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A Ranking of the Scooby-Doo Specials

11/30/2022

16 Comments

 
At long last, after ranking the movies and series, I've ranked all the Scooby specials! I don't feel any of them are super strong and the rankings were pretty easy to do unlike the series and movies, but nonetheless, I hope you enjoy my rankings.
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11. Ghastly Goals
This one earns its spot as dead last for not only a boring storyline, but also bad animation. As I mentioned in my recent post about my top 10 least favorite Scooby-Doo episodes, the plot felt very underdeveloped and it felt like they were really stretching the mystery. The animation also felt a bit lazy to me, as many of the crowd shots were just a blur of color, and the backgrounds were sometimes sloppily drawn during close-ups.
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10. LEGO Scooby-Doo: Knight Time Terror
This one was very middle-of-the-road for me. It's definitely a quality increase from Ghastly  Goals, but the plot itself felt a bit underdeveloped and rushed. I liked Haunted Hollywood much better. There's honestly nothing more I really have to say about this one because it's just that mediocre haha.
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9. Mecha Mutt Menace
There was a bit of a noticeable quality drop from some of the earlier 2012 DTV specials and these 2013 ones, but this one isn't bad like Ghastly Goals by any means. I thought the Mecha Mutt was a decent villain and the plot of the gang being at the Space Station was neat. I did not care for Daphne being jealous of Fred, however, as that plot had just been in Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright, and as a result, it felt like overkill here. I liked the special overall though.
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8. Spooky Scarecrow
I liked this special well enough, but it's probably my least favorite Halloween episode of the selection we have so far. The plot about the witch casting a spell on a scarecrow to make it come to life was cool, but I kind of wish we would have gotten the witch as a villain as well of the scarecrow. This episode felt like it needed a little something extra, because I feel like this same plot has been done much better in "The Frickert Fracas," "A Scooby-Doo Halloween" and "Eating Crow."
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7. Beach Beastie
I know that some people feel this is the best of the DTV specials, and while I do agree it's quite good, I would say I like Spooky Games and Haunted Holidays a bit better. I really like how unique Aquazilla is as a villain, and I thought his shapeshifting abilities were used in a very cool way here. I liked the plot of the gang going to Fred's uncle's resort, and the fact that his uncle was voiced by Adam West! The plot of Scooby having a crush on a little dog was also cute. I also thought it was neat how they carried over plot points from Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, like Fred's house and trap obsession.
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6. Behind the Scenes Shorts
I've always thought these were really cute. This was a neat idea on Cartoon Network's part to make these goofy little interviews. I've always been amused at the part in the sixth interview about Fred singing showboat to calm the gang lol.
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5. Night of the Living Doo
I've always found this one to be a bit weird, but in a good way. This was a cool parody of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, even though the culprit and monsters were very strange. It felt sort of like The Scooby-Doo Project in terms of its rough reused animation, but I think it worked very well for what it was.
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4. Scooby-Doo! Spooky Games
I really enjoyed this special! I liked the plot of the gang being invited to an Olympics-like game and having to solve the mystery of the giant statue Fortius coming to life. This was definitely among the more interesting and better quality DTV specials in my opinion.
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3. Scooby-Doo! Haunted Holidays
I still watch this special every Christmas, and I think it's my favorite of the DTV specials. This special also feels a bit darker than the others with the gang being locked in the creepy toy factory during the snowstorm. The Sinister Snowman was a super creepy villain, and it was neat how he could shapeshift. I also like how it's hinted the Santa Claus that showed up at the end may have been the real Santa. That was really cute.
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2. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now?
I did a full-length review of this here, but I thought the humor in the special was really good. Even though the animation was a bit strange mixed with live-action and I don't typically like that sort of  thing, it worked well here. Even if there wasn't really any new information for a Scooby super fan like myself, the interviews with the writers and producers were really fun. The only thing I didn't really like about this special was the unnecessary Scrappy bashing, which felt out of place and very mean-spirited.
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1. The Scooby-Doo Project
I think there are one or two people on here that have had this in their top 10 Scooby episodes ever. While I won't go quite that far, I did really like this special and think it's the best the franchise has to offer. It was super clever of them to make a parody of The Blair Witch Project, and I thought making it kind of a satire of the franchise worked really well. The humor was super clever here. Like Where Are You Now, even though the animation was a bit weird mixed with live-action elements, I thought it worked really well. It was quite intense that the special ended with the gang missing.

​That about does it for my special rankings! I'll be posting my ranking of every Scooby-Doo movies next month, but in the meantime, but if you happen to feel inspired to share yours in the comments, I'd love to see them!
16 Comments
SDF
11/30/2022 08:37:52 am

Here is my ranking

*haven't seen Where are you now yet

10)Ghastly Goals: It is not bad but it had issues. I agree with you

9)Mecha Mutt Menace: I found it ok

8)LEGO Scooby-Doo: Knight Time Terror: This was also ok. I liked it slightly more than Mecha Mutt

7)Beach Beastie: Is this really a fan favourite? I also thought that was ok. I like the summer set up

6)Spooky Scarecrow: It is higher cause i enjoy haloween more than summer

5)Behind the scenes: They were fun but had some continuity errors

4)Night Of The Living Doo: As you said, weird in a good way

3)Scooby Doo Project: A nice parody of the franchise and blair witch project. One of the darskest scooby episodes

2)Spooky Games: I liked the olympics set up and the giant statue was a great monster

1)Haunted Holidays: Well Xmas are almost here. This is my favourite special and my second favourite holidays episode after the WNSD Xmas episode

Ps I like the lego shorts also they are fun

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Becker
11/30/2022 09:04:17 am

Those Lego Scooby Shorts from 2015-2016 are the best Lego Scooby content

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WildwindVampire link
11/30/2022 09:15:22 am

Thanks for sharing your list! It was fun reading it! :)

7. Back in the day, I believe quite a few people on the ScoobyAddicts forum said this special was one of their favorites.

I love the LEGO shorts too!

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Becker
11/30/2022 09:03:39 am

I've never seen anyone say Beach Beastie is one of their favorite. I've seen more people say it's the worst of the 2010s specials honestly.
Where Are You Now is way higher than I expected.

My favorite is no doubt The Scooby-Doo Project, I'm the guy that has it in his top 10 ever lol. An easy second place is Night of the Living Doo.

Behind the Scenes '98 is possibly the most obscure piece of Scooby media ever. I remember it more for it being Scott Innes' debut as Shaggy than anything else.

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WildwindVampire link
11/30/2022 09:40:00 am

I don't think I've ever seen anyone say it's the worst of the 2010s specials lol. Usually Ghastly Goals seems to be people's least favorite. I've believe I saw some people on the ScoobyAddicts forum say it was their favorite awhile ago. This, Spooky Games or Haunted Holidays seems to be people's choice for favorites from what I've seen.

I love Behind the Scenes for how obscure it is. I didn't see Behind the Scenes until years after the three Scooby films from the revival era, so I guess I don't really have that memory associated with it, but I love how strange it is.

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Matt
11/30/2022 04:24:23 pm

I am going to hold back on ranking the Lego specials and Beach Beastie. I have seen them I believe, but it’s been a while. For what it’s worth, me not having enough memory of them should tell you where they would rank for me

9. Ghastly Goals- Absolutely terrible. I always knew that it was boring, but when you pointed out how terrible the animation was, and I went back and watched it… it’s just awful

8. Where Are You Now- In a much more positive note, I did enjoy this, but I feel like I could’ve gotten more out of something like this. In all honesty, I forgot it existed until now

7. Mecha Mutt Menace- Not bad, I kinda like it

6. Behind the Scenes shorts- Very nostalgia heavy. Enjoy these quite a bit

5. Spooky Scarecrow- Good special. Worth a watch in October

4. Spooky Games- Top 4 are all really strong here, and this one is really good

3. Haunted Holidays- Easily my favorite of the 2010s specials. A must-watch in December for me

2. Night of the Living Doo- The top two have different strengths. This one is really, really bizarre in a really, really funny way. Some of the best meta humor in the franchise

1. The Scooby Doo Project- This one wins out of depth. Very intense but it works super well. A very deserving number one

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WildwindVampire link
11/30/2022 07:50:15 pm

9. I can confirm I did not rewatch this for my rankings lol. I didn't rewatch Knight Time Terror either, and I haven't watched it since it came out. It wasn't bad, but there wasn't anything special about it that's made me want to watch it again.

5. I watch this every October as well :)

3. I always give this a watch every December too. This used to be my second favorite special, but it's slowly grown into my favorite.

2. I would argue besides The Scooby-Doo Project (to an extent), this special has the best meta humor out of anything in the franchise.

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Carson Maitland - Smith
12/1/2022 03:48:16 am

Love them all

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Mr Neither
12/1/2022 05:36:53 am

I'll need to watch a few of these again before making a definitive list.

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WildwindVampire link
12/1/2022 07:49:32 am

Looking forward to seeing your list! :)

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Mr Neither
12/3/2022 10:26:19 am

11. The Scooby Doo Project - Sorry, not for me.

10. Spooky Games - Meh villain, lame culprit, atrocious sporting knowledge, horrific stereotyping and a diabolical rehash of the The Spirited Spooked Sports Show. Moving swiftly on.

9. Ghastly Goals - An even worse interpretation of sport, you can't replace a player who's been sent off, Scooby scores an own goal that somehow counts for Brazil, USA would never reach the World Cup Final and the finalsomehow takesplace literally a day after the opening fact, okay, enough bashing, makes it into tenth for a unique villain and intriguing mystery even if the culprit was guiltier than guilt itself. FUN FACT: Brazil's star player looks strikingly familiar to the USA flag bearer in Spooky Games.

8. Night of the Living Doo: At least with this one is supposed to be clear who the villain is. The constant bashing of the patented Scooby formula wasn't to my taste. Somehow 8th due to the abominations to humanity that occupy 9th and 10th.

7. Mecha Mutt Madness - Alright but nothing to make it standout.

6. Behind the Scenes Shorts - OLD MAN RIVER!

5. Spooky Scarecrow - Neat plot, cool villain but needed to be longer.

4. Beach Beastie - Same as above, very unique villain and bonus points for Adam West but again would have been better as a full movie.. Fun Fact: A re-colour of Luke from Camp Scare seems to appear at 15:30.

3. Where Are They Now: Even if some parts were extremely cringey, a nice trip down memory lane.

2. Knight Time Terror: Goofy and fun, bonus points for Eugene.

1. Haunted Holidays: Nutcracker Scoob will always be my fave Xmas episode but this is by far the best of the teens one-of episodes.

WildwindVampire link
12/3/2022 02:47:03 pm

11 and 10. Interesting to see "The Scooby-Doo Project" and Spooky Games as your bottom 2 when they tended to be towards the top for a lot of people.

9. Completely agree with you here. Lol to one of your criticisms of lack of realism in the special being "USA would never reach the World Cup Final" (I'm not really a big sports fan so this just amused me). Scooby scoring that goal and it counting for Brazil just makes no sense to me in general lol. Even as someone who has no interest whatsoever in soccer, I know that goal-scoring doesn't work that way haha. I never noticed that about Brazil's star player, but then again I don't think I've ever returned to this after the first watch because of how turned-off by it I was. The finals taking place the very next day after the first game is an amusing inconsistency lol.

8. I interpreted this more as parody/satire rather than bashing; it worked for me but I can understand that this wouldn't be for everyone.

6. Lol!

5. I only would have wanted this to be longer if they developed the plot more. The plot to this felt a bit thin to me and there didn't feel like that much of a mystery. That's not to say it's bad, because I still watch this every year for Halloween, but it's the weakest of the Scooby Halloween specials IMO (not including Rock and Roll Mystery).

4. I liked that Adam West appeared too! I agree with you the plot feels a bit rushed. I never noticed that fun fact about Luke; that's really cool!

3. Agreed.

2. I have no memory of Eugene at all tbh. This special as a whole felt very unmemorable to me.

1. Absolutely agreed this is the best of the DTV specials.

Mr Neither
12/3/2022 03:09:08 pm

11. Probably because I'm not really into horror flicks and thus the format just didn't appeal to me. I feel it's one of those love it or hate it films.

10. I'm a massive sports fan, so even minor errors annoy me, A LOT. Plus, really, do us Brits really sound like that?

8. It wasn't bad, bad, just got old quickly. Shout out to Mr Shifty though.

5. Unpopular opinion but it still would have been better as a fiull length movie than Halloween Scooby Doo with a seemingly never ending car chase for half an hour.

4. Yeah, I just saw him and was like, wait, he looks familiar and slowly it dawned on me.

2. Eugene, the giant Man (and dog) eating plant.

WildwindVampire link
12/3/2022 03:41:56 pm

11. To be fair, I don't like horror films either and I still really enjoyed it. The comedy/satire is what made it as enjoyable as it was for me, but IMO the comedy was in the same vein as "Night of the Living Doo", so I'm sure you probably didn't care for that either.

10. The British accents in the film were definitely bad. I guess it didn't bother me as much as it bothered you, but yeah, I agree they played off of some pretty bad stereotypes.

8. I love Mr. Shifty lol.

5. Haha, yeah, I remember you don't like the car chase in Happy Halloween. Didn't bother me tbh, which surprises me a bit because I don't like films that drag on, but Happy Halloween didn't feel like it dragged to me. I wouldn't want Spooky Scarecrow as a full-length movie unless they added some depth to the plot.

2. Still doesn't ring a bell, but I looked it up on Scoobypedia and saw a picture of them. I barely remember them lol.

Sarah Sims
2/16/2023 10:14:54 pm

I'm not good at ranking stuff, but I feel the exact same way about Number 2, especially the part with Scrappy.

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WildwindVampire link
2/17/2023 09:45:28 am

Glad you agree :)

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