Since 1969 there has been an average of at least one new Scooby Doo series every four years. That adds up to a lot of shows! While I've by no means seen every Scooby episode ever made, I have seen at least some of almost all of them. Here's what I think about how they stack up next to each other:

1. Scooby Doo, Where Are You? (1969)

The original series is #1 for two reasons. First it is, you know, the original--if it weren't for this show we'd never have had all the rest. It was good enough to create the most successful cartoon franchise ever by far. Second, the original series has, at its best (And it wasn't always good--every episode has at least some weak moments of animation, and some early episodes were just plain bad overall), never been surpassed. Episodes like "What a Night for a Knight" and "Spooky Space Kook" are still among the best ever. Even lesser episodes in the early series often have scenes that make excellent use of music and imagery to create a mood. And the original's detailed, atmospheric backgrounds are probably the best ever produced for a TV cartoon. The show still holds up today; in its own day it was far better than the norm.

2. Scooby Doo: Mystery Inc. (2010)

I'm taking a real chance in assigning such a high place to this ongoing series--for all I know it's just about to jump the shark. So far, though, it has done great. Personally I don't like some of the more contemporary humor, the mock kung-fu fights and other anime-influenced touches, and much of what they've done to the main characters (especially their libidinous, sometimes mean-spirited Velma). But much of this is understandable in a show that is, after all, aimed a today's young viewers and not at overaged first-generation fans. The characterizations of Shaggy, Scooby, and Daphne are usually dead-on. Fred still looks better than has often been the case, and even Velma is done right part of the time. As in the original, there are exciting and creepy scenes that try to do something a little different. And the show is fun to watch. Scooby should always be that.

3. What's New, Scooby Doo (2002)

Again, there are things I don't personally like--contemporary humor and anime influence (Did EVERY episode have to have giant robot "ghosts"? Come on!), characterizations (Fred's a bit of a doofus, Velma's a technology guru, Daphne's an action heroine), etc. For all that the episodes I've seen of this long-running series were usually fun to watch. "What's New, Scooby Doo" made a respectable update of the show for a new millennium. And how many other '60s cartoons even made it anywhere near the year 2000?

4. The New Scooby Doo Movies (1972)

In terms of personal preference this one is second only to the original series. The "Movies" were my introduction to Scooby Doo when I was very young. I've got fond childhood memories of them. They also come the closest of any successor show to having the sort of lovely background paintings the original had. Unfortunately the hour-long episodes had some serious weaknesses. They were invariably heavily padded (Scooby really works best in a half-hour format), had lots of weak patches in terms of animation, and only seldom managed to be very creepy. There are good scenes, but even the best episodes have problems working as a unified whole. For all the weaknesses, the good parts are worth sitting (or fast-forwarding) through to reach. I wish they'd resolve the rights issues or whatever that have kept some of the episodes from being available on DVD.

I haven't watched this yet.
I will get around to watching after the baseball season is over.
I like your list though, the original is still the best.

Scooby Doo comics:

Vol. 1: Gold Key, 29 issues (1970-1975)
Vol. 2: Charlton, 11 issues (1976-1976)
Vol. 3: Marvel, 9 issues (1977-1979)
Vol. 4: Harvey, 3 issues + specials (1992-1993)
Vol. 5: Archie, 21 issues (1995-1997)
Vol. 6: DC, 159 issues and counting, + specials/minis/trades (1997-)

What did you think of the show Scooby and Shaggy Get a Clue? I think that was the name of it. Too radical of a redesign for me.

Those Gold Key Scooby issues are not cheap.

I liked the character designs of it, but it diverged too heavily from the format.

I believe that. They must be hard to find, too. Mycomicshop.com only has one in stock, and it is from late in the series.

It's the one show I've never seen at all. Never got around to it, I guess. So it won't be part of the rankings. Which continue below:

5. Scooby Doo, Where Are You? "Third Season" (1978)

The two seasons (actually a season-and-a-half) of the original series were re-run on Saturday mornings for much of the 1970s. In 1978 the producers added what is now marketed on DVD as the "Third Season". As a child I liked these about as much as the originals. Today, looking at them side-by-side, I can see that the later show is inferior in several respects--poorer visuals, poorer music, poorer writing, much less spooky atmosphere overall. A few of the best episodes just about measure up to a mid-level entry in the original series. The 1978 episodes were at least noticeably better-looking than their immediate predecessors of the mid-1970s. Otherwise they were very similar.

6. The Scooby Doo/Dynomutt Hour (1976)

The Scooby part of this package returned to the original half-hour mystery format abandoned in the "New Scooby Doo Movies". Unfortunately it was nothing like as well made. The backgrounds, animation, and music are pretty crummy. There are far fewer of the wonderfully spooky and atmospheric moments that made the original so great. Different voice direction and a miscast new Velma also hurt. Only one or two episodes are really all that good. Incidentally, Scoob and the gang made a few guest appearances with Dynomutt and Blue Falcon, of which the less said the better.

6b. Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-lympics

The "Laff-a-lympics", in which Scoob had his own team (With Shag as co-captain) had its charms but was not really a Scooby show. The "Laff-a-lympics" segments did air alongside new Scooby episodes. These were essentially indistinguishable from the episodes that aired next to Dynomutt.

7. The Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Show (1979)

After ten years on the air the Scooby formula was getting tired and needed something to rejuvenate it. IMO, this wasn't it! Admittedly Scrappy was popular enough at the time and probably helped to keep the franchise going for a while. If I'd been a couple of years younger when this came out I'd probably have accepted Scrappy just fine. You had to be the right age to appreciate him! His presence wouldn't have been so bad if Shag and Scoob hadn't gone from having a yellow streak to being head-to-toe, schoolbus-yellow, dyed-in-the-wool cowards. In story and animation terms this series was about on a par with the "Third Season" episodes.

Now things start to get BAD!

8. A Pup Named Scooby Doo (1988)

This will probably excite some controversy--I suspect some people at IMWAN have good childhood memories of "Pup". The best I can say for it is that it was better animated than much of what came before. Two things annoy me about it. First, they changed some of the characters up a lot. Fred was turned into an idiot and has never entirely recovered from this interpretation of him. Daphne was turned into the team's leader, which was flattering but not really her style. IIRC this was also when she was revealed to be a child of privilege and wealth, a little wrinkle we could have done without.

The other thing I don't like here is the incessant smart-alecky, ironic, breaking-the-fourth-wall humor--things like having an announcer come on the screen when Velma says "Jinkies" to remind everybody of how very significant that is. That sort of humor became massively overdone in the 1980s. This is an especially egregious example of it.

9. 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo (1985)

Well...this at least had potential. It was far better animated than most recent Scooby shows, it had Daphne, it had Vincent Price sort of playing himself, and several episodes had great fantasy concepts. But bad writing sank every single one of the thirteen installments of the series.

10. The New Scooby and Scrappy Show (1980s)

In the early 1980s the producers jettisoned Fred and the girls and had Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy running around by themselves. They also abandoned the half-hour mystery format for two shorter cartoons per episode. Some were mysteries, some were adventures of other kinds. Occasionally they met "real" supernatural beings, in gross violation of Scooby tradition. The animation and writing were absolutely horrible. Scrappy would probably be hated far less by his detractors if he hadn't been associated with this mess! Along with the 1979 TV special "Scooby Goes Hollywood" the shows of this period represent Scooby's absolute nadir.

10b. Various titles, including "Scooby's Mystery Funhouse" (1980s)

Apparently they thought better of abandoning the other characters, probably because a cast of three guys left no room for "girl interest". So there was a series that brought Daphne back as team leader. This had potential--I can see her being a kind of den mother to the others. It pains me to have to say that Daphne's presence was not enough to overcome the still-abysmal quality of the stories and animation. They just took the awful mess that Scooby had become, short cartoons and all, and threw poor Daphne into it too. No wonder she wore a different outfit when she appeared in "13 Ghosts of Schooby Doo". It must have been impossible to get the smell of this show out of the old purple dress and scarf!

I was not aware of some of these. Thanks!

I've got one Charlton issue and a few from here and there of the DC series. I've bought DC Scooby digests for the library. We have a shelf of assorted Scooby series books that are pretty popular. Believe it or not, that collection already existed before I came to work here!

So bad. so very very bad. This is your "Clone Saga" or "Heroes Reborn".

I used to buy the Marvel Hanna-Barbera comics.

Story from Mark Evanier about Scrappy Doo's creation:

http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007 ... tml#012936
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007 ... tml#013108
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007 ... tml#013405
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007 ... tml#014111
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2008 ... tml#016337
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009 ... tml#017744

I remember a bunch of these from reruns as a kid. My list would probably be similar to your own, although I've never seen Mystery, Inc and I as a kid had a strong fondness for Pup, although I see no need to cause controversy, just an opinion after all, and most of your complaints are valid.

Some Scooby series really have sucked out loud. I remember liking Scrappy as a kid, but looking back I see that he was a pretty weak character and most of the series featuring him were amongst the weakest. Even as a kid I remember despising 13 Ghosts, although I liked the basic idea.

The original series is far and away the best and by and large how good later series are is directly related to how similar they are to that.

Part 5 has a "leaned forward in (his) chair" moment!

What, no episode reviews????