I've had a lot of fun taking a walk down memory lane and revisiting old Hanna-Barbera episodes during the Halloween season. I wanted to do one last article on Goober and the Ghost Chasers, another spooky Scooby clone that centers around chasing ghosts. This series has such a neat vibe to it, and is a bit different than Funky Phantom and Scooby-Doo. The series features main characters Gilly, Tina and Ted, as well as their dog, Goober. Goober is able to turn himself invisible, but this ability is not necessarily voluntary. Gilly, Ted, Tina and Goober all work for Ghost Chaser Magazine, which is an editorial magazine focused on writing stories about real ghosts. The group has a special "Specter Detector" that allows them to detect if a ghost is real or not. It varies from episode to episode whether the ghosts are real or not, but often times, they are people dressed in costumes. Similarly to The New Scooby-Doo Movies, ten out of the 16 episodes include Goober and the gang solving mysteries with a guest star. Interestingly, eight out of the sixteen episodes feature The Partridge Kids solving the ghostly mysteries with Goober's group. The Partridge Kids show up so frequently that they feel like main characters in the show, especially considering seven out of the first nine episodes of the show feature them. Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Gray also appeared in one episode each. I will be ranking and reviewing all sixteen episodes of Goober and the Ghost Chasers in this article. One cool thing I found in my research about this series is that Warner Archive has posted official clips of each episode on their YouTube. I'll include the YouTube videos for each episode, in case anyone thinks any episodes sound interesting enough from my review to watch a preview of. 16. Aloha Ghost This is easily the weakest episode of the series for me. The plot features the group traveling to Hawaii with actor Michael Gray, but their vacation is quickly ruined when they run into a ghost. The ghost does not ghostly or spooky at all, and a lot of the episode is chasing around without much substance to the plot. Some of the episode also feels sloppily pieced together, such as one scene where act 1 ends with the ghost appearing to chase the group, then act 2 beginning with Goober dangling his hat from a tree to fool the ghost. I suppose they didn't necessarily need a transition between the ghost chasing them and that scene, but it did feel a little jarring and like there should have been a scene in between. I don't think any scene is actually missing, as there's another episode later where a similarly jarring introduction of a villain happens right after the commercial break between acts. Another piece of this episode that I felt was odd was that when unmasked, the culprit immediately says "I'm sorry, what I did was wrong." It was kind of weird for the culprit to instantly realize that, when they had been actively chasing the group just seconds ago lol. It illustrates my issue with this episode well, though; overall it just felt kinda rushed in places, which caused some scenes to come off kinda awkward and half-baked. I wouldn't go as far as to say it's a bad episode, but it's very mediocre for the standards of this series. It's probably the one episode here I wouldn't recommend wasting your time with. 15. Venice Anyone? This is a decent-sized step up from "Aloha Ghost." The episode features the group visiting Italy, where a ghost is trying to stop a wedding between Carlo and Julia, whose families' ancestors were rivals. I would say this is amongst the weaker ghosts of the series, but it's still pretty good. We haven't gotten to any Partridge Family episodes yet, but despite being the tenth episode of the series, this is the first episode without any guest star. With this episode, we see them try to keep the format of having a recurring character be part of the group for the episode. In this case, the recurring character is Carlo, who helps the group solve the mystery so that he can marry Julia. There are two episodes coming later where this doesn't happen, but I liked how this episode established the trend of having a recurring character take on a major role in the episode. Having Goober's group team up with somebody else to capture the ghost felt like it was part of the show's core formula, which I liked. Anyway, this episode is somewhere between mid to good for me, but I'd say it leans more towards the good end. 14. A Hard Day's Knight For some reason, the clip to this episode is the last three minutes (thus showing the ending) so I'm not sure if people want to avoid it. Anyway, this was a good episode! The episode features the group heading to a space center which is haunted by the ghost of Don Miguel, who is trying to stop the first space launch to Mars. I mentioned in the above review of "Venice Anyone?" that there were two episodes that did not feature the group solving the mystery with any other characters, and this is one of those episodes. Even though Goober and the gang are the main characters of the show, there does kind of feel like there's an odd absence here. It feels odd not to have a guest star or another character taking on a major role here, since the show's formula had been so heavily built around that formula previously. I thought Don's ghost was a good villain and I liked the episode overall, although having a knight as the villain at a space station was definitely quite unique. 13. Brush Up Your Shakespeare This episode features the Partridge Kids performing at a theater, but their show is disrupted by the ghost of Macbeth. I enjoyed this episode quite a bit and I thought the ghost of Macbeth was great villain! This being the lowest ranked Partridge Kids episode definitely speaks to the quality of those episodes. Personally, I thought the episodes featuring the Partridge Kids were amongst the strongest the series had to offer. The kids brought quite a bit to the group dynamic, and at least for me, they always felt like honorary main characters because they fit so well. 12. Inca Dinka Doo Gilly's aunt is the character to take on the main role of helping the group in this episode, and I really liked her. I wish there were a way to see who the voice actress was, as I thought the woman voicing Gilly's aunt did a really great job. The episode features the group camping and exploring an Ancient Incan City searching for a ghost. I really liked the ghost in this episode, although there is an unfortunate representation of indigenous people similar to "Jeepers It's the Jaguaro." There's a recurring joke throughout this episode that I also find to be really amusing. Goober hears weird noises at night and tries to rationalize it, and one of these noises is an unearthly beeping noise. Goober rationalizes it as being "just a Bleep Bleep Bird," which he made up. Later in the episode, we meet an explorer who is actually looking for a creature called the Bleep Bleep Bird. We later see this bird in the episode, and discover it is a real bird who can only speak through saying the word "bleep." The lore for this bird is so authentically random that the Bleep Bleep Bird gets the honor of being added to my official stan list lol. Speaking of which, this post inspired me to create a list of goofy characters in the Scooby franchise (plus this one from Goober) that I stan for. You can check out that list here. 11. Old MacDonald Had a Ghost, EE II EEYOW While the series didn't end as strong as The Funky Phantom did, it is still a great episode. The episode features the gang being called to investigate by their friend Tom MacDonald, whose farm is being haunted by the spirit of his ancestor. They soon realize that there is more than one ghost when a living scarecrow also appears. Tom MacDonald is the supporting character that takes on a main role in the episode. I kind of liked Tom, but his shtick of telling corny jokes fell flat quickly (and I love dad jokes, so that's saying something IMO lol). This is also the episode I was mentioning above in the review for "Aloha Ghost." While I liked both villains, I thought the introduction of the scarecrow was a tad jarring. He hadn't appeared at all in the first act, but the first scene of the second act is Gilly in-progress of taking pictures of the scarecrow and saying that it's alive. It wasn't quite as jarring as the instance in "Aloha Ghost," but I still feel the scarecrow could have been introduced better. It was a good episode but I wouldn't say anything about it felt special as a finale. 10. Is Sherlock Holme? Just a quick warning that again, the clip reveals the culprit in the last few seconds. This episode features the group going to the Blimey Mansion, and are assisted by a detective in solving the mystery of the ghosts haunting the place. The episode has a really interesting structure, where there is no main villain. Rather, similar to The New Scooby-Doo Movies, there's a different ghost in pretty much every scene, as well as a culprit at the end who is not a ghost. The well-executed different plot structure ultimately boosted this quite a bit and makes this a really good episode. It is easily one of the best episodes without a guest star. 9. The Singing Ghost This episode's plot features the gang being called to a creepy castle to check out a ghost sighting. Upon arriving at the castle, the group realizes that the person who called them was the ghost of Frankenstein's Monster the Third. The ghost reveals he wants Danny Partridge's singing voice, because he has a passion for music, but had the misfortune of being cursed with a terrible singing voice. At first, the gang believes he wants Danny to give him singing lessons, but he quickly informs them he actually wants to steal Danny's voice from his body in a mad science experiment. The ending is a tad corny, but the plot was still decently entertaining. 8. The Haunted Wax Museum A bit of a warning with the clip for this one: again, it reveals the culprit of the episode and for some reason also includes the end credits, which is weird. In this episode, the magazine crew and the Partridge Kids explore a wax museum. As they walk around the museum, statues of historical figures suddenly come alive and attack them. I feel they included a great diversity of villains here as wax statues, including Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, Jack the Ripper, and Blackbeard. Even Montezuma from The Funky Phantom shows up, and has the same design as he did in "Spirit Spooked" from that show. Some of the statues have admittedly odd mannerisms, such as Marie Antoinette having the catchphrase "oui oui oui, you forgot to call Marie!" (which is most certainly historically accurate lol). For some reason, Montezuma is also portrayed as speaking with a thick Scottish accent, which is a bit odd haha. It wasn't a big issue though and I find it more amusing than anything. I found a ten-second clip of Montezuma's Scottish accent, which you can check out here if you want a laugh. Shortly into the episode, it's revealed that there is a wax master, and the group has to try to escape him. This episode would have honestly worked well as a Scooby episode and I really like the way they executed the plot here. The episode's tone and use of multiple monsters feels very New Scooby-Doo Movies-ish. 7. Go West Young Ghost, Go West This is the final episode to feature the Partridge Kids, and it was a good one to go out on! The episode centers around the Partridge Kids calling Goober's group to an amusement park, because the park's haunted house is haunted by the real ghost of Ichabod Ipswitch. However, the ghost is behaving inconsistently with the legend. The legend of this ghost says his unfinished business was that he chickened out of a duel with his enemy, but the ghost is behaving very hostile. The group investigates the haunted house and splits in two. Gilly, Goober and Danny's group meets this hostile ghost, but the other group meets a very cowardly, meek ghost. Halfway through the episode, the group realizes that a fake ghost is pretending to be Ichabod, and they end up enlisting the help of Ichabod's real ghost at the end to catch the phony. Although other episodes certainly have done a similar plot where there's a real and fake ghost, I liked the way they approached this one, where the group was confused about which one was real and which one was fake. 6. Mummy Knows Best This one has grown on me since childhood for its unique villains. The plot features the gang traveling to Kahrobi with the Partridge Kids, and going to a palace. They encounter a prince who tells them he wants to modernize the palace. However, he also shares that the ghost of King Osiris, ancestor of the current king, has returned with his army of mummies to stop this modernization. This episode is surprisingly a much better executed version of "Mystery in Persia" with an engaging plot and very strong villains. For some reason, I remember not liking this episode as much as the others in childhood, but upon rewatching it, I felt it was super strong and would highly recommend checking this one out. 5. That Snow Ghost Not to be confused with the classic Where Are You episode "That's Snow Ghost." This is easily the strongest non-guest star episode. This is the other episode I mentioned earlier that didn't have any supporting character that took on a main role in the episode. The wintery atmosphere at the inn is excellent, and I also thought the ghost was especially menacing in this episode. In pretty much every episode of the show towards the end, there's a fake ghost, but a real ghost appears at the end. I won't ruin anything, but I will just say that I think this episode did a good job of still using that trope while not making it feel too formulaic like other episodes had. I also really like the scene in the clip above where Goober's worried to go to sleep and Gilly's listing off things Goober's probably imagining, which to Goober's horror, are actually happening in the room. It's a really fun tongue-in-cheek moment that is both sort of funny and spooky at the same time. Great episode! 4. The Ghost Ship This episode had one of the most unique plots of the show. The episode has Goober and the gang going aboard a ghost ship with the Partridge Kids to write a story. The kids meet a nice pirate ghost named Dink, who is more than happy to give the group pictures for their magazine. However, they soon discover that Dink has an evil twin named Dunk, who is trying to throw the kids overboard. I think the plot is super unique and I like that they came up with such an original plot. The plot gets slightly bogged down in antics-based events, as the recurring joke in this episode is that the gang keeps getting confused which twin is which, but I don't feel it detracted from the episode in any significant way. This is a really fun, unique plot and I still have a soft spot for this episode from childhood. 3. The Wicked Witch Dog A strength of this series is coming up with very unique types of ghosts and plots, and this episode is no exception. The villain of this episode is a ghost dog who is also a witch. Goober's group and the Partridge Kids bump into this wicked witch dog, as well as his ghostly owner, while traveling to Scotland. I really liked both the dog and his ghostly owner here, and I thought the atmosphere of the lighthouse setting was super strong. The part where they try to trap the witch dog by having Goober seduce her was admittedly odd, but in an absurdly funny sort of way. You can actually watch the scene in the above clip starting at 2:06. I already loved this episode as a kid, but it only grew on me more with this rewatch. 2. Assignment: The Ahab Apparition This first episode of Goober and the Ghost Chasers is such a classic to me. I have a ton of nostalgia over this episode from childhood. The episode features the group going to investigate Peaceful Cove for their magazine, where the Partridge Kids are on vacation. The cove has a house on a cliff that's haunted by the ghost of Captain Ahab and spirit of Moby Dick. The group and Partridge Kids investigate the house in hopes of interviewing Ahab's ghost for their magazine, but they quickly discover he hates visitors when he attempts to frighten them away. Ahab's mansion is a classic-feeling haunted house setting that could easily be in a Scooby episode. Without ruining anything, there's also a twist at the end that was really well-executed. This was such a strong way to start off the series and I highly recommend that any fans of Scooby check this one out. 1. The Galloping Ghost
Although I love so many of these episodes, this one has been my favorite since childhood, and remains in that #1 spot with this rewatch. The episode features the group visiting Wilt Chamberlain's ranch, which is haunted by a headless ghost riding a horse. The ghost is not said to be the Headless Horseman, although it is clear from the design that the writers were heavily basing the ghost on the classic tale of Sleepy Hollow. The atmosphere of the ranch here is really strong. The ranch has a warm vibe to it, but also feels ever-so-slightly unsettling and creepy, which I felt was a perfect atmosphere for this episode to have. I also really liked Wilt Chamberlain as a guest star. Similarly to the Globetrotters in Scooby, Wilt fit in super well with Goober's group and feels like a honorary member of the gang. This episode stands out the most to me from the show, and is the best episode of the series in my opinion. Goober and the Ghost Chasers has such an interesting vibe, and I had a lot of fun rewatching it again. I remember thinking the episodes with The Partridge Kids were the strongest as a kid as well, and my opinion hasn't changed. Generally speaking, I feel the episodes that did not have a guest star were not quite as high-quality as the ones those did. The exception to that would be "That Snow Ghost," where I felt both the villain, the atmosphere and the episode overall was very strong. For me, The Partridge Kids just brought a fun dynamic to the group that no guest star or supporting character was really able to, other than Wilt Chamberlain. I have always found it really unique that the series relied so heavily on The Partridge Kids that they almost felt like they should have been main characters. I really enjoyed revisiting these couple of Hanna-Barbera series for Halloween! It had been many years since I'd last seen them, and it was very nostalgic watching all these again. As mentioned above, this will be the last series I revisit (at least for a while), so I hope you've enjoyed these reviews even though it was a bit of a detour from the typical Scooby content you'd see on this blog. If anybody's seen the series or any of these episodes, I'd love to hear your thoughts on them below in the comments!
31 Comments
Alexandra Rutt
10/14/2023 03:25:31 pm
Only ever saw the NASA episode. However, have you read the Goober story in Cartoon Network Presents? It was in the same issue that had the Scrappy solo mystery. It was pretty good. Can the humans understand Goober in the cartoon? Because they could in the comic
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10/14/2023 04:23:24 pm
I haven't read that issue in Cartoon Network Presents, but I'll have to check it out sometime! No, they didn't really understand him in the series. Goober mostly made fourth-wall breaking comments in the series but the other characters didn't acknowledge him anytime he spoke.
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Matt
10/14/2023 11:41:36 pm
Interesting list here. Definitely will try and check this out eventually, just a matter of timing and finding time and I think I might do Funky Phantom first
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Becker
10/15/2023 05:46:08 am
The idea of these Scooby clones/rip-offs turns me off personally. It always reeks of HB squeezing and milking a concept to death even without using the original IP, but instead creating a multitude of poor man's versions of it. Just a very shallow and money grubbing vibe, even if there might be some good episodes here and there.
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Matt
10/15/2023 09:40:51 am
Well, I haven't seen enough to really have an opinion. I've never really watched them all that much even if I am familiar with the characters. I've seen a few episodes of Funky Phantom and 2 of them are actually really good, but that's a small sample size 10/15/2023 02:15:59 pm
I agree they're not as good as Scooby, although I like Goober and The Funky Phantom and have a lot of nostalgia from childhood over those two. I am not as much of a fan of Speed Buggy, Jabberjaw or Captain Caveman, although there are some episodes here and there that are decent. I can totally understand your opinion though.
Becker
10/15/2023 05:35:51 am
Never seen this show, but I can't wrap my mind around how you can incorporate the fictional music band Partridge Kids into a mystery solving show. Who tf came up with that (I have no experience with the Partridge Kids, but apparently not even all the members were brought in)? Not only that, but making them appear in half of the episodes, they're literally semi-regular characters. In fact they'd be straight up main characters if we took only the first 11 episodes, since they make 8 appearances in those. Which brings me to another point: why did the last 5 episodes not feature the Partridge Kids (or any guest for that matter) at all? If you're gonna make them main characters, you might as well go all the way. Seems strange to just ditch half of your "gang" in the last third of the show with no explanation. There must be a behind the scenes reason for why stopped using them at some point. Maybe the rights to use those characters expired or were rescinded during production? Going from "guest" characters every episode to none is a drastic shift in creative direction.
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10/15/2023 02:20:37 pm
Surprisingly, it works really well, in a similar way to how The New Scooby-Doo Movies was able to incorporate guest stars and make them feel like a part of the gang. I agree with you that it was odd to include them in half the series, although I honestly don't mind since I felt they brought a really interesting vibe to the show. My thought for why they weren't in the last five is that perhaps HB wanted to encourage people to watch the show by including characters the audience would already know. By the last five episodes, they may have figured that the audience was now familiar enough with the characters that they could stand on their own without needing guest stars to get the audience interested in the main characters. Idk, just a theory. Also, yeah, not all of them appeared. Danny, Laurie, Chris and Tracy appeared, but Keith and Shirley were not in the show.
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Becker
10/15/2023 02:54:47 pm
Well the show wasn't renewed for a second season, so I don't know how much that helped. 10/15/2023 04:21:09 pm
Yeah, that's fair. I don't think their strategy with dropping the Partridge Family worked, but they likely made all of these episodes in advance of them airing. There was probably no way to definitively know if it would work, so they just took a chance. And to be fair, most of these Scooby clone shows were never renewed for a second season (other than Josie, but that was technically a different show). so their strategy didn't really have that much of a chance to begin with.
ScoobyVerse
10/15/2023 07:10:28 am
I watched a lot of HB shows back last year, and I gotta say the Scooby clones were my least favorite. Could be because I’m biased, but I felt something was missing. And for me, Scooby.
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Becker
10/15/2023 08:39:26 am
I agree that all of the Scooby clones are just not it. HB were infamous for making clones of their own cartoons. And not only Scooby. Like, Partridge Family 2200 AD is a blatant rip-off of The Jetsons... except it's the same company ripping itself off.
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Matt
10/15/2023 10:19:03 am
The original Jonny Quest series probably ranks second for me. There are a few moments where it is hard to ignore that it was a product of its time, but other than that, I think the series is excellent and very well written and executed in terms of an adventure series. I'll agree with Scoobyverse that Dynomutt is another one of their best adventure cartoons
Becker
10/15/2023 01:33:55 pm
I've never watched Jonny Quest, the concept doesn't really appeal to me. I remembered it after posting the comment, in retrospect I would've given it a shout alongside Alex Toth and Smurfs. I heard the 1996 reboot was good too – another one of the last HB cartoons. 10/15/2023 02:12:16 pm
I wasn't as much a fan of Speed Buggy and Jabberjaw, although there were some decent episodes in both of those series. These are the ones I watched as a kid:
Becker
10/15/2023 03:00:01 pm
Seems like we all watched different HB cartoons growing up with the exception of a few obvious ones. Interesting, I guess it makes sense though, as HB often went for quantity over quality.
Matt
10/15/2023 03:18:49 pm
Oddly enough, Jonny Quest is a show whose concept never really appealed to me as a kid either, but I decided to give it another chance as an adult (as I remember watching a few episodes as a kid, but didn't remember much nor caring that much as a kid) and I really, really enjoyed it. It is absolutely one of the few HB cartoons where you can tell just how much effort and money went into it imo, and it had some of the best writing of any series on top of that. I'll go with
Becker
10/15/2023 04:23:06 pm
Honestly, I would never have expected such high praise for Jonny Quest. Did you also watch the 1996 reboot? It was also made by HB, during a time when they were finally getting their shit back together (only to dissolve a few years later). 10/15/2023 04:45:46 pm
I'd rank them as follows, and I'll do tiers as well. 10/15/2023 04:49:56 pm
@Becker I lump Laff-a-Lympics in with Scooby since it was rebranded that way in syndication. If I were to have included it in my rankings, I'd probably put it in the "good tier" between Richie Rich and Hong Kong Phooey.
Matt
10/15/2023 08:58:52 pm
@ Becker- I've yet to check out the 96 Jonny Quest. Significantly more interested now if it is supposed to be pretty good. But as for the original, I think it deserves the praise. I think an episode like The Robot Spy is up there with some of the best Scooby Doo episodes for having an absolutely amazing dark atmosphere and just being really good 10/15/2023 09:57:28 pm
I guess "doesn't hold up" probably wasn't the best wording for how I feel (although there are things in both of those that would never be allowed today). While I used to kinda enjoy the format as a kid, the antics-based stuff isn't entertaining to me as an adult and I don't find any sort of appeal in it anymore. I would say I liked Richie better than Yogi because it was more adventure-based, but it's not one I've returned to in adulthood.
Becker
10/15/2023 10:20:53 pm
I love how we all have The Jetsons at #5.
Matt
10/15/2023 11:44:42 pm
Yeah, that is true that there is stuff in both that wouldn't fly today. Hell, I'd say there is stuff in pretty much ALL of these shows, even the newer ones (ESPECIALLY Johnny Bravo lol). 10/16/2023 07:44:43 am
Of the few episodes of Johnny Bravo I've seen, I agree it definitely had some...interesting stuff lol.
Matt
10/17/2023 09:15:20 am
I guess another part of it is that I'm not particularly nostalgic for Richie Rich as 60s and 70s HB is mostly what I watched on Boomerang as a kid (With a few exceptions like the Smurfs and the underwater Smurfs ripoff the Snorks, which wasn't very good but I do have some nostalgia for it).
Becker
10/17/2023 12:10:51 pm
Underwater Smurfs rip-off lmfao. The 80s was HB at its lowest, nothing that great to me besides Scooby obv (Scrappy shorts notwithstanding), the Superstar 10 movies and The Jetsons revival. 10/17/2023 01:00:43 pm
@Matt That's fair, I would say I feel similarly about Richie Rich as you do for the Snorks. I have a lot of nostalgia for it, but I wouldn't necessarily say the writing was high quality.
Matt
10/17/2023 05:08:48 pm
@Wildwind I wouldn’t say I like the Snorks as much as you like Richie Rich. I probably wouldn’t put the Snorks anywhere above Meh tier, I just have a little nostalgia for it 10/17/2023 06:18:19 pm
I'd say Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! is funnier than A Pup Named Scooby-Doo for me, although comedy was a very strong element in both. In terms of all cartoons, I would say early episodes of The Simpsons is probably what I would consider the funniest. The recent episodes aren't as funny though, they're very hit or miss for me (and I would say they are increasingly becoming misses with the current season).
Becker
10/18/2023 04:40:32 am
@Matt, great unintended pun with blue moon and Smurfs Leave a Reply. |
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