Tons of things have happened this year in the Scooby-Doo franchise. We've gotten three new series, 20 new films, 7 new specials, plus three new comics and much, much more! In this post, I wanted to highlight my top 5 best and top 5 worst things that happened in this decade. Let's start with the good stuff! 5. Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra Doo To many fans, these films had a dark feel that was reminiscent of the likes of Zombie Island, Witch's Ghost, and Alien Invaders. I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment, and moreover, I think that this film just had a great plot in general with some well-developed characters and a solid grasp on a genuinely spooky tone. I loved the two villains as well, the gryphon is such a unique choice that has never been used in the franchise. The banshee also had some super cool lore behind her, and her design (both of them) was immaculate! I really enjoyed how she could change from a beautiful woman into a shrieking nightmare. This is the type of DTV I'd like to see from Scooby, and in my opinion, it feels like the quality hasn't been quite as high as this film was in some of the recent DTVs. I'd like to give Camp Scare and Shaggy's Showdown honorable mentions, however, as those two were really enjoyable films for me. 4. Daphne & Velma I know this will be a very controversial placing, but I really loved this film. The casting for this film was perfect, and everyone portrayed their characters in a very believable and interesting way without anything feel stilted. The tone of it is fun and silly, but in my opinion, sometimes you just need films like that. This is the type of film, IMO, that you might watch on a particularly stressful day and just turn your brain off to. The message in it is a very positive and empowering one, and the feminist undertones are in no way overpowering to the plot. I'm really hoping they make a Daphne & Velma 2, because this was truly a wonderful film and in my opinion, the fourth best thing the decade had to offer for Scooby. 3. Scoobynatural Scoobynatural adapted a fan favorite episode, "A Night of Fright is No Delight," and made into a more adult version. I thought they did a great job referencing the old episode, while having more of a mature twist to it. Even not having watched Supernatural before seeing the episode for the first time, I still felt very at home with the characters and I wasn't confused in any way, which I thought was super cool. I also liked how pure they made the gang, it was so cute! They did an amazing job getting down the dark tone, and I thought it still stayed true to the franchise overall very well. 2. Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! It still makes me a little sad sometimes, even though I do understand, that people completely boycott this series because of the designs alone. Jon Colton Barry, who has become a dear friend of mine over this past decade, did an ingenious job of getting all the character personalities down, and the absurdist humor of the series is right up my alley. Even if this didn't have an overarching plot like SDMI did, there was still the general plot in the background of the gang's friendship. The gang felt very three-dimensional as characters, and none felt stiff at all. The comedic angle the series took really allowed the gang to shine, and I think purely because of the amazing writing and comedy, everybody should see this series. 1. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated It was really hard to pick between BCSD and this one, because they were both amazing in very different ways, but SDMI edged this one out just slightly. SDMI felt like a fanfiction come to life, and really fleshed the characters out as well as brought us a more mature take on the gang. While I absolutely hated the romance plots, which felt forced and poorly done, the overarching plot of the series and dark undertones grounded in ancient lore was so cool. The gang felt very three-dimensional, and the stakes felt genuinely high in the series. The villains were super creepy, and I loved the way the plot pieced together in that classic mystery format through the episode-to-episode mysteries. This is truly the best the decade has to offer. Now that we've covered the best, let's get to the worst: 5. Scooby-Doo! Music of the Vampire For a Scooby-Doo DTV, this one was pretty bad. While a musical could have maybe worked, I felt the musical numbers were forced in and didn't fit with the plot whatsoever. The plot was pretty thin in general, and would have worked better as a 22-minute special in my opinion. 4. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? comics When I've heard Scooby fans talk about comics, I've never once heard someone say that the Where Are You comics were their favorites. While not atrocious, the plots in general have been declining throughout the decade, and worst of all, WB has chosen to reuse the same stock art over and over instead of just hiring an artist for the comics. Stories are also republished pretty often, which gets quite old and irritating. I've stopped reading Where Are You comics because of this, and this earns them their spot at #4 on the worst list. 3. Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island While this could have worked as a standalone DTV, the sequel to Zombie Island did not live up to the original even slightly. The tone felt very Where Are You-ish, which simply does not work with the tone of the original Zombie Island. I would have been fine if this were a standalone DTV, but making this a sequel to the original Zombie Island was a very poor move, especially for the 50th anniversary. Numerous continuity errors were made, and Velma was made so off character that she became irritating and genuinely difficult to watch. 2. Scooby-Doo and the Curse of the 13th Ghost This one has pretty much the same gripes as last time, except adding on the fact that there were far more continuity errors in this one, and making the 13th ghost fake and essentially saying the whole 13 Ghosts series never happened felt insulting. Velma was even more irritating in this one, and almost seemed in denial. 1. LEGO Scooby-Doo: Blowout Beach Bash
I wouldn't recommend this film to my worst enemy. The "Blowout Beach Bingo Bash" song at the beginning was painful to listen to, especially since it was just those four words repeated over and over for five full minutes. The plot felt incredibly thin and was just poorly written in general. The writers seemed like they totally just phoned in the plot five minutes before it was released, because it felt like it had no substance whatsoever and was just a complete waste of time to watch. I enjoyed Haunted Hollywood, but this one was very difficult to sit through and felt like a quick cash grab with little to no effort put in. Well folks, that's the list! I would love to hear other people's lists as well, if you want to share in the comments!
34 Comments
John Locke
12/26/2019 02:48:03 pm
Agreed on almost all points, minor thing I would have put be cool on top instead of Mystery, because on rewatching MI, it relies a bit too heavily on references (the star trek 3 reworking particularly stand out to me).
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12/27/2019 10:21:30 am
That's a fair point, and it was honestly difficult to pick between BCSD and SDMI because they're both good for such different reasons! But I could understand how someone wouldn't like SDMI for that reason.
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Matt The Pirate
12/26/2019 06:15:55 pm
I still haven't watched Zombie 2 yet, but at least I own it now. And as I stated on previous thread, I liked 13th Ghost a lot. But, I get the disconnect for some.
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Becker
12/26/2019 06:42:15 pm
Scooby's hipness in Be Cool was done ironically and jokingly, in a way of poking fun. Not supposed to be taken seriously and it's kinda meant for it to seem out of character and fake. At least that's what Jon Colton Barry said.
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12/27/2019 10:24:37 am
Totally agreed about SDMI and BCSD being pretty much equal. I think one's liking one better over the other just depends on whether you prefer the comedic aspect of Scooby or the dark tone. In my case, I prefer the dark tone, so that's why SDMI ranked first.
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Samuel Kirkwood
12/27/2019 07:18:58 am
1. For me Camp Scare was better but Abracadabra Doo probably was up there in the top 3 films for the decade.
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12/27/2019 10:28:55 am
3. It definitely works as a stand-alone, and I wasn't confused by anything even never having watched Supernatural before.
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Samuel Kirkwood
12/27/2019 11:47:32 am
Gourmet Ghost did kinda portray the British very badly and watched Scoobynatural this afternoon, it was actually very good although it didn't stick 100% to the original plot, in the original its Cousin Slicker who suggests they turn in not Cousin Simple. And, ugh, what happened to the other heirs, did they not even think about protecting them to? Still loved it. Felt very sorry for Cas. 12/27/2019 06:52:10 pm
I never noticed that before! That's a good point! Glad you enjoyed it.
Matt The Pirate
12/27/2019 01:07:15 pm
Interesting comments from Sammy. I actually think Camp Scare is my fave or tied for my fave DTV. It's fun. has great humor and a great setting for a mystery. There is some romantic fun. Great voice acting.
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12/27/2019 06:56:07 pm
Yes, that was the first one after the What's New animator era and the first one without Casey Kasem as Shaggy. It's definitely as fun, if not more fun than Camp Scare.
Patrick Hendren
12/27/2019 11:15:49 am
I think the greatest thing about the past ten years in Scooby-Doo is that we've had them. The WB has continued with Scooby, granted sometimes they're hit and miss, but there's enough I REALLY LOVE to continue REALLY LOVING Scooby-Doo!
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12/27/2019 06:59:17 pm
That's a great point, Patrick, that we should be thankful that we are even getting a lot of content. The 90s only had a couple new Scooby things total in terms of episodes and films. I'm super excited for the Daphne & Velma novel too!
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Gibby Norton
12/27/2019 12:50:37 pm
I’m surprised at how much hate Blowout Beach Bash gets- I always found it to be an alright film.And I actually consider Haunted Hollywood to be the worst Scooby-Doo film ever made, easily.
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John Locke
12/27/2019 01:09:45 pm
Each to their own opinions, I mean, I'll give anything scooby a chance to surprise me, after not liking the preview for be cool it's now one of, if not my favorite scooby show. But Blowout Beach Blast... eh, I can't help but disagree, plot was too little for it's movie, the side plots sucked (to me), jokes weren't great (that's the most subjective humor differs wildly) and otherwise just a letdown overall, which is probably why there aren't anymore of them despite a Lego DC film this year
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Matt the Pirate
12/27/2019 01:15:08 pm
Nothing wrong with that opinion. Bash has some funny humor and it has pirates. Also, I think the Blowout song at the very beginning is a riot. It is totally NOT your typical Scooby-Doo start or vibe. But, I gotta hand it to 'em for setting the proper tone of "guys, this is a screw around movie" right from the beginning. If you look at the LEGO Justice League movies they are over the top humorous takes, not meant to be anything like the normal animated series' out there.
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12/27/2019 07:12:25 pm
That's a super interesting way to look at it, as setting itself up as a "screwaround" movie or being purposefully self deprecating? Never thought of it with that perspective before. 12/27/2019 07:01:50 pm
Glad you could find some good in the film and enjoyed it! What do you hate about Haunted Hollywood?
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sdf
12/27/2019 07:49:12 pm
I agree with most of your points. Haven't seen Daphne and Velma or the Lego movie with the pirates so i have no opinion. I ll check them for sure though. Also a BIG sorry to BCSD cause i thought it will be an abomination and when it came out i loved it. So here is my list
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12/27/2019 08:32:40 pm
Agreed with all of those, though I didn't like WrestleMania Mystery quite that much. As I mentioned in a comment above, I don't love Curse of the Lake Monster but I don't hate it either. I didn't mind Stage Fright of Beach Beastie either. You hated the Teen Titans Go! crossover? I thought it was pretty good. How come you didn't like it?
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Sdf
12/28/2019 07:47:09 pm
I didn't hate it I just wasn't fully satisfied while watching it. I expected that to be even worse cause Teen Titans Go is a bad show in my opinion but it was OK. As I said above I don't really hate the movies in the worst list. I don't really hate any scooby media except curse of the lake monster and Arabian nights which are too painful to watch I belive 12/28/2019 08:03:46 pm
I expected it to be bad too, but I was pleasantly surprised and there were some really funny meta jokes in it. I hate Blowout Beach Bash, but I wouldn't use such a strong word for any other movie but that and Arabian Nights. Curse of the Lake Monster was a serious quality dip from the first film, which I enjoyed, but I didn't think it was as bad as the five on my worst list. If I had to pick a #6 on my worst list, it would probably be Curse of the Lake Monster.
Becker
12/28/2019 10:41:21 am
I imagine the 2019 Year in Review will be much easier to make, as we'll mostly be ranking in terms of what sucked a bit less than some other crap. I'm still struggling to come up with a top 5 best and worst of the decade, we've had a lot of ups and downs in the 2010s.
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12/28/2019 11:50:13 am
Haha, that's very true. This year was pretty meh for Scooby IMO. I'm looking forward to next year, especially the Halloween movie and Scoob!. I would agree the 2000s are better, though the 1990s is an interesting decade to judge like you said! And that's a great idea for a poll/article, thank you! :)
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Samuel Kirkwood
12/30/2019 01:13:32 pm
You know what I take it all back, Ghastly Goals beats the lot. Good lord that is awful. Americans know nothing about Association football, the whole ending sequence makes no sense, a player is sent off for a fair challenge, then that player is allowed to be replaced, that's not allowed? and by a dog who's not even Brazilian. Scooby then scores an own goal but it counts for Brazil, my mind was totally melted by the end. And that's before we consider the awful competition name and really lackluster plot. Well done Ghastly Goals on somehow managing to beat all the other crap of the past decade.
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12/30/2019 03:53:07 pm
Now that you say it, I remember that one being pretty bad as well. I'm sure they didn't bother to look any of that stuff up, and I agree the plot is bad and rushed.
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Samuel Kirkwood
12/31/2019 11:28:48 am
I think it was done to try and cash in on the World cup in Brazil 2014. Seemed more like them trying to make money than actually putting any effort into it 12/31/2019 12:52:00 pm
I'm sure you're right, or trying to copy what they did for Spooky Games for the Olympics in 2012.
Becker
2/7/2020 01:29:53 pm
(In no particular order)
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2/7/2020 01:37:44 pm
Interesting list! Surprised about Legend of the Phantosaur being one of the best. That one was meh for me. You don't like SDMI or Monster Party, though?
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Becker
2/7/2020 01:46:24 pm
I have a lot of fun with Legend of the Phantasaur. SDMI is good overall, but I don't really like most of the gang's personalities in it, except for Scooby and Shaggy, and I hate the horrible romance subplots in it. Monster Party felt like a waste of time; I'm not an OK KO fan anyway, and the way they portray most of the characters left a weird taste in my mouth. 2/7/2020 04:44:43 pm
I didn't mind OK KO just because we got the girl ghouls, but I totally get why someone wouldn't like it. There are some fun moments in Phantosaur, but it felt like it was drawn out by the end IMO. I hated the romance plots in SDMI too, but loved everything else. Why did you hate Shaggy and Scooby's personalities though?
Becker
2/8/2020 01:56:45 am
No, I meant to say I hated Fred's, Velma's and Daphne's personalities in SDMI, but not Shaggy's and Scooby's. Those two were great most of the time, but the other three could often get on my nerves. 2/8/2020 11:18:00 am
Ah gotcha. Makes sense, I suppose they acted a bit more mature than typically in SDMI. Leave a Reply. |
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