'Scooby's All Star Laff-A-Lympics, Vol. 1'
(DVD / NR / 2010 / Warner Home Video)
Overview: Warner Home Video (WHV) brings more animated high-jinks to DVD January 19, 2010 with the release of Scooby’s All Star Laff-A-Lympics, the original Saturday morning show that features an ensemble cast of Hanna-Barbera characters who compete in a series of zany sports competitions.
DVD: After Olympic fever swept the nations, especially the United States in 1976 (the nation's bicentennial), the worldwide sporting competitions would be sorely missed until 1980, as well as 1984, when the U.S. would be the host nation for the Summer Games.
Fortunately Hanna-Barbera provided a worthy substitute in animated form as up to 45 of their cartoon characters (classic and otherwise) were featured on this show competing for the gold medal. While some events were similar to real-life Olympic events, most were pretty offbeat and quite unusual, and could only be done on cartoons like this!
Among these weird events were racing on ostriches, camels, kangaroos, rickshaws and unicycles, as well as scavenging for creatures like the Abominable Snowman, vampires, and the Loch Ness Monster.
These are (still) great cartoons, but why release only four (4) of the episodes. The complete series would fit (easily) on a two-disc set. Anyway, I love this show, but it's obviously WB (monetary) marketing that has stopped this being a complete collection for us fans, sadly.
So, for the record, the only four (4) featured episodes/sports events on this volume of Scooby’s All Star Laff-A-Lympics include:
The Swiss Alps and Tokyo, Japan – Downhill Ski Contest, Ice Skating, Toboggan Race, Sumo Wrestling, One-Point Tennis and Baseball Batting Contest.
Acapulco and England – Cliff Diving, Underwater Relay, Speed Boat Race, Big Ben Tower Climb, Fox Hunt and Skateboard Polo.
The Sahara Desert and Scotland – Dune Buggy Race, Fill Up the Oasis Race, Loch Ness Photograph Race and Three Legged Kilt Race.
Florida and China – Swamp Buggy Race, Waterski Contest, Auto Track Race, Rickshaw Race, Ping Pong and Gymnastics.
With the featured Teams:
'The Scooby Doobies' - This team is made up of characters that are drawn mainly from 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoons and includes Scooby-Doo as team captain, Shaggy Rogers, Scooby-Dum, Dynomutt, The Blue Falcon, Captain Caveman, Brenda, Dee Dee, Taffy, Speed Buggy, Tinker, Babu and Hong Kong Phooey.
'The Yogi Yahooeys' - This team consists mainly of 1950s and 60s popular animal characters including Yogi Bear as team captain, Boo-Boo Bear, Cindy Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Pixie, Dixie, Mr. Jinks, Hokey Wolf and Yakky Doodle.
'The Really Rottens' – This team is comprised mainly of villainous characters and includes Mumbly, Dread Barron, The Dalton Brothers, The Creepleys, the Great Fondoo, Magic Rabbit, Daisy Mahem and Orful Octopus. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:
Extra bonus episode “Smart House” from Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! Season 1
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