document_title: Scooby-Doo

question_text: who was the original voice of scooby doo

question_tokens: who was the original voice of scooby doo

text: Scooby-Doo

text: Development[edit]

text: In 1968, parent-run organizations, particularly Action for Children's Television (ACT), began to protest about what they perceived as excessive violence in Saturday morning cartoons.[6]  Most of these shows were Hanna-Barbera action cartoons such as Space Ghost, The Herculoids and Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, and virtually all of them were canceled by 1969 because of pressure from the parent groups.[7] Members of these watchgroups served as advisers to Hanna-Barbera and other animation studios to ensure that their new programs would be safe for children.

text: Fred Silverman, executive in charge of daytime programming for the CBS network at the time, was looking for a show that would revitalize his Saturday morning line and simultaneously please the watch groups. The result was The Archie Show, based upon Bob Montana's teenage humor comic book Archie. Also successful were the musical numbers The Archies performed during each program (one of which, "Sugar, Sugar", was the most successful Billboard number-one hit of 1969). Silverman was eager to build upon this success, and contacted producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera about possibly creating another show based on a teenage rock group, this one featuring teens who solved mysteries in between gigs. Silverman envisaged the show as a cross between the popular I Love a Mystery radio serials of the 1940s and either the Archie characters or the popular early 1960s television series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.[8]

text: After attempting to develop his own version of the proposed show called House of Mystery,[1] Barbera, who handled the development and sale of Hanna-Barbera shows while Hanna handled production,[1] passed the task along to story writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and artist/character designer Iwao Takamoto. Their original treatment, based in part on The Archie Show, was titled Mysteries Five and featured five teenagers: Geoff, Mike, Kelly, Linda, Linda's brother W.W. and their bongo-playing dog, Too Much, who were all members of the band Mysteries Five. When The Mysteries Five were not performing at gigs, they were out solving spooky mysteries involving ghosts, zombies, and other supernatural creatures. Ruby and Spears were unable to decide whether Too Much would be a large cowardly dog or a small feisty dog.[1] When the former was chosen, Ruby and Spears wrote Too Much as a Great Dane but revised the dog character to a large sheepdog (similar to the Archies' sheepdog, Hot Dog) just before their presentation to Silverman, as Ruby feared the character would be too similar to the comic strip character Marmaduke.[1] Silverman rejected their initial pitch, and after consulting with Barbera on next steps, got Barbera's permission to go ahead with Too Much being a Great Dane instead of a sheepdog.[1][9]

text: During the design phase, lead character designer Takamoto consulted a studio colleague who was a breeder of Great Danes. After learning the characteristics of a prize-winning Great Dane from her, Takamoto proceeded to break most of the rules and designed Too Much with overly bowed legs, a double chin, and a sloped back, among other abnormalities.[10][11]

text: Ruby and Spears' second pass at the show used Dobie Gillis as the template for the teenagers rather than Archie. The treatment retained the dog Too Much, while reducing the number of teenagers to four, removing the Mike character and retaining Geoff, Kelly, Linda, and W.W.[9] As their personalities were modified, so were the characters' names: Geoff became "Ronnie"[12] – later renamed "Fred" (at Silverman's behest),[13] Kelly became "Daphne", Linda "Velma", and W.W. "Shaggy". The teens were now based on four teenage characters from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis: Dobie Gillis, Thalia Menninger, Zelda Gilroy and Maynard G. Krebs, respectively.[1][14][15]

text: The revised show was re-pitched to Silverman, who liked the material but, disliking the title Mysteries Five, decided to call the show Who's S-S-Scared?[16] Silverman presented Who's S-S-Scared? to the CBS executives as the centerpiece for the upcoming 1969–70 season's Saturday morning cartoon block. CBS president Frank Stanton felt that the presentation artwork was too scary for young viewers and, thinking the show would be the same, decided to pass on it.[9][16]

text: Now without a centerpiece for the upcoming season's programming, Silverman had Ruby, Spears, and the Hanna-Barbera staff revise the treatments and presentation materials to tone down the show and better reflect its comedy elements. The rock band element was dropped, and more attention was focused upon Shaggy and Too Much. According to Ruby and Spears, Silverman was inspired by Frank Sinatra's scat "doo-be-doo-be-doo" at the end of his recording of "Strangers in the Night" on a flight to one of the development meetings, and decided to rename the dog "Scooby-Doo" and re-rechristen the show Scooby-Doo, Where Are You![9] The revised show was re-presented to CBS executives, who approved it for production.

text: Original television series run[edit]

text: The CBS years (1969–75)[edit]

text: Scooby-Doo, Where Are You![edit]

text: The first episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! "What a Night for a Knight" debuted on the CBS network Saturday, September 13, 1969. The original voice cast featured veteran voice actor Don Messick as Scooby-Doo, radio DJ Casey Kasem (later host of radio's syndicated American Top 40) as Shaggy, actor Frank Welker (later a veteran voice actor in his own right) as Fred, actress Nicole Jaffe as Velma, and musician Indira Stefanianna Christopherson as Daphne.[17] Scooby's speech patterns closely resembled an earlier cartoon dog, Astro from The Jetsons (1962–63), also voiced by Messick.[2] Seventeen episodes of Scooby-Doo Where are You! were produced in 1969–70. The series theme song was written by David Mook and Ben Raleigh, and performed by Larry Marks.

text: Each of these episodes features Scooby and the four teenage members of Mystery, Inc., Fred, Shaggy, Daphne and Velma, arriving at a location in the Mystery Machine, a van painted with psychedelic colors and flower power imagery. Encountering a ghost, monster, or other ostensibly supernatural creature terrorizing the local populace, they decide to investigate. The kids split up to look for clues and suspects while being chased at turns by the monster. Eventually, the kids come to realize the ghost and other paranormal activity is actually an elaborate hoax, and—often with the help of a Rube Goldberg-like trap designed by Fred—they capture the villain and unmask him. Revealed as a flesh and blood crook trying to cover up crimes by using the ghost story and costume, the criminal is arrested and taken to jail, often repeating something nearly identical to "... and I would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for you meddling kids!"

text: Scheduled opposite another teenage mystery-solving show, ABC's The Hardy Boys, Scooby-Doo became a ratings success, with Nielsen ratings reporting that as many as 65% of Saturday morning audiences were tuned in to CBS when Scooby-Doo was being broadcast.[1][9] The show was renewed for a second season in 1970, for which eight episodes were produced. Seven of the second-season episodes featured chase sequences set to bubblegum pop songs recorded by Austin Roberts,[18] who also re-recorded the theme song for this season. With Stefanianna Christopherson having married and retired from voice acting, Heather North assumed the role of Daphne, and would continue to voice the character until 1997.[19]

text: The TV influences of I Love a Mystery and Dobie Gillis were apparent in the first episodes. Of the similarities between the Scooby-Doo teens and the Dobie Gillis teens, the similarities between Shaggy and Maynard are the most noticeable; both characters share the same beatnik-style goatee, similar hairstyles, and demeanors.[1] The core premise of Scooby-Doo, Where are You! was also similar to Enid Blyton's Famous Five books. Both series featured four youths with a dog, and the Famous Five stories would often revolve around a mystery which would invariably turn out not to be supernaturally based, but simply a ruse to disguise the villain's true intent.

text: The role of each character was strongly defined in the series: Fred is the leader and the determined detective, Velma is the intelligent analyst, Daphne is danger-prone, Shaggy is a coward more motivated by hunger than any desire to solve mysteries, and Scooby is similar to Shaggy, save for a Bob Hope-inspired tendency towards temporary bravery.[9] Later versions of the show would make slight changes to the characters' established roles, most notably in the character of Daphne, shown in 1990s and 2000s Scooby-Doo productions as knowing many forms of karate and having the ability to defend herself, and less of a tendency towards getting kidnapped.

text: Scooby-Doo itself would be an influence on many other Saturday morning cartoons of the 1970s. During that decade, Hanna-Barbera and its competitors produced several animated programs also featuring teenage detectives solving mysteries with a pet or mascot of some sort, including Josie and the Pussycats (1970–71), The Funky Phantom (1971–72), The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (1972–73), Speed Buggy (1973–74), Goober and the Ghost Chasers (1973–74), Jabberjaw (1976–78), Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels (1977–80), among others.[20]

text: The New Scooby-Doo Movies[edit]

text: In 1972, new one-hour episodes under the title The New Scooby-Doo Movies were created; each episode featuring a real or fictitious guest star helping the gang solve mysteries, including characters from other Hanna-Barbera series such as Harlem Globetrotters, Josie and the Pussycats and Speed Buggy, the comic book characters Batman and Robin (later adapted into their own Hanna-Barbera series, Super Friends, a year later), and celebrities such as Sandy Duncan, The Addams Family, Cass Elliot, Phyllis Diller, Don Knotts and The Three Stooges. Hanna-Barbera musical director Hoyt Curtin composed a new theme song for this series, and Curtin's theme would remain in use for much of Scooby-Doo's original broadcast run. After two seasons and 24 episodes of the New Movies format from 1972 to 1974, CBS began airing reruns of the original Scooby-Doo, Where are You! series until its option on the series ran out in 1976.[1]

text: The ABC years (1976–91)[edit]

text: The Scooby-Doo Show and Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics[edit]

text: Now president of ABC, Fred Silverman made a deal with Hanna-Barbera to bring new episodes of Scooby-Doo to the ABC Saturday morning lineup, where the show went through almost yearly lineup changes. For their 1976–77 season, 16 new episodes of Scooby-Doo were joined with a new Hanna-Barbera show, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, to create The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour (the show became The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Show when a bonus Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! rerun was added to the package in November 1976). Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, now working for Silverman as supervisors of the ABC Saturday morning programs, returned the program to its original Scooby-Doo, Where are You! format, with the addition of Scooby's dim-witted country cousin Scooby-Dum, voiced by Daws Butler, as a recurring character.[1] The voice cast was held over from The New Scooby-Doo Movies save for Nicole Jaffe, who retired from acting in 1973. Pat Stevens took over her role as the voice of Velma.

text: For the 1977–78 season, The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Show became the two-hour programming block Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics (1977–78) with the addition of Laff-a-Lympics and Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels. In addition to eight new episodes of Scooby-Doo and reruns of the 1969 show, Scooby-Doo also appeared during the All-Star block's Laff-a-Lympics series, which featured 45 Hanna-Barbera characters competing in Battle of the Network Stars-esque parodies of Olympic sporting events. Scooby was seen as the team captain of the Laff-a-Lympics "Scooby Doobies" team, which also featured Shaggy and Scooby-Dum among its members.

text: Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics was retitled Scooby's All Stars for the 1978–79 season, reduced to 90 minutes when Dynomutt was spun off into its own half-hour and the 1969 reruns were dropped. Scooby's All-Stars continued broadcasting reruns of Scooby-Doo from 1976 and 1977, while new episodes of Scooby-Doo aired during a separate half-hour under the Scooby-Doo, Where are You! banner. After nine weeks, the separate Where are You! broadcast was cancelled, and the remainder of the 16 new 1978 episodes debuted during the Scooby's All-Stars block.[21] The 40 total Scooby-Doo episodes produced from 1976 to 1978 were later packaged together for syndication as The Scooby-Doo Show, under which title they continue to air.

text: Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo[edit]

text: The Scooby-Doo characters first appeared outside of their regular Saturday morning format in Scooby Goes Hollywood, an hour-long ABC television special aired in prime time on December 13, 1979. The special revolved around Shaggy and Scooby attempting to convince the network to move Scooby out of Saturday morning and into a prime-time series, and featured spoofs of then-current television series and films such as Happy Days, Superman: The Movie, Laverne & Shirley and Charlie's Angels.

text: In 1979, Scooby's tiny nephew Scrappy-Doo was added to both the series and the billing, in an attempt to boost Scooby-Doo's slipping ratings.[22] The 1979–80 episodes, aired under the new title Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo as an independent half-hour show, succeeded in regenerating interest in the show. Lennie Weinrib voiced Scrappy in the 1979–80 episodes, with Don Messick assuming the role thereafter.[22] Marla Frumkin replaced Pat Stevens as the voice of Velma mid-season.

text: Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo shorts[edit]

text: As a result of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo's success, the entire show was overhauled in 1980 to focus more upon Scrappy-Doo. At this time, Scooby-Doo started to walk and run anthropomorphically on two feet more often, rather than on four like a normal dog as he did previously. Fred, Daphne, and Velma were dropped from the series, and the new Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo format now consisted of three seven-minute comedic adventures starring Scooby, Scrappy, and Shaggy instead of one half-hour mystery. Most of the supernatural villains in the seven-minute Scooby and Scrappy cartoons, who in previous Scooby series had been revealed to be human criminals in costume, were now real within the context of the series.

text: This version of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo first aired from 1980 to 1982 as part of The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show, an hour-long program also featuring episodes of Hanna-Barbera's new Richie Rich cartoon, adapted from the Harvey Comics character. From 1982 to 1983, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo were part of The Scooby-Doo/Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour, a co-production with Ruby-Spears Productions which featured two Scooby and Scrappy shorts, a Scrappy and Yabba-Doo short featuring Scrappy-Doo and his Western deputy uncle Yabba-Doo, and The Puppy's New Adventures, based on characters from a 1977 Ruby-Spears TV special.

text: Beginning in 1980, a half-hour of reruns from previous incarnations of Scooby-Doo were broadcast on ABC Saturday mornings in addition to first-run episodes. Airing under the titles Scooby-Doo Classics, Scary Scooby Funnies, The Best of Scooby-Doo, and Scooby's Mystery Funhouse, the rerun package remained on the air until the end of the 1986 season.[23]

text: The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show[edit]

text: Scooby-Doo was restored to a standalone half-hour in 1983 with The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show in 1983, which comprised two 11-minute mysteries per episode in a format reminiscent of the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! mysteries. Heather North returned to the voice cast as Daphne, who in this incarnation solved mysteries with Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy while working undercover as a reporter for a teen magazine.

text: This version of the show lasted for two seasons, with the second season airing under the title The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries. The 1984–85 season episodes featured semi-regular appearances from Fred and Velma, with Frank Welker and Marla Frumkin resuming their respective roles for these episodes.

text: The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo[edit]

text: 1985 saw the debut of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, which featured Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, and new characters Flim-Flam (voiced by Susan Blu)[24] and Vincent Van Ghoul (based upon and voiced by Vincent Price) traveling the globe to capture "thirteen of the most terrifying ghosts upon the face of the earth." The final first-run episode of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo aired in December 1985, and after its reruns were removed from the ABC lineup the following March, no new Scooby series aired on the network for the next two years.

text: A Pup Named Scooby-Doo[edit]

text: Hanna-Barbera reincarnated the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! cast as junior high school students for a new series titled A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, which debuted on ABC in 1988. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo was an irreverent re-imagining of the series, heavily inspired by the classic cartoons of Tex Avery and Bob Clampett, and eschewed the quasi-reality of the original Scooby series for a more Looney Tunes-like style, including an episode where Scooby-Doo's parents show up and reveal his real name to be "Scoobert". The series also established "Coolsville" as the name of the gang's hometown; this setting was retained for several of the later Scooby productions. The retooled show was a success, remaining in production for four seasons and on ABC's lineup until 1991.

text: A Pup Named Scooby-Doo was developed and produced by Tom Ruegger, who had been the head story editor on Scooby-Doo since 1983. Following the first season of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Ruegger and much of his unit defected from Hanna-Barbera to Warner Bros. Animation to develop Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures and later Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and Freakazoid!.[24]

text: Reruns and reboots (1987–present)[edit]

text: TV movies, reruns, and direct-to-video films[edit]

text: From 1987 to 1988, Hanna-Barbera Productions produced Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10, a series of syndicated TV movie featuring their most popular characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, The Flintstones and The Jetsons. Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo and Shaggy starred in three of these movies: Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987), Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988), and Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988). These three films took their tone from the early-1980s Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo entries, and featured the characters encountering actual monsters and ghosts rather than masqueraded people. Scooby-Doo and Shaggy later appeared as the narrators of the made-for-TV movie Arabian Nights, originally broadcast by TBS in 1994, Don Messick's final outing as the original voice of Scooby-Doo.

text: Reruns of Scooby-Doo have been in syndication since 1980, and have also been shown on cable television networks such as TBS Superstation (until 1989) and USA Network (as part of the USA Cartoon Express from 1990 to 1994). In 1993, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, having just recently ended its network run on ABC, began reruns on the Cartoon Network. With Turner Broadcasting purchasing Hanna-Barbera in 1991, in 1994 the Scooby-Doo franchise became exclusive to the Turner networks: Cartoon Network, TBS Superstation, and TNT.[25] Canadian network Teletoon began airing Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! in 1997, with the other Scooby series soon following. When TBS and TNT ended their broadcasts of H-B cartoons in 1998, Scooby-Doo became the exclusive property of both Cartoon Network and sister station Boomerang.

text: With Scooby-Doo's restored popularity in reruns on Cartoon Network,[25] Warner Bros. Animation and Hanna-Barbera (by then a subsidiary of Warner Bros. following the merger of Time Warner and Turner Entertainment in 1996) began producing one new Scooby-Doo direct-to-video movie a year beginning in 1998.[25] These movies featured a slightly older version of the original five-character cast from the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! days. The first four DTV entries were Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998), Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost (1999), Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (2000), and Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase (2001). Frank Welker was the only original voice cast member to return for these productions. Don Messick had died in 1997 and Casey Kasem, a strict vegetarian, relinquished the role of Shaggy after having to provide the voice for a 1995 Burger King commercial.[26] Therefore, Scott Innes took over as both Scooby-Doo and Shaggy (Billy West voiced Shaggy in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island). B.J. Ward took over as Velma, and Mary Kay Bergman voiced Daphne until her death in November 1999, and was replaced by Grey DeLisle.

text: These first four direct-to-video films differed from the original series format by placing the characters in plots with a darker tone and pitting them against actual supernatural forces. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, featured the original 1969 gang, reunited after years of being apart, fighting voodoo-worshiping cat creatures in the Louisiana bayou. Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost featured an author (voice of Tim Curry) returning to his hometown with the gang, to find out that an event is being haunted by the author's dead ancestor Sarah, who was an actual witch. The Witch's Ghost introduced a goth rock band known as The Hex Girls, who became recurring characters in the Scooby-Doo franchise.

text: Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase was the final production made by the Hanna-Barbera studio, which was absorbed into parent company Warner Bros. Animation following William Hanna's death in 2001. Warner Animation would continue production of the direct-to-video series while also producing new Scooby-Doo series for television.

text: The direct-to-video productions continued to be produced concurrently with at least one entry per year. Two of these entries, Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire and Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico (both 2003) were produced in a retro-style reminiscent of the original series, and featured Heather North and Nicole Jaffe as the voices of Daphne and Velma, respectively. Later entries produced between 2004 and 2009 were done in the style of What's New, Scooby-Doo, using that show's voice cast. Entries from 2010 on use the original 1969 designs and feature Matthew Lillard as the voice of Shaggy, the character Lillard portrayed in the live-action theatrical Scooby-Doo films. Two Scooby-Doo! movies were released in 2016, named Lego Scooby-Doo! Haunted Hollywood and Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon.

text: In addition, a live-action TV movie, Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins, was released on DVD and simultaneously aired on Cartoon Network on September 13, 2009, the 40th anniversary of the series' debut.[27] The film starred Nick Palatas as Shaggy, Robbie Amell as Fred, Kate Melton as Daphne, Hayley Kiyoko as Velma, and Frank Welker as the voice of Scooby-Doo. A second live-action TV movie, Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster, retained the same cast and aired on October 16, 2010 and a  direct-to-video spin-off Daphne & Velma in 2018. The three films are served as prequels taking place before the events of the 2002 film.

text: Theatrical films[edit]

text: A feature-length live-action film version of Scooby-Doo was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on June 14, 2002. Directed by Raja Gosnell, the film starred Freddie Prinze, Jr., as Fred, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne, Matthew Lillard as Shaggy, and Linda Cardellini as Velma. Scooby-Doo, voiced by Neil Fanning, was created on-screen by computer-generated special effects. Scooby-Doo was a financially successful release, with a domestic box office gross of over US$130 million.[28]

text: A sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, followed in March 2004 with the same cast and director. Scooby-Doo 2 earned US$84 (€55,98) million at the U.S. box office.[29] A third film was planned, but later scrapped following Warner Bros.' disappointment at the returns from Scooby-Doo 2.[30][31]

text: On August 26, 2013, it was announced that Warner Bros. Pictures is developing an animated Scooby-Doo feature film with Atlas Entertainment. Charles Roven and Richard Suckle, who produced the first two live-action films, are producing the animated film, and Matt Lieberman will be writing the film.[32] On June 17, 2014, Warner Brothers studio announced that they will restart the film series with Randall Green writing a new movie.[33][34] On August 17, 2015, Warner Bros announced that Tony Cervone will direct the animated film, with Allison Abbate as producer and  Dan Povenmire as executive producer. The film was planned for a September 21, 2018 release.[35] On April 13, 2016, it was announced that it would be titled S.C.O.O.B. and would be the first film in a Hanna-Barbera Cinematic Universe.[36] In May 2017, the film was pushed back to May 15, 2020.[37]

text: The Kids' WB years (2002–08)[edit]

text: What's New, Scooby-Doo?[edit]

text: In 2002, following the successes of the Cartoon Network reruns, the direct to video franchise, and the first feature film, Scooby-Doo returned to Saturday morning for the first time in 17 years with What's New, Scooby-Doo?, which aired on Kids' WB from 2002 until 2006. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, the show follows the format of the original series but places it in the 21st century, featuring a heavy promotion of modern technology (computers, DVD, the Internet, cell phones) and culture.

text: Beginning with this series, Frank Welker took over as Scooby's voice actor, while continuing to provide the voice of Fred as well. Casey Kasem returned as Shaggy, on the condition that the character be depicted as a vegetarian like Kasem himself.[26] Grey DeLisle continued to voice Daphne, and former Facts of Life star Mindy Cohn voiced Velma. The series was produced by Chuck Sheetz, who had worked on The Simpsons.

text: Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue![edit]

text: After three seasons, What's New, Scooby-Doo was replaced in September 2006 with Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, a major revamping of the series which debuted on The CW's Kids' WB Saturday morning programming block. In the new premise, Shaggy inherits money and a mansion from an uncle, an inventor who has gone into hiding from villains trying to steal his secret invention. The villains, led by "Dr. Phibes" (based primarily upon Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers series, and named after Vincent Price's character from The Abominable Dr. Phibes), then use different schemes to try to get the invention from Shaggy and Scooby, who handle the plots alone. Fred, Daphne, and Velma are normally absent, but do make appearances at times to help. The characters were redesigned and the art style revised for the new series. Scott Menville voiced Shaggy in the series, with Casey Kasem appearing as the voice of Shaggy's Uncle Albert. Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! ran for two seasons on The CW.

text: The Cartoon Network years (2010–present)[edit]

text: Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated[edit]

text: The next Scooby series, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, premiered on Cartoon Network on April 5, 2010.[3] The first Scooby series produced for cable television, Mystery Incorporated is a reboot of the franchise, re-establishing the characters' relationships, personalities, and locations, and expanding their world to feature their parents, high school, and neighbors. The series also borrowed pieces from many parts of Scooby-Doo's long history, as well as characters and elements of other Hanna-Barbera shows to form its back story and the bases of some of its episodes. Matthew Lillard was brought over from the direct-to-video series as the new voice of Shaggy, while Welker, Cohn, and DeLisle continued in their respective roles. Patrick Warburton, Linda Cardellini, Lewis Black, Vivica A. Fox, Gary Cole, Udo Kier, Tim Matheson, Tia Carrere, and Kate Higgins were added as new semi-regular cast members. Casey Kasem appeared in a recurring role as Shaggy's father, one of his last roles before retiring due to declining health.

text: The series, while still following the basic mystery-solving format of its predecessors, was broadcast as a 52-chapter animated televised novel and included elements similar to live-action mystery/adventure shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer[38] and Lost.[39] An overarching mystery surrounding the gang's hometown of Crystal Cove, California became the series' main story arc, with pieces to the mystery unfolding episode by episode. Also featured were romantic entanglements and interpersonal conflict between the lead characters. The series ran for 52 episodes over two seasons, with a three-part finale airing across April 4 and 5, 2013 – exactly three years from the debut.

text: Be Cool, Scooby-Doo![edit]

text: On March 10, 2014, Cartoon Network announced several new series based on classic cartoons, including a new Scooby-Doo animated series titled Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!.[40] The show features the gang "living it up" the summer after the gang's senior year of high school. Along the way, they run into monsters and mayhem.[41] The series premiered October 5, 2015 on Cartoon Network.[42] The series premiered on October 5, 2015 and concluded on March 18, 2018.

text: Scooby-Doo! direct-to-video episodes[edit]

text: Beginning in 2012, Warner Bros. Animation began producing direct-to-video special episodes in the style of the concurrently produced films for inclusion on Scooby-Doo compilation DVD sets otherwise including episodes from previous Scooby series. These include Scooby-Doo! Spooky Games, included on the July 2012 release Scooby-Doo! Laff-A-Lympics: Spooky Games,[43][44] Scooby-Doo! Haunted Holidays, from the October 2012 release Scooby-Doo! 13 Spooky Tales: Holiday Chills and Thrills, and Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Scarecrow and Scooby-Doo! Mecha Mutt Menace, from the September 2013 DVD releases Scooby-Doo! 13 Spooky Tales: Run for Your 'Rife![45] and Scooby-Doo! 13 Spooky Tales: Ruh-Roh Robot!.[46] On May 13, 2014, another episode, Scooby-Doo! Ghastly Goals was released on the Scooby-Doo! 13 Spooky Tales: Field of Screams DVD.[47] On May 5, 2015, Scooby-Doo! and the Beach Beastie, the sixth direct-to-video special, was released on the Scooby-Doo! 13 Spooky Tales: Surf's Up Scooby-Doo DVD.[48]

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Scooby-Doo: Don Messick was the original voice of Scooby-Doo from 1969 until 1997. Hadley Kay performed the voice for the Johnny Bravo episodes "Bravo Dooby-Doo" and "'Twas the Night" in 1997. Scott Innes was the voice of Scooby-Doo from 1998 to 2002. Neil Fanning voiced Scooby-Doo in the live-action Warner Bros. theatrical films produced in 2002 and 2004. Frank Welker is the current voice of Scooby-Doo, having taken over the role from Innes in 2002, although Innes voiced the character in video game projects until 2008. Dave Coulier (2005) and Seth Green (2007, 2012) voiced Scooby in the Robot Chicken parodies. Innes returned as Scooby-Doo for a 2017 Halifax commercial.
Norville "Shaggy" Rogers: Casey Kasem was the original voice of Shaggy from 1969 until 1997. Billy West voiced Shaggy in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. Scott Innes voiced the character from 1999 to 2001 and he would continue to voice Shaggy in video game projects until 2009. Casey Kasem returned to the voice role in 2002 and continued as Shaggy until 2009. In 2006, Kasem continued to voice Shaggy only in the direct-to-video film series until 2009, while Scott Menville performed the voice of Shaggy in the 2006–08 CW series Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!. Matthew Lillard appeared as Shaggy in the live action 2002 and 2004 theatrical films, and took over as the voice of the animated character in 2010. He also voiced Shaggy in three stop-motion parody sketches for the Adult Swim show Robot Chicken. Nick Palatas appeared as Shaggy in the 2009 and 2010 live-action TV movies. Innes returned as Shaggy for a 2017 Halifax commercial.
Fred Jones: Frank Welker has always performed the voice of the animated versions of Fred since 1969, with the exception of the 1988–91 ABC series A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, where Carl Steven performed the voice of preteen Fred. Freddie Prinze, Jr. appears as Fred in the live-action theatrical films and voiced the character in the Robot Chicken parodies. Robbie Amell played Fred in the live-action TV movies.
Daphne Blake: Stefanianna Christopherson was the voice of Daphne in the first season of Scooby-Doo, Where are You! in 1969–70. Heather North assumed the role for season two in 1970, and continued as Daphne through 1997, save for Kellie Martin's turn as preteen Daphne in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. Mary Kay Bergman performed the voice of Daphne from 1997 to 2000, when Grey DeLisle assumed the role and continues to perform the voice to this day. North reprised her voice role for two 2003 direct-to-video films, Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire and Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico. Sarah Michelle Gellar appears as Daphne in the live-action theatrical films and as Daphne's voice in the Robot Chicken parodies. Kate Melton played Daphne in the live-action TV movies.
Velma Dinkley: Nicole Jaffe was the original voice of Velma from 1969 to 1974. Pat Stevens assumed the role from 1976 to 1979, with Marla Frumkin taking over midseason on Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo that year. Frumkin returned to voice Velma on a recurring basis for The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries in 1984, and Christina Lange voiced preteen Velma in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. B. J. Ward voiced Velma from 1997 to 2001, with Mindy Cohn assuming the role in 2002. As with North, Jaffe reprised her voice role for Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire and Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico in 2003. Stephanie D'Abruzzo voiced Velma for the 2013 puppet film Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map. In 2015, Kate Micucci took on the role for the series Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! and Lego Scooby-Doo shorts and specials, then in 2016 she took over the role from Cohn completely.[49][50] Linda Cardellini appears as Velma in the live-action theatrical films and as the voice of Velma in the Robot Chicken parodies. Hayley Kiyoko played Velma in the live-action TV movies. Mindy Cohn returned as Velma for a 2017 Halifax commercial.
Scrappy-Doo: Lennie Weinrib voiced Scrappy-Doo during the first season of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo in 1979–80. Don Messick assumed the role in 1980 for the Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo segments of The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show and continued as Scrappy through 1988. Scrappy has only appeared sporadically since 1988, with Scott Innes performing the voice in the 2002 live-action film, which portrays Scrappy as the main villain, as well as in Cartoon Network commercials and games.

text: Scooby-Doo filmography[edit]

text: Reception and legacy[edit]

text: During its four decade broadcast history, Scooby-Doo has received two Emmy nominations: a 1989 Daytime Emmy nomination for A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, and a 2003 Daytime Emmy nomination for What's New, Scooby-Doo's Mindy Cohn in the "Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program" category.[51] Science advocate Carl Sagan favorably compared the predominantly skeptic oriented formula to that of most television dealing with paranormal themes, and considered that an adult analogue to Scooby-Doo would be a great public service.[52]

text: Scooby-Doo has maintained a significant fan base, which has grown steadily since the 1990s due to the show's popularity among both young children and nostalgic adults who grew up with the series.[53] Several television critics have stated that the show's mix of the comedy-adventure and horror genres was the reason for its widespread success.[54] As Fred Silverman and the Hanna-Barbera staff had planned when they first began producing the series, Scooby-Doo's ghosts, monsters and spooky locales tend more towards humor than horror, making them easily accessible to younger children. "Overall, [Scooby-Doo is] just not a show that is going to overstimulate kids' emotions and tensions," offered American Center for Children and Media executive director David Kleeman in a 2002 interview. "It creates just enough fun to make it fun without getting them worried or giving them nightmares.[55]

text: Older teenagers and adults have admitted to enjoying Scooby-Doo because of presumed subversive themes which involve theories of drug use and sexuality, in particular that Shaggy is assumed to be a user of cannabis and Velma is assumed to be a lesbian.[56][57][58] Such themes were pervasive enough in popular culture to find their way into Warner Bros.' initial Scooby-Doo feature film in 2002,[58][59] though several of the scenes were edited before release to secure a family-friendly "PG" rating.[59] Series creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears reported that they "took umbrage" to the inclusion of such themes in the Scooby-Doo feature and other places, and denied intending their characters to be drug users in any way.[1]

text: Like many Hanna-Barbera shows, the early Scooby-Doo series have been criticized at times for their production values and storytelling.[60] In 2002, Jamie Malanowski of the New York Times commented that "[Scooby-Doo's] mysteries are not very mysterious, and the humor is hardly humorous. As for the animation—well, the drawings on your refrigerator may give it competition."[61]

text: By the 2000s, Scooby-Doo had received recognition for its popularity by placing in a number of top cartoon or top cartoon character polls. The August 3, 2002, issue of TV Guide featured its list of the 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time, in which Scooby-Doo placed twenty-second[62] Scooby also ranked thirteenth in Animal Planet's list of the 50 Greatest TV Animals.[63]  For one year from 2004 to 2005, Scooby-Doo held the Guinness World Record for having the most episodes of any animated television series ever produced, a record previously held by and later returned to The Simpsons. Scooby-Doo was published as holding this record in the 2006 edition of the Guinness Book of Records.[64]

text: In January 2009, entertainment website IGN named Scooby-Doo #24 on its list of the Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows.[65]

text: Comic books[edit]

text: Gold Key Comics began publication of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! comic books in December 1969. The comics initially contained adaptations of episodes of the television show drawn by Phil DeLara, Jack Manning and Warren Tufts. The comic books later moved to all-original stories until ending with issue #30 in 1974. Several of these issues were written by Mark Evanier and drawn by Dan Spiegle.[22][66] Charlton published Scooby comics, many drawn by Bill Williams, for 11 issues in 1975. From 1977 to 1979, Marvel Comics published nine issues of Scooby-Doo, all written by Evanier and drawn by Spiegel. Harvey Comics published reprints of the Charlton comics, as well as a handful of special issues, between 1993 and 1994.

text: In 1995, Archie Comics began publishing a monthly Scooby-Doo comic book, the first year of which featured Scrappy-Doo among its cast. Evanier and Spiegel worked on three issues of the series, which ended after 21 issues in 1997 when Warner Bros.' DC Comics acquired the rights to publish comics based on Hanna-Barbera characters. DC's Scooby-Doo series continues publication to this day. In 2013, DC began a digital bi-monthly comic book titled Scooby-Doo Team-Up, crossing over Mystery Inc. with other DC and Hanna-Barbera characters. Since then, the series has become a monthly comic book available in print.

text: In 2004, a limited series of a 100 comic books called Scooby-Doo! World of Mystery was released. In each issue, Mystery Inc. go from country to country solving mysteries. Each issue came with a pack of exclusive cards, with 350 in total able to be collected.[67]

text: In 2016, DC launched a new monthly comic book entitled Scooby Apocalypse, with the characters being reinvented in a story set in a post-apocalyptic world, where monsters roam the streets and Scooby and the gang must find a way to survive at all costs, while also trying to find a way to reverse the apocalypse.

text: Merchandising[edit]

text: Early Scooby-Doo merchandise included a 1973 Milton Bradley board game, decorated lunch boxes, iron-on transfers, coloring books, story books, records, underwear, and other such goods.[68] When Scrappy-Doo was introduced to the series in 1979, he, Scooby, and Shaggy became the sole foci of much of the merchandising, including a 1983 Milton-Bradley Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo board game. The first Scooby-Doo video game appeared in arcades in 1986, and has been followed by a number of games for both home consoles and personal computers. Scooby-Doo multivitamins also debuted at this time, and have been manufactured by Bayer since 2001.

text: Scooby-Doo merchandising tapered off during the late 1980s and early 1990s, but increased after the series' revival on Cartoon Network in 1995. Today, all manner of Scooby-Doo-branded products are available for purchase, including Scooby-Doo breakfast cereal, plush toys, action figures, car decorations, and much more. Real "Scooby Snacks" dog treats are produced by Del Monte Pet Products. Hasbro has created a number of Scooby board games, including a Scooby-themed edition of the popular mystery board game Clue. In 2007, the Pressman Toy Corporation released the board game Scooby-Doo! Haunted House. Beginning in 2001, a Scooby-Doo children's book series was authorized and published by Scholastic. These books, written by Suzanne Weyn, include original stories and adaptations of Scooby theatrical and direct-to-video features.

text: From 1990 to 2002, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo appeared as characters in the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera simulator ride at Universal Studios Florida.[69] The ride was replaced in the early 2000s with a Jimmy Neutron attraction, and The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera instead became an attraction at several properties operated by Paramount Parks. Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are currently costumed characters at Universal Studios Florida, and can be seen driving the Mystery Machine around the park.

text: In 2001, Scooby-Doo in Stagefright, a live stage play based upon the series, began touring across the world. A follow-up, Scooby-Doo and the Pirate Ghost, followed in 2009.

text: Currently, the various Scooby-Doo merchandise has generated over one billion dollars in profit for Warner Brothers.[70]

text: Other media[edit]

text: As with most popular franchises, Scooby-Doo has been parodied and has done parodies.

text:
The cult television and comic book series Buffy the Vampire Slayer features a group of characters that refer to themselves as the "Scooby Gang", who similarly battle supernatural forces and solve supernatural monster mysteries. The show contains obvious influences of Scooby-Doo, where "The Scoobies" use books to look up monsters. Sarah Michelle Gellar, the actress who plays Buffy Summers on the series, later went on to appear as Daphne Blake in the live-action films Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.
Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. gang (based on their classic 1972 incarnation as opposed to their more recent incarnations) appear in the second part of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases" in which they team up with Batman and Robin to rescue Weird Al who was kidnapped by The Joker and The Penguin.
Scooby-Doo and the Snowmen Mystery, vinyl LP released 1972 in the United Kingdom, Stereo, 33 ⅓ RPM, LP, from the label Music for Pleasure – MFP 50086.
The film Wayne's World includes an alternate ending called the "Scooby-Doo Ending" in which a character in the film is revealed to have been wearing a mask. It also includes a reference to the iconic line "Let's see who this really is" before removing the mask.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back has a brief scene where the title characters hitch a ride in the Mystery Machine with Scooby and the gang.
The Filk band Ookla the Mok open their 2003 album Oh Okay LA with the song "W.W.S.D?" ("What Would Scooby Do?) which proposes a deontological system of moral philosophy based on the actions of Scooby-Doo.
In October 1999, Cartoon Network made a Scooby-Doo spoof of The Blair Witch Project called The Scooby-Doo Project.
A Scooby-Doo parody has appeared in the Mad episode "Kitchen Nightmares Before Christmas / How I Met Your Mummy".
Scooby-Doo has been parodied on Futurama episode "Saturday Morning Fun Pit", where the characters from Planet Express take on the roles of the gang (Bender as Scooby, Hermes as Fred, Leela as Daphne, Amy as Velma and Fry as Shaggy).
The Venture Brothers episode "¡Viva los Muertos!" features a thinly parodied version of the gang as aging, gone-to-seed miscreants with the characters matched to corresponding serial killers and radical figures, e.g. Fred being mixed with Ted Bundy into the composite character "Ted".
The series is parodied in the animated music video for the song "Ghost" by Mystery Skulls.
The animated series Arthur has a parody of Scooby-Doo called "Spooky-Poo".
In the South Park episode "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery," the nu-metal band Korn, parodying Scooby and the gang, tackle an invasion of mysterious "Pirate Ghosts'. They enlist the help of Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick and, after they solve the mystery, they perform Falling Away from Me from their album Issues.
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law defends the gang against possession charges in the 2002 episode "Shaggy Busted."
In the Teen Titans Go! episode "The Cruel Giggling Ghoul," each Titan assumes the role of a Scooby Gang member (with Beast Boy as Scooby) to investigate a mystery at a spooky amusement park, with the help of LeBron James.
The novel Meddling Kids (2017) by Edgar Cantero parodies not only Scooby-Doo—starting with taking the title on the show's catch-phrase—but also books by Enid Blyton, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and teen-detective dramas in general.


document_title: CBS All Access

question_text: what is the price of cbs all access

question_tokens: what is the price of cbs all access

root

text: CBS All Access

text: History[edit]

text: On October 28, 2014, CBS launched CBS All Access, an over-the-top subscription streaming service – priced at $5.99 USD per month ($9.99 with an option for advertising-free streaming content[2]) – which allows users to view past and present episodes of CBS shows.[3][4][5] Announced on October 16, 2014 (one day after HBO announced the launch of its over-the-top service HBO Now), as the first OTT offering by an American broadcast television network, the service initially encompassed the network's existing streaming portal at CBS.com and its mobile app for smartphones and tablet computers; CBS All Access became available on Roku on April 7, 2015, and on Chromecast on May 14, 2015.[6][7] In addition to providing full-length episodes of CBS programs, the service allows live programming streams of local CBS affiliates in 124 markets reaching 75% of the United States (including stations owned by Tribune Broadcasting, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Hearst Television, Tegna Media, Nexstar Media Group, Meredith Corporation, Griffin Communications, Raycom Media, Weigel Broadcasting and Cox Media Group and the launch group of CBS Television Stations), including SEC sports and the NFL; however due to the absence of streaming rights, a few sports events are not streamed on the service (mainly involving PGA Tour events, some locally programmed NFL preseason games, and select brokered shows through CBS Sports Spectacular), along with limited syndicated and paid programming where only a local broadcast license to carry the program is allowed and web airing rights are retained by the syndicator or infomercial producer.[8][9][10][11][12] By the very nature of it being live, streaming of a local affiliate does include all advertising, even with the commercial-free plan.

tag: p

text: On December 1, 2016, CBS announced an agreement with the National Football League to allow clearance of regional NFL games carried by CBS on CBS All Access from Week 13 of the 2016 NFL season on. At the time, the games were blacked out on non-Verizon Wireless mobile devices due to that provider's exclusivity agreement as part of their "official wireless provider" sponsorship of the league.[13] In the 2018 NFL season, a new agreement with Verizon ending that exclusivity will allow CBS All Access to stream games to all mobile devices.

text: As of February 2017[update], the service had nearly 1.5 million subscribers.[14]

text: In August 2017, CBS announced plans to expand CBS All Access internationally. The first international market to receive the service will be Canada, with a launch date planned for early 2018. [15] Plans to launch the service in Australia quickly followed, resulting from CBS's purchase of Australian free-to-air broadcaster Network Ten.[16] The service will launch in Australia by the end of 2018.[17]

text: In September 2017, Star Trek Discovery debuted on streaming on CBS, and they also recorded record number of sign-ups after this.[18] The records where the greatest number of single day, week, and monthly sign-up records since the streaming network's inception.[18] They reported the previous single-day record was held by the 2017 Grammy award ceremony coverage.[18] CBS was noted as harnessing the Star trek fan-base which were noted as willing to get the service just to see the series.[19]

text: Buoyed by Star Trek Discovery CBS All Access reached over 2 million subscribers by early 2018, with the 60th Annual Grammy Awards also providing a boost to Cell App watchers.[1] The 60th Grammys in January 2018 resulted in the 2nd biggest day for sign-ups after the Discovery premier.[1]

text: In April 2018, CBS All Access Canada, the first international service, launched.[20] Much of the high profile current CBS content is missing from the service in Canada, due to it being already exclusively licensed to Canadian TV channels and networks. Non-exclusively licensed and unlicensed content is available on the service, from current shows and classic shows.[21] The U.S. servicce's flagship show, Star Trek: Discovery, is licensed to Canadian broadcaster Space and Z Tele and Canadian VOD service CraveTV, unavailable to the Canadian CBS service.[22][21]

text: Subscribership[edit]

text:
Early 2015- over 100,000 subscribers.[23]
December 2016- around 1.2 million[24]
February 2017- nearly 1.5 million subscribers.[25]
Early 2018- over 2 million[26]

tag: ul

text: Criticism[edit]

text: CBS All Access has received criticism[27] about the technical aspects of the service, with a maximum video quality of only 720p with high compression levels and two-channel stereo sound rather than a surround sound format such as Dolby Digital. This contrasts with Hulu's maximum 1080p streaming (and CBS's default over-the-air transmission standard of 1080i), and Netflix's maximum available quality being 4k with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.

text: Programming[edit]

text: Original programming[edit]

text: On November 2, 2015, it was announced that the first CBS All Access original series would be a new Star Trek series in 2017, which is set in the original Star Trek universe.[28] The first season will consist of 15 episodes.

text: On May 18, 2016, it was announced that The Good Wife would get a spin-off featuring Christine Baranski's character Diane Lockhart. The series, titled The Good Fight, launched with a CBS broadcast premiere on February 19, 2017, with the remaining nine episodes exclusive to CBS All Access.[29] The series became the first original drama on the platform when the Star Trek series premiere was delayed until the fall of 2017.[30]

text: On August 2, 2016, the announcement was made that an online version of Big Brother would air on CBS All Access in the fall of 2016. The announcement marked the first CBS television series set to air exclusively on the platform. It is also expected to be the first reality game show set to air exclusively on any streaming platform.[31] On August 10, 2016, CBS announced that Julie Chen would continue to serve as host, and then revealed the season to be called Big Brother: Over the Top.

text: Syndicated and archived programming[edit]

text: The most recent episodes of the network's shows are usually made available on CBS.com and CBS All Access the day after their original broadcast.

text: CBS All Access provides complete back catalogs of most of its current series, including full-season "stacking rights" (with the exception of certain series, such as The Big Bang Theory, to which CBS only holds "last five" episode rights as Warner Bros. retains all other rights as the show's distributor), as well as a wide selection of episodes of classic series from the CBS Television Distribution program library – including shows previously owned by Paramount Television made for both CBS and other networks prior to CBS's acquisition of its program library through the CBS-Viacom split (including the complete episode catalog of shows like Star Trek, Cheers, MacGyver, Twin Peaks and CSI: Miami) to subscribers of the service. CBS All Access also carries behind-the-scenes features from CBS programs and special events, and (beginning with the 17th season in June 2015) live feeds and special content from the reality series Big Brother.[3]

text: In mid-April 2017, a limited library of films, made up of content from Paramount Pictures, The Samuel Goldwyn Company and CBS Films, was made available on the service. This includes several titles in the Star Trek film series.


document_title: Legend of the Seeker

question_text: who played zed in legend of the seeker

question_tokens: who played zed in legend of the seeker

text: Legend of the Seeker

text: Plot[edit]

text: The story takes place in the world created by author Terry Goodkind in his fantasy novel series, The Sword of Truth. The three main provinces are Westland, the Midlands and D'Hara. Westland is separated from the Midlands by a magical boundary, which was created to prevent any magic from entering Westland. On the other side of the Midlands is D'Hara, which is ruled by Darken Rahl. Seekers are accompanied by a Wizard of The First Order and Confessors, an ancient order of women, who oversee the welfare of the people of the Midlands and the Seeker.

text: The first season is loosely based on the first book of The Sword of Truth series Wizard's First Rule. Some of the stories feature events and characters not encountered in the books, while others loosely adapt events from the book. The story begins after the invasion of Darken Rahl's army into the Midlands. Kahlan Amnell, a Confessor, ventures into Westland in search of a wizard and the Seeker, who has been prophesied to defeat Rahl. Kahlan finds the wizard, Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, and the Seeker, a young man named Richard Cypher, who is forced to accept a destiny he never knew about. Together, they set off on a quest to seek out and defeat Darken Rahl. The second season is loosely based on Stone of Tears, the second book in Goodkind's series. It tells the story of how Richard, Kahlan, and Zeddicus discover that their quest during the first season caused them to unintentionally help the Keeper of the Underworld create tears in the veil which separates the land of the dead from the world of the living. Their new quest is to find the Stone of Tears, seal the rifts between the worlds, and defeat the Keeper. They are joined in this quest by Cara, a Mord-Sith and their former enemy.

text: Cast and characters[edit]

text: Main cast[edit]

text:
Craig Horner as Richard Cypher[1] (seasons 1 and 2) – The Seeker of Truth. When Darken Rahl sent his soldiers to kill every first-born son in Brennidon, Zedd helped Richard by bringing him into Hartland and giving him to George and Mary Cypher. In season 1, episode 1, "Prophecy", Kahlan arrives in Hartland to find Richard and Zedd. Zedd tells Richard who he really is - the Seeker destined to defeat Darken Rahl. Together, they stand to defeat Darken Rahl, but when they defeat Rahl, they caused a tear in the veil which separates the World of the Living from the Underworld and they have to find the Stone of Tears to seal the rift. It is later revealed that Richard's half brother is Darken Rahl and that he is to inherit the throne, which he decides to reject.
Bridget Regan as Kahlan Amnell[1] (seasons 1 and 2) – The Mother Confessor. (Only named Mother Confessor in the first season, episode ten, "Sacrifice.") After Richard is named, she is sworn to protect him with her life and proves worthy to the team because, during battles, when she gets the chance, and when necessary, confesses people (uses her powers to put people under control) so that they can find out information and temporarily add someone to their team.
Bruce Spence as Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander (seasons 1 and 2) – The First Wizard and a Wizard of the First Order. After Richard is named as the Seeker of Truth, he swears to protect him with his life. He proves worthy to the team, especially on matters involving magic. When there is no one Kahlan can confess, he normally finds the right answer. He never rushes, always considering the consequences of his actions, and never fails to consider what has to be done. In episode 4 of season 1, he reveals to Kahlan that he is Richard's grandfather.
Tabrett Bethell as Cara Mason[2] (season 2) – A Mord-Sith. She is the one who helped Richard kill Darken Rahl. In season 2, episode one, "Marked" when her Sisters of the Agiel betray her, Richard rescues her. After that incident, and realizing that Richard is the rightful Lord Rahl, both protect each other with their lives. Cara is always feisty and sharp-tongued and has the stomach to kill good people when none of the rest can. She approaches problems with the simplest, most direct and usually most violent solutions, often to the chagrin and amusement of the others.
Craig Parker as Darken Rahl (seasons 1 and 2) – Richard's half-brother and the emperor of D'Hara. Darken Rahl once sent his assassins to kill every first-born child in Brennidon so that the Seeker may be one of the children killed and this can keep the "destiny" of the Seeker from being fulfilled, but Zedd escaped with Richard and raised him in Hartland. After that, Darken Rahl tries everything he can to kill Richard. In season 2, Darken Rahl forces Richard to resurrect him, and Rahl returns to the world of the living. After realizing that his defeat has also caused another threat which involves the prophecy saying that the Seeker will deliver the Stone of Tears to Keeper, he reluctantly join forces with Richard to destroy the Keeper for good, by sending the group of Mord-Sith in order to help Richard and the others reach to the Pillars Of Creation. In the original novel, Darken was Richard's father, not brother.

text: Recurring cast[edit]

text:
David de Lautour as Michael Cypher (season 1) – Richard's stepbrother and First Councilor of Hartland. Michael always looked down on Richard and never told him his origin because their father, George Cypher, made him promise not to tell Richard. In season 1, episode 14, "Hartland", Michael is killed by a D'Haran while trying to help Richard and Kahlan.
Brooke Williams as Jennsen Rahl (seasons 1 and 2) – Richard's sister and a Pristinely Ungifted. As a Pristinely Ungifted, Jennsen cannot be affected by magic, nor can she use magic. In season 2, episode 21, "Unbroken", the Keeper sends the Sisters of the Dark to drink her blood in order to become immune to magic themselves, killing Jennsen in the process; however, this takes place in an alternate timeline.
Tania Nolan and Gina Holden as Dennee Amnell (seasons 1 and 2) – Kahlan's younger sister and a Confessor. From childhood, Dennee has always looked up to Kahlan. In season 1, episode 10, "Sacrifice", Dennee and the remaining confessors (except Kahlan) flee to Valeria with Dennee's son (a male Confessor), but the Mord-Sith eventually kill them all. In season 2, episode 7, "Resurrection", Denna and a wizard resurrect her, but she escapes them and lives with the child of the woman whose body her spirit had been put in.
Jon Braizer as Thaddicus Zorander (seasons 1 and 2) – Zedd's brother. From childhood, Thaddicus has always held resentment towards Zedd, since the latter had magic like their father, while he did not, and has gotten frequently into trouble. He has taken every opportunity to kill Panis Rahl, the man who murdered their father.
Jay Laga'aia as Dell "Chase" Brandstone (season 1) – The boundary warden of Hartland. Chase has always done everything he can to help Richard.
Danielle Cormack as Shota - The witch woman of Agaden Reach. In season 1, Shota tries to help the team with her knowledge of prophecy and witch woman skills. In season 2, Shota tries to kill Richard and name a new Seeker because of the prophecy saying that the Seeker will deliver the Stone of Tears to the Keeper.
Kevin J. Wilson as General Egremont – Lord Rahl's most trusted adviser. General Egremont has never double-crossed Rahl and will even lay down his life for him.
Jessica Marais as Denna – A Mord-Sith. When she fails to break Richard, Darken Rahl gives her a second chance. When she fails again, Richard allows her to flee to escape Rahl's wrath. In season 2, episode 7, "Resurrection", she kills Richard and puts a trained D'Haran general's spirit in his body. Kahlan kills the general and a wizard and Cara resurrects Richard. In season 2, episode 8, "Light", Cara shoots her through the chest with an arrow and she falls off a cliff and dies.
Elizabeth Hawthorne as Annalina Aldurren – The prelate of the Sisters of the Light. Ann will do anything to fulfill "the Creator's will". First, she traps Richard in the Palace of the Prophets, then she leaves him to die in the Valley of Perdition, and, finally, she sends a false Creator to execute him. Richard escapes every time, however.
Jolene Blalock and Emily Foxler as Nicci – The former leader of the Sisters of the Dark. When Nicci fulfills a promise by the Keeper that he will protect her if she serves him, she becomes one of his most loyal and deadly servants. This changes when Richard convinces her that her strength is hers and hers alone and that she does not need to serve the Creator, Keeper, or himself. From then on, Nicci serves herself only and ceases serving the Keeper.
Elizabeth Blackmore as Marianna – The current leader of the Sisters of the Dark. After Nicci leaves, Marianna takes over leadership. Marianna has never betrayed the Keeper and is very loyal to him. She appears as a recurring villain from episodes 39 to 44. In season 2, episode 22, "Tears", Richard eventually kills her with the Sword of Truth.

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: Sam Raimi became interested in adapting The Sword of Truth novels after his business partner Joshua Donen encouraged him to read the books,[3] and he in turn gave the books to Robert Tapert to read.[4] Raimi considered adapting the first book into a movie or a five-part miniseries, but later settled on making a weekly television series after speaking to the books' author Terry Goodkind.[3] A weekly television program would allow them to include most of the stories and important aspects of the series. Goodkind had resisted selling the rights of his books on multiple occasions before he met Raimi because he was not confident that other producers would maintain the integrity of his stories and characters.[5] Raimi, who had produced Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess with Tapert and Ned Nalle, saw this as an opportunity to return to the first-run syndicated television business. However, the syndicated television business had diminished after the loss of crucial foreign markets around 2000. But with the former minor networks, UPN and WB, being replaced by a still struggling The CW that may disappear, the timing seemed right.[1]

text: ABC Studios agreed to fund the project and greenlit the production for 22 episodes in March 2008, after it was cleared for broadcast to stations representing 84% of the United States, with Tribune Company being the primary launch group.[1][6] The show, which is heavily action-oriented and requires visual effects, was given a "network-sized" production budget of US$1.5 million per episode.[1][7]

text: Originally named Wizard's First Rule (after the first book in The Sword of Truth series), the show was retitled to Legend of the Seeker at Goodkind's suggestion since the producers wanted to differentiate the show from the books, it would have been too restrictive for them to only include plot lines from the first book, and because this would allow them the opportunity to cover the story within all the books in the series.[5]

text: Writing[edit]

text: Executive producers Raimi and Tapert intended Legend of the Seeker to be "just about telling the stories of these characters and the sacrifices they make for each other. Sometimes it's about the meaning of real friendship. And always, it's the stories of the hero's journey."[8] Tapert added, "We didn't want to have the '90s postmodern attitude where the audience is in on the joke. Seeker is much more serious than Hercules and Xena."[9]

text: With show's production based in New Zealand and a writing staff based in Los Angeles, one of the biggest challenges has been dealing with the time differences and the communication issues.[10] Kenneth Biller noted that the biggest challenges the writing staff faced were to create standalone episodes while integrating the storylines and mythology created by Terry Goodkind, and to "honor the books without literally translating them".[10] As such, the series contains some stories from the books and new stories and events created by the series' writers. Raimi's reason for the changes is that the structure of a novel differs from a weekly one-hour television program.[11] Tapert and Raimi maintain that while the writers have had to create events that are not portrayed in the books, they have remained faithful to the characters, themes and overarching story of the books:

text: ...I think the most important thing, at least for me, is that we remain true to the heart and soul of the characters, what they represent, what they stand for, the good things that they're fighting for, what are their weaknesses and how to overcome them, what the villain represents to the hero, the love story. Those will all be intact and brought as close as possible by our writers to the screen. The actual plot of it, though, happens in a slightly different order and sometimes different stories will be told, as depicted in the series of novels.

text: Goodkind released a message to his readers on his official website prior to the show's production, saying: "No series (or mini-series, or feature film) can follow the underlying book exactly. Sam Raimi and his team want to keep the TV series true to my vision, so rest assured that I am going to be intimately involved in the writing of each of the episodes." He added, "If you love the book just the way it is, then enjoy the book for what it is and come to the TV series prepared to enjoy the show for what it is."[12] However, after production started, Goodkind released another press statement in response to questions posed to him by fans: "I want you all to understand that ABC studios chose not to consult me on actors, scripts, or any other aspect of the show," he stated. "I have had no input whatsoever on the TV series, so I am the wrong person to write to or complain about the show. If you wish to make comments, positive or negative, please direct them to Disney/ABC." He continued, "For my part, I trust in Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert to at some point be able to exert their immense creative talent and do a great job at bringing to life the characters we all love."

text: Casting[edit]

text: When casting the role of Richard Cypher, Tapert recalled that when he saw Craig Horner's audition tape, he "absolutely thought he was the guy, instantly".[11] Raimi thought that although Horner is older than the character he plays (even though he actually is not), he was "very believable" and that "he's got enough good qualities in him, in real life, and he will probably make the audience believe that he's taking that ride towards making a responsible person and that growth of character that's so important for me in the stories of Terry Goodkind."[11] Horner had not heard of the books prior to the audition, and was convinced by a friend to read the books and try out for the role.[13]

text: For the role of Kahlan Amnell, Raimi credits Tapert for finding Bridget Regan, whom he saw on one of the audition tapes they received. Raimi thought that she grounded the fantastical situations by being "very human and real", and recalled, "I was moved by her and I believed her and I thought we couldn't ask for anything more."[11] Like Horner, Regan had not read the books prior to the audition.[14] Horner and Regan were brought together for a "chemistry reading" in Los Angeles, upon which the producers concurred that they had found their two lead actors.[11]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Production was set to begin in May 2008, but it was delayed by six weeks.[6][15] The series was shot entirely in New Zealand in high-definition. Though based in Auckland, filming took place in various places in and outside of the city: at Henderson Valley Studios,[16] in the city's outskirts and in the mountainous region around Queenstown.[15]

text: Cancellation[edit]

text: Tribune, the major station group carrying the show, decided not to renew the series on March 4, 2010, but according to a statement from ABC Studios,[2] this was not a deciding factor of its cancellation. After an apparent deal with Syfy fell through,[17] Ausiello Files reported on April 26 that Legend of the Seeker had been cancelled and would not return for a third season.[18] Fans of the series responded by launching an ongoing renewal campaign titled "Save Our Seeker".[19] Terry Goodkind expressed his support for the campaign.

text: Episodes[edit]

text: SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedFirst airedLast aired122November 1, 2008 (2008-11-01)May 23, 2009 (2009-05-23)222November 7, 2009 (2009-11-07)May 22, 2010 (2010-05-22)

tag: table

text: The series premiered on November 1, 2008 in the United States and was broadcast weekly on Saturday or Sunday, depending on the local television station. It is based on the novel Wizard's First Rule. In addition to the 22 episodes of the first season, the series was renewed by Disney for a second season.[20] All aired episodes from the first season are free online at Hulu.

text: Filming of the second season started in July 2009; it was based on the sequel to Wizard's First Rule, Stone of Tears. The first episode aired on November 7, 2009. The season consisted of 22 episodes. Streamable episodes appeared on the show's official website, HuluPlus, and Netflix.[21] They are currently available on Netflix (DVD only) and HuluPlus for active members (monthly subscription required).

text: Reception[edit]

text: Ratings[edit]

text: Legend of the Seeker premiered on the weekend of November 1–2, 2008 in the United States and attracted more than 4.1 million viewers over the two days.[22] The first two episodes obtained an average of 1.5/3 Nielsen rating among 54 metered markets with a 1.4/3 rating on Saturday and a 1.7/3 rating on Sunday. In addition to improving its broadcast time periods in several top markets, Legend also improved the audience numbers in the key 18- to 49-year-old demographic in all airings.[23] Over its first month of airing, the show averaged more than 3.6 million viewers.[24] It was renewed for a second season after obtaining a 2.0 household rating average for its first ten episodes.[20]

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: The series premiere, which consisted of the first two episodes, received generally mixed reviews from critics, earning a 53 out of 100 average rating as calculated by Metacritic.[25] It was criticized for not being as "fun" as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess (also produced by Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi),[26] and not having enough excitement.[27] Another complaint about the show's premiere was its lack of distinguishing features and that it was "too derivative of other works" like Star Wars and The Matrix, with the "300-style" slow-motion action sequences often cited as an example.[26][28][29] Brian Lowry from Variety called the show "a hodgepodge of better sci-fi/fantasy fare",[28] while Ray Richmond from The Hollywood Reporter described it as "[b]ig on style but more challenged in terms of substance" with "too little provocative/evocative interaction aside from the ultra-violent kind".[30] Diana Steenbergen thought that the series' third episode was "far more entertaining than the previous two that were weighed down with too much exposition."[31]

text: Legend of the Seeker was praised for its high production value and the use of New Zealand exteriors,[28][29][30][32] with Robert Lloyd from Los Angeles Times commenting that the show is basically "good-looking fun".[33] Although both Lloyd and Steenbergen from IGN commended the performances of the lead actors Craig Horner and Bridget Regan, they were not pleased with the supporting performances.[28][29][33]

text: Awards[edit]

text: In 2009, the series won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series. In 2010, the series was nominated for an Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music Emmy. In 2011, Costume Designer Jane Holland, Cinematographer Kevin Riley, and Sound Designer Chris Burt all won awards at the Aotearoa Film & Television Awards for their outstanding work on Legend of the Seeker.

text: International broadcasts[edit]

text: In addition to the United States, broadcast rights for Legend of the Seeker have been picked up in more than 60 international markets.[34] In Spain, the show began airing on Telecinco on March 15, 2009. In New Zealand, it premiered on March 29, 2009 on Prime and aired weekly in the Monday 7:30 pm timeslot. In the UK & Ireland, Syfy picked up the rights for Season 1 and Season 2 with the air time slot of 8:00pm starting on August 13, 2009. Irish broadcaster RTÉ One aired the show on August 19. In French Canada, the first season aired in 2009 and the second season in 2010 on Ztélé under the French title L'Épée de vérité.

text: In South Africa, the show was picked up by pay TV operator M-Net, broadcasting on Saturday nights since July 2009. In Germany, it premiered on October 11, 2009 on ProSieben and airs Sundays around 5:00pm. In Singapore, it premiered October 15, airing on Thursdays at 2030hrs. In Poland, it premiered September 4, 2009 on TVP1 and airs on Fridays around 10:00pm. In Australia, it premiered on Fox8 on November 29. In Italy, the show premiered on Sky Uno on December 8, 2009. In Sweden, the series premiered on TV6 5 February at 20.00 local time.[35] In Ukraine, the series aired on 1+1 channel November 14 at 12.30 local time.[36] In Norway, the first episode aired 28 December 2009 on Tv2 Zebra Sundays at 20.00 (Norwegian time). In Philippines, it is also aired in Studio 23. In Sri Lanka, the show was telecasted by ITN. It started telecasting it from August 2013. It aired on every Saturday and Sunday from 6.00 to 7.00pm local time. It was dubbed in Sinhala and renamed as "සත්‍ය ගවේෂක" (Sathya Gaveshaka).

text: Home media[edit]

text:
DVD Name

Release dates

Ep #

Additional Information

Region 1

Region 2

Region 4

The Complete First Season

13 October 2009

TBA

January 5, 2011[37]

22

The five disc box set may include all 22 episodes. Extras could include "Forging the Sword: Crafting a Legend", "Words of Truth: A Conversation with Terry Goodkind", deleted scenes, and audio commentaries. Running Time: 950-ish minutes.[38]

The Complete Second and Final Season

28 September 2010

TBA

January 25, 2012[39]

22

The five disc box set includes all 22 episodes. Extras include extended scenes, "Under the Underworld", and "Redemption of a Mord'Sith: Meet Cara". Running Time: 946 minutes.[40]


document_title: Languages of Sweden

question_text: when did swedish become the official language of sweden

text: Languages of Sweden

text: History[edit]

text: For most of its history, Sweden was a larger country than today. At its height in 1658, the Swedish Empire comprised the territories of what is Finland and Estonia as well as parts of Russia, Latvia, Germany, Denmark and Norway. Hence, Sweden's linguistic landscape has historically been very different from that of today.

text: Swedish evolved from Old Norse around the 14th and 15th century, and historically, the Swedish dialects were generally much more different than today. Since the 20th century Standard Swedish prevails throughout the country. The Scandinavian languages constitute a dialectal continuum and some of the traditional Swedish dialects could equally be described as Danish (Scanian) or Norwegian (Jamtlandic).

text: Finnish was the majority language of Sweden's eastern parts, though it was used almost exclusively as a spoken language. These areas were also home of a significant Swedish-speaking minority. Finnish became a minority language in the west as well since many Finnish speakers migrated there (mostly for economic reasons).

text: Estonian was the language of the majority in Swedish Estonia but the province, like Finland hosted a Swedish-speaking minority and also a more significant minority of Germans.

text: In medieval Sweden, the Low German language had a very important role as a commercial language and the lingua franca of the Hanseatic league. As such, the Low German language influenced Swedish and other languages in the region considerably. In medieval Stockholm, half of the population were Low German speakers.[3] Low German was also the language spoken in the 17th-century Swedish territories in northern Germany i.e. Swedish Pomerania, Bremen-Verden, Wismar and Wildeshausen (as well as the rest of northern Germany) and by the German minority in Estonia and Swedish Livonia. Livonia was also inhabited by Latvians, Estonians and Livonians.

text: In Swedish Ingria, apart from Swedish also Finnish, Ingrian and Votian were spoken.

text: Latin as the language of the Catholic Church was introduced in Sweden with the Christianisation, around AD 1000. As in most of Europe, Latin remained the lingua franca and scholarly language of the educated communities for centuries in Sweden. For instance, Carl Linnaeus' most famous work Systema Naturae, published in 1735, was written in Latin.

text: During the 18th century, French was the second language of Europe's upper classes and Sweden was no exception. The Swedish aristocracy often spoke French among themselves and code-switching between French and Swedish was common. The Swedish King Gustav III was a true Francophile and French was the common language at his court.

text: Gradually Sweden lost its overseas possessions and obtained its current borders in 1809, when it lost its eastern part (Finland) to the Russian Empire. As a consequence, Sweden became a rather homogeneous country with the exceptions of the indigenous Sami-people and the Finnish-speaking Tornedalians in the northernmost parts of the country.

text: During the 19th century Sweden became more industrialised, resulting in important demographic changes. The population duplicated and people moved from the countryside to towns and cities. As a consequence, of this and factors such as generalised education and mass media, the traditional dialects began to give room for the standard language (Standard Swedish). A large number of Swedes also decided to emigrate, especially to the United States. There, the Swedes came in contact with the English language. Since then, as in the rest of Europe and much of the world, English has grown as an important foreign language in Sweden, especially since the allied victory in World War II.

text: During the second half of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century, Sweden has received great numbers of immigrants who speak languages other than Swedish (see: Immigrant languages below). It is unclear to what degree these communities will hold on to their languages and to what degree they will assimilate.

text: Swedish[edit]

text: The Kingdom of Sweden is a nation-state for the Swedish people,[citation needed] and as such, their national language is held in very high regard. Of Sweden's roughly ten million people, almost all speak Swedish as at least a second language, and the majority as a first language (7,825,000, according to SIL's Ethnologue). Swedish is also an official language in Finland where it is spoken by a large number of Swedish-speaking Finns. The language is also spoken to some degree by ethnic Swedes living outside Sweden, for example, just over half a million people of Swedish descent in the United States speak the language, according to Ethnologue.[citation needed]

text: Dialects[edit]

text: A number of Swedish dialects exist, some of which are divergent enough from standard Swedish to be considered separate languages.

text: Westrobothnian[edit]

text: Westrobothnian is a common name used to refer to a number of closely related Germanic, North Germanic languages spoken in historical Westrobothnia (modern coastal areas of Westrobothnia and Norrbotten) bordering areas with speakers of Sami to the west, Meänkeli Finnish to the north, Jamtlandic to the south-west and dialects of national standard Swedish to the south. Like other Scandinavian languages, all different forms of Westrobothnian originate in Proto-Norse and dialects of Old Norse that started diverging as distinct languages during the Viking Age. Dialects differ greatly between different areas and the language has traditionally merely been a spoken language since no standard spelling was available. The following cities and surrounding villages have a traditionally Westrobothnian speaking population: Piteå, Skellefteå, Umeå, Luleå and Kalix.

text: Dalecarlian[edit]

text: The Dalecarlian (Elfdalian) dialect group is highly divergent, even within itself, so that speakers of separate sub-dialects do not always understand each other. Dialects of this group are spoken in the northern parts of the province of Dalarna, especially in the Älvdalen Municipality, by a population of 1,500.[4]

text: Modern Gutnish[edit]

text: Modern Gutnish exists as a spoken language in Gotland and Fårö. It is an open issue whether modern Gutnish is to be considered an independent language or a Scandinavian dialect. It derives, however, from Old Gutnish, which is indisputably a separate branch of the Old Norse language family.

text: Jamtlandic[edit]

text: Spoken mainly in Jämtland, but with a scattered speaker population throughout the rest of Sweden, Jamtlandic or Jamska is a West Scandinavian language with 95% lexical similarity to Norwegian and Swedish, but generally more archaic. It has a native speaker population of 30,000.[5]

text: Scanian[edit]

text: Spoken in the Swedish province of Scania (Skåne in Swedish), the Scanian dialect is considered by some to be a dialect of Danish,[6] and a related dialect is also spoken in Bornholm, where it is called "East Danish" (Scania was part of the kingdom of Denmark until 1658). The variety generally spoken today is heavily influenced by standard Swedish.

text: Recognised minority languages[edit]

text: In 1999, the Minority Language Committee of Sweden formally declared five minority languages of Sweden: Finnish, Meänkieli (also known as Tornedal, Tornionlaaksonsuomi or Tornedalian), the Sami languages, Romani, and Yiddish.

text: Finnish[edit]

text: Today there are about 470,000 Finnish-speakers in Sweden.[7] Finnish, a Uralic language, has long been spoken in Sweden (the same holds true for Swedish in Finland, see Finland-Swedes, Åland), as Finland was part of the Swedish kingdom for centuries. Ethnic Finns (mainly first and second generation immigrants) constitute up to 5% of the population of Sweden. A high concentration of Finnish-speakers (some 16,000) resides in Norrbotten.

text: Meänkieli[edit]

text: Meänkieli is also a Finnic language. Spoken by the Tornedalian people, it is so closely related to Finnish that they are mutually intelligible, and is sometimes considered a dialect of Finnish. Meänkieli is mainly used in the municipalities of Gällivare, Haparanda, Kiruna, Pajala and Övertorneå, all of which lie in the Torne Valley. Between 40,000 and 70,000 people speak Meänkieli as their first language.

text: Sami[edit]

text: The Sami people (formerly known as Lapps) are a people indigenous to all of northern Scandinavia (see Sápmi (area)) who speak a closely related group of languages usually grouped together under the name "Sami", but at least three separate Sami languages are spoken in Sweden. They are, like Finnish and Meänkieli, Uralic. Prolonged exposure to Germanic-language-speaking neighbors in Sweden and Norway causes them to have a large number of Germanic loanwords not normally found in other Uralic languages like Finnish, Estonian, or Hungarian. Between 15,000 and 20,000 Sami people live in Sweden of whom 9,000 are Sami-language speakers. Worldwide, between 20,000 and 40,000 people speak Sami languages (most Sami now speak Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, or Russian as their first language, depending on the country in which they reside). In Sweden, the largest concentrations of Sami-language-speaking Sami are found in the municipalities of Arjeplog, Gällivare, Jokkmokk and Kiruna, and its immediate neighbourhood.

text: Romani[edit]

text: Romani (also known as the Romani Chib) is the language spoken by the Romani people, a nomadic ethnic group originating in northern India. Due to the geographic origins of its speakers, Romani is an Indo-Aryan language, closely related to languages spoken in modern-day India, and sometimes written with an Indic Script (see Romani writing systems). Around 90% of Sweden's Romani people speak Romani, meaning that there are approximately 9,500 Chib speakers. In Sweden, there is no major geographic center for Romani like there is for Finnish, Sami, or Meänkieli, but it is considered to be of historical importance by the Swedish government, and as such the government is seen as having an obligation to preserve them, a distinction also held by Yiddish.[8]

text: Yiddish[edit]

text: Yiddish is a Germanic language with significant Hebrew and Slavic influence, written with a variant of the Hebrew Alphabet (see Yiddish orthography) and, formerly, spoken by most Ashkenazic Jews (although most now speak the language of the country in which they live). Although the Jewish population of Sweden was traditionally Sephardic, after the 18th century, Ashkenazic immigration began, and the immigrants brought with them their Yiddish language (See History of the Jews in Sweden). Like Romani, it is seen by the government to be of historical importance. The organisation Sällskapet för Jiddisch och Jiddischkultur i Sverige (Society for Yiddish and Yiddish Culture in Sweden) has over 200 members, many of whom are mother-tongue Yiddish speakers, and arranges regular activities for the speech community and in external advocacy of the Yiddish language.

text: As of 2009, the Jewish population in Sweden was estimated at around 20,000. Out of these 2,000-6,000 claim to have at least some knowledge of Yiddish according to various reports and surveys. The number of native speakers among these has been estimated by linguist Mikael Parkvall to be 750-1,500. It is believed that virtually all native speakers of Yiddish in Sweden today are adults, and most of them elderly.[9]

text: Swedish Sign Language[edit]

text: Swedish Sign Language is an officially recognized minority language.

text: Foreign languages[edit]

text: Since the Middle Ages until the end of World War II, Germany was usually the country outside Scandinavia having the closest cultural, commercial and political relations with Sweden. Thus, study of the German language had always been promoted by the Swedish state as the main foreign language. Many of Sweden's administrative and social institutions, including the education system, had also been organised along the German and Prussian model, as a lot of Swedish pioneering intellectuals of the Seventeenth century had been educated in German universities. This changed after the end of the Second World War, when it was no longer acceptable to emphasise a closer link with defeated Germany. A majority of Swedes, especially those born after World War II, are able to understand and speak English thanks to trade links, the popularity of overseas travel, a strong American influence, especially in regards to arts and culture, and the tradition of subtitling rather than dubbing foreign television shows and films. English, whether in American, Commonwealth (Australian, Canadian, and Kiwi), or British dialects, became a compulsory subject for secondary school students studying natural sciences as early as 1849 and has been a compulsory subject for all Swedish students since 1952, when it replaced German as the compulsory language subject.[12]

text: Depending on the local school authorities, English is currently a compulsory subject from third until ninth grade, and all students continuing in secondary school study English for at least another year. Most students also learn one and sometimes two additional languages; the most popular being German, French and Spanish. From the autumn semester 2014, Mandarin Chinese is proposed as a fourth additional language.[13] Some Danish and Norwegian is, at times, also taught as part of the Swedish course taught to native speakers of Swedish to emphasize differences and similarities between the languages.

text: English[edit]

text: There is currently an ongoing debate among linguists whether English should be considered a foreign or second language in Sweden (and the other Scandinavian countries)[14] due to its widespread use in society. This has also triggered opposition: in 2002 the Swedish government proposed an action plan to strengthen the status of Swedish[15] and in 2009 Swedish was announced the official language of the country for the first time in its history. In 2013, for the second year in a row, Swedes were ranked as best in the world at speaking English by the language proficiency company English First.[16]

text: Immigrant languages[edit]

text: Like many developed European countries from the late 1940s to the 1970s, Sweden has received tens of thousands of guest workers from countries in Southern Europe and the Middle East (i.e. Bulgaria, Greece, Iraq, Italy, Romania, Spain, Syria, Turkey, and the former Yugoslavia). Second and third-generation Swedes of Southern European or Middle Eastern descent have adopted Swedish as their main tongue, or in addition to their immigrant languages, such as Arabic, Bulgarian, Greek, Italian, Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, and Turkish. However, the criteria in European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages state that minority languages need a long history in the country to receive the classification, and thus, these languages have not come into question.