Two weeks ago, we did the Winner's Circle poll for the season finales. Now, it's time to to do the season premieres! These three options won the seasons 1, 2 and 3 polls. It's interesting that the winning options for the season 1 and 2 slots for both the season premiere and finale polls were from the same series (the season 1 and 2 slots from the finale poll were both  Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated episodes, whereas they're both from Where Are You here).

Looking at last week's results for favorite Scooby episode set in a factory, the results were pretty spread out! "Recipe for Disaster" ended up winning with 18 votes! "The No-Faced Zombie Chase Case" got second place with 11 votes. "The Ghost of the Bad Humor Man" got third place with 9 votes, where "Wrath of the Krampus" and "Sorcerer Snacks Scare" tied with 6 votes each. "The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair" wasn't too far behind in fifth place with 5 votes. "Night of the Living Toys" made sixth place with three votes. "Wanted Cheddar Alive" received seventh place with two votes. We had a three way tie for second-to-last place, with "The Caped Crusader Caper," "Howl of the Fright Hound," and "The Chinese Food Factory" each getting only one vote each. It appears there was no love for the Guess Who episodes, "One Minute Mysteries!" and "The Hot Dog Dog!", which both came in dead last without a single vote for either one.

Some more information has been announced regarding the Multiversus Open Beta, thanks to Gamerant. Tony Huynh, the director of the Multiversus game, shared that the open beta releasing this month will "hopefully be permanent" unless some particularly bad bugs are found. This is great news for those anxiously awaiting to know if there was enough space for them in the beta test. Essentially, this means that the open beta is essentially a demo version of the game which will likely always be available. Moreover, this means the open beta will essentially equate to a launch of the game for anyone who wants to play it. New characters and maps may be added over time, although what fans will get with the open beta has been confirmed to be near the final product. 16 characters will be available in the open beta, and apparently, leaks have confirmed that other characters in the game will include Godzilla, LeBron James and Rick (sadly meaning from Rick and Morty, but my personal preference would have been Rick Astley...even as someone who isn't a fan of video games, I feel you have to admit that'd be pretty awesome to be able to play as him lol).

Upon release, Multiversus has been confirmed to be available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

So I originally had no plans to do this review, and I don't want to commit to doing reviews on anything else since I'm not entirely sure I'll have the time. In fact, this review is so random that even I didn't know I was doing it until like 20 minutes ago lol. I've never really liked this episode, tbh. Even though my favorite series is The New Scooby-Doo Movies, I just could never quite get into this one. The lack of presence of the villain and obvious culprit always bothered me, and Jerry's involvement in the episode didn't feel as strong as most of the other guest stars in the series. A few people in the comments have been suggesting I rewatch this episode for quite a while to see if my thoughts have changed, so I wanted to give it a fair chance not having seen it in years. I thought about just responding to those people in the comments, but since my review was so long, I thought I'd just share them with all of you, since others might enjoy reading my thoughts as well.

​As much as I wanted to gain an appreciation for this episode after all these years, I really couldn't get into it. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely elements here that are enjoyable, but several things brought this episode down for me. I like the spooky atmosphere of the country music hall, and the gang searching for Jerry was a fun plot. The gang having to follow the sound of Jerry's voice to figure out what room he's in made for a very unique storyline.

However, I think revealing the culprits were Bertha and Ben Bing right away took away from the spookiness of it (I don't even feel bad about putting this spoiler right here, because they literally make it so obvious within the first few minutes with Bertha and Ben talking about "getting rid of the snoopers"). I've read other reviews that mention they like how "The Phantom" isn't really a physical threat that you can see, and I think this would have been a much cooler concept if they hadn't told you who the culprits were so early on. I think the "non-physical threat" idea would have been more enjoyable if the audience would have had no idea who or what could possibly be doing this. There are some cases where I don't really mind when the culprit is made kinda obvious before the actual unmasking, like it works in "The Loch Ness Mess" since they'd already built up such a good mystery. However, here, with without a strong villain, revealing the culprit so early on made it kind of a weaker episode in my opinion.

Going further into the villains, I felt like the whole "The Phantom could be anywhere" trope also would have been better if that was the only villain. Instead, we also get the Viking and Davy Crockett, which were not very good villains in my opinion. They popped up a couple times watching from the background, but it wasn't in a particularly creepy way. The scenes were always them just walking from room to room, rather than lurking around or trying to sneak up on the gang. Neither of them didn't feel spooky or memorable at all, given they were barely there. The gang doesn't ever see them until the trap at the end. There's definitely a way to do the "you never know where the villain is lurking" plot well, but this didn't feel like the way to do it. The villains felt barely present, making the stakes feel not as high as a typical Scooby episode.

I have to comment on Fred, because his reactions to things were interesting in this episode lol. The chemistry between him and Jerry in particular was really strange. Multiple times in the episode, Jerry would make a normal comment and Fred would respond as if he wasn't even listening to what Jerry said lol. For example, Jerry says "Boy am I glad to see you!" when he's rescued, and Fred just says "you're welcome!" haha. In another part, Jerry says "If we don't find my guitar, there ain't gonna be no opening!" Fred simply replies "True." I hadn't noticed it in any previous rewatches, but I was amusing myself throughout this whole episode with how Fred just seems like he's vaguely listening, and he's hoping whatever he says kinda half fits whatever Jerry's saying lol. Later on, after Fred says he's fit as a fiddle now that Jerry rescues him, Jerry jokes "but what I need is a guitar!" In the most serious voice imaginable, Fred replies "Yeah, I know." Besides Jerry, Fred also has quite an extreme reaction to Shaggy at one point. When Shaggy gets frightened by a statue's head tumbling down the stairs and jumps in Scooby's arms, Fred shouts "You oughta be ashamed of yourself!" It seems like the situation did not require such an intense reaction to that lol. What in the world was Fred going through in this episode? hahahaha

While it wasn't a significant issue, I have to say I'm not here for the weird sexist comments in this series. Towards the end, when they're trying to figure out who's the bait, Shaggy suggests Daphne be bait instead of him, and Velma simply replies "a girl can't do it!" I guess it's not as inappropriate as Fred's horrific "how is a woman like a desert?" joke from "Ghastly Ghost Town," but I'd say it's right up there with Fred saying it's too dangerous for the girls to go with the guys to trap Bigfoot in "The Ghost of Bigfoot." Although I would honestly say it's a bit more sad here, since it's Velma herself that says it.

Besides Fred and Velma, Shaggy also had a bit of a rough time in this episode with some of his animation. It's pretty well known about how that frame where Scooby looks evil was accidentally animated into "Mine Your Own Business." I'd never noticed it before, but we also get evil Shaggy when he's playing the xylophone. I think the animators were just trying to make him seem focused or whatever, but with the weird grin, he genuinely looks kinda evil here to me. Like he's about ready to beat that xylophone up lol.

I don't even know how to describe these other ones, other than WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? hahahahaha

There were quite a few other animation errors in this episode, including the villains for some reason exiting the room twice towards the end. Another notable error was that Shaggy comments that "10 pairs of eyes are better than four," when it should have been "5 pairs of eyes" or "10 eyes." (Thanks Jayden for pointing these out!)

Even if the episode didn't grow on me like I wanted it to, I actually had a lot of fun writing this and noticing those little things I hadn't before. This remains my second-least favorite episode of the series, only behind "Mystery in Persia." I don't really know if I'll do something like this again, but it was a fun spontaneous thing to do and I hope you enjoyed reading this review as much as I did writing it.

There's a lot of Scooby content out there that entered production, but was ultimately never shown to the world. From an official Scooby film fully animated in anime style to a movie that would have essentially been the result of mashing-up two DTV ideas into one, there's so much Scooby content we could have seen but never got to. Many of these ideas aren't necessarily common knowledge, so I wanted to highlight all of them in this post. The scope of this article only covers projects that were started and never completed, not existing projects that were significantly reworked (such as SCOOB! for example, which, fun fact, was originally going to be written by Be Cool writer Jon Colton Barry). I'm approaching this article as a new project that is a work-of-progress, rather than a finalized post. If there's any Scooby content that you're aware of that was officially confirmed to have entered development that I don't have here, please feel free to let me know and provide a link to a reliable source where you saw the info!

Of course, we have to start with all the original versions of the show that Scooby could have been. The first of these was House of Mystery, which was heavily based on The Archie Show, which was popular at the time. The series would have featured Geoff, Mike, Kelly, Linda, and Linda's brother W.W., along with their dog Too Much, who played the bongo drums. Collectively, they made up the band Mysteries Five. Too Much was a large sheepdog, intended to have a resemblance to the Archies' dog Hot Dog. However, this was rejected because it was felt to be a ripoff of Marmaduke, and it was changed to a Great Dane. Later on, the show was changed to be more based on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis as opposed to The Archie Show. The title of the show was changed to Mysteries Five, the name of the teenagers' band. There was later one more title change to Who's S-S-Scared? after the kids' names were changed to reflect what we know them to be know: Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby. However, the show was rejected by CBS president Fred Stanton due to being too scary for young viewers. Thus, as we know, after some revisions the show was changed into what we now know as Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?.

A multi-universe series called Hanna-Barbera Babies was once pitched by Iwao Takamoto after the success of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo in 1991, but was ultimately never picked up.

Scott Jeralds apparently pitched a series featuring Scooby's son according to an interview with the Unmasked Scooby-Doo Podcast, but it was declined in favor of What's New, Scooby-Doo?.

A third movie in the Gunn live action film series was reportedly being written by Dan Forman and Paul Forley. However, the film was cancelled due to Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed not performing as well as hoped. James Gunn tweeted the plot in 2020, which was the gang going to Scotland to rid a town of monsters, but they discover the monsters are actually the victims. 

On a similar note, Brian Levant, who made the 2009 and 2010 live action films, said in an interview that if there would have been a third film, it would have been titled Scooby-Doo's Zany Time Travelin' Christmas Adventure. Another idea Levant had for a film revolved around Irish fairy tales.

The resumé of art director Ted Blackman informs us that Scooby-Doo! Music of the Vampire and Big Top Scooby-Doo were originally one movie, titled Scooby-Doo and the Circus of Vampires. Presumably, this was changed due to it being too similar to the 1972 horror film Vampire Circus​ and the plot was divided into two films.

In an interview, the voice of Velma from Scooby-Doo Adventures: The Mystery Map, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, mentioned that she believed the puppet film was meant to be a pilot for a potential series, but the series never entered development.

Jon Colton Barry has shared that he originally planned to write an episode of Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! featuring the Hex Girls. In addition, the Halloween episode was originally supposed to feature Scrappy. However, the episode was scrapped because WB wanted to do two 11-minute shorts instead. Apparently, according to the article The Hex Girls, How a Fictional Rock Band Become Cult, Queer, Girl Power Icons, Rick Copp also gets called from time to time about a Hex Girls spinoff that never took off.

On January 6, 2022, character designer Tracy Mark Lee revealed on his Instagram page that there was originally going to be episodes of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? featuring Mel Brooks and Dolly Parton. He also shared that Stephen Silver had drawn character designs for Dolly and Mel, posting Dolly's on that same day. A few weeks later, on January 25, 2022, Tracy posted Mel's design on his Instagram account as well. The episode ideas were never used, because both celebrities politely declined the roles.

In addition, according to a Scoobypedia interview with Chris Bailey, an episode featuring Michael Phelps and Jabberjaw, and a King Kong parody with Grape Ape were also considered. Presumably, the Grape Ape/King Kong episode would have been "The Lost Mines of Kilimanjaro!".

A follow-up to SCOOB! titled Scoob! Holiday Haunt was announced on December 22, 2021 by Tony Cervone on Instagram, after previously being hinted in an interview in June. The film was set to be directed by Michael Kurinsky and Bill Haller, written by Tony Cervone and Paul Dini, and produced by Tony Cervone and Mitchell Ferm. The cast who voiced the young gang in the original SCOOB! (Frank Welker, Iain Armitage, Ariana Greenblatt, McKenna Grace, and Pierce Gagnon) were all set to reprise their roles. Mark Hamill, Cristo Fernandez, Michael McKean, Andre Braugher, and Ming-Na Wen also were a part of the cast. A test screening for the film occurred in April, and we also got a first look at the film on April 6, 2022. However, on August 2, 2022, after production had nearly been finished, the film was suddenly cancelled due to a shakeup in WB leadership with the Discovery merged. The new CEO of Warner Discovery, David Zaslav, cancelled the film citing his desire to move WB towards a more cost-effective theatrical model of films, and citing that he felt streaming projects were not as profitable. The film was still screened to the cast and crew, according to Iain Armitage on Instagram. The film was completed on November 5, 2022. Here is what would have been the description for the film:

To celebrate Scooby Doo's first Christmas, 10-year-old Shaggy and the gang take him to a holiday-themed resort owned by Fred's favorite Uncle Ned. When the park is beset by a ghostly haunting, the kids must solve a 40-year-old mystery to save the resort and show Scooby the true meaning of Christmas.

In November 2022, an Amazon listing revealed a possible new Scooby film titled Scooby-Doo and the Haunted High Rise. However, in an interview, the director stated that it was cancelled due to tax write-offs.

On May 23, 2022, it was announced that a new series, Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Pups, would air on the Cartoonito block of HBO Max. The series was set to center around Shaggy and Scooby serving as camp counselors for three puppies, whom they teach their mystery solving skills to. The three puppies appeared to be stand-ins for Velma, Fred and Daphne. However, on March 3, 2023, one of the show's writers Roger Eschbacher announced that the show had lost its distribution rights with HBO Max, meaning that it is cancelled.

We're doing a bit of a deep dive for this week's fun fact! There were a number of series that had different DVD release strategies in the UK as compared to the US. After the release of The Best of the New Scooby-Doo Movies DVD in 2006, the UK released a stand-alone "The Best of the New Scooby-Doo Movies volume 1" DVD  in 2007 featuring only "Ghastly Ghost Town," "The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair," "The Frickert Fracas" and "Guess Who's Knott Coming to Dinner?" As a random aside, you can also currently buy it on Amazon UK for less than a euro!

The international volume sets also had different covers for Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated than the US versions, although oddly season 1 volume 3 is the same, besides a minor difference in the placement and design of the logo. Moreover, season 2 was split into four subtitled volumes, rather than two parts. Volumes one and three are Danger in the Deep and Spooky Stampede respectively and have the same covers, but Season Two Volume Two: Bad News Baby, and Season Two Volume Four: Mayan Monster Madness are different. It's probable that the season 2 covers might be from Australia, because of the logos on the front being different from the ones used in the UK. I have to say, I kind of like these designs a little better. You can view the differences below.

Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! also had some unique covers in the UK (note: the second cover might be from Australia due to the logos being different), and season 1 was divided into four volumes rather than two parts. While volume 1 had the same cover as Spooky Kooky Fun and volume 3 had the same cover as Teamwork Screamwork ​in the US, volumes 2 and 4 had completely new covers never before released in the US.

I briefly covered back in fun fact #118 way back on January 9, 2017 that What's New, Scooby-Doo? had a completely different release strategy in the UK. Instead of having unique names, the volumes were simply named after episodes. Not only that, but the episode arrangement was completely different. Volumes 1-6 included all season 1 and 2 episodes in order (excluding holiday specials, which appeared in later volumes), with four to five episodes in each volume. Starting with volume 7, season three episodes were released in a random order, more closely aligning with how they were released in the US. Here's how the episodes were released in the UK by volume:

Volume 1: Space Ape at the Cape
There's No Creature Like Snow Creature
Space Ape at the Cape
3-D Struction
Big Scare in the Big Easy

Volume 2: Safari So Goodi!
It's Mean, It's Green, It's the Mystery Machine
Riva Ras Regas
Roller Ghoster Ride
Safari So Goodi!

Volume 3: Lights, Camera, Mayhem!
She Sees Sea Monsters by the Sea Shore
Toy Scary Boo
Lights, Camera, Mayhem!
Pompeii and Circumstance

Volume 4: Mummy Scares Best
The Unnatural
Big Appetite in Little Tokyo
Mummy Scares Best
The Fast and the Wormious

Volume 5: Homeward Hound
High-Tech House of Horrors
The Vampire Strikes Back
Homeward Hound
The San Franpsycho
Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman

Volume 6: Recipe for Disaster
Recipe for Disaster
​Large Dragon at Large
Uncle Scooby and Antartica
New Mexico, Old Monster
It's All Greek to Scooby

Volume 7: Ready to Scare
A Scooby-Doo Valentine
Wrestle Maniacs
Ready to Scare
Diamonds are a Ghoul's Best Friend

Volume 8: E-Scream
Block-Long Hong Kong Terror
Gold Paw
Reef Grief
E-Scream

Volume 9: Fright House of a Lighthouse
Fright House of a Lighthouse
Go West, Young Scoob
Farmed and Dangerous
Camp Comeoniwannascareya

Volume 10: Gentlemen, Start Your Monsters!
A Terrifying Round with a Menacing Metallic Clown
Gentleman, Start Your Monsters!
A Scooby-Doo Christmas
​A Scooby-Doo Halloween

Here are the UK volume covers. I particularly like the cover for volume 9; the Creepy Keeper looks terrifying without any pupils in its eyes.

Moreover, five "double feature" volumes were made, combining a set of two volumes into one DVD. Volumes 1 and 2 were combined and titled "Scary Space and a Swinging Safari"; volumes 3 and 4 were titled "Movie Monsters and a Magic Mummy;" volumes 5 and 6 became "Top Dog and a Hot Dog; volumes 7 and 8 were titled "Ghouls, Fools and a Grief on a Reef; and finally the amalgamation of volumes 9 and 10 was called "A Spooky Case and a Mad Race." The only images I could find have a watermark over it, but you can still see the volumes. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this fun fact! It definitely took quite a bit of research, but it was a lot of fun doing all of it and writing this up.

I was really debating whether to do the other "Winner's Circle poll" this week or a different poll, so I chose neither. Mr. Neither that is, who I'd like to thank for coming up with this week's poll idea!

You might also say the other options all came undone in comparison lol, because "Come Undone" won the Winner's Circle poll for last week with 36 votes! "The Beast Is Awake in Bottomless Lake" came in second with 25 votes, and "All Fear the Freak" was a close third with 21 votes. I can't wait to see what's voted as the favorite season premiere in next week's poll!