Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: The Complete Series (Blu-ray Review)

• Reviewed by: Tim Salmons
• Review Date: Nov 13, 2026
• Format: Blu-ray Disc

Director

Various

Release Date(s)

2010-2013 (October 20, 2026)

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. Animation/Cartoon Network (Warner Archive Collection)

• Film/Program Grade: B-
• Video Grade: A
• Audio Grade: A-
• Extras Grade: C-

Review

Like any long-running intellectual property, Scooby-Doo has pretty much been a mainstay in popular culture, having had a barrage of different television programs, direct-to-video features, streaming exclusives, and a combination of animated and live action films. The majority of this media has attempted to copy and re-capture the magic of the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! show, which ran for three seasons from 1969 to 1970, and again in 1978. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated takes a complete left turn, re-using the classic incarnation of the Scooby-Doo! characters, but giving them more depth in a long-running arc. The results, which lasted for only two seasons from 2010 to 2013, were mostly well-received by fans, while dividing others.

In their hometown of Crystal Cove, Fred (Frank Welker), Daphne (Grey DeLisle), Velma (Mindy Cohn), Shaggy (Matthew Lillard), and Scooby-Doo (also Welker) are being thwarted by Sheriff Stone (Patrick Warburton) and Mayor Jones (Gary Cole), the latter of whom is also Fred’s father. The town is drawing tourists as “The Most Haunted Place on Earth,” and the gang’s mystery-solving is putting a damper on business, forcing them to do things undercover. They’re also encouraged by the unknown Mr. E to continue sleuthing out the town’s ghostly villains and put an end to their supernatural shenanigans. Meanwhile, Daphne is frustrated with Fred since his mind is more on solving mysteries and building traps than her, while Velma and Shaggy are struggling in their new relationship due to Shaggy’s incompetence and Scooby-Doo’s jealousy.

The most attractive aspect of Mystery Incorporated is the idea of the Mystery Machine-driving gang solving mysteries in their home town with a new villain every week and each episode tying into the next. That sounds fun, and it can be, as can the various villains that show’s creators come up with. Even the idea that they’re surreptitiously solving mysteries against the wishes of the sheriff and the mayor is a new approach. The more unusual aspect is the interpersonal relationships, romantic or otherwise, that the show attempts to deal with. It’s certainly not a poor idea and could work within the right parameters, but it feels awkward and forced in this case.

The chief reason that the romantic relationships between these characters come off as odd is because we never got to see them develop. We’re just suddenly thrust into the middle of things when they’re in the problematic stages. I realize that this isn’t meant to be taken too seriously, but in order for us to care in that way, we need to experience how these things came into being in the first place. Matters aren’t helped by the fact that the characters that we know have been altered to fit into the mold of what the writers want this show to be, particularly Velma. She was always the voice of reason in the most outrageous of supernatural situations and often had explanations, scientific or otherwise, for what was happening in the plot. In other words, she was the nerdy one, and that’s what made her Velma. She didn’t seem to care much about romance, which is why male viewers started slapping the lesbian moniker on her, which shamefully did infect the franchise over time. Meanwhile, Shaggy is barely a character. He’s a lark, basically, a means to an end. He eats lots of food, gets scared by ghosts, runs away in terror, and he’s best friends with his dog. That’s about it. Instead, Mystery Incorporated wants to be a CW show like Supernatural or Riverdale, and that doesn’t entirely work for these group of characters.

The bright spot is how good the show looks, and how much it acknowledges the past without getting bogged down in references to other Scooby-Doo shows. It’s also well-animated and vibrant, with a lot of variety in the visuals. The villains and the mystery plots are fun as well, but things get tricky when in the middle of various situations, Velma wants to lay a smacker on Shaggy, and Shaggy is fearful of Scooby-Doo finding out, or Daphne being sad or angry at Fred for being obsessed with traps. It’s just strange, and a little more adult-oriented than it really requires. I appreciate them trying to do something different with these characters, but a show called Mystery Incorporated in the Scooby-Doo franchise needed to focus more on the long-running stories and villains of the week than whether Shaggy and Velma hook up or not.

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated was animated digitally and framed in the aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The Warner Archive Collection debuts the show on Blu-ray, encoded to six dual-layered BD-50 discs. Produced in HD or higher, the show holds up well on Blu-ray with crisp images and a high bitrate, which is sitting between 25 and 35Mbps most of the time. There’s some minor banding in a couple of spots, or lack of detail in the color in others, but that appears to be baked into the original masters, so it’s a non-issue. The show is colorful with plenty of diversity in its saturation, featuring more standard hues most of the time, but also neons and extreme colors during various episodes. It’s a clean, stable, and all-around quality set of images.

Audio is included in English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio with optional subtitles in English SDH. It provides excellent support for the various elements, including some nice spread for Robert J. Kral’s score (Matthew Sweet composed the main theme only), but there’s not much in terms of steering or stereo movement. It’s satisfactory, but more aggressive 5.1 mixes might have improved things.

The Warner Archive Collection 6-Disc Blu-ray release of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated sits in a blue Amaray case with a double-sided insert, featuring cover artwork for the show on the front and the list of episodes (or chapters) and special features per disc on the reverse. Speaking of which:

DISC ONE (SEASON ONE – EPISODES 1-8)

1. Chapter 1: Beware the Beast from Below (23:14)
2. Chapter 2: The Creeping Creatures (23:13)
3. Chapter 3: The Secret of the Ghost Rig (23:11)
4. Chapter 4: Revenge of the Man Crab (22:29)
5. Chapter 5: The Song of Mystery (22:30)
6. Chapter 6: The Legend of Alice May (22:49)
7. Chapter 7: In Fear of the Phantom (22:46)
8. Chapter 8: The Grasp of the Gnome (22:45)

• Audio Commentary on Beware the Beast from Below by Matt Hargreaves and Andy Clift

DISC TWO (SEASON ONE – EPISODES 9-17)

9. Chapter 9: Battle of the Humungonauts (22:47)
10. Chapter 10: Howl of the Fright Hound (22:47)
11. Chapter 11: The Secret Serum (22:26)
12. Chapter 12: The Shrieking Madness (22:32)
13. Chapter 13: When the Cicada Calls (22:02)
14. Chapter 14: Mystery Solvers Club State Finals (22:38)
15. Chapter 15: The Wild Brood (22:01)
16. Chapter 16: Where Walks Aphrodite (20:53)
17. Chapter 17: Escape from Mystery Manor (22:36)

DISC THREE (SEASON ONE – EPISODES 18-26)

18. Chapter 18: The Dragon’s Secret (22:09)
19. Chapter 19: Nightfright (22:11)
20. Chapter 20: The Siren’s Song (22:42)
21. Chapter 21: Menace of the Manticore (22:30)
22. Chapter 22: Attack of the Headless Horror (22:33)
23. Chapter 23: A Haunting in Crystal Cove (22:30)
24. Chapter 24: Dead Justice (22:18)
25. Chapter 25: Pawn of Shadows (22:45)
26. Chapter 26: All Fear the Freak (22:47)

• Audio Commentary on All Fear the Freak by Matt Hargreaves and Andy Clift
• Promotional TV Spot for Season One (SD – 1:22)

DISC FOUR (SEASON TWO – EPISODES 1-8)

1. Chapter 27: The Night the Clown Cried (22:48)
2. Chapter 28: The House of the Nightmare Witch (22:45)
3. Chapter 29: The Night the Clown Cried II – Tears of Doom! (22:44)
4. Chapter 30: Web of the Dreamweaver! (22:43)
5. Chapter 31: The Hodag of Horror (22:46)
6. Chapter 32: Art of Darkness! (22:47)
7. Chapter 33: The Gathering Gloom (22:25)
8. Chapter 34: Night on Haunted Mountain (22:43)

DISC FIVE (SEASON TWO – EPISODES 9-17)

9. Chapter 35: Grim Judgment (22:40)
10. Chapter 36: Night Terrors (22:43)
11. Chapter 37: The Midnight Zone (22:30)
12. Chapter 38: Scarebear (22:41)
13. Chapter 39: Wrath of the Krampus (22:31)
14. Chapter 40: Heart of Evil (21:59)
15. Chapter 41: Theater of Doom (22:36)
16. Chapter 42: Aliens Among Us (22:31)
17. Chapter 43: The Horrible Herd (22:33)

DISC SIX (SEASON TWO – EPISODES 18-26)

18. Chapter 44: Dance of the Undead (22:34)
19. Chapter 45: The Devouring (22:41)
20. Chapter 46: Stand and Deliver (22:05)
21. Chapter 47: The Man in the Mirror (21:57)
22. Chapter 48: Nightmare in Red (22:39)
23. Chapter 49: Dark Night of the Hunters (22:02)
24. Chapter 50: Gates of Gloom (22:41)
25. Chapter 51: Through the Curtain (21:51)
26. Chapter 52: Come Undone (22:35)

• Audio Commentary on The Man in the Mirror by Matt Hargreaves and Andy Clift
• Audio Commentary on Through the Curtain by Matt Hargreaves and Andy Clift
• Promotional Spot for Season Two (SD – :43)

Take note that the Promotional Spot for Season Two is actually an advertisement for one of the show’s DVD releases instead.

Fans of Mystery Incorporated should be more than pleased with the show’s leap from streaming and DVD to Blu-ray. It’s definitely a step up from both. For them, this release comes highly recommended.

- Tim Salmons

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