[...] Van Ghoul (from The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, but voiced this time by Maurice LaMarche, excellently) returns in “Nightfright”, which [...]

[...] episodes, as has the Don Knotts-looking tourist cameo. Later, there’s a verbal reference to Vincent Van Ghoul. I’m glad to see this version of the show return to its original idea that ghosts [...]

[...] & Jerry and other MGM classics, the classic Hanna-Barbera TV library (Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Scooby Doo, Space Ghost), and more recent releases by their new animation department (Batman, Justice League, [...]

As for the show being rational at the beginning, I remember taking a different lesson as a kid. There was a local station that carried reruns of various cartoons, including the entire Scooby Doo run. Since The New Adventures treated guest-stars like The Addams Family as real, I thought that ghosts and monsters were real in the Scooby universe, but they kept finding fakers. I would watch hoping this would finally be the episode where they found a real ghost, but it was never the case. As a kid, I didn’t really grasp the idea of formula.

Yabba, and Deputy Dusty, Yabba’s owner, is a police officer in a western like town. Yabba is kind of like Scooby in the fact that he also likes snacks, but he eats Chili Snacks, and he calls out “Yippity, Yabbity, Doo”. But he doesn’t run off scared at danger like Scooby.

I wonder if a lot of the real monsters weren’t just a case of fans of the original show, tired of everything proving to be fake. I think the best thing for Scooby to do at times is to have mystery that the kids solved and someone goes to jail. Yet maybe there is some supernatural element they discover (or only we the audience see) at the end was real.

I dunno, just spitballing. I do, like Joshua, prefer the practical approach instead of the “ooh, ghosts are real” stuff. But then again, they have a talking dog.

Fred: his parents are seen once, in “Scooby Doo: Pirates Ahoy” (one of the direct-to-DVD movies). Dad’s voiced by Tim Curry, and Mom by Edie McClurg… thus both his parents sound like they’re from Minnesota or Wisconsin. :-p

Daphne: Her parents showed up in one of the mid-80s spinoffs (the one preceding “13 Ghosts”), where we learn for the first time she’s from a wealthy family. They also show up in the “Pup” series (where her being rich is played up even more).

Velma: Her parents show up once, in “Pup,” as intellectuals like her.

Shaggy: Unsurprisingly (given his and Scoob’s prominence), his parents show up the most. They’re seen once at his sister’s wedding in a mid-80s spinoff (Mom looks like Shaggy in drag, Dad like a late-middle-aged Shaggy, both cowardly like him here), and were recurring characters in “Pup” (where they both look younger/not-Shaggy-like, and neither’s cowardly—Dad’s job is shown as being a police officer, ironically enough).

Scooby: His parents also showed up often in the various mid-to-late 80s spinoffs, usually as wearing a tie and glasses (for Daddy Doo) and a wig/pearls (for Mommy Doo). Scrappy’s mother (Scooby’s sister, Ruby Doo) is seen a few times also…