Scooby Dooby Doo!

It's Friday the 13th.

It's a full moon.

...and...

...it's the 50th anniversary of a certain crime fighting Great Dane and his buddies.

Yup. The air date of the first Scooby Doo was September 13, 1969. The lighthearted adventures of the Scooby gang were in response to concerns that kids' cartoons were too violent and horrific. There was a feeling that kids needed more comedy, less dystopia, less anger.

The original show, Scooby Doo, Where Are You! ran for seventeen episodes including the pilot "What a Night for a Knight." It was formulaic, with the monster-of-the -week always turning out to be a person and always calling them meddling kids! at the time. But kids loved it. Parents loved it. A further 8 episodes were ordered in 1970.

Since then, there have been:
13 further Scooby-Doo series, one of which is currently in production by Boomerang (which also holds the rights to the original).
1 web series
4 made-for-TV animated movies
33 direct-to-video animated movies
1 animated theatrical movie
2 live-action theatrical movies, of which I'm one of the dozen people who liked them.
2 live-action made-for-TV movies
1 live-action direct-to-video movie
5 TV specials
8 direct-to-video specials
8 TV shorts
2 direct-to-video shorts, released with longer works
32 web shorts
13 comic series
13 one-off comic books
7 film strips
20 video games
5 plays
Millions of jokes about what's really in those scooby snacks.

Scooby also appeared in episodes of Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, Johnny Bravo, Harvey Birdman, Batman, Supernatural and OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes.

And, of course, Buffy would not be the same without the obvious influences and homages.

So, Scooby Doo? It's not just a cartoon. It's a freaking cultural phenomenon. We all know who those kids are. Most of us who were born since 1969 have been those kids at some meaningful level.

(And we all know what's really in those scooby snacks).