What to Know About a Scooby Doo Ripoff You Don’t Remember Debuted 53 Years Ago Today & Eventually Crossed Over With Yogi Bear
The cast, plot and episodic formula of Scooby-Doo have been well-known to audiences since the show’s debut in 1969. One of the most iconic animated-television properties for 57 years, the Scooby-Doo franchise (originally a Saturday-morning cartoon series titled Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!) has ensured that the basic story beats of a small group of teens, a fairly sentient dog, and mysteries to solve have been etched deep into the minds of four-and-counting generations of viewers. However, in the years following its 1969-70 run, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was far from the only show of its kind.
In fact, the success of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! led Hanna Barbera Studios to produce a wide range of other shows utilizing the same basic character tropes, episode setups and storylines, some of which would evolve to become popular standalone animated series in their own right. However, this was far from the case for all of these Scooby-Doo wannabes, and among the knockoffs that didn’t make it through audience approval lies one so odd that, 53 years later, it caught the attention of the writers of Hanna Barbera crossover cartoon Jellystone! (2021-25).
Scooby-Doo Inspired Many Copycat Shows Within The Hanna Barbera Network
In the wake of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ‘s massively popular and profitable one-season run, Hanna Barbera rolled out an astonishing variety of copycat shows within their own network. While each show followed the basic formula of teens, plus nonhuman companion (a category which these shows would truly stretch to its limit, including a gigantic shark, a car, a revolutionary-war ghost, and a caveman who had been thawed from a block of ice), plus mystery, they otherwise differed wildly in terms of genre, setting, themes and intended audience. Scooby Doo‘s relaxed, trendy and counterculture-forward aesthetics, which appealed to younger audiences at the time without containing countercultural allusions direct enough to raise parental concern, also carried over into these various knockoff series, remaining a constant despite the properties spanning genres from space fantasy, to musician slice-of-life, to detective story, and every combination and genre crossover in between.
One of these Scooby-inspired properties that maintained the genre and tone of the original was Goober And The Ghost Chasers (1973). Like Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, Goober And The Ghost Chasers followed a small group of teenagers, consisting of the charismatic, sharp and put-together leader Ted, the driven and occasionally overly-blunt reporter Tina, and the clumsy, gentle photographer Gilly, and, more often than not, a celebrity guest star or two tagging along for the ride. In place of Scooby Doo, this gang has Goober.
Goober And The Ghost Chasers Followed Closely In Scooby-Doo’s Footsteps, With One Fundamental Difference
No Great Dane here— Goober is a dog only by the loosest definition of the word. Pale green in color, with a long globular snout and a body shaped roughly like a sausage, Goober runs about on long thin legs with prominently-illustrated knobby joints that seem to make a point of never bending in the correct place or direction for a dog— or for a human, or anything else. When not in motion, he sits on the edge of the seen with a vacant expression and a pose resembling an unmanned marionette. He’s also wearing a hat, and has the power to turn invisible— although notably Goober has no control over this ability.
Nonetheless, Goober plays his role as the Scooby-analogue more than sufficiently, supporting his human teammates with feats of invisible trickery, performing daring saves in precarious situations, and even going hand-to-paw with the larger and more menacing ghosts. On the subject of ghosts, there is one aspect in which Goober And The Ghost Chasers differs vastly and fundamentally from Scooby-Doo. The ghosts are all real. In fact, not only are all of the ghosts encountered real, this fact is never treated as unusual or surprising by any member of the team. Far from it— the Ghost Chasers, while their name may suggest a paranormal investigation team from a later decade — do not necessarily approach their spectral encounters with any expectation of danger.
Instead, while they do employ such state-of-the-art “Anti-Apparition” equipment as a Specter Detector, Poltergeist Powder, and the Post-Ghost Scanner (among others), their primary goal is research and documentation. The inclusion on the team of a reporter and photographer is no accident, as the main goal of the Ghost Chasers is to interview and photograph ghosts with the aim of publishing news stories about them. To this end, they often attempt to befriend, reason with, and even help the spooky scary spirits in hopes gaining an interview from them and leaving on good terms. While Goober And The Ghost Chasers is chock-full of the scary spirits, frantic slapstick chases, hiding in barrels, and general mayhem of Scooby-Doo, this show makes it clear that these situations are a result of the team’s best-intentioned efforts at ghost diplomacy going awry.
5 Decades Later, Goober And His Friends Still Were Weird Enough To Earn Them A Satirical Appearance Alongside Yogi Bear And Boo-Boo
Between the genre shakeup that is the existence of ghosts, the team’s unique goals and methods in interacting with these spirits, and Goober being Goober, it is no surprise that when Goober And The Ghost Chasers, which ran for only 16 episodes, is remembered at all, it is for its strangeness. Among a horde of Scooby Doo copies, this show stood out for the simple reason that it was a bit offbeat. The absurdity of the writing and character designs, combined with a plot that treated the existence of ghosts not only totally seriously but with a true commitment to respect, creates a disjointed tone that stuck with many audiences in a manner bordering on unsettling.
It is this lingering strangeness that doubtless influenced the circumstances of the Ghost Chasers’ inclusion in Jellystone!, HBO Max’ Hanna Barbera -verse ensemble series. In the Season 3 episode “Frankenhooky”, Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo sneak off to joke around in an abandoned amusement park, where the sound of their merriment attracts The Ghost Chasers, who believe the noises to be coming from ghosts. From the jump, the Ghost Chasers are portrayed in clear satire of their actual selves, with Ted being obsessed to a creepy extent with catching ghosts, and the whole team constantly fighting and insulting each other. Goober himself appears only briefly, showcasing a tamer version of his original bizarre gangly walk before Ted shoos him offscreen in violent disgust.
Things intensify as, after a run in with Yogi and Boo-Boo (who have donned Frankenstein Masks in an attempt to mess with Ted and crew), the Ghost Chasers choose violence, nearly pummeling the pair to death with fists and blunt objects before being stopped by the Scooby Gang— except that, in a clever final twist, both the Ghost Chasers and the Scooby Gang are revealed to be other characters wearing masks (except, oddly, for Goober— so the jury is out on what exactly he is in the Jellystone! universe as well).
The Ghost Chasers Were More Than A Knock-Off Scooby Gang
Satirical cameo appearances aside, Goober and The Ghost Chasers leaves a legacy that, while more than slightly offputting, is nonetheless uniquely earnest. Where visuals and dialogue lag, the show makes up for it with a true commitment to treat its ghosts as, if not fully human, then at least formerly so. This is a rarity in a universe of spinoff cartoons where ghosts are variously cast as monsters or hoaxes, and in one case even take the Scooby-esque role of team mascot.
There is something refreshing in seeing ghosts, and their mysteries, approached with curiosity and positive intention, even when the appearance of the specter has the team quaking in fear. The show’s unusual, endearing earnestness manifests in Ted’s precise memorization of his ghost-detection equipment, Tina’s socially awkward obsessiveness over getting a good interview, and Gilly’s clear pride as he poses with ghost and human characters alike for the perfect shot. It’s a weird show, sure, and Goober himself is baffling— but it does things with the Scooby Doo formula that are a true surprise to witness.
