 Of all the characters in The New Scooby-Doo Movies, Velma and Daphne have the most animation glitches regarding their speech.
Can anyone guess why I picked this fun fact for today? ;)
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 Last year around this time (ironically), I wrote a post entitled "Ah, the Memories," which discussed several classic Scooby-Doo VHS tapes that are rare and hard to find. This past weekend, I got to take another trip down memory lane when updating the List of Scooby-Doo Compilation Releases page. In a world where everything's at the touch of our fingertips, I'm sure the younger readers can't even imagine having to put a clunky tape into a VHS player to watch movies, but that's how we watched things when I was a kid! DVDs were just becoming a thing when I was in my early teens, and CD's were just beginning to replace cassette tapes. Now, even CDs are going out of style (or as my younger cousin so frankly puts it, "Everyone listens to music on their phones now. CDs are for old people!") and you rarely ever see a VHS tape anymore. I can assure you I'm not in my 80's, even if it sounds like it (I'm actually only in my 20's!), but I still find a lot of nostalgia in looking at some of these old VHS tapes. So without further ado, here are some of the rarest Scooby VHS tapes in the world!  Now this one brings me back! I remember seeing this VHS tape in a rummage sale and begging my parents to buy it. At the time, I hadn't seen any of The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show other than a few episodes, so I really wanted this in my collection! Unfortunately, my parents didn't buy it and I still don't have it. I have thought about collecting Scooby-Doo VHS tapes just for the fun of it, though I'm a terrible collector in the sense that I don't want anything that's not practical. In other words, if I already have the episodes on another release, I wouldn't want to buy the VHS as it wouldn't be practical to do so (even if it would be cool to own a rare piece of Scooby merchandise). However, if I'm ever going to get another rare Scooby VHS, this would be the one to buy! This VHS actually has "Scooby at the Center of the World" on it, which has never been released on any other set to this date! I do find the cover art interesting however, as the swamp witch looks nothing like the one in the featured episode, or any Scooby episode for that matter. This VHS tape from 1990 includes the episodes "Swamp Witch," "Scooby's Desert Dilemma," "Mummy's the Word" and "Scooby at the Center of the World." These episodes are all from The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show.  This 1990 VHS is a compilation set and includes episodes from Scooby-Doo, Snagglepuss and Snooper & Blabber. The only Scooby episode this one includes, however, is "Soggy Bog Scooby," a seven-minute Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show short, which I thought was an odd choice. Surely there are dozens of other Scooby episodes that would have been more fitting for the DVD than that, especially as the villain in that particular episode is a sea monster, not a ghost.  This one is another compilation set, this time featuring episodes of Scooby-Doo, Snagglepuss, and Augie Doggie & Doggie Daddy. The only Scooby episode featured on this set is "The Diabolical Disc Demon" from The Scooby-Doo Show. The cover seems a bit poorly designed IMO, as Doggie Daddy looks a bit awkward with his eyes completely closed. This VHS was released in 1991.  In part 1, I mentioned I couldn't find the cover art for Volume 2 of the Scooby and Scrappy-Doo VHS compilations. I did a lot of digging this weekend, and found a picture of it! This set includes the first three episodes that Scrappy was in, "The Scarab Lives," "The Night Ghoul of Wonderworld" and "Strange Encounters of a Scooby Kind," all from The Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show. I couldn't find the year this was released, however.  I had previously mentioned that I also couldn't find any information on volume 3 of Scooby and Scrappy-Doo. Along with volume 2, I also found a site that had the cover art for volume 3! However, I couldn't find any info about the episodes included or the release date. Based on the cover, I would guess one of the episodes is probably "Scooby's Three Ding-A-Ling Circus" from The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show. What I find interesting, however, is that those guys in the bottom left corner are actually villains from Richie Rich, not Scooby-Doo. It's been a loooooong time since I've watched any of those, but on a guess, I think they're from the episode "Robotnappers."(?)  We already talked about volume 4 in the original post, so I won't reiterate that information here. However, there's this lovely little VHS still to talk about. I'll be frank with you, this compilation set confuses me immensely. While the other sets are labeled with numbers, this set has no number. The scene in the cover art also never happened, and the villain on the cover was not a real villain in any episode. There also is no information regarding this VHS anywhere, other than a picture on Google Images. For sanity's sake, I referred to this as Volume 5 when adding it to the Compilation Sets page. One possible explanation for the lack of number is that it's volume 1, as the volume 1 in the original post was made by Kids Klassics, while all the other volumes were produced by Worldvision Enterprises. I honestly don't really know though, and that still doesn't explain the other oddities this particular set has. Tell me that's not the most confusing thing you've ever seen, lol.  "The Fiesta Host is an Aztec Ghost" included the titular episode from The Scooby-Doo Show. This set was released as part of the Hanna-Barbera Superstars collection in 1989. I find it interesting that Shaggy is wearing his red shirt from The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo on the cover, even though he doesn't wear it in the episode.  It's the oldest Scooby-Doo VHS ever to be released! "Scooby-Doo" was the first of many Scooby VHS tapes to come, and featured "The No-Face Zombie Chase Case" from The Scooby-Doo Show. This set was released in 1986, and while initially titled just "Scooby-Doo," would later become known as Volume 1 as more volumes were released. Thanks to TriggeredWeegee, who sent me his picture of this VHS set to use on the site!  This golden oldie was also released in 1986, and was the second volume in the Scooby-Doo VHS compilation series. "High Rise Hair Raiser," the first episode of The Scooby-Doo Show is the only episode on the VHS tape.  The third (and I believe final) volume of the classic Scooby-Doo VHS compilation includes "The Headless Horseman of Halloween" from The Scooby-Doo Show. This tape was also released in 1986.
Well, I'm afraid that brings us to the end of our little rare VHS showcase post. I hope you enjoyed the walk down memory lane as much as I did! Who knows if there will be a part three, it all depends on if I'm able to find any more rare Scooby VHS tapes out there in the technology abyss! Unfortunately, I have none of these VHS tapes in my collection. In high school, I went through a phase where I thought it wasn't "cool" enough to like Scooby. Sadly, during this time, I told my parents that they were welcome to sell many of my Scooby VHS tapes. Though the episodes on the respective VHS tapes have all since been released on DVD, I still have a bit of regret that I didn't keep more of the old tapes. I still have Wedding Bell Boos, A Halloween Hassle in Dracula's Castle and Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Volume 1 in my collection today, and definitely never plan to sell them!  There were several villains which ended up not being used in the final cut of "The Spooky Fog." These model character design sheets by Alex Toth show two unused villains, "The Phantom Figure" and the "Bearded Ol' Ghost." The pictures also reveal the previously unknown official names for some of these ghosts, "3-Eyed Spook," "Giant" and the "Skeleton Stage Driver." You'll also notice that the boards call the episode "(The) Spooky Fog", contrary to the speculation that the episode's title may be "The Spooky Fog of Juneberry."    In 2004, a Scooby-Doo direct-to-video film titled "Scooby-Doo and the Anime Invasion" was officially pitched to WB. The film was initially green-lighted and a script was written by Tad Stones, but was later scrapped.
Here's a quote from an interview with him, where he discusses this film. "My last day at Disney was February 26, 2003. I did one small development project for them that didn't get too far. Then I did a direct-to-video Scooby-Doo script Scooby-Doo and the Anime Invasion. I think it needs a title change, because evidently kids loved the concept but moms weren't sure about it. In the past I'd worked on parts of scripts, or storyboarded parts of my direct-to-videos. This was the first one that I sat down and top to bottom and wrote from blank page to final script. It was a lot of fun to work with those characters."  Thanks to SolzyAtTheMovies, we have some new exclusive details about Daphne & Velma, including a nearly-complete cast list and a few more (non-spoiler) plot details. This information comes from film critic and blogger, Danielle Solzman, who saw the Hollywood red carpet premiere of the film on April 7.
A week ago, it was announced that Vanessa Marano had joined Sarah Gilman and Sarah Jeffery as a main cast member. According to SolzyAtTheMovies, Marano will be playing Daphne and Velma's senior advisor, Carol. Nedley Blake, whom you may recognize as being Daphne's father (who has the canonically-same name from A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show) will be played by Brian Stepanek. Additional cast members include Ardin Myrin as Principal Piper, Adam Faison as Spencer, Brooks Forester as Tobias Bloom, and Steven Ruffin and Evan Castelloe with currently unannounced roles. On a brief side note, though it's unconfirmed, IMDb lists a few more roles. IDMb hasn't always been 100% correct on everything, but based on the trailers (which include some of the unconfirmed named actors), I would say this info is pretty likely correct.
Film editor Kristina Davies also lends her voice as the "Shame Drone," whose only purpose in the movie to feminist-shame people. Lol I'm totally kidding there, but that was too perfect to pass up given I've heard so many people presume the movie is only being made to lecture and "feminist-shame" everyone. But there is actually a character called the Shame Drone! No idea what its purpose in the film is, but that name sounds amazing and hilarious! Solzman also provides us with some more info on the film's plot (don't worry, no spoilers). Daphne will be very sheltered by her parents, who just want to give her a "perfect" life. Daphne apparently responds at one point in the movie, "I can handle myself!" Which I'm super happy about, because that appears to be a reference to the more mature, empowered version of Daphne from Zombie Island! (She says this same line verbatim when Fred tries to help her up) We know about Daphne and Velma being Internet friends, but apparently there is some worry from Daphne's end after she discovers Velma's contact information is nowhere in the school's contact system. Because of this, her senior advisor Carol says she is surprised that Velma has any friends at all. There will also be a lot of 'state of the art, Steve Jobs-esque' technology included in the film. Additionally, Danielle Solzman closes with these final words on the film. "The Scooby-Doo franchise has a large history to choose from with so many stories to tell. It’s a history that allows for Mack and Meares bring a fresh approach with their screenplay. It’s one that allows for Daphne [Blake] and Velma Dinkley, two of the strongest female characters in the TV cartoon history, to take on leading roles. The film could not come at a better time for women. The film is before the Mystery, Inc. gang gets together so it opens a book for new stories to be told for a new generation. Even though new stories are being told, the script stays true to the history." This review has definitely amped up my excitement for the upcoming film! While it may not be the horror-focused, spooky tale of terror that some fans were looking for, it sounds like a fun, silly movie. And couldn't we all use a bit of cute and silly in our lives? :) |
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