Richie Rich And Scooby Doo Show

Reviewer: Alyice Edrich

The Cartoon

The Richie Rich Scooby-Doo Show, Volume 1

The Plot

A cartoon series from 1980 that ran in one hour segments. The series alternated between Richie Rich and Scooby Doo. While Richie Rich kept its entire cast, Scooby-Doo’s cast was cut down to Scooby and Shaggy with Scooby’s nephew Scrappy-Doo as a sidekick.

Starring

Don Messick, Casey Kasem, Sparky Marcus, Nancy Cartwright, Frank Welker, Joan Gerber, and more.

The Review

At first glance, one may think that Hanna-Barbera has created an entirely new cartoon by pairing Richie and Scooby together, but that’s not the case. Not once do the two join forces or meet up in the same cartoon. In fact, the series alternates between Richie Rich and Scooby, giving both cartoons ample space and credit.

Hanna-Barbera has taken a classic, in Scooby-Doo, and reinvented it with younger kids in mind. Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy must solve their own mysteries—there’s no help from Daphne, Velma, or Fred. The mysteries are still haunting and supernatural, but with a more laughable twist. Then there’s Richie Rich, a very wealthy boy with a robot maid/nanny/body guard, a butler, a girlfriend who cares less about the money and more about the boy, and a faithful dog named Dollar. Richie’s favorite thing to do is solve mysteries using his family’s inventions.

Some argue that the two cartoons shouldn’t be paired together since they are so drastically different, but I disagree. They’re both detective cartoons designed to teach children to solve life’s mysteries while having fun doing so. And to be honest, the combination works!

In fact, that’s what drew me, a young child, to the segments when they aired on television back in 1980. I liked that I could spend an hour on Saturday morning watching the comedic antics of Scooby Doo, Shaggy, and Dollar while getting a more serious look at the detective side of things with Richie and Scrappy.

But don’t let the disc description fool you. Since the DVD says 7 episodes on 2 discs your first reaction might be “What a rip off!” But nothing could be further from the truth. Each episode includes 6 animated shorts: 3 of Richie Rich and 3 of Scooby-Doo. That’s 42 cartoons—and worth every single penny.

Your Task

Get up early one Saturday morning, make a nice breakfast for you and the kids, set up a picnic in front of the television and watch an hour of Richie Rich & Scooby-Doo while you munch away. But here’s the catch: watch this series with an open mind. Don’t concentrate so much on what you feel the show lacks, or what could make it better in the eyes of an adult, but watch it through the eyes of a young child who could use a little more innocence in his/her life.