Back in the classic era, it was common for Hanna-Barbera to occasionally use recolored versions of character design to save money. Nine villain designs were reused as separate 13 villains during the classic era. 12 of them were recolored versions of the original villains, but one (the viking from "The Curse of the Viking Lake") was reused without any changes to its coloring or design. Seven from Where Are You are reused, and The New Scooby-Doo Movies and The Scooby-Doo Show have one villain from each series reimagined.

In the modern era, Scooby-Doo series have started reimagining classic Scooby-Doo villains for purposes of nostalgia. The 2015 series Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! and 2019's Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? did this several times throughout the series. The modern era has reimagined 17 classic designs as 21 new villains. I did not include classic villains making brief cameos (which has also become extremely common), villains that look similar but aren't direct reimaginings, or classic villains making a reappearance (Cyber Chase) in this count. Note that I did include "A Haunt of a Thousand Voices!" because it's framed as a sort of tease that these villains are oddly familiar to the gang, but it's never acknowledged that they're the same villains from cases the gang had previously solved.

The modern era reimagines 13 Where Are You villains, and two villains each from The New Scooby-Doo Movies and The Scooby-Doo Show.

It's worth noting that the Butler 3000 seems to possibly be a reimagining of Charlie the Robot. "Me, Myself and AI" has a similar plot to "Foul Play in Funland," and there's also a reference to Charlie mid-way through the episode. However, the design is different enough that it's unclear whether or not it was intended to be a direct reimagining of Charlie, or of "Foul Play in Funland" in general. If you counted him, this would bring the count up to 22 new villains.

You can check out side-by-side comparisons of all the reused villains below:

Time to check in on our final villain poll! The results were pretty evenly distributed this time. Looks like we've got a tie between my top 2 - Dracula and the Ghost of Van Helsing! 

What is your favorite monster from "A Halloween Hassle at Dracula's Castle"?
Dracula - 9
Ghost of Van Helsing - 9
Dracula's Wife - 7
​Chandra - 6
Wolfman - 5
Frankenstein's Monster - 3
Igor - 1
Invisible Man - 1
Mummy - 1
Sea Monster - 1

It appears we're starting off the year strong! After getting news on two Scooby series earlier in the week, we also have our first new merch announcement of the year. Entertainment Earth has added a listing for some brand new minifigures from Fisher Price. The figures are miniature versions of each gang member. This is a limited edition set of 2 3/4 inch tall figures. The collection is a part of Fisher Price's Little People collectible line. The figures will be released in February. Pre-orders for the figures are now open on Entertainment Earth's site at the price of $34.99 plus shipping and tax.

***Post updated from original***

Last November, it was announced at an event in Brazil that we'd be getting a series called Scooby-Doo! Gokko. Cartoon Brew has shared some exciting new details about the show direct from Warner Brothers! Scooby-Doo! Gokko will be a series of animated shorts that feature simple storytelling. No designs have been released yet (note that the designs ComicBook.com shared the other day has been confirmed as fan art from Twitter, originally posted by TVLaint). However, Cartoon Brew confirms that the designs will be "Chibi style animation." The designs and project as a whole will be similar to Tom & Jerry Gokko, which premiered last year.

After two years of radio silence, we also finally have another update on Go-Go Mystery Machine! Many fans were speculating that Scooby-Doo! Gokko was a retitled or retooled version of Go-Go Mystery Machine. The writer of the Cartoon Brew article reached out to Warner Brothers about this. A representative confirmed they are two different projects. Go-Go Mystery Machine is still in development, and an announcement confirming additional details about the series is reportedly coming soon.

Matthew Lillard also confirmed in an interview that he just finished a Scooby-Doo pilot. It's currently unclear if this is for Go-Go Mystery Machine or Scooby-Doo! Gokko, (or another show entirely, but I assume that's unlikely).

Thanks so much to Hippyboy86 for sharing this article!

There have been so many cool projects on here that I've totally forgotten about. While looking for poll ideas recently, I found an old fun fact categorizing all of the different monster types in a spreadsheet. This fun fact was from September 2020, so there's been a fair amount of Scooby media since then! The spreadsheet was never updated to include Guess Who season 2, five films, a special, or Velma. Given that, I figured it was time to give the original data an update!

There were 60 villains from these pieces of media that I added to the spreadsheet. As a reminder, each multi-hyphenate monster is categorized by its primary category (i.e. the Ghost Monster is categorized under "Ghost"). In the previous fun fact, I joked about how Scooby loves making ghosts of monsters, but little did I know that we'd be getting a villain called the "Ghost Monster" from "The Movieland Monsters!" just a short eight months later haha. 

Multiple of the same monster in the same episode (i.e. the Shark Men from "Cher, Scooby and the Sargasso Sea!") are listed as one villain. The live-action films and the LEGO movies weren't included last time, but I added them in this time.

In the past five years, we've had an alien, 7 animals, 2 beasts, a clown, 2 dinosaurs, a dragon, a Frankenstein's Monster, a gargoyle, nine ghosts, a ghoul, a gooey creature, a Greek Legend, a knight, a mummy, a group of Mystery Inc. doppëlgangers, a pirate, 3 plants, 4 robots, a scarecrow, a skeleton, 2 snow monsters, a zombie, 12 non-ghost humans, and 4 miscellaneous monsters that didn't fit into a given category.

It's been five years in the making, but here is the updated count of each type of villain! Ghosts and animals are still the most common type of villains.

Alien - 19
Animal - 68
Beast - 22
Cat Creature - 5
Clown - 9
Cryptid - 9
Demon - 29
Dinosaur - 10
Dragon - 9
Frankenstein's Monster - 10
Gargoyle - 5
Ghost - 162
Ghoul - 12
Gooey Creature - 17
Greek Legend - 17
Headless Creature - 8
Indigenous Spirit - 11
Knight - 8
Misc. Monster - 41
Mummy - 23
Mystery Inc. - 5
Non-Ghost Human - 51
Pirate - 9
Plant - 10
Robot - 27
Scarecrow - 5
Sea Monster - 39
Skeleton - 17
Snow Monster - 8
Stone Monster - 7
Vampire - 20
Vehicle - 5
Werewolf - 17
Witch - 15
Wizard - 10
Zombie - 19

Here's the updated pie chart of how all the percentages all come out!

It was really fun to rediscover this project! Now that I've found this again, I definitely want to continue updating this as new Scooby content comes out. If you for some reason notice any errors, please let me know in the comments!

If you want to download my spreadsheet for calculating this data, you can do so here:

This is the final "multiple villains" poll I wanted to do! This is my favorite episode of the entire Scrappy era, and the best Halloween media in the franchise imo. I included the culprit and the ghost as two separate options, since they have two distinct designs and are both monsters. There are a lot of great picks here, so I'm curious to see which one ends up being people's favorite!

Here are the results for last week's poll. I had expected the Fiend and Banshee to be much closer, but the Fiend was the clear favorite from the start!

What is your favorite of the illusions from "Night Terrors"?
Fiend - 30
Demon Chef - 8
Ghost Train - 7
Banshee - 4

I've rewatched some of the older Scooby-Doo films dozens of times, but I haven't returned to many of the newer ones nearly as often. While I liked most of the newer films quite a bit, many of them felt less memorable to me on first watch. If I'm in the mood for a Scooby movie, I usually always seek out the pre-2010s films or one of the highlights of recent years. When I did my film rankings in 2022, I know there were a number of the films that I hadn't rewatched in a few years, so finally rewatching them was long overdue.

It was a really fun project to return to all these films after so long! My overall rankings have changed a lot from rewatching these. There were a few that I remembered liking that I was more middled on, and a couple that I remembered disliking that I ended up loving! Perhaps the most surprising change is that a film I ranked towards the middle is now my third least-favorite of the entire franchise.

The pattern seems to have unintentionally become that I post a reranking of the films every two years. Given it's now 2026, I suppose it's only appropriate to kick the year off with my re-rankings, considering my last ranking was in 2024. I thought it would be fun to bring you all along on my journey revisiting these films! In this post, I'm going to rank all of the films since 2011, since Camp Scare is the final film I'd rewatched semi-regularly. I won't include Daphne & Velma or Scoob!, since they aren't normal DTVs and I have rewatched them several times since release. At the end of this post, I'm going to update my movie rankings based on my thoughts from rewatching all these.

22. Return to Zombie Island
It was so interesting returning to this now that we know the backstory behind it. For those who aren't aware, director Jim Krieg stated in an interview that he does not think real monsters should be in Scooby-Doo. He wrote this film to "re-imagine" Zombie Island within what he feels Scooby-Doo continuity should be.

I've mentioned my thoughts on this in the comment sections a few times, but I'll be upfront: this isn't a mindset I respect. It is totally fine to prefer Scooby-Doo have fake monsters. However, to use a position of power to intentionally retcon one of the franchise's most acclaimed films is disrespectful to the fans. This is especially the case when it's packaged as a "50th anniversary present." From rewatching this, it's clear there was some malice towards the original involved. Besides the interview, the most compelling evidence of this is that one of the characters is named "Alan Smithee," which is an Hollywood industry term for when a director wants to disown a film. However, as I watched the film, there were other jabs towards the original sprinkled all throughout.

Viewing it through this lens, it was so weird to rewatch this film. The opening scenes felt aggressive to me about the "fake monsters" mindset. The film opens with a montage of the gang capturing foes from Where Are You, as a song called "These Are the Good Old Days" plays. There's also a scene where Fred ties several captured monsters' masks to the Mystery Machine, then floors it as hard as he can to rip off all of their masks. Within the context of what we know now, these scenes felt like an over-the-top metaphor to assert that fake monsters are superior. It felt aggressive enough that I wondered if the next scene would be Jim Krieg jumping out of my TV to slap me in the face for liking the original better lol.

Not respecting the film's reason for conception was a huge hindrance to my liking this, but I also just feel the writing was poor and focused in the wrong places. As you'll see later, Curse of the 13th Ghost is higher than it was before (despite being made with a similar mentality), but the writing of this one was just bad imo. The core of my issue with this film is that it feels like it's trying so hard to play defensive against the original Zombie Island that it isn't able to create any unique identity for itself. The plot feels like it's twisting itself in knots to re-do all aspects of the original. As a result, it feels like a disorganized mess that isn't compelling at all by the end.

Setting aside my dislike of the creative mindset, I absolutely believe it would have been possible to write a compelling sequel to Zombie Island that featured fake monsters. Would it have been as good as the original? Probably not, but I do think it was possible for them to creatively interweave their disdain of the original into the film in a way that would have been compelling. However, the plot here feels so bogged down in trying to retcon everything that it isn't able to be anything interesting. This is firmly at the bottom of the barrel for me.

​I will say, I love John Michael Higgins' energy in this. He was hilarious to me in the Saved by the Bell reboot, so it was fun watching him play a Scooby character (I wasn't familiar with him yet on my first watch). His performance here is very good, but it's a shame this film is the one he had to be in.

As a lifelong fan of this franchise, I strongly hope that future Scooby-Doo media isn't made with this intent. One of the things I love most about this fandom is that most fans are so respectful and kind about everyone having different opinions. I feel writers have a duty to cultivate this same sense of respect. It's unnecessary to write films in a way that attempt to divide the fandom with unnecessary "real fans think Scooby should be like this!" type mentalities. I think minor jokes are acceptable, but writing entire films to discredit pieces of media that the fandom loves takes things a big step above that. It's something I have a lot of difficulty respecting.

21. Curse of the Speed Demon
I remembered liking this way more than I did. Upon rewatching, it's an easy second-last. Put simply, my issue with this film is that it just isn't really my vibe. I've never been interested in wrestling, and none of the wrestlers really resonated with me as characters. Much of the movie is spent focusing on Shaggy, Scooby and The Undertaker, who I didn't feel had all that great of chemistry. The rest of the gang feels a bit sidelined, since they're sharing time with the other wrestlers. There is a brief subplot with Daphne trying to become best friends Stephanie McMahon, who behaves coldly to her, making her realize that Velma is her best friend. The subplot is alright, I guess, but given Velma and Daphne's solo dynamic isn't really focused on much in any other piece of media, the subplot feels a bit shallow and unnecessary. The moments of "extreme" and "intense" writing to cater to the wrestling crowd also wasn't appealing I particularly found moments like Mr. McMahon announcing that the audience would "need to change their pants" after the final leg of the race to be cringey. I can totally get the appeal of this for people who might like wrestling, but overall I didn't really love this.

20. WrestleMania Mystery
This was perhaps my biggest surprise in this rewatch. I had remembered liking this one a lot on first watch, but I didn't care for it this time. The wrestling aspects didn't really do it for me in this one either. The gang didn't have good chemistry with the WWE guest stars. That said, I did like the mystery a tiny bit more in this one, but overall I didn't feel the wrestlers contributed much of value. I also wasn't a fan of the Ghost Bear being a real bear who was involved in fighting. I just generally find humans making animals fight for sport to be unpleasant, so it's something I'd prefer not to see explored in Scooby. Overall, I found the mystery to be a little better in this movie, but it still wasn't really my thing.

19. Blowout Beach Bash
I'm sorry to say, but nine years didn't make that awful "Blowout Beach Bingo Bash" song grow on me. I still found it as annoying as ever lol. As for the movie, it's alright, but I think I have a different issue with it than I remembered. The writing just felt kinda off to me, like it was written by someone who wasn't familiar with the vibe of the franchise. The mystery feels like it takes forever to get going. It's nearly halfway through the film before we even see the ghosts! The humor also feels kinda off, and like it leans a bit more towards the style of something like Teen Titans Go!. I also thought the whole subplot of Fred and Velma trying to prove they're "cool" detracts from the plot. Neither of the characters seem like they'd normally have an interest in that sort of thing, so it doesn't feel like there's a reason for it to be suddenly explored here. Overall, the LEGO animation is cute and the mystery is semi-fun for what it is, but it's easily one of the weakest Scooby films in the franchise.

18. Scooby-Doo and KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery
This one was a bit weird for my liking. KISS had decent chemistry with the gang, but it felt like it could have been a bit stronger than it was. I found the mystery with the Crimson Witch really interesting! However, it took a bit of a weird turn once we got to the Destroyer, particularly with the alternate dimension and KISS having magical powers. I also didn't like the subplot of Daphne and Starchild being in love. Considering the massive age difference between them (18 and 63), I just found their romance to be rather creepy. I'd been thinking that Velma's personality being very heavily focused around logic had happened in the 2019 DTVs, but I was surprised to see Velma was rigid around the idea of the supernatural in this film. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of this characterization for her. I feel it undercuts her other attributes, like her warmth and wittiness, to focus so heavily on her being logical to the point of rigidity. That all said, this was still a semi-decent movie, but it's a bit too weird for me to want to return to often. 

17. Sword and the Scoob
I remembered liking this so much more, but upon rewatch, this went way down. I think my main issue comes down to Daphne's characterization being really bad here. It's a shame, because I really liked Daphne's wacky characterization in Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!, but it felt like it was a bit too much here. Similarly to my issue with Velma being overly logical, Daphne's randomness isn't balanced out by any other aspect of her personality here. Stuff like her believing reality is all a simulation felt like it was taken too far. The dialogue also felt a bit cringey to me at times, especially stuff like Merlin wearing a piece of jewelry that said "posh king." The time travel aspects were okay, but I also didn't love that it was all rationalized as fake at the end. I thought the mystery was pretty solid for what it was, and I liked the villains, but the dialogue and characterization brought this one down considerably for me.

16. LEGO Scooby-Doo! Haunted Hollywood
​Similarly, I felt like this was a bit undercooked. It has the same off-feeling writing as Blowout Beach Bash did, although it does feel a bit closer to what the franchise typically is than that movie. I did think the incorporation of the LEGO style was cute and creative! I also thought the ghost being an actor who dressed up as different monsters was a creative idea. I couldn't get over that Junior sounded like Get a Clue Shaggy though lol (both were voiced by Scott Menville). The setting and villains were both strong here, but the mystery felt a bit thin compared to many of the other films. Overall, a cute attempt, but it isn't one of my favorites.

15. Curse of the 13th Ghost
This got a pretty significant boost compared to where it was before! For those who don't know, this was also written with the same mentality as Return to Zombie Island. In an interview with the writer, Tim Sheridan, it was shared that a WB exec (who we now know is Jim Krieg) mandated that the film couldn't include Scrappy, and also that the ending couldn't involve the monster being real. Considering Scrappy and real monsters were core elements of this series, this was pretty much doomed from the start to be an unfulfilling conclusion. However, my opinion on this film has changed. I don't like the intent it was made with, but the difference between this and Return to Zombie Island, at least for me, is that this was a good attempt at matching the tone and atmosphere of the original series.

Don't get me wrong, the continuity errors are still a huge issue for me. The rest of the film is actually decently solid, though. There are some cheesy moments with Vincent's "Air Boo and Boo" and Shaggy "losing the Chest in the mail." However, I was surprised how much I liked the tone! I thought it was a pretty good attempt of calling back to the original, and it was clear there was heart put into it. I really liked Asmodeus as the 13th ghost. I also think they did Flim-Flam and Vincent's characters justice. Considering the restrictive mandates, I think Tim did about the best he could. While this film does have a huge wrench thrown in the ending, it's written in a way where you could just choose to ignore Velma's ramblings and believe the 13 ghosts are still real. At the end of the day, this film wasn't ever going to be great because of the mandates, but I feel this is a solid attempt for what it is.

14. Scooby-Doo Adventures: The Mystery Map
I feel this movie gets a bad rep because of the puppets. However, I think the puppets were cute! This was a fun reimagining of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo! Did they hit it out of the park? No. It doesn't feel like a grand sequel to the original show, but it's still an enjoyable homage to the show's unique tone and style. Even if it wasn't quite as zany or off-the-wall as the original, the film did a good job having the same quirky, lighthearted tone. When it was first released, nothing had been announced about it being a return to A Pup Named Scooby-Doo style prior to release. They'd kept it all a surprise, so I remember being shocked that they'd made a movie in the style of Pup when I first watched it! 

The mystery was really good, and felt like it could have easily been in the original show. I thought the film also did a surprisingly great job creating a spooky atmosphere! There were some genuinely creepy moments here, especially towards the end with the scene on the pirate ship, and the moment where Gnarlybeard is watching them from the window. Side note, but I thought it was funny that Gnarlybeard's ghost has Scooby Snacks on hand lol.

I thought it was odd they chose to recycle songs from the 2010 and 2011 DTVs as the chase songs. It wasn't a significant issue to me, but it did feel a bit lazy. I would have liked to see them use original songs, rather than songs with themes that didn't make sense in the context of the film. I also wasn't wowed by Stephanie D'Abruzzo as Velma's voice. I wouldn't go as far as to say she was bad, but I felt she enunciated a bit too much for certain words (i.e. "pizza," "bicycle," etc.) and her lines came off a bit stilted as a result. Overall though, I think she still made a solid attempt at mimicking Christina Lange's Velma voice.

I wouldn't say I'd return to this super often. However, it's still a fun, underrated movie that I think I'd definitely enjoy returning to from time to time.

13. Scooby-Doo and Krypto, Too!
My thoughts haven't changed on this one too much, since it's only been a few years. I thought this was a pretty cute movie! They did an excellent job integrating all the DC characters and villains into the film, without making it feel cluttered or like they overshadowed the gang. Krypto was perhaps one of my favorite superheroes that have teamed up with the gang in recent years. He was so cute! I didn't find the villain to be super memorable here, but the film and mystery were pretty good for what they were.

12. Mask of the Blue Falcon
This was a good movie! I remembered liking this a bit more than I actually did, but this was still solid. I really liked the Comic Con setting, and all the references to different Hanna-Barbera series. At the time, I absolutely loved those references. Besides Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, there wasn't many callbacks to old content like this back in the day, so the Easter Eggs were such fun surprises! However, with the recent influx of callbacks to old content, I have to admit, a bit of the charm of this film was lost for me. With Guess Who and the recent DTVs having consistent Easter Eggs and re-imaginings of previous content, the idea of a plot reimagining Blue Falcon and Dynomutt felt a bit less exciting to me.

On the same token, this film's underlying plot is kind of an interesting time capsule. 2013 was sort of the beginning of the huge push for nostalgia in broader pop culture. It was interesting to see how the movie tackled the pitfalls of reimagining old content from a new angle. Throughout the movie, the viewer is indirectly asked to grapple with the question of what sort of balance a re-imagining should strike in order to stay true to the original. In this film, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder is re-imagined as a gritty, post-apocalyptic crime series. I think the film's intent was to argue that was not an appropriate balance, but as I said, it's interesting to look at now because we have, in fact, recently gotten a gritty re-imagining of Dynomutt in the form of a comic series. We also have gritty Scooby-Doo media like Scooby Apocalypse, which came just a few years later.

I liked how the film grappled with this concept, and without ruining anything, I thought the balance they struck with the film at the end was cute. This movie did a great job re-imagining "Everybody Hyde!," which was the first Scooby-Doo and Dynomutt crossover in 1976. While some creative liberties were taken (such as saying that Mr. Hyde appeared in multiple episodes of the original Dynomutt series, and making the original show seem more after school special-ish), I thought it still was a fun reimagining of the original Dynomutt, Dog Wonder.

My one critique of the movie is that Owen Garrison's character felt exaggerated. Why was 90% of his dialogue literal shouting? 😭 While him strongly disliking this new version of Dynomutt totally makes sense, I didn't feel it was necessary for it to be taken to the point of him screaming that the new actors are "frauds," or yelling that the new movie was all a hoax lol. Also, how is it possible for the company to "unrelease all the original episodes from DVD"? Did they send some corporate thugs to break into people's homes and grab everyone's DVDs? lol Anyway, I get what they were going for here, but Owen's characterization felt unnecessarily outrageous and in-your-face. I think they could have gotten the point that he hated the new show across without exaggerating it to that level lol.

10. Music of the Vampire
This one came as a surprise to me, because this was originally in my bottom 10! I wasn't really a fan of the musical numbers originally, but most of them worked pretty well on rewatch. The only song I didn't like was "Done with Monsters." The gang's singing voices sounded a bit off to me, and I found the song to be a bit grating. That said, I must have projected my dislike of that particular song onto all of the musical numbers in this film lol, because the others were actually pretty solid! I really liked the mystery too. I didn't remember liking him so much, but Lord Valdronya is probably one of my favorite villains of the 2010s DTV era. His design is so scary, and I liked the intricate mystery of him trying to make Daphne his bride through Bram and the others from Fangenschanz. Scooby Goes Hollywood will always be the superior Scooby musical for me, but this is still a solid film that I feel I judged way too harshly in hindsight.

One of the things I noticed about the 2012 and 2013 DTVs was that both of them had sort of a Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated-lite feel to them. Although not quite as intense, the plots felt like they could have easily been featured in that series. The writing feels more serious and less comedy-driven than some of the later 2010s films do. When I was watching this, it made me realize that I kind of miss this style of writing. Even besides Abracadabra Doo and Camp Scare, the early 2010s writing style felt slightly more mature, which I really liked and find to be more memorable than some of the recent stuff. From the limited memories I had before about the 2010s DTVs, I remember thinking they were less cinematic. In hindsight, I feel I may have painted the era to be more similar than it actually is. The 2010-2013 DTVs absolutely still have a level of cinematicness to them, as do a handful of the films after that. If I were to describe the difference, I would say that the What's New era films feel a little more polished to me, but that could also be me wearing rose-colored glasses from childhood nostalgia lol.

9. FrankenCreepy
I liked this one even more than I remembered! What I enjoyed most about this one was how character-driven it was all throughout, and I also thought the setting and atmosphere were very solid. I remembered not liking the transitions, but I actually felt they were kind of fun here. The mystery structure felt especially unique here! It was interesting to have the gang all split off in the middle of the movie, and have all the different character-driven plots that lead to the mystery's solution. The FrankenCreep Monster's design was so cool, and I also thought the baron was a good villain despite being basically a copy of Iron Face.

Previously, I considered all of the 2010-2023 films to be one era. In rewatching this, I feel like there was kind of a shift with WrestleMania Mystery and this movie. The tone doesn't have the same serious feel as the movies airing during Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated's run. To me, the structure of the films begin to feel more laid back and less thoughtfully structured than many of the early films. There's a bit more time dedicated to character dynamics and silly antics, rather than sequential structuring of events like the the previous films did. It definitely like there is a noticeable shift in the films from this point forward. I don't consider this to be a bad thing, though. It's just a slightly different vibe, and it still works well!

8. Big Top
This is one I had very little memory of, but I had such a fun time rewatching it! The setting of the circus was really solid. I would go as far as to say it's one of the best circus/carnival settings in the entire franchise. The atmosphere felt super strong and cinematic, and I thought all of the side characters were more memorable than the average DTV from the group I'm reviewing. I also really liked the twist of there being multiple werewolves, and the surprise at the end. Although it could have been cringey, I thought Shaggy and Scooby's subplot worked pretty well. Shaggy letting the fame go to his head and inadvertently hurting Scooby had a natural evolution, and felt like it supplemented the mystery rather than distracted from it. I also thought the mystery was really challenging to figure out! This was a great rewatch, and was one of my favorite rediscoveries here.

7. Brave and the Bold
This film was one that I remembered being a favorite on first watch, and eight years later, it still is! I don't think anything could ever beat Batman's appearances in The New Scooby-Doo Movies, but this is still such a fun film. I love how the mystery involved the one case Batman couldn't solve. The case involving a very creepy phantom makes this feel like a perfect fit for Scooby-Doo! I absolutely love the ghost's design! It's one of the creepiest villains of the DTVs ranked here, and is another fave villain of mine. Batman unfortunately isn't gentlemanly here like his original appearances lol, but this more serious version of Batman still has excellent chemistry with the Scooby gang. I thought the other Batman characters and villains were well-incorporated into the film. They all felt like the served a purpose for the plot, and none felt out of place or shoehorned in. Plastic Man's comment that he likes to "save up a bunch of unsolved cases and solve them all at once!" gave me a very good laugh, lol.

6. Trick or Treat
Trick or Treat brings us into the top 5! One 2020s film beats this one for me, but this is still one of my favorites in recent years. The ghostly doppelgangers are such unique villains! The film's other villain, Coco Diablo, plays a very interesting anti-hero (and love interest) role, which I thought made for a very interesting dynamic. Velma's crush on her was kept at just the right level to avoid having it overshadow the plot, imo. The choice to make her responsible for creating all the costumes the gang has faced over the years was indeed a bold one. I feel like it could have gone horribly wrong like the 2019 "sequels," but surprisingly, this film works pretty well as a standalone. I was really happy that they finally referenced more obscure villains within the franchise, instead of just the same ones from Where Are You like they already had countless times. What stands out to me most about this film, though, is the wacky humor. The last 30 minutes of the film totally goes off the rails, but in the best way. I loved the random, ridiculous humor of Be Cool, and in a different way, this film sort of felt like a return to that zany style of humor. The quirky tone works so well for this film, and makes it really stand out amongst many of the other recent ones.

5. Moon Monster Madness
This was one of the films I least remembered, so it's a big surprise to see it become one of my favorites. I loved my rewatch of this! I would argue it's one of the most cinematic films of the current era. The whole movie featuring the gang invited on a spaceship destined for the moon felt very cinematic, particularly because of how strong the atmosphere on the ship was. I also thought the film did a great job developing interesting side-characters. U-Boat and Zip Elvin were particularly memorable to me for their quirky personalities. The subplot with Velma being jealous of Daphne was also interesting. It felt well-integrated into the film without feeling like a distraction. The one aspect I wasn't a fan of is that Fred felt oddly dimwitted in this movie. What's New and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated certainly explored his more dopey side, but I felt like they exaggerated his dimwittedness a bit too much here. At times, it was a bit offputting how air-headed he felt. I also felt like the alien could have been a stronger villain. I really liked its design and the mystery around it, but it didn't feel like we saw all that much of the alien in the film. That said, it wasn't a huge deal for me. This is definitely a standout amongst recent films! I liked this so much more than I had remembered.

4. Stage Fright
Speaking of liking something more than I remembered, we now turn to Stage Fright! When this film came up in conversation, my thoughts on it were a bit clouded by the Fred/Daphne romance plot. Considering we'd just gotten two seasons worth of their romance in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, having Daphne act like she was in love with Fred for the first time felt like "ugh, we're doing this all over again?" lol. However, upon rewatching this, I can see that my thoughts were very much clouded by the abundance of romantic subplots at the time. I didn't mind the romantic plot with Fred and Daphne at all on rewatch, and thought it was cute for what it was. This was a really fun modern reimagining ofThe Phantom of the Opera​!

With that misremembered detail out of the way, I really enjoyed this film. I noticed that I tended to most gravitate towards the films with strong atmospheres and mysteries in my rewatch, and this checked both of those boxed. I loved how many twists and turns this film had, and thought the atmosphere of the TV studio and hotel were top-notch. It's arguably one of the strongest settings we've had in a film in these past 15 years.

3. Shaggy's Showdown
This is one of the few modern films I'd returned to often, because I loved it from the start. I absolutely loved the setting of Shaggy's cousin's ranch! The atmosphere was excellent and felt very cinematic. My favorite part though is easily the mystery! It was neat to have the villain be Shaggy's ancestor, and have there be some uncertainty around his past connected to the mystery. I love Dapper Jack's design too! It's one of my favorite villain designs from the recent films. Besides the recurring "El Kabong Font" joke that got a bit tiresome, there honestly isn't anything I disliked about the film. The setting was extremely strong and the mystery was very well-written. A standout for sure!

2. Gourmet Ghost
I had remembered this being amongst the better films in recent years, but this one stood out right away as a favorite upon rewatch. Every aspect of this film is so strong! I had so much fun rewatching this! It was easily my favorite rediscovery from doing this article.

I love the setting of the resort. All of the American Revolution history they wove into the setting worked so well, and made the atmosphere feel very immersive. Unlike KISS and the WWE superstars, Bobby and Giada fit into the film very naturally. Their roles in the movie as supporting characters felt much more balanced than most other crossover films do. I liked that the gang still had the spotlight, and the celebrity chefs were just there to support the investigation. Their inclusion in each scene felt natural, and it never felt like they were forced in just to have more of the spotlight. Personally, I think this works better than what they did in the WWE and KISS films.

The villain was also excellent here! The design is easily one of the creepiest of any Scooby film imo. I thought the mystery was one of the best of any of the ones I'm ranking. It was very well-written and thought-out, and had lots of twists and turns, and the pacing was great. I didn't remember how much I loved this aspect of the film, but the comedy was on-point here. Skip had me laughing several times. I particularly loved the joke when he says he has to wear a sleep apnea mask, because he unsure if he has the condition due to being asleep (it being followed by "now hand me my sugar pills!" was perfect comedic timing). The movie surprised me with how many witty moments it had from a lot of characters. Giada saying "I swear, the sandwich-making dog told me he'd be here!" when Scooby and Shaggy forget to show up to teach a class also made me laugh pretty hard.

I didn't remember liking this was so much, but I thought this film was strong in every aspect. Before rewatching these, I'd sometimes said that I felt like the later films were a significant dip in quality from the What's New era. After rewatching this, I'd honestly be content if we got more films like this. There are certainly lower-quality films from recent years, but rewatching this one (and several others in my top 10) helped me remember that a decent handful of these later films had a lot of heart.

1. Straight Outta Nowhere
After rewatching all of these, this is still my favorite film since Abracadabra Doo and Camp Scare. This movie perfectly represents how a Scooby-Doo crossover should be done, imo. Although I enjoyed a few of the crossover DTVs, I feel the majority of them felt like they leaned more into Scooby's world than the guest star's. This movie blends Scooby-Doo and Courage in a way that feels balanced between the vibe of both franchises. I really liked the darker tone that this had to align with Courage, but I also feel like they struck a good balance where it wasn't quite as dark as the original series (which I don't think would have fit with Scooby). I also really liked the overarching message about Scooby and Courage discovering what it means to have courage. Although I'm ready to be done with the crossovers for now, if they ever do one again someday, I hope it's something like this.

I had a blast revisiting these movies, even if I didn't enjoy some of them. It was cool to go back and watch some of my most neglected Scooby content, and see how my opinions have changed over the years. I also feel like it helped me better understand what I'd most want as we look towards the next era of DTVs. The movies I gravitated most towards were the ones that felt cinematic with strong atmospheres. There are a handful of recent films that felt like extended episodes that weren't structured as well as they could have been. Having a cinematic-feeling concept that feels worthy of its length is something that I'd like to see them improve upon. I felt they did a great job with this prior to 2014, but after that, the movies have been a bit hit or miss.

That said, it was definitely an overgeneralization on my part to say that most of the post-2014 films were lower quality. Anything that made my top 10 (FrankenCreepy, Moon Monster Madness, Shaggy's Showdown, Brave and the Bold, Gourmet Ghost, Straight Outta Nowhere, and Trick or Treat) were genuinely strong Scooby films imo, and I'd be open to getting more films in this vein. As for the rest, they feel mostly forgettable, and I wouldn't be sad if we didn't get any more films like them. To correct my previous overgeneralization, I don't think 2014 was necessarily the point where the quality of most of the films declined. However, I do think it was the point where the quality became less consistent than it used to be.

My other takeaway from this rewatch is that I'm hoping to get some movies that developed the gang's characterizations in meaningful ways. The gang has had more limited character development to give them a "classic" feel in some of the recent films. While I haven't minded this, I find myself better enjoying the more fleshed-out characterizations of the gang from the What's New, Scooby-Doo? era, or the films that aired during Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. I specifically highlighted exploring the characters in "meaningful" ways because there were a few recent films that chose to explore the characters in gimmicky ways, such as Daphne trying to befriend Stephanie McMahon, or Velma and Fred trying to prove they're "cool" to a bunch of random people they never met. Neither of these stories really feel consistent with the gang. They just felt like shallow subplots to fill time.

Also related to the characters, I'm specifically hoping that Velma is characterized better. I was really disappointed that in a lot of these recent films, she's been characterized as logic-driven to the point of being rigid. As I mentioned in my Rock and Roll Mystery review, I feel this really undercuts her potential and other qualities as a character. Velma is also warm, resourceful, witty, and so many other things that are ignored when she's written as a two-dimensional character who thinks she knows everything. Generally, I've liked the other characters' personalities, but I feel the writing of Velma's character has reached a point of starting to consistently go downhill in these DTVs.

Now that we've finished with the reviews, it's time to reveal my re-ranking of all the Scooby films! Here is my updated rankings:

​1. Ghoul School (=)
2. Boo Brothers (=)
3. Zombie Island (=)
4. Witch’s Ghost (=)
5. Reluctant Werewolf (+2)
6. Alien Invaders (-1)
7. Cyber Chase (-1)
8. Legend of the Vampire (+1)
9. Goblin King (-1)
10. Where’s My Mummy? (=)
11. Abracadabra Doo (+1)
12. Camp Scare (-1)
13. Monster of Mexico (=)
14. Pirates Ahoy (=)
15. Straight Outta Nowhere (+4)
16. Gourmet Ghost (+13)
17. Loch Ness Monster (-2)
18. Scooby Goes Hollywood (-2)
19. Shaggy's Showdown (+2)
20. Stage Fright (+6) 
21. Daphne & Velma (-1)
22. Scoob! (-4)
23. Moon Monster Madness (+12)
24. Trick or Treat (-1)
25. Brave and the Bold (+2)
26. Big Top (+11)
27. Aloha (-10)
28. Legend of the Phantosaur (+3)
29. FrankenCreepy (+1)
30. Music of the Vampire (+13)
31. The Mystery Begins (-9)
32. Happy Halloween (-4)
33. Mask of the Blue Falcon (-9)
34. Chill Out (-9)
35. Monsters Unleashed (-3)
36. Samurai Sword (-2)
37. Mystery Map (+3)
38. Krypto Too (=)
39. Curse of the 13th Ghost (+7)
40. Haunted Hollywood (-1)
41. Scooby-Doo (+1)
42. Sword and the Scoob (-9)
​43. Rock and Roll Mystery (+2)
44. Curse of the Lake Monster (=)
45. Arabian Nights (+3)
46. Blowout Beach Bash (+1)
47. WrestleMania Mystery (-11)
48. Curse of the Speed Demon (-7)
49. Return to Zombie Island (=)

Biggest Gainers:
Music of the Vampire (+13)
Gourmet Ghost (+13)
Moon Monster Madness (+12)
Big Top (+11)
Curse of the 13th Ghost (+7)
Stage Fright (+6) 

Biggest Droppers:
WrestleMania Mystery (-11)
Aloha (-10)
Chill Out (-9)
The Mystery Begins (-9)
Mask of the Blue Falcon (-9)
Sword and the Scoob (-9)

I hope you enjoyed reading this article! I had a lot of fun putting it together and doing this project, after having such a big gap in between watching some of these. As we look towards the next era of DTVs, I'm excited to see what they come up with next! In the meantime, if you'd like to share your faves/least faves, or your full rankings in the comments for these films, I'd love to read other people's lists!

A couple of weeks ago, the Scooby-Doo! Spooky Coaster reopened after being closed for nearly three years. During the closure, extensive upgrades were made to the roller coaster to improve the design and functionality.

Scoobster96 from the ScoobyAddicts forum had the amazing opportunity to go visit the new coaster! He took quite a few pictures of all the different upgrades, which he very kindly shared with me to post for you all on the blog! From looking at the pictures, the updates are so much cooler and more extensive than what was reported in the news. Through looking at Scoobster96's pictures, I thought it would be fun to do a more in-depth post about the upgrades that were made to the coaster these past three years.

The main Spooky Coaster sign was brought back to its original design. I did a side-by-side comparison featuring a picture I found in this Reddit community. The previous design used the movie poster's font. During the upgrades, the main sign was changed to the traditional Scooby-Doo logo. The bloody letters were refurbished and changed back to how it used to look when the park originally opened.

Here's are a couple images of some of the advertisements for the roller coaster as you're coming into the park, as well as a side view of the coaster entrance.

So just how long were the lines to ride the coaster during opening week? Scoobster96 said the lines were super long! The waiting area is divided into three sections. There were some upgrades made to the waiting areas to make it shadier on hot days.

See the lines for yourself:

To expedite the process once people get to the front of the line, a test car has been added midway through the line section. This allows ride attendants to see if people are the correct size for the lap bars to safely secure them inside the cars. Here's what the test seat looks like. You can also see they repainted the castle walls. Previously, the castle walls had been plain gray, but now the gray paint has purple highlights. The purple highlights were a part of the original design of the coaster, but were changed during the previous upgrade in 2018.

One of the major updates made was adding an handicap-accessible ride entry. Notice that it's written in the same font as the main sign on the front entrance.

Here are some images of the second part of the waiting queue! Lights were added to the suit of armor, and there have been some animatronics added to make it look like the suit of armor's eyes are watching your every move. The inside wall detailing was also repainted. There's also a screen that plays the entire 2002 live-action movie. Scoobster96 noticed that they cut off the end credits and added in an advertisement for HBO Max.

In the third and final section of the waiting area, ridegoers wait in a small hallway that leads to the boarding station. Besides being repainted, Scoobster96 said that most of this part of the area has not changed at all. There were some minor changes to the signs so that it used a font similar to the movie poster. Here's another slideshow of the third section:

Obviously, no pictures could be taken on the ride, but Scoobster96 shared that the animation quality of the screens throughout the ride has significantly improved. The screens included a recreation of the buffet from the film, the area where Velma first runs into N' Goo Tuana, and an old animatronic Scooby. The latter two of those features were reintroduced from the original ride. Many changes that were made during the 2018 upgrade were reverted back to the classic version of the ride. The only thing Scoobster96 noticed was removed was the laser lights.

On your way out, there is a recreation of the tiki bar from the film. Customers can order from the bar, which has a "spooky" menu of drinks based on the film. Drinks are served in the recreations of the red skull cups shown in the film. Here's a couple images of the tiki bar and its menu!

A huge thank you to Scoobster96 for sharing his pics of the ride for the blog. It was so fun to see all the different upgrades that have been made to the ride over these past three years! Be sure to check out his full review of the ride on the ScoobyAddicts forum.

Unless by some chance we get news today or tomorrow, this will be the last post of the year. Wishing everybody all the best in the new year! See you in 2026!

Before their appearance in The New Scooby-Doo Movies, there was a full Laurel and Hardy television series produced by Hanna-Barbera. The show ran from 1966-1967 and produced 156 total shorts. The series was developed by Larry Harmon, who voiced Laurel on the show. The series was originally conceived in 1961 when Laurel was still alive; however, Larry Harmon and Jim MacGeorge provided the voices for them due to Laurel and Hardy both passing away by the time the series was greenlit. 

Outside of this series and The New Scooby-Doo Movies, MacGeorge and Harmon would go on to voice their characters one more time. This ironically has another parallel to a different New Scooby-Doo Movies guest star! Their only other voice role for these characters was in Get Smart, which starred Don Adams as the lead actor.

Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays, and has a great last few days of this year! I've been rewatching Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated this weekend after getting one of the DVD sets for the series that I didn't previously own as a gift. Given my rewatch, I felt inspired to do a poll about one of my favorite Mystery Incorporated episodes as our final weekly poll of the year!

​As we head towards 2026, it looks like the majority think that Future is the scariest...the ghost of Christmas Future, that is, lol. Here are the full results for last week's holiday poll:

Who is your favorite ghost of Christmas from "Scroogey Doo"?
Ghost of Christmas Future - 22
Ghost of Christmas Past - 15
Ghost of Christmas Present - 8
Ghost of Jacob Marley - 6