Ruh-roh

January 9, 2007 7:04 AM

He would have made it to 82, if not for those meddling kids.
posted by Mur (42 comments total)

rut ro raggy
posted by wfrgms at 7:08 AM on January 9, 2007

Is Scooby Doo really more culturally enduring then the Jetsons or the Flintstones? Maybe it's just a demographic diffrence, as those shows were popular with the babyboomers, while Scooby Doo is more popular with Gen-Xers.
posted by delmoi at 7:12 AM on January 9, 2007

I dunno, but Thelma sure made me dig smart women.
posted by pax digita at 7:13 AM on January 9, 2007

Zoinks
.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 7:16 AM on January 9, 2007

.
posted by huskerdont at 7:20 AM on January 9, 2007

The real story behind Scooby Doo. (mp3, audio warning).
posted by spock at 7:20 AM on January 9, 2007

Jinkies

.

My favorite episodes were the ones where guest stars would help the kids. They teamed up with the Addams Family one time, I remember, but the all-time best was when they ran into Jonathan Winters. WTF? Henry Winkler directed that one?
posted by emelenjr at 7:22 AM on January 9, 2007

sad to hear
posted by parmanparman at 7:25 AM on January 9, 2007

Is Scooby Doo really more culturally enduring then the Jetsons

It just occured to me that Scooby's speaking voice was more or less lifted whole hog from Astro's.
posted by jonmc at 7:26 AM on January 9, 2007

Whole dog, you mean.
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:27 AM on January 9, 2007 [2 favorites]

Man, and I didn’t even know that he was Japanese.
posted by hadjiboy at 7:31 AM on January 9, 2007

I dunno, but Thelma sure made me dig smart women.

Velma. With a 'V.' But maybe smart chicks dig dudes who can't spell.
posted by jonmc at 7:31 AM on January 9, 2007 [3 favorites]

My favorite episodes were the ones where guest stars would help the kids

Mine too!
posted by hadjiboy at 7:32 AM on January 9, 2007

"Up and Atom - Atom Ant!" - all through my childhood, my mom knew I loved this cartoon and used the catchphrase to get me out of bed in the morning to get ready for school.

Some of my favorite cartoon creations were made by this man and the recently deceased Hanna and Barbera ...


.
posted by mctsonic at 7:38 AM on January 9, 2007

.

I loved how the skyscraper sandwiches shaggy made (and scooby ate) included olives attached by toothpicks. ouch!
posted by cowbellemoo at 7:44 AM on January 9, 2007

.

Another cartoon legend moving on.....
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 7:54 AM on January 9, 2007

I always always hated Scooby Doo with a passion, but the '73 Charlotte's Web was pure genius so I'll give this guy respek.
posted by spicynuts at 8:01 AM on January 9, 2007

Wow, posting an obit thread just to make a joke. I can see why this is so popular.
posted by yerfatma at 8:15 AM on January 9, 2007

Nice job stealing that headline from Fark.
posted by thisisdrew at 8:22 AM on January 9, 2007

Zoinks.
posted by miss lynnster at 8:29 AM on January 9, 2007

now if we could only get rid of Scrappy . . .
also,

.
posted by killy willy at 8:29 AM on January 9, 2007

Not knowing too much about the man other than what is in that obit I would have to say he had a pretty wonderful life and if Josie and the Pussycats is any indication, he had a groovy one as well.

.
posted by Skygazer at 8:45 AM on January 9, 2007

Old cartoonists don't die, they just go into syndication.
posted by cortex at 8:49 AM on January 9, 2007

I've lost my glasses! I can't see without my glasses!
posted by three blind mice at 8:50 AM on January 9, 2007

.

(i loved that Charlotte's Web too)
posted by amberglow at 8:50 AM on January 9, 2007

.

Oh this is a sad day for me; I loved Scooby Doo when I was a kid. Scrapy however...oh lord, don't get me started on that monster.
posted by Holy foxy moxie batman! at 9:05 AM on January 9, 2007

He spent time in Manzanar during WWII. It always amazes me when I read about these guys who were so mistreated but didn't seem to bear much of a grudge -- just Americans after all...
posted by footnote at 9:10 AM on January 9, 2007

I'm sure there's a background repeating endlessly behind him as he descends the escalator into hell.
posted by interrobang at 9:20 AM on January 9, 2007 [1 favorite]

somehow, I can't turn "." into a scooby-doo-ism.

prurriod?
posted by tehloki at 9:41 AM on January 9, 2007

Don't worry. He's not really dead after all. Shaggy and company will tear the sheet off his ghost in the final act to reveal a live and well Takamoto who will unrepentantly blame the kids for the unraveling of his dastardly plan.
posted by substrate at 10:17 AM on January 9, 2007

Scooby Doo was always much less than the sum of its parts. It had some great elements: The Mystery Van, Velma's turtleneck and glasses, Shaggy the Stoner, Jinkies, Zoinks, Scooby Snacks, Guest stars etc.

And yet somehow actually watching an episode from beginning to end was a tepid, unrewarding experience.
posted by vacapinta at 10:42 AM on January 9, 2007

Velma. With a 'V.' But maybe smart chicks dig dudes who can't spell.

:o)

Or just can't remember clearly -- it's been a few decades.

Thx even so. But...freckled bespectacled brainy brunettes in orange sweaters and pleated miniskirts are teh HAWT.

(last misspellings intentional, before you double-clutch me)
posted by pax digita at 10:46 AM on January 9, 2007

I'm guessing he is not directly responsible for the monotony of Scooby Sucky Doo. But if he had anything to do with it, may he be rewarded with an endless stream of identical plots, and may his movements be restricted to eight poses in eight frames per second in Hell. Long live Charlotte's Web! (The old one!)
posted by gorgor_balabala at 10:50 AM on January 9, 2007

I used to loathe the Scooby Doo show, but later I was grateful for watching it because it was such a good example of formulaic script writing. The plot was essentially identical in most every episode, only the fake monster and the setting for the crook's scheme changed. See that show young made me view TV with a bit more cynical and circumspect eye (in a good way).
posted by Burhanistan at 11:41 AM on January 9, 2007

You'd have gotten away with it too, cortex, if not for...
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:48 AM on January 9, 2007

fyi Old Man Withers was uncut
posted by cortex at 11:50 AM on January 9, 2007

My sister and I loved Scooby Doo. Scrappy, however, we wanted to throttle and then pack off to the glue factory.
posted by orange swan at 12:30 PM on January 9, 2007

. <= unless responsible for introduction of Scrappy.
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:33 PM on January 9, 2007

.+ (because of Mutley) : >
posted by amberglow at 5:47 PM on January 9, 2007

Who were these people in the van, these parentless adult-sized kids? High school graduates? College kids? They never had anything to do but drive in a van. Drop-outs? Or was it eternal summer?

Slate:

Animators and children's TV creators around the world must see Scooby and ask themselves: Why can't my crappy show become iconic? [...]

Maybe Scooby's appeal makes sense when you compare it to the rest of kids' TV. The most ham-handed of children's shows try to stuff a moral message down the audience's throat. But the moral code of Scooby-Doo permeates the entire enterprise without you ever noticing it. The Washington Post's Hank Stuever concisely elucidated the "Scooby worldview" when the first live-action movie came out: "Kids should meddle, dogs are sweet, life is groovy, and if something scares you, you should confront it."

The real moral was that the monster under the bed is always just some greedy old white businessman. Expose the old white guy and his dollar-grabbing scheme and everything is cool. Fine. Maybe the people who caught the Enron folk grew up on Scooby-Doo. But I couldn't stand the show, myself, not even when I was in the target age range. Bugs was about a thousand times better.
posted by pracowity at 11:34 PM on January 10, 2007

"Kids should meddle, dogs are sweet, life is groovy, and if something scares you, you should confront it."

It's how i live my life : >
posted by amberglow at 10:06 AM on January 11, 2007

And how weird would it be to live life the opposite way?

"Kids should never get involved, dogs suck, life sucks, and you should hide when you're scared" ????
posted by amberglow at 10:08 AM on January 11, 2007