Why you should watch Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc. (2010)
The Mystery Gang are all actually friends and hang out together at each otherâs houses and make jokes and act like real teenagers
We also see their families for the first time and theyâre all great. Daphne has a huge house and 4 sisters, Shaggy is weirdly rich as well, Fred lives in a McMansion with the mayor (adoptive father), and Velmaâs parents run a museum dedicated to the Gangâs solved mysteries (all of which are references to the 1969 series)
Scooby beats up a robot dog with a forklift and quotes Alien
Thereâs a very Twin Peaks-esque episode in the second season, complete with the red stripy room
One of my favorite episodes has a parody of Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground
The Hex Girls are, like, friends with the Gang and help them out sometimes
(Theyâre also very hot please step on me)
In the 2nd season, the monsters are real more and more often, and also magic is very much real, which has a whole host of implications for the world
Lewis Black, the comedian (aka Anger from Inside Out) plays a character named Mr. E who acts as a Cigarette Smoking Man-type instigator of mystery
The writers got reallllly close to having Velma and Marcie (aka Hot Dog Water, on account of her wool sweaters) be a couple. Theyâre not in the final show, but theyâre still v queercoded. Marcie also spends some offscreen time in prison.
Every character gets the chance to show their smarts. The Gang is decently knowledgeable in true crime, chemistry, and trap-building (Fred) and it shows
Fred is obsessed with building traps to the point that his house is filled with them. Autistic king
Fred and Daphne have a healthy relationship that ebbs and flows and they work through it in a realistic way
Velma and Shaggy also have a realistic breakup and accept that theyâre better off as friends. The romantic relationships in this show are great, yâall
Scooby gets a girlfriend, but itâs not forced because sheâs actually an alien who gives an exposition dump
Oh yeah thereâs aliens too
In one episode itâs revealed that every generation has a group of four people with an animal mascot, and the Scooby Gang are just one part of a repeating cycle
There is actual death (mostly offscreen)
Shaggyâs favorite music genre is polka