Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?: The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons

With its cheap, assembly-line animation, repetitive stories, and one-note characters, the enduring popularity and iconic status of Scooby-Doo and the Mystery, Inc. gang is a confounding mystery (must be a '70s thing). Although these original episodes have been previously released in a variety of configurations on VHS and DVD, those were mere Scooby snacks compared to this long sought-after box set of all 25 episodes from the first two seasons. Cowardly Great Dane Scooby-Doo, accompanied by golden boy Fred, eye candy Daphne, brainy Velma, and proto-grunge companion Shaggy--otherwise known as "those meddling kids" and "those blasted kids"--unmask all manner of seemingly supernatural villains, from the seaweed-draped ghost of Captain Cutler in "A Clue for Scooby-Doo" to the Creeper in "Jeepers, It's the Creeper." DVD extras include featurettes dealing with the series' rabid fans (who will be this collection's prime audience), as well as a character drawing lesson and trivia challenge. Optional. (D. Liebenson)