Many would agree that "Scooby-Doo!" made their childhoods fun and maybe even ignited a passion for mystery and thrillers. Naturally, an existing fanbase doesn't hurt, and the fact that it already has a successful adaptation could mean that it can be repeated. Well, it looks like it's Netflix's turn to once again appeal to our nostalgia.
'Scooby-Doo!' Live-Action, Again
It seems that another generation will get to understand the love we older folks have for the group that is always out solving monster mysteries. We will be seeing more adventures with Shaggy, Scooby, Velma, Daphne, and Fred again soon.
The responsibility of making decent live-action has fallen into the lap of Netflix, which might be odd given that the franchise is owned by Warner Bros., and that the latter has its own streaming service. The final decision was said to be the outcome of "a competitive situation."
The show will be written by Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg, as reported by Gizmodo. If Applebaum's name is familiar to you, that may be because he already produced a live-action show for Netflix before, namely "Cowboy Bebop."
While that does not exactly inspire confidence, given that the show was not very successful, he has done work for titles like Amazon's "Citadel," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol," and "Project Almanac."
The live-action "Scooby-Doo!" will be produced by Greg Berlanti, who was behind other Netflix shows like "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina," "Riverdale," and "Dead Boy Detectives." Berlanti was also behind CW's Arrowverse for a significant amount of time.
It's safe to say that fans of the franchise would have high expectations for the show, especially since the movie adaptation set the bar high. However, it's also expected that people be skeptical given that Netflix has had its fair share of fumbled adaptations.
Netflix's Rough Adaptation Record
It would be unfair to say that Netflix doesn't have works that have amazed fans of an established fanbase. Shows like "Arcane" drew so many positive reviews, as well as "One Piece" and even "Avatar: The Last Airbender" in some aspects.
However, it also has an extensive list of shows that it has arguably butchered. Take "Death Note," for instance, wherein the fans of the anime source material simply tried to forget the fact that the adaptation even existed.
"Cowboy Bebop" did not last very long as it was canceled after just one season, and it was announced a week after it was released. One of the biggest potentials that Netflix wasted was "The Witcher," which appealed to both the book series and the game's fans.
With Henry Cavill as Geralt, a lot of the fans who were familiar with the source material managed to overlook some "irregularities" because the actor poured so much heart into the role. However, Cavill has since left the show and others are expecting it to go further downhill from there.
"Riverdale," which started off strong and gained a lot of fans, started to spin out of control and strayed from the initial narrative of teenagers trying to solve mysteries. Sure, one cannot just stop the characters from growing up, but they didn't have to drag the show on for that long.
