Starring: Daws Butler, Don Messick, Mel Blanc, Frank Welker, Casey Kasem
Written By: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera
Directed By: Neal Barbera, Tom Dagenais
Studio: Warner Archives
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Hanna-Barbera had a fun concept of throwing all of their characters into a zany Olympic-style competition, and as a kid, I absolutely ate it up. Laff-A-Lympics is now available on Blu-ray for the first time, and it has been decades since I last watched it.

The animated series runs for 24 episodes and features three teams competing in events inspired by both the Olympics and something like Battle of the Network Stars. Scooby-Doo leads The Scooby Doobies, Yogi Bear heads up The Yogi Yahooeys, and Mumbly captains the Really Rottens. Scooby and Yogi’s teams are clearly the ones you’re meant to root for, while the Really Rottens are always scheming and cheating their way through events. Occasionally, they even manage to win, which was always frustrating to watch as a kid. Snagglepuss and Mildew Wolf serve as announcers, alongside a traditional voiceover narrator that helps guide each episode.

Watching it again after all these years, I was surprised by how fast-paced the episodes feel, especially without commercial breaks. You can fly through these discs pretty quickly if you’re in the mood to binge. A lot of the fun comes from seeing so many classic characters interacting and competing, along with the increasingly ridiculous ways the Really Rottens try to cheat. After each event, the scoreboard updates with reactions from the team captains, something I always enjoyed when I was younger and still find it charming now.

Wacky Races is a similar concept, but I’ve always preferred Laff-A-Lympics. This release appears to be the first time the entire series has been collected in one set, and it looks great on Blu-ray. Rewatching it brought back a lot of nostalgia, and now I get to introduce it to my kids, which might be the best part of revisiting it.

(Sent by AV Entertainment for review)

Features:
Scooby Doo: Spooky Games

Video:
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1

Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono

Subtitles:
English SDH

Bottom Line: Still a ton of fun to watch!
Running Time: 550 mins
Rating: NR
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: