Childhood is only complete with cartoons. Kids today are watching more cartoons than ever. Despite YouTube and streaming platforms offering high volumes of animated content, older viewers cannot help but think back to a golden age before the dawn of the internet, when weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings were filled with the best cartoons. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the Scooby-Doo rip-off cartoon that everyone forgot about, Goober and the Ghost Chasers.
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Hanna-Barbera Productions was one of the biggest animation studios to supply daytime television with regular cartoons. One of the studio’s most popular shows was Scooby-Doo. Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and talking dog Scooby-Doo were and still are regulars on television sets in millions of homes worldwide. The show was a mix of comedy, adventure, mystery, and horror, which appealed to a large audience of young and old. The show’s premise was simple but effective.
It featured the four characters mentioned above and their talking dog, Scooby-Doo. Together, they solve mysteries involving supposedly supernatural creatures. The funny dialogue and wacky comedy made the show fun, and best of all, Scooby and Shaggy. These two were the stars of the show. They were like a Laurel and Hardey gag and comedy duo. Scooby’s barking, howling and humanoid dog speech was the funniest part of each episode.
Scooby-Doo was created in 1969 by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears. The show had extensive broadcasts on television networks like CBS and ABC. It also enjoyed some reboots recently, as in 2018 on Cartoon Network and Boomerang and HBO Max in 2019.
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Cartoon Knock-Off
It’s fascinating that a cartoon show could still be so popular after so many decades. During Scooby-Doo’s peak in the 70s, many knock-off cartoons attempted to cash in on Scooby-Doo’s success. One of these was a show called Goober and the Ghost Chasers.
Goober and the Ghost Chasers sounds like a description for the Scooby-Doo show. The derivative elements don’t end there. Hanna-Barbera were the producers of both shows, and it seems they felt they could copy and paste elements from Scooby-Doo and pass them off undetected to millions of innocent kids as an original show. Goober and the Ghost Chasers was initially aired on ABC in 1973. The plot involved Goober, an irie-green-coloured Saluki dog breed who wears a shabby winter hat, and his three teenage companions, Ted, Gilly, and Tina.
The teenagers are investigators for Ghost Chasers Magazine and travel to various locations in search of paranormal activity. Goober’s spindly and skinny anatomy, hilarious facial expressions and contrived winter hat give the impression of a California pothead. What supposedly set the mutt apart from Scooby-Doo was his involuntary ability to turn invisible when he became scared, except for his funny hat.
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Unlike Scooby, Goober could speak clearly, but only the television audience could hear him. Goober and the Ghost Chasers was probably Hanna-Barbera’s most derivate show that ripped off Scooby-Doo. The cast was similar, as well as the talking dog as the star. While Goober was never as successful or popular as Scooby-Doo, it is still a funny and lovable show with great characters.
Watch the intro song for Goober and the Ghost Chasers here.
TL;DR
- Hanna-Barbera provided many great cartoons for kids to enjoy.
- Scooby Doo was one of their most popular shows.
- It was so popular that Hanna-Barbera produced many rip-off shows, with Goober and the Ghost Chasers being the biggest Scooby-Doo rip-off.