Scooby-Doo

The other animated show my daughter (who will be four in September) likes is Scooby-Doo.  The Boomerang channel shows two versions of this show, both from Hanna-Barbera, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969-86) and What's New, Scooby Doo? (2002-2006).  There is little difference between the shows except that in the later version there are cell phones and laptops and more (insipid) songs.  The plots of the shows -- or should I say the plot, since they are all the same and as rigid as a Noh drama (to which there are actually similarities, including humans masquerading as ghosts) --are how a bunch of kids exposes monsters who turn out to be crooks trying to scare people off so they can cash in one way or another. When the culprit or culprits are exposed they always blame "those meddling kids."  Fred, Velma, Daphne and Shaggy, with their dog Scooby-Doo always run from the monster until they figure out how to trap and expose him (or, less often, her).  I think what appeals to children about this show is the helpful and intelligent dog, who can "talk" to a limited extent, and the fact that a group of kids are not too scared to solve a mystery that baffles adults.  The group consists of the beatnik Shaggy, the all-American Fred, the glamorous Daphne and the nerd Velma, who is always losing her glasses.  In other words, most kids can identify with one or more of these characters.

The animation in these shows, like others from Hanna-Barbera, is cheap and crummy.  It is done by a process called limited animation, which means very limited and repetitious movement:  a good portion of each show consists of the same shots of the lead characters running to or from something, matted against slightly changing backgrounds,  Obviously most kids don't care much about the quality of the animation; my daughter loves to see which supernatural phenomenon the gang is going, in their van call The Mystery Machine, to solve.  The monsters are only moderately scary and I think my daughter always feel reassured that the kids will solve the mystery and the bad guys will be exposed, i.e, there is order and justice in the world.