# Zoinks, dougie\_monty, what's your problem? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 15, 2009, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929 "2009-02-15T09:18:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/1 "2009-02-15T09:18:47Z")
For some reason, **dougie\_monty** [resurrected a two-year-old thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=408603) about Scooby-Doo to complain about a parody on _The Venture Brothers_ that depicted well-known serial killers as “The Groovy Gang,” who happen to dress similarly to the Scooby characters. Even though I (who don’t even watch the show) and many others have attempted to explain the parody, **dougie\_monty** ’s responses have become increasingly bizarre. I don’t know if it’s a joke or not, but I’m not really sure why he thinks Scooby-Doo- which has been parodied countless times over the years- deserves to be defended as strongly as many defend their political and religious opinions. The main point of the matter- and the one on which **dougie\_monty** appears to fail to comprehend- is the fact that the characters in question are not the actual Scooby-Doo characters, but rather [well-known serial killers](http://www.venturebroswiki.com/vbwiki/%C2%A1Viva_los_Muertos%21#References) who happen to dress like the Scooby characters. The characters are drawn to resemble the actual serial killers more than they do the Scooby-Doo characters, and the dog is drawn as a labrador retriver (the type of dog that David Berkowitz believed told him to kill) rather than a great dane (the type of dog Scooby-Doo is). The most insane comments, however, came up when someone pointed out that _The Venture Brothers_ is owned by Time Warner, the same company that owns the rights to Scooby-Doo. > [@dougie\_monty](#): > > The same company, eh? Sounds like a bunch of snake-oil publicity people who deserve a fate such as that meted out to the victims on NCIS. Why? When parody is involved, the parent company of the one being parodied often shows up in the parodies- sometimes because they’re an easy target, or sometimes because their contributions to popular culture- such as Time Warner’s- are so prevalent that not parodying them would be difficult. Should News Corporation go out of business because of the Simpsons’ constant cheap shots at the shoddy programming on the Fox network? Should Topps go out of business for depicting their own products as [inedible](http://www.wackypackages.org/stickers/91_topps/2a_front_badzooka_small.html), [moldy](http://www.wackypackages.org/stickers/6th_series/moldrush_small_smaller_images.html), and [worm-infested](http://www.wackypackages.org/stickers/4th_series/wormypackages_front_small.html) while doing the same to other products? Should Time Warner also go out of business for _MAD_ magazine’s constant spoofs of Time Warner’s own movies, TV shows, and other businesses, including [this parody of their now-defunct store](http://thewbstoreisclosed.blogspot.com/2008/02/mad-gets-mad-at-wbss.html) which manages to be funny, cruel, and dead-on at the same time? > [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Did Al Capp create dissolute alter-egos for Li’l Abner, Daisy Mae, Mammy Yokum and such? Was Al Capp the same person as Chester Gould? Ben Edlund and Jackson Publick are not the same people as Joe Ruby and Ken Spears. And, as I’ve already pointed out multiple times, nor did Edlund and Publick create dissolute alter-egos of the Scooby-Doo characters- they created alter-egos of already dissolute real people, those alter-egos just happening to resemble the Scooby-Doo gang. Also, do you find _all_ Scooby-Doo parodies offensive, or just this one? There have been varying degrees of Scooby-Doo parody, many of which feature the actual characters rather than new characters that resemble them, and in varying degrees of authorization. Are you offended by an unauthorized parody poking fun at the babyification of cartoon characters that depicts Scooby and his pals as walking fetuses (_TV Funhouse_)? Are you offended by an unauthorized parody that features Fred commenting “we’re dealing with one sick son-of-a-bitch,” with the line being given by Fred’s official voice, Frank Welker (_Family Guy_?) Are you offended by a Time Warner-owned parody mixing the actual characters (in action figure form) with a stereotypical slasher film, all of the characters voices being provided by the actors who portrayed them in the live-action movie (_Robot Chicken_)? Are you offended by the live-action movie itself- a fully authorized adaptation of the characters _not_ parodying them, which nonetheless has a few gags poking fun at some of the common parodies and criticisms about the characters, including a few jokes about the idea of Shaggy being a pothead and a comment on Scrappy-Doo being annoying by depicting him as a literal devil who was trying to destroy the gang all along after kicking him out for said annoyance? You’ve opened this can of Scooby Snacks, and the words coming out of your mouth are as hard to understand as Scooby’s. That’s a fact. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/2 "2009-02-15T09:52:38Z")
He just really likes Scooby-doo. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/3 "2009-02-15T09:58:54Z")
Like, I’m just ashamed I didn’t recognize the connections to Ted Bundy, _et al_, when I watched the episode. The parody versions of Shaggy and Scooby being Son of Sam and Harvey was a stroke of (evil) genius. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/4 "2009-02-15T10:30:04Z")
Okay, now that I’ve read the other thread – what the Hell, exactly, is that dude complaining about? Does he think anybody who parodies anything should be sued? Does he think _The Venture Brothers_ is intended for children? I know he’s being stupid, but I’m not sure of the specific stupidity involved. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/5 "2009-02-15T10:56:45Z")
\*\*dougie\_monty \*\*has previously admitted to having no sense of humor whatsoever - to, in fact, being completely incapable of understanding the concept of humor. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/6 "2009-02-15T11:01:30Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > \*\*dougie\_monty \*\*has previously admitted to having no sense of humor whatsoever - to, in fact, being completely incapable of understanding the concept of humor. Hmm, I see, well that explains his love of Scooby-Doo at least… ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/7 "2009-02-15T15:24:12Z")
> [@HongKongFooey](#): > > Hmm, I see, well that explains his love of Scooby-Doo at least… Yeah, it’s not like there’s anyone out there who would, say, pick a username inspired by a Hanna-Barbera character…oh wait. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/8 "2009-02-15T15:27:55Z")
Let’s hope he’s not seen the Shaggy, Scooby and Daphne threesome! ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/9 "2009-02-15T15:38:10Z")
Wait till he finds out about Harvey Birdman. Or the Korn P-p-p-pirate ghosts! ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/10 "2009-02-16T01:04:28Z")
Or [Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8qAtRU4xe0). Check out Riley from Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Fred. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/11 "2009-02-16T02:05:35Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > Yeah, it’s not like there’s anyone out there who would, say, pick a username inspired by a Hanna-Barbera character…oh wait. I don’t get it… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/12 "2009-02-16T02:20:26Z")
What the hell? This is by far the most bizarre thing to inspire a Pitting that I’ve seen in a long time. I really don’t understand how someone could go so nuts over Scooby Freakin’ Doo. Hostile Dialect, Hostile Dialect, Narcissist ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/13 "2009-02-16T03:43:42Z")
I thought the strangest thing about it was how, in his resurrecting post, he accused the person he was “replying” to of being “consistently contrary” or words to that effect. Like **dougie-monty** somehow percieved the post he was responding to as part of an ongoing pattern. But the person he was “replying” to hadn’t posted since September of last year. And before that, he hadn’t posted for a whole _year_ prior. Plus there was nothing “contrary” about that person’s post at all. Just… weird. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/14 "2009-02-16T03:44:42Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > \*\*dougie\_monty \*\*has previously admitted to having no sense of humor whatsoever - to, in fact, being completely incapable of understanding the concept of humor. Could you perchance locate that post for us? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/15 "2009-02-16T03:47:39Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I thought the strangest thing about it was how, in his resurrecting post, he accused the person he was “replying” to of being “consistently contrary” or words to that effect. Like **dougie-monty** somehow percieved the post he was responding to as part of an ongoing pattern. But the person he was “replying” to hadn’t posted since September of last year. And before that, he hadn’t posted for a whole _year_ prior. > > Plus there was nothing “contrary” about that person’s post at all. > > Just… weird. Yeah. It made me wonder, why that post? There’s a thousand other snarkier, even more flippant posts. All that poster was doing was summarizing an episode he’d seen–it wasn’t like he himself came up with some anti Scooby diatribe. I don’t get how **dougie monty** managed to deal with the SDMB–nay, the entire Internet–before this post without his head exploding. > [@Hostile\_Dialect](#): > > What the hell? This is by far the most bizarre thing to inspire a Pitting that I’ve seen in a long time. I really don’t understand how someone could go so nuts over Scooby Freakin’ Doo. Yeah, really. Except don’t mess with my Jabber Jaw. Then we’ll be throwing down. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/16 "2009-02-16T04:19:54Z")
I’ve been sitting here chuckling over this for longer than I’d care to admit. For those who don’t want to be bothered reading the other thread, here are some dougie\_monty gems from it: > [@dougie\_monty](#): > > “What happened is that the characters, whom I remember as fit for impressionable kids watching Saturday morning cartoons, seem–in the specific setting I referred to–to have sold out to characterizations more befitting Underground comics, whose writers (and editors) take the copyrighted characters and pervert them (Velma and “lesbianism”). This seems more to suit the intellectual snobs and other little minds–if you get my drift.” > [@](#): > > "The same company, eh? Sounds like a bunch of snake-oil publicity people who deserve a fate such as that meted out to the victims on NCIS. Chester Gould did not create a separate Dick Tracy who was a crooked, dissolute cop; there’s no alter ego of Mr. Chips who behaves like a Simon Legree wannabe. If the company owning the rights to the characters is as you describe, I hope they go belly-up and their policymakers starve to death. > [@](#): > > “Why? Did Al Capp create dissolute alter-egos for Li’l Abner, Daisy Mae, Mammy Yokum and such? Was Al Capp the same person as Chester Gould? No, I remember Fearless Fosdick from way back. If I had seen the strip in the last 20 years or so I would have refused to follow it, my notions of right and wrong firmly established by that time. When I was a kid it didn’t matter: I didn’t have any established ethcal values then. I do now.” I’m not sure dude isn’t a troll, because that shit is comedy gold. Mirth aside, I believe his complaint is that there is nothing clever or artistic about taking media meant for children and subverting it with dirty, dirty lesbians. He sees the Venture Brothers parody as being nothing more than, say, attaching a strapon to a Sesame Street character for a larff. I’m not sure Dildo the Grouch wouldn’t be art, but I’m damn sure the messages underlying the Groovy Gang are coherent, intentional and multi-layered. The joke doesn’t just come from the shock value of seeing Velma as a lesbian, or as a killer for that matter. It comes from the juxtaposition of the horrid reality of murder with the diluted, sanitized version of crime the original Scooby Doo presented. This works even better because Scooby Doo was ‘about’ a zany sort of world in which some real rules applied, but many were bent or twisted, so the insanity aspect of the serial killer motif works well as a dark mirror. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/17 "2009-02-16T05:48:36Z")
> [@Ensign\_Edison](#): > > … Dildo the Grouch … Band name! [or new sex toy name]. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/18 "2009-02-16T07:04:14Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Could you perchance locate that post for us? Sorry, can’t find it. It was a long time ago - something like 7 years. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/19 "2009-02-16T08:42:30Z")
Whatever may have been the rationale behind _this_ thread, I think it really doesn’t matter. I’m posting a comment at just about the same time as this one, on the original thread, which should obviate some of this commentary made in my absence… ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929/20 "2009-02-16T14:29:12Z")
Your comment, besides some tangent about \*MAD Magazine \*ownership, essentially says that you don’t find The Venture Brothers funny, and you don’t think anyone else should either. Does that about sum it up? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoinks-dougie_monty-whats-your-problem/485929.md?page=2)