Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: Classic Hanna-Barbera Characters Guest

If you’ve been watching Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated series, you know that, in some ways, the Cartoon Network series returns the characters to their classic roots. While storylines have been updated for a modern audience — particularly when it comes to romance — Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are back in their familiar outfits and solving mysteries together.

This is the 11th TV series to feature the familiar characters and there are numerous homages to the past for fans to enjoy. Frank Welker, the original voice of Fred, continues to voice the hunky blond (as well as Scooby-Doo himself). Matthew Lilliard has taken over as the voice of Shaggy but the legendary Casey Kasem is still part of the series, now playing Shaggy’s father.

The creators have some more homages in store for future episodes as well. As TV Line’s Jacob Mitovich reports, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated is returning from a lengthy hiatus with a new episode at 7:30pm on May 3rd. Titled “Mystery Solvers Club State Finals,” the episode finds our favorite Great Dane sick in bed just before the big Mystery Solvers Club State Finals. He dreams that he and fellow mystery-solving sidekicks team up to rescue their kidnapped friends from the clutches of evil Lord Infernicus.

The entire episode serves as a tribute to other classic Hanna-Barbera series that essentially duplicated the mystery-solving adventures of the original Scooby cartoons. Guest stars include Speed Buggy, Jabberjaw, Captain Caveman, and the Funky Phantom. What’s more, the dream sequence will reflect the animation style of the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! series that debuted 42 years ago.

Welker, who voiced Jabberjaw for the big shark’s original series in 1976, reprises the role in this episode, some 35 years later.

Here are some screen captures from the special episode. How many characters do you recognize?

And, if you’re a true Scooby geek, you won’t want to miss the June 7th episode called “Nightfright.” Scooby and Shaggy win an essay contest and are invited to have dinner with Vincent Van Ghoul. Played by the late Vincent Price, Van Ghoul was a magician and a central character in 1985’s The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo series. This time around he’ll be a famous “B” movie actor (not unlike Price) who’s appeared in more than 400 horror films. Futurama’s Maurice LaMarche provides a Vincent Price-like voice for the character.

What do you think? Will you tune in to see the classic Hanna-Barbera characters return?