Scooby-Doo
The first episode of "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" "What a Night for a Knight" debuted on the CBS network Saturday, September 13, 1969. The original voice cast featured veteran voice actor Don Messick as Scooby-Doo, radio DJ Casey Kasem (later host of radio's syndicated "American Top 40") as Shaggy, actor Frank Welker (later a veteran voice actor in his own right) as Fred, actress Nicole Jaffe as Velma, and musician Indira Stefanianna Christopherson as Daphne. Scooby's speech patterns closely resembled an earlier cartoon dog, Astro from "The Jetsons" (1962–63), also voiced by Messick. Seventeen episodes of "Scooby-Doo Where are You!" were produced in 1969–70. The series theme song was written by David Mook and Ben Raleigh, and performed by Larry Marks.
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
"Scooby-Doo" creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears served as the story supervisors on the series. Ruby, Spears, and Bill Lutz wrote all of the scripts for the seventeen first-season episodes, while Lutz, Larz Bourne, and Tom Dagenais wrote the eight second-season episodes with Ruby and Spears as story editors. The plot varied little from episode to episode. The main concept was as follows:The second season featured bubblegum "chase scene" songs produced by La La Productions (which had originally been contracted to create the music for "Josie and the Pussycats", the first of many animated series made from the same mold as "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!"). These songs were written by Danny Janssen and Austin Roberts, and were performed by Roberts, who also made a new recording of the "Scooby Doo, Where Are You!" theme song for the second season. The series' theme song has been covered by several subsequent artists, including Matthew Sweet for the 1995 TV special and album ""; Third Eye Blind for the 1998 film "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island"; Billy Ray Cyrus for "Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost" (1999); Jennifer Love Hewitt for "Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders" (2000); the B-52's (Cindy, Kate and Fred) for "Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase" (2001); MxPx for the live-action "Scooby-Doo" film (2002); and Krystal Harris for "Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire" (2003).