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Warner Home Video presents

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: Volume 2 (2005)

"Like, that's a good idea, Freddy!"- Shaggy (Casey Kasem)

Stars: Frank Welker, Kellie Martin, Casey Kasem
Director: various

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (nothing objectionable)
Run Time: 01h:32m:12s
Release Date: 2005-07-19
Genre: animation

Style
Grade
Substance
Grade
Image Transfer
Grade
Audio Transfer
Grade
Extras
Grade
D+ CC+C F

 

DVD Review

These days it seems like every classic cartoon is kept alive by modern spin-offs. Scooby-Doo is no exception, as everyone's favorite mystery-solving pooch has been on television in some form or another for decades now. The late 80s saw him in his early days, with A Pup Named Scooby-Doo following the title character when he was just a little puppy. I'm sure kids back then enjoyed seeing Scooby as a little guy, but the show was disappointing for those who grew up watching him as an adult.

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: Volume 2 features another four episodes of the show. The first, For Letter or Worse, has Scooby and the gang encountering the ghost of Al Cabone. They meet him on the set of a game show that they compete on, where, naturally, they uncover a dubious scheme by a scorned former employee. This is an entertaining installment, but it doesn't feature anything special to set it apart from the rest.

Babysitter From Beyond finds Shaggy taking his baby sister to a new babysitter. Shaggy's all for this, at least until he sets his eyes on a woman that has a striking resemblance to the Bride of Frankenstein. This episode is very funny, and it's nice to see Shaggy as the focal point. Giving Scooby a much needed breather and his buddy some well-deserved attention turns out to be a great move.

Snow Place Like Home takes Scooby and the gang to a ski resort called the Snowy Mountain Chalet. The setting is scary enough, but when they meet the even-scarier couple that runs the place, they realize that there is a much deeper mystery to this location than what's on the surface.

The fourth and final episode, Now Museum Now You Don't, is the best of the bunch. Almost anytime a samurai swordsman is put into the mix, you know you're getting something good, and in this show we get the ghost of such a warrior, which is even better. During a visit to the Coolsonian Museum, the gang discovers that an overweight samurai ghost has taken some swords from an exhibit. It doesn't take long for them to get to work to track him down, and the results are hilarious.

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo is unmistakably directed at younger kids who can relate easily to these characters in their much younger forms. Unfortunately, that'll leave many fans of the original in the dark and uninterested. That's a shame because there are some really good episodes, especially in Volume 2 of the series' DVD collection. While kids aren't always the most critical when it comes to different cartoons, they still know what they like, and I haven't met on yet who would turn down a chance to see Scooby-Doo in action, regardless of how he looks or what his age is in a particular show.

The one thing that makes A Pup Named Scooby-Doo appealing to fans of the older shows is hearing the voices of the original Scooby and Shaggy: Casey Kasem and Frank Welker. Life Goes On's Kellie Martin is also here, voicing Daphne very effectively. She doesn't do enough to make us forget about the original Daphne, Heather North, but Martin, like A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, itself, does enough to make the show as entertaining as possible for every generation of Scooby-Doo fans.

Rating for Style: D+
Rating for Substance: C

 

Image Transfer

 One
Aspect Ratio1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratioyes
Anamorphicno


Image Transfer Review: These episodes are in full frame, and they don't stray far from the way they originally appeared on TV. It's nice to see the old, grittier look of this series, something we don't get from the most recent incarnations of the Scooby-Doo character. Muted colors aren't a surprise, but the same annoying pixilation that marred the Volume 1 DVD is present here as well.

Image Transfer Grade: C+
 

Audio Transfer

 LanguageRemote Access
MonoEnglish, French, Spanishyes


Audio Transfer Review: The original Dolby Digital Mono audio is what we'd expect as well, but it works great with the age of the shows. Naturally, everything stays up front, but the important part is that the crisp dialogue and music work in perfect tandem with each other.

Audio Transfer Grade:

Disc Extras

Animated menu with music
Scene Access with 4 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English, French, Spanish with remote access
Packaging: Snapper
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extras Review: There aren't any extras at all on this DVD.

Extras Grade: F
 

Final Comments

Die-hard fans of the original Scooby-Doo series probably will be disappointed with the content in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: Volume 2. However, the little ones are sure to lap this stuff up, and this second collection of episodes is sure to keep them happy for an hour and a half. The audio and video are on par with the original TV broadcast quality, and, unfortunately, there aren't any extras to go along with these shows.

Chuck Aliaga 2005-09-29