Last February, I wrote about the first season of What's New Scooby-Doo?, and found it quite amusing. It wasn't the equal of the original series, but enough of it was fresh and funny while being respectful to the original format, that I rather enjoyed it. Unfortunately, by this third and final go-around, the episodes collected in the two-disc What's New Scooby-Doo?: Complete 3rd Season are played out, with at-best tame jokes and the barest-bones plots. And parents looking for a positive message that "crime doesn't pay" should look elsewhere; many times, the criminals in these episodes go unpunished, which seems to undercut the whole point of the series, don't you think?

What's New Scooby-Doo? premiered in September, 2002, with three seasons' worth of episodes produced. This third season premiered in January, 2005, and clearly, the energy had waned from the bright, bouncy episodes produced in 2002. The Mystery, Inc. gang still travel to the far-flung corners of America and the rest of the world, including trips this season to Hong Kong, Australia, and Paris, and the various "monsters" they encounter are suitably wild and well-designed. But the jokes are pretty poor, and the constant self-reflexive references to the series' format become really tiresome. Someone is always commenting on how Freddy has to set the traps for the monsters, or on the villain mentioning "those meddling kids," or on Velma saying, "Jinkies!" to the point where you just want them to get on with they mysteries and shut up.

Unfortunately, the mysteries are dreary and mundane, as well - when they're even true mysteries. It's bad enough that a couple of the episodes are um, reminiscent of other works (the producers of Westworld could sue for copyright infringement for Go West, Young Scoob). But several episodes, such as Ready to Scare, don't even have a villain per se, and certainly no crime. I know these are made for little kids, but so was the original series, and that one had crimes and villains. Even more distressing is the trend to not punish those responsible for masquerading as monsters and terrorizing people. In Wrestle Maniacs, the kids responsible for impersonating the Titanic Twist monster get praised instead of chastised for their actions. A Terrifying Round with a Menacing Metallic Clown has the mayor simply apologizing for kidnaping people and destroying property, and nothing more is said of it. Worse, in Camp Comeoniwannascareya, a bona fide eco-terrorist who destroys property and menaces little kids isn't punished, but emulated by Shag and Scoob, when they dress up in her Toxic Terror outfit to finish her job of scaring off one of the victims of her actions, a land developer. The notion that Scoob and Shag would don a monster outfit, just like countless opponents they've faced in other episodes, in order to scare off an innocent victim to suit their needs, is frankly, low, and not deserving of the franchise. The only messages sent out to kids from episodes like these are, "It's okay to break the law." Is that what you want your kids to watch?

DISC ONE:

Fright House of a Lighthouse
The Creepy Keeper mans the lighthouse on Lake Michigan, shutting off the beam to wreak incoming ships. Can the gang solve the mystery before amateur sleuth Verona Dingsy?

Go West, Young Scoob
The gang travels to a dude ranch, where robots create havoc.

Wrestle Maniacs
The Bosepheus Wrestling Bowl is the stage for the gang's confrontation with The Titanic Twister, a horrible two-arms-on-one side monster.

Ready to Scare
Daphne's fashion model cousin is missing in Paris, and The Gargoyle of Notre Dame is the main suspect.

Farmed and Dangerous
The Ghostly Farmer rides the tractor of death as the gang tries to solve the mystery of the disappearing popcorn.

Diamonds are a Ghoul's Best Friend
Hockey player Brett Hull shows up in this tale of The Frozen Fiend, who threatens to cancel the Moscow hockey tournament.

A Terrifying Round with a Menacing Metallic Clown
The Metallic Clown stomps around the World Championship Putt-Putt tournament, where current champ Shaggy is defending his title.

Camp Comeoniwannascareya
Shag and Scoob handle this one on their own, as The Toxic Terror threatens a kid's summer camp.

DISC TWO:

Block-Long Hong Kong Terror
The Hong Kong Dragon threatens to shut down a toy factory, unless the gang can solve the mystery.

Gentlemen, Start Your Monsters
Freddy doubles as a stock car racer, as the gang tries to smash The Skeleton Racer.

Gold Paw
Fort Knox is the setting for the Gold Monster's nefarious plan to turn everything he touches to gold.

Reef Grief!
The world championship sand castle tournament is being held in Australia, and Shaggy is there. But the giant Coral Creature threatens to stomp all over Shaggy's plans.

E-Scream
A video game conference in L.A. releases the seemingly cute -- but deadly -- Fuzzy Terror.

The DVD:

The Video:
The full-frame, 1.33:1 video transfer for What's New Scooby-Doo?: Complete 3rd Season is pristine, with bright, primary colors, and no compression issues.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English Surround Stereo soundtrack is more than enough mix here, with sound effects and screams nice and loud.

The Extras:
Evidently, the Valentine episode missing from this set that was included in the first season DVD release, has now been reversed, with that first season's missing Christmas episode, A Scooby-Doo Christmas, from December of 2002, included here. As well, there's a live-action game-show take-off trivia game, Do You Know Your Scooby?, which asks questions of the viewer to see if they were paying attention to these episodes.

Final Thoughts:
I still really like Simple Plan's driving, hooky little theme song for What's New Scooby-Doo?, but that's about it here for the final episodes of this marginal third season. The jokes, if you can call them that, are tired, the villains look good but aren't particularly scary, and nobody seems to want to punish the perpetrators of kidnapings, assaults, property damage, and terrorizing the citizenry. What happened, Scooby-Doo? The most I can go on this is a rental, in case you want to complete your Scooby-Doo experience; all others can skip it.