Which movie is your favorite?

[Ross]

Which movie is your favorite?

[Scooby-Doom!]

I've said this many times, and I don't care what anybody thinks, the mystery begins actually brought tears to my eyes. While I loved the theatrical movies this is by far my favorite.

[strangely]

Agreed, Mystery Begins I think captures the original series a bit better than the theatrical installments.

[Scooby-Doom!]

Another reason that I prefer "The Mystery Begins" is, while he did a good job, I was never a huge fan of Neil Fanning's portrayal.

I think Frank Welker is as close as we'll ever get to Don, plus...IT'S FRANK WELKER! 'Nuff said!

[strangely]

I agree about Neil, it was just sort of off. And while I love Frank Welkers voicing for Scooby I can't help but feel that he's starting to sound old. He just doesn't sound as animated as he once did. It particularly bothers me in MI, Fred doesn't sound much like he used too (I compared clips once and wow was it strikingly different). I wouldn't be surprised if he retired soon... But hopefully that day is far off, and when that time does come I'm sure they'll find a competent replacement (They always do a fantastic job recasting I think, I mean I didn't think they'd ever find a good replacement for Kasem and they certainly did).

Another thing I liked about Mystery Begins is that they didn't limit themselves to the source material, they modernized the gang without losing the essence of the characters (I know haters of their new look exist, but quite honestly I don't understand how people can be so stumbled by changing hair color and ethnicity).

[Scooby-Doom!]

I disagree completely, in TMB I do think his Scooby sounded out of practice though, while he does sound completely different then he did in 1969 I think that's to be expected.

If you watch the pilot of family guy then watch a brand new episode it sounds like they recast lois, peter, chris, and stewie, but if you watch all of the episodes you hear a gradual change that is barely noticeable.
What happened is they settle into the voices and they find easier ways to get the voices out that are more comfortable.

At first the black hair bugged me but now I could care less, robbie's a good enough fred.

The ethnicity thing is a none issue. If you look at velma she almost looks to be of asian descent, so I'd have to say I actually prefer it that way.
And another thing about ethnicity, if you can cast someone of a different skin color who is right for the role...DO IT!!! Don't worry about a small group of idiots who come out of the wood work to scream racism.

[strangely]

I understand why his voice has changed, the point is that he won't be able to do Fred's voice forever. While its not too noticeable his voice is starting to get a little less youthful. I don't know how to describe it, but it happened to Casey Kasem, one day I was watching What's new and suddenly realized that Shaggy didn't sound anything like I remembered him sounding, sure he had the mannerisms and the look (And he constantly used the word 'like'), but the overall voice stopped being that of a teenager, it didn't sound the same as it had.

Now I don't think Welker sounds too old yet, but his age is beginning to show. Realistically though I think we have anywhere from 5-10 years before he retires from the character. I'm just saying I've seen the writing on the wall, or more correctly heard it, and his voice from What's new to MI has aged, not much but that's how it was for Casey Kasem. The fact is that at some point Welker will retire.

I think almost all the original VA's had that moment, that point we're their age crept up on them, it doesn't mean the end has come, it just means we should probably be prepared for the time when it does happen.

[Ross]

I think I have to agree there. It wouldn't surprise me if he did retire soon. I think he still does a ok job at voicing Fred, but his Scooby always sounded a bit...off, especially in the live action DTVs. I think Scott Innes was the closest to Scooby's original voice{to me at least}. Speaking of which, who do you guys think should voice Scooby and Fred when that time does come? I believe Fred is the only member of the gang that hasn't been voiced by multiple actors.

[Scooby-Doom!]

I agree about Casey but I really don't hear it with Frank.
I do agree that he only has about 10 more years as fred though, but that time he'll be pushin' 80 in a wheelbarrow and he'll probably want to cut back on the work.

I would prefer Scott as well, but Frank is a great second to that.

I don't know who would feel right to see "*blank* as fred jones", it will just be plain weird to not see "Frank Welker as Fred jones".

Just Frank and whoever voiced freddie in "pup".

[strangely]

Yeah, Scott would be a good replacement for Scoob.

But it is a tricky question of who would replace Fred... Well when the time comes they'll figure it out. I mean in the past they've always done a superb job on recasting, so I guess there's not to much to worry about on this.

[laescoobyfan]

Well, I am an EXTREME fan of Scooby-Doo and I am not a fan of "The Mystery Begins" or "Curse of the Lake Monster" at all. It just doesn't add up to me. I tried to be accepting at first, but I can't. There are way too many contradictions. They tried to make a movie to reveal how the gang got together, what their very first case was, where Scooby Snacks came from, and how they got the Mystery Machine, when these things were already revealed. Let me remind you of "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo". It just makes more sense that the gang would have been together since they were very young.

[Ross]

I never looked at TMB as a true prequel. I always viewed it as a reboot ;D