"Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated" a so-far assessment

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To date, nine episodes of the fifteenth Scooby show, Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated have been screened (it's going into repeats till January) and many are saying it's the best Scooby entry since the 1998 made-for-video feature Scooby-Doo On Zombie Island.

That depends on how each entry is seen in regards to canon. Zombie Island has the gang reuniting after years apart (their last venture as a team in 1984), while Mystery Inc. takes the Scooby format, adds in some lampshading and quirks not normally seen and mixes it with the teen angst of Melrose Place. The quirks are notable--the gang's mystery-busting talents are not welcome in their home town of Crystal Cove because the city is a paranormal tourist attraction. The series itself envelopes through an arc which has been learned that a previous team of mystery busters that called themselves Mystery Incorporated has since disappeared and the gang has been left clues by an unseen figure named Mister E (the voice of comedian Lewis Black) for them to suss out the whereabouts of the former team.

But the team's work as a team has been taking a backseat to the angst. Daphne has been trying to start something with Fred, who is obsessed with traps (the type he would build on a moment's notice in the old series). Shaggy has it worst. Velma has been playing up to Shaggy who didn't want Scooby to know for fear of hurting his feelings, but as of episode 9, the cat is now out of the bag (Scooby sees Shaggy and Velma kissing in the back yard of the Rogers' home), and Shaggy is faced with a decision that has to wait till new episodes start: Velma or Scooby. And with both of them mad at him, it won't be (you should pardon the expression) a piece of cake.

It's okay to experiment with characters as established as these, and Fred's idiot savant-leader of the team is a hilarious conceit. But the Scooby-Velma-Shaggy triangle has become very discomforting. Scooby had always been extremely likeable and Velma has always been a wonderful character (as is her voice, Mindy Cohn), but both are shown as selfish twits who have Shaggy against a wall and no concern over his dilemma or emotions. Only their own. It completely shatters the work ethic and love Velma and Scooby had for each other in the past. Now they can't stand each other.

But that's only in the context of this series. And if true Scooby canon is to be followed, then Mystery Incorporated is an alternate canon, not existing. Graphically, the show is stunning, using shadows and design that makes it stand out. But you can't really gift-wrap a bar of used soap and call it a present, and that bar of soap is Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated.