TV company Hanna-Barbera was famous for two things: making great cartoons, and making clones of those cartoons when they proved popular.
What this means, in short, is it would take a popular format and replace one or two elements of it, hoping to replicate its success.
And in a brilliant thread, artist Jonathan Gray has detailed all the clones Hanna-Barbera tried to get away with.
There was Josie & the Pussycats (Scooby Doo with a cat, basically)...
*Josie and the Pussycats*
Scooby-Doo with way more girls (and a cat) but everybody’s in a band
The first Scooby clone is a retool of the old Archie comic which itself is a retool of “It’s Josie” which had entirely different characters outside of Josie, Alexandra, and Melody. pic.twitter.com/R4loCBgqUM
— Jonathan H. Gray @ TCAF
Josie & the Pussycats in Outer Space (Scooby Doo with a cat but also they’re in space for some reason).
*Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space*
Scooby-Doo with the previous concept but now it’s “IN SPAAAACE”, the ghosts are all aliens, and there’s a second Scooby-Doo who is also an alien.
A continuation of the first series where its premise is only explained in its intro.
There was the Funky Phantom, which featured a less-charming version of Scooby who couldn’t talk...
*The Funky Phantom*And Speed Buggy, which features a talking car. Obviously.
Scooby-Doo with a non-talking bulldog Scooby-Doo and ghosts who are the sidekicks (an effeminate revolutionary war ghost and his snickering ghost cat)
One of several HB series animated in Australia which is why it looks so different than everything else. pic.twitter.com/ToRg62AFIU
— Jonathan H. Gray @ TCAF
*Speed Buggy*
Scooby-Doo but Scooby is the Mystery Machine is & Shaggy is his mechanic.
NOTE: Mark, Fred’s expy, is supposed to be Native American (revealed in an interview?) but you’d never know it b/c it’s never mentioned in the show & his skin is only darker in a crossover. pic.twitter.com/BGBtGexrtj
— Jonathan H. Gray @ TCAF
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids was a version Gray describes as “Scooby-Doo but they work for the government & use a supercomputer who is allergic to Scooby-Doo”, which to be honest sounds amazing.
*Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids*
Scooby-Doo but they work for the government & use a supercomputer who is allergic to Scooby-Doo
Four undercover teen agents pose as a popular rock group. HBs answer to Filmations Hardy Boys. Hell if I know how they got away with the title. pic.twitter.com/XveahR543x
— Jonathan H. Gray @ TCAF
And our favourite? Goober and the Ghost Chasers, of course.
*Goober and the Ghost Chasers*
Scooby-Doo but the gang are paranormal kit ghost chasers who use REAL ghosts to capture/unmask FAKE ghosts and Scooby-Doo has the power to randomly turn invisible but can’t control it.
Okay... this one is a LOT.
So under normal circumstances... pic.twitter.com/zDTighwvML
— Jonathan H. Gray @ TCAF
There are far more clones to take your pick from – you can see them all here. Now we’re off to watch every single one.