the great scooby doo-ening of 2026

the mission statement

i love scooby doo, and yet, i have not seen every scooby doo movie on offer.

to be frank, this is basically a federal crime. so how do i plan to fix this?

the background

i have been an avid scooby doo lover since i could set my little child eyes on a screen. I grew up in the early 2000s, which meant I landed in the sweet spot: plenty of DVD and VHS tapes of the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! [1969] run. my grandmother frequently had me over the weekends in my youngest years, and her cable-only tv allowed me to have the perfect sunday morning timeslot for reruns of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo [1985]. and in between, I got to feast on all of the What's New, Scooby-Doo? [2003] I could ever want. basically, I lived in the golden era of scooby doo, and this single-handedly fed a passion and fixation on a franchise the likes of which I still have not shaken at my big age of 25.

god, you bet my little child self had the biggest crush on vincent van ghoul and ben ravencroft. this would form the blueprint for a deep-seated love of garbage men that I see now in my own writing. so, years from now, when I have my books published and i'm terrorizing the general public with insane and self-destructive men, you know who to thank!

but there's just one problem... as the years have passed me by, my love has not waned. however, like every nostalgia-obsessed freak out there, I find myself rewatching the same movies and runs from my childhood and never expanding beyond that. time marches on, and the scooby doo franchise has eagerly moved forward without me. dozens of shows (some good, most... bad), and something insane like fifty movies under its belt. and I've come to realize that my expansive scooby doo knowledge simply isn't as all-encompassing anymore. it's sad! I used to know everything, and know I know so little about scooby doo. he is but a stranger to me. what the hell is Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost [2018] ?? bobby flay is there...? he's fred's uncle...? oh... okkkkkk.............

to remedy this, I have decided to dedicate 2026 to catching myself up on the franchise, and watching every single scooby doo movie released. i'll be reviewing them here (and on my letterboxd of course, I'm not a monster), and providing my deep and unfiltered thoughts that i'm sure everyone is just dying to hear.

the game plan

total count of scooby doo movies = 56

total weeks in a year = approximately 52

when i lay it out like that, it's a little intimidating. something crazy like one movie a week? writing a full review for each one? and then i remember that its scooby doo and I love nothing more in this world than scooby doo, so I it's a task i am happy willing to undertake. so, here is the rough schedule, with a little wiggle room as unexpected life events come up:

yes, I am doing the newer movies first. this is strategic, as I have admittedly heard that the newer movies err on the side of ... mid, with the occasional straight-up bad thrown in. so to prevent myself from giving up on this project immediately, i am rewarding myself with the promise of my favorite golden-era movies at the end of the slog.