Scooby-Doo for a long time, far beyond my lifetime, has been a widely popular and beloved show by a large demographic, even today, with countless different series with the Scooby-Doo branding being created, as well as movies and more. Scooby-Doo is just one of many Warner Bros. properties that have been ongoing, almost non-stop since their incarnation. Over the many years since Scooby-Doo started, the various shows created from the franchise have had numerous crossovers and celebrity appearances. Most recently, Scooby-Doo teamed up with the younger demographic’s version of Scooby-Doo: Courage the Cowardly Dog. The crossover feature involving the two franchises was officially called “Scooby-Doo: Straight Outta Nowhere” but the entire title reads as Scooby-Doo Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog Straight Outta Nowhere in a clever mix of current pop culture with a modern twist on a classic cartoon series crossover a more recent cartoon series. Below we’ve gone into detail on the individual franchises of Scooby-Doo and Courage the Cowardly Dog as well as the newest feature film to feature them together in our “Scooby-Doo: Straight Outta Nowhere” review.
The Extended Existence of Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo is a series that started out in the ’70s and at the time wasn’t as popular as it is today or even 20 years ago, as it only lasted for 2 seasons before it had to get resurrected in another form, something that happened almost countless times. Over the years Scooby-Doo and the gang have been envisioned as kids in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, have met celebrities in several series, and have even had live-action spin-offs. In recent years there was an uprising of sorts from fans of everyone’s favorite Shaggy, Matthew Lillard, when the actor wasn’t cast as Shaggy in a few projects in a row, until more recent releases of Scooby-Doo productions. Overall, the long-standing history of Scooby-Doo shows has led to several crossovers, such as Supernatural, and Courage the Cowardly Dog. The Straight Outta Nowhere special, in all honesty, is the smartest crossover in the history of the franchise with more logic present between the reasons of the crossover happening, without extending the shows to unbelievable concepts.
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Courage the Cowardly Dog, much like many Cartoon Network cartoons at the time of its creation, we’re very strange in their own way but also hit home with viewers in a way that was unexpected. Show like it paved the way for future television on the network and others in the form of shows such as Ed, Edd, and Eddy, Regular Show, and others with similar eerieness and strange qualities that made them stand out from others. Also similar to other shows from its generation, Courage the Cowardly Dog included pretty dark humor that wasn’t really hidden all too well, but kids’ shows had a different direction at the time.
Straight Outta Nowhere but Long Hoped For
Fans of both shows, mostly fans that grew up in the ’90s, due to Courage’s influence, always hoped for a show or feature of some kind that included both shows or characters but as Courage the Cowardly Dog has been off the air for quite some time, fans had all but forgotten about the idea. However, with Scooby-Doo almost always existing in some form or another, there was always a slim chance it would happen and eventually, it was announced that we were getting a legitimate crossover in the form of a Scooby-Doo feature film entitled “Scooby-Doo: Straight Outta Nowhere”. The title plays perfect homage by combining both franchises with Scooby and the gang always investigating spooky cases in changing environments whereas Courage lives in Nowhere, a place where the spooky comes to him, and their worlds collide in a perfect Scooby-Doo way, with a mystery! While overall Straight Outta Nowhere played out like a Scooby-Doo episode in form of a plot and story outline but everything that happened within that episode felt very much Courage the Cowardly Dog all the way through. The special doesn’t come without some sadness however as since recording their parts for the specials, the actors behind the voice of husband and wife, Muriel and Eustace, passed away before the release of the crossover with Scooby-Doo that created Straight Outta Nowhere. Going into the movie for our review, I actually had very low expectations but “Scooby-Doo: Straight Outta Nowhere” did more than deliver on Courage the Cowardly Dog by paying homage to the show’s universe at almost every corner, up until the very last moment, and is well worth the watch if you’re a fan of either franchise in the slightest.
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