I know I'm going to make a lot of enemies here, but I have to say it: the original Scooby Doo series wasn't that great.
There. It's done.
I know I'm stepping on a lot of great memories here, but if you go back and watch Scooby Doo, Where Are You? you'll find it's hardly the sophisticated entertainment you remember from childhood. The animation looks cheap, the jokes are lame, and the characters are cardboard cutouts.
A Pup Named Scooby Doo, though a lot of fans seem to revile it, is more successful than the original, in my opinion. Because of the liberal changes made to the formula, this functions more as an affectionate spoof of Scooby Doo than a continuation of it. Freddy's character shifts from humorless leader to incompetent moron; Daphne is a spoiled rich girl whose butler will appear out of nowhere to catch her in mid-faint; and, in spite of the fact that this takes place years before the original series, Velma has state-of-the-art (as of 1988) computer technology to aid her in catching the villain. I'm not sure why people get so worked up over these changes; in their original characterizations, everyone but Shaggy and Scooby were pretty dull, anyway. What's wrong with giving them an overhaul?
The show itself was pretty formulaic (again, in the same vein as the original), but it was a fun formula. I particularly love the sequences where the kids run from (and occasionally dance with) the monster, set to groovy 1950s-style rock and roll music. Everything here is bigger than big; no-holds-barred wackiness generally ensues. And it's fun.
