Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated - Do the Doo

The Scooby Gang is back, and boy are they better than ever. Please excuse my cliched statement, but there's no other way around it. The Scooby Gang is back, new and improved.

The original series, made in the 70s, had a very simple formula. The Scooby Gang, comprised of character archetypes, would ride around in their mystery machine, go to a scary place, and have to convince Shaggy and Scooby to aide with the mystery solving with the help of the promise of Scooby Snacks. The gang would spilt up, Velma would find clues, Daphne would always open the wrong door, or get kidnapped, and Fred would come up with a plan to catch the supernatural culprit, Shaggy and Scooby would be funny.

Over the years, the formula had been retooled, or abandoned all together. Sometimes only Scooby and Shaggy have made an appearance with the occasional inclusion of Scrappy Doo. I actually like Scrappy Doo.

Recently there was the hit live action movie, it's sequel and the prequel (which included a brunette Fred and an Asian-American Velma) along with the newest animated incarnations, What's New Scooby Doo and Shaggy and Scooby Doo Get a Clue.

I thought the live action movies were funny and well written, and Miss Sarah Michelle Gellar played Daphne in two of them so I kinda' had to watch them. What's New Scooby Doo was also cute, but I felt more could've been done with the Scooby Doo formula, especially when the re-tooled animated series came out afterward.

Now we've got Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated. A new series airing on Cartoon Network. The new series focuses more on our beloved Scooby Gang as people rather than caricatures. What used to be hinted at in the original series when it came to character relationships, is now push to the forefront. Daphne makes it really obvious about her affections for Fred; Shaggy and Velma have a few suprises of their own.

The voice work in this show is excellent, as is most productions from Hanna Barbara. Fact's of Life's Mindy Cohn, who played Velma in What's New Scooby Doo, reprises her role here as our favorite girl geek. The legendary Frank Welker does his double duty as Scooby Doo and Fred Jones. Fan favorite Grey DeLisle voices Daphne flawlessly. I almost thought she was the original voice actor Heather North. I was most impresses with Mathew Lillard's Shaggy. Being cast as Shaggy in two of the live action movies, he was a highlight in that he really just let himself get absorbed into the part. This man IS Shaggy. Aside from original voice actor Casey Kasem of course, who's voice also makes it into this series as Shaggy's father. Also includes celebrity voices Vivica A. Fox and Patrick Warburton.

I've only seen the first episode, but I am already excited for the rest of this new series. Aside from the drama our classic characters are having with each other, they're going to have to solve a huge mystery that is too big for just one episode. The show now has some continuity in it that was missing in previous incarnations.

This is definitely a show I will be watching weekly along with my regular viewings of Glee and Desperate Housewives.