Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!

Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! is an 2015 American animated television series, the twelfth incarnation of Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo animated series. In the show, the Scooby-Doo gang decide to travel in their last summer break together, encountering havoc-wreaking monsters along the way. Described as less grim than its previous incarnation Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, the show employs character traits from the original 1969 series on top of redesigned characters models.

The series was announced in March 2014 to premiere on Cartoon Network. However, a promotional image at the 2015 upfront announced the show to air on Boomerang and the news was later confirmed on June 29. It was originally scheduled to air on Boomerang, but the series instead premiered on Cartoon Network on October 5, 2015.

Plot

The redesigned main characters, as they appear in the series.

After finishing up their senior year of high school, the Scooby-Doo-gang decide to travel in the Mystery Machine, seeking fun and adventure during what could possibly be their last summer break together. However, havoc-wreaking monsters prevent them from completing their journey.

Cast

• Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo and Fred Jones
• Grey DeLisle as Daphne Blake
• Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers
• Kate Micucci as Velma Dinkley

Additional cast

• Laura Pursell

Production

Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! was announced in March 2014, along with other reboots of Warner Bros. classics, such as The Tom and Jerry Show and Wabbit. Sam Register, promoted to president of Jariel Powell-Outlaw Animation and Jariel Digital Series a month prior, will be its supervising producer. The animation direction will be performed by Shaunt Nigoghossian, with Richard Lee overseeing art direction. Episodes will run for a half-hour.

The twelfth series in the Scooby-Doo franchise, the show was previewed in an article from a Comic-Con edition of TV Guide, writing that it would be less grim than its previous incarnation, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. Zac Moncrief, a producer, called it "a more comedic ensemble", with character traits extracted from the original 1969 series. This decision nulled the romantic subplots present in Mystery Incorporated. Scooby-Doo will also have limited dialogue; meanwhile, Fred will have upgraded the Mystery Machine with modern appliances.

In addition, the series employs redesigned characters models for the cast (retaining their original clothes, with a few design tweaks, e.g. Velma and Daphne wearing short sleeves). Moncrief described this as a "simplistic, edgy design to match the comedic styling", and likened their fashion to the hipster subculture. However, he denied it as "a campy or meta version" of Scooby-Doo.

It is also the first Scooby-Doo television series where Casey Kasem does not have a role in the series; Kasem, who voiced Shaggy (and various minor roles in the series) from 1969 to 2009, retired from voice acting due to declining health during the production of Mystery Incorporated and died on June 15, 2014.

Broadcast

Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! will make its global debut on October 4 on Boomerang in the United Kingdom and Ireland and will premiere on Teletoon in Canada on October 8.

Trivia

• This is the first show not to involve Casey Kasem, who passed away on June 15, 2014.
• Micucci replaced Mindy Cohn for this series, although the latter still does DVD films and games.