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Scooby-Doo, TV's comically cowardly Great Dane, is 40 years old this year. In all that time, through succeeding series on different networks, he has rarely been off the air. It is really quite remarkable, when you consider the generally poor animation, wan jokes and endlessly repeated plot line -- phony spooks mask criminal enterprise undone by meddling kids and their dog -- although perhaps that is also its appeal. You know where you are with "Scooby-Doo."
If Scooby is not quite the cultural powerhouse he was back when a van with flowers painted on its side was a groovy thing and a boy might wear an ascot to high school without fear of harm, he is perhaps something more now: an icon with history, living in the collective mind of the generations who have grown up on him. Hugh Laurie has imitated him on "House"; the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" kids styled themselves a Scooby Gang, a phrase I've found handy, professionally, to describe any tight group of diverse characters involved in a dangerous adventure.
In this century, the dog and his human companions have starred in...