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Fine, Scooby Deserves a Snack For This One. 

The Scooby-doo franchise has made many endeavors with their time in the spotlight. Ranging from movies to television shows, there have been countless attempts to rewrite and rework the original concept that is Mystery Incorporated. The first attempt of this idea was brought to life in the series, “Scooby-Doo Where Are You?”. The show introduced each of the five members within Mystery Incorporated and followed a strict repetitive structure throughout the seasons. It would begin with someone or something terrorizing the city, the gang getting involved, and catching the propriator only to reveal that it was an individual they knew wearing a mask. The series created a platform basis for the company to expand upon its idea, which they did. Soon after, live action movies were made, and other variations of a series were released, though it is hard to say that all of them were successful due to the repetitive nature. That is until 2010 when the series, “Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated” was released completely changing the way the show has been viewed. 

Created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, the series lasted a span of three years over two seasons, fifty two episodes in total and is the eleventh installment of the production franchise. Following a similar structure of the original plot, the show follows the group of teens and their dog on countless “paranormal” adventures throughout Crystal Cove. Most cases end in the same way with them unveiling someone they knew wearing a mask, the criminal explaining why they did it and that they would have gotten away with it too, “If it wasn't for those meddling kids and their dog”. Though, in contrast to other variants of the show, the episodes don’t just end there, they pick up another plot line that is essentially an entire other mystery induced by the satirical idea of repetition and fate. Due to the approach that the writers of the series took, the episodes typically follow a deeper narrative of not only the characters but how they came to be Mystery Incorporated and what that really means for them. Unlike any others, Mystery Incorporated follows a serial format where every episode builds off one another, each including keys of information vital to the bigger mystery at the end. 

To better analyze the show it is easier to split the two seasons into parts based on their character development as a group and the mysteries themselves. In season one the gang discovers that they are part of something larger, while in the library looking for clues they come across a picture of an old group paralleling them almost perfectly. Looking deeper into the picture they found, the group discovers that not only do they parallel each other physically but morally as well. It is revealed that the picture is of an old group of mystery solving teens with a similar pursuit, also named Mystery Incorporated, along with the photo they find a legend about a cursed treasure hidden beneath Crystal Cove which instantly intrigues them. From there the series accompanies the teens on their long journey of finding the hidden curse ,revolving around pieces of a puzzle called the Planispheric Disk. Throughout season one we are keyed into more factors of what really defines the characters as them, most evidently seen in Fred, Velma, and surprisingly Scooby himself. To really understand the looming despair of Crystal Cove, the personal involvements of the teens' lives are integral to creating the plot line for the overarching mystery that is the show. 

Fred, for instance, is the main focus of the plot line, he is essentially the main drawing force that connects everyone to the perseverance that is their unknown fate. Represented in season one,episode twenty-six, ”All Fear the Freak”, one of the most integral episodes of the first season. Fred has suspicion about his fathers identity, noting that his father is the mayor of Crystal Cove, he sends Shaggy and Scooby to snoop around the courthouse, evidently leading to the arrest of all five of them. Due to this, most of their parents decide they need reevaluation in their priorities and to end the silly club they had. Shaggy gets sent to military school, Daphne is banned from seeing Fred and Velma is left to her own devices. Along with the large divide Fred discovers that his father isn't his true father, causing him to flee from Crystal Cove in search of his real parents. This episode seemingly marks the demise of Mystery Incorporated, but right at the end as Scooby is sitting in the car alone waiting for Shaggy. An old member of the original Mystery Incorporated who has been on the hunt for the disk pieces, Professor Pericles, steals a vital piece of the puzzle from Scooby, which continues the narrative of a larger unknown entity driving them, potentially sealing their fate.  

In part two of the series, the first few episodes revolve around the idea of isolation from each of their indulgences. Each tribulation faced individually allowed them to make strides to work better as a group, really allowing each of them to see where they felt morally obligated, which was together. They moved forward as almost everyone they thought they could trust turned against them. As it turns out, Freds biological parents also ultimately play a role in the uncanny future that beholds the group of teens. The storyline reaches a climatic and narrative arc in season two, episode twenty one, “The Man in the Mirror”. Essentially Fred finds a mirror that supposedly sucks him into a future world of a devastated Crystal Cove, where the only people are him and an older version of Daphne. Meanwhile, Fred's biological father is pretending to be Fred in the “real world” in order to get information out of the rest of the gang. In both situations they are trying to find where Fred hid one piece of the Planispheric Disk. This episode marks the beginning of the end of the gang, once they figure out that the Fred they're dealing with is a fake Fred and Fred does the same with his situation, they are able to capture them and save the piece of the disk, for now. 

 The remaining five episodes dive full force into the overarching mystery, similar to that of Gravity Falls where small bits of information are pieced together to a larger final moment of execution and resolution toward the very end. The show continues to play on the idea that they are all bound due to repetition of history, and that the cursed entity, Nibiru, will seize all, even them. Evidently they work in alliance with each other to defeat the entity and save Crystal Cove from the destruction of the force, placing everyone into their respective lives. 

On paper this plot is very convoluted, and it shows within physical representation of it. Almost every piece of information, perpetrator, company brand, parental figure, and political figure, refers to the deeper narrative of the show, everything is linked and resurfaces eventually in an even bigger way. It is hard to piece together every important bit of information without truly watching the show. The writers make several suggestions about the crime in the city being a result of that entity trying to gain traction of the many different “mystery solving groups” before them. The plot moves away from the stereotypical repetitive nature of Scooby-Doo and opens the doors to a larger and more emotion based storyline of the characters, and how working together allowed them to defy the restriction of predetermined fate.