An Updated Guide to the Scooby-Doo Holiday Specials

You may remember last year that I published a post entitled "A Guide to the Scooby-Doo Holiday Specials," which was highlighted the plethora of Scooby-Doo episodes and movies which are classics to watch around the holiday season. Since then, two additional wintery episodes have debuted. Additionally, I received a few comments and an email which suggested other episodes which people enjoyed watching around the holidays which I had not included in the list. For the sake of completeness (and the fact that I want to make sure everyone's ideas are included!), I present you with an updated guide to the Scooby-Doo holiday specials!

Scroogey Doo (Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!)
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This first episode is a brand new episode which made its debut in the UK just months ago, on July 7, 2017, and just debuted a few weeks ago in the US on the Boomerang streaming service, on November 30, 2017.

I've been wanting an episode which parodies the Charles Dickens classic "A Christmas Carol" for years now! The plot of the story works so well with Scooby, the fact that there are three ghosts haunting Scrooge and there's a "mystery" of sorts regarding why the ghosts are there and how Scrooge became the way he is. This episode does a perfect job staying true to the original story while staying true to Scooby as well (with crossovers, you always seem to run the risk of having it work for one story but not the other). It also does wonderfully in keeping with the classic Scooby mystery plot, as well as keeping with the mindless silliness that is Be Cool, Scooby-Doo. The episode has multiple recurring gags throughout, including my personal favorite regarding Fred's sudden grudge against raccoons. I also greatly enjoy the idea of Scrooge getting himself tested for menopause and "what if my lips fall off?" disease lol.

There is one interesting twist, however...in this version, the ghosts aren't solely there to haunt Scrooge, but they also attempt to show Velma that she would be better off not being held back by the gang, and should go pursue her own dreams.

Overall, this is a fantastic holiday episode which you should definitely add to your list. 10/10

Naughty or Ice (Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!)
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While this episode isn't strictly Winter-themed, it does relate to an "Ice Hotel" and has several winter-themed jokes throughout it, so I suppose I should include it in this list as well.

The idea of this episode was very interesting, but personally, I didn't really enjoy Daphne's quirk of the episode. In my opinion, Daphne attempting to blow the vault simply to get something back which her mother borrowed from her, neither makes sense or is consistent with her character. She could have just as easily just told her mother how she felt or come up with some elaborate (and funny) scheme to trick her mother, rather than committing several illegal acts just to steal back something that was her's anyway. I also didn't feel like Daphne lying to the gang and sneaking around behind their backs is consistent with the Daphne that had been established in the rest of the series. Normally, Daphne is a very empathetic and caring character who would do anything for her friends, but in this episode she just acts very selfishly and actively deceives her friends for personal gain.

Besides this, as well as some of the lame ice jokes and the repeating of the already-not-funny slippery ice joke from "Be Cold, Scooby-Doo!", I did actually enjoy the episode moderately. I loved the idea of reinventing "Scooby's Night with a Frozen Fright" from the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You series, and many of the other jokes were quite humorous. My favorite part of the episode was definitely when Shaggy and Scooby tried to teach the Ice Man to talk. The Ice Man's triumphant announcement of "My name is Ice Man! My name is Ice Man!" is absolutely hilarious. I genuinely felt a little sad when Shaggy and Scooby ran off and tricked him, the poor Ice Man worked so hard lol!

Overall, this episode certainly had its moments and was a nice reimagining of "Scooby's Night with a Frozen Fright," but the whole plotline of Daphne blowing the vault and acting off-character somewhat ruined the episode for me. This is one I'd recommend skipping. 5/10

Block-Long Hong Kong Terror (What's New, Scooby-Doo?)

This is one that was suggested last year that I add to the list, and quite honestly, I wouldn't have ever thought to watch it, but it's a really great idea and one I might consider adding to my list. Though not Winter-related as the other episodes are, this episode highlights the gang celebrating New Year (technically Chinese New Year, though IMO it's close enough!). 

The episode features the gang in China to try to repair Shaggy's broken rubber duck, Duck Guy. While they are there, a giant dragon attacks the Chinese New Year festivities. Personally, I really enjoyed this episode, particularly the Duck Guy plotline, as it provided an interesting explanation and story development as to why the gang was in China, instead of another random "oh hey, we're just visiting China for no reason!" haha. Which brings up the question, how exactly does the gang pay for all the hundreds of countries they've been in? I really wish I could have afforded that with my friends as a teenager lol.

Overall, this was a very interesting episode, so if you celebrate New Year's and want a fun episode to watch, I would definitely recommend this one. 8/10

Laff-A-Lympics: The Swiss Alps & Tokyo, Spain & the Himalayas, The North Pole & Tahiti, Russia & the Caribbean, and Warsaw, Canada & Poland
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This was another suggestion I got after I made my post last year. Admittedly, I had never considered watching any of the Laff-A-Lympics episodes that took place in snowy/wintery places around the holidays, but it's definitely a great idea! Five episodes of the series take place in snow-covered locations, including: "The Swiss Alps & Tokyo," "Spain & the Himalayas," "The North Pole & Tahiti," "Russia & the Caribbean" and "Warsaw, Canada & Poland." These episodes are a bit more difficult to review, as they all have basically the same plot, but if you're looking for a less conventional holiday episode which you don't watch every year, I would recommend these for sure! However, if you are short on time or just want to stick to the classics, I'd say maybe avoid these.

If you remember, this post's original point was to highlight the best and most highly recommended holiday episodes. With these new additions, let's briefly recap and add to my choices from last year:

(From last year's post)
1. That's Snow Ghost (Scooby-Doo, Where Are You)
2. The Ghost of Bigfoot (The New Scooby-Doo Movies)
3. A Scary Night With A Snow Beast Fright (The Scooby-Doo Show)
4. Rocky Mountain Yiiiii! (The Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show)
5. Snow Job Too Small (The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo Puppy Hour)
6. The Nutcracker Scoob (The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries)
7. There's No Creature Like Snow Creature (What's New, Scooby-Doo?)
8. A Scooby-Doo Christmas (What's New, Scooby-Doo?)
9. Night Terrors (Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated)
10. Scary Christmas (Be Cool, Scooby-Doo)
11. Scooby-Doo! Haunted Holidays
12. Chill Out Scooby-Doo!
(New this year)
13. Scroogey Doo (Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!)

(Recommended New Year's episodes)
1. Block-Long Hong Kong Terror

Thanks so much as always for reading and visiting the blog! If you have any other episodes which you watch around the holidays that I didn't mention, please don't hesitate to suggest one in the comments! Hope you all have a great rest of the year and happy holidays everyone! :)