SHAGGY
& SCOOBY-DOO GET A CLUE!
(CW, September 23, 2006-March 15, 2008)
Warner Bros. Animation
MAIN CAST:
Scott Menville
– Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, Dr. Trebla, Agent 4
Frank Welker –
Scooby-Doo, Agent 3, Agent 13, Menace, Fred Jones
Casey Kasem – Dr.
Albert Shaggleford
Jeff Bennett – Dr.
Phineas Phibes, Agent 2, Ricky, Mr. Invisible
Jim Meskimen –
Robi, Agent 1, Agent 7, Mark, ART
While What’s
New, Scooby-Doo? was a return to the classic Scooby-Doo formula
of the 70s, the 10th incarnation decided to jump ahead to the next
era from the 80s.
 |
| Shaggy and Scooby enjoying their patented hot dog tacos. |
Shaggy &
Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! put a renewed focus on the titular characters, who
weren’t as much of one in the previous series. The series introduced yet
another uncle for Shaggy (Scott Menville), Dr. Albert Shaggleford (Casey
Kasem): a brilliant inventor who had managed to become targeted by some
despicable people and was forced to go underground. He leaves his estate,
fortune and inventions to Shaggy and Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker) and they become
his agents in stopping the world-conquering schemes of the nefarious Dr.
Phineus Phibes (named after a Vincent
Price character, voiced by Jeff Bennett). Dr. Phibes was a technology thief
with a prosthetic hand that could change into a variety of devices, as well as
attract lightning strikes leading to his rarely venturing outside himself. To
achieve his goals, Dr. Phibes wanted the nanotech formula Shaggleford invented
that had a variety of applications; including giving random special abilities
to a person if they happened to be ingested (Shaggy frequently baked the
formula into Scooby Snacks). Instead of the Scooby “mystery of the week”
formula, the show only had the one ongoing mystery of where Shaggleford was
since his disappearance; focusing instead on the comedic action and spy-like adventure
elements.
 |
| Character models for Mystery, Inc., Robi, Albert, Dr. Trebla and Dr, Phibes. |
Warner Bros. had wanted to give the
franchise a fresh new take, which was developed by Ray DeLaurentis and overseen by
Eric Radomski. The decision
was made by Warners to once again dump Fred (Welker), Daphne (Grey DeLisle) and Velma (Mindy Cohn) from the show in
order to streamline the ultimate focus and further cement that this was a new
incarnation of the franchise. The Mystery, Inc. gang did make a couple of cameos
and were full-on guest-stars in one episode, and also continued to be featured
in the ongoing direct-to-video movie series. Once again Shaggy had possession
of the gang’s transport, the Mystery Machine, which he upgraded to be able to
transform into a variety of vehicles (usually the wrong ones for a given
situation).
 |
| Agent 1 & 2, Ricky, Mark and Trebla look on as Robi joins Dr. Phibes? |
Taking their place
was Shaggleford’s defective robotic butler, Robi (Jim Meskimen). Robi tended to
break through objects instead of going around them, was a lousy cook, and an
impressionist. However, his primary function was to serve as a communication
device between Shaggleford and Shaggy; often appearing as a hologram projection
to warn of Dr. Phibes’ next scheme. Aiding Dr. Phibes was his army of nondescript
agents. They all wore the same uniforms with a number designation on their
chests. Agent 1 (Meskimen) was the no-nonsense second in command of Dr. Phibes’
forces, and was often paired with the dimwitted Agent 2 (Bennett). There was
also his right-hand man and advisor, Dr. Trebla (Menville), who turned out to
be Shaggleford in disguise as a means to spy on Dr. Phibes’ operation. Rounding
out Dr. Phibes’ crew were his own personal inventors Ricky (Bennett) and Mark
(Meskimen), who were based on the titular character and his brother from Napoleon Dynamite,
and Menace (Welker), a recipient of the nanotech formula that made him super
strong and steadily drove him mad.
 |
| Pimp My Ride: Scooby Edition. |
Shaggy and
Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! debuted on The CW
as part of the Kids’ WB
programming block on September 23, 2006. This would end up being the last
series with the involvement of Hanna-Barbera co-founder
Joseph Barbera, who would pass
away during its production, and the last to originally air on Saturday mornings—Scooby’s
lifetime home. The series marked the first time Kasem had not voiced Shaggy on
a television show, although he continued to do so in the animated films
(notably, Shaggy would return to eating meat in the series), as well as the
first time that the episode titles would be shown at the start of the end
credits instead of at the beginning of the episode. It was also the third to utilize
character designs other than the Hanna-Barbera originals. As animation
production had gone mostly digital, it was decided to alter the character
designs to best utilize the technology as well as compensate for tight budgets and
schedules. The designs were done by Lois M. Lee, taking a strong
inspiration from the live-action Scooby films for the Mystery, Inc.
gang.
 |
| Menace on nanotech. |
The series was predominantly
written by DeLaurentis, who served as story editor, with additional writing
from Scott Kreamer, Steve Sessions, Reid Harrison, Meredith Jennings-Offen, Jim Krieg, Stephen Sustarsic, and Will Schifrin. Animation duties
were handled by Digitial
Emation, Inc. and Dongwoo Animation,
although the opening titles, designed by Radomski, was animated by Six Point Harness Studios with a theme
by Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh. Mothersbaugh’s
music production company, Mutato Muzika,
handled the rest of the series’ music.
 |
| Scooby with elastic powers. |
Get a Clue! aired
sporadically over the course of two seasons, taking frequent breaks of a few
weeks after a grouping of episodes. Ultimately, the series failed to connect
with viewers who were put off by its radically different art style and changes
to the well-known format. Although what ended up being the series finale ended on
a bit of a cliffhanger, it’s unknown if a third season was ever planned.
 |
| The UK DVD cover. |
The first 8 episodes were released onto DVD across two
volumes by Warner Home Entertainment in 2007 and 2008. Between 2009 and
2019, additional episodes were included as special features of other Scooby releases;
including Where
Are You! Volumes 1-4, A
Pup Named Scooby-Doo Complete Second, Third and Fourth Seasons, The
13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo! The Complete Series, 13 Spooky Tales: For
the Love of Snack and Surf’s
Up, Scooby-Doo! and Best
of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection: Scooby-Doo! Both seasons were
made available for streaming on iTunes
and Amazon
Prime Video, as well as Boomerang’s
SVOD subscription service.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“Shags to Riches” (9/23/06) – Shaggy and Scooby explore the mansion
Shaggy’s uncle left him after a villain forces him into hiding.
“More Fondue for Scooby-Doo” (9/30/06) – Albert sends Shaggy and
Scooby to Switzerland to stop Dr. Phibes from interrupting an anti-global
warming conference.
“High Society Scooby” (10/7/06) – Shaggy and Scooby sneak into a
country club to protect three scientists from being abducted by Dr. Phibes.
“Party Arty” (11/4/06) – The homeowners’ association comes down on
Shaggy and Scooby’s housewarming party, which Dr. Phibes plans to crash.
“Smart House” (11/11/06) – Intercepting Dr. Phibes’ computer virus
causes Shaggy and Scooby to release it inside their mansion.
“Lighting Strikes Twice” (11/18/06) – Scooby has to face his fear of
lightning to stop Dr. Phibes’ weather machine.
“Don’t Feed the Animals” (2/3/07) – Dr. Phibes plans to destroy the
rainforest to find the leaves that could lead to eternal life.
“Mystery of the Missing Mystery Solvers” (2/10/07) – Shaggy and Scooby
get so caught up in being honored as mystery solvers that they fail to prevent
people from disappearing.
“Chefs of Steel” (2/17/07) – Dr. Phibes creates a hypnotic hibachi to
use on Scooby and Shaggy to make them reveal the nano-tech formula.
“Almost Ghosts” (2/24/07) – Mystery Inc. reunites to stop Dr. Phibes’
invisible agents from infiltrating an army base.
“Pole to Pole” (3/3/07) – Shaggy and Scooby enter a race to stop Dr.
Phibes’ EMP bomb from wiping out all technology, which they discover has been
planted on the Mystery Machine.
“Big Trouble” (4/28/07) – Albert alerts Scooby and Shaggy to Dr.
Phibes’ attempt to destroy them with a giant robot.
“Operation Dog and Hippy Boy” (5/5/07) – Dr. Phibes assembles a team
of ruthless criminals to destroy Shaggy and Scooby.
Season 2:
“Shaggy and Scooby World” (9/22/07) – Dr. Phibes turns Shaggy and
Scooby’s amusement park into a death trap.
“Almost Purr-fect” (9/29/07) – Shaggy and Scooby’s dog show is
infiltrated by Dr. Phibes in a cat disguise.
“Inside Job” (10/6/07) – Shaggy and Scooby have to figure out how to
purge the nano-bots that Dr. Phibes ingested before he becomes unstoppable.
“Zoinksman” (10/13/07) – Shaggy dons a defective super suit in order
to stop Dr. Phibes from raining nuclear winter upon the world.
“The Many Faces of Evil” (11/3/07) – Dr. Phibes produces an army of
nano-clones that represent a different aspect of his personality.
“Cruisin’ For a Bruisin’” (11/10/07) – Shaggy, Scooby and Dr. Phibes
all decide to take a vacation and end up on the same cruise ship.
“There’s a Doctor in the House” (12/1/07) – When Dr. Phibes’ evilest
clone kicks him out of his lair, he ends up shacking up with Shaggy and Scooby.
“Super Scary Movie Night” (1/26/08) – Dr. Phibes builds versions of
the Universal monsters onto discs and plans to duplicate them.
“Runaway Robi” (2/2/08) – Robi runs away from home when he overhears
Shaggy and Scooby declare he’s not a good personal trainer.
“Don’t Get a Big Head” (2/16/08) – Dr. Phibes makes a new nano formula
to make himself super smart and decides to make the world super dumb.
“Scooby-Dudes” (2/23/08) – Dr. Phibes returns to the ranch he grew up
on and creates giant vicious animals to help him conquer the world.
“Zoinks The Wonderdog” (3/8/08) – When Shaggy’s original dog returns,
Scooby gets jealous and he seeks out his previous owner.
“Uncle Albert Alert” (3/15/08) – Dr. Phibes discovers he has a mole in
his organization: Uncle Albert!
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