 Because Sarah Michelle Gellar starred as the main character Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the exact same time the first Scooby-Doo live action movie was being made, she had to commute between Los Angeles, California and Queensland, Australia to be able to film both movies. Luckily for her, both producers allowed her to have a very flexible schedule and worked around her busy acting career. To remedy this problem and accommodate her fellow cast members of both productions, Gellar agreed to alternate between the two countries every two weeks until production was finished on Scooby-Doo.
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 Earlier this week, some brand new details were revealed about the Scooby-Doo / Supernatural crossover! The crossover will be the sixteenth episode of Supernatural's thirteenth season, and expected to air in March according to JoBlo.com. The episode will be directed and executive produced by Robert Singer. Additional executive producers include Andrew Dabb and Phil Sgriccia. The co-executive producer for the crossover will be Jim Michaels. This photo was posted on Twitter by Jim Michaels of the Supernatural crew on Monday (hence the January 22, 2018 date). Going by the Futon Critic, which is usually pretty reliable, the episode will likely air March 15, 2018 if there are no other sudden hiatuses (Notice all repeats are marked with a "Repeat TBA," whereas March 1, 8 and 15 simply list TBA). However, this date is not officially confirmed yet, so I recommend taking it with a grain of salt. New episodes of Supernatural air every Thursday night at 7:00pm central on the CW. Stay tuned for more info!
 Over the weekend, I finally got a chance to watch this latest movie. It was definitely one of my favorites in recent years! I haven't done a review here in a while, and since a few people requested I do one via comments and email, I thought I'd post my review of the film for you all to read. I should probably note that I'm not all that familiar with the Batman franchise as it seems many of you are, so I wasn't as familiar some of the Batman references as a lot of you all may be. And of course, if you haven't had a chance to watch the film yet, I would recommend waiting to read this post, as there are spoilers ahead! :) This was a fantastic film right from the beginning! Generally, the recent Scooby DTVs (particularly the LEGO ones) have been a bit of a hit-or-miss in certain aspects, but this one was a big win from all departments for me! I loved all the references! It was so clever how they worked the intro for The New Scooby-Doo Movies into the intro. Admittedly, I haven't caught up on the Scooby-Doo! Team Up comics and the issues I've read have been very random and in no particular order. I did, however, see it mentioned elsewhere online that the film also had several allusions to the Scooby-Doo! Team Up comic series. I noticed some familiar superheroes that Scooby has teamed up with from some of the recent comic solicitations I've posted on here. I believe almost all of the superheroes have been in previous issues of Team Up, including Plastic Man, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Black Canary (who was actually from this month's issue!) and Detective Chimp. The only superhero I don't think had appeared previously was The Question (who, admittedly, I had never heard of before this film), though I may be totally wrong on that. I also liked the huge lineup of Batman villains! It was fun to see Joker and Penguin teamed up together again, as I'm presuming it's some sort of reference to the New Scooby-Doo Movies episodes they both appeared in (I don't think they had ever teamed up before. And you can probably tell by now that my knowledge of the Batman franchise is very limited lol). I'll admit I wasn't familiar with all of the villains, though I did recognize classics like Catwoman, Poison Ivy, The Riddler, Two-Face and of course Harley Quinn! I was a bit disappointed when we didn't see any of the Scooby villains, as was promised in the original press release! I was expecting them throughout the whole film, and was a bit disappointed when they never showed up at all. That poses the question of why the press release included them in the first place, which I can't think of any reason other than maybe the film was retooled at the last minute. The mystery in this film was so interesting and intricate! I'll admit I never would have expected Clayface to be the Crimson Cloak, until of course he started morphing/bubbling up while in the disguise. I absolutely loved the Crimson Cloak as the main villain! His voice, particularly when he whispered "Batman," was sooo spooky! The physical aspects of his disguise were really cool looking as well, and much different from the typical ghosts we've seen in the past. The twist ending where the Riddler was actually behind it all was really unexpected! I personally love when they add endings or layers to the mystery that are difficult to figure out, because the mysteries can sometimes be overly easy to guess, particularly in some of the latest DTVs. The one criticism I did have about the overall mystery was why the Mystery Analysts didn't believe Batman about the Crimson Cloak letting all the villains out of Arkham. They had all seen the Crimson Cloak the first time he appeared with Batman and the gang, so it didn't entirely make sense why they suddenly wouldn't believe Batman and side with Detective Bullock. They all could have vouched that they had at least seen the Crimson Cloak with Batman earlier, rather than not mentioning anything and allowing Batman to take the blame. This may be something I missed not being a big Batman fan, but I didn't like how they made the Penguin quack. It sounded overly cheesy and didn't fit with his last couple of appearances. However, I don't know if his quacking was simply left out of his past appearances in the Scooby franchise, or if that is normal for him in other Batman episodes/movies. Lastly, I have to say I loved the gang dressing up in the Batman costumes. It was the perfect ending to a perfect movie! It was quite heartwarming to see Batman rescue Professor Milo in the end and reunite him with his father. Daphne's final comment regarding that she knew who Batman really was so cute! You'd have to have a heart as cold as the Joker himself not to find that incredibly adorable! Overall, I absolutely loved this movie and would highly recommend it to all Scooby fans! I'm half wondering if this movie is a testing ground for the next series, Scooby-Doo! Guess Who? if it is truly a revival of The New Scooby-Doo Movies as has been rumored. Either way, I hope to see more fabulous movies and crossovers like this one sometime in the future!  Here they are! One week later than usual, here are the solicitations for the upcoming Scooby-Doo comics scheduled for release in April 2018!  SCOOBY APOCALYPSE #24 Written by KEITH GIFFEN and J.M. DeMATTEIS Art by RON WAGNER, ANDY OWENS and others Cover by JILL THOMPSON • Variant cover by TREVOR HAIRSINE It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Fred and Daphne are finally together! But in a world full of murder, monsters and misery—how long can true love last? On sale APRIL 11 • 32 pg, FC • $3.99 US • RATED T  SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? #92 Written by IVAN COHEN Art and cover by WALTER CARZON and HORACIO OTTOLINI It’s the annual Mystery-Con International—a convention honoring sleuths from all over the world—and this year, Mystery, Inc. are the guests of honor! But when the booth of some of their biggest fans is robbed of some valuable merchandise, our heroes have to go undercover as Mystery, Inc. cosplayers to find out whodunnit! On sale APRIL 11 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E  SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP #37 Ft Supergirl Written by SHOLLY FISCH Art and cover by DARIO BRIZUELA Supergirl may be as invulnerable as her cousin, but even bulletproof skin can’t help her when she’s haunted by the ghosts of Krypton! Is it a hoax? A message from the Phantom Zone? It’s up to Scooby and the gang to find out…assuming that Scooby and Streaky the Super-Cat can set aside their cat-and-dog rivalry! On sale APRIL 25 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E • DIGITAL FIRST  SCOOBY-DOO! TEAM-UP VOLUME 5 TP F/Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Hong Kong Phooey/Spot, Plastic Man/Woozy Winks, Jonah Hex, Top Cat & Challengers of the Unknown
Written by SHOLLY FISCH Art by DARIO BRIZUELA, SCOTT JERALDS and DAVE ALVAREZ Cover by DARIO BRIZUELA In these all-ages tales from SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP #25-30, Scooby and the Mystery Inc. gang fight evil with the help of heroes including Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Plastic Man, Hong Kong Phooey and more! On sale JUNE 5 • 128 pg, FC, $12.99 US  Velma's infamous line "I can't see without my glasses!" was originally not in the script. The line was only added after, by coincidence, Velma's voice actor Nicole Jaffe dropped her glasses by accident while reading off the script, and uttered the line in frustration. The writing room thought it was perfect for Velma's character, and later added it into the show, where it soon became Velma's trademark line.
 On Thursday (January 18th) afternoon, a brand new app entitled "Scooby-Doo: Mystery Cases" was released for free on Android and Apple devices. The game is currently available on the Google Play Store (Android) and the App Store (Apple). There are over 45 levels of gameplay, which includes looking for clues, playing mini-games, building traps, and of course, unmasking the villain! Along the way, you can find Scooby Snacks as you level up (in addition to daily snacks you can earn everyday), so you can buy more costumes. You can also upgrade your costumes for perks such as more time, extra hints, and more snacks. There are also additional challenges along the way, which if successfully completed, could earn you bonus stars. The game also has several interactive menus and features, including reading character bios and comic books. You also have the ability to watch videos, and maybe even become famous on your fictional MysteryTube account! Within only two days of being released, the app is already #5 in the top 10 family apps on the App Store.
Here is the description of the game from the WB Kids website: You love Scooby-Doo, but have you ever wondered what it would be like to join Shaggy, Fred, Velma, and Daphne as the newest member of the Mystery Inc. Gang? Well, now’s your chance with Scooby-Doo Mystery Cases. All you have to do is open the app, and you’re in! Follow along with Scooby and his friends on their latest crime-solving adventure. You’ll find hidden objects in over 45 levels, discover new monsters, build interesting traps, and unmask creepy villains. Case closed. But it’s not all fun and games. Actually, it is. You can make the largest sandwich possible, piece together tricky puzzles to uncover clues, find objects in the dark before the flashlight batteries run out, and make sure Shaggy and Scooby-Doo don’t eat too many stinky boots. You’ll earn bonus stars throughout the games, and best of all, there’s Scooby Snacks. Want to give Shaggy and Scooby-Doo a new look? There’s a costume section for you to dress them up in silly outfits (dinosaur masks included). Plus these outfits give you gameplay bonuses like more time to complete puzzles and Scooby Snack multipliers. That’s right—more Scooby Snacks. If you need a break from all your monster-hunting fun, you can explore groovy comic books and videos, including new stop motion animated shorts. Recognize the voices in the app? They’re the same ones used in the current animated series Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! This app is full of mystery-solving fun for Scooby fans of all ages. The real mystery is . . . why aren’t you playing it already? You can find an additional gallery of screenshots from the game on the WB Kids site. Download the app here (both links will bring you to the app's page where you can download it for your respective device): Google Play Store (Android users) App Store (Apple users)  The soundtrack for the Scooby-Doo live action movie gave many now-famous artists their big debut in the music world. Solange Knowles, who is now a famous singer alongside her sister Beyoncé, released her debut single, "Thinking About You" (feat. Murphy Lee) on the Scooby-Doo soundtrack, six months prior to her official album entitled Solo Star. To give their first album more publicity, Simple Plan released their song "Grow Up" onto the Scooby-Doo soundtrack three months after they released their debut feature-length album. Only a short while later, Simple Plan would also be hired to sing the What's New, Scooby-Doo? theme song, in addition to having "I'd Do Anything" featured as the chase scene song for "It's Mean, It's Green, It's the Mystery Machine." Uncle Kracker also requested to be on the soundtrack, one year before he achieved widespread popularity for his hit songs "Drift Away (feat. Dobie Gray)" and eventually "Smile." Just as they were gaining popularity, the rock band MxPx also offered to be on the movie's soundtrack by contributing their version of the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You theme.
Additionally, some other artists who had already achieved moderate popularity were invited to contribute to the soundtrack in order to further boost their popularity. Artists such as Shaggy, Lil' Romeo, Outkast and Busta Rhymes specially created songs, many of them directly mentioning Scooby in the lyrics, for the movie to boost commercial performance. The Baha Men, the one-hit wonder group responsible for the popular single "Who Let the Dogs Out?", were also asked to pen a Scooby-themed track entitled "Scooby D." for the soundtrack due to their only single relating to dogs. The only artist who already had widespread popularity at the time (and had achieved global fame) that contributed to the soundtrack was Australian singer Kylie Minogue, whose song "Whenever You Feel Like It" was the eighth track on the compilation. At the time of the movie release, she had already been releasing music for over ten years and was being referred to as "The United Kingdom's Madonna" due to her immense commercial success. Just before the movie's post-production was finished and the soundtrack was being put together, her latest single "Can't Get You Out of My Head" had become a #1 hit around the world. Though never officially confirmed or stated, many Internet sources claim that her increasing popularity made it difficult to get her to be on the soundtrack, due to the majority of the artists being less famous at the time and just starting out their music careers.  Scooby's speech impediment is nearly identical to a clinically diagnosed language difficulty. Dr. Steven Long, associate professor in Speech Pathology and Audiology at Marquette University and an expert in the field, called Scooby's tendency to replace the first letter of certain words with the letter R "rhotacization," which by the clinical definition is: "Pronunciation of a vowel to reflect a following r in the orthography, as for example in American English farm, bird."
Sources: Clipd Pop Culture, Oxford Dictionary  Earlier today, "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" was added almost in its entirety to the Boomerang streaming service. All episodes from season 1 and 2 were added, in addition to two episodes from season 3, "Wrestle Maniacs" and "Horror of the Haunted Hairpiece." This just leaves 7 episodes of the series missing from the streaming service. The missing episodes include: "Night of the Boogey Biker," "Dawn of the Spooky Shuttle Scare," "Mayhem of the Moving Mollusk," "The Were-Doo of Doo Manor," "Catcher on the Sly," "The Ghost of Mrs. Shusham" and "The Wraith of Waitro." It is unknown when these remaining episodes will be available to watch on the service. If you choose to subscribe to the service, you can watch these new episodes among several other Scooby-Doo series and movies at Boomerang.com or through the Boomerang streaming app.
 "Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers" is such an amazing movie! From the location to the spooky music, everything about it is such a masterpiece! But, what made the movie so intriguing and wonderful is the multi-faceted and ever-tangled web of mysteries that were prevalent throughout the entire film. Over the years, I've mentioned to some fellow Scooby fans jokingly that I could literally write an entire article on my theories surrounding the mysteries and ghosts in this film...so that's exactly what I'm going to do!
I would imagine that many people view the mysteries in this film as "solved" like the ending of the film presents. What I find so interesting about this film, however, is that there are so many different ways you can interpret all the mysteries! There's of course the somewhat more simplistic view that the movie's ending alludes to (per Shaggy's comment, "I guess there aren't any real ghosts here at all!) - the Skull Ghost and the Headless Horseman were both the sheriff's witty and devious brother, the ghost in the attic was Farquard trying to steal the treasure, the "ghost" ape was simply a real ape which escaped from the circus, and the glowing-eyed wolf was possibly just a wolf that ran out of the forest coincidentally at the same time Beauregard's ghost appeared. The only ghost that this is unclear with, is Shaggy's Uncle Beauregard. It's certainly probable that the sheriff's brother is the ghost, hence the Beauregard costume in the closet, though his appearance at the end of the movie makes this somewhat unclear. Ever since I first watched the movie when I was in the third grade and about 8, I've admittedly always thought Uncle Beauregard's ghost was "real" and the sheriff maybe dressed up as him once or twice to take advantage of the legend. There were times where the sheriff undeniably could not have been the ghost, such as the time where he drove his bike through Shaggy's solid wall, which obviously, a human could not have done. He also tells Shaggy to "leave this place!" during this same scene. So by that line, his uncle also wants him to leave (maybe to avoid the dangerous situation of the sheriff being out to get him), and thus it hypothetically could have been the real ghost or the sheriff's brother any of the times he chased Shaggy and the dogs. However, there is two times where the ghost was almost positively the sheriff in disguise. When Shaggy and the dogs go through the trap door in the cemetery, you may remember that they accidentally drop the tombstone on the ghost (and cause him to yell "ouch!"). Going by the fact that the ghost was able to pass through a solid wall in the previous bedroom scene, the tombstone could not have hurt the real ghost, and would have likely gone through him. Another time that the ghost was most likely the sheriff was when he grabbed the clue from Shaggy. Given that Uncle Beauregard was the one that hid the treasure and wrote the clues, there would be no reason for him to steal the clue from Shaggy. So thus, by this hypothesis, some of the appearances were the real ghost trying to scare Shaggy away, though other appearances were most likely the sheriff. However, it is very tough to tell in some scenes, such as the bridge one or some of the house ones, if the Uncle Beauregard which appeared was the real ghost or the sheriff in costume. The Skull Ghost is a really fun one to talk about, just because most people seem to presume that it was the sheriff's brother in all the appearances. However, if you look and listen closely, there are some differences in the Skull Ghost's physical appearance each time he shows up. The most prominent difference is that sometimes, the Skull Ghost is quite obviously a man in a suit with bones painted on. Other times, he seems to be made completely of real bones, and you can even hear his bones clanking against each other. You can see the side-by-side comparison I did of his appearances here. However, I'm not discounting the fact there that Hanna-Barbera just made an animation glitch here (as it's certainly been known to happen), but what I find particularly interesting about this is that this difference in appearances happens multiple times, but towards the end before they unmask the sheriff's brother, the Skull Ghost always appears in the black skeleton suit, while in the beginning few appearances, he is almost always the real-boned skeleton with a cape (which the sheriff's version of the ghost also doesn't have). My personal belief, because of this significant difference in appearance, which happens multiple times, is that the Skull Ghost was indeed real during the times in the beginning he appears without the black suit and with a cape. The only ghost which is obviously fake, in my opinion, is the Headless Horseman, who was proven to be a dummy/mannequin on a robot horse. However, if you're more creative and imaginative than me, I'm sure you could probably think up an awesome theory surrounding the Headless Horseman! There are so many cool hidden aspects of the mysteries in this film, it wouldn't surprise me if there was some special "clue" thrown into the movie to hint that horseman was supposedly "real." While we're talking about the Headless Horseman, let's get into the glowing-eyed wolf, which appeared with him at the beginning of the movie. There's unfortunately not too much to analyze about this particular "ghost"/creature, as it only appears at the very beginning of the film and for a brief 30 seconds, if even that. My opinion, which I'll admit is mainly based on how I think mystery movies should be as spooky, confusing and thought-inspiring as possible, is that the wolf is a "ghost" or some other supernatural creature, though again I have nothing to base that on other than my hopeful inner Scooby/movie nerd lol. What I do find interesting, however, is that no other Scooby sites list or even mention the wolf as a villain, or for that matter, at all, besides this one. I guess it just goes to show how unpopular of a villain he was, though I wish he would have showed up more in the movie! How cool would it have been to have a ghostly wolf running around the house in addition to all the other spirits? The ghost in the attic is another interesting one to discuss, as it's super ambiguous as to if it was Farquard, the Sheriff, or a real ghost. By real-life logic, it would have had to have been a real ghost, as a person couldn't have lived and dropped the 20+ feet from the attic to the ground floor. However, cartoon logic would obviously allow this, meaning it easily could have been Farquard or the Sheriff (more likely of the two Farquard, as he had the jewel which the ghost stole). But, the ghost didn't look or sound like Farquard, and you once again could hear bones clanking (bringing it back to my Skull Ghost theory), so hypothetically, the ghost in the attic could have been a real ghost who was after the treasure. The ape, who I believe Farquard called "Beebo" (or something to that affect) at the beginning of the film, is one of my favorite villains in this film! I love how un-self-aware/dimwitted he is, particularly his line "A ghost?" in reference to himself lol. It's never really proven otherwise, but I would claim that the ape was definitely a ghost. Farquard's comment at the beginning of the film that Uncle Beauregard shot the ape and had him stuffed, followed by the fact that the ape looks EXACTLY like the stuffed one Farquard shows everyone. The only argument I've heard against the ape being a ghost is that he is too timid to be a real spirit, as he is afraid of his spooky surroundings and the other ghosts. My only response to that is that ghosts can be quirky too haha! And before I end my discussion of the ape, I have to say that the ape's face when riding the mechanical horse at the end of the movie is soooo cute lol. This movie is such a cinematic masterpiece with so many amazing plot twists, spooky spirits, and well-developed mysteries which you can interpret in so many different, unique ways. The sophistication and intricacy in this film is what makes it one of my favorite Scooby movies of all-time to this date. If anyone has any thoughts on this film, whether it's in general or related to your perspective of the many unsolved mysteries this film has, please let me know in the comments and I'll be more than happy to discuss thoughts with you! |
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