Scooby’s All Star Laff-A-Lympics Blu Ray Review (Warner Archive Collection)

Scooby’s All Star Laff-A-Lympics (aKa Scooby’s Laff-A Lympics) is a 1977 animated television series directed by Charles Nichols (Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, Scooby-Doo’s Spookiest Tales VHS, The Scooby-Doo Show, Police Academy: The Animated Series, Rambo, Superman, and Super Friends), Ray Patterson (Captain Planet and the Planeteers, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, The Addams Family, Scooby Goes Hollywood, Godzilla, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, and the Yogi franchise), and Carl Urbano (The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers, Pac-Man, Super Friends, The Jetsons, and The Smurfs). It was executive produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (Scooby-Doo franchise, Tom and Jerry franchise, The Flintstones franchise, The Jetsons franchise, The Smurfs franchise, Godzilla, Pac-Man, Fantastic Four, Space Ghost, Jonny Quest, Wally Gator, and Yogi the Bear franchise). Sports, spoofs, and shenanigans abound when three teams of favorite Hanna-Barbera characters the Scooby Doobies, the Yogi Yahooeys and the Really Rottens compete for glory. Hosted by yellow-jacketed commentators Snagglepuss (played by: Daws Butler from Galaxy Goof-Ups, Blast-Off Buzzard, Posse Impossible, and Undercover Elephant) and Mildew Wolf (played by: John Stephenson from Transformers, Charlotte’s Web, Bionic Six, Yo Yogi!, and The Real Ghostbusters) during this fierce competition. The fractured face-offs includes animated immortals joining Scooby Doo (played by: Don Messick from the Scooby-Doo franchise, Yogi franchise, The Jetsons, Jonny Quest franchise, Transformers, and Super Friends) including Huckleberry Hound (played by: Daws Butler from The Ruff and Reddy Show, The All-New Popeye Hour, C B Bears, Plastic Man, The Huckleberry Hound Show, and The Pink Panther), Yogi Bear (played by: Daws Butler from the Yogi Bear franchise, The Jetsons, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, Quick Draw McGraw, and Sesame Street), Wally Gator (played by: Daws Butler from Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, Wally Gator, The Flintstones, The Bullwinkle Show, and Mister Magoo), Dynomutt (played by: Frank Welker from the Scooby-Doo franchise, Transformers franchise, Mortal Kombat, Futurama, Curious George, The Simpsons, and Garfield franchise), Blue Falcon (played by: Gary Owens from Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron, Dynomutt Dog Wonder, Bobby’s World, Space Ghost, Skeleton Warriors, and the Yogi franchise), Fred Flintstone (played by: Alan Reed from Lady and the Tramp, The Flintstones franchise, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents), and many more!!!! Scooby’s All Star Laff-A-Lympics is a very ambitious project from the legendary Hanna-Barbera Productions. 70’s cartoons were not afraid to push the boundaries and experiment with their wacky universe like this one. It’s a spoof and silly homage to the Olympics with some of the most known characters from animation interacting during these games. It has all kinds of familiar faces that show up here and there’s some collaborations that you would never expect between around 45 different personalities. Director Charles Nichols handled most of the responsibility for this cartoon series and his visual influence and style is all over it. The talented voice cast includes Daws Butler, Don Messick, Frank Welker, Gary Owens, Alan Reed, John Stephenson, Marilyn Schreffler (Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels), Casey Kasem (Scooby-Doo franchise), Heather North (Scooby-Doo franchise), Bob Holt (Gremlins), Arlene Golonka (Hang ‘Em High), Alan Oppenheimer (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe), Scatman Crothers (The Shining), Mel Blanc (Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Laurel Page (The Littles),.Vernée Watson (General Hospital), Joe Besser (The Joey Bishop Show), Julie Bennett (Spider-Man: The Animated Series), and Julie McWhirter (The Smurfs). I’m not going to lie, I found myself rooting for The Really Rottens because they would do whatever it takes to win despite only being victorious a few times. They are beyond hilarious, evil, and shady as hell in Scooby’s All Star Laff-A-Lympics. The inspiration from the popular Almost Anything Goes, Battle of the Network, and Wide World of Sports were obvious besides the Olympics for this sport cartoon mashup. The entertaining commentary while this takes place really amps everything up in this over the top setting. Personally, I consider Scooby’s All Star Laff-A-Lympics one of the most funniest, unpredictable, and interesting productions from Hanna-Barbera. This has amazing replay value to it, I wish it lasted longer. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from the Warner Archive Collection! These 1080p (1.33:1) transfers are all from the best possible sources on all 24 episodes. These might not be brand new restorations but they still blow away the original airings plus any previous home video release so it might be the highest possible quality when it comes to this animated TV show. It has English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks for each episode on all 3 discs. All of the chaos for Scooby’s All Star Laff-A-Lympics definitely pops when it comes to the audio with it’s rivalry, competitions, and wild action from these cartoon legends. All of the dialogue is very clean, the games are elevated, and the music has good boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. One of the coolest things about this home video release is the addition of the 2012 television short “Scooby Doo: Spooky Games” that’s a little over 23 minutes directed by Curt Geda (Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Beware the Batman, Superman: Brainiac Attacks, X-Men: Evolution, and Batman Beyond). Scooby-Doo (played by: Frank Welker from Superman: The Animated Series) with Fred (played by: Frank Welker from Aladdin), Daphne (played by: Grey Griffin from Mortal Kombat Legends), Velma (played by: Mindy Cohn from The Facts of Life), and Shaggy (played by: Matthew Lillard from Scream) get the opportunity to compete in the world games in London. An ancient statue comes to life and it causes major problems for Mystery Inc. This one fits with Scooby’s All Star Laff-A-Lympics. It’s similar but it’s obviously more modern compared to it. It brings that typical charm from that creative team that solves those unknown situations. The rest of the supporting cast includes Robin Atkin Downes (Marvel Zombies), Troy Baker (Watchmen), Josh Keaton (The Spectacular Spider-Man), Janet Montgomery (New Amsterdam), and James Patrick Stuart (Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox). This is a must own for any Scooby-Doo or Hanna-Barbera fan. It’s available everywhere right now including Moviezyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!