As an adult, I don’t watch many cartoons anymore. I might stream an anime once in a while, but generally, my cartoon-watching days are behind me. However, if you asked me to look back at the “Golden Era” of my childhood, specifically from the early 90s, one show stands above the rest.
Sure, the 90s were famous for cartoons like Batman: The Animated Series or Ren & Stimpy. For me, my favorite watch was Scooby-Doo.
The Comfort of the Formula
Looking back now, it’s funny to realize the formula the show strictly followed. Every episode was exactly the same. The gang arrives in the Mystery Machine, a “ghost” scares everyone away, they look for clues, there’s a chase scene set to music, and finally, the unmasking.
In today’s era of prestige TV and complex plots, that repetition might seem boring. But for a kid in the early 90s, especially one adjusting to a new country, that formula was perfect. I never got sick of it. There was a rhythm to the show that was comforting. I lived for the catchphrases. Hearing Shaggy scream “Zoinks!”, Velma mumble “Jinkies!”, or the iconic “Ruh Roh!” from Scooby was great as a kid.
I was always a Shaggy and Scooby fan. I tend to gravitate toward the main characters, but I also loved them because they brought the comedy. Even though the show was about ghosts and monsters, it was never actually scary. It was funny. The humor balanced out the suspense perfectly.
The Golden Age of Mysteries
I think the main reason Scooby-Doo stuck with me wasn’t just the animation. It was because the 90s was my “Mystery Era.”
I wasn’t just watching TV. I was devouring books. I was a huge fan of The Boxcar Children and Encyclopedia Brown. I remember that time fondly as a period where reading was genuinely popular. Remember Reading Rainbow? It felt like everyone was encouraged to pick up a book.
Scooby-Doo was the perfect visual complement to those books. I was an “active viewer.” I never just sat back and let the episode play out. Just like when I was reading Encyclopedia Brown, my mind was full of thoughts the whole time. I was constantly trying to pick up on hints and clues.
“Oh! This person must be the culprit… but wait, there’s a clue over there. Maybe it’s the other person?”
The suspense of waiting for the reveal was always worth it. It felt like solving a puzzle alongside the gang.
Nostalgia vs. Reality
I have vague memories of the spinoffs, like A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, but nothing beat the classic format.
If you asked me to sit down and binge-watch Scooby-Doo today, I don’t think I could do it. As an adult, the magic is mostly in the memory. I might watch a five-minute clip on YouTube for the nostalgia, but I doubt I could sit through a full episode without checking my phone.
But that’s okay. Some things are meant to stay in the past. Scooby-Doo brings me back to a specific time in my life. It was a time of library books, after-school snacks, and the absolute certainty that the monster was just a guy in a mask.
johnro 
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