Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series (Limited Edition 50^th Anniversary Mystery Mansion) [Blu-Ray]

Cast: Don Messick, Casey Kasem, Frank Welker (VOICES)

Release Date: September 3, 2019

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 7/10

Synopsis:

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the world’s most lovable, mystery-solving Great Dane, Scooby-Doo, along with the rest of the Mystery Inc. gang, as the complete Hanna-Barbera classic series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! comes to Blu-ray as a collectible, numbered limited edition in Mystery Mansion packaging.

Please Note: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

The beloved animated series ‘Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!’ that initially premiered fifty years ago and started everything makes its long awaited Blu-ray debut with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s ‘Scooby-Doo, Where are You!: The Complete Series – Limited Edition 50^th Anniversary Mystery Mansion’ box set release. Celebrating fifty years since the world’s most beloved and recognizable Great Dane and his human, mystery solving friends Shaggy, Fred, Daphne and Velma hit the scene and started solving mysteries in their trusty Mystery Machine, uncovering criminals and fake ghouls and ghosts at every turn, with a little Scooby Snack motivation for a couple of the more cowardly individuals of course. Now you can revisit every one of those original mysteries and adventures in this noteworthy collector’s set for the show that started it all way back in 1969, in glorious high definition and on Blu-ray for the first time ever.

Diehard Scooby-Doo fans of all ages can now rejoice with the original animated TV masterpiece ‘Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!’ not only just making its long-awaited Blu-ray debut, but doing so with a gorgeous and fan pleasing limited edition box set release that you’ll be thrilled to prominently display in your collection. Collecting all 41 episodes (which technically consists of both initial seasons of ‘Where Are You’ from 1969-70 and 16 additional episodes reportedly created as a revival in 1978 but later rebranded during syndication as part of ‘The Scooby-Doo Show’, and the latter each including the opening and closing segments for ‘The Scooby-Doo Show’ here on the set as well) spread out between 4 discs, and bringing them home on Blu-ray sporting fairly clean and solid overall high definition video presentations (albeit removing a bit too much of the grain and original artifacts in the mastering process) accompanied by competent audio presentations on each and tons of notable bonus goodies to boot including a few physical extras such as a full color Scooby-Doo Encyclopedia booklet loaded with fun Scooby-facts and info, along with the quite sturdy and detailed Mystery Mansion packaging that greatly compliments this beautifully crafted set. Even while the video and audio presentations leave a bit to be desired, they still hold up nicely in their own right and combined with all of the other great elements included here, the release will surely still be an absolute must own for many hardcore Scooby fans. And make no mistake; this is one rewarding release that fans should truly dig overall.

Overall, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s new ‘Scooby-Doo, Where are You!: The Complete Series – Limited Edition 50^th Anniversary Mystery Mansion’ 4-disc Blu-ray Gift Set collection brings home every episode of the classic cartoon series that started it all, finally available in high definition and on Blu-ray for the first time; and perfectly timed for Scooby’s golden anniversary! This limited edition ‘Scooby-Doo, Where are You!: The Complete Series – 50^th Anniversary Mystery Mansion’ Blu-ray box set is definitely highly recommended. It may not be downright perfect in a couple departments but still delivers all of the episodes in quite gorgeous high definition presentations, combined with plenty of fun extras and physical goodies, not to mention a collectible and wonderfully crafted Mystery Mansion packaging that is sure to make this one release that many hardcore Scooby fans will want to make certain is part of their collection.

VIDEO:

The ‘Scooby-Doo, Where are You!: The Complete Series – Limited Edition 50^th Anniversary Mystery Mansion’ Blu-ray release features a full 1080p High Definition presentation on all of the included episodes, each utilizing the original 1.33:1 Full Frame Aspect Ratio in which the series was originally broadcast. The video presentations look pretty great in many respects and offer sharp, brightly colored and clean presentations on every episode. Although some fans may be disappointed to see just how smooth and clean they look, unfortunately removing much of the original grain and other welcome elements of its source material. Fortunately they still look fantastic in their own right and should please most fans (many probably won’t even notice a drastic difference) and for a series fifty years old, they look quite impressive honestly. Overall, these high definition video presentations deliver admirably in most respects and provide clean, sharp and great altogether presentations that should satisfy the majority of fans.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release includes a 192 Kbps 2.0 (dual mono) channel Dolby Digital soundtrack on all 41 included episodes. These dual mono soundtracks deliver quite capably, effortlessly balancing the dialogue, music and adventure elements within and making certain that no audio elements contradict another, everything remaining clean, smooth and fully audible at all times. Many fans will surely be somewhat bummed at the lack of lossless audio presentations which are always preferred on Blu-ray releases when possible, but it also isn’t a huge surprise considering this release offers the same level audio presentations as the recently release Blu-ray set for ‘The New Scooby-Doo Movies’, but fortunately these lossy soundtracks hold their own remarkably well and don’t disappoint. Overall, these 2.0 Dolby Digital soundtracks sound fantastic for what they are and do a great job in their own right offering solid audio presentations on each episode.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The ‘Scooby-Doo, Where are You!: The Complete Series – Limited Edition 50^th Anniversary Mystery Mansion’ Blu-ray set includes enough enjoyable extras to satiate even Scooby and Shaggy’s appetite; featuring tons of extras included on the fourth disc in the set, along with a number of noteworthy physical treats. The entirety of the Featurettes, fun videos and other media bonus content can be found on disc four of the release and features a number of brand new fun videos, interviews and more accompanied by some previously released extras, including: ‘My Life With Scooby-Doo: Fred Welker’s Animated Journey’ (running approximately 17 minutes in length), ‘A Scooby-Doo For Everyone’ (running approximately 7 minutes), ’50 Years of Scooby Snacks’ (approximately 9 minutes), ‘Scooby-Doo The Whole World Loves You!’ (17 minutes), ‘The Eerie Mystery of Scooby-Doo History’ (10 minutes), ‘The Scooby-Doo Gang: In Their Own Words’ (5 minutes), ‘Hanna-Barbera: From H to B’ (21 minutes), ‘Scooby-Doo’s Ultimate Fans’ (12 minutes), ‘Get The Picture’ (2 minutes), ‘Funky Fashions’ (5 minutes) and ‘Scooby-Doo Street Smarts’ (3 minutes). Also included is an inside look trailer for the ‘Scooby-Doo! and the Lost City of Gold’ Live Stage Spectacular (approximately 2 minutes) and an ‘”America Loves Scooby-Doo” Music Video’ (2 minutes).

This Limited Edition Blu-ray set also comes with some nice physical extras in tow including a full color ‘Scooby-Doo Encyclopedia’ booklet with fun facts and info about the Scooby gang, the villains they’ve faced and more; in addition to a small Scooby-Doo Funko keychain, a Digital code that includes all three seasons, plus all four Blu-ray discs in an unfolding Digibook style package. And of course everything packed inside of a sturdy and beautifully crafted Mystery Mansion package that opens from the top of the Mansion to reveal the content inside.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Disc Rating: 7/10

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The ‘Scooby-Doo, Where are You!: The Complete Series – 50^th Anniversary Mystery Mansion’ Box Set is Now Available to Own on Limited Edition Blu-ray from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

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You can purchase your copy of the ‘Scooby-Doo, Where are You!: The Complete Series – Limited Edition 50^th Anniversary Mystery Mansion’ by clicking on the Amazon Cart icon below!