 Sadly, today is the last day of the fan spotlights, but we’re not going out with a whimper.
Today, I’m excited to introduce you to one of the coolest, most badass people I know: the one and only Amelia! Amelia is an awesome goth who took inspiration from the Hex Girls and Scooby-Doo in becoming her perfectly unique gothy self. Amelia is a huge Scooby fan who I met a few years ago now. Over the years, she’s shared with me how influential Scooby has been in her life - from shaping her goth identity to learning English from the show! She’s also taught me quite a bit about the goth culture, which is super cool to learn about and you all should read more into it too! So just how cool is Amelia? As I hinted yesterday, she once drove her (now) daughter-in-law to stop and stare in awe, simply remarking “She’s so cool.” when they first met. See for yourself what a badass, empowered woman Amelia in her fan profile below: 1. What is your name? Amelia 2. How did you get into Scooby-Doo? I’m Danish and when I was a kid my father worked abroad a bit in America. Often when he came back to Denmark he’d bring either official VHS tapes or recordings of cartoons back for me to watch. Since he saw it as a good way to help my learn English, since English is the world language he considered it important I should learn it (very helpful considering later on in life I did marry an Englishman). One of those cartoons was Scooby Doo, and quickly grew to be my favorite out of them. Though I had also seen some episodes of Scooby Doo and movies on TV in Danish, but the English/original voice acting was superior so I preferred it. So along with some other shows Scooby Doo effectively taught me the basics of speaking English, inadvertent on its creator’s parts but I’m grateful none the less haha. 3. What is your favorite Scooby-Doo episode and film? Why? I don’t really have a favorite episode, there’s some I prefer more than others obviously but off the top of my head I couldn’t pick one out as a definitive favorite. Would be from either Where Are You, SD Show or Be Cool Scooby Doo though, as those are my favorite series. I can for the films though, Witch’s Ghost is easily my favorite movie. With Ghoul School and Zombie Island following closely behind it in second and third place. Partially since I love the aesthetic of the film. The backgrounds are beautiful, especially the autumnal scenes we get in the clips of the gang driving to Oakhaven (the piece of music played there really sells it). The night scenes are so well done too, it actually looks dark at night unlike in a lot of other animation. The music, both background and songs (the Hex Girls’s songs especially), are fantastic too but that’s a given for the four movies of that era. And it had a good contrast/balance of having a fake ghost and a real ghost. And it did introduce us to/create the Hex Girls, and they were definitely an influence on me ending up as a goth. I can remember as a kid seeing them, mainly Thorn, and thinking “I want to be like that when I grow up.” They were just so cool! Well be like that and Morticia Addams from the 60s Addams Family, who I’m definitely more influenced by as an adult. Still have that Hex Girls influence though, since a few years back I did get dental prosthetic fangs. Which provide amusement when I get asked by people if my teeth are really like that lol. 4. What ways are you involved in the Scooby fandom online? I’m not really that involved honestly. Most of the interaction I have with fellow Scooby fans is just talking about it in emails with friends online. Never been that into forums much. 5. In your opinion, what is the best series or era of Scooby? I’m going to say the late 90s/early 2000s era. I’m a bit biased, given that’s what came out when I was a kid, but given that’s when the franchise was rebooted and has been a consistent franchise since then (eg movies every year, regular stuff done with the franchise, etc) I do believe that. Plus it gave us the Zombie Island era movies, and I think nearly every Scooby fan can agree they’re one of the highest points of the franchise. 6. If they could make a sequel to one Scooby-Doo series or film, what would it be? Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated. I’m admittedly not much of a fan of that series, but I watched it through fully recently so it’s on my mind. It’s one of the few series to have a plot spanning multiple episodes, and whilst the series did conclude that plot I think it ended in a way you could create a sequel to with a bit of thought. Besides it’s one of the few Scooby series where a sequel would make sense. As if you made a sequel to say What’s New Scooby Doo or the Scooby Doo Show it’d just be another generic/usual formula Scooby series. Or maybe a movie further expanding on a plot of an episode or the villains from it. I loved how Frankencreepy did that. Though if they did do that I’d prefer it to be a villain who hasn’t already been reused, or only reused once. As I’m a bit sick of seeing the Black Knight, Captain Cutler, the Creeper, the Zombie, etc over and over again. 7. What direction would you like to see the franchise go in the future? I’d like to see it go back to using the original (or original inspired) art style more, no more Get a Clue/SDMI/BCSD odd art styles. Though I have got my wish there with the new Guess Who series. Would prefer the movies to give up the crossover thing, as it’s gotten old, and try to make the movies standout more on their own, like how Zombie Island or Camp Scare standout and are memorable. Which I know is probably a bit hard, given how many movies there are, but I think it could be done. Oh and have the Hex Girls appear again already! 8. Who is your favorite member of the gang and why? Shaggy, since he’s funny and cute. That’s literally my only reasons lol. 9. What is your favorite villain? Why? That’s an easy question. Ben Ravencroft. He’s one of the gang’s most devious villains, considering how he was so good at being manipulative he even manipulated and deceived Velma. Plus he had good style and was voiced by Tim Curry. I like a lot of the Scooby Doo Show monsters designs though too, since they had some more out there/less generic monsters. As a note the demon shark from A Demon Shark in the Foggy Dark (I love that episode name, gets straight to the point of the episode lol) also gave me a ton of nightmares as a kid too, not sure why though as I’m not scared of sharks. 10. In your opinion, who is the best recurring (non-gang) character in the franchise? Well as guessable by my answer to a previous question, the Hex Girls! 11. Do you have a Scooby-Doo collection? If so, what’s in it? Just VHS tapes (both official and recordings) and DVDs. Do own some fan made Hex Girls t-shirts though. I should buy more stuff, but there’s been little merchandise I’ve been interested in buying. 12. What do you think has made the franchise so popular that it’s still going strong after 50 years? It’s simplicity. Some say it’s a flaw but the fact Scooby Doo has almost always followed the same formula makes it easy to understand (for kids) and memorable. Relatable too, as the fact it’s changed little means people who grew up with the show in entirely different generations can relate given they watched the same formula of show, or the same show in the case of SDWAY’s enduring popularity. Plus Scooby Doo’s just such a lovable character, everyone loves him. And whilst I can’t speak for other cultures it at least has some cross-cultural appeal, given how despite being Danish I took to it and loved it as a kid even though I wouldn’t get some references the show made. 13. What is one fun fact about you in real life? Due to the franchise being one of the shows which helped me learn English there when I was younger (between the ages of 4 to 8 I think it was) where I would say words with an R sound at the beginning when there wasn’t an R sound there. All because I heard Scooby Doo say certain words in English that way, so child me assumed that was how some words were actually spoken! Thank you so much to Amelia for offering to be our final spotlight for the month! I really appreciate her continued friendship over the years, and honestly, her story is super inspiring and I hope people take inspiration from it. That being said, thanks to all of you, the readers of this blog, for just frankly being amazing human beings. I've had so much fun this past month with this little project of mine, and I'll miss posting these every morning. Maybe again someday I'll do some more! I hope you got to meet lots of cool new Scooby fans, as well as hearing all their interesting perspectives of the franchise. This has been an amazing 50th anniversary month, and I hope you all have enjoyed reading all the content as much as I have producing it!
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 In season 3, episode 17 of Young Justice (titled "First Impression"), several characters appear that have striking similarities to Scooby-Doo characters. The picture above shows characters which look like Fred, Velma and Daphne. There are also characters that look incredibly similar to Sheriff Stone and the fake Mayor Jones from Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.  There's even a scene in which the Velma look-a-like character loses her glasses!  Here's an excerpt from Greybishop, who came up with the idea for this fun fact!
"An alien attack on Brooklyn, Maine begins by taking a potshot at a police cruiser driven by a Sheriff who looks awfully familiar to anyone who is a fan of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated cartoon from 2010. He protects a young lady in a smart outfit from harm and then the word goes out and the team of heroes known as The Outsiders shows up. We meet a spectacled young lady with a huge vocabulary and finally a blonde girl in a familiar looking outfit. There's even a scene where three "aliens" are unmasked and turn out to be normal humans. As they're being hauled off to jail, one even says that "We would've scored, big time, if you heroes hadn't gotten in our way!" I would totally watch an all-girl version of Scooby-Doo similar to the Newsgirl Legion in Young Justice. For more info and an in-depth comparison by Greybishop, check out his blog here!  I'm happy to say I have one final surprise for you guys for Scooby's anniversary month! After five years of having the same logo, I've finally created a new logo for the site which can be seen above. Thanks so much to Scoob16, who created this logo for the site! This is replacing the old logo, which can be seen below:   I can guarantee you that today’s fan spotlight is going to rock, because we have Futurerocker joining us today! Futurerocker is a friend of mine who I met through the ScoobyAddicts forum. Check out his fan profile below!
1. What is your name? Futurerocker 2. How did you get into Scooby-Doo? It all started when I was super young. I remember having a couple of episodes on VHS that I would watch on repeat until the tape was destroyed lol. Ever since then I've been a fan. 3. What is your favorite Scooby-Doo episode and film? Why? It’s hard for me to pick a favorite episode, but one I enjoy a lot was Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Werewolf from the second season of Where are You season two. The song was really catchy and I remember always laughing when Shaggy and Scooby gave the monster a good haircut. Favorite movie gotta be Zombie Island. I love the animation and the darker tone is just perfect for me, especially now that I'm older. The monster design was creepy and the soundtrack was killer. Still, jam out to It’s Terror Time. 4. What ways are you involved in the Scooby fandom online? I usually come on the ScoobyAddicts website to see news and just interact with other fans. 5. In your opinion, what is the best series or era of Scooby? Each era has its strengths and weaknesses, some more than others, but I think my favorite is definitely the late 90s and 00s. This brought the franchise back out of its decline and brought it to a younger audience. This was also the era I grew up with. 6. If they could make a sequel to one Scooby-Doo series or film, what would it be? I would say Zombie Island for a sequel, but since that already being made, I would like a sequel to Legend of the Vampire with a more darker tone with some guest appearances with real Rock bands. Also the Hex Girls. 7. What direction would you like to see the franchise go in the future? I think a darker tone would be good for the franchise and taking a step back away from the guest appearances and crossovers with other popular series. I think the upcoming TV show should be more comical in tone while the DTV should have a darker tone for the older audience. The TV shows are good at attracting a younger audience to the franchise while the movies can be used to keep the older fans interested in the series. 8. Who is your favorite member of the gang and why? My favorite member has to be Shaggy. He definitely the funniest of the gang and is a huge dog lover, like me. A lot of my friends also call me Shaggy as well, which just helps me connect with the character and makes me like him more. Wish they would focus on developing his character some more. 9. What is your favorite villain? Why? A little random, but the Woodsman from the movie Camp Scare. I love slasher movies and woodsman would be your typical slasher villain. 10. In your opinion, who is the best recurring (non-gang) character in the franchise? The best recurring member is the Hex Girls. They got some killer tracks. Hopefully, they come back soon. 11. Do you have a Scooby-Doo collection? If so, what’s in it? Don't really have much of a collection. Just some of the episodes on DVD. 12. What do you think has made the franchise so popular that it’s still going strong after 50 years? I think the ability to change the formula and style while at the same time keeping the original idea is the reason why the show has lasted as long as it has. Stories about the supernatural have become a staple of modern storytelling. Everyone loves a good ghost story. As long as the show can keep this premise, then we can expect this franchise to last many years. 13. What is one fun fact about you in real life? I'm a huge fan of rock music and hope to one day start my own band and create music. Maybe one day I can write a Scooby Doo theme song :} Thank you so much to Futurerocker, for offering to do this fan spotlight and for being an awesome friend! I’m sad to share that tomorrow is our final fan spotlight. However, I can guarantee you that tomorrow’s spotlight will be fantastic (and it's not me this time!), because it features one of the most badass people I know! In fact, this person is so awesome that she once drove a person to stop and stare in awe, simply remarking “She’s so cool.” The final spotlight tomorrow is one you can't miss! Given it's the end of the month, this was the last poll that I had planned. However, if you're enjoying these and would like to see the Sunday Polls continue, let me know in the comments!
As for the results for last week's poll about the scariest of the 13 ghosts, it appears we have a tie! Zomba - 8 Maldor, the Malevolent - 8 Marcella - 4 Zimbulu - 3 Time Slime - 3 Professor Phantasmo - 2 Queen Morbidia - 2 Ghost of Captain Ferguson - 1 Demondo - 1 Shadow Demon - 0 Mirror Demon - 0 Nicara - 0 Rankor - 0  For the Teen Titans GO! Halloween special this year, the Scooby gang will be crossing over with the Teen Titans GO! characters. The episode, called "Cartoon Feud," will have a villain called Control Freak forcing the Titans and the Scooby gang to compete on Family Feud together. It's the first time that Scooby and Teen Titans have crossed over in television, though Scooby did previously crossover with Teen Titans Go! in the Scooby-Doo! Team Up comic series in issue #4. The episode will air on Friday, October 4 at 5pm central in the United States, according to AnimationMagazine (note that the source incorrectly says it is a Monday, though October 4 is indeed a Friday). You can watch a preview clip of the episode below:  Let’s give a big welcome to Wsdsrdbw4096, an awesome Scooby-Doo fanfiction writer who is today’s fan spotlight! Without further ado, I’ll give Wsdsrdbw4096 the floor to introduce himself and share a bit more about his love for the fandom, and some of the fanfiction he’s currently working on!
1. What is your name? wsdsrdbw4096 2. How did you get into Scooby-Doo? Quite a long story, actually. I've been familiar with the franchise since I was young, back in the day when Cartoon Network used to air many of the classical series, as well as the good promotion bumpers (Such as the crossover bumpers with Courage for Scare-A-Thon). Among the works I'm familiar with are Zombie Island, The Alien Invaders and What's New. However, I didn't really care much about the franchise until 2009 when the then-newly released movie The Mystery Begins was released and aired on CN in time for Halloween, and I also remember watching the Cyber Chase from top to bottom, and over the months, I started watching plenty of Scooby cartoons, most notably the Samurai Sword and plenty of the classic episodes from TSDS and eventually SDWAY, back when Youtube still allowed the episodes to be uploaded. Eventually came several of the new series and films, though at watching them, I began to develop a greater appreciation of the classic series. 3. What is your favorite Scooby-Doo episode and film? Why? Favourite episode: Ghastly Ghost Town, the series premiere of TNSD Movies, mainly because of Shaggy and Scooby's major roles, especially when they ended up rescuing everyone else and single-handedly captured the villains. As for favourite film: Samurai Sword, especially with the climax of the film when Shaggy and Scooby engaged the Black Samurai in an epic swordfight. 4. What ways are you involved in the Scooby fandom online? Besides writing fanfiction on Fanfiction.net and on Archive of Our Own, I've occasionally contributed to the Scooby Fanon Wiki. 5. In your opinion, what is the best series or era of Scooby? Definitely the Hanna-Barbera era, up until before A Pup, as they set the gold standard regarding the characters and the adventures. The Zombie Island to Cyber Chase era comes a close second, namely due to the charm of the 1990s Cartoon Network. 6. If they could make a sequel to one Scooby-Doo series or film, what would it be? If they can make a sequel to a Scooby film, I suppose the Cyber Chase is a good candidate, because they've got plenty of potential of callbacks with the video game settings. 7. What direction would you like to see the franchise go in the future? A major direction the franchise should head towards is placing the gang in a darker and realistic setting, coupled with a more-serious depiction of them, similar to what I'm doing with my Coolsville Central series. In fact, it will be interesting to see the franchise returning onto CBS as a primetime-type series similar to NCIS. 8. Who is your favorite member of the gang and why? Definitely Shaggy, as seeing him and Scooby coming to the rescue at times is quite the pleasant surprise. 9. What is your favorite villain? Why? Good question. Doctor Phibes from Shaggy and Scooby Get a Clue comes into mind, where upon crossing him with Professor Pericles, there's a lot of potential for him to be the criminal mastermind-type that challenges the gang now and then. 10. In your opinion, who is the best recurring (non-gang) character in the franchise? To be honest, the closest I can name would be Shaggy's father, particularly with his portrayal as a police officer in A Pup, because as seen in my Coolsville Central series, it opens the door to further enhancement of the Coolsville or Crystal Cove setting. 11. Do you have a Scooby-Doo collection? If so, what's in it? I don't have a Scooby collection. 12. What do you think has made the franchise so popular that it's still going strong after 50 years? Probably the comedy, supernatural and mystery-solving format being the main thing that has kept the franchise going after 50 years. 13. What is one fun fact about you in real life? I play the violin and piano and frequently listen to classical music. 14. Please feel free to share anything else you'd like to here! I have a fictional alter-ego named Garfield Stephenson Wu, who's the main character in a series of stories I've written on FictionPress and has crossed paths with Mystery Inc. a couple of occasions, mainly in stories with the D4 title. If you're curious, D4 stands for Dimension Four, which is one of several universes I've placed my Scooby settings in. The reason why I've used dozens of universes is because I'd like to keep creating stories without the need to worry about continuity issues between the events of one story and another. Anyways, the Dimension Four series consists of my revision and expansion of the classic Hanna-Barbera era of the franchise, from SDWAY to 13GSD and the Superstar 10 films, in addition to incorporating elements from aspects of the Zombie Island to Cyber Chase era. Thanks so much to Wsdsrdbw4096 for his responses! Feel free to leave him a comment in the section below.  Hi everyone and happy Friday! Today, our fan spotlight is the lovely Amber, who is one of my Scooby fan friends I've talked to quite a bit over the years. Amber has some really insightful perspectives on the franchise, and got into the franchise probably the most interesting way I've ever heard. I also have to say, I absolutely love the top picture she requested I use for this post, it's super beautiful! I may have to steal it and use it on something else myself sometime haha.
Anyways, I'll turn it over to Amber, since the spotlight is on her after all! 1. What is your name? Amber 2. How did you get into Scooby-Doo? I think I got introduced to Scooby differently than a lot of fans did! When I was 6 or 7, one of my friends came over and introduced me to the online Bayou Scooby-Doo game on the Cartoon Network website. I thought it was a really cool game! That led my parents to introduce me to Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, and I fell in love with the series! My parents slowly introduced me to some other series later on, like The Scooby-Doo Show and the more current series (at the time) What’s New, Scooby-Doo?, which only made me love the show more! I’m 21 now, and I still am absolutely in love with the Scooby franchise and have seen every episode and film. 3. What is your favorite Scooby-Doo episode and film? Why? Ooh, tough one! I have to go with the original series for the episode. My favorite has always been “A Night of Fright is No Delight,” because it was the first to truly use that classic haunted house location that would be utilized so much in later series. The backgrounds in that episode are immaculate and I remember the green ghosts’ laughs creeped me out as a kid! My favorite film is Witch’s Ghost! I loved the more mature version of the gang that we got in that film (and Zombie Island) and you could really tell the love put into the tone of the film. Also, I really looked up to the Hex Girls as a little girl! They’re such badass, empowered women and I always wanted to be like them! 4. What ways are you involved in the Scooby fandom online? If I’m honest, I’m not all that involved other than just lurking a bit on sites like this one and a bit on the ScoobyAddicts forum. Maybe that will change though after this, these questions you’re asking are really making me think! 5. In your opinion, what is the best series or era of Scooby? I’m not sure if it has to be a series or not, but if we’re just talking about eras then I’ll pick the Zombie Island era hands down! Like I mentioned in my answer for question 3, you could really tell the love put into making these films perfect and relatable to both kids and a mature audience. The gang seemed much more mature, and the mysteries and monsters were pretty dark. I know everyone looks for different things in Scooby, but one of the things I really look for is the classic horror tropes. 6. If they could make a sequel to one Scooby-Doo series or film, what would it be? I’m nervous to answer this question now after we’ve gotten two less-than-great sequels! Can we add in the contingency that they have to live up to the original? If it would live up to the original film, both in terms of continuity and the overall feel, I would probably pick Witch’s Ghost. There are a lot of films I wanted to pick, Boo Brothers and The Ghoul School coming to mind first, but none of those films really need sequels if that makes sense. Like, what made Boo Brothers great is that it was uncertain if some of the ghosts were real. So if the sequel would just go back and try to tie up all the loose ends, that’s not something I would want. Part of the fun was that it ended on a cliffhanger and was up to viewer interpretation whether it was real or not. 7. What direction would you like to see the franchise go in the future? This is totally just one girl’s opinion, but the direction they’re going in now isn’t enjoyable or engaging to me as a fan. Don’t get me wrong here, I love nostalgia! But series like Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? feel like the writers are trying too hard to make it feel exactly like the original, and as a result it’s been boring to watch because they aren’t doing anything new. In the future, I’d like to see them continue to explore different aspects of the franchise. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated explored a serialized, grittier format of the series which was great! Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! was more quirky and comedy driven. Both of these new directions appealed to me, but just continuing to rehash the same thing over and over again in the DTVs and Guess Who gets old fast. The franchise didn’t last 50 years by just doing the same thing repeatedly, so I’d like to see them get out of their comfort zone and try new things, even if it is a miss for some fans like Get A Clue was. A controversial opinion, but I said what I said. Deal with it lol. 8. Who is your favorite member of the gang and why? If I had to pick a favorite, I’d of course go with the typical standby of Scooby because he’s such a cutie. In terms of relatability, I would pick Daphne. I’m also very fashion-oriented, not particularly spatially aware (i.e. danger prone!) and a bit quirky and uncoordinated at times. 9. What is your favorite villain? Why? For an all time favorite villain, I’d pick Morgan Moonscar. His design was perfect in every way and he creeped me out sooo much as a kid! 10. In your opinion, who is the best recurring (non-gang) character in the franchise? The Hex Girls!! I talked about wanting to be like them when I was little in an earlier question, and I’d say they probably influenced how my personality shaped a bit. Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I’m nerdy af, but at the same time I’m very confident in myself and empowered. Which you could draw a parallel to the Hex Girls, they’re also very nonconforming yet confident in who they are and don’t take crap from anyone. I try to live by that motto if I can! 11. Do you have a Scooby-Doo collection? If so, what’s in it? Nothing Earth shattering. I have all the DVDs plus a few Scooby plushes and a couple of the villain figures, but I’m still building the collection whenever I see cool Scooby merch! 12. What do you think has made the franchise so popular that it’s still going strong after 50 years? People love a good mystery, and I think the diversity of the characters’ personalities is very relatable to everyone. Each series has something different to offer to varying degrees. A lot of classic horror tropes are used throughout the franchise, mixed in with comedy and whimsy so I think there’s really something to appeal to all ends of the spectrum here. 13. What is one fun fact about you in real life? I’m big into dyeing my hair, so if you need any tips for hair dyeing I’m the girl to ask! My current color is pink (as of writing this, honestly it could change even by the time this is posted lol). Also, I can come off as a bit intense at first, but people generally say I’m a big teddy bear once you get to know me! :) 14. Please feel free to share anything else you’d like to here! Thank you so much for including me in this! This was really fun! I always enjoy talking about my undying love for Scooby with other people, so feel free to leave a comment or just say hi and I’ll be happy to chat! Spread peace and love, not hate. <3 Thanks so much to Amber for her inspiring answers, and for participating in this project! Check back tomorrow for another fan spotlight...there's only 3 left!  For the 50th anniversary of the franchise, I've recently been rewatching The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo. Now that I've watched these episodes numerous times, it caused me to view the show from a more critical perspective. Taking it even a step further, I'd argue The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo could have been the perfect mature Scooby show some of us have been hoping for. I'm sure this idea sounds crazy, so I want to give my reasoning behind this. Honestly, I don't think 13 Ghosts knew what it wanted to be. We get some creepy horror scenes and frightening villains (the Shadow Demon pictured above is one of my favorite Scooby villains ever!), but we also get cheesy sing-a-longs and jokes like Shaggy microwaving his popcorn at 8 million degrees. Scooby had always previously been a very comedy-driven show, especially in the recent days (at the time) when we had just come out of those 7-minute comedy romp shorts. I don't think the writers quite knew what to do when a horror show was pitched to them. Given this, we get these zany comedy scenes mixed in with some legitimate supernatural premises. I think this (and Scrappy and Flim Flam) caused people to be turned off by the show. They discounted the show's capabilities when they saw it was the same comedy (even a bit zanier than some of 7 minute shorts) as in the preceding Scrappy. I think most of these episodes have the foundation to be legitimately frightening and more mature, without all the quirky comedy mixed in. Don't get me wrong here. I'm not trying to rant about 13 Ghosts, or saying it's crap, or anything to that degree. I'm just trying to analyze how the show could have been better and more horror-focused. People definitely think of the show was more horror-focused, but in many places, it's really not. People are misremembering the more frightening scenes as being the only thing there, when we have very zany main character interactions and jokes tossed in. How do we unpack all of this, and hypothetically, how could The 13 Ghosts be that creepy, supernatural show focusing on a serious occult threat of 13 of the most terrifying ghosts being released? I already talked about removing the comedy, and I think this means removing Flim Flam and Scrappy. For those that love those characters, I apologize, and Scrappy definitely had his charm in this series. But these are the two characters who are consistently there for the purposes of comedy, and 90%+ percent of their lines are around making some sort of joke, or making the situation lighter. I think, for a horror-focused show, these two characters don't really fit unfortunately. Or, they would need to have a drastic change of personality. Next, I'd like to analyze each episode from a critical horror perspective, and talk about what worked and what didn't.  To All The Ghouls I've Loved Before really worked as a premiere for a horror show, I think. It had some genuinely spooky stuff going on, between the curse the demons placed on the town where they turn into werewolves, to the creepy temple and Bogel and Weerd trying to trick the gang into opening the chest. Of course, there were a few minor comedy gags here that could be cut, but I think maybe just slightly amping up the intensity of this episode could make it into the perfect premiere! Fright factor: 9/10  Scoobra Kadoobra had a good foundation, but didn't quite cut it when it came to making it creepy. Maldor was an awesomely designed ghost especially with the horns coming straight through his head (as you can see in the picture above) and the fact that he has no face is super spooky! In execution, the episode really did pretty terribly. The comedy routines undermined the episode in every way. The cut away gag cause the episode to instantly become less spooky, the whole dragon thing doesn't work, and neither do the rat guards. Maldor also comes off as less spooky than he should, which by his appearance should be a larger-than-life, maniacally evil personality. Instead, we get him saying things like "Good doggy!" and making kissing noises when he wants the wand, and "Welcome to my slumber party!" which just seem like lame lines for such a supposedly malevolent character. The fact that he seems to forget who the gang is also wrecks the spook factor. At the beginning of the episode, his face appears in the van and taunts the gang to come and get him, which is pretty dang frightening. Then, a scene later, Scooby and Shaggy are eating lunch in the forest, and Maldor exclaims "There are mortals in my forest!" or something like that with surprise, which completely wrecks the spookiness of that scene. I think this episode would have been better if we focused more on how Maldor took over the forest, then immediately putting Daphne under the "Sleep of the Centuries" spell, Scooby finding the Wonder Wand, and him chasing Scooby with some more horror-focused extensions on these scenes. In my opinion, we don't need any of the dragon bits, Scrappy and Flim Flam acting as lawyers, or Flim Flam tricking the rat guards. The only villains I think we really need are Maldor, who should be more of a smouldering, huge presence, and maybe some of the monster trees. Fright factor: Maldor is a genuinely cool villain, and this episode is one of my favorites so I hate to do this. But, I'm going to rate it a 5/10. It has potential, but it was completely ruined by the overuse of comedy and of course the stupid singalong.  The villain in Me and My Shadow Demon has immense potential, and the way that the villain is used is amazing...until a point. The villain that I'm talking about is not, in fact, Queen Morbidia, but the Shadow Demon. The Shadow Demon (pictured above) is one of the coolest, creepiest looking villains in Scooby-Doo, and could have been THE best of the 13 ghosts. However, he was entirely wasted when it's said to just be "some guy's shadow," so they could use Morbidia instead. Morbidia is a pretty cool looking ghost, but she pales in comparison to the Shadow Demon. I wish they would have used Morbidia in a different episode as the stand-alone villain, and left the Shadow Demon to be the star of this one. The sing-a-longs absolutely sucked, and "Goodnight Ghoulies" almost felt like I was being talked down to. The way the mine scene works out, to me, is a bit iffy. I think it would have been better if they just started out at Befuddle Hall, gotten trapped down in the basement maze somehow after wandering the house for a while, and they saw the Shadow Demon everywhere. Or like the shadows the gang casted could morph into the demon, making the gang believe they couldn't escape the Shadow Demon. Or maybe the Shadow Demon could have the power to stretch like a shadow, or something creepy like that. That would be a genuinely frightening scenario. Instead, we get Morbidia and a bunch of random monsters, a giant bug, plus a crappy sing-a-long ending. It just doesn't really work with the horror angle. I think Morbidia would be a good villain for another episode, but she pales in comparison to the Shadow Demon in this episode. Fright factor: 7/10. Morbidia was a good villain, but the sing-a-longs and bad jokes is what bring this down for me. The Shadow Demon was also clearly the superior choice here, and they just waste him with a lame explanation that doesn't really make much sense.  Reflections in a Ghoulish Eye is a pretty cool title, but the episode itself is very average except for the last 4 or 5 minutes. I think the Mirror Demon was played up as too weak. This demon which is one of the 13 most powerful on the face of the Earth is trapped within a bedroom mirror, and has to be carried around for the first 15 minutes of the episode by Bogel and Weerd. It makes him seem like a not very powerful demon...that is, until the last five minutes, where he actually traps the gang in the mirror world. Now that was super cool, and very frightening! I think if we honed in on those five minutes of the episode and developed that more, it would be a perfect episode! There's too much filler in this episode otherwise, and we don't need any of the convention narrative or songs about "Giving 'Em The Old Flim Flam." As an alternate idea, the Mirror Demon have the power to occupy every mirror, but he can't enter reality without someone getting close enough to the mirror. I think that would be a cool premise, and wouldn't make him seem as weak as being trapped in someone's bedroom mirror. Fright factor: I'm going to be rough on this one and give it a 2.5/10, to represent the 25% of the episode we were in that cool mirror world. The rest of the episode just isn't scary, at all.  That's Monstertainment! gets us on the right path. This is the closest of any episode other the premiere so far, in my opinion, to be genuinely frightening and have a ton of potential that was used. Being trapped in the TV is pretty scary, and I love that the gang is actually innocently watching a horror host not realizing she was one of the 13 ghosts. Zomba also has the creepiest design of any of the 13 ghosts, hands down. I was actually a bit freaked out by her as a kid, with her bug eyes and strange-looking figure. There are a few things which sort of make this episode a little bit less scary. First, the silly scenes of the gang acting in the movie make it feel a little less scary. The scene where Zomba is trying to find the demon chest seems like it's played up for comedy, but I don't think it should have been. In the rest of the episode, she's pretty scary and that comedy bit is a little confusing. I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like the very first part during Van Ghoul's monologue should have had the scenery be darker. It's colored strangely, and it makes it just seem like it's dusk, whereas if it's 2am it should be pitch black and that would amp up the scariness. I realize that last one is a very nitpicky criticism, but I think the horror parts we do get in this episode are sooo amazing that I want it to be perfect haha. But enough about what wasn't good, let's talk about the amazing parts of this episode! As I said, the beginning scene where they're sucked in is great, Zomba zapping into the movie with such ease was terrifying, the part in the dungeon where she's holding a torch and searching for Shaggy and Scooby, where they're in this remote isolated room, is super creepy! As is her trapping them at the end on the windmill. The horror movie really gets the fright factor going as well. One comment on her design, which is already near-perfect, is one animation glitch when she's at the top of the stairs and she looks even creepier, ironically. She looks almost deformed and demonic in that scene, and it's sooo cool. I wish they would have stayed more consistent with her design, as she's a bit all over the place. Her body is pretty similar other than that one glitch, but sometimes her face is drawn to look less creepy. I also think Zomba was powerful enough on her own, and the Frankenscoob Monster wasn't really needed here. It made her feel a little less scary when the monster was clearly more powerful than her. Fright factor: 9 / 10. I think this is the closest we get to true creepiness in the show, and the 1 point I took off is for the minor criticisms outlined above. Overall, I think the series would have been a lot better if it would have been more like this one!  Ship of Ghouls has a lot of controversy surrounding whether Captain Ferguson counted as one of the 13 ghosts. Watching the episode again, I'm sort of inclined to believe he's not, even though Curse of the 13th Ghost said he was. This was quite similar to the Mirror Demon episode in the sense that it had great potential from what was there, but it took too long to get there. The first 15 minutes could easily be cut out, in my opinion. It's just Weerd and Bogel chasing Scooby around and him being scared. 15 minutes in, we finally get some genuinely creepy things going on. The gang is trapped on a ship, where all the passengers turn out to be ghosts, and there's literally nowhere to run. Even worse, the chest of demons open and we get this amalgamation of all the demons, which is super cool! Fright factor: 6/10. I'll give the episode the fact that it did slowly build up to something, and wasn't just pure filler like the Mirror Demon episode was. But it took way too long to get there, sort of wasting the opportunity they had to make a genuinely scary scenario occur until the last minute.  A Spooky Little Ghoul Like You is a pretty fun episode, that I think has some seriously spooky potential. My two complaints about this one, besides the comedy bits, is how Nicara's power is too oddly specific. Why would she be one of the 13 most powerful demons if her powers only work on Friday the 13th? It just seemed like they were trying to cram in a "spooky" reference and it made her seem less powerful. But her powers getting increasingly large throughout the episode, like being able to rise ghouls from the grave is pretty dang terrifying, and makes for a great horror episode. Just maybe intensifying the darkness of the episode and cutting out the comedy bits would do this episode a lot of good! I like how not all of the demons were like deformed or ugly, like this was just a sexy lady demon who was trying to make a warlock fall in love with her to drain their powers. The ending is a bit lackluster, where it just ends on "oh...it's midnight! Goodnight everyone!" I think the ending of this could have been made stronger. The animation quality also just drops off a cliff for the last 30 seconds, causing us to get some pretty horrifying scenes like this.  Fright factor: I'll give this an 8/10, one point taken away for the comedy bits and another one because her power is too oddly specific and it makes her much less intimidating.  When You Witch Upon a Star features a pretty cool looking witch, who's mad with power, but got trapped in the Zone of Eternal Evil. Everything about this premise is great, except...wait...there's also a bumbling group of Three Stooge witches on the loose? The Brewski Sisters are irritating to watch, and they are purely there for the comedy. The round-the-world trek feels like it goes too fast, and in general, the witches simply aren't funny. The plot with Vincent Van Ghoul and Marcella is what should have been focused on more heavily (with the gang there), as she was super powerful and had a pretty creepy design. But, instead, we get probably like 17 or 18 minutes of the Brewski Sisters, chanting "Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah! Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah!" Fright factor: 2/10. If this episode were just Marcella, it would get 9 or 10/10 easily. But the episode almost exclusively focuses on the Brewski Sisters, to the point where we barely even see Marcella and she doesn't know who the gang are. It's disappointing, and I think there was a spark of potential in the plot with Vincent Van Ghoul and her, but it's completely wasted with those other witches.  It's A Wonderful Scoob lives up to its name, and is pretty wonderful. But it's not the best, in some places. The beginning bit with them in the weird time city, and the middle with Scooby's parents and Weerd and Bogel could be cut because it's mainly used for comedy. It does have good potential, though, and I think Scooby being forced to confront his terrifying past is a cool plot. I also thought Marcella looked better in the flashback than she did in the actual episode, lol. It was genuinely a bit saddening and heartfelt to see how bad the world had become with Time Slime free. I know I've been pretty anti-comedy in this article, but I think Bernie Gumpshure could definitely be worked into this episode still. The horror aspect of this episode is how bad the world has become without Scooby, and Bernie's ineptness could serve as a comedy facet while also showing Scooby how bad his replacement is for the world. The meta-references, however, where Ronald Reagan gives his presidential address for Scooby to come back on the show just don't work at all, and need to be removed for it to be more horror-focused. Fear factor: 7/10, it's not the most horrifying thing in the world, but it's a cool episode to watch. Time Slime is...an interesting looking villain, but isn't as creepy-looking as some of the past ones. I'd say he's the least creepy of any of the demons we've talked about so far.  Quack, quack, quack, I'm Platypus Duck! If you couldn't tell, we're on Scooby in Kwackyland now and Demondo, and he really isn't scary. This episode features the gang in a comic, and for a horror series, it just doesn't work. It's not scary at all, and all episodes at this point have had at least some fear factor. Honestly, to make this a more horror-focused series, there's really no saving this episode which is literally about comics. I think this would be the place we could fill in Morbidia and give her an episode individually. Fear factor: 0/10  Does this demon not look pretty creepy? He does to me, but Coast to Ghost really does him no justice. The atmosphere of this episode is cool, but the gang traveling with Weerd and Bogel is too comedy-driven, and Rankor is a bumbling idiot in most of this episode. He literally willingly goes in the demon chest, saying "Thanks, you guys are real pals!" and it's just all-out lame. Worst scene I've seen in Scooby-Doo, probably. It's just so disappointing. Also, why is Rankor reporting to SAPS and why is he not in SAPS already? Why does he even want to be in SAPS? He's one of the most powerful demons in the world, it doesn't make sense that he'd be so submissive. Fear factor: The atmosphere is strongly horror in this one, but it just lacks everything else. 1/10 for the one thing this episode had right.  The Ghouliest Show on Earth was an awesome horror episode. The ghost just looking like a normal person for most of the episode until he turned grotesque at the end (pictured above), the calliope music hypnotizing people into thinking everything was alright was all just perfect! One minor thing I'd say could be fixed, besides amping up the dark tone, is for it not to take place in Dooville. It seems like too much of coincidence that the ghost would go right to Scooby's hometown. Also, did any of us really need to see that guy who's married to a cow? Lol. Fear factor: 9/10 for the great horror potential.  I'm not really sure what to say about Horror Scope Scoob. It's another TV station episode, and I don't think we particularly needed it with the Zomba episode. This episode sort of feels all over the place, with someone stealing the Demon Chest, Zimbulu going to the cemetery to enlist zombies to help him, it just was all over the place. The only really cool part about this episode was Telluluah turning into Zimbulu, that's a pretty creepy thought to have Zimbulu just possessing a human's body that whole time. But, other than this, the episode was just meh. I was pretty indifferent.
Fear factor: Let's just give it a 2/10 for effort. Nothing about it is really scary, but it wasn't a bad episode either. So, that about wraps it for this article! I guess I was pretty hard on some of the episodes, but keep in mind that my opinion isn't that the episodes all sucked or were just 22 minutes of complain-worthy material. I was simply attempting to analyze each episode from a horror perspective, though I do enjoy the comedy bits sometimes. I think this series could have a lot of potential as an SDMI-level horror series, if it just took itself more seriously sometimes and wasn't so conflicted on the comedy bits. I hope you enjoyed this article, and this 4-article series for the 50th anniversary!  I’d like to introduce you to today’s fan spotlight, Greybishop! You may know Greybishop from his comments on this site, or through his own personal blog! Greybishop is also a very avid Scooby collector. Check out Greybishop’s profile below! 1. What is your name? I go by Greybishop or GB. 2. How did you get into Scooby-Doo? Scooby and I happen to be almost exactly the same age and I can honestly say that Scooby-Doo has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Various incarnations of the show were on Saturday morning tv on any given weekend of my childhood in the 70s. I've been a fan to varying degrees over the years and I never really stopped loving the characters. I have a huge dvd collection I started about 20 years ago, including what I believe to be a complete collection of DC Comics related dvds. I long ago added the Batman meets Scooby-Doo crossover movies from the 70s to my collection as part of the DC Comics section and when Scooby and Batman again crossed paths in the recent The Brave and the Bold Scooby-Doo & Batman crossover dvd I decided it was time to add a Scooby component to my dvd collection. That kind of sparked a real rekindling of my love of the character and the gang. Thanks to ScoobySnax.com's super list of releases, my collection is complete, minus only the as yet unreleased episodes. 3. What is your favorite Scooby-Doo episode and film? Why? I love the Be Cool, Scooby-Doo episode Screama Donna. Kate Micucci's wrap up rap cemented her as my all time favourite Velma voice actress. In terms of films, the two New Scooby-Doo Movies where the gang meets Batman from 70s are nostalgic favourites. Having Casey Kasem do double duty as Shaggy AND Robin makes them Scooby-Doo movie royalty in my opinion and the famous pants-less Batman moment in The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair is priceless beyond measure. 4. What ways are you involved in the Scooby fandom online? I frequent ScoobySnax.com for release updates on dvds, mainly. When there's something new coming out, you always seem to be on top of it, so kudos for that! I actually got my dvd collection "to buy" list by using your "How to have a complete Scooby-Doo collection" page and thanks to that list I have a currently complete collection. I also write about Scooby occasionally at my own blog as well. 5. In your opinion, what is the best series or era of Scooby? Three part answer. Three different reasons. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? is a nostalgic favourite. To me it's warm jammies and a cozy blanket with warm cookies and cold milk. Any one of the episodes takes me back 40 years. I love it for its purity and straight up approach. In its own way, it taught kids like me how the world really works. In the end, behind every scary, awful thing you run into, there's probably a bad guy trying to make a dishonest buck. That and life is generally better with snacks. For artistic merit, What's New Scooby-Doo was a beautiful to look at show, well done all around. The updated no ascot design for Fred was a clear miss but the animation and background painting were light years ahead of anything done for the gang before then. Finally, I'm a fan of the current era. Seeing Scooby given a deep, convoluted story that played out over two seasons of Mystery Incorporated was amazing. I'm not a fan of some of the choices the show made but it was still revolutionary as Scooby-Doo shows go. Be Cool, Scooby-Doo also has its own merit. I'm not in love with the design of the show but the writing, direction and voice acting are as good as anything on television. 6. If they could make a sequel to one Scooby-Doo series or film, what would it be? I'd like to see a spin-off series of the Brave and the Bold Batman Meets Scooby-Doo movie where Scooby crosses over with the rest of the DC Comics universe. Scooby-Doo meets Wonder Woman, Black Lightning or Harley Quinn would make for some Super fine television. It's been done in print with the Scooby-Doo Team Up comic series from DC, so it's not an unprecedented idea. It looks like The Flash, Wonder Woman and Batman are slated to appear in Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? so someone at Warner Bros is a superhero fan like me! 7. What direction would you like to see the franchise goes in the future? As long as the powers that be give us Scooby with quality writing, animation and voice work, I'm happy. I will say I'm not overly interested in a computer animated Scooby like the upcoming Scoob! movie. I don't love the idea of casting the celebrity de jour as one of the gang simply to sell tickets. I prefer traditional cel animation, voiced by professional voice actors who fit their roles. I also REALLY wish that they would release all the shows complete on dvd. Even a bare-bones MOD version through the Warner Archive would be adequate. The completist in me hates the gaps in my collection. 8. Who is your favorite member of the gang and why? Oh, that's Velma, hands down. I probably had a crush on Daphne as a kid but I'm not a kid anymore. Cooly logical, scientifically minded women in glasses are my kryptonite in real life, too.. Particularly if they sound like Kate Micucci. 9. What is your favorite villain? Why? Old Ironface, easy. What's cooler than a villain who water-skis on shark shaped torpedoes? 10. In your opinion, who is the best recurring (non-gang) character in the franchise? Batman. 'Nuff said. 11. Do you have a Scooby-Doo collection? If so, what’s in it? Oh, yeah. As I said above, thanks to ScoobySnax.com I have a delightfully complete Scooby-Doo dvd collection. I painted a mural of the gang in terrified flight on my front hallway wall recently. I also have the LEGO Scooby-Doo Haunted House and Mystery Machine (it was the best way to get the complete LEGO gang, plus the two sets display very nicely together) as well as a very old Scooby-Doo bobble-head I picked up at a dollar store decades ago. My most interesting piece is a non-official Scooby-Doo set of metal miniatures intended for tabletop gaming like Dungeons and Dragons. I paint miniatures and years ago I stumbled across this range of figures at Hasslefree Miniatures that looked suspiciously familiar. The figures go by "Barney", "Felicity", "Wolsey" and "Louise" and there's a Great Dane mascot named "Hamlet". It's pretty clear what inspired the sculptors. They also have a post-apocalyptic version of the team, complete with weapons to fight a zombie apocalypse. I bought them on a whim then, but with my renewed interest in Scooby, I'm really glad I did. 12. What do you think has made the franchise so popular that it’s still going strong after 50 years? You know, I really have no idea. I know I love it but there were a dozen similar shows that all hit Saturday morning around that same time in the early 70s and most of them are totally forgotten. Aside from the obvious fact that they were all modeled on the template that Scooby established, they aren't much different and it's conceivable that any one of them could have found long term popularity. Most of them were produced, written and acted by a lot of the same talent, but somehow lack that spark that makes Scooby magical. I really don't know why a talking dog with a speech impediment and a motley gang of teenagers have endured so long and so well when all the rest faded into obscurity. Glad it worked out that way, though. 13. What is one fun fact about you in real life? I've twice participated in The Three Day Novel Contest. Every Labour Day Weekend, a group in Canada invites writers to lock themselves in a room and pound out a complete novel in just three days. The best three day novel is rewarded with a publication deal. It's totally insane to attempt and even more insane to actually do. I didn't win but eventually I self published the first novel I entered. It's called "Bred in the Bone" and I actually made a few dollars profit on the self publication. It's still up for sale on Amazon.com remarkably enough. The best part of the whole crazy project was finding a signed copy of my book in a used bookstore years later. 14. Please feel free to share anything else you’d like to here! I'm no fan of social media and left Facebook years ago, but I still love to blog. I'm old and stubborn. If you've read this far and aren't bored to tears by my answers, you might enjoy some of my other ramblings at greybishop.blogspot.com where I tackle topics like science fiction, superhero and fantasy cinema, science news and whatever artistic project I'm into at the moment. I love visitors! Thanks so much to Greybishop for his detailed responses! We’re down to four days now for the fan spotlights, so be sure to keep checking the next few days to meet four more awesome Scooby fans! Meanwhile, you can check out Greybishop's Scooby collection in the pictures below, including his metal miniatures in the style of Scooby Apocalypse.       |
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