The Scooby-Doo / Dynomutt Hour: The Complete Series

Director: Charles A. Nichols,
Starring: Don Messick, Casey Kasem, Frank Welker, Pat Stevens, Heath North, Daws Butler, Mickey Dolenz, Bob Holt, Allan Melvin, Linda Hutson, ,

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DVD Review

The Scooby-Doo! Dynomutt Hour originally aired on ABC every Saturday morning and was packaged as an hour-long show with the first half featuring 16 new Scooby-Doo adventures with Scooby-Dum, Scooby-Doo’s dumber cousin (if that’s possible) joining the gang on a semi-regular basis. The other half-hour introduced the character of Dynomutt, a goofy bionic dog and sidekick to the Batman-esque superhero the Blue Falcon.

The writers wisely don’t mess with the tried and true Scooby-Doo formula (if it ain’t broke…) except only to throw in a bunch of new characters. Scooby and the gang still investigate a mystery with Shaggy and Scooby running afoul of the supposed supernatural being. Meanwhile, Velma does research and Daphne is clumsy and gets in trouble. Eventually, the rest of the gang discover the menace, get together and devise a trap to ensnare the baddie, and expose them as a fraud.

Scooby-Dum is an okay character and certainly not as annoying as later addition, Scrappy-Doo. Dynomutt ended up playing comic relief to the Blue Falcon’s straight man with Scooby and the gang helping them defeat all manner of bad guys, including oddball villains like Lowbrow, a caveman that rivals the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon for absurd antagonists. However, in the final analysis, Dynomutt just doesn’t have the same charm as Scooby and the rest of the gang. It is easy to see why he didn’t last while Scooby-Doo endures to this day.

Special Features:

“The Eerie Mystery of Scooby-Doo & Dynomutt’s History” traces the history of Scooby-Doo and how the show was a mixture of comedy and mystery – something that no one had done in an animated daytime television show. This featurette examines how the writers created the characters we know and love. Artists who also worked on the show talk about how the characters were designed.

“In Their Own Words” features the actors who voiced the characters in the show. They talk about their respective characters and how they got the parts on Scooby-Doo. It’s great to see these underrated actors and put the faces to the famous voices.

Finally, there is “The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Files” that features a gallery of character sketches, vehicle designs and settings.

J.D. Lafrance

J.D. is a freelance writer who is currently doing research for a book on the films of Michael Mann. He likes reading anything written by Jack Kerouac, James Ellroy, J.D. Salinger, Harlan Ellison or Thomas Pynchon. J.D. is currently addicted to the T.V. series 24 and enjoys drinking a lot of Sprite. This is not a blatant plug for the beverage but if they ever decided to give him a lifetime supply he certainly wouldn’t turn them down.
view all DVD reviews by JD Lafrance

 

Rating: 76%

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