Franchise / Scooby-Doo

Those Meddling Kids from left to right: Fred, Velma, Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne.

"Scooby-Doo! Where are you?"

— Norville "Shaggy" Rogers

Scooby-Doo is a Saturday-Morning Cartoon from Hanna-Barbera that premiered in 1969 and quickly became one of the most popular animated franchises in history. Through various retools over the decades, it has survived long enough to outlive all of its original creators, three of its original voice actors, and the very studio responsible for it.

At its core, the series features four teenagers – Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers – along with their talking dog Scooby-Doo, road-tripping in a van called the Mystery Machine. The basic plot, especially in the original incarnation of the show, usually involved the gang encountering a mystery involving some form of spooky monster which, more often than not, turned out to be a hoax meant to frighten the locals away from the villain's real operation, and would be resolved at the end by unmasking the villain, who would inevitably utter a variant of "I would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for You Meddling Kids, and that dog too."

Three years after the show's birth in 1969 saw the debut of The New Scooby-Doo Movies which had hour-long episodes in which the gang encountered and solved the mystery for, or with, a celebrity (usually, if not always, with said celebrity voiced by themselves) or a famous fictional character or ensembles such as Batman or The Addams Family.

Afterward, the show returned to its roots in the form of The Scooby-Doo Show, with a half-hour format and no more celebrity guest stars. Two relatives of Scooby, Scooby-Dum and Scooby-Dee, were briefly introduced and removed in the course of a few episodes.

In the 1979 effort to avoid cancellation, Scrappy-Doo managed to stick and became a recurring main character for the next nine years.

After nearly a season of traditionally styled Scooby-Doo episodes with Scrappy's presence as the only alteration, the writers dropped Fred, Daphne, and Velma from the series (because they weren't working) and the show's format changed into a three Three Shorts style, with just Scooby, Scrappy, and Shaggy, with real monsters, innocent fluff, cartoonish hijinks and all woven together with a general tongue-in-cheek strangeness in terms of tone.

After three years with the shorts, Daphne returned to fill the The Leader position in the 1983 season, and the show returned to its "Scooby-Doo" Hoax roots in a Two Shorts format for two seasons. Fred and Velma did have some guest appearances.

The next season, in 1985, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo debuted, a series focusing on the core four from the last show along with an Artful Dodger named Flim-Flam and Vincent Price voicing a warlock Ink-Suit Actor, as the group sought to find and contain thirteen ghosts that Shaggy and Scooby accidentally set loose. This was the first serialized version of Scooby and was canceled after its first season, with only eleven ghosts caught (it was dropped after its first repeat cycle in March 1986 and replaced with repeats of Laff-a-Lympics).

1986 saw only repackaged reruns of the 1980-1982 shorts, and 1987 likewise, though with the release of what would be the first of three Direct to Video movies, the other two being released in 1988.

After this, Scrappy-Doo was seen no more, and A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, a spin-off series featuring prepubescent versions of the cast, debuted only four days after Reluctant Werewolf and ran from 1988 to 1991. After Pup was canceled in 1991, it joined the other incarnations living out in syndication.

By the early-to-mid-90s, the franchise was moribund and nobody saw anything of it except for reruns, some Burger King toys, marathons, advertisements, and a brief run as licensed characters in a comic book series published by Archie Comics. Scooby's voice actor passed away and Hanna-Barbera was absorbed into Time Warner's media empire, beginning their gradual overhaul into Cartoon Network Studios. However, an extremely well-received direct-to-video movie in 1998 jump-started the franchise, including one new DTV movie per year since 2000, several new and highly ambitious TV shows that either use, play with, subvert, or even ignore the classic formula (and are utterly unconnected to each other), and the occasional video game.

The Turn of the Millennium saw the release of two theatrical Scooby-Doo movies, one in 2002 simply titled Scooby-Doo^note The last HB spinoff project to be overseen by both of its company's founders. Bill Hanna died in 2001, a year before the film was released. and its sequel, 2004's Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed,^note the last HB spinoff project to be overseen by Joe Barbera, who died two years later, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne and her husband Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred. They were followed by two made-for-TV prequels, which featured a different cast. All four were loaded with Continuity Nods, and lampshaded the show's own clichés. Daphne & Velma, a live-action prequel movie focusing on said characters, was released on DVD in 2018.

A CGI animated film, SCOOB!, was released in 2020, and is intended to kick off a Shared Universe of Hanna-Barbera properties. Though it was originally intended for theatrical release, it was instead released digitally due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although, it did see its theatrical release on July 24th in select countries outside of the United States.

There have been several Scooby-Doo comic book adaptations over the years, through Western Publishing (Gold Key Comics imprint), Charlton Comics, Marvel Comics, Archie Comics, and most recently DC Comics.^†Also owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of 2015, the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You comic was the longest-running non-superhero DC title. Most Scooby comics consist of stories similar to the original cartoons, with the occasional crossover with other Hanna-Barbera cartoons or DC superhero property. In 2016, as part of a new line of "reimagined" Hanna-Barbera cartoon titles aimed at older audiences, a new Alternate Universe comic called Scooby Apocalypse was announced. As you might have guessed, it's Scooby-Doo IN THE APOCALYPSE! This also features yet another radical redesign and shift to modern times for the ol' gang.

In 2005, the show^note  (as an aggregate of all the series produced under the Scooby-Doo banner) briefly beat The Simpsons for most episodes produced of an American cartoon.

After so many years in both first-run and reruns, this franchise is so thoroughly embedded in American popular culture that even people who have never seen it are familiar with it. It's also earned more than a few shout-outs from other franchises; the ad-hoc vampire-hunting team that formed around Buffy Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer called themselves "The Scooby Gang", and so did the team in Class (one of the tracks on the Class soundtrack is even called "Scooby Gang Skype Sesh").^note  The actual Scooby characters never refer to themselves as such; whenever their group was given a name in the series, it's always been "Mystery, Inc." That is until S3E3 of What's New, Scooby-Doo?, where the gang is called "The Scooby Gang" by everyone when they return to their hometown. It has also become Cockney rhyming slang for "clue" (as in "Haven't a Scooby, mate"). In 2018, one of the biggest-profile tributes to the franchise occurred when the TV series Supernatural aired a full-out animated crossover episode that re-introduced the characters to a new generation of viewers (while also attracting first-time viewers to Supernatural).

Make sure to visit the Characters page, and don't overlook the Analysis. See the Shout Out page here.

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Filmography:

Animated television series

• Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969-1970, CBS) - The original classic series, and the "bread and butter" core of the franchise. Despite it being a major hit from the start, only 25 Episodes were made across two seasons.
  • NOTE: A set of episodes of "The Scooby-Doo Show" made in 1978 for ABC had been tagged as an unofficial third season in their original broadcasts (being shown with the original opening/closing sequences), but all subsequent airings feature the proper "Scooby-Doo Show" opening/closing, thus removing the connection. That hasn't stopped them from being released to DVD as "Season 3" of Where Are You.
• The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972-1974, CBS) - This featured appearances from animated versions of real-life celebrities and crossovers with other Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Unlike all the other series, the episodes of this series were hour-long with commercials (though some syndicated broadcasts split episodes into two standard half hours). Otherwise, this show mostly followed the classic formula. 24 Episodes (or 48 split-episodes).
• The Scooby-Doo Show (1976-1979, ABC) - A return of the original "Where Are You?!" formula, but with a slightly (yet noticeably) cheaper budget and occasional appearances from Scooby-Doo's relatives (e.g. his cousins Scooby-Dum and Scooby-Dee). 40 episodes.
  • NOTE: The original broadcasts of these episodes were featured in package shows like "The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour" (Eps. 1-16), "Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics" (Eps. 17-24), and "Scooby's All-Stars" (Eps. 25-40). Eps. 25-40 were originally shown with the opening titles of "Scooby-Doo! Where Are You?!" (not attached to a package show), and are often seen as a sort of the third season of the original series (and have been released to DVD as such). Other shows in these packages include Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, Laff-A-Lympics
    • Dynomutt, Dog Wonder (1976-1977, ABC) - The gang are featured in three crossover episodes.
    • Laff-A-Lympics (1977-1979, ABC) - A Battle of the Network Stars-styled Olympic crossover with other Hanna-Barbera characters. 24 Episodes.
• Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979-1980, ABC) - Scrappy's debut. Basically "The Scooby-Doo Show" with Scrappy. 16 Episodes.
• The Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show (1980-1982, ABC) - A completely different formula, with only Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy being caught in various Looney Tunes-esque adventures in seven-minute shorts (three-per-episode). 33 Episodes (99 Shorts). Of the 99 shorts, 13 didn't feature Scooby-Doo, instead featuring Scrappy-Doo with his other uncle, Yabba-Doo in the west.
  • NOTE: Similarly to The Scooby-Doo Show, these episodes were broadcast in package shows. The first 20 episodes (60 segments) aired with Richie Rich (1980) and the latter 13 episodes (39 segments) aired with The Puppy's New Adventures.
• The New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show (1983-1984, ABC) - Return of the "mystery" formula, but only with Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, and Daphne as the lead characters. 13 Episodes.
• The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries (1984-85, ABC) - A continuation of the previous series, but with occasional appearances from Fred and Velma (Both for three episodes, reuniting the gang, one each showcasing their careers, and a Christmas Special with just Fred). 13 Episodes.
• The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985-1986, ABC) - A new formula and the first retool to be considered a completely separate series, a twist of the previous two shows, featuring new characters (Flim Flam, Vincent Van Ghoul, and villains Weerd and Bogel), the voice of Vincent Price, and was the first Scooby-Doo show featuring an overarching storyline, though the show's cancellation left it unresolved. 13 Episodes.
• A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988-1991, ABC) - Features a more modern animation style, with the gang solving mysteries as kids. The series was the first time the franchise acknowledged via good-natured self-referential parody the clichés and tropes of the original formula. 31 Episodes.
• What's New, Scooby-Doo? (2002-2006, The WB) - A new series, returning to the original format, but with a very contemporary style. 42 Episodes. The first TV series in the franchise to be produced by Warner Bros. as a consequence of the Time Warner/Turner merger of 1996.
• Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue! (2006-2008, The CW) - A big departure from the original formula, featured an overarching story, but only with Shaggy and Scooby (and a few appearances from Fred, Daphne, and Velma), and Scooby getting powers from special Scooby Snacks. 26 Episodes.
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2010-2013, Cartoon Network) - Features a slightly enhanced version of the original design, an overarching plot, a twist on the classic formula, occasionally darker storytelling, as well as appearances from some other Hanna-Barbera cartoons. 52 Episodes.
• Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! (2015-2018, Cartoon Network/Boomerang) - This incarnation falls back on the classic premise as the gang hits the road on summer vacation only to bump into mysteries and monsters. Like A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, focuses largely on humor and self-parody of its cliches. Notable for being the first series (not counting the prequel A Pup Named Scooby-Doo) to make a radical departure from the character designs in place since 1969, although most of the current voice actors returned. 52 Episodes.
• Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? (2019-2021, Boomerang/Max) - In this iteration, the gang meets celebrities in cartoon form as well as established fictional characters, similar to The New Scooby-Doo Movies. 52 Episodes.
• Velma (2023-present, HBO Max) - Focusing on a high-school aged Velma, the show covers her and the rest of the gang's pre-Mystery Inc. origins. Notably, it is the first entry in the series targeted towards adults, with the usual voice cast being replaced; namely, executive producer Mindy Kaling voicing Velma. Scooby is not featured in it, and the gang (bar Fred) gets a Race Lift.
• Scooby-Doo! and the Mystery Pups: (2024, Cartoon Network/Max) — An upcoming entry intended for CN's Cartoonito block, it will be the first series in the franchise aimed specifically towards pre-schoolers.

Animated films and TV specials

• Scooby Goes Hollywood (1979, ABC, prime time special)
• Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987, made-for-TV movie)
• Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988, made-for-TV movie)
• Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988, made-for-TV movie)
• Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights (1994, made-for-TV movie)
• The Scooby-Doo Project (1999, a series of shorts parodying The Blair Witch Project)
• 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)
• LEGO Scooby-Doo: Knight Time Terror (2015, Lego Special)
• Scoobynatural (2018, an episode of Supernatural where the two franchises Crossover)
• SCOOB! (2020)^*Intended to launch a cinematic universe of Hanna-Barbera characters. Intended for theatrical release, but instead released digitally due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic. It was later theatrically released in select countries outside of the United States.
• Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now! (2021, the CW, prime time special)

Direct-to-video animated films

• Scooby-Doo Direct-to-Video Film Series
  • Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)
  • Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost (1999)
  • Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (2000)
  • Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase (2001)
  • Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire (2003)
  • Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico (2003)
  • Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster (2004)
  • Aloha, Scooby-Doo! (2005)
  • Scooby-Doo in Where’s My Mummy? (2005)
  • Scooby Doo! Pirates Ahoy! (2006)
  • Chill Out, Scooby-Doo! (2007)
  • Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King (2008)
  • Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword (2009)
  • Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo (2010)
  • Scooby-Doo: Camp Scare (2010)
  • Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur (2011)
  • Scooby-Doo! Music of the Vampire (2012)
  • Big Top Scooby-Doo! (2012)
  • Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon (2013)
  • Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright (2013)
  • Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery (2014)
  • Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy (2014)
  • Scooby-Doo! Moon Monster Madness (2015)
  • Scooby-Doo! and KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery (2015)
  • Scooby-Doo! and the WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon (2016)
  • Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown (2017)
  • Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2018)
  • Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost (2018)
  • Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost (2019)
  • Scooby-Doo: Return to Zombie Island (2019)
  • Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo! (2020)
  • Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob (2021)
  • Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! meets Courage the Cowardly Dog (2021)
  • Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! (2022)
  • Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too! (2023)
• Scooby-Doo Direct-to-Video LEGO Film Series
  • LEGO Scooby-Doo! Haunted Hollywood (2016)
  • LEGO Scooby-Doo! Blowout Beach Bash (2017)

Live-action films

• Scooby Doo (2002 theatrical movie)
• Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed (2004 theatrical movie)
• Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (2009 TV movie)
• Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster (2010 TV movie)
• Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map (2013 direct-to-video movie)
• Daphne & Velma (2018 direct-to-video movie)

Literature

• Daphne & Velma (2020)

Comic books

• Scooby-Doo... Where Are You! (Gold Key, 1969-1972), 17 issues, plus four March of Comics premiums from Sears
• Scooby-Doo... Mystery Comics (Gold Key, 1973-1974 except for issue #26, which was a reprint of Where Are You! #6), 13 issues
• Scooby Doo, Where Are You? (Charlton, 1975-1976), 11 issues
• Scooby-Doo (Marvel, 1977-1979), 9 issues plus appearance in Yogi Bear's Easter Parade and Laff-A-Lympics: The Man Who Stole Thursdays
• Laff-A-Lympics (Marvel, 1978-79; Scooby and Shaggy appearances), 13 issues
• Scooby-Doo (Harvey, 1991; reprints of Charlton issues), 8 issues
• Scooby-Doo (Archie Comics, 1995-1997), 21 issues
• Cartoon Network Christmas Spectacular (Archie Comics, 1995, featured a Scooby story)
• Hanna-Barbera Spotlight (Archie Comics, 1996; issue 6 featured A Pup Named Scooby-Doo)
• Scooby-Doo (DC, 1997-2010), 159 issues
• Scooby Doo Readers (Scholastic 2000 - 2015), 35 issues
• Scooby-Doo! World of Mystery (DC, 2004-2006), 100 issues
• Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (DC, 2010-), 155 issues (as of April 2022)
• Scooby-Doo! Team-Up (DC, 2013-2019), 50 issues
• Scooby Apocalypse (DC, 2016-2019), 37 issues
• Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc. (DC, 2020), 3 issues
• The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries (DC, 2021-2022), 12 issues
  • The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries, vol. 2 (DC, 2022-2023), 12 issues
  • The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries, vol. 3 (DC, 2024- )

Pinball

• Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (2023)

Tabletop games

• Scooby-Doo Game: Where Are You! (1973)
• Scooby Doo och Monstret (1978)
• Scooby Doo Game (1980)
• Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Game (1983)
• Scooby-Doo! Thrills and Spills (1999)
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Mansion Game (1999)
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Card Game (1999)
• Scooby-Doo! Get That Dog (1999)
• Scooby-Doo! Expandable Card Game (2000)
• Monopoly: Scooby-Doo! Fright Fest (2000)
• Scooby-Doo! Cyber Chase (2001)
• Scooby-Doo! Bobblehead Game (2002)
• Scooby-Doo The Movie Game (2002)
• Monopoly: Scooby-Doo Collectors Edition (2002)
• Scooby-Doo! Hide & Shriek (2003)
• Group Photo: Scooby-doo! (2003)
• Scooby-Doo! Monster Chase (2004)
• Scooby-Doo! Who Are You? Game (2005) - Themed version of Guess Who?
• Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? (2005)
• Scooby-Doo! Coolsville 500 (2005)
• Scooby-Doo! Monster Mystery Game (2007) - Small game produced to be given away in McDonald's happy meals.
• Scooby-Doo! Haunted House 3D Board Game (2007)
• Scooby-Doo! DVD Board Game (2007)
• Scooby-Doo! Board Game: The Maze of Mayhem! (2007)
• Scooby-Doo Gold Rush Game (2007)
• Scooby Doo: Escape from the Vortex (2007)
• Jungle Speed Scooby Doo (2008)
• Scooby-Doo! and the Monster Mall Board Game (2010)
• Scooby-Doo Mystery Mine Board Game (2013)
• Scooby-Doo! Amazing Chase Game (2014)
• Scooby Doo Story Telling Dice (2014)
• Scooby-Doo Fright at the Fun Park (2016)
• Rory's Story Cubes: Scooby Doo (2016)
• Clue: Scooby-Doo (2019)
• Scooby-Doo: Escape from the Haunted Mansion (2020)
• Betrayal at Mystery Mansion (2020) - Themed version of Betrayal at House on the Hill
• Scooby-Doo: The Board Game (2021) - CMON Kickstarter funded game.

Theme park rides

• The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera
• Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster
• "Scooby Doo: The Museum of Mysteries"

Video games

• Scooby Doo's Maze Chase (1983)
• Scooby-Doo (1986 video game)
• Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1991)
• Scooby-Doo Mystery (two 1995 adventure games):
  • Scooby-Doo Mystery (Sega Genesis/Mega Drive)
  • Scooby-Doo Mystery (SNES)
• Scooby-Doo: Mystery of the Fun Park Phantom (1999 video game)
• Scooby-Doo: Mystery Adventures (2000 Point-and-Click adventure)
• Scooby-Doo! Classic Creep Capers (2000 platformer)
• Scooby-Doo: The Cyber Chase (2001 platformer)
• Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights (2002 action-adventure game)
• Scooby Doo 2002 (2002 action-adventure game)
• Scooby-Doo Case File (2002-2006 Educational Game)
• Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed (2004 action-adventure game)
• Scooby-Doo: Mystery Mayhem (2004 action-adventure game)
• Scooby-Doo! Unmasked (2005 video game)
• Scooby-Doo! Big Air (Adobe Flash sports game trilogy released in 2006 and 2007)
• Scooby-Doo, Who's Watching Who? (2006 platformer)
• Scooby-Doo (Flash) (two Adobe Flash playable episode sets with Point-and-Click Game mechanics.)
• Scooby-Doo! First Frights (2009 action platformer)
• Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Swamp (2010 action platformer)
• Scooby Doo! & Looney Tunes Cartoon Universe: Adventure (2014 platformer)
• LEGO Dimensions (2015 Massively Multiplayer Crossover video game featuring characters from the series)
• MultiVersus (2022 Platform Fighter featuring Shaggy and Velma as playable characters)

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Franchise-wide tropes:

General tropes:

• Tropes A to M
• Tropes N to Z

Other frequent tropes:

• A lot of running past a Wraparound Background.
• Velma losing her glasses, especially in the earliest series (she's Blind Without 'Em).
• Character Catchphrases: "Zoinks!" for Shaggy, "Jinkies!" for Velma, "Jeepers" for Daphne. Scrappy had two: "Let me at 'em, Let me at 'em!" and "Da-da-da-da-da-da, Puppy Power!". Not to mention the infamous "Let's Split Up, Gang!!" for Freddy as well as "Looks like we have another mystery on our hands!" and, in the 2010s, "Hold the phone!", and of course, Scooby's "Scooby Dooby Doo!" and "Rut Roh!" In some of the newer episodes/movies, Scooby responds to any mention of a dog with "Rog? Where?"
  • A Pup Named Scooby-Doo mercilessly lampooned and lampshaded these. And invented several new ones. And then lampooned and lampshaded those.
  • The catchphrases are also lampshaded in Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword. After something bad happens, they each say their catchphrases, except for Fred, whose catchphrase doesn't fit into that situation and instead laments his apparent lack of a catchphrase.
• The gang splitting up in search of clues. When they do, it's usually in two groups. Fred and Daphne in one group, Shaggy and Scooby in another, with Velma joining either group.
  • Very rarely do Fred and Shaggy be one group and Daphne and Velma on another, with Scooby joining either.
• Shaggy and Scooby consuming very large sandwiches. Also stealing food from one another, or occasionally having their food stolen by a random mouse, chipmunk, or bird.
• Scrappy attempting to use his super strength against the "ghost".
• Daphne getting abducted and tied up. Lampshaded in the original series; she's called "Danger-Prone Daphne" more than once.
  • Lampshaded in Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster by Daphne's cousin Shannon, who describes the Blake family as a whole as being the type to get caught in all sorts of traps and kidnappings, summing it up as being "Danger Prone". A mural on the wall of the family castle behind her even depicts this.
• A chase sequence through a room with a series of random doors with entryways that break the laws of physics.
• A long slapstick-filled chase sequence with upbeat music playing in the background.
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax is nearly universal, although a few later movies and movie-length episodes, and Thirteen Ghosts, had the ghosts turning out to be real. The New Scooby-Doo Movies (and, once, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo) also featured real monsters as guest stars, with the real monsters haunted by a fake one! The show likes playing with the trope as much as it likes playing it straight.
  • The monster in the first-season episode "Foul Play in Funland" was technically "real", though there was nothing supernatural about it.
• Scooby and Shaggy dress up in costumes and make a short skit to confuse the chasing monster.
• Despite the Plan - A convoluted plan to catch the villain that never goes as planned.
• The Reveal in the form of a Dramatic Unmask at the climax of the episode. "Let's see who this monster really is!"
  • Hilariously subverted in the What's New episode "It's All Greek To Scooby" when Velma triumphantly announces the identity of the Centaur and pulls the mask off... to reveal a character she had never seen before. Velma calls a foul and declares it doesn't count.
  • Played with in the classic series episode "A Clue For Scooby-Doo." Fred and the gang are about to unmask the Ghost of Captain Cutler to see if it was Ebeneezer Shark (the beachcomber they interrogated earlier). It turned out to be – thanks to Shaggy's placement of some seaweed – Captain Cutler himself. (Scooby and Velma were the only others to have recognized this denouement, but Fred and Daphne announce it as well, and they weren't even at Widow Cutler's home to have seen the Cutler portrait.)
• The Summation at the end of the episode, where the gang thoroughly debunks all of the supposed paranormal activity and explains its role in the criminal racket they have uncovered. Sometimes there was no crime committed, and the hoax was performed for a noble reason (for example, in "Haunted House Hang Up", the first time this occurred, the culprit disguised himself to scare people away, not to cover up some criminal behavior, but because he was afraid somebody would steal his family treasure).
• And the summations conclude with, "And I would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids and that [insert adjective] dog!"; often in different variations to shake up the old line a bit.
• One or more characters who come across as particularly suspicious, yet turn out to have nothing to do with the actual plot. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo went so far as to make one a regular supporting character with the actual name "Red Herring" (who Fred accuses of being the villain in every episode but one - the one time he doesn't accuse Red it turns out Red is the villain).
• The ghosts being real, at least for two series and The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo.
• Scooby getting scared and jumping into Shaggy's arms.
  • Amusingly, it's sometimes reversed, with Shaggy jumping into Scooby's front legs.
  • Other times, Velma carries the whole gang in her arms.
• Several versions of the opening credits incorporate a Bat Scare, and this happens occasionally in-story also.
• The Cartoon Network revival in the early 2000's used the franchise characters in comedic vignettes that lampshaded most (if not each) of the above or below tropes.
• The characters all have a distinctive way of running, every time (along with alternatives):
  • Fred swinging his arms and plodding, his second version is a slightly altered version of the same swinging and plodding but more exaggerated. ^note His racing Expy Mark from Speed Buggy has the same running animation, and it's implied Corry from Jeannie has the same animation due to both characters also sharing Fred's design.
  • Daphne leans forward slightly while running, her hair flowing and her arms moving back and forth across her chest area. She has an alternate version where she swings her arms downward back and forth. ^note Her racing Expy Debbie would also have the same running animation as would two celebrities, Sandy Duncan and Cher.
  • Velma runs with her shoulders back and arms hooked, and her bust out. She's the only one who lacks an alternate version.
  • Shaggy runs leaning forward extremely, almost at a 60-degree angle with his arms moving forward and back to match his leaning. His alternate variation is him swinging his arms back and forth and running normally, albeit more awkwardly. ^note His two Expies Tinker and Henry would also use the same running animation.
  • Scooby has two, depending on the episode:
    • Running with all legs spinning like propellers (most of the time).
    • Hopping forward (rarely).
• Shaggy losing Scooby and calling for him with "Scooby-Doo, where are you?".
• Scooby being berated by some small, angry animal, usually a mouse.
• Recent shows and movies often have Daphne being ignored by potential admirers, usually for Velma.
• The Mystery Machine being Fred's One True Love. That, and it gets damaged or destroyed with regular frequency in recent decades.
• Minor characters, mainly police officers, featuring the likeness of Don Knotts as a Mythology Gag to his appearances on The New Scooby-Doo Movies.
• Format-wise, expect a lot of Fade to Black at dramatic moments, that quite often Fade In immediately as the action kicks off. Once an allowance for TV networks' discretion in where to place a Commercial Break Cliffhanger, but retained for tradition's sake long after any need for them.
• Starting since 1999, the end credits of all Scooby-Doo media include "Special Thanks To Joe Ruby and Ken Spears", giving acknowledgment to the pair who came up with the entire concept for producers Hanna-Barbera in the first place.

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