WB and CinePutt announced yesterday via The Mountain Press that there will be two Scooby-Doo themed mini-golf courses opening next Spring! The mini-golf attraction will feature 36 holes and allow players to choose between two courses, Coolsville Cemetery and the Coolsville Mine. In addition to the mini-golf course, the attraction will feature a gem mine, a clubhouse, and candy shop. The courses are set to open in the spring 2025, with more information to come next week according to their social media page, @scoobydooputt on Instagram. The course will be located in 2545 Teaster Lane in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Thanks so much to CollectorScooby for the info!

Phantasma's voice actor, Russi Taylor, is also famous for voicing a number of Bart and Lisa's classmates on The Simpsons. This includes Martin Prince, Sherri & Terri, Uter, Wendell and Lewis.

I wanted to do a special poll this week for Halloween, so we are going to switch it up this week and do a poll where you vote on your favorite monster, as suggested by Mr Neither!  As a helpful guide, since it may be easy to get a few of the names mixed up, here are images of each of the monsters with their name.

We have a surprising winner for last week's poll! "Chiller Diller Movie Thriller" and "Where's Scooby-Doo?" seemed to be the most popular options based on the comment section, but neither of them ended up winning! Here are the results for the poll last week:

What is your favorite Scooby-Doo mystery on a train?
Mysteries on the Disorient Express - 29
Chiller Diller Movie Thriller - 20
Where's Scooby-Doo? - 15

With the only Scooby-Doo content to be released this year being Velma, there hasn't been all that much new content that I've been excited for. However, when the news came out about The Spooky Folklore Behind Scooby-Doo by Mark Norman, I was intrigued to read about such a cool and ambitious project. With the eBook being released yesterday, I read all of the book last night and today, and really enjoyed it!

For those that missed the announcement of the book, it is a project by folklorist Mark Norman exploring the folklore behind Scooby-Doo's monsters and tropes. Norman watched all Scooby-Doo projects through 2021, and discusses the myths, legends and folklore that the franchise has drawn upon over the years.

Before reading this book, I had very limited knowledge of folklore from the perspective of academic study. Despite this, I felt the book was quite easy and accessible to read. The book struck a really good balance of discussing the history behind the folklore, while still feeling appealing and not overly dense for fans of the franchise.

Another aspect of the book I really loved is that I felt it was appealing to fans of all intensities. There was a wide variety of episodes from various series discussed, and it wasn't all just focused on the most famous episodes or series. Being unfamiliar with the study of folklore, I wasn't aware of a lot of the connections various monsters had to centuries-old legends and myths. It was really cool to get more of a sense of how true some of the monsters stayed to how they are portrayed in folklore, and the inspirations the writers took from myths and stories when creating certain villains.

It's very clear that Mark did a ton of research on the franchise when embarking on the project. The discussion of the episodes is never in a way that feels surface-level. Mark is also quick to establish his credibility on folklore, and does so in such a way that feels engaging, and not at all boring or overly dense. There are even moments where he interjects a witty quip or two into the book, which I found to be fun and really added to the personality of the book.

There are a few typos throughout the book, such as Witch's Ghost being called an episode, a Guess Who episode being mistitled, and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated being mentioned as airing on Nickelodeon instead of Cartoon Network. However, these and the other couple there were are all very small mistakes, and don't detract from the book or make Mark feel uncredible imo.

The full preface is devoted to the history of the franchise, and this was one part I was particularly impressed by. The discussion of the franchise's history is quite in-depth and detailed. Cool factoids are included in the history chapter as well, such as the chase music in the original show being modeled after the success of the bubblegum pop in the late 1960s, such as The Archies' "Sugar Sugar" which was #1 for six weeks in 1969. Although not part of the history section, there's also a really interesting discussion of how Scooby-Doo has utilized elements of the gothic style to create its aesthetic. He could have just provided a generic Wikipedia-like history of the franchise, but the fact that Mark went above and beyond, in order to appeal to fans of all levels, was something that I really liked about this book.

I also found the themes of the book to be quite interesting. Some chapters focus on the history of specific types of monsters, like ghosts and witches, but other chapters pursue the history of indigenous folklore and the use of science and technology in Scooby-Doo. As you may remember, back in 2021, I wrote an article on both how technology has evolved in the franchise, and an article about indigenous representation in the franchise was also published on the blog during the pandemic. Mark's discussion in the book was quite different than the articles I published, since he was doing this project specifically through the lens of folklore, but it was really interesting to read about these topics from another perspective.

In terms of the folklore discussed, the myths, legends and stories he talked about were really interesting, and I didn't know about most of them. There were a few that stood out to me as particularly cool and surprising, especially the one which talked about Nibiru being coined in 1995 by a woman who claimed she was abducted by grey aliens, in the same way that Sheriff Stone believed he was in "Aliens Among Us."

The only thing I feel could have been done a little better is that the methodology of why some villains were included and others were not is occasionally a little unclear. Overall, I feel the book did a great job picking out villains that were most representative of the theme, but there were a couple instances where notable villains was excluded for themes, when a very minor one was mentioned. One example would be the ghost of Abraham Lincoln from "A Mystery Solving Gang Divided!" was mentioned as the only example for the Civil War Ghosts section, while Uncle Beauregard from Boo Brothers, the Leland Brothers from "Big Scare in the Big Easy," and the Confederate General in Zombie Island are all not mentioned. Yet, other times, very minor villains are mentioned, such as the Witch Puppet from "The Backstage Rage" who appears for only a couple seconds. That said, this is a massive project and I know I wouldn't be able to ensure 100% consistency if I were doing something like this either. I recognize that this is a huge nitpick on my part, and it's not something that detracted from the book or made me enjoy it any less.

What I liked most about this book is that it felt like Mark had a great balance between discussing the episodes, and talking about the folklore connected to them in a way that didn't feel dense. The book doesn't limit itself to appealing only to those interested in folklore, casual watchers, or super fans; it finds arguably the perfect balance between being interesting to all three. Mark also feels very knowledgeable about the franchise and like he has really done the research. This is a really great read, and I would definitely recommend checking it out if you get the chance!

Puma shared a few weeks ago that they would be released Scooby-Doo shoes in November. Today, they've announced that the release date for these shoes will be on November 27, two days before Black Friday deals begin. The shoes are inspired by NBA player Lamelo Bal, who plays for the Charlotte Hornets. The shoes will feature a foam cushioned midsole, and a tonal rubber outsole. Men's sizes of the shoes will be $135, while kids shoes will cost $115, and the preschool shoes will cost $90. The announcement makes no mention of if they will be released in women's sizes. The news comes from Sneaker Bar Detroit's website.

Fun Fact #514 from this past July mentioned that the coordinates for the first key to the Planispheric Disc in "Aliens Among Us" (Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated) geolocated to WB producer Sam Register's office. I hadn't previously realized this, but the coordinates to the second key that the Hex Girls unlock in "Dance of the Undead" (34.158", -118.342) also geolocate to a Warner Brothers facility! You can check out an image of the studio on Google Maps.

Kudos to Juan for finding this Easter Egg during his SDMI rewatch!

For this poll, I only included the three mysteries that take place fully on a train, and didn't include stuff like "The Wild Brood" or Stage Fright where a train appears in one scene.

Our top 4 for last week's poll remained decently close, but our winner maintained a lead of a few votes throughout the week. Here are the results for last week's poll:

What is your favorite episode taking place at a space station, or in space?
In Space - 17
Moon Monster Madness - 12
Space Ape at the Cape - 11
Space Station Scooby - 9
A Close Encounter with a Strange Kind - 3
Lightning Strikes Twice - 3
Mecha Mutt Menace - 2
Scooby Saves the World - 1
Dawn of the Spooky Shuttle Scare - 1

DC's comic solicitations for January 2025 were released today by GamesRadar+, and oddly, there are no Scooby comics slated to be released that month. This doesn't mean anything for the Where Are You comics, as they are released every other month, but Batman and Scooby-Doo Mysteries is oddly missing from the solicitations. Back this January, it was announced that the series would become ongoing in 2024, but it appears the announcement may have meant that it was ongoing for only 2024. I will be sure to share more details on here if anything else is announced.

Despite this, we did get a solicitation for a 144-page trade paperback comic releasing in March that will collect all of the Multiversus comics (which feature Scooby and Shaggy).

MULTIVERSUS: COLLISON DETECTED
Written by BRYAN Q. MILLER
Art by JON SOMMARIVA
Cover by DAN MORA
$17.99 US | 144 pages | 6 5/8 x 10 3/16 | Softcover | ISBN: 978-1-79950-059-9
ON SALE 3/4/2025
Bruce Wayne, Diana Prince, and Clark Kent each wake in a cold sweat, troubled by enigmatic dreams they’ve had about “the rabbit,” “the star child,” and “the witch.” Searching for the source of these visions brings them face-to-face with a very strange visitor: the one and only Bugs Bunny! What's the meaning of all this? And who's behind this meeting of worlds? Collects MultiVersus: Collision Detected #1-6.

You may remember that some new action figures made by Jada Toys were announced at SDCC back in July. Today, the Preterniadotcom Instagram account shared a couple of images of the Creeper and Shaggy figures, which were revealed at New York Comic Con (NYCC). Previously, only the Creeper figure had been revealed, but a new image shows that the Creeper will be unmaskable. An image of the Shaggy figure in its packaging was also shared. In addition, a Scooby-Doo figure was revealed.

Also, Sassy Fred is joked about quite a bit in the comments section, so I thought I'd also share that Flintstones figurine was announced at NYCC (for both Fred and Barney). All I have to say is that Fred's expression certainly looks sassy enough to give the OG Sassy Fred a run for his money lol.

While this isn't concrete "news," I thought this was still noteworthy enough to share on here. Last week, head of Warner Archive, George Feltenstein was on an episode of A Podcast Named Scooby-Doo (which is a great podcast btw, definitely check it out if you haven't for some great interviews with people who have worked on Scooby!). In his episode, he revealed some exciting news regarding the Blu-Rays and physical media releases. He shared that the way the recent Superstars 10 and Mook Blu-Rays came about is through him simply requesting they be released. He also assures fans that there will be more Scooby-Doo releases from Warner Archive.

"When I discovered Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island was not on Blu-Ray, I was shocked. I asked, and they said sure. They weren't focused on that, or Witch's Ghost, or Alien Invaders." Feltenstein shared on the podcast. "There will be more Scooby coming from us."

It's unclear if this means DVDs as well, but it seems to be a very promising confirmation that we will likely continue to get more Blu-Rays like we have been.

You can listen to George's full episode here. Thanks to Jinkies for calling my attention to this tidbit!