sandwich I was in the middle of eating

is still here.

Not anymore.

Hey, Velma, remember when we shot the scene

where you lost your glasses?

It was right over there.

And then that other scene when you lost them again

over there and over there?

Hey, my glasses.

I can't see without them.

My glasses. I lost them.

Oh, there you are, Shaggy.

Okay, I get it.

Velma's thing is she's always losing her glasses.

I only wear them because they make me look cool.

Welcome, Mystery Gang.

A g-g-ghost!

Not quite. A host.

Although you're not too far off.

There are rumors that this studio is haunted.

Geez. Does everywhere we go have to be haunted?

You can relax, Shaggy.

I can assure you it's just me,

Janel Parrish, a real human being.

So the five of you --

Daphne, Fred, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby --

have been playing characters

who solve mysteries for 52 years.

Um, yeah, we know. We lived it.

So have any of you ever experienced

a ghost in real life?

Whenever I try to get my agent on the phone. Ha!

-Crack up. -We have fun.

"Scooby" has persisted

because the characters are really, really good,

and it's a wonderful formula.

Silverman: It's iconic.

It's been on the air almost continuously since 1969

in one way or the other.

It has that alchemy that works for people.

Green: The idea of a troupe of sophisticated,

intelligent, best-friend teenagers

is something that has been pioneered

so flawlessly in "Scooby-Doo"

and then reflected through pop culture for every year since.

The characters really are archetypes,

you know, like Fred is the muscle

and Daphne is the heart and Velma is the brain

and -- and Scooby and Shaggy are the stomach.

I think that's part of their appeal

is that they're just sort of -- they're sort of universal.

A kid can enjoy that right now like a kid could 50 years ago.

Every generation can find something in them

to remind them of themselves.

So there is a lot of excitement

in store for you guys today.

Later on, you'll each be competing

in a mixed-martial arts tournament

with some of the world's top fighters.

Plus, Scooby, you'll be meeting the litter

that you never knew you had.

Huh?

But first, let's take a look back

at some of our favorite moments

from your very first adventures in "Scooby Doo Where are you!"

Even in the beginning,

everything that made you you was there --

the heart, the bravery, the teamwork.

You lifted each other up... literally.

When one of you lost yourself,

the rest of the gang would find you...

again, literally.

No matter how haunted the house,

you could always rely on each other,

your resourcefulness, your teeth.

It wasn't always easy, but you had each other...

and nerves of steel

and also the van.

Show 'em, Scooby.

You soared to new heights

and inspired generations of ghost hunters.

Yay! Yay, Scooby!

No one will ever forget the name Scooby-Doo.

Wow, such powerful memories.

Third time I've called him this week.

Why am I paying him 10% if he can't even call me ba--

Shoot, I got to go.

Oh, wh-- wh-- what was that?

I don't know.

It's not part of the reunion special.

It must be...

a mystery.

Hey, Scooby Gang.

It's us -- Marvin and Wendy from the Super Friends.

We hang around with some people

with pretty cool powers --

Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Superman.

But you have a superpower, too --

your friendship.

Plus, you also have a van.

And what appears to be an unlimited source of money.

And a talking dog.

But really, your friendship.

Yeah, they should call you the Super Friends.

But you can't

or the Super Friends will drag you to court.

So we had arrived that four teenagers

were gonna be involved in mysteries.

And we threw in a dog to kind of help it along

and give it touches of humor.

That was Scooby-Doo.

What happens, of course, is that you went into the mysteries

and Scooby began to steal the show.

Also he had a way of talking

that our great talent Don Messick did.

Welker: I would watch his face and those jaws would go,

and I try to do the same thing

to emulate Don as close as I can.

Ruh-roh.

One of Joe Barbera's maxims was,

"If you ain't got a big, sloppy dog, you ain't got comedy."

Scooby-Doo-o-o-o.

Bryn! Bryn, that thing happened again.

Oh, sorry about that, folks.

We've been having electrical problems all over the studio.

This is Bryn, our producer.

Actually, I produce all the reunion specials here.

Next week we're filming the "Friends Reunion" reunion.

The fans really miss those characters

from the original "Friends Reunion."

Excuse me. If that was just an electrical problem,

how do you explain the scary, classic

"Scooby Doo" villain laughter?

Great question, Velma, but we're here to have fun.

Hey, did you know

that when Hanna and Barbera and Joe Ruby and Ken Spears

first came up with the idea for your show,

you were all gonna be in a traveling rock band?

Shaggy: We could have had a song in America's Top 40.

The hits from coast to coast, hosted by Casey Kasem.

And Scooby started off

as a very different kind of dog.

Scooby: Yikes!

There was a brilliant illustrator

who worked for Hanna-Barbera named Iwao Takamoto.

He turned Scooby into a Great Dane

and developed the way you all look.

Velma: Too bad he didn't develop a turtleneck

that doesn't give me a neck rash.

But the network wasn't interested....yet.

Iwao put it all together in this one drawing

and the concept came to life.

The head of the network, Fred Silverman,

was presented this image,

and he said yes on the spot.

Daphne: We look so young.

Fred: Wow. I can't believe

I used to wear that weird ascot.

Was that ever in style?

Beck: Hanna-Barbera had access to some of the best talent.

They knew their animators, their background painters,

the writers to help create these characters.

They were practically supporting the animation industry

on their backs.