There are very few direct differences in regards to the set up of this new series and the prior iteration of the franchise (The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show), which is echoed through this series oftentimes being labelled simply as a season two. Conflicts in labelling were seen too in the transitional era from Scrappy Doo (1) and (2), more overtly in that regard given they share the same name, and it won’t be until 13 Ghosts that every subsequent iteration of the series is given distinct breaks and stylistic flairs, coming both as a bi-product of the shifting and ever-growing realm of cartoons, and a wider interest in the series returning. Within its current iteration, while not lacking in cultural impact, there was little interest and Scooby as a whole still existed in a certain “dark age”.
All of this adds up to a similar experience at face value to something like The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show: we follow the gang of four as they work, for the most part, on journalistic endeavours, centrally for Daphne, often following the usual formula of a mystery headed by a masked monster.
However, there is a new intro to the show, a welcome change, even if far from my favourite. Taking inspiration from the music video for Thriller, and generally, encompasses the tone and direction for this season, a comedic and light hearted horror inspired send up, not exactly unique from the earliest seasons of the franchise, but retaining a greater sense of self all the same. While the show has often felt muddled in tone and genre, this intro does inform a greater certainty, possibly aided by the campy and fun, while still honourably horror laden, Thriller music video.
1. Happy Birthday, Scooby Doo
Another major difference that allows this series to stand out more than the prior is the return of Fred and Velma, albeit, only in select episodes across the series, sometimes together, and other times alone. Here, they both appear, in a celebration of Scooby Doo’s fifteen year anniversary.
I really appreciate how this episode acts as a celebration of the franchise, bringing back the two-part episodes first seen at the end of the prior series, allowing this the twenty minutes it deserves. We follow a unique framing device, that of a TV show, and in particular, we linger on an old case of the gangs. The Red Skull is a sound monster for the episode, and I adore the “flashbacks” here to the case in hand, giving us some really sweet Scooby and Fred moments which have been seldom seen. As a whole, the series is certainly progressing in its ability to combine character pairings.
Design wise, the Red Skull is exactly that, a man with a red skulled mask, he’s hooded and otherwise mostly unremarkable, and in this sense, he doesn’t so much echo the villains of the Where are You era, and more so takes from its contemporaries, where the monsters are less generic archetypes but some generic spin on an archetype. A Where are You design here would be a plain and simple red skeleton, but the more contemporary element comes through the costuming, the cloak here seeks to give him more personality through the design language, rather than the sound design that was pivotal to the earliest monsters.
I find it funny how much they enjoy accusing Fred of being the culprit behind the mystery, which as a concept was seen most prevalently in I left my Neck in San Francisco and Hound of the Scoobyvilles. Much as with those cases, it’s of course not Fred, and while a fun gimmick, it does sideline Fred as a character, a shame here where it wasn’t in the previously mentioned episodes because he has a guest appearance here, rather than a recurring role. I enjoy it conventionally all the same, even if the writing has to push extra hard to frame Fred and the gang's willingness to have him arrested rather than protect him (again, see the prior episodes) does feel out of character.
However the classic mystery elements and the TV show setting and framing really allow this episode to come alive, and truly makes it feel like a celebration of the series. It’s otherwise an overall fun time, one that can breathe and allow its characters and plot points to interact thanks to the longer runtime.
2. Scooby's Peep-Hole Pandemonium
This episode marks another positive sign for the trajectory of this series, once more steeped in that horror stylisation, maintaining a love both for mystery and comedy and more specifically, classic monster movies. Scooby Doo has always had a reverence for early horror, 30s-50s to be exact, and likewise, there was a cultural resurgence of these movies within the 80s, echoed in the retrieval of its roots in this series. A Movie like Monster Squad perfectly encapsulates that love for monster movies, while also lacing their identity with comedy, playing both aspects as equally important.
Here the gang heads to the house of a movie star who hasn’t been seen since the 30s. Actor Norma Deathman’s design is influenced by Dracula’s Daughter, or Bride, relatively that feminine vampire archetype, drawing upon the cultural touch points of Dracula’s design, sleek black hair, chalky white skin and dark gowns… Of course, this all feeds into the ultimate reveal, that she is a vampire, although not the villain necessarily.
Instead the culprit of the mystery at hand comes from one of the other monsters within the house, the concept of which was likely inspired by The Munsters, with “Maid Mummy” being another actor in disguise. It’s fun and the shifting focus of the mystery gives this episode such a fresh and unique feel.
I also really appreciate how this episode gives more screentime to Daphne and Scrappy as a pairing, exploring their bond, it’s so refreshing and feels like a huge step forward from the already large step taken in the prior series. Not to mention how, in spite of the short runtime, the episode still finds time to prioritise finding clues and unravelling the mystery, I love it a lot.
3. The Hand of Horror
This is maybe my favourite episode of the batch, following the gang searching a house after a strange encounter on the estate. It’s a great and simple introduction, with a small amount of downtime for the characters before slipping into the mystery at hand, very literally in this case, as we follow a floating hand as our monster.
This very simple idea opens up so much through the focus on comedy and mystery, it plays upon this classic Scooby sensibility, making something creepy funny to the audience through the reactions of the characters, while also knowing when to play a moment for thrills rather than laughs. The constant runner in the episode of the pizza man arriving and being terrorised and turned away, revolving around the titular hand, had me laughing a lot.
All the same, the plot itself was never lost, only further opening up the deeper into the house the characters ventured, and it perfectly balances the characters and their purposes: Daphne and Scrappy search for clues while Shaggy and Scooby unknowingly uncover more of the mystery and horror, falling deeper in but failing to take anything seriously until the final moment.
Once again too, the side characters in this episode, much like the prior two, are incredibly memorable - the main focus is later placed on a pair of scientist twins who, much like Pizza Louie, are phenomenal playing the role the episode requires them too.
While the very end of the episode ever so slightly loses me in a little too much action, I still adored this.
4. Scoo-Be or Not Scoo-Be?
This episode in so many ways feels tailor made for me. The gang stop at Hotel Hamlet, where they soon find a ghost, warning them of something. It takes the idea from the opening of the play, a sequence that follows guards witnessing the ghost of Hamlet’s Father, also called Hamlet, speaking of a murder that sets the play's events into motion.
However, not only is my love for Hamlet pandered to here, but too my adoration for the Gillman or generally Creature from the Black Lagoon style fish men, as we soon find a secondary monster at play. It’s a great twist to shift focus to a new monster, one that comes surprisingly late into the episode but works because of everything built up before, it’s a great pay off to the mystery.
Also there’s a mouse and I like the mouse a lot.
The design of the Sea Demon is a fairly simple fish man archetype - he’s a dark, seaweed green, taking on a muscular form and having his face adorned with wide gills and a fin that accent his face. His role here is so simple that the lack of a personality he carries is entirely forgivable, and the design is incredibly solid. Meanwhile, the Ghost of Hamlet, is a very simple old man design, powder white with a long, wise beard and balded head, who works for his purpose too although doesn’t stand out all too much beyond this context.
All of this boils into a pot that I really enjoy, although, maybe not quite as much as I should given how perfect every piece is. There are some sequences in the centre that meander a little, but overall, this continues the return to gorgeous gothic aesthetics and a focus on mysteries above all else, while also managing to consistently add sweet and fun character beats that make the main cast, and side characters, feel so alive!
I am very happy to report that I really love every episode so far.
Thank you for reading this review :) Have a great day!
Next Review: The New Scooby Doo Mysteries S1 E5-8
Previous Review: The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show Retrospective
This series, more so than anything, feels like a return to form after the experimental era seen in Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (2), fixating almost solely on comedy within its shorts format. This series extends the episodes to eleven minutes, still halved from the series inception.
Runtime is often one of the greatest changes to these earliest seasons of Scooby Doo, and to me, can often greatly hinder a series’ potential. The second iteration of the franchise The New Scooby Doo Movies is much too long while attempting to maintain the series fairly thin mysteries of its first iteration, meanwhile Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) is too short to offer all too much unique, opting to tell more slapstick and gaggy stories, which rarely landed with me.
As for this series, the runtime doesn’t allow them to truly flesh out any mysteries, which we return to as the focal point for the plots, for the most part. Oftentimes, the stories feel cut short, as if only half the story is present, usually Shaggy and Scooby’s side. While this can sometimes be a blessing for episodes that would otherwise grow tiresome, many of the most interesting mysteries in the season which offer more ambition in their storytelling, monsters and side characters are unable to reach their full potential as a result of this hindrance.
Said return to mysteries is welcome for me, who never found much showcased in the Scrappy shorts era to be all too interesting or engaging, although I didn’t grow up with that style of Scooby, which could be an element of that. While I think Where are You and most of Show took the best care of their mysteries, trying to tell simple but fun stories, I do think there are far more interesting attempts here than in Scrappy’s first outing. Stand outs include Hound of the Scoobyvilles and especially the two part Where's Scooby-Doo?
I want to emphasise that, no, Scooby Doo mysteries have never been the most intricately crafted, the twenty minute run times and low budgets result in few suspects, but Where are You thrives off its use of atmosphere, while something like Show manages to expand upon said atmosphere, feeling more grandiose in storytelling, often harbouring more ambition too. Again, those are my favourites, but most series stand out for one reason or another: New Movies for the guest stars and longer run times, Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (1) for the introduction of Scrappy, and Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) for entirely rewriting the Scooby formula, which had grown stagnant and somewhat uninspired by the first Scrappy series.
The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show in contrast doesn’t have all too strong of an identity - in spite of the shorter episodes and return of Daphne, it feels like a continuation of the first Scrappy series if anything. It’s a sloppier than something like Show, both in storytelling and especially the sound design, although, they don’t carry the same drear sense as the aforementioned first Scrappy series, which often felt disinterested, an idea of what Scooby Doo should be while regressing in every way save for the introduction of a new character.
At the very least, this series feels like it’s trying to learn from what has come before, leaning into certain non-mystery related stories, such as in Scrappy Doo (2), while not carrying the more gaggy sensibilities.
The best exploration of this comes in the episode Scoobygeist. We follow up on a report of a haunted house, the gang investigating as the house is unveiled to be haunted. However, this is truly supernatural, something that is played for laughs as Daphne and Scrappy act in disbelief; it combines the horror aesthetics of the first iteration and follows in Scrappy (2)’s footsteps, dropping mysteries, there is still a story here, and in the context of the series, it feels like it belongs. It’s an excellent episode because of all of this.
In fact, a huge source of enjoyment of this series does come down to the reintroduction of Daphne, who fits in surprisingly seamlessly, and her journalism career. Daphne is frequently one of the most mischaracterised characters in the franchise, often perceived through a dichotomy of pre 2002 live action movie, and the subsequent Buffyification of the character. Many perceive Daphne as a damsel in distress, and to a degree, she slots into this archetype in several instances, although, the amount to which this occurs is often greatly exaggerated, and later flanderised. In Where are You, she isn’t a damsel, she’s often caught in the claw of the monster as a result of her curiosity and inquisitiveness, she lacks the knowledge of Velma, but beyond a few lines, such as Velma referring to her as “Danger Prone Daphne”, she isn’t solely a source of peril. However, when these occurrences do appear, especially within New Movies, they do often place Daphne in a position where she cannot escape and must be rescued. Again, this is especially prevalent in New Movies, where she feels like a caricature of herself, as a lot of the cast do there.
Bringing her back as a journalist feels perfect, leaning into that inquisitive side to her, the Daphne with a desire to solve mysteries, who can find clues and is a great contribution to the team. After Show, and to a degree during it, Fred, Daphne and Velma became glorified set pieces, nothing more than ideas to shift along the plot, but here we see a return, and a good one at that.
No, this isn’t my favourite depiction of Daphne we’ll see, she can still feel a little cardboard at times, again not helped by the runtime and therefore, favouring of Scooby and Shaggy by the narrative, but regardless, I like her a lot here.
Daphne is often paired with Scrappy, who feels a little toned down here, no longer the star of the show. I assume this comes down to shifting ratings, but details on this period of the show can be difficult to find, unfortunately. But I still love him a lot.
Shaggy and Scooby are still great too! They’re the focal point of this series, certainly, but they don’t overstay their welcome, whereas in everything past Where are You, to be honest, they may as well be the only characters on screen (save for Scrappy, sometimes) and that can grow a little overbearing at times.
Just as a brief offshoot, because it wouldn’t fit anywhere else, I want to lament once more on the scoring of this series. It sucks. Not quite as egregious as certain other iterations, but that’s no shining praise, because this series has so much gorgeous music at its disposal, but simply never knows how and when to use it, which is always infuriating.
To end off, I want to mention the monsters, a key ingredient to Scooby Doo. The most iconic villains from the series come from Where are You and Show, with the former often taking very simple monster tropes and archetypes, translating them simply into the style of the show. They work because of this simplicity, and those who are more creative, such as The Spooky Space Kook, stand out tenfold as a result. They’re great, simple, yet recognisable, designs.
This series is fine with its monsters, but most are completely forgettable, a sentiment that can be shared for a bulk of the episodes too. That’s not to say these are all bad, I particularly enjoy The Creature from Chem Lab, The Clown and The Gremlin, but if I didn’t have a list of the monsters in front of me, I’d struggle to name any of note.
Much of this retrospective comes across very negatively, which I didn’t intend, because truthfully, this is a sound series of Scooby Doo. Nowhere near the best the series has to offer, but also nowhere near the worst. It’s simply frustrating to see so much potential here within aspects like the growth of mystery telling and interesting settings and ideas, all to be burnt in eleven minute runtimes.
I adore the gang in this series, the four characters are a lot of fun to watch! It’s a huge step back in the right direction after the drear two Scrappy Doo titled iterations (although he is blameless, I assure you). I am hopeful and excited for the future of the franchise, which I know will get great very soon.
I have a list of every episode from every series ranked, both as a whole, and just by iteration, and I’m still working out a good way to share that, so for now, here is a ranking of every season I’ve reviewed:
The Scooby Doo Show (Season One)
Scooby-Doo Where are You? (Season One)
The Scooby Doo Show (Season Three)
The Scooby Doo Show (Season Two)
The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show
Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (1)
Scooby Doo Where are You? (Season Two)
Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) (Season Three)
The New Scooby-Doo Movies (Season One)
The New Scooby-Doo Movies (Season Two)
Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) (Season Two)
Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (2) (Season One)
Thank you for reading this review! I'm excited to check out the next series, which is sometimes lumped in as a second season to this series, but they're named differently, so I'll class them as two separate iterations!
Have a great day!
Next Review: The New Scooby Doo Mysteries Episodes 1-4 (Coming Soon)
Previous Review: The New Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Show Season One Episodes 21-24
This might be my favourite episode of this iteration of the franchise, found in a very strong string of episodes to end out this single season show.
Following the gang as they get a job babysitting while trying to debunk supposed sightings of Frankenstein's Monster, the episode perfectly bridges the gap between more traditional horror aesthetics prevalent in Where are You with the goofier and fantastical elements of the Scrappy Doo era, not quite a mystery, it’s one of those rare oddities in this season that sees the characters arriving somewhere fixated on the reporter element of Daphne’s character, learning that the horror they sought to disprove is in fact, real.
They perfectly divide the characters up here, placing Shaggy and Scooby in the voluntary role of looking after the baby, a werewolf under direct light of the full moon (unbeknownst to them) while Daphne and Scrappy investigate the monster in the woods, it unfurls naturally, a perfect stylisation of the splitting up trope central to so many Scooby episodes.
There are four monsters in this episode, largely send ups to classic Universal Monsters. Dracula’s design takes evident design cues from Bela Lugosi’s depiction of the character, which has largely informed the perception of Dracula within wider pop-culture since its inception, further iterations upon the character following these design philosophies, namely the widows peak hair and a black cloak (often with a crimson interior, both luxurious and foreboding). Compared to other Scooby Doo Dracula’s, this one doesn’t do all too much for me in terms of design, the original Where are You dracula feels sleeker, this design simply feels slightly off in terms of proportions, although the horns adorned to his hair are a gorgeous and stylish touch.
Funnily enough, this is only the second appearance of a character directly named Dracula in the Scooby canon thus far, the aforementioned Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts monster the first. However, many vampires in the series take direct design cues from Dracula, or are obvious parodies or allusions, such as with Mr. Dracul in Show’s Vampire Bats and Scaredy Cats.
Dracula’s Wife (also listed as being called “Poopsie” elsewhere, although this is more a nickname to my understanding) takes design cues from The Bride of Frankenstein, with the large beehive like hair dressed with a white streak, while her purple flowing dress is far more inline with the affluent styling of Dracula. Brides are common within Dracula lore, being present in the novel and the Universal Monster movie, and have continued gaining prevalence, such as within the Hammer Horror Movie “The Brides of Dracula”.
Both of these characters are fun to watch during their moments of screen time, not played up as villains until later in the episode, their presence exists initially solely as parents, which I love as a characterisation within this episode.
Frankenstein's Monster once again follows the Boris Karloff depiction from the Universal Monsters movie that too would permeate ideas of how he acts within pop-culture. I believe this is his third appearance within the franchise so far, having appeared alongside Drac in A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts and in the New Movies episode The Exterminator. This design has a little less character than the version seen in Gaggle, far more human, in spite of his now robotic creation, but he manages to stand out on his own merit, I still enjoy him!
Still not sold on the way Scooby creates their werewolves, with a few notable exceptions. Dracula Jr. is not one of these exceptions.
The gothic setting and campy tone alone are enough to win me over, but the episode doesn’t feel like it’s compensating all too much for its short run time, in part aided by the focus on characters and unpeeling a mystery not focused on an unmasking, we know who the monsters are, if they are real, the goal instead shifts to thwarting them. I love this a lot.
22. Scooby ala Mode
Unfortunately, this episode does far less for me.
To give it some praise, I always adore when Scooby and the gang are put in food-centric settings, although, this comes more on a conceptual basis, with no episode thus far truly living up to the evident creativity and ideas that conspire from this.
Once again, conceptually, I appreciate this villain, a ghostly chef, whose design does perfectly echo his characterisation and the wider ideas of the episode - he’s a large, angry man, a caricature of a chef, his palette playing off the usual chef whites and incorporating similarly ghostly greys, which I think works perfectly for his hair, although the shade is slightly too light for me when it comes to his shorts - the bottom half of his design somewhat falls apart to me, having a far too casual appearance, with his long socks and almost tracksuit bottom esque shorts, it drops any menace he would have in my eyes. Otherwise he’s a totally fine Scooby villain, falling into many of the usual conventions for the series.
That’s pretty much all I have to say about this episode, the setting is fun but not used to its fullest, the same can be said for the villain, especially if the episode were wanting to lean into the comedic elements of the series more, and also I love Scrappy in the dumbwaiter.
23. Where’s Scooby Doo?
The final two episodes this season are aired in two parts, making them the previous standard of twenty-two minutes, rather than this series’ eleven minute runtimes. During this entire series I’ve been making comments on how most of the stories that are good could be great if only given more time to be fleshed out, so this is perfect!
Especially in the case of this episode, which I do think prospers, both by taking advantage of its additional runtime, and the way it’s split in half. To a certain degree, this feels like a special, especially in the face of the rest of the series, being able to accommodate a wider cast, feel grander in scope, while ultimately doing very little differently, which is rather impressive.
Taking place on the Orient Express, Scooby’s bag of Scooby Snacks gets mixed up with another identical case, and after going to search for it, he too ends up missing, with the gang having to follow clues from those Scooby interacted with in pursuit of his case.
Removing Scooby from the major narrative inherently makes the episode more interesting in that the writers are forced to switch up the dynamics of the characters - we still get solo comedic Scooby antics in short doses, while the trio hunt for him, following through on the promise of the mystery. Also there’s a Mummy.
It’s difficult to care about new Mummy characters when all of them up until this point look near-identical. I don’t believe this is a reused model, but there’s little unique about this guy. Eventually the franchise will find ways to add unique design elements to their mummies!
However this is not to discredit this very fun episode that feels like it genuinely cares about the mystery it’s telling, inspired by Agatha Christie’s story, this is fun and unpredictable to watch unfold.
I enjoy the ending where we meet another mystery solving gang, who have been behind the entire plot, they’re such oddballs and feel entirely out of place against one another and I adore them.
This style of longer episodes to see out the era is great!
24. Wedding Bell Boos!
Wedding Bell Boos! does far less for me. It’s a fairly sound premise, exactly the kind of episode you’d imagine to come out of this era - it’s Shaggy’s sister’s wedding, but the ghost of one of his relatives comes back to disrupt it. Such a premise leads to us meeting even more of Shaggy and Scooby’s families, connected via distant ancestors.
Although there are no returning characters, which sucks, I would have loved to see Yabba Doo or Scooby Dum appear, hell please bring back Shaggy’s Uncle Nathaniel! However some of these new characters introduced will apparently return in A Pup named Scooby Doo, which is really cool! I guess maybe the other family members are disgraced and banned from any gatherings. What did you do Uncle Nathaniel?
This also continues to follow the lore that Shaggy is from New England, something oddly consistent throughout a large chunk of the franchise. Further exploring this is the ghost of McBaggy Rogers, a pilgrim. His design blends this caricature of a pilgrim with the staple Shaggy design elements, drawing upon his head shape, beard and body structure, while giving him sharper features, namely in his eyebrows, to allude to this more twisted character, someone even Scrappy Doo is terrified of. Despite this, they still hang his picture over the mantle. As a design, this works, he’s a fun enough villain, but the series once again falls into muddy waters with its portrayal of American History and Native American culture, at one point having the “Doo” family dress as Native Americans while the “Rogers” family dresses as pilgrims.
I didn’t find this episode to be all too enjoyable overall, it was fine, serviceable, and followed a similar structure to the previous episode where we’re introduced to all of the characters in part one, allowing the mystery to be more fulfilling in part two, but it all kind of falls apart for me. Maybe this comes in part as a result of finding it difficult to care for all of these relative characters that are often meaningless - the odd relative works when in moderation and singular, but this wider cast left something to be desired for me, and while silly, I do think it would have been more enjoyable to bring back a few old faces from the franchises past. But again, the series haas very selective continuity, and for the most part, I think they like the freedom of creating new characters whenever they feel like it to suit a setting and villain, rather than being restricted by having to reuse Uncle Nathaniel again.
Thank you for reading this review! That brings me to the end of this series, although its follow up is fairly similar in style, to my understanding. I'll get a full retrospective written up soon :)
Have a great day!
Next Review: The New Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Show Retrospective (Coming Soon)
Previous Review: The New Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Show Season One Episodes 17-20
Episode 15 of Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (1), Lock the Door, It’s a Minotaur, was heavily disappointing to me, in how bland it felt while having a story upheld by mythology and settings I find inherently interesting, but as was the case with a large chunk of that season, it all fell into a somewhat similar feeling pastiche of the show, little did anything to stand out beyond the first episode, the mysteries and monsters all felt like imitations of Scooby Doo series gone by.
In contrast, I found this episode to be almost exactly what I was looking for out of a Minotaur focused episode of Scooby Doo, using the monster in a fun way, playing into Greek architecture, and ultimately leading into the Labyrinth central to the myth. All of these elements are able to combine to create another highlight of the season, sitting alongside Scooby Doo and Cyclops Too and Hound of the Scoobyvilles.
However, this isn’t to say the episode is perfect - much like the prior two mentioned, I find the shorter runtime to be an issue here. While the mystery is soundly crafted for an episode of Scooby Doo, there’s a lot more room for exploration, especially within the Labyrinth itself, which I wish was able to get a little more depth to it. Although I do adore what is here, and as I’ll go on to state later, run time in this iteration tends to save mediocre episodes and hinder good episodes, it’s a difficult line they balance.
Regardless, what is here in terms of the locations is great! I adore the gags they use for the Labyrinth itself, and the background artwork is as gorgeous as ever, oozing with life and echoing a certain eeriness to regular architecture, something that is done less and less as the series goes on.
The Minotaur is exactly as one would expect, falling into the grunting and mindless archetype for a Scooby villain, which works for the character. His design is hulking and another very typical styling for the series, being exactly what he sets out to be, rather than adding any extravagant flair to his design, simply put, he is a Minotaur, much like how the Black Knight Ghost is a suit of armour, or The Phantom is a sheet ghost.
Also another frustration I have with this series as a whole is the score, which feels constantly muddled. I noticed it most in an episode like this where they jump rapidly from creepy and beautiful scores that add so much flavouring to scenes of terror, and just as often these are undercut by the usage of jaunty themes that in no way fit the episode nor the adjacent actions, it’s distracting as all hell and made all the more infuriating by how, just as often, they manage to make some scenes sound phenomenal. They have the music available, an evidently large library, but it rarely feels well scored even if the music itself can be great in isolation.
18. Scooby Pinch Hits
Certain topics that are semi-frequently visited in Scooby Doo episodes simply don’t appeal to me - broadly, sports is one of these. There are certain elements I can latch onto, and this episode does linger on some of them, as in part, we follow an investigation around the sport, it’s simply a backdrop and the surrounding politics and mystery are interesting to me.
This episode plays both the idea of a wacky story of Scooby playing baseball, and a story about team rivalries and the lengths someone is willing to go to win at the game. The latter interests me far more, and I really enjoy the brief moments we’re offered of Daphne and Scrappy searching for clues. As a whole, I really enjoy them as a pair, they don’t necessarily have the strongest chemistry, but what is here is somewhat akin to Fred and Velma in terms of the strength of their relationship.
However, the episode just kind of ends, the investigation offers little in the way of the story besides allowing a scene where the motives can be listed, it feels far more like the writers wanted Scooby to play baseball and remembered there are more characters to account for, and that are required to tell a cohesive narrative here.
The Ghost of Casey O'Riley is a solid enough monster for the episode too, a very archetypical Scooby villain, a regular man with ashy skin, although they tie the design together perfectly with this very appealing white, grey and powder blue colour scheme, and I adore the characterisation that bursts with his thick eye brows, he’s not memorable per se, but he’s fun for the purpose of the episode.
19. The Fall Dog
There is a lot to love in this episode as the gang takes over the role of stunt people for a movie after the previous one leaves after The Gremlin wreaks havoc on set.
I enjoy film sets as locations in Scooby Doo, usually, and Scooby and Shaggy in particular are no strangers to working on stunts. It’s a somewhat easy role to put these characters in, instantly crafting a dichotomy between their key traits as to how they’ll act in a danger filled scenario. Although they don’t really play up these ideas too much, Scrappy isn’t pushing them to continue, Shaggy and Scooby don’t want to leave, if anything, Daphne is the protagonist and cog that turns this episode.
She is maybe the best element, with the joke of the director hating reporters and therefore, having Daphne act covertly is funny to me.
Of course, The Gremlin is the other best aspect, a very fun and smearing little monster, somewhat goblin-like in design, with swampy green skin, large pointed ears and spikes on his head, he’s almost reptilian, but this distinctive lack of a box as to his design inspiration, again, he’s a gremlin, rather than a specific kind of creature, denoted solely by his mischievous actions, which are able to excel here. His small posture too aids in this, giving him a further sense of chaos rather than any wider violent threat.
I liked this episode a fair amount, it’s another solid example of how episodes don’t overstay their welcome, nor do they have the room to develop into anything wholly interesting, the stunts are cute but never feel as crazy as the episode is telling me they are.
20. The Scooby Coup
As I started with episode eighteen, some topics I don’t have much interest in, and cars are another.
Taking place in a car show, a spectre appears to steal the blue prints to a new car.
Unlike other car based episodes, the monster isn’t a ghostly racer, but just kind of a ghost. I initially thought this was a reused asset of The Ghost of the Great Haldane, but as far as I can see, this is new, but simply feels a little out of place. Its skeletal face is denoted as wise by the large bushy white eye brows, and the sorcerer-like robe further exemplifies this wizardly concept, but beyond making cars obey him, almost hypnotically, I didn’t really understand why. It lacks much cohesion with the wider episode and themes, and while not inherently a bad thing, he lacks any personality that allows him to stand out all too much.
By no means the worst episode, I didn’t hate watching it, but I lack all too much to say about it.
Thank you for reading this review! The next post will be the final batch of episode for this season, and series!
Have a great day :)
Next Review: The New Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Show Season One Episodes 21-24
Previous Review: The New Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Show Season One Episodes 13-16
Like with the past few sets of episodes, this collection of four has three episodes in that I feel very little towards, and one that I really enjoy.
Wizards and Warlocks is a little oddity, feeling a lot like a short we would have found in the previous series, albeit, a more inspired short. We follow the gang as they head to a convention for a DND inspired game, ostensibly, for Scrappy. It’s this that drives the episode, that keeps me enjoying it, he wanders around shooting magic spells and wearing this little cloak and it’s incredibly endearing. I do therefore wish we got a little more time to focus on Scrappy, he’s the hero of this fairly bland adventure, but we always fall back on Scooby and Shaggy instead, with Scrappy and Daphne literally becoming invisible at one point.
There’s little plot here, the main motivation is the desire to rise the bewitched tower, but the obstacles lack much cohesion, they are somewhat desperate and unfortunately dull. There’s a plate of food that isn’t as it seems, I sure wonder what Shaggy and Scooby will do. It’s a little bland I guess, in a way I don’t feel when watching the pair wander through an empty house, eventually bumping into the monster, because there’s still a cause and effect. Sure, it’s loose, but the characters roam to find clues, or in their case, to find food, they are the reason they fall into the palms of the monster. Whereas here, they have a singular goal, and the problems appear, rather than being found. I hope any of that makes sense. Things happen because they need to happen, rather than the plot naturally unfolding itself.
I love the setting of the castle, but this doesn’t feel like a convention at all, but I’ll ignore that. It’s altogether a very peculiar episode, one I wish I enjoyed more given how much I do adore the Scrappy stuff, but everything else feels so boring, including the villain, a wizard who has very little presence over the episode as a whole.
14. Scoobsie
I feel like I should have enjoyed this episode a lot more than I did - this one might be a me problem. It combines the gothic horror influences that are a staple of the Scooby identity, in this case Phantom of the Opera, with a campy and poppy sensibility, as is the case with Show onwards.
We follow the gang as they head to the set of a soap opera for one of Daphne’s articles, but they are soon dragged into a mystery as the leading lady is stolen. From here, Scooby becomes the titular Scoobsie, a blonde nurse.
Again, this should click with me - the idea of blending concepts from Phantom of the Opera with a soap opera is genius, and the hospital setting is a fun and unique flavour! But I just didn’t click with this one.
The phantom is fine, although he lacks all too much flair within his design. Wearing a cloak, top hat and robbers mask, the design does echo the similar style of camp as the sitcom, it feels far more casual than a traditional Phantom design, here the costume feels like a costume, and the character carries a certain eccentricity required to make him interesting.
Also, they really want you to know who the villain is here, frequently zooming in on the characters ring in and out of costume, there’s no mystery here, but the episode wants you to believe there is. It’s a little egregious.
15. The Mark of the Scooby
I really have nothing to say about this episode.
I zoned out for maybe a minute and the gang were trying to evade the Mexican authorities.
It’s a dream episode, a far more creative spin on one than seen in the likes of Scooby’s Trip to Ahz. It’s a riff on The Mask of Zorro, I think, but it plays with the source material in a transformative manner. I appreciate that a lot, I just didn’t have fun.
Scrappy wears a poncho that looks like Charlie Browns t-shirt. I love Charlie Brown. I also love Scrappy Doo.
16. The Crazy Carnival Caper
This series sometimes carries little gems of episodes, understated stories that aren’t necessarily revolutionary, they aren’t anywhere near the peak of the franchise, and likely won’t end up in a final top fifty, but they are a lot of fun to watch. They make the show worth while to me, in contrast to the prior series which felt monotonous, when even the highs weren’t great.
We follow the gang as they head to their old high school for a science fair, dressed in a more traditional carnival appearance. There’s a scene early on where, somewhat inexplicably, Scooby and Scrappy wind up a jack in the box, and it’s oddly eerie as they sing pop goes the weasel, I love it so much, it’s this darker atmosphere I’ve missed so much. It serves little purpose, but to me, adds so much to crafting a unique tone for this episode.
Truthfully, the episode doesn’t truly rise much higher than this opening, which crafts such a delicious atmosphere that it’s infectious, it leaks into the otherwise almost normal story of the episode. The setting feels like a byproduct of this odd air to the episode, it’s a school fair that is built more so in the manner of a carnival, set with ballooning tents and dunk tanks, stands run by students, yet even their role is very tied to a caricature of a carnival, vending snacks, peanuts and caramel.
Maybe the creepiest aspect of the episode is the villain, a clown. The animation here plays off the early eerie sound design to shade his character in a certain light, but too the exaggerated proportions of his jaw build a sense of menace, perfectly juxtaposed by the bright popping colours he adorns. He’s certainly one of the most interesting monsters I feel the show has had to offer in a little while. I adore how he’s somewhat restrained into typical clown conventions.
This episode has a stupid conclusion, as so many great Scooby Doo episodes should. There is an elaborate explanation of how a suspect was made to disappear using the dunk tank, it’s overlong and convoluted, perfectly summed up by Shaggy and Scooby admitting they don’t understand a thing that’s happening. The mystery itself is the perfect level of stupid!
It’s not perfect, nor does it quite reach the highs of this iteration, but I had fun, and I would take this style of episode any day.
Thank you so much for reading this review!
I think my plan from now on is to write these reviews and post them whenever they're done, rather than trying to stick to a rigid schedule, which was fairly arbitrary and I haven't done for a while anyway. There won't be more than one a week though, I'll backlog them if I'm able to get that many written in a quick succession.
Have a great day!
Next Review: The New Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Show Season One Episodes 17-20 (Coming Soon!)
Previous Review: The New Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Show Season One Episodes 9-12
Unfortunately, this string of episodes are, for the most part, not for me. Be it due to the settings, monsters or general plots that feel repetitive or uninspired. However there is an outlier! Scooby of the Jungle is not said outlier.
We follow the gang as they head to a nature preserve in Africa, following the mysterious disappearance of the local animals. I adore this as a premise, especially as they draw in Scooby and Scrappy, albeit, lightly, to the conflict, with a hypnotic whistle the MacGuffin that lures the animals away. I do wish this was pushed a little further, but I appreciate the influence nevertheless.
However this is kind of where my praise ends, the story quickly peeters out for me, with an Ape as a monster that feels wholly uninteresting. I understand the idea, especially against the human culprits, of having this animal as the villain too, however, we’ve had far too many ape based villains in this series.
I wish I had more to say here, but I find this episode to be rather dull all in all.
10. Scooby-Doo and Cyclops Too
In contrast, this episode is phenomenal, maybe my favourite of this run. We follow the gang as they arrive at Paradise Island, inspired by the TV show Fantasy Island (which has served as an inspiration to the series several times before). Upon arrival, they’re warned of zombies inhabiting the island by a man searching for his missing sister.
The island crafts this gorgeous eerie atmosphere, from the ever beautiful background art that always excels most when it’s exploring the horror landscapes, to the understated designs of the zombies, more based in traditional folklore of hypnosis than the more modern zombie influenced from Romero’s work. They harbour wide eyes, aghast faces, which lends itself well to the typical Hanna-Barbera art style.
Everything in this episode comes together for me, I adore the exploration of this brother searching for his missing sister. His warnings are made all the more creepy by the vacancy of the island, this presumably bustling location drained of life is phenomenal, and perfectly curbs the issue I had in an episode like The Dinosaur Deception.
While the villains are fine, very archetypical characters, their means of capturing and luring is what makes this episode so fun. The score is phenomenal too, one of the stand outs of this iteration. Sometimes the show has a great score but doesn't utilise it all too well, but I love every second of it here.
I also love how this episode allows the supernatural elements introduced in the Scrappy shorts era to once again return, although unlike in Scoobygeist, here they’re used in tandem with other villains, monsters are craved in the way of the victims rather than having the pair themselves dress up, their suits and personas as businessmen are their disguises.
It’s not without issue, it’s about on par with Houndsville in this season for me, and a lot of the issues come from the pacing and runtime again, but regardless, this is a great episode. At least, to me, it’s difficult to gage fan consensus on the Scrappy era episodes - IMDB has fairly high ratings for every episode while something like Serializd has incredibly low ratings for the bulk of his tenure.
11. Scooby Roo
Uh I like when Scrappy gets put in the pouch of a Kangaroo in this episode.
That’s mostly it.
Maybe that’s unfair, but much like episode nine, it’s another that feels repetitive, not only in the wider context of the series, but even within this iteration alone. From the setting that is rocky and mountainous that is evocative of The Quagmire Caper and The Dinosaur Deception to the monster that is a neanderthal, that feels bland and is ultimately monkey-adjacent.
There are little moments here and there that stick out, and these episodes rarely drag - some of the jokes made me chuckle, and I really enjoy when Scrappy teams up with Bingo who is just a normal ass dog. The are elements here that feel similar to Scrappy and Yabba Doo, and I would have loved if there was a greater exploration of that.
This is a fine, serviceable episode, with a monster that’s very uninteresting and a plot that feels all too familiar. If you caught this on TV I’m sure you wouldn’t bat an eye, and that is mostly a compliment.
12. Scooby’s Gold Medal Gambit
The villain of the episode, The Chameleon, feels largely inspired by comic book villains. From his gimmick of being a master of disguises to his slightly over the top glasses that are a very fun addition to his otherwise very human design - they all make him feel like a third rate comic book villain to me.
He’s one of the best elements of this episode, as he breaks out of prison and tries to steal a gold medal. He elevates so many elements of this episode, which feels like a Fearless Detective plot, which is a positive to me, I enjoyed the breath of fresh air this one offered!
This is an episode that, more than most Scooby Doo episodes, feels very fixated on making you laugh, and I did enjoy a some of the shenanigans involving the disguises. They hammer home the worcestershire sauce joke a little too much, but it plays into the ending in a way that feels fun enough for me to give it a pass.
Lots of little details here are fun in fact, such as Scrappy’s costume and a closet that has a big ass label reading “closet”, which I had a fun time with. Not sure why.
I appreciate when the show pushes its formula in a way that still feels true to its identity and yet offers enough interesting to remain engaging. This was a solid one!
Happy New Year!
I'm enjoying this series a fair bit so far. It doesn't have the highs of the first three series, but it's a nice time! I would put it on par with the first Scrappy Doo series, maybe a little higher. This series has a lot more variety at least :)
Also if you enjoy these you might also enjoy my monthly movie wrap ups on my other account @declanowo! They're mostly horror movies, and I've been doing them for a year now (Decembers is on its way :)
Have a great week!
Next Review: The New Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Show Season One Episodes 13-16 (Coming Soon!)
Previous Review: The New Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Show Season One Episodes 5-8
For me, this episode marks a new stride for the series, where the episodes feel like they’re coming together in a more cohesive manner, and it manages to find its footing with the adapted style of the show, at least for the most part.
Hound of the Scoobyvilles is undoubtedly my favourite episode of the eight I’ve watched so far, from the great villain to the fun setting and mystery. It’s imperfect, certainly, but a really fun time.
Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes story, the gang heads to Barkerville Hall in Scotland to investigate what is happening to their sheep, with Scooby soon coming under fire. It’s another episode where a member of the gang is a suspect, albeit, an even less convincing one than in I Left My Neck in San Francisco. Still, I always enjoy these episodes, I only hope one day there is a more convincing or well constructed probability to this.
The Hound evidently draws certain design elements from Scooby, although their similarities are fairly thin. Despite this, I do like this design a lot, it’s conventionally a werewolf, anthropomorphising a dog - the head and collar of chestnut fur are where the design truly comes alive, with dark circles around his piercing yellow eyes, it’s a great way of elevating this character.
Largely, I wish the episode had more room to explore these interesting ideas - the first eight minutes are phenomenal, and then we somewhat jump into the conclusion. Curiously, the episode feels like it craves double the length, the formula is largely unchanged from the Show days, yet it must occupy half the runtime. While many earlier Scooby episodes felt like they had to pad their runtime, I do think that is preferable to how rushed this ending feels. This would be a near perfect episode if not for the simple conclusion. We set up this concept of Scooby being to blame, the townsfolk are furious and it adds another impending threat alongside the hound, but nothing can flourish, we learn the culprit, and the episode ends.
Otherwise this is a great time, I really love this one, even with its imperfections.
6. The Dinosaur Deception
This episode has an inverse of the priors issues, albeit, the length still being an issue shared. Where that episode nailed the setting, monster and building fun set pieces and atmosphere, this episode has a fairly dull atmosphere, the monster is fine, but God, does it nail the investigative side of the story.
We follow the gang as they investigate a dinosaur who has supposedly come to life and started terrorising a town. The dinosaur is similar to the shark in this season's No Sharking Zone, a large creature that is ultimately made of metal. As such, he’s totally fine, but lacks much character. Design wise, he too does little to stand out, he’s a brontosaurus, which is a fun pick rather than a more obvious T-Rex, and the dark green contrasts beautifully against the sandy backgrounds of this episode, but such is about as much as I have to say about him.
This village is one of my biggest gripes with this episode - it feels so empty and bland. Of course, the people are chased from this location, but even before, it doesn’t have much life, which usually isn’t an issue for Scooby, it builds isolation into the plots to craft a scarier atmosphere, but here the openness of this location leaves it feeling uninteresting and underdeveloped.
However, the characters continue to be the series strong suit. I’m incredibly happy to see everyone acting more like themselves, and crafting a far more interesting dynamic between everyone.
7. The Creature Came from Chem Lab
Every so often the show has gorgeous animation and lighting, oddly so, and this opening is a great example of that. I love it a lot.
The episode follows the gang heading to Daphne’s cousin's school after a creature has started scaring off the students, seemingly seeking to cancel the school dance.
Daphne’s cousin is wholly a product of her time in a great way - Jennifer Blake is an incredibly stereotypical 80s teenage girl, and I love her so much. From her blue headband to the styling of her blonde hair, and largely within her personality, she is a great one off character that lands in the leagues of Uncle Nathaniel.
The monster follows another repetitive formula in its design - another conglomerate creature. His forest green design is matched with a crab claw and single exposed eye, and little details such as this allow the character to feel unique in some manner, even if he’s imperfect and still carries a repetitive air. This texturing is a nice touch, and I appreciate the strides they take to make him stand out.
Furthering the feeling of this episode being incredibly of its era, the villain is using the monster to distract from the fact he pirates video games. It’s silly aspects like this that make me love this episode, it’s enveloped by 80s youth culture, it feels almost like a PSA at the end. Even if it’s not as tightly written, or great at crafting atmosphere as Hound is, this is up there for me, just an incredibly fun time with some more great character moments.
8. No Thanks, Masked Manx
Finally, we follow the gang as they head to the Blake Manor for a costume party, however soon find themselves wrapped up in an investigation when Mr Blake’s valuable stamp is stolen.
Looking at the thumbnail for this episode I initially couldn’t remember it, which wholly comes down to the fact said image was of the villain - an ape. Or more accurately, a man dressed as an ape. It’s so dull to me, we’ve had monkey adjacent villains before, and so to take such an open opportunity of a costume party and decide to make the monster a fairly uninspired ape is boring to me.
All of this is a shame, because this episode is great! The Blakes are a standout, this is a very specific depiction of Daphne’s family, one of riches and a pompous lifestyle. All of this is accentuated by their costume party set within their manor.
Rabbit Scrappy is my favourite of the gangs costumes, because it’s Rabbit Scrappy. However I also adore Daphne’s Cowgirl costume, it's very sweet.
My complaints here carry on from the prior episode, as do all of my compliments. However, I view it largely as a positive sign that I am constantly craving more of the show rather than less - even the seven minute shorts of the prior series felt too long sometimes, but here, I would kill for more breathing room!
As is, this was a strong batch of episodes. I can only hope they continue in this vein, or grow even better.
Thank you for reading this weeks reviews! Have a great week :)
Next Review: The New Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Show Season One Episodes 9-12
Previous Review: The New Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Show Season One Episodes 1-4
We arrive at the sixth incarnation of Scooby Doo, containing maybe the most convoluted title yet, which feels like a blend of every prior series name. The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show premiered on September 10, 1983, and would air new episodes until December that same year.
Much as how the title feels like they threw every prior title into a blender, the premise of the show too seeks to echo elements of most prior series. Largely, it feels like a blend of the Scrappy Doo shorts, with the sensibility of The Scooby Doo Show, which was lighter and often more diverse than the gothic and horror centric Where are You. Mysteries are back, as is Daphne, as the show follows the boys working with her in a new journalistic career.
These episodes are eleven minutes long, treated as segments in half our blocks. I will be referring to each segment as its own episode, although much like with the shorts of Scrappy Doo 2, these are sometimes labelled as single episodes with two segments.
1. Scooby the Barbarian
This episode is undoubtedly a return to form for the franchise, and sets up the series and its identity going forwards.
Lets start by discussing the intro, which I mostly love. It’s far catchier and more interesting than the prior series, with a similarly dark opening, drawing typical Scooby motifs such as warped trees and shadowy castles. It slips into a funkier interlude, where the background grows more abstract, a crimson backdrop and shadowy city skyline as the Mystery Machine drives along. It’s oddly short and hardly features Daphne at all, but it’s cute for what it is.
The episode itself grounds us in Norway, after archeologist Professor Busby is kidnapped by a group of Vikings.
The character dynamics shift slightly here - the gang is largely divided into two. Daphne is paired with Scrappy, and they bounce off one another fairly well, although their chemistry is still lacking. In Scrappy’s introductory series, he and the gang at large seldom interacted, and so I do enjoy what's here, but I wish they clashed slightly more, their dynamic is instead more comparable to Fred, Daphne and Velma’s, they are placed here as the sensible, forward thinking characters. Therefore, there is a heightened bravery to Daphne, her curiosity and world weariness rises, as she’s positioned as a foil to Shaggy and Scooby, who feel much closer to their Scooby Doo Show selves. Scrappy and Daphne work because they both strive to solve these mysteries, and therefore, allow episodes to exist.
This also introduces us to Daphne driving the Mystery Machine for the first time!
Our villains are unfortunately nothing special. The lead Viking, Olaf the Terrible, feels near identical to those seen in the Scooby Doo Show episode The Curse of the Viking Lake. They might be re-used assets, or just near carbon copies. His gaggle of followers too don’t stand out, neither in design or personality.
It’s overall a fine episode, unfortunately not one I have all too much to say about, but one that made me happy if only to be back to a more general Scooby style. The shorter runtime is welcome, eleven minutes is perfect for this writing style, it forces everything to move slightly faster than in the twenty two minute episodes the mysteries were usually confined to, but I find that the runtime doesn’t impede the quality.
For what it is, the episode is fine, and I hope the quality picks up!
2. No Sharking Zone
The follow up episode exhibits many of the same structural issues, while maintaining a similar warm charm.
No Sharking Zone sees the gang taking pictures for a surfing festival, where they learn of a lost treasure, and the seaweed monster and shark who are protecting it.
There’s a far more interesting setting and villains at hand here. This island setting, alongside the more aquatic focused segments later on in the episode, reflect more of a Scooby Doo Show sensibility, blending lighter settings with the usual monsters of the franchise; in particular, I love how the episode plays with the ocean, making it feel unsafe and incredibly vast, there’s a lot of character here that allows the location to maintain a certain creepy aesthetic.
The episode utilises a pair of villains, the first a great white shark, a fairly simple translation of the animal, although I love that he’s made from metal, and the sheer size of him, which adds a grander presence to the character. Meanwhile the Seaweed monster is more unique, following in the vein of characters such as the Wax Phantom from Where are You, the creature is a homogony of seaweed, somewhat of a golem, displayed as thoughtless and brutish, a fairly common archetype for Scooby villains. I particularly love how the crimson eyes pop against his mossy green body, and the intricacies added to layer the seaweed upon his body.
In spite of a short runtime, the episode does constantly move, from surfing segments to scuba diving, it rarely feels stagnant, which makes it all the more frustrating how little of an impact it leaves, it’s a surprisingly forgettable episode, save for a handful of jokes here and there I enjoyed, and a great setting.
There’s also more of a relationship developed between Daphne and Scrappy which is lovely to see, the gang is growing into a more cohesive unit, which I hope continues over time as details are ironed out.
While I prefer this episode to the prior, they certainly fall into similar areas for me.
3. Scoobygeist
Part of me absolutely adores this episode, and another part of me finds it incredibly frustrating.
Scoobygeist follows the gang as they enter an allegedly haunted house, with Daphne intending on disproving that ghosts rule the building by locking them inside as proof they spent the night. This is a great premise that ties in perfectly with the plot of the gang as journalists.
Furthermore, the house itself and the hauntings are great, some of the most gorgeous backgrounds I’ve seen in a while, all of which ooze with the same creepy flair as what one would crave from a traditional Scooby aesthetic. This pairs perfectly with the eerie score here, which I absolutely adore!
There also isn’t a conventional villain to this episode, rather, we see several different hauntings, all of which afflict Shaggy and Scooby, but less so Scrappy and Daphne. Already, this gives the house again more personality, it feels as if the location is the villain, and further exemplifies the episode's intent on having the gang investigate the location, it comes alive and allows the episode to feel like an atmosphere piece, rather than a traditional mystery or narrative.
In particular, I love the Skeleton, Organ Playing Ghost and Ghosts under the bed, who all have fun designs or memorable scenes. There’s certainly a relation between this episode and The New Scooby Doo Movies episode The Mystery of Haunted Island, which has a handful of phenomenal designs that ultimately are underutilised. In contrast, these ghosts feel used better given the episodes far shorter runtime, and the general plots of both stories.
However, I do find the way Daphne is written here to be incredibly frustrating and somewhat out of character. Her desire to disprove the ghostly sighting makes sense, especially given there remains certain threads of continuity still between every series of Scooby Doo, therefore, assuming this is the latest point in a theoretical timeline, she would have disproved countless hauntings, her scepticism would make sense, alongside playing into her journalism. However, she witnesses certain hauntings, specifically at the end which saps any life from Daphne, the final revelation that this was a truly haunted building should act as a catharsis to her disbelief of the boys, but alas, the gang flee the house, and nothing more is said.
With this aside, this is the strongest episode so far, by no means perfect, but with my gripes aside, I enjoyed it a lot.
4. The Quagmire Caper
This episode follows the gang as they seek to aid a seismologist in researching strange earthquakes and a mud monster who has risen alongside them.
This is another episode that falls in par with the first two for me, and the series as a whole is far more fun to watch than the bulk of Scrappy Doo 2.
The Mud Monster feels like a less interesting version of the Seaweed Monster, not aided by how close they fall to one another, and the one I prefer preceding this one - this is once more a design where the monster is hulking and built of a single material, but he stands out far less than the prior.
In fact, I find myself with very little to say here, it was a solid time, and there is certainly a greater development in the characters and how they’re written, but it does little to stand out.
Thank you so much for reading this review!
I'm going to be sticking to fortnightly posts for now :)
Have a great week!
Next Review: The New Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Show Season One Episodes 5-8 (Coming Soon!)
Previous Review: A Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) Retrospective
Scrappy Doo was first introduced to the world in the series Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo, a fairly standard series of the show, the gang, now six, went on their usual mysteries, unmasked monsters, etc… While it’s not one of the franchises strongest, it’s fine, serviceable, and rarely are its problems derived from the titular pup.
However, further edits were made when crafting this second era of Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (hence the 2 often posthumously added to the ending of the title). Namely, the gang was halved - gone are Fred, Daphne and Velma - the runtime was cut to seven minute shorts, and no longer was there a specific formula, but rather, the franchise used a looser structure. Monsters were now real, although they still could be people in masks, the horror aesthetics were now largely shed, although appeared infrequently. All of this is to say, the series takes some bold strokes to reinvent the famously formulaic series.
Did it work? No. The subsequent series is a more traditional take on the franchise, and most iterations since have been too, with a handful of notable exceptions. Often this is regarded as one of the weakest periods of the show's history, and overlooked entirely.
With this being said, Scooby Doo continues to air to this day, he remains in the cultural zeitgeist, and none of this would have been possible without the franchise's longevity, promoted by this series.
I went to do a final look over this series before I put it to rest, finally, this has killed my momentum, it has broken me and finally, it is over. Throughout I will recommend a handful of episodes that I think offer a good flavour of the series for anyone who wants to see what this era was like without pouring themselves into ninety-nine episodes. It’s much more enjoyable in short bursts anyway.
Season One is a hodgepodge of ideas, a cacophony of concepts that can occasionally work. Plots are often incidental, the stories fixate more on a series of gags, and I often found they like to structure these as long chase sequences. Given the tiny runtime, there’s little room for anything, really, and therefore, this approach makes sense, however offers very little to the audience. It’s evidently seeking a Looney Tunes-esque approach, however, it doesn’t have the same flair - the characters and world is so heightened there that it works to craft these elaborate and grand gags, and hell, they’re good, fun, brimming with life. These episodes instead feel like they’re seeking simply to fill the time, to replicate something the characters aren’t capable of. The series has always contained elements of slapstick and visual comedy, but it’s infinitely weaker here than ever before.
Some episodes follow more traditional mystery structures, which don’t exactly work in the short runtime. Others act as long chase sequences, which is maybe the most frequent. And then there is the occasional oddball episode. Watching three or four segments from this season offers almost all one needs to know about the entire three season run, they’re incredibly repetitive and derivative, maybe the series biggest sin. Little innovation is sought, and the characters feel blander than ever, slowly sucked of their life.
I would recommend checking out A Fit Night Out for Bats, which has one of the more interesting villains in the series, alongside the more traditional flavour of horror aesthetics for the franchise. I also found it to be one of the more engaging chases. The Chinese Food Factory is a great example of how they seek to craft the usual Scooby formula into these shorter runtimes, and finally, Hang in There, Scooby or Stuntman Scooby are a pair of unique stories, the former sees the gang stuck on a paraglider, the latter working as stuntmen on a film set.
Season Two is the best of the three in my opinion, with the episodes feeling like they have the most creativity, and so even when the structure is mostly unchanged, and many of the problems linger, there are more interesting ideas at play.
It feels like they are more willing to throw things at the wall here, building upon ideas presented in the first season, such as an episode that takes a public domain story, and spins it into Scooby Doo, and gaggier tales that don’t simply revolve around chases.
It’s still bogged down by pacing issues, and while the characters are better here, they still feel weaker than even their earliest incarnations. I would recommend Scooby’s Roots, for a fun supernatural story that fixates mostly on gags and mild chases, Scooby Nocchio, which takes a specific sequence from Pinocchio rather than the entire tale, which allows for more room to breathe and explore. Hardhat Scooby is a great example of an episode where the gang get a job, a trope a small handful of episodes share. Finally, Scooby Dooby Goo explores a more fantastical style of storytelling, the characters are placed in a scenario that would have been otherwise untouched.
Season Three makes the greatest shift, adding western inspired segments featuring new characters Yabba Doo and Deputy Dusty, alongside Scrappy Doo. Omitting Scooby and Shaggy is a bold choice, and it certainly makes the episodes feel fresher, and it denotes a shift in focus, Scrappy was the focus now.
This season also largely splits up the Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy stories into two paths: crime stories centred on the gang working at the Fearless Detective Agency, led by Shaggy’s often unseen uncle, and school stories where the characters encounter more slice of life, teen centric stories.
For the Fearless episodes, I’d recommend Dumb Waiter Caper, which is exemplary of the exploration of the crime genre within these episodes, with gangs and mob bosses, the episodes are almost steeped in a noir style. These stories use their runtime well, and feel fresh in contrast to so many boring stories.
Although not my favourite, I can’t not recommend Double Trouble Date for the teen centred stories, which never wholly land with me. That one exists in a more grounded reality, while my other recommendation, Super Teen Shaggy, is slightly more heightened. These episodes often fall far more flat for me, but the latter is truly great. Both styles rarely introduce any interesting antagonists, often similar gangster or bully archetypes respectively.
Finally, Low Down Showdown is maybe the best example of what to expect from an episode of Yabba and Scrappy Doo, or at least, it explores the characters in an interesting way, once again imploring a somewhat forgettable antagonist.
As a whole, this is a weak series, with season two the best of a bad bunch, and season one the worst undoubtedly. While some episodes are fun and cute, sometimes even funny, I don’t think watching all of these is worth it, not without some greater purpose, not unless this style speaks to you.
It’s a vital experiment, Scooby Doo as a series is constantly shifting its scope in genre, from the mystery and horror roots of Where are You, to a sharp focus in comedy within Movies, to a blend within Show and Scrappy Doo, to this era where comedy is solely the name of the game.
Yet, it never wholly detached itself, the identity of this series feels forever tethered to what came before, not in the sense is seeks to honour and evolve upon it, but rather, it never carves its own identity, it feels uncertain if anything.
It’s what therefore leads us to having some of the blandest depictions of our protagonists, and some of the most boring villains of the franchise, both in design and personality, they are largely cardboard, a blend of more traditional Scooby monsters with their charm scooped clean, to some more fun fantastical characters, to bullies and gangsters.
The height of these villains for me are when they feel like they can breathe, the Leprechaun and vampire in Hard Hat Scooby, these are episodes centred around these villains, their aesthetics, personality, and they’re some of the best of the series for it.
Thank you so much for reading this review! I am glad to be through this period of the show, but also glad I finished it, the blog certainly gives me purpose in this once pipedream of watching every series of Scooby Doo. In two weeks I'll begin with the next series!
Have a great week!
Next Review: The New Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Show Season One Episodes 1-4 (Coming Soon!)
Previous Review: Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) Season Three Episodes 28-39
(Note: Scrappy and Yabba Doo episodes titles are coloured blue)
28. Close Encounters of the Worst Kind
We open with the gang finding a UFO in the distance while having a picnic; soon after, the aliens that emerge begin inadvertently terrorising the gang as they seek to complete their “Earth scavenger hunt”.
I love the premise for this one, the idea of an alien led scavenger hunt fits perfectly into this era of the show, it’s ripe for the gang to bounce around freely with a fairly loose plot, and it exists not too dissimilar to Scooby Doo and Genie Poo from earlier this season. The villains are seeking their goal only, while our gang try to thwart their plans, although I do prefer that episode, if only for the fact the characters feel a little off here. After their initial attack, where the Mystery Machine and their trousers are stolen, the aliens leave the gang alone, it is rather them who hunt down the aliens afterwards. Sure, this makes sense for Scrappy, yet Shaggy chases after them with a certain righteousness and an unusual bravery.
Referring back to Genie Poo, the episode even ends with Scrappy and Shaggy teaming up, albeit, in a lower stakes capacity, as Scooby is whisked away. This is something we’ll see in the subsequent episode too, an interesting pattern.
Ultimately I don’t mind these problems all too much because these characters are becoming fun to watch once more, I’m not certain what it is, however there feels like a shift in how they’ve been written. Sure, they still lack much of the “depth” of the earliest seasons of the franchise, nor do they exhibit many of the best qualities that would be added in subsequent series, but they’re a little less flanderised, for now.
As for the aliens, it’s difficult to look at them without thinking to the other alien design seen in this very block, but alas, I shall try. The trio appear almost “looney toons” esque in design, with their various lime shaded skin and sci-fi costuming of silver bands wrapped around block colours, however, they breathe a human and feminine quality to the characters through their hair, one with ginger pigtails, another a simple sprig, and the third an almost bob like cut. These details feel evocative of when we’ve seen characters dressed as women in the series before, although here it’s not played overtly as a joke, there is a certain androgyny to the designs through the more masculine voices juxtaposing the feminine hair, somewhat dress-like shape of one of the aliens costumes, and the otherwise inherent androgyny to their uniform. It’s a detail I really enjoy!
29. Captain Canine Caper
Returning to Fearless, the gang are hired by a film producer to stand in for their lead, Captain Canine, who looks identical to Scooby, and this is all because said lead is missing, and okay the culprit is once again the character that calls upon the gang to solve the mystery. It’s less so a plot twist now and more of a given, in spite of the more traditional Scooby presentation of this as a mystery, fit with an unmasking and all. No motive though - he simply states he thought they wouldn’t solve the case. Okay? He spends the entire episode trying to stop them from solving the case he hired them to solve what was his goal, please someone tell me.
The design of the superhero borrows that of Scooby’s head, although puffs out his chest slightly, giving him a more “muscular” physique. The powder blue contrasts nicely with the bright orange of the cape, and I enjoy the design generally, although there’s a lacking pop that would truly evoke a comic book style for this hero.
The dognapper meanwhile borrows design cues from the Phantom (of the Opera), with a mask that covers his eyes and nose, and a large cloak atop his body, although this swaps out the gothic sensibilities seen in the actual Phantom’s design for an over the top crimson shade. He is totally fine and carries a heap more personality than many other crooks in the series.
The episode itself isn’t anything new or all too special, although I love the way it uses the unique sets that would come with a studio space like this; I love the use of the shark and clocktower especially, but found the gorilla “subplot” a little tedious. There was a gorilla, who was Shaggy, but then a real gorilla, and it was just too many gorillas! It’s a weird trope for Scooby where there are constantly gorillas on film sets - what are their asses doing here? They never appear all too happy.
Once again, a weirdly out of character moment at the end where it’s revealed to have been Scooby enacting the action and fighting the villain, and he just giggles, it’s played for laughs that he did this, but it feels a little off in terms of characterisation. Still, another decent one for sure!
30. Alien Schmalien
Everyone stop talking - Zylon is here.
Weirdly enough, this episode opens very similarly to Close Encounters, just an episode over - Scrappy, Dusty and Yabba are stargazing when they see a UFO land, and an alien emerges soon after. However, it instantly switches things up by having this alien be the coolest, and a friend, having accidentally crash landed and requiring assistance returning to space.
Zylon the alien is the coolest and an all timer Scooby Doo weirdo. His design is simply so endearing, just look at him! With the big ass head and big ass eyes and body shaped like a bowling pin, he rules! I adore his voice too, his powers are great, being able to levitate characters, at one point he’s dressed in a cowboy costume which is pretty cool, and he’s just friendly! I love Zylon so much that I got so excited and drew him straight away.
This episode isn’t bad, but it’s carried by Zylon and generally, the character interactions here, which are a lot of fun! It’s maybe moving a little too quick at times. The threat here comes via a pair of crooks that want to capture this alien, which is great, it halts the gangs plan to help repair the spaceship, which they could otherwise do. However it feels fairly stagnant in terms of plot.
There’s almost some good writing in here: at the start of the episode, Dusty refuses to believe that Zylon is a real alien, which is how the episode gets its name, it’s resolved fairly quickly, with Zylon using his powers. This is a great way to set up the powers and also show a more sceptical side to Dusty, juxtaposing Scrappy and Yabba, and by extension returning to a trope otherwise retired, where characters wouldn’t believe in the supernatural in the original series. By now, that wouldn’t work with Shaggy or Scooby (but they sure do try sometimes anyway) but Dusty lives in a more grounded world, it’s good stuff! Later, as Zylon is being paraded around in a circus, the gang decide to make it appear like Zylon isn’t an alien to break him out - the concept here appears to return to Dusty’s initial scepticism. However nothing much comes of it, it’s more so used as an excuse to move the plot along very quickly.
Still, I like this a lot. I love Zylon so much.
31. The Incredible Cat Lady Caper
Once again, these episodes are showing an abundance of potential, with this one in particular being a great time irrespective of some third act pitfalls.
We open this episode following the titular cat lady, a Cat Woman inspired character who steals using her posse of cats, with these ranging from common house cats to lions and panthers, a phenomenal decision. Generally, there’s an eeriness to this opening, her introduction is great and the re-used score feels like the show returning to its spookier roots.
Her design is great too; rather than taking Catwoman’s typical black colour scheme, this character instead imposes a striking white and pink style, which works perfectly to evoke house cat imagery. However she does largely feel inspired, almost ripped, from that character, with her cat shaped cowl and taste for jewels, it’s therefore difficult to love her entirely when she’s not exactly her own character, but this isn’t to say she’s not fun to watch.
Mid-robbery, we cut to the gang at Fearless, the score instantly becomes far more upbeat, and they realise that the Cat Lady’s next robbery intends to take place right above their building. I found the characters to feel much more like themselves here, a certain bumbling aspect flairs and they don’t seek out stopping her without reason, it’s an accident they get caught up within her affairs.
I enjoy all of this opening, and even into the second act, but I lose a little interest as we reach the manor setting, the episode feels somewhat stunted from here, although the resolution of luring and subduing all the cats with a room of milk is great.
32. Picnic Poopers
I love the opening to this episode: while Shaggy and Scooby sit eating at the annual teen picnic, discussing their joy at not joining the marathon, Scrappy returns to inform them he’s signed them up for the marathon.
It’s a great opening, but there’s little room for story with the concept of the trio running a marathon. Ultimately, it’s evident how it will instead become incredibly bland, falling back on the series frequent tropes, which can be seen through the introduction of a bully and his bulldog.
In spite of the episode making it very evident that Shaggy and Scooby want to lose so they can avoid the wrath of the bully, we hard cut to them drawing several points into, what is in reality more of a sports day than just marathon - this is incredibly contrived!
There’s nothing new here, not in the characters, the settings or conflicts, it’s an unremarkable and derivative episode.
33. Go East Pardner
Yabba, Dusty and Scrappy head to the big city in this episode! That’s pretty much it.
The entire time I was thinking of how much more fun this episode could have been if, instead of the gang aiding the police, they were working alongside Shaggy and Scooby, their methods clashing, the characters never meet which feels like a missed opportunity, in fact, it’s somewhat baffling and only acts as further evidence that Scooby himself wasn’t the juggernaut he once was.
There’s nothing here, I wish I could say anything more, but they don’t use this premise for any interesting story, it’s the same kind of crime centric plot we would see in Tumbleweed, only less interesting because they’ve been plucked from their usual and unique setting.
34. One Million Years Before Lunch
I despise when Scooby does caveman or prehistoric stories. Rarely do they work - the odd dinosaur in the present day can be interesting, and I won’t entirely write off a story of a caveman, although all the ones we’ve seen prior to this are incredibly weak, but I especially despise episodes where the gang goes into the past.
Upon building an aeroplane, kind of, the gang accidently fall back in time, where a cavewoman and dinosaur fall in love with Shaggy and Scooby. Despite this initial scene making it incredibly clear the pair are not interested in romantic pairings, we cut to them living with them. Tonally this is all over the place, and the episode is constantly bouncing back and forth on whether any of these characters like each other. A caveman arrives and steals the cavewoman, which I’m fairly sure has been done before, but regardless, suddenly Shaggy cares for her.
I mildly enjoy Scrappy’s interactions with this new cast, but there is nothing here for me at all.
35. Where’s the Werewolf
It’s weird how creatively bankrupt these last few episodes feel. In spite of its pitfalls, one of the greatest strengths this series has had is with its creativity, when it shines, it shines, although when it doesn’t, we end up with a regurgitated mess of story.
This episode is conventionally near identical to Moonlight Madness - there Shaggy wears an amulet that turns him into a werewolf under moonlight, while here, Scooby is given a medicine that changes him into a werewolf under direct moonlight. Scrappy too has had a werewolf episode, so we’ve completed the trilogy I guess.
Again, this isn’t a bad episode, not great by any means, but I appreciate the way it draws in two human antagonists who want to hand in Scooby to earn money, there are at the very least some stakes here. I also enjoy Scooby’s werewolf design, given that he’s a dog, it doesn’t suffer from the usual, somewhat gross, designs of Scooby Doo werewolves, here he has his head accentuated, a wider jaw, sharper teeth and a shaggy collar and face, while still maintaining the usual body shape and structure of Scooby.
36. Up a Crazy River
In this episode, a group of thieves steal Dusty.
I like it.
It’s nothing revolutionary, but the river centric setting and old villains allow this episode to stand out - once more, Dusty is a standout, I love his interactions and focus in this story as Yabba and Scrappy seek to save him.
That’s all.
37. Hoedown Showdown
I don’t even know if I want to offer this episode the justice of having me write about it.
Okay, so the gang are going to meet Shaggy’s relatives, the “Shaggbillys”. We’re introduced to Shaggy’s cousin, Betty Lou, and the family's rivals, the McGurks, one of whom, Bubba, had asked Betty Lou to the titular hoedown, however she turned him down given he hasn’t showered. So now Shaggy is at the end of this feud, and must find a way to give Bubba a bath before he’s killed, or something.
It's lifeless, choked full of uninteresting stereotypes that offer nothing in the way of character or unique conflicts, it’s a retread of many of this series' worst episodes, worst traits, all with a bland backdrop.
38. Snow Job Too Small
In this episode, Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy must escort a child to a house under the guise of Fearless, for if he doesn’t reach it in time, he won’t receive his inheritance.
As the last episode in the series to feature these characters, I enjoy that it contains many conventions of this era, and prior eras, a man in a suit, although the episode isn’t a mystery, there’s the usual crime motifs and of course, the detective agency. It’s a nice culmination of everything that’s come before.
The Abominable Snowman’s design is fine, it leans into an incredibly human appearance, simply coloured the same snowy shade, however, the design is elevated by the more monstrous motifs, the elvish pointed ears, furry beard and body and small jagged eyes, they allow the character to pop a little more.
Wilbur, the child, is a great secondary antagonist, it’s fun to watch the gang aid this little asshole, hating every second of it, he’s incredibly entitled which plays perfectly against the cast's personalities.
It’s far from perfect, but it’s fine! I love the snowy designs.
We’re nearly there.
39. Bride and Gloom
This episode ends with the line “The name is Yippity Yabbady Doo, and don’t you forget it”, as our heroes stare directly into the camera. There’s almost a desperation to this ending, a finality to it all, an understanding that this is the end. Yabba and Dusty haven’t been seen since, with a comic appearance an exception. This final utterance of the characters catchphrase, in and of itself an allusion to Fred Flintstone, feels like a lastage attempt to keep these characters and their world afloat. Yet, ask a large chunk of Scooby fans, and I doubt they could tell you about Dusty.
It’s a shame, because this world, these characters, showed genuine potential. I always looked forward to returning to them at the end of the trio of episodes, they were fun to spend time with, even if the episodes themselves were lackluster, or in this ones case, bad.
There’s little legacy here, hell, when I started this season, I considered whether or not to omit these episodes entirely, they are sometimes treated as their own entity, separate from the rest of the series, but I’m glad I included them. Again, they’re rarely great, but these episodes contain some of the more interesting character dynamics and conflicts in these past series - hell, even including the first iteration of Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo.
This episode is nothing, like I said, it’s downright bad - Horrible Homer has thrown boulders at the guys because he wants an “eligible female”. It’s threaded together with this shotty premise, as Yabba falsifies himself as a fiance briefly, before the character falls in love with someone else who stands up against him. It’s bad.
Still, the ending lingers. I wish I could learn more about this series, about what the creatives were told to make, what they wanted to make, and if they wanted to continue it. I know many don’t care for this series, and I don’t blame them, but it’s a curious oddity I would love to understand even slightly deeper.
And finally, it’s over.
I am free of Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo 2.
Thank you so much for reading this post! I feel like I've been watching this series for much too long now. I'm happy to be moving onto something new :)
Have a great week!
Next Review: Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) Retrospective
Previous Review: Scooby-Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) S3 E16-27
Scooby-Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) Season 3 Episodes 16 - 27
(Note: Scrappy and Yabba Doo episodes titles are coloured blue)
16. Cable Car Caper
I really enjoy the way this series splits its episodes between the trio working at the Fearless Detective Agency, and with more generic, Archie’s style school shenanigans, although, the latter definitely works worse than something like the aforementioned Archie’s Show, given the main cast is Shaggy and a pair of dogs. It’s why ultimately, a show like the Archie’s works - it has a cast of characters that fit into the setting, that allow this world to come alive. Such remains the case for the Fearless Agency portion of the stories, but it’s curious watching an almost scramble for ideas and characters within the school storylines - funnily enough, it would have been a perfect way to use and flesh out Fred, Daphne and Velma. Irrespective of the issues, it keeps these otherwise very stale episodes feeling a little fresher!
Here we venture into the detective world, with a genuinely great premise: cable cars across the city are mysteriously disappearing. It’s such a simple but effective hook to the episode. So why do we spend the first minute or so of the episode watching characters spin plates? Even when we learn about the sliding doors that are consuming the cable cars, there’s little pay off - they’re trying to rob a safe in an abandoned, underground city. All of this has so much potential to tell an interesting story, but unfortunately the episode fixates on the usual slew of gags.
So many of my issues stem from the repetitive nature of said gags, there’s little to spice up these episodes or stories - there’s so much meat here with a story like this, so much potential to craft a mystery or to use this setting to its advantage, but instead we get the usual costumes, over and over, with no variation on these ideas. And when I’ve sat through sixty or seventy segments of this by now, it grows a little tiresome.
17. Muscle Trouble
There’s little to say about this episode except to acknowledge how derivative it feels; plucking elements from Strongman Scooby, Double Trouble Date, Hang in There, Scooby-Doo and so many others, the story details Shaggy accidentally shows up Muscles Malone, and as such, the antagonist challenges him to a sailboat competition.
Also he has a bulldog.
There’s nothing here except the fact he’s called Muscles Malone.
18. Low Down Showdown
Spoofing the movie High Noon, this is an episode that shows a lot of promise! Big Bad Bucko has escaped from jail, and he’s headed towards Tumbleweed for revenge, with Dusty his main target.
It’s great to play with the power dynamics of Dusty as the deputy in a more grand manner; Dusty is frequently undercut by Yabba, he’s evidently cowardly, although well intentioned and a man of the law, someone who cares about his role. It’s for this reason I find him to be such an enjoyable character to watch, it’s why he stands out against Shaggy or Fred, he’s somewhat of a merging of their most interesting traits in this regard.
As such, having him forced to fight back is a lot of fun. They play up his cowardice a lot here, which is fine, it works contextually to the episode, and they do a great job at building up the villain of the episode as a threat, it’s genuinely well crafted, it manages to balance telling an actual story, character driven at that, while maintaining the usual comedy of the series.
It’s far from perfect - hell, far from great. It suffers from a lot of the sloppiness of the other episodes it shares a show with, but still, there are glimmers of hope sprinkled around! I adore watching both the dogs seek to uphold the reputation of Dusty, alongside the way the episode is ultimately resolved; Scrappy uses Dusty as a marionette, it’s a lot of fun! Incredibly creative.
19. Comic Book Caper
I don’t mind this episode either!
Fearless Detective Agency are hired to guard a comic book at a convention. Setting this episode in such a vibrant and varied location already pushes this episode up in terms of my enjoyment, the background characters can be more interesting as such, and the environment offers new ways for the characters to bounce around.
I fucking love the design of Mr Morley, he’s just such a weird little Scooby Doo freak, one of my favourite side characters in a while. There’s something about him.
Discussing designs, Slime Boy is fun too! It’s a smart choice to have the thief dress as the superhero from the comic, not only because the character is therefore a prop all around the backgrounds, but also to acquaint us with this world a little better! He has the traditional superhero design of spandex, with an exposed torso and legs, all coated in slime, it’s layered in a satisfying manner, I adore how gloopy he feels and the shade of mossy green is nice, it’s somewhat more swampy than slimy in hue, but there’s a definite grossness to him that I adore.
Other additions to this episode that make it come to life come in the form of action phrases appearing as the gang fights, and a background Jeannie I noticed that made me happy! Also the final shot is gorgeous.
It’s an episode that flourishes in style, it’s a fun time to watch if you’re not binging the episodes, good in isolation, certainly. It suffers from a problem where, for some reason, everything is explained, such as a sequence where Slime Boy is above the gang and so Scrappy announces to Scooby that he’s standing above them, like thanks Scrappy, we have eyes.
Sorry Scrappy.
But irrespective, this is a solid episode! A stand out from a rough batch, certainly.
20. Misfortune Teller
This episode follows Shaggy, a fortune teller, as he predicts the future of a school bully and is forced to ensure he wins every game in the carnival to avoid facing his wrath.
Why is Shaggy a fortune teller? This one they don’t even try to explain, we open and there he is! It’s fine, I don’t mind.
It’s a fairly simple sitcom-esque story, as we watch Scrappy and Scooby aid in ensuring the bully, Arby, wins every game. It’s totally fine but suffers from a lack of escalation.
This one is really thin to discuss - I love a joke here where Scooby changes a one hundred dollar reward to a one dollar reward, I had a chuckle at this, but otherwise it’s fairly forgettable. There’s no cause and effect within any of these stories, and one can argue that requesting such in a cartoon like this is futile, however, I think most stories work best when they have something happen as a result of something else, plain and simple. But without consequence, it’s difficult to get invested into the story, nor the comedy, it all melts away and leaves me fairly bored. I enjoy living in this heightened reality, but I would still enjoy a plot for said reality.
21. Vild Vest Vampire
I wanted this episode to be good so bad, and it’s not bad! It’s just nothing all too special.
We follow the gang as they dig up a coffin, finding a vampire sealed within, and they’re forced to put a stop to his schemes of turning the city into his zombies.
It’s a great premise, and I adore the way it draws in inspirations from classical vampire’s, namely Dracula, to craft this plot. It feels so much more evocative of the novel rather than the usual Universal Monsters style the show loves, this iteration of Dracula haunts a small town, he brings chaos and “death” in his wake. It reminds me a lot of ‘Salem’s Lot.
Everything about this vampire is as you would expect - he’s adorned with black clothing, a large cloak laced with crimson that offers that usual striking pop to a Dracula-like character’s design, however here we see the addition of a black moustache, which I cannot help but love, this and his hat are suggestive of Count Zarko’s role as a cowboy prior to turning, it’s what offers him such a great flair, in my eyes.
Unfortunately, the content isn’t quite as strong as the opening and imagery the episode uses, but this alone is enough to allow it to leave a lasting impact, it draws in the traditional horror aesthetics of the Where are You era and bleeds them into this western world, I love there being a genuine and heavy threat in these episodes, the characters all react in great ways to the situations, it’s the kind of story I wish we could still see in the regular episodes! It’s deeply frustrating how much more interesting Dusty and Scrappy are here than anyone else is in any corner of the show, at this point in time.
Imperfect, still somewhat bland, but the episode will undoubtedly be one of my favourites of the season.
22. A Gem of a Case
In this episode, Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy are dressed as old women and a poodle respectively, while on a plane, seeking to keep their jewels hidden from… Fingers Malone. I don’t know man. It’s just Fingers Malone. However little do they know, Fingers Malone is on the plane with them.
I will give the episode this, it’s action packed, constantly moving to something new. While I can’t say I find much of said new ideas interesting, I appreciate how much it packs into this episode, when many others feel incredibly empty.
While most of the Fearless plots feel inspired by detective and spy movies, this feels like it’s built upon certain conventions of a more action centric spy genre. I appreciate it, and Fingers Malone, more than I enjoy it.
23. From Bad to Curse
The gang head to a Romani camp under Fearless, where they are requested to help thwart an attempt to have the Romani Queen, Rose’s powers plucked from her amulet.
As one might expect, the episode is choked full of stereotypes, it’s nowhere near as bad as some earlier episodes, although that’s not to this one's credit, rather, detailing how much further these stories have to go. While the story itself isn’t built on these prejudices, they are present, the boys are weary of Rose the entire episode, and while I could see this as a means of characterising them, a prejudice coming from fear, the episode itself beckons us to laugh at her too, said “comedy” coming from stereotypes and common cultural motifs.
As an episode, it’s fine, it has far more cause and effect than many prior episodes, which is all I’ve been asking for here, but alas, it’s still nothing truly interesting. Any ideas I enjoy, like Scrappy’s kindness here, are dragged down by countless other poor choices.
Unfortunately I don’t love this one.
24. Tumbleweed Derby
Yabba, Dusty and Scrappy enter their horse into a derby, and with them the favourites to win, the owners decide to sabotage them, wanting the trophy for themselves.
Here is another episode I enjoy far more than I like, it’s a great use of their desert setting and exploration of westerns, but unfortunately the episodes have to fight doubly as hard to capture my attention because I don’t love said setting nor genre.
Still, I think this more closed off setting is offering a great deal of more interesting and innovative stories - while I can’t say the episode quality is all too much better, I will admit that I do prefer these segments to the usual Shaggy and Scooby ones.
25. Disappearing Car Caper
I’d like to discuss that the way I’ve been watching these episodes, several blocks after another, was very rarely the means by which one would watch these, it was never intended. These were designed as Saturday morning cartoons, and I have sought during my time with these to replicate that feeling, I have sat and had cereal while watching these in the morning, and truthfully, these are the most enjoyable times watching them. While it doesn’t inherently make the episodes better, while I don’t find myself awestruck by any of these, I don’t find myself anywhere near as bored. Maybe such comes from the feeling of “participating”, but irrespective, these reviews, more so than any other series, feel hindered by setting.
However, Where are You and Show are two series I absolutely adore, shows I love despite them being taken from their original existence and airing blocks. Therefore, I don’t think it’s wholly fair to suggest that these episodes are misunderstood (to me) masterpieces. However, it certainly helps watching a smaller amount at a time.
As far as this episode is concerned, I like it! The gang head to a carpark for a stakeout under Fearless, trying to find a local car thief, Pistons McGee. I love this episode putting a somewhat fantastical spin on a more simple crime, with Pistons, a bald evil man type, shrinking down the cars to steal them en masse.
It’s a fun way to lead into a character's shrunk plot. They don’t do a whole load with this idea - the gang are small, run around the villains house while being small, before becoming big again and saving the day. But I enjoy it nevertheless, they incorporate, again nothing revolutionary, but a mouse and cheese which I bloody love, and springs as means of them jumping high. There’s an inherent creativity laced into this story that I appreciate, even if it can veer into a somewhat derivative patch.
26. Scooby Doo and Genie Poo
This episode is almost great.
The gang are having a picnic on the beach, when a bottle washes up, and from said bottle, Jasmine the genie, and her pet poodle, Genie Poo, rise. Their goal instantly becomes to return themselves to ancient Arabia, and I think this is in part what makes them so interesting as villains, they have a specific goal they need to reach. There is a location set for them to head to - a museum - and the issue that arises is that Genie Poo falls in love with Scooby and wants to bring him back with them.
I do wish that the Genie Poo aspect wasn’t so, creepy, for lack of a better term. She's infatuated with Scooby, forcing him around with her and even using magic to make him fall for her too. It's a little gross, and the only major aspect that bogs down the episode for me.
Jasmine’s design is incredibly evocative to that of Jeannies, with similar costuming, ginger hair and a likeness to Daphne. They do have many differences, namely Jasmine’s hat, which shares the same violet shade as her outfit, and her hair is styled differently, not to mention her far more mischievous personality, which allows her to stand out.
Having a Shaggy and Scrappy team up as they attempt to retrieve Scooby is a lot of fun, it’s rare and a sequence of them in the mystery machine is genuinely one of my favourites in the series. The pot interweaves the idea of wishes into it seamlessly, I love the characters blurting wishes out accidentally, it heightens the stakes and generally offers more substance to the chase.
Above all else, I love the ending. It’s rare we see genuine emotion, but the episode plays Shaggy and Scrappy believing Scooby is gone forever fairly straight, they cry, they discuss how much they loved him, and it’s incredibly sweet - for the first time in a while, they feel like characters rather than caricatures. I like this one a lot, certainly, it’s one of the series best.
27. Law and Disorder
We unfortunately end off on a fairly forgettable episode, with an admittedly great premise.
While Dusty is campaigning to remain deputy, a crooked pair arrives and frame him for a crime, snatching the position for themselves to further their own crime sprees, leaving it up to the gang to foil them.
I really enjoy the opening of this, and once again, the way the writers use this setting is a lot of fun to me, although a few extra side characters would only further make the world come to life, I appreciate what is here in regards to this series, and how there is a sense of movement to this location. The villains are your usual generic crooks, however, they serve their purpose as antagonists.
Weirdly, I think the episode references Nixon as Dusty, framed, quotes the famous line: “I’m not a crook. Okay maybe it’s a stretch, but enough time had passed since the scandal for this to make sense to me.
Beyond the great inciting incident, it quickly grows meandering, loses a little focus for my tastes, but I enjoy it okay for what it is.
Thank you so much for reading this post!
I'm in the home stretch of the series now, as of writing this I only have six segments left to watch, and eight to write about, which feels great given the ninety-nine episode total of this series. Yikes. It's been a tough one, but we're nearly there, and I have some fun posts to end out this era before hopping into the final three Scrappy Doo series, which I am much more excited for - I have watched all of Thirteen Ghosts, and I adore it.
Have a great week! :)
Next Review: Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) Season Three Episodes 28 -39 (Coming Soon!)
Scooby-Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) Season 3 Episodes 1 - 15
Seasons one and two of the second series of Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo were paired into an airing block with the Richie Rich show, and in fact, were billed last in said block, unlike the previous series that can be seen, where Scooby was always top billed, the trojan horse in which newer shows were shown. No longer was Scooby the power house he once was.
However, Season Three returns to the Scooby Doo name, aired in a block called The Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo Puppy Hour, featuring segments of the seven minute Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo episodes, segments of the new Scrappy and Yabba-Doo and The Puppy’s New Adventures.
Often the first two remain bulked together, and as such, I’ll still be going over all thirteen episodes of Scrappy and Yabba-Doo, the first series to omit Scooby. Now Scrappy is the poster child, the marketable draw for everyone.
While all of these aired together like this, they’ve all (excluding the Puppy’s New Adventures, which is it’s own thing entirely) been repackaged since as a third season of Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo.
(Every Scrappy and Yabba Doo episode will have its title in a different colour!)
1. Maltese Mackerel
Rather than following the usual style of the series prior to this, this episode, and many others in this series, see the gang working at The Fearless Detective Agency, where they themselves are detectives. It’s a nice change of pace, and feeds into the shifting focus and style of this season. It’s more fixated on crime, no longer fixating on the series original style of men in masks, and now having mob and crime bosses as our villains. Although this makes them far less distinct, all three of the villains in the first set of episodes bleed into a single conglomerate, occupying the same archetypes and such, however I will take any shake ups to the otherwise stale and directionless formula we’ve been seeing for two prior seasons.
I’m actually a huge fan of the agency as a setting and plot device too, it allows mysteries of a sort to return to the series while offering a reason as to why the gang would bother with them without Fred, Daphne or Velma present. Here, they work under the unseen character, Fearless Shagaford, Shaggy’s uncle, one of many. Again, this familial bond between unseen employer and Shaggy offers a reason for his employment and decision to stay.
Although in this episode, Shaggy refuses to follow his Uncle’s orders, uttered over the phone to Scrappy, at least, until an attractive woman enters and asks him to. I hate this joke a lot. Shaggy says that he won’t follow the case even if the most beautiful woman walks through the door, and then he does the case because she asks. I don’t like horny Shaggy (most of the time).
Regardless, they have to deliver the titular McGuffin, but on their way, Big Thug and Little Thug attempt to steal it. Oh boy.
I jest, it’s a fun episode, all things considered. They return to using the original score for the series here, and some of the time, it works - they have returned to the style of scoring where they cut between each song as if skipping a playlist when they realise what they’re listening to, which offers a frequently disjointed feel to it all. However, when it works, it’s great! It offers a grimy, eerie feel to this city setting, a welcome tonal shift.
There’s also some actual plot that occurs, sequences such as the gang working out how to steal back the titular Mackerel (a golden statue of the fish) from Big Thug and Little Thug, finding fish they can use as rollerskates. It’s a low bar when having cause and effect in your story is a positive. Admittedly, I don’t think the goal of the prior two seasons was to tell narrative stories, more just use worlds as sandboxes for gags, but the fact I’m not certain should tell you all you need to know.
I wish I had anything to say about fan favourite characters Big Thug and Little Thug, but alas, I don’t. They’re typical archetypes, and apparently parodies of characters from the movie The Maltese Falcon, part of the film noir style, which makes sense for what the series is seemingly going for.
It’s a nice change of pace, and one that I hope they keep up with. Although this episode is nothing spectacular, I’d probably place it on par with the average level of the prior seasons, it’s something unique, and it got me excited at the very least.
2. Dumb Waiter Caper
This episode sees the gang sneaking into the birthday party of a mob boss Bugsy Burton, to recover the jewels.
I think the contained setting of this one allowed me to have a better time, this episode manages to find a good balance between gags and plot, having a very simple objective that is consistently foiled. It works well, and feels like a more narrative driven take on ideas from the prior two seasons.
Once again, the villains are cardboard - most Scooby villains are upheld by great designs and if we’re lucky, interesting sound design, but without either of these factors, we’re left with a man who looks slightly different to the other men. All of this is not helped by the fact there are countless (you totally could count them, I just won’t) gangsters lining the frames and backgrounds, and I found Bugsy’s bodyguard Bruiser, a far more intimidating and memorable character.
There are a lot of jokes that I really liked here though, they use this mob boss birthday party setting perfectly. For example, the trio come out of the car in disguises, with Scooby not giving himself a cover name which seemingly allows Bruiser to notice he’s a dog, given he let Scrappy waltz straight in. And I enjoy Shaggy and Scooby under the table trying to find the jewels, but just cutting the table around different pieces of food and eating them before returning the table and chicken bones.
Again, it has its faults, but this is a great execution upon the general premise. I like it a lot.
3. Yabba’s Rustle Hustle
Here we get our introduction to the world of Scrappy and Yabba-Doo, a western style series, while maintaining themes of order and crime, overlapping with the somewhat grimer, noir inspired and often city set series of Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) Season Three. Which again, this is part of, but it’s a different segment of. I hope that makes sense.
I also want to mention that I am not familiar with crime or western as a genre, and I have no interest in learning more about either of them. Therefore, I might miss certain references and themes present.
However it’s a fun change of setting! Okay, I usually don’t love sandy set stories, I find the landscapes so dull, and therefore, maybe I will grow tired as the series goes on, but alas, for now it’s fun to see. The sandy city of Tumbleweed is a fun location to be dropped into, and I love the Sheriff's office in which we inhabit during the episode’s opening. It’s the work place of our cast, and acts as a simple parallel to the Scooby and Shaggy set stories.
Here, we follow Scrappy, who is a volunteer at the Sheriff’s office, Yabba Doo and Deputy Dusty.
Starting with the title character, Yabba Doo continues to flesh out (and make more confusing) the Scooby Doo family tree. Yabba is Scrappy’s uncle, and Scooby’s brother, according to the Scooby-Doo! Encyclopedia by Capstone. While still a Great Dane, his fur, a light stoney shade, is far fluffier, although there’s a jaggedness to this, implying it’s matted rather than soft, which further develops him as a working character, indicative of his surroundings and lifestyle. He wears a brown cowboy hat and a red bandana, which are once again phenomenal at suggesting his place in relation to Deputy Dusty.
It’s worth noting that it’s frustratingly difficult to find any information on the creation of these characters or this segment of the series. As such, I can’t impart anything on why any of the choices for this series, or these characters, were made.
As for Yabba’s personality, he’s far less defined than anyone else in the series. At the time of writing about this episode, I’ve watched three of his episodes total, and I can’t exactly explain too much about him. He’s brave, a man (or dog) of law and order, fixated on doing the right thing - he’s the antithesis of his brother. Yet, that’s kind of the problem. It’s easy to describe the main gang, their strengths and their weaknesses, and herein lies the problem - Yabba Doo is somewhat of a Gary Stu.
It’s not egregious, I still like watching him on screen, but solely for his interactions with the other characters, he simply cannot interestingly occupy space. He’s the straightman, he’s somewhat of a Fred in this sense, and sure, Fred as we have known him prior to this is fairly bland too, a very basic character, however, I do prefer him for the light moments he has, and in part of course, influence from that which is to come.
Regardless, I do enjoy Yabba Doo, whose name I can only assume is a pun on the Fred Flintstone catchphrase. He’s a sweet mentor figure for Scrappy.
However the shining new character is Deputy Dusty, the “Shaggy” archetype, in a sense. Yet he stands on his own. His design is fun, with short, very literally dusty brown hair, a grey cowboy hat and a blue jacket bearing his sheriff's star. Through all these design motifs, he acts as a perfect foil to Yabba. Yabba’s colour scheme is that of a more traditional cowboy, with a brown hat and his red bandana, his age and wisdom in the trade shines through, while Dusty can be seen as more naive, juvenile, and ultimately, contemporary, his style twists on more 80s styles in contrast to the more traditional cowboy by his side.
Any research on this character leads to a slurry of comments referring to him as “basically Shaggy”, and while he fits this cowardly archetype, he’s unique in the way he still seeks out doing the right thing, he actively wants to be sheriff, which sets him apart from Shaggy greatly.
For a while now I have proclaimed that a dream writing job for me would be as a showrunner for a Scooby project, but I would equally kill to work on a Scrappy and Yabba Doo reboot.
With all that out of the way, I kind of don’t think much about the episode itself. It’s very similar stylistically to the prior two episodes - the gang heads to investigate some cow rustling. What unfolds is them finding said rustlers, and putting a stop to their plan.
Besides the gorgeous backgrounds and cactus Scrappy, there’s little more to add. It’s entirely okay.
4. Catfish Burglar Caper
Here we see what is almost a return to form - there’s a monster up to no good, and the gang must hunt them down, trap them, and unmask them. However, maybe such a return to form isn’t for the best, the prior set of episodes carved a unique identity, and while I can’t pretend I didn’t smile at the formula shifting backwards here, the episode’s weakness is that it highlights the pitfalls of this ongoing series in contrast to the original series.
The first issue comes with that of the Catfish Burglar herself, she’s adorned with a scuba mask and an ashy, black and crimson colour scheme, almost offering an air of Dracula to her design. Yet there’s nothing that really stands out here, the design fades into the equally uninteresting setting.
While there are some fun gags in here, like the gang hiding inside a painting, this episode isn’t doing anything new really, and what it regurgitates is infinitely less interesting than anything before - it’s a completely fine episode.
Also the villain was the woman who hired them to do the job because she thought it would allow her to avoid suspicion. This becomes a trend later on, look out.
5. Movie Monster Menace
Here the gang have been hired in the movie “I am a Teenage Monster”, where the director uses a machine to turn the other cast members into actual monsters, and therefore, it’s up to Shaggy and the dogs to change them back.
I love this premise, and I think they use some fun and unique monsters here, even if none of them do all too much, again, the episode is ambitious in concept but cursed both by a short runtime and somewhat poor execution, with very little actually happening.
Let's rattle through the monsters. There’s the Gargoyle, with stony skin, devilish horns and monstrous claws. I adore his large wings, they envelop him and the frame, they bring the design together, which seeks for more of a muscular and tall design as opposed to often short, gremlin-like gargoyles.
Medusa is an inspired choice of a “movie monster”, while gargoyles can be seen throughout many a gothic tale (maybe most famously in the Hunchback of Notre Dame) but the only Medusa or Gorgon movie that springs to mind is The Gorgon. Her design is curious, of course, she has the emerald green snake hair, yet the rest of her palette is a blend of golds, whites and blues, almost evocative of Cleopatra or even a superhero down to the shape of each item of clothing.
There’s Sea Creature, evocative of Gilman, who I adore, although the bland colouring contrasts too strongly with the detailing and segmenting of the characters body - the face looks great, a sweet charm and fishy draw to him, however the body leaves something to be desired.
The Octopus Creature is also somewhat off putting to me, there’s something about this design that doesn’t work - maybe the almost gorilla like mouth? Maybe the shape of the eyes, the oval accents plus the large eyebrows and indents, or maybe it’s just an affinity I have for the Octopus Monster seen in Show.
Finally, there’s Bigfoot, a recolour of the character from Tenderbigfoot, a great design, although one that’s infinitely less interesting when he’s copy and pasted here.
All of this begs the question, what could this movie possibly be about? I kind of adore it, the sets offer no hints to what the plot of this movie could possibly be. The monsters can’t talk either, they’re tried and true beasts, and therefore, the question only further grows. I assume it’s some kind of Monster High ensemble? Although the poster does the film no favours. I simply think the director's plan of turning the cast of teenagers into monsters won’t fix what appears to be a shoddy script.
The gang also get transformed at one point in the episode, towards the end, with one of Shaggy’s monster designs incredibly similar to one seen in the movie Scooby Doo and the Goblin King. Which I kind of love, I have so many fond memories of watching it and there are so many references to this early era of Scooby stuffed into it, I cannot wait to delve into it in maybe a few years time. Goodness.
The gang dress as monsters, the best of which is Scrappy as the Devil, or maybe a devil, which I think is an important distinction. Shaggy becomes Frankenstein’s Monster, and finally, Scooby an Abominable Snowman.
Regardless, the content of the episode is entirely fine, a standard enough, sound enough, chase episode, with a certain flair that ultimately feels muddled in the end, a fun muddle at that.
6. Mine Your Own Business
I’m waiting for any episode of the Scrappy and Yabba Doo series to click, because the premise of this series, and the characters, are so much fun! I’ve seen a good handful at the time of writing this review, and I think about Dusty and Scrappy a lot, I love their interaction with one another, and Yabba, but I think the limited scope doesn’t aid the series as a whole, especially when the Scooby and Shaggy segments now have a far grander, more interesting connective tissue.
Nothing about this episode stands out to me, except for the fact the title is the same as the Where are You episode, Mine Your Own Business, which I actually don’t love, however I do still prefer it to this story.
Don’t get me wrong, the mining setting is perfect, but they use it in maybe the most obvious and bland manner - they chase some crooks through the chambers.
The villains are maybe the most boring in the series history - one of them dresses as a bear, according to my notes, but that’s about all I could tell you.
7. Super Teen Shaggy
Super Teen Shaggy is absurd, and a highlight of the series. Something worth noting is that, until now, almost every episode about Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy has seen them working for Shaggy’s Uncle Fearless, however, here we open a new style of stories - teen oriented Shaggy stories. More so than ever, we see him characterised as a student at school, later we even see him attending school.
It’s an interesting choice, but one I don’t hate. Shaggy gets some personality back through these storylines, which I won’t complain about, and it offers some variety to where we can go with these stories, it’s nice to have these two avenues, both of which I quickly have come round to.
As for this episode, Shaggy is heading to a costume party, wearing the outfit of Super Teen, a fairly evident Superman inspired character, however, after hitting his head, he believes he is Super Teen, and begins fearlessly fighting back against a group of motorbike driving bullies.
I’ve seen this plotline compared to that of Legend of the Phantasaur, which also sees Shaggy in a similar scenario, and said movie is what spawned the weird phase of Shaggy memes that had much too far of a reach, becoming the core of his character in the now obsolete Multiverses.
Regardless, this is great, it’s the typical angle of taking Shaggy’s usual traits and simply flipping them on their heads, but it works for me here because of how committed the story feels. It’s incredibly fast paced, constantly moving from beat to beat, having Shaggy’s load grow, before returning him to normal, leaving him with a mountain of problems he can no longer deal with, as Shaggy.
Maybe my biggest complaint is that Scooby is uncharacteristically brave in this episode, doing whatever he must to aid Shaggy in defeating the bullies.
This episode, alongside the Dumb Waiter Caper, are amidst my favourite from this era, just fun, fast moving stories!
8. Basketball Bumblers
From here we continue the school shenanigans, with Shaggy partaking in a basketball tournament, with his opponents using remote controlled shoes to cheat.
I don’t hate the idea of Shaggy playing basketball, A Clue for Scooby Doo denotes that Shaggy is athletic, and therefore, I can accept this, although anyone who knows my feelings about the New Scooby Doo Movies episode The Mystery of Haunted Island would correctly assume the long basketball game here doesn’t work for me. At least, unlike that episode, this isn’t an eight minute long sequence of the gang watching other characters play, offering the occasional commentary and cheer. This is a step up, I assure you.
The cheating angle offers Scrappy and Scooby something to do, with the pair attempting to thwart the person remote controlling the shoes, and in the end, Scrappy steals half of the machine and uses it to also cheat? These stories have a very hays code feeling to them - the villains must always be reprimanded! However here the gang just fight back using the same ploy, they’re not innocent either!
Maybe the highlight of this episode is the gang disguising themselves as janitors, with Scooby the mop. I enjoy Scooby as the mop.
9. Tragic Magic
This is certainly my favourite of the Yabba and Scrappy episodes so far, and even then, it’s nothing extraordinary.
The episode follows a magician, The Great Mysto, as he performs magic tricks as a distraction from his ongoing crimes. As a premise, this is a lot of fun, and I do enjoy the villain here, they allow him to be pushed over the top which, especially in contrast to the very plain, cookie cutter villains thus far, makes him stand out. It’s just refreshing to see a villain who can be a little extra here.
Still, the episode itself doesn’t do loads. It’s formulaic, and the magic tricks aren’t enough to save the story from plunging into a fairly bland position.
With that being said, we do get Scrappy dressed as a bunny here, so there’s at least something here!
Again, it’s one of my favourites, although this isn’t necessarily in a fun manner, it’s a sound story, hits the expected beats, and made me smile on occasion, but ultimately, there’s nothing to pull apart.
10. Beauty Contest Caper
We return to the detective shenanigans of the gang as they’re enlisted to aid a group of women in a beauty contest, who are being kidnapped in the build up to the show.
They play this premise really well at the start, it’s treated as a genuinely creepy mystery, which I will always love, there’s genuine terror at play within these characters, and at least initially, little levity to the story. I appreciate taking a more unique approach to this mystery, it’s fixated more on horror once more, which I will never complain about.
Still, I can’t say I loved this episode, it falls into the same pitfalls, and I find it shocking how easily these episodes grow bland, it’s surprising that with such a short runtime, it’s such a frequent occurrence. Regardless, there's a lot to enjoy here. Bruno is an interesting villain, working alongside who else but the woman who first contracted the gang. He’s displayed here as mute, somewhat animalistic, evocative of a cave man both in stature, design (with his large bushy beard and unkempt hair) and through his grunts as a means of communication, he’s a classic henchman type, derived from a very evident concept of being “lesser” than the person in control. Examples can be seen in classics like The Addams Family or Frankenstein, and can sometimes veer into a somewhat elitist mentality, using disability as a crux to craft a hierarchy that’s quick to establish and ultimately dehumanising to the “henchmen”. This character could be seen almost similar to Leatherface, a large and burly man who follows orders, because this is all he knows, he’s monstrous, but there’s a sympathy sewn into his seams, you empathise with the position he’s placed in.
We also see a return of a specific trope in Scooby, and comedy in general, in that of crossdressing. Here it makes complete sense, the story revolves around the gang attempting to thwart a kidnapper picking off women, and therefore, Shaggy dressing as one of them makes complete sense. However I wanted to look briefly into the trope, given the frequency in which it’s appearing.
There are several different uses for crossdressing, specifically in comedy. Oftentimes in Scooby, the characters use disguises to trick a villain, the joke is derived both from the monster's reaction, and their costumes. Most notably, this is where a lot of racist caricatures are present, the joke is pointed at these cultures and people, laughing at them, rather than with them. Yet, the crossdressing always feels less pointed at any specific group of people, far less mean spirited in this sense, and as a trope, it can be traced back through, what feels like the most evident inspiration on this iteration of the series The Looney Tunes, and much further back to Shakespeare, with only men allowed to act, it was therefore a necessity for women to be played by young boys. Again, intent frequently differs.
However, I find it incredibly interesting to reflect on more modern responses to these characters - there are accounts and
channels that compile these characters, they love this world of drag that is explored through old, and new, cartoons, and again, maybe there’s a difference between intent and reaction. Because I doubt all of these cartoons, especially Scooby, were embracing drag as something unique and an artform, rather, the more likely case is these are intended as gags at the mere concept of men dressed as women, this alone is the joke. But seeing communities drawn together through this is really sweet, and I appreciate seeing modern cartoons continue from these roots, often with different intents, yet similar responses as always.
11. Stake Out at the Take Out
The title is better than the episode itself. I think this title would also be fun for a similar premise, that of the gang undercover at a restaurant attempting to expose the crooked owners, but with the villains secretly vampires. That’s my pitch.
It’s a great concept, a perfect location for the boys that should be ripe with gags. Yet, the episode instead plays out with the boys messing up the work, yet narrowly missing the evidence against the villains, and then being put back to work.
It ends with an action setpiece of a plane being flown into a sewer system that’s then blocked with a boulder. I don’t know, not for me.
12. Runaway Scrappy
I’d like to reiterate that I really enjoy watching these characters. It’s weird, but I have quickly found myself attached to the relationship between Dusty, Yabba and Scrappy, even if I haven’t enjoyed their actual episodes all too much.
However, I will say, this is maybe a new favourite of these! We hone in on these relationships, namely Scrappy’s place within the sheriff's office. After Scrappy messes up, he goes to bed upset, before deciding to leave with a bindle, feeling he’s nothing but a nuisance. It’s a dynamic that makes sense, and is fresh to see against the usually self assured depiction of the puppy.
From here, Scrappy ends up aiding a robbery, unknowingly, and subsequently must return to his heroic ways and see his worth and importance within the gang.
It’s incredibly sweet - I could take or leave a lot of the actual plot, but the character drama makes me stupidly engaged.
With that being said, this episode has one of the worst villain designs, just awful.
I also had some laughs during this episode! It’s just a breath of fresh air against the rest of the series which is a very literal reskin of the usual antics, and the smaller episode count and more restricted setting has created less opportunities for it to excel in really anything, so it’s nice to see a fun episode.
13. Who’s Scooby Doo
Returning to the school centric stories, this episode follows the gang at a science fair, where a mishap leaves Scooby and Shaggy stuck in one another's body.
For what it is, I enjoy it, although it does blend in my mind with Super Teen Shaggy, having a character act out of character, and I do feel that does this concept better. Like many of these episodes, they’re fun for the first few minutes, before they fizzle out, however I will give this episode credit for being funny.
After they’re trapped the gang must try to get the machine back from some bullies who steal it, and here is where the episode truly falls flat for me, it’s a little too drawn out. Of course, it’s a natural direction to take the story, but otherwise, there’s very little to it, it’s exactly what you’d expect, which isn’t inherently a positive or negative.
14. Double Trouble Date
Okay so in this episode, Shaggy gets not one date, but two dates, but accidentally plans both of the dates on the same day. As such, he gets Scooby to stand in for one of the dates. Kind of? This is the premise, although both girls are kind of chill with this, it’s less of Scooby pretending to be Shaggy, because Shaggy and the girl presumably go to the same school, everyone here is aware of the fact Shaggy double booked this date. No, the threat of this episode instead comes in the form of the girl's brother, who believes that Scooby isn’t actually Shaggy’s cousin, and instead, a dog.
Of course, the problem is, Scooby is a dog.
This sounds ripe for… Well, something! But it quickly just becomes the brother chasing after the pair (I guess Scrappy too but he doesn’t have much going on here, he spends a fair bit of time with the girls, which is sweet) because he has discovered that of course, Scooby is a dog.
If I have some positives to share, the episodes premise is baffling, I would love to have been in the writers room for this one, just a fly on the wall, listening to them discuss the ins and outs of Shaggy’s dating prospects. In a similar vein, the Scooby Doo Wiki for this episode, which I use as a frequent background source and has provided a lot of helpful reminders to me, has a phenomenal delve into the concept of an open relationship, and how it applies to Shaggy and the girls within this episode.
Also, don’t care for the brother, but he’s called Moose, and I love that a lot.
I can’t say this episode is forgettable, okay well the back half is, but it’s at least got something going on.
15. Slippery Dan, the Escape Man
This episode on the other hand is forgettable. It very much blends into the prior episode, Tragic Magic, although this one is just kind of the same joke repeated.
However, I hope we’re already, because we’re here, the infamous Lobster Scrappy moment!
I can’t trace back where or why this moment is infamous, so hell maybe it’s actually not infamous. Maybe I simply live in an echo chamber, and unlike Dan, I am not slippery enough to escape. There’s an image on Twitter of Lobster Scrappy in 4K which has 3.6K likes, so maybe it’s a thing? Is this a thing?
I like him a lot anyway, it’s the highlight of the episode.
Also the opening is great! I love the gang capturing Dan, and the growing suspenseful air as he plans his escape, it’s unclear how he can do it, until suddenly, the gang themselves are within the confines of the trap, it’s fun!
Thank you so much for reading this review!
I had initially planned on this being a complete review of the season, but after I got halfway I realised just how impossible that would be to format well, and in the end, I lost a little motivation - this series is a slog to get through, even if I love writing about it!
Happy October! Have a great month :)
Next Review: Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) Season Three Episodes 16 - 27
Or the start of the end of the season, the final review of this season, whatever!
This episode follows the gang cleaning a clocktower, I believe Big Ben (um actually, it’s called the Great Clock of Westminster), however, Scrappy cleans Scooby, who then latches onto the hands, and transports them all into the future.
To get it out of the way, the future looks fairly bland. Besides the gradient background, a beautiful yellow and purple ombre, the buildings themselves lack much style (which can be said for the rest of this episode, but more on that later) and fall into a fairly generic 80s depiction of the future.
From here they investigate the future a little, exploring a department store where a robot makes a sandwich for them, before they stumble into a toy shop, but the toys are fairly old. Even given when this episode aired, these are dated toys, they have nutcrackers and such, with the exception being a skateboard which flies? The other big showcase piece which is what the episode then goes on to be about, are these robotic dolls, but ultimately, they’re all wind up dolls. Again, remote control toys have existed since the early 1900s, so I don’t understand why these mechanical dolls are seen as futuristic?
My exception to this is that there’s inexplicably a Scooby doll, who is like Scooby but tiny. He’s not quite rigid, lacking much robotic flair, however he later gets frightened and mimics Scooby which I find very endearing.
My only assumption here is that these are all reused assets, although from what I’m uncertain, however the gang call out the toys as being futuristic, and therefore, I cannot offer any other reason why the episode would look this bland. Comedic cartoons are frequently board driven, and I can’t find out whether or not this series is, but if it is, there is no reason for the episode to look and feel the way it does. ‘
Regardless, then there’s a gorilla doll, who isn’t a wind up doll, and he goes haywire and chases the gang for the remainder of the episode.
For an episode that follows the gang going into the future, this episode does very little unique. Once again, season two has been filled with an abundance of unique ideas, all of which boil down to bland executions. There is nothing done here that couldn’t have been done exactly the same in the present.
14. Punk Rock Scooby
The gang head to a punk rock competition. Any guesses for what follows?
That’s right! An alien who looks identical to Scrappy comes down and thinks Scrappy is also an alien, and so tries to take him back home with him.
Okay to start off, Scooby is shocked when he sees the punks but like… they’re at a punk rock competition, surely at least on the way into said competition they bumped into one of the punks. Regardless, I don’t love the designs of the punks, I appreciate them, they’re fun representations of the subculture, all of whom look varied and stylised in a great manner, but something about the way they’re actually drawn leaves something to be desired. There’s too many lines adding detail to their bodies and especially faces that feel incredibly unappealing to me, feeling evocative of a Beevis and Butthead style.
When the episode started and Scrappy was inexplicably wearing a stupid hat, I was incredibly excited - my presumption was that this was his own interpretation of what a punk looks like. However, it’s never addressed? Evidently he wears it because said hat is also a piece of the alien, called a Plutonian, and that only adds to the idea of the alien seeing Scrappy as one of his own. Honestly, it’s so stupid, beyond stupid, I love it.
All of this alien plot is the worst and I love it. There’s almost enough going on in the entire episode to redeem it, with the obvious evolution of the story taking place where the gang are mistaken as a punk band.
I appreciate how they vary up the Plutonian’s design somewhat, of course there’s the helmet design, which unlike Scrappy’s hat, encompasses his entire head, which is a sweet addition. Alongside this I love the yellow disc around his neck, which has a similar washed out colour, almost sandy in appearance, to the helmet and body piece, but really adds to this design, which would otherwise be fairly sleek and boring. But what works best for me is how they stylise his eyes to be narrow and sharp, alongside giving him a line through his chin and up towards his snout, reminding me of Billy the Puppet from Saw.
His powers are also so fun, with his helmet giving him the ability to bring sentient and possibly evil life into inanimate objects. All of the designs of said objects are a lot of fun, and add more interesting objects which (luckily) return to the horror aesthetics of many of the earlier series. I especially adore the design of the camera, God that stuff all rules!
But it all boils down to the show where the gang do awfully, before the Plutonian shoots his sentient beam into the stage, and then it comes alive and everyone loves it, and they subsequently win.
Maybe this would feel more earned if they meant to join the competition, but the fact they didn’t offers no stakes to this scenario, and makes me lose any interest in whether or not they win.
Also, I haven’t yet mentioned the new score; being entirely honest, I have no idea when they introduced this score, but it stood out to me in this episode and I kind of hate it. In contrast to the creepy music present in most other series, here there’s an upbeat and jaunty score, it screams comedy and matches the tone of this show in theory, however when actually watching the series, there’s such a weird tone that it never works for me. Sometimes the show wants to be funny, other times creepy and other times I just don’t know. The score feels like it was made in a factory.
Ultimately, it’s a fine episode with phenomenal pieces that add up to very little.
15. Canine to Five
Perfect title, no notes.
If I ever got to make a series of Scooby that remade older episodes, this is one I’d pick. Hell, even if I just got to make a series of Scooby, I would love to return to this episode in some way, because this is almost great. Almost good. Conceptually, great.
Here the gang get a job working for Werner Wolf, as typists, but the scientist soon turns himself into a wolf using a machine, and then chases the gang around.
Almost good.
Maybe there’s some exterior factors playing into this, because my copy of this episode had static playing overtop, but my God is there an eeriness to this, with them bringing in an unsettling score for some of the episode that greatly aids this! So much so, that it’s then infuriating when they revert back to the old one, undercutting any kind of horror aesthetics.
To touch upon what is often my biggest critique, the designs of werewolves in Scooby, I honestly love this one quite a bit. Still they lean on human qualities rather than developing a more wolf focused design, which is fine for me here, because they build upon the wolf characteristics of him. Here he has a snout, a long, mullet-like hair cut, and huge paws that all build into a great design for this character, not to mention that they craft a great posture for him. I love this design, and the more generic scientist we see him as prior to the transformation.
I also love the sequence of the gang using the typewriters, Scrappy in particular is too small for the typewriter and so he’s just awkwardly positioned atop it. No notes.
Where the episode falters is when the chase begins, because we knew it would become a chase episode. They do the door gag with drawers again - the one where the monster opens a drawer and finds the boys before they go back in and appear in another drawer. However here the episode details a factor I’ve held off mentioning for a while that completely takes me out of it. The gang are so off model. It’s happened a fair few times in this season, Scrappy is often the greatest victim of this, but here it’s egregious. Scooby Doo has always had a charm to its art style, but it’s never looked great, it’s fun and I love it, but the budget holds it back, every episode has an abundance of errors. But here the anatomy is all over the place, the characters are incorrect proportions, and it’s hard to watch some of the time. Maybe I’m being too harsh.
I enjoy that they have Scrappy become a werewolf too, but they mess with the rules so much that once again, there’s no stakes. Maybe that sounds stupid, this series is fixated on comedy, and that’s great, but the slapstick style of humour is also rarely that good, so I’m left with the story, which feels like it’s never the focus. The werewolf turns into a human at one point, but then back to a werewolf for the rest of the episode, until he’s returned to the machine. However Scrappy never returns to the machine, he just stops being a werewolf (after Scooby and Shaggy just decide to leave him behind might I add) and at that point, I have no reason to care about anything happening.
I like the cat in the opening though. And the title, again, it’s great.
16. Hard Hat Scooby
In this episode, the gang starts working as builders, and unbeknownst to them, the boss who they deem as cruel is actually a vampire.
Of course, the setting for this one is evocative of High Rise Hair Raiser, because this building isn’t a castle, but instead the Vampire State Building. Taking this modern approach to crafting a lair of sorts for a vampire is incredibly fun to me, and escapes the ongoing curse of great concepts that have weak executions, because I find this episode to be incredibly charming.
It’s a very simple plot, they continuously mess up, and the gang are fearful of their vampire boss. But what excels this is Vampire Foreman, a very traditionally designed vampire, incredibly evocative of Dracula, albeit, with a more colourful palate of purples and pinks that pop against the night sky and industrial backgrounds. Personality wise, he’s a great antagonist, someone overtly creepy which only aids in making the episode funnier as the boys discuss with uncertainty as to why their boss is so mean, only for the most vampiric appearing vampire to appear.
Although Scrappy keeps getting employment despite the fact he is a baby, I do love the way the characters dynamic is constructed here, with Scooby and Shaggy of course listening to their boss, while Scrappy is incredibly defiant, going against his word and trying to get back at him for being cruel, even if in the end, his attempts at foiling Vampire Foreman are what builds the Vampire State Building.
There’s also an array of charming imagery here, from Scrappy being carried by Scooby’s tail to the boys eating lunch on the beams, it’s simply fun, and it’s certainly amongst my favourites of the series! Just a great way to utilise its runtime, and I will always appreciate an engaging episode that isn’t just a chase sequence.
17. Hothouse Scooby
They really do love giving these guys weird jobs, huh?
Here they’ve started up a gardening business, looking after the home of a man, who is a literal tomato, and whose plants eat people and dogs.
Let’s start with the villain - he’s credited on the wiki as “Gardender” - who has such a visually distinct design that I can’t help but love him. Having a head in the shape of a tomato, and an incredibly uniquely shaped tomato at that, is so much fun, and plays into the absurdity that exists within this series! His costume is grand, a blend of forest greens for his gown overtop a white shirt, the interior and his bowtie a dusty yellow. He’s drawn with a certain twinge of menace that I love, and the small sprig of green hair tops off this character in a great manner.
In fact, there’s an eeriness to this episode that is perfectly explored through the score, which at times, returns to a creepier tone. It’s not constant, but when it allows itself to not just explore comedic ideas and the adrenaline of the chases, they can craft some genuinely great scenes.
However, we don’t only get one phenomenal villain, but also a series of carnivorous plants. All of these guys are so much fun to watch, their designs a variety of venus fly traps and what almost appear to be daisies, alongside a handful of trees seen later on. All of them utilise jagged edges and shapes to their advantage in alluding to their villainous nature in some manner, be it through petals, leaves or just mouths.
Like a lot of episodes, I really enjoy the opening before it fizzles out later. Once again it becomes a fairly by the books chase, and once again, it deploys rules to this world and its magic before retracting it to allow the boys to escape. Here we see the fruit can freeze you in place once it’s eaten, but the boys simply thaw out when the plot calls for it. That whole sequence of the fruit falling on the boys is pretty awful, they just stand under the trees as they drop their harvests, but there’s nothing stopping them from simply walking on past.
But the opening when the gang are tending to these plants is a lot of fun, and I simply enjoy watching these villains in action, which redeems the episode tenfold in my eyes.
Oh also the gang are wearing hats for this episode. Cool!
18. Pigskin Scooby
Unfortunately I don’t have much to say about this episode. The gang heads to watch a game of American Football, but after one of the teams is faced with their opposition, they run away, so who else can play in their places but Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy?
The episode revolves around them trying their best to distract the players so that they can sneakily score and win. It’s just that for seven minutes, and I don’t love American Football so I didn’t get too much out of this one.
It’s fine! But these sports episodes rarely offer much to me. They do win though, with Scrappy very happy despite the others being hospitalised, so that’s something.
19. Sopwith Scooby
While at an air show, Scooby accidentally trips over famous pilot Baron Valutategn. Subsequently, the boys, also accidentally, fall into a plane, and, once again accidentally, start it just as their new enemy takes flight.
I love how stupid the inciting incident is; Scooby is holding ice cream and trips but doesn’t drop any of it, and still, the Baron is furious, he’s such a great villain, maybe my favourite in the “just a guy” category. They push his assholeishness to an extreme that makes him incredibly funny to watch. However, his design is just a reused asset, this time from Sweet Dreams Scooby, which is always boring to me, but in a rare occurrence, this is certainly the more interesting iteration of this character.
Everything here just kind of happens - although Scrappy does stand up to the Baron, the gang never intends on racing him, they just end up having to, and this only adds to their victory. There’s one joke where Shaggy asks where the breaks are, and Scooby just tears them from the plane, which made me giggle a lot.
From here they just fly for a while, and the usual hijinks ensue! It’s a lot of fun still, definitely suffers for me when they get into the air, but otherwise this works well.
20. Tenderbigfoot
In this episode, the gang head out to camp in the wilderness to gain their pioneer scout badge. But bigfoot. (Some two sentence horror ass plot). No but I like this one.
As a Scrappy fan, watching the boys become scouts with and for him makes me so happy, and the ending where he doesn’t get the badge but they share with him all the ones he did manage to get is shockingly tender. I adore it.
The rest is okay! It’s your average plot, everything’s fine, then Bigfoot, so now he’s chasing them.
However, I do really love Bigfoot. It’s weird, I wasn’t expecting to consistently come out of these later episodes enjoying the villains. Bigfoot himself is taken from the mythical creature said to inhabit forests in North America, often depicted as a hairy humanoid creature, not too dissimilar from an ape. Within the episode, he’s very ape like, but what allows him to stand apart is the fact he has a cute fringe covering his eyes, and the curtains make him all the more endearing, only aided by the fact he’s never antagonistic, just a monster in the eyes of the boys, which is just another interesting concept to add to the pile. I love when the boy's prejudice is brought into question, even if it’s not explored.
21. Scooby and the Beanstalk
We end on another dream episode using a public domain story for its basis.
Except, it’s not a dream? The gang falls asleep, but then when they wake up it’s because of the beanstalk, and so I assume this all happens, which is a step up in my eyes from the usual dream affair. Although I’m unsure how intentional this was.
After their bucket of beans is rained on, the boys have to sleep hungry, and wake to find that they were magic beans, sprouting into a beanstalk, and I’m sure you know the rest.
I love the artwork here, both the acrylic painted sky, beanstalk and castle are lavishly painted, truly beautifully done, and they allow this fairy tale world to come to life.
There’s very little I love about the giant, he feels ripped straight from the fairy tale, and then made a little less scary, which only works to his detriment. Ultimately, he just doesn’t leave a mark, I don’t know what he wants - he tries to eat them, but just stops after a while, and then starts again, but then he falls from the beanstalk and is now friends with the bird he previously had captive. Nothing makes all too much sense. Things just happen, which is all the more curious when they have taken this story, there are guidelines sitting there.
The bird is the best bit, the Giant tells him to be funny, and I did laugh, so that’s something.
And that ends season two!
Thank you so much for reading this! As a quick update, I think my goal for season three is to release it differently. Being completely transparent, writing the reviews for this iteration of the series has been both some of my favourites and I believe, some of my best, but also, some of my worst. In order to ensure that I’m happy with everything I make for the final season, I’m just going to work through it, and release it all in one when it’s ready. With this in mind, I’ll be able to take as long as I need to get through the content which I imagine might be a little drab, before being able to write what I hope are interesting and fun reviews for episodes that I don’t find interesting or fun! Or maybe I will, we shall see.
After that’s released I’ll do my series wrap up, including a villain tier list ranking, and then I can move on to the next series! The sheer volume of episodes here has made this series more difficult to work on, because for every one episode I would write about before, I’m now writing about three, and oftentimes, I have a similar amount to say.
Regardless, have a great week! My goal is to get the final season’s review out before the end of September, but the episode count is once again 39, so we shall see how busy I end up getting <3
Next Review: Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) Season Three Episodes 1 - 15
Previous Review: Scooby-Doo and Scrappy Doo (2) S2 E7-12
I want to start this week's reviews by reflecting upon what it means to be a completionist, something I have been thinking about while working my way through this era of the show.
When I started the blog, I sought to watch through the entire series, from Where are You? to Velma, with everything in between and after. Because ultimately, this is a series I love, the movies and several iterations of the show are incredibly important to me, pieces that I’ve grown up alongside, that aided in forming my tastes and who I am as a person.
While prior to reaching this point in the series, I’d heard bad things, but rather the problem with this era is how bland it is, feeling stilted, somewhat lifeless, lacking the charm and character that made the series so great.
Therefore, why continue to watch? No, seriously, please.
I’ve long been a person dedicated to consuming all of something, be it a series, movies, albums etc… As a child this grew from a certain pressure to know, to enjoy is to understand, at least, this was my belief. Still, my intentions remain the same, I still plan on working through the entire show, however I wonder if I do need to know all, do I need to have seen this episode to deem myself a fan of the franchise? Will I feel relief when it finishes? Proud?
I’ll circle back in a few months time.
Regardless, Scooby Dooby Goo!
The plot of this episode at first seemed incredibly obvious to me, the gang are at a gym, and Scooby is on a rowing machine, he flies off of it and hits into some equipment. Based on everything prior, it made sense, to me, that Scooby would have hit a man who would chase them for seven minutes.
But no.
Instead, Scooby and Shaggy then relax in a steamer, and are left inside for too long, to which they reduce in age, becoming babies.
We’re here!
Surprisingly, this preceded the baby fad that followed the release of the Muppet Babies, which would release a few years later, although A Pup Named Scooby Doo does follow the Spin-Off Babies trope. I don’t hate it, honestly, at least not conceptually, even if the core concept of making characters smaller and cuter, and therefore more marketable, is ultimately a capitalist wet dream and oftentimes, creatively bankrupt. Still, there is a lot of potential for storytelling and exploring different concepts with such an idea, something I’ll delve into more when I eventually reach the aforementioned Scooby Show. But this episode doesn’t do anything, the characters aren’t turned marketable by any means, it’s just the pair as babies, which is honestly worse. They’re just boring and cry and also babies.
Still, this episode isn’t without merit. Once again, Scrappy is the redeeming quality of this show. Placing him in such a caring role, that of a guardian to the boys, is a fun shake up, and I’ll enjoy this episode if only for said character moments, which shine through an otherwise bland storyline.
8. Rickshaw Scooby
I don’t like this episode much, but I do appreciate it. Once again, this season proves itself as somewhat more interesting in its episodes, again, I’m unsure if the quality has increased, but it feels like there’s more creativity in regards to what’s being done with the episode length and style.
Here the gang head to China and accidentally bring the statue of a dragon to life. What follows is their attempt to escape said dragon, however they do so by using a series of Looney Tunes style costume gags. Gags like those have been native to the show since its early iterations, and while they’ve never been my favourite, I don’t like them much at all, I appreciate the series doing something slightly experimental with an episode, it’s not ground breaking, but pushes the series gimmicks to their limits, and that’s something.
9. Scooby’s Luck of the Irish
To me, the series is at its best when it becomes mindless fun, which is what this episode manages to be.
We follow the gang as they come across a Leprechaun, who refuses to tell them where his pot of gold is. Naturally, they chase him.
I love that this all kicks off from the use of a Scrappy Trap.
What elevates this episode tenfold is its fun visuals, constantly moving a mile a minute, and its villain, Pat O'Wiley. I love the decision to make the Leprechaun tiny - I usually think of the Warwick Davis version of the character from Leprechaun, but this more traditional pixie style is great! He otherwise brandishes the trademarks - green attire, a ginger beard… He’s so devious, and his desire to play tricks on the gang offers such a fun cadence to the episode.
Honestly, I’d recommended this to anyone looking for some of the best of what the series has to offer. It’s not perfect, but it’s some of the most fun I’ve had with this series, an episode that allows itself to be silly with gags and play upon the characters own greed and foolishness, it’s a lot of fun.
10. Backstage Scooby
I feel like I’m saying this a lot, but this episode has a strong concept at its core, but there's so little to do with these characters in their current states.
We see the trio accidentally ruin a magicians show, making him disappear, and subsequently having to take over afterwards. It’s great to begin with, it’s so much more interesting of a direction to take this kind of story, rather than the more traditional chase, but none of these tricks are unique, the gags feel so recycled that even the more creative direction can’t save them.
Also, they love the joke where they make Scooby or Shaggy dress as women. It’s a common trope in this kind of animated comedy, but they’re pulling this in almost every episode.
I’ve hardly touched upon the villains so far, and ultimately, none of them leave enough of an impression - their designs are frequently bland, and their personalities grow into a conglomerate in my mind.
This series is mind numbing.
11. Scooby’s House of Mysteries
I cannot fathom how beautiful and perfect this location is for an episode of Scooby Doo, a Tourist Trap novelty shop. Lavishly painted props fill out every shelf of this building, it’s perfectly eerie, you can feel the character wafting from every frame.
Scrappy is maybe pitch shifted in this one.
The backgrounds and Scrappy were my two notes I made while watching.
I can’t quite work out if his voice is higher, maybe it’s just the recording I was watching, but he sounded normal in the prior and subsequent segment, so who knows. It’s weird!
Madame Olga runs the shop, posing as a fortune teller in a box, attempting to retrieve puppy dog tails to restore her youth. Making her a witch rather than a regular fortune teller or shop keeper is a fun choice! It offers some flair to her character, especially given she’s paired with a raven that evokes old Disney villains. Her colour scheme of an oppressive pink cloak and starry hat also conveys a lot about her character, someone eccentric, seeking beauty without realising the potency of her own desires are what causes her such misery.
It ends up being a chase episode.
12. Sweet Dreams Scooby
I’m really starting to despise these dream episodes.
I’d like to reiterate that season two feels far more creative in what it’s doing - the episodes have more diversity in scope, and this gives them more flair, even if the substance here is still greatly lacking, coming down to what is ultimately a directionless series with characters growing weaker by the episode (not you Scrappy <3).
My biggest problem with these dream episodes is that they offer so little - we learn nothing about our heroes through their dreams, there’s no fun gags or settings (the Red Baron featured was a monster in Movies, and a Caveman several times), nothing here needs to be a dream. It’s such an easy device to use well, but there’s nothing here that couldn’t otherwise be done in any other episode.
We see that Shaggy dreams of Benjamin Franklin, Scrappy the Red Baron, and Scooby is fleeing from dinosaurs as a caveman.
All of these are therefore shorter than the already minuscule runtime of the segment, and as such, I shouldn’t be checking the time every thirty seconds.
Not a good one. The most I get out of this is seeing Scrappy dressed up in different costumes, and that the episode is listed as a "Tear Jerker" on Tv Tropes.
Thank you so much for reading this review! Every fortnight brings us closer to salvation (both the return of Daphne and Mysteries) and I for one cannot wait. The series is mostly boring, with some highlights, but it's a chore to wade through. Luckily, I love writing about the episodes, so that's something :)
If you enjoy these please consider checking out both my novel and my main blog! At the moment I make monthly recaps on my favourite (mostly horror, with a dash of animated) movies from the previous month! I can go a lot more in depths there than in these brief episodes :) I'm also looking at working on a "reading diary" kind of thing? We shall see <3
Next week sees the end of season two! And luckily, there's a shakeup to season three (nothing too exciting).
Next Review: Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo² Season Two Episodes 13 - 21 (Coming Soon!)
Previous Review: Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo² Season Two Episodes 1 - 6
Unfortunately, we’ve reached a fairly unpopular, and therefore, undocumented, period in Scooby history. As such, there’s little additional information I can impart about the start of a new season, but ultimately, what I’ve watched so far appears to be more of the same.
With that being said, the six episodes I’m discussing today were more enjoyable to me than a bulk of the prior episodes.
This episode is another Scooby take on a classic story, here, Pinocchio. I’ve only seen (and loved) the Guillermo Del Toro movie, so I might miss any specific references to the Disney movie. Regardless, I have a greater appreciation for this episode than I do the Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland episodes, where as they tackle the entirety of their stories in this short format, this episode takes a single scene and fleshes it out with this era’s flair.
Maybe flair is overselling it.
However, I think setting the episode in Pleasure Island, an incredibly creepy set from the movie with, as I understand, a somewhat harrowing sequence of children turned into donkeys. Unfortunately, for the first time, I have a slight complaint about the backgrounds: when compared to the Disney version, the difference in their use of colour shades these locations completely differently, with Disney’s oozing with eerie night time shades and unique perspectives, meanwhile the Scooby version is pastel in shade, once again, detailing the show's departure from horror. They’re still gorgeous, don’t get me wrong, but they feel much less creepy, there’s a plain and upbeat feeling instead.
Everywhere I’m searching only details this villain as The Man, I assume a stand in for the movie’s Coachman, the design feels like a perfectly distilled man, drawn in the Hanna Barbera style, at least in terms of his face, adorned with an elongated nose, and brown hair falling below his ears. Of course, this design is elevated by the trench coat and crimson bowler hat. (Funnily enough, the Scooby Doo Wiki has been updated I wrote this to include him, named "Pleasure Island Man".
Ultimately, this is an episode I appreciate more than I enjoy, there feels like more thought drawn into it, and I also love the creepy ending of the man appearing in reality, after the episode is, like Oz and Alice, revealed to be a dream.
2. Lighthouse Keeper Scooby
Here we have another episode I like!
It’s difficult to quite compare these seven minute shorts to the twenty, or even forty, minute episodes we had grown used to for Scooby, not to mention how they work on different formulas, but I’m constantly searching for any episodes that use the format well. There are a smattering, and this is a fun time. I can’t say it’s much better than most average Where are You or Show episodes, but it’s fun!
We follow the gang as they’re swept up in a storm, and crash onto an island.
It’s fairly simple in premise - inside, they find a ghost, and the ghost chases them, until they fall into a costume or fish, and, disoriented, run at the ghost, who is subsequently afraid, until Scrappy gloats about having bested the villain. Subsequently, the cycle repeats.
It’s this repetition that drags down the episode, but I enjoy this premise for what it is, it’s a great way to use the otherwise now somewhat stale dynamic between these characters. After wading through the first season, I’m a little tired of this iteration of the characters, complete bland caricatures, with Scrappy even growing more flanderised - I miss the days of Shaggy as a gymnast. Just tiny details that made these characters any more interesting, but all their interactions exist in a bubble, Shaggy talks to the same two dogs, or the monster, who may as well be the same archetype every episode, and this lack of variety is what, to me, dampens the show. This is especially evident given a wider variety of ideas on display in the opening to this season.
Because I love the lighthouse, the playing upon the typical chase formula, but I’ve seen so many chases in this series, and this slight twist isn’t enough to entirely save this episode. Rather, if pulled out at random, I would argue this is one of the better uses of the series formula.
Tonally, it’s a lot of fun, and I really enjoy both the beautiful setting here, the backgrounds once again dark and lavish, dripping with personality, and the monster too is a fun character. He’s a typical chalky white ghost design, with a large shaggy beard and an incredibly distinct face shape and posture. He feels ripped from one of the earlier seasons, a character that’s simple in design, but effective nevertheless.
On a final note, this one has some fun visuals! The pirate ghost has a ship, and I love the variation, while remaining thematically sound, in regards to the costumes the gang wear.
There are far worse ways to spend seven minutes (like watching a good handful of other episodes from this series).
Also, as the Scooby Doo wiki perfectly points out, “This episode ends with Shaggy, Scrappy, and Scooby stranded on the lighthouse island with no means of escape, as the ghost took their motorboat.”
Scooby Doo found dead.
3. Scooby’s Roots
This is one of the best documented episodes in the series, which is down to the addition of Grandpa Scooby to the canon. I think so far, the family member timeline for Scooby still makes sense, although all these additional family members are undoubtedly retconned later.
Grandpa Scooby is designed exactly how you’d expect, a somewhat skinnier design for the dog, with a bushy grey moustache and eyebrows. I appreciate all the little features that latch onto the idea of this as an old man, such as the tinner ears, almost crinkled, smaller face and aforementioned thinner build.
He’s a fun grandpa character, a very distilled archetype that allows this episode to shine. I also love the inclusion of the sheet ghost here, who, major spoilers for Scooby’s Roots up ahead, is revealed to be Great Grandpa Scooby. Once again, I love the strides to design an old man dog, the larger moustache is a nice touch, alongside the same bushy eyebrows as his son. To further differentiate his design from Grandpa Scooby, he’s dressed in his civil war uniform. I sure do wonder what side he was on.
I love the interactions between Great Grandpa Scooby and Scrappy, with him excited to see a braver member of the Doo family. It’s sweet! And I wasn’t too bored by the ghost antics that proceed it, this additional cast member does wonders in offering the episode something unique, a reason to watch it over the abundance of other chase episodes. The introduction of the ghost is really funny to me also, I love the idea of the Scooby mansion being haunted, the torment is played very straight, his voice acting is phenomenal, and unfortunately, I cannot find anywhere who voiced him. The credits are a jumble of names, still bearing the actors of Fred, Daphne and Velma for starters, and nowhere else has it listed.
There’s also a brief homage to the Where are You titles when Scooby licks pink frosting off his face, which was nice.
4. Scooby’s Escape from Atlantis
While on a Cruise Ship, the gang fall into the ocean, and find themselves trapped inside Atlantis.
I enjoy a fun shift in setting, Atlantis is undoubtedly the best part about this episode, the backgrounds are gorgeous, which often elevates an episode tenfold when all that’s happening is the characters are running around several of them.
Despite Atlantis’ ties to Greek mythology, being a city submerged under water by the Gods after the nation's hubris grew too strong, there’s no direct ties between this villain, a centaur, and Atlantis itself. At least, as far as I can find, with the exception being a tomb raider enemy.
Eventually, I grew used to the Centaur running around, despite his design lacking any ocean motifs; his stark blue armour is a nice touch to the design that makes him pop, especially when paired with his ginger beard, the colours contrast nicely, although this somewhat washes out his horse body.
Once again, this is a kind of whatever episode, that does very little new, but exists within a beautiful, inspired setting.
5. Excalibur Scooby
This episode feels like a copy of season one’s Swamp Witch, but I think this manages to be superior as a result of the increased moving parts.
The episode takes from the Arthurian legend of the Sword and the Stone - whoever can draw the sword from said stone, is deemed worthy to rule. As such, pacing Merlin as the villain here works for me, having him use whatever means necessary to get the sword from the stone to rule is great! Honestly, he’s maybe my favourite villain we’ve seen in this iteration so far, his characterisation is surprisingly rich, blending cowardice with a desire for power. Come the end of the episode, he instantly bows to the will of Scrappy, Scooby, and the frog, all of whom are given (or pull, in Scrappys case) the sword.
Although we’ve seen a handful of Merlin villains in Scooby, there’s a definite cartoonish charm to this design, his eyes large and circular, his posture places his shoulders above his ears, and the mauve robes are a nice choice.
Also he has a frog side kick.
It’s one of the rare episodes that made me laugh a decent amount, and while it still suffers from the usual pitfalls of this series, its strengths allow it to be one of the most enjoyable of the series. I especially love how it uses the legend to great effect, having Scrappy pull the sword with ease, it’s played off so nonchalantly, which really works for me.
6. Scooby Saves the World
For some reason, the gang have all gotten a job (Scrappy is a puppy) cleaning a space shuttle, when they accidently take off and land on an alien planet, where a robotic monster tries to kill them. This is totally the fault of the people that hired this lanky man and his pair of dogs (Scrappy is a puppy) to clean their very expensive, very important space shuttle.
Also, they once again are in space.
Although this is a very bland, forgettable episode, this batch appears to be getting the villains right, or at least, better than before. The robot alien has a sky-blue and violet design, and said design is mostly what carries him, although he does command a presence. His rounded head and long yellow teeth are all evocative of sci-fi tropes and trends of the time, and I enjoy them a lot.
Such trends also influence the backgrounds - I love old sci fi backgrounds and sets, much more than more modern minimalist ideals of the future.
Regardless, Scooby in space shouldn’t have produced this many forgettable episodes.
Thank you so much for reading this post :) Have a great week!
Next Review: Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo² Season Two Episodes 7 - 12 (Coming Soon!)
Previous Review: Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo² Season One Episodes 34-39
I can’t quite tell why, there appears to be no correlation to why, but there’s a curious increase, to me, in the quality of ideas for this final set of episode blocks. Don’t get me wrong, not all of said ideas are winners, nor do the episodes themselves feel like they substantially improve as a result of these interesting ideas, but I found myself genuinely shocked by how fun some of the characters, locations and general plots were. One point to note is that several are heavily inspired by movies, although, I think they use this source material in a manner that feels more so inspired by said movies, rather than the parodies we’ve witnessed before.
Case in point, this episode is undoubtedly inspired by Phantom of the Opera; Scooby as a franchise has always had a love for Universal Monsters, and so such an inspiration makes complete sense, and is by no means new for the series. However, I appreciate here how we get to the story, the gang in Paris, falling down a manhole, where we slowly rise from the sewers into a theatre.
However, the majority takes place in the sewers, evidently inspired by the Phantom’s home in the novel and subsequent movies. Yet, the short understands its runtime, we learn a little about The Phantom of the Sewers, and can infer information as a result of the source material, but the episode doesn’t bloat itself. There’s an evident love for The Phantom within the bones of this story, and the more generic sewer setting offers a unique spin on this tale.
Again, it’s not perfect, it devolves into a long chase sequence without many memorable moments. Likewise, the design for the Phantom is somewhat unremarkable, gowned in a large purple robe, the figure is aged, with a wrinkled face and shoulder length grey hair, only standing out as a result of their red eyes.
But ultimately, I have a soft spot for this episode, it was cute!
35. Robot Ranch
Here’s maybe the most interesting idea they offer - a robot filled wild west. Admittedly, I haven’t watched Westworld, which the episode is inspired by, and as such, I can’t comment exactly on how creative the episode is, with sources online referring to it as a “Parody” and “Take-Off” both suggestive of the episode following the movies beats in a more simplistic manner. However, I’ll fight through my hesitancy to state that this is an episode that feels fresh in comparison to many of the other, very by the books, concepts we’ve seen prior.
I can’t exactly say I love the design for the episodes main antagonist, Rawhide Red, whose main pitfall for me is the colour scheme, with clashing powder blue skin against the titular red shade of his clothing, not to mention the fact his robotic face often blends into the backgrounds given it shares a hue with the sky. For me, a more metallic taste would have worked better here.
Regardless, I felt somewhat hopeful watching this episode, hopeful for a continued renewal of creative energy into the series, when very little else has felt unique or offered much to me, I can only hope that fun concepts such as this continue to pop up, not only in the subsequent episodes of this season, but within the next two seasons as well.
I would much rather episodes that feel like they have something to share creatively, despite weak and bland plots and writing, in contrast to episodes playing it safe reusing assets as they continue to offer the same exhausted plots regardless.
36. Surprised Spies
I don’t love this episode, in part, a result of not caring too much for spy media as a whole, but once again, it’s doing something! Location is the main focus in this episode, shifting from place to place constantly, which offers some unique flavour here!
Also, it features the trio arriving at mysterious locations to drop off and collect packages. This ends up feeling like a drug deal that keeps going wrong, which I enjoy.
Something I should highlight is how often the series has grown accustomed to giving the gang new outfits, something I once revelled in, yet have neglected to discuss. Here they get large beige coats, and in the prior chapter, large cowboy hats. Maybe the lack of customisation to said outfits is why I find myself much less excited to discuss them, for all three characters end up wearing the same uniform, which only furthers a decline in their characters, who feel far less interesting than they once did. Truthfully, I think this comes from their current positions, the stories just don’t offer the characters anything of worth to do, and as such, these already fairly simple characters are stripped even simpler, reduced to being scared objects that can run around for seven minutes. It’s why I maintain Scrappy as the strongest element of this series as a whole, because he feels unique and works to further the stories in a manner I am personally very fond of.
This isn’t to say I dislike Scooby or Shaggy, on the contrary, I just wish they could have even half the personality it felt like they once did, they’re far more barebones now, and these costume changes lacking music personality only furthers this, even if I like them as a whole.
37. Invasion of the Scooby Snatchers
I’ve fairly recently watched Invasion of the Body Snatchers for the first time, which this episode is very evidently inspired by. Although there’s also a parody of the TV show That's Incredible, a reality TV show that aired around the time of this series.
Needless to say that being a fan of the movie, I had a good time with this episode. I’ve always loved the concept of aliens spurting from pods, the innate bond between humanity and our influence on the world. Much like the movie, the episode sees alien clones of the trio growing and attempting to eliminate the gang.
I’m a huge fan of doppelganger stories, and so this works for me on several levels, even if, once again, there’s little substance actually here. The aliens try to “eliminate” the gang for six minutes, before the main alien decides that he’s exhausted of doing so and leaves.
Said main alien has a fun design, with an elongated nose and head, dressed in a blend of greens that compliment his skin colour tenfold, it’s a great and distinct design! And while there’s very little edits made to the alien versions of the gang, this is evidently purposeful, and I appreciate the slight desaturation of them to craft even the simplest change, plus of course, the antenna.
38. Scooby Dooby Guru
We end this winning streak with an incredibly bland, lifeless episode.
The gang disturb a guard to the Taj Mahal, and so he chases after them. It encapsulates all the boring tropes this already flat era has accumulated, and offers nothing in the ways of diversity of ideas nor unique settings, characters are gags. Truly one of the blandest to date.
39. Scooby and the Bandit
Finally for the season, we have another somewhat bland episode. It’s once again a long chase, which to my count, roughly 28/39 of these shorts are simply chases. It’s such a boring direction to take the concept of Scooby Doo shorts, and only cements further to me that this attempt at shaking up the formula is such a boring and lifeless one!
I appreciate how this one builds upon itself, having the chase happen across a large city is at the very least something, I will give the episode that.
Thank you for reading this weeks post! I was fairly excited to finish this, until I remembered there's still two more seasons worth of this formula, with season three having dedicated Scrappy shorts, so that's something!
The one year anniversary for this blog is on the 23rd! I might try to get something out for it, but no promises, but regardless, I've had a lot of fun working on this blog for the year :) And thank you for everyone who has read any of my posts!
I've also updated my ranking for the whole franchise! It can be found here :)
