Scooby-Doo and Krypto Too is out somehow on the internet, where the feature-length animation has become a talking point as a leak of one of several cancelled DC Comics-related projects, including Batgirl, abandoned after WarnerMedia was bought by Discovery and renamed Warner Bros. Discovery.
Various news sites, including Game Rant, report at least three other Scooby Doo features scheduled for streaming were cancelled and written off for tax purposes: Scoob! Holiday Haunt, cancelled even though it was reportedly near complete, Scooby-Doo and the Haunted High Rise, guest starring the Hex Girls, and Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Pups, cancelled by HBO Max on the same day the first leaked, unfinished Krypto pirated copies appeared online.
Stills from Scooby Doo and Krypto Too featured here were released last year, as advance publicity for the now cancelled project, but any full length versions of the 70+ minute film you may come across online have been released without permission, and Warner Bros. are, understandably, actively engaged in taking down copies, and stamping down on anyone on social media and comic-related web sites who share any links to the pirated material.
According to Game Rant, “Whether the company intends to release the film or not, Warner’s anti-piracy department is now working hard to take infringing copies down, including on YouTube, where fans uploaded copies obtained elsewhere.
“Due to taking tax write-downs for all the cancelled content, Warner Bros. Discovery is not allowed to officially release any of the projects they scrapped, which means leaks like this will be the only way people can access these movies and series.”
But, apparently, the leak might also jeopardise Warner’s tax relief.
I’ve no nostalgia for the original Scooby Doo TV Series, which always struck me as schedule filler and overly reliant on formulaic plots and animated walk and run cycles. However, after the toxic shock of the TV series Velma, even that would be welcome.
The unreleased, unfinished Scooby-Doo and Krypto Too’s design is slickly modern without being overly stylised, the plot of is reminiscent of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, released on Blu-Ray and DVD as The (Almost) Complete Collection, first shown between 1972 and 1974, in which the Scooby Gang met celebrities including Batman and Robin, Josie and the Pussycats and Abott and Costello. The premise was revisited in 2019 with Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?, in which, over two seasons, the gang met characters and celebrities such as Sherlock Holmes, Wonder Woman and Ricky Gervais.
Scooby-Doo and Krypto also shared Cartoon Network Asia promos, “Redraw Your Summer”, but I’m not sure they have ever officially met on screen. Their paths have crossed in comics of course, the most recent version of Krypto, Superman’s pet, first appearing with Superman in Scooby-Doo! Team-Up #9 by Sholly Fisch and Dario Brizuela, released in 2015, an adaptation from the original Krypto created by Otto Binder and Curt Swan which first appeared in Adventure Comics #210; followed by a return encounter in Scooby-Doo! Team-Up #18, which also featured Bat-dog, in 2016. The adventures feature in Volume Two and Volume Four of the series collections respectively.
In Scooby-Doo and Krypto Too, the Scooby-Gang are now casually acquainted with Superman and his supporting cast of friends and foes, although Velma is resistant to Jimmy Olsen’s fond childhood memory that he and she were romantically involved, age nine, based on being voted best ginger couple by kindly Summer Camp counsellors, aware the kids were being bullied because of their hair colour.
When The Mystery Machine rolls up in Metropolis, the Scooby-Gang find the streets and skies infested by super-villains, including Zod and co, Brainiac and Giganta. All well and good, but Velma tries to find a mystery suitable for the Scooby gang’s skill-set. Eventually, she settles on an image of red, glowing eyes peering out of the dark. Yes, it’s Krypto, Superman’s amiable mutt, out to take-on mysterious burning characters and Lex Luthor and his snarling dog, Rex. So there’s plenty for the animators to get their teeth into.
DC fans have been understandably offended by dumping viable creative works in the Tax Deductible Bin. Equally, Warner Bros. Discovery has every right to come down hard on piracy of its IP.
I don’t believe the line that Warner/DC are prioritising quality over quantity. I’d suggest the various cancellations boil down to projected profits with the billion dollar returns of films such as Marvel’s Black Panther and Avengers: End Game setting aspirational, but mostly unattainable criteria, for success.
It’s possible, of course, that streaming channels are an increasingly competitive market, in which profits may become increasingly hard to come by. Frankly, the more I hear of Warner’s lofty ideals, the more I think they are just barking. One thing the leak shows is that every dog still has its day.
Tim Robins
With additional reporting by John Freeman
• Buy Scooby-Doo Team-Up collections from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
• Buy The New Scooby-Doo Movies, released on Blu-Ray and DVD as The (Almost) Complete Collection from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
• Buy Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Seasons One and Two from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
downthetubes does not condone digital piracy
A freelance journalist and Doctor Who fanzine editor since 1978, Tim Robins has written on comics, films, books and TV programmes for a wide range of publications including Starburst, Interzone, Primetime and TV Guide.
His brief flirtation with comics includes ghost inking a 2000AD strip and co-writing a Doctor Who strip with Mike Collins. Since 1990 he worked at the University of Glamorgan where he was a Senior Lecturer in Cultural and Media Studies and the social sciences. Academically, he has published on the animation industry in Wales and approaches to social memory. He claims to be a card carrying member of the Politically Correct, a secret cadre bent on ruling the entire world and all human thought.
Categories: Animation, Comics, Digital Media, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds, US Comics
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