 If you're anything like me, then there's nothing better than cuddling up to a good fanfiction after a long day. However, it's really difficult to find good fanfiction, as there's a lot of bizarre, off-character, and just plain poorly done stories (this is the Internet, after all). Over the years, I've tried to compile all the best fanfiction stories on the site's fanfiction page. Some of you are aware that I've written some Scooby-Doo fanfiction, but in this article, I wanted to share some of my favorite Scooby fanfics that I've read over the years. Some of them are the same ones that are on the site's fanfiction page, but many are ones which I've newly discovered.  Scooby-Doo! Mystery Inc and Marge! by Wileyk209 If you're a fan of the long-running sitcom The Simpsons, then this fanfic is definitely for you! Spoofing the classic Simpsons episode "Itchy & Scratchy and Marge," Marge Simpson prevents her children from watching Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated because of the violent scenes, such as large explosions and high-stakes situations. Being a Simpsons fan, what I like about this fanfic is how well Wileyk209 incorporates aspects from both shows. While staying true to the original episode, the fanfic also gives the situation a Scooby-Doo twist. This story also provides a new interpretation on the now-classic episode, but does so without changing the original episode too much. I would definitely recommend this to any Scooby or Simpsons fan! The fanfic isn't completed yet, but you can read the first part here! This fanfic is appropriate for all audiences.  It's a Hex Life by Grumpydrawer By far my favorite Hex Girls-centric fanfic, this story focuses on how the girls first met and became a band due to a high school project. The first six chapters focus on the girls' beginning to become acquainted with each other and forming the now-famous band, then in chapters 7-9, the events of Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost are retold from the Hex Girls' perspectives. Chapter 10 and 11 focus on the girls getting their band manager and roadie, whom fans of SDMI and Be Cool, Scooby-Doo should find familiar. I really like this fanfic because it keeps the girls very in-character, and how it uniquely focuses on Luna. There's also some great detail and descriptions of the setting, which is sadly pretty rare in many fanfics (I'll admit even I sometimes have trouble providing enough details). The girls' strong personalities are also really fun, and he does a terrific job creating believable interactions between the girls. This is a really terrific fanfic which you should definitely read if you ever get the chance. You can check it out here. Please note, however, that there is some mature language and some brief sexual references in this fanfic, thus the T (teen) rating.  Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: Road Trip Rampage by Scoob16 / Maybeth This joint fanfic by Scoob16 and Maybeth continues the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated series and highlights what happens when the gang travels to Miskatonic University. Being a huge fan of SDMI, naturally I loved the idea of continuing the show. Both Scoob16 and Maybeth did a wonderful job of keeping the tone of the series and developing the characters a bit further on their little adventure to Miskatonic University. Maybeth additionally created some really cool fan art, including the promo art you see above. You can check out more of her amazing art here. The fanfic was originally intended to be a full third season continuation of SDMI, which ended after two seasons. However, due to real-life busyness (I can certainly relate to that myself), the fanfic ended up only being one chapter. Regardless, this is still a terrific fanfic and I would highly recommend you all check out this all-ages fanfic here. The Gang by Bananagoose This fanfic provides an alternate way that the gang first met in high school. Shaggy is a burnout high school student, who begins dating another social outcast named Daphne Blake. However, someone close to Daphne is unexpectedly kidnapped, causing her to have to enlist the help of her boyfriend Shaggy and his dog Scooby-Doo. They also receive some unexpected help from two other students, Fred and Velma...or actually make that Vee, as that's what she likes to be called in this particular fanfic. Bananagoose provides very feisty, three-dimensional characters along with genuinely high-stakes situations in this great fanfic. My favorite thing about this story is seeing the characters evolve, as well as reading the snappy, witty interactions between them. Even though this fanfic does allude to Shaggy being a stoner ("I'm way too high for this!"), he still does a really good job keeping it subtle and working it into the fanfic's mature theme. That being said, this fanfic is rated T due to this and some other minor language. You can read his fanfic here. The Wolfman of Grimwood by Mr. Spinner
Ever wonder what Ghoul School would be like if it were mixed with Reluctant Werewolf? Then this is definitely the fanfic for you! Shaggy turns back into a werewolf and goes back to Grimwood's School for Girl Ghouls to get his old job back. An old enemy also lurks in the shadows, waiting for a chance to strike. What I really love about this fanfic is the terrific description and attention to detail. Mr. Spinner creates a very believable, vivid universe which incorporates elements from all the '80s Scooby-Doo films and even some of the classic Universal Monster movies. There's only one chapter out at the moment, but I have done some proofreading of the story for up to chapter 6 and the story gets better and better! This fanfic makes my dreamy-eyed inner child super excited lol. So, why are you still reading this? Just go read the fanfic already, which you can do right here! Rated T for minor language. If you're looking for a good Scooby-Doo fanfic, I hope this post has helped you find one...or two...or five!
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 Back in the 90s and 2000s, Cartoon Network used to air shorts between 30 seconds and a minute in length in between commercials. Each short, called a bumper, would involve various Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters embarking on a short adventure, and featured the same voice actors as in the regular cartoons. Many of these bumpers include Scooby-Doo and the gang. In this article, I wanted to share some the best classic Scooby-Doo bumpers which aired on Cartoon Network between commercials. Locker Room Promo This video features various Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters in a locker room talking about Scooby-Doo. Scrappy also makes an appearance in this bumper. This bumper was an advertisement for Scooby Month on Cartoon Network in Latin America. I thought this one was a little sad, with how mean they were to poor Scooby! Parking Lot This bumper is strictly about Scooby-Doo, but it features him at the end so I thought I'd include it here. Fred Flintstone tries to find a parking spot, but ends up having to race Scooby-Doo and Speed Racer for it. I like how true they stayed to all the characters in these, and especially how many characters they incorporated into this bumper! Sheep in the Big Cafeteria This was one of my favorite promos, just because of the implications it has on real-life. After a huge fight between various Cartoon Network characters, Velma stands up and reinforces a message of being yourself. She reminds everyone that they're all weirdos, and that's why they belong on this network. You go girl, it's cool to be weird! haha Scrappy Loses It In this bumper, Scrappy loses control after he becomes fed up with the other Cartoon Network characters not knowing who he is. This bumper is also from 2002, so it's possible that this is intended to somehow tie into the 2002 live action film, where Scrappy was also evil. Mystery Machine vs. Megas Fred drag races the Mystery Machine against the Megas after he becomes jealous that Daphne is impressed with them. In the end, the Megas end up losing after their vehicle explodes. Scooby-Doo Scream Parody I really liked this one! This commercial is a promo for The New Scooby-Doo Movies, and parodies the classic horror film Scream. Daphne receives a call from a mysterious person (Casey Kasem doing a spooky version of his radio voice), which turns out to be Shaggy. I must say I totally agree with the uploader's comment in the description. "Gawd I feel old." lol I can't believe this is from 2001! There also is a second short version of the Scream parody, which can be watched here. Toon Dates - Ed and Daphne The next several bumpers are from a series called "Toon Dates," where two unlikely cartoon characters are set up with one another. In this bumper, Ed (from Ed, Edd and Eddy) and Daphne go out on a date, and Daphne is horrified to see Ed's immaturity while they are out. Toon Dates: Johnny's Love Someone had sent me this previously, and admittedly I had thought it was an actual special. However, I was unaware of the Toon Dates series prior to this weekend, so I thought this was just a stand-alone special. In this bumper, Johnny Bravo and Velma go out on a date at the malt shop. Toon Dates: Dexter's Lab Interstitial In this bumper, Dexter thinks that Velma is romantically interested in him. This follows on from the previous one, where Johnny Bravo is still dating Velma, who ends up disappointing Dexter. These next few bumpers are promos for Courage the Cowardly Dog and Scooby-Doo month on Cartoon Network Latin America. These were pretty good, although I'm not familiar with Courage the Cowardly Dog. The villain taking his mask off and asking "is he always like this?" is pretty amusing. For the final promo, here's a really sweet and wholesome one. Okay, I may have lied just a little bit there haha. This is quite possibly my favorite Scooby-Doo bumper, just it was so unexpected! The best part of course being the end, "Remember, always express your true self and fashion first!" after the constant swearing, lol.
A big thanks to Thomas for sharing these bumpers with me! It was really fun getting to watch many of these for the first time, and I hope you all enjoyed seeing them as well!  10 years ago today, I officially became a part of the Scooby-Doo online fandom. This may seem insignificant to some, and many may not even remember the day they became online fans. (I have a very strange memory, like I'll forget some things yet remember exact dates I did things from years ago!) However, I still feel this particular date is incredibly significant to my memories of being a Scooby fan, and how I've grown personally over the years.
In this article, I wanted to share how I became a Scooby fan, and how I got into the online fandom along with my adventures with it over the years. I personally find learning about how people became Scooby fans very interesting, so hopefully I don't bore you to death. I'm probably not super interesting, but there are a few fun little stories from my experience as a fan that you all may find interesting and/or amusing. I first became a Scooby fan back in the 1990's, when my parents introduced me to the show. I wish I could remember how old I was, but I know I was about 7 or 8. At that time, reruns of Scooby episodes were airing on a network called USA. The very first episode I ever saw was "A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts" from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?. Throughout my childhood, I began getting more and more into Scooby, though somewhat selectively. The USA Network only ever aired Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, The New Scooby-Doo Movies, and The Scooby-Doo Show, so I didn't necessarily ever see the other series until I was older. I still remember my parents recording some of the episodes on VHS tapes, which I believe I actually may still have today in storage. I also played some of the older Scooby video games, though I can't really remember which ones unfortunately. When I was about 12 or 13, sadly puberty hit, and as you all know that can be a very confusing and challenging time. I wasn't ever super popular (honestly, most of the popular people at my school were jerks and I didn't want to be anything like them), but I was semi-popular and had a lot of friends. Around that time, I started getting really self-conscious about myself, and was determined to eliminate any characteristic or interest that might be perceived as "immature." This unfortunately also included Scooby, because I believed it wasn't "mature" to like a cartoon with a target audience of children. For many years, I pretended I no longer liked Scooby-Doo at all. After a few months, the interest completely faded and I didn't have to pretend I didn't like Scooby anymore, because I actually didn't like it. I still regret doing that a bit today, as I should have just been myself and not cared what others thought of me. At that time, I was in a "I'm too mature for you" phase (as most teenagers are), and liking Scooby wasn't compatible with most of my teenage phases and angst. When I was about 18 and just beginning college in 2008, I started realizing it didn't actually matter what people thought of me, and I didn't need to apologize for what I liked and disliked, as long as I was happy with myself. I finally accepted that liking Scooby was one of my (many!) personality quirks, started watching a few of the early What's New, Scooby-Doo? episodes. Around this time, I started exploring the online Scoobyverse, which was pretty small at that time. I had certainly gone online before obviously, but I had never really had any experience with being on a forum or talking with others beyond email, as the Internet was just becoming big around that time. I'm pretty sure it was July 7, 2008 that I discovered ScoobyAddicts.com. I explored the site, and remember finding it incredibly helpful and interesting, given I hadn't seen much of the Scrappy-Doo or A Pup Named Scooby-Doo years. I was also beginning to collect Scooby DVDs again, so I remember finding that the site had the release date of Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue Volume 2 incredibly helpful. (The release date was the next day, July 8, for those curious). A few days later, on July 10, I visited the ScoobyAddicts forum for the very first time. There were only 7 members on there at the time, since ScoobyAddict had just started the forum in April. At 9:25am (is it weird I remember the exact time? I actually didn't even have to look it up lol), I officially signed up for an account on the ScoobyAddicts forum as the 8th member. As an aside, just because I'm a huge nerd, this post was officially published at 9:25am, the exact time I was making an account for the ScoobyAddicts forum 10 years ago. People always ask me how I came up with the name "Doo" (if you're not familiar with that name, it's the username I'm known under on the ScoobyAddicts forum), and if it's secretly some super interesting name. As I said, this was my first time ever coming up with a username for an online forum. I struggled to think of one, so I thought "oh, Scooby's last name is Doo, I'll just pick that." I thought I could change it later if I thought up something more interesting within the next few weeks. Little did I know, I would still be going by that username 10 years later haha! So I had joined the ScoobyAddicts forum, and much of the next few hours was just spent looking around the forum and experimenting with the different features. I finally made my first post, which I believe was posting an announcement for the release of Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King. Embarassingly, I really had no idea about the reliablility of Scooby sites back then, so I actually interadvertently posted a fake summary! I would look back to see if that was actually my first post, but admittedly I'm still a little embarassed about it lol. Within the next few days, I started posting a bit and interacting with the other seven members. The funny part about this is that we were all teenagers, which I would presume was our first experience on a forum, so we were all soooo awkward. If you ever want to see something amusing, go back and read my posts from 2008. They were all a sentence or less, sometimes just two or three words. (Don't judge me, I had absolutely no idea how to Internet back then! haha) Over the years, I got less awkward (as did everyone else) and started making posts that were more than a sentence. It's amusing to see the difference between how I talked to people online then and how I do now. At least half of my posts are like a paragraph, sometimes multiple paragraphs. I believe one of my private messages with someone right now is nearly 20 paragraphs long (per message)...for those who haven't messaged me/emailed me privately I can be really talkative sometimes haha. That brings us to 2010, as quite frankly nothing really interesting happened in 2009. Back before ProBoards updated things in 2013, the private messages were absolutely awful to navigate. I remember when I joined, in the place where the banner ad is on ScoobyAddicts now (for those of you familiar with it), there would be a flashing icon with a picture of a letter which said "You have 1 new message!" It was horribly set up, and in honesty I thought it was just an ad! So between 2008 and 2010, I did not check my personal messages at all because I thought it was just a fake advertisement. The Scooby gods must have been smiling down on me, because on March 7, 2010, I finally decided to click on the "ad" just to see if it was actually something legitimate. Sure enough, on February 27 (I think?), ScoobyAddict had sent me a message. The message said that she loved how passionate I was about the forum, as well as how friendly and mature I seemed. She asked if I was interested in co-adminning the site with her, as she needed some extra help. I felt incredibly honored that she would ask me to undertake such an important position. I gladly accepted, and many of you know I still am a co-admin there today. I still am in awe of that amazing coincidence, to be honest. How weird is that, that I would not check my messages for years, and the week I happened to finally take a risk was the week ScoobyAddict asked me to be an admin. There was also another message from July 2008, which asked me to "Join the Yahoo Scooby Fan Group!" I never ended responding to it, since I felt so embarrassed it took two years to reply. If you're reading this ScoobyObsessed, I would have loved to join your Yahoo Scooby Fan Group if it were still active, lol. My first day as an admin was a bit interesting. We rarely ever get spammers on ScoobyAddicts, and we had even less so back then. I believe we had only had one spammer before I became an admin. But the day I became an admin, a spammer came on and was asking for people to go to the store for him and send him Scooby DVDs. While this was pretty sketchy already, he also made it very clear he had no intention of paying anyone back. Obviously, SpiderScooby (another person ScoobyAddict asked to be an admin, who currently runs the amazing ScoobyFan.net, in addition to still co-adminning the site with ScoobyAddict and myself) and I had to deal with the issue. It wasn't a hard issue to deal with, and I believe the person was just a young kid who didn't really have a concept of money yet. And in case you were entertained by that last spam story, I'll share my favorite instance of spam just because it's so old and I doubt the person is reading this post. Back in 2010, someone spammed eight different threads with requests to make him bootleg DVDs of the missing Scooby-Doo Show episodes. I remember messaging him, requesting he not ask for people to do illegal things for him that could get them in serious trouble. He refused and responded very inappropriately, so unfortunately we ended up having to ban him. 6 months later, after I had already forgotten about the issue, he came back under a nearly identical username, and didn't post any more spam. Rather, he privately messaged me apologizing for spamming eight threads, but said he would pay me "a fair wage" if I allowed him to spam four threads instead of eight. I mean seriously, what were you expecting my response to be? "Well, if it's only four...sure!" lol. Most amusing spam story to date, other than the famous "rappers" (P. Diddy, Jay-Z and Kanye West to be precise) who emailed me through my contact form, claiming they were selling insurance and wanted to cut me in on some of their profits. They were very nice though, they gave me "a week to respond, or else we gon' call up Snoop Dogg instead". Ah trolls and spammers can be so amusing lol. In 2014, as you all know, I started this site. I won't go much into that, as I've already explained how I decided to create it on other posts, and you can read about it on the History of the Site page. I decided to go by the username "WildwindVampire" on here, which to be honest, was because I wanted a slightly cooler username than Doo. I've always loved the Legend of the Vampire movie, and liked the name "Wildwind" (which interestingly has now unintentionally become a nickname a lot of people call me by - I love it though! <3), so I decided to add the word "Vampire" onto it and call myself "WildwindVampire." I'm super indecisive with usernames, like I could change to a different username every week. I think up a cool username, and then two seconds later I'm like, "oh, this new username would be so much cooler than the one I just picked!" lol. This site has been such an important part of my ten years in the online Scooby fandom. It's been awesome seeing the site grow and develop (partially due to you all!), since after all I've taken care of the site since it was just a pup haha! :) I still love writing the fun facts every week, and continue to be amazed that I've been doing this for nearly 200 weeks now. It continues to be a lot of fun researching and writing the fun facts every week, and I hope it's brought as much happiness into your Mondays as it has into mine. I personally hate when people pretend like things haven't happened just because it didn't go well or "it's behind them." Even though this site's forum is a thing of the past, I still am so grateful to GroovyScooby and Scoob16 for helping me start out. They were both such an important part of the site coming to be what it is now, and I definitely will never forget the contributions and support they gave me! I also want to give a special thank you to ScoobyAddict and SpiderScooby, my fellow admins over at the ScoobyAddicts forum. I have loved working with you both, and I really appreciate all the support you've given me and the kindness you've showed me over the years. It has been an amazing experience working with you both these past several years. Much love and hugs to both of you! I also want to say thank you to former admin j3h, who had to step down for personal reasons. It was a pleasure working with you as well and I miss having you around the forum. I love the forum (and this site!) with all my heart, and genuinely miss checking it and talking to people when I'm having a busy streak or am not able to log on much. There are SO many amazing Scooby fans I've met over the years, and I wish I could give a shout-out to each and every one of them. The kindness and compassion you've all shown me has been amazing, and I truly feel like Scooby-Doo one of the most wonderful fandoms out there. I feel so lucky to be able to talk and interact to such friendly, respectful, and amazing fans! I've felt so accepted, loved and supported with every decision I've made, from becoming an admin to starting my own site and blog, and I appreciate you all so much. The ScoobyAddicts forum and the blog have been great places to express myself and how I feel as a fan, whether it's discussing, brainstorming ideas or just being silly. Thanks to all the Scooby fans for making these past 10 years so wonderful for me, and here's to another fantastic 10 years! Scooby fans are the best around as far as I'm concerned! I've learned so much from you all the past 10 years and have grown a lot as a fan. Thank you for reading this far, and hopefully you found this post interesting (and hopefully I didn't sound too corny, though I genuinely feel that way about everything I wrote in this post!). It was really fun getting to write this post! Reliving all those great memories hit me right in the feels! <3  Last year around this time (ironically), I wrote a post entitled "Ah, the Memories," which discussed several classic Scooby-Doo VHS tapes that are rare and hard to find. This past weekend, I got to take another trip down memory lane when updating the List of Scooby-Doo Compilation Releases page. In a world where everything's at the touch of our fingertips, I'm sure the younger readers can't even imagine having to put a clunky tape into a VHS player to watch movies, but that's how we watched things when I was a kid! DVDs were just becoming a thing when I was in my early teens, and CD's were just beginning to replace cassette tapes. Now, even CDs are going out of style (or as my younger cousin so frankly puts it, "Everyone listens to music on their phones now. CDs are for old people!") and you rarely ever see a VHS tape anymore. I can assure you I'm not in my 80's, even if it sounds like it (I'm actually only in my 20's!), but I still find a lot of nostalgia in looking at some of these old VHS tapes. So without further ado, here are some of the rarest Scooby VHS tapes in the world!  Now this one brings me back! I remember seeing this VHS tape in a rummage sale and begging my parents to buy it. At the time, I hadn't seen any of The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show other than a few episodes, so I really wanted this in my collection! Unfortunately, my parents didn't buy it and I still don't have it. I have thought about collecting Scooby-Doo VHS tapes just for the fun of it, though I'm a terrible collector in the sense that I don't want anything that's not practical. In other words, if I already have the episodes on another release, I wouldn't want to buy the VHS as it wouldn't be practical to do so (even if it would be cool to own a rare piece of Scooby merchandise). However, if I'm ever going to get another rare Scooby VHS, this would be the one to buy! This VHS actually has "Scooby at the Center of the World" on it, which has never been released on any other set to this date! I do find the cover art interesting however, as the swamp witch looks nothing like the one in the featured episode, or any Scooby episode for that matter. This VHS tape from 1990 includes the episodes "Swamp Witch," "Scooby's Desert Dilemma," "Mummy's the Word" and "Scooby at the Center of the World." These episodes are all from The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show.  This 1990 VHS is a compilation set and includes episodes from Scooby-Doo, Snagglepuss and Snooper & Blabber. The only Scooby episode this one includes, however, is "Soggy Bog Scooby," a seven-minute Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show short, which I thought was an odd choice. Surely there are dozens of other Scooby episodes that would have been more fitting for the DVD than that, especially as the villain in that particular episode is a sea monster, not a ghost.  This one is another compilation set, this time featuring episodes of Scooby-Doo, Snagglepuss, and Augie Doggie & Doggie Daddy. The only Scooby episode featured on this set is "The Diabolical Disc Demon" from The Scooby-Doo Show. The cover seems a bit poorly designed IMO, as Doggie Daddy looks a bit awkward with his eyes completely closed. This VHS was released in 1991.  In part 1, I mentioned I couldn't find the cover art for Volume 2 of the Scooby and Scrappy-Doo VHS compilations. I did a lot of digging this weekend, and found a picture of it! This set includes the first three episodes that Scrappy was in, "The Scarab Lives," "The Night Ghoul of Wonderworld" and "Strange Encounters of a Scooby Kind," all from The Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show. I couldn't find the year this was released, however.  I had previously mentioned that I also couldn't find any information on volume 3 of Scooby and Scrappy-Doo. Along with volume 2, I also found a site that had the cover art for volume 3! However, I couldn't find any info about the episodes included or the release date. Based on the cover, I would guess one of the episodes is probably "Scooby's Three Ding-A-Ling Circus" from The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show. What I find interesting, however, is that those guys in the bottom left corner are actually villains from Richie Rich, not Scooby-Doo. It's been a loooooong time since I've watched any of those, but on a guess, I think they're from the episode "Robotnappers."(?)  We already talked about volume 4 in the original post, so I won't reiterate that information here. However, there's this lovely little VHS still to talk about. I'll be frank with you, this compilation set confuses me immensely. While the other sets are labeled with numbers, this set has no number. The scene in the cover art also never happened, and the villain on the cover was not a real villain in any episode. There also is no information regarding this VHS anywhere, other than a picture on Google Images. For sanity's sake, I referred to this as Volume 5 when adding it to the Compilation Sets page. One possible explanation for the lack of number is that it's volume 1, as the volume 1 in the original post was made by Kids Klassics, while all the other volumes were produced by Worldvision Enterprises. I honestly don't really know though, and that still doesn't explain the other oddities this particular set has. Tell me that's not the most confusing thing you've ever seen, lol.  "The Fiesta Host is an Aztec Ghost" included the titular episode from The Scooby-Doo Show. This set was released as part of the Hanna-Barbera Superstars collection in 1989. I find it interesting that Shaggy is wearing his red shirt from The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo on the cover, even though he doesn't wear it in the episode.  It's the oldest Scooby-Doo VHS ever to be released! "Scooby-Doo" was the first of many Scooby VHS tapes to come, and featured "The No-Face Zombie Chase Case" from The Scooby-Doo Show. This set was released in 1986, and while initially titled just "Scooby-Doo," would later become known as Volume 1 as more volumes were released. Thanks to TriggeredWeegee, who sent me his picture of this VHS set to use on the site!  This golden oldie was also released in 1986, and was the second volume in the Scooby-Doo VHS compilation series. "High Rise Hair Raiser," the first episode of The Scooby-Doo Show is the only episode on the VHS tape.  The third (and I believe final) volume of the classic Scooby-Doo VHS compilation includes "The Headless Horseman of Halloween" from The Scooby-Doo Show. This tape was also released in 1986.
Well, I'm afraid that brings us to the end of our little rare VHS showcase post. I hope you enjoyed the walk down memory lane as much as I did! Who knows if there will be a part three, it all depends on if I'm able to find any more rare Scooby VHS tapes out there in the technology abyss! Unfortunately, I have none of these VHS tapes in my collection. In high school, I went through a phase where I thought it wasn't "cool" enough to like Scooby. Sadly, during this time, I told my parents that they were welcome to sell many of my Scooby VHS tapes. Though the episodes on the respective VHS tapes have all since been released on DVD, I still have a bit of regret that I didn't keep more of the old tapes. I still have Wedding Bell Boos, A Halloween Hassle in Dracula's Castle and Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Volume 1 in my collection today, and definitely never plan to sell them!  This past week, I just got a chance to watch the "Scoobynatural" crossover episode. Without exaggeration, I think I can safely say it was the best Scooby crossover to date!
Personally, I've always loved the more adult horror take that Zombie Island had on the series' classic formula. That's part of the reason I loved this crossover so much. It provided more of an adult look at Scooby than we've ever seen before, and in fact went a bit further than Zombie Island in that regard. The reimagining of "A Night of Fright is No Delight" was ingenious and fit so well with the darker tone of the episode. I absolutely adored all the references to the old episode, from the obvious bits such as the will reading or the cousins' death to the subtler nods like the drainpipe or the washing machine being used as a trap. The ghost's design was extra creepy, especially with the ability to use his chains as a weapon and the ghostly shriek it had! Never having watched Supernatural before, I still felt very at home with the series and characters and really enjoyed Sam, Dean and Castiel, especially Dean's amusing rivalry with Fred. The only thing I found a tiny bit annoying about this episode was Dean's constant pursuit of Daphne, though I was happy they didn't go too overboard with it like they did with her and Starchild in the KISS movie. Also, can we take a moment to appreciate how adorable it was that Dean wanted to maintain the gang's purity? I found that little storyline very cute, and honestly I even began agreeing with Dean when the gang had their little freak-out towards the end. I was like, aww, I want them to keep their innocence too lol! I'll admit, before I watched this crossover myself, I was surprised by the several comments I saw from fans wanting a whole series like this crossover. I initially figured that it was probably simply the typical fanboying/fangirling that you see with crossovers, but having seen it now myself, I would totally be interested in seeing a full Scooby series like this someday. I loved the level of darkness and maturity this crossover had, and if their goal was to make me want to see more, they definitely succeeded! I've even considered watching the rest of the Supernatural series now after this crossover. I hope someday that we'll see another crossover as good as this, because quite frankly, this was perfect! I was even genuinely creeped out by a few parts, especially the decapitated Cosgoode Creeps! After hearing my thoughts on this crossover, I'd be interested to hear what all of your thoughts were!  Whether you like the designs or not, you have to admit the writing was amazing in this series. While it only had a modest overaching premise, the idea of the series being about the gang's friendship with one another is one that the franchise has never fully explored, at least not to this extent. Though simplistic to a degree, the reasoning behind why the gang gravitated towards each other and became friends is an extraordinarily important narrative. That's why I think this series is worth your time, in addition to a few other variables. As I've mentioned throughout the various other articles I've posted for "Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! Week", the three dimensionality and relatability of the characters really adds to the entertainment value of this series as well. One thing I felt this series did really well, however, was the comedy aspect. I for one love that sort of off-color and absurd humor, so naturally I enjoyed most of the jokes in this show. I also really appreciate how the humor worked into the tone of the series. In many cases, a lot of the jokes could not have been pulled off in any of the other previous series without a change in tone or writing. After all, in what other series have you seen Daphne have a feud with all sea creatures because she owed them $15 lol? Additionally, the humor was just off-color enough to be funny, but not too off-color as to go over the audience's head or be unfunny. There were certainly some jokes (like the ice jokes in "Naughty or Ice" or the crystal jokes in "Be Quiet, Scooby-Doo," for example) that I didn't enjoy as much, but there's something to be said for the fact that you're not always going to like every joke. I actually don't mind the addition of those unfunny jokes, because it shows that the series is trying to appeal to all types of humor. Most likely, the majority of people aren't going to find all the jokes funny, because we all have different senses of humor. That just goes to show that the series is really targeting all humor styles and audiences. Off of that point about targeting all audiences, that was another thing I thought this series did very well. Many of the jokes clearly weren't written for young children, but children could still find them funny as well as the adult fans. As an adult, I hate when it feels like shows are talking "down" to kids. Especially in this day and age, kids are a lot smarter than people give them credit for. It's always nice to see when the writers clearly have a wide audience range in mind when crafting the series, as it shows they're trying to appeal to all audiences and not just take the easy "This is a kids' show, so let's appeal to 4-10 year olds!" route. Obviously, this series is a departure from other incarnations due to both animation style and humor. However, the series does extraordinary well despite this. I'll disgracefully admit that I was initially one of the "WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO POOR SCOOBY?" people when the concept art was first released. As the series got closer, I decided it deserved a proper chance and I'm so glad that I gave it that. This series truly proves that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Even though I still disliked the animation when I first began watching the show, I became more and more acquainted with it as the show went on. Eventually, I began to not notice it as much, and towards the end of the series, even enjoyed the unique animation style. I think there's something to be said about the background settings as well. Even though the gang is designed a bit oddly upon first glance, all of the background art is done beautifully and with great attention to detail. Another thing I appreciated about this show is that even though it served as a more comedic incarnation of the franchise, it didn't let that comedy necessarily define it. Episodes like "In Space" and "Doo Not Disturb" really showcase how the series can go a bit darker in plot and tone, while still remaining comedic and silly. The series also took it upon itself to reimagine old episodes like "What the Hex is Going On?" and "Haunted House Hang Up," among others, and it was really interesting to see an updated version of those episodes in the mind of another writer. Overall, Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! is a fun, silly show that deserves so much more credit than it gets. For those reading this post that haven't given the series a chance, I would highly recommend you watch at least a few episodes before officially saying you dislike it. Because the series is such a different adaptation from the series we've seen recently, it takes a bit to get used to. Obviously not everyone will like every single series out there, but I would bet that at least some people that haven't given the show a chance would really enjoy it if they allowed themselves to. That's it for this week's Be Cool, Scooby-Doo articles to celebrate the end of the show. I really hope you all enjoyed reading them as much as I did writing them! Just because the articles are over though, that doesn't mean the festivities stop! To conclude Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! Week, the show's head writer, Jon Colton Barry will be answering all of your questions about the show. Check back sometime later tomorrow to see his answers! In the meantime, if you have a question you would like to ask JCB that you haven't submitted yet, be sure to do so in the anonymous form in this post.   There were a lot of fantastic episodes in this series, but in this article, I'm going to highlight only the top 10 best episodes of the series. I'll admit, it was very challenging to pick favorites, but upon a lot of thought, these are the 10 I've picked.  10. I Scooby Dooby Do "I Scooby Dooby Do" takes the number 10 spot in this list. On its own, admittedly, this was a very average episode of Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! However, when you brought all the elements going on in this episode together, it made for a fantastic watch. The jokes were very spot-on and witty in this one. I particularly found myself amused with Fred's ascot joke, which honestly was perfect even without words. Shaggy's fear of giving his Best Man speech was a great addition to the plot, and Daphne's "views" on marriage are priceless! Speaking of Daphne, I loved the side-plot of the wedding dresses. It made her little freak-out moment with the Cliff Bride so much more hilarious (even though I must say she still looked super adorable in her wedding outfit!) My favorite part of the episode, though, was the bedroom scene, and the parents teaming up at the end so they could sabotage their kids' wedding together lol.  9. Mystery 101 Maybe this is too obvious of a choice, but the first episode still remains one of my favorites due to the humor in it, as well as the "reimagining" of the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? episode with Elias Kingston. The puppets are definitely one of the classic gags in this series, and Fred's unorthodox fear of widths was very humorous. I'd say my absolute favorite line of the episode, just since it was so unexpected (particularly not being familiar with the series' humor style yet), was Velma's quote "Relax, the odds of all of us being attacked and/or further educated are negligible!" I was reading my original review to this when I first watched it, and I found my comment here a bit interesting "Kate's voice really reminds me of Linda Cardellini playing Velma in the live action movies. I'm not sure that's what they were going for but I'm really liking it. It's funny, because I don't feel that way at all now having watched the full series. On a little side note, it's been really fun going back and re-reading all my reviews from the episodes on ScoobyAddicts these past few days!  8. Vote Velma "Vote Velma" is the cutting edge of political satire, hands down. Just the fact that the voters just want to hear random stuff and not actually relevant information, is both amusing because of the implied joke and because it's actually so true in real life! All of the interactions between the gang were very snappy and flowed really well, particular when they were talking to the other mayoral candidates. Velma's "one great truth" that she likes pancakes nearly had me on the floor laughing! It was amusing as well that Violet looked near identical to Velma, yet no one actually mentioned it. And finally, Velma's final comment in the episode was perfect! "Well, I would have liked to declare martial law!" is the best way to end an episode lol.  7. In Space Having watched the movie this episode was based off of (Ridley Scott's "Alien"), this really allowed me to enjoy this episode to its full potential. Turning the Space Kook into an alien virus where the infected become skull-headed aliens is such an amazing idea for a plot. Fred's "In Space" jokes were funny at first, but I'll admit this was the one part of the episode which became a bit old after a while. The addition of him saying it in Spanish ("En espacio!") at the end, however, did redeem the joke at least a little bit. This episode mainly stood out to me, however, because it got pretty dark compared to the other episodes. While I love the humor of this series, it was fun to have the series go a bit darker and explore the humor through the lens of a darker mystery. I won't ruin anything in case people haven't seen the episode, but I love how complex the mystery's solution was, especially compared to some of the other episodes in the series, which were a bit easier to solve. The little time warp gag where Shaggy and Scooby ran into the previously-caught monsters was a nice touch as well!  6. Party Like It's 1899 This one stood out to me because it placed the gang in different roles than we're used to seeing them in. I talk quite a bit about this episode in a different post, so I'll try not to repeat myself and just say that I enjoyed seeing the gang portray the unique and interesting characters at the murder mystery party. The addition of the Headless Count was also a cool one, especially when you consider how little-remembered the original Headless Spectre from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? was!  5. Night of the Upsetting Shorts Now that we're down to the top five, admittedly it got very tough to decide between my top 5 choices. All of these could easily be my favorite episodes for different reasons, and just because they each have such well-written plots! Though it was immensely challenging, I finally came up with an order. "Night of the Upsetting Shorts" comes in fifth on my list. The humor was so witty in this one! In fact I found myself laughing throughout the entire episode. Fred's "upsetting shorts" were hilarious, and it makes me want to see what JCB actually had in mind for the original shorts design. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, JCB mentioned on ScoobyAddicts that the design for Fred's shorts was supposed to be "even more upsetting," but WB changed the design at the last minute. Velma dressing like a grandma was hilarious, and the fact that she didn't really intend to definitely enhanced the comedy level. Shaggy pretending Daphne was his girlfriend, and that he was the leader of the gang for his grandma was quite amusing as well. But none of that compares to my favorite part of the episode, which was Fred's America swimsuit at the end of the episode lol.  4. Some Fred Time This was such a tough decision to put at #4! I want it to be #1, though the other three episodes beat it out just slightly. This episode made me laugh harder than any other episode in the series, and I'd go so far to say that it's one of the funniest episodes of the entire franchise. I wish I could list all the jokes I laughed really hard at, but it would probably take me several pages of typing to do so haha. The best jokes were the rich woman with her blinding diamond, Fred unmasking the "Vampire Werewolf Zombie Mummy Ghost from Outer Space" (pictured above) and especially him tackling the guy on the bike to unmask him! Fred pulling Velma's glasses off thinking they were a mask and his surprised look when saying "Velma Dinkley?!?" was definitely my biggest laugh-out-loud moment of the episode. The "no pictures" guy (can't remember his name at the moment) was also a memorable joke. Jokes aside, I loved how much the gang's bonding was shown in this episode. Without Fred, you could really see what the series was going for, in terms of focusing on the gang's friendship and how they each contribute something to the group. This episode also allowed for the gang's personalities to really shine, and was the first episode I could really strongly see what JCB was talking about with the "three-dimensional characters" overarching idea of the series.  3. World of Witchcraft This will probably sound silly, but this episode has such important message that really resonates with how I feel about the world. The only super memorable joke in this one (I feel kinda bad saying that, as there probably are some really good ones that I'm just not remembering at the moment) was Scooby's comment "logical, yet sociopathic!" which is probably my favorite line of Scooby's in the entire series. The sub-plot about Daphne standing up for witches, and more importantly, being herself despite the townspeople's suspiciousness is such an important message. Being myself and not caring about what other people think of me has always been something that is really important to me personally. It is SO important to just be you, even if people are critical, and I loved that this episode tackled such a cool and mature topic - or actually topics, as it tackled both prejudice and being yourself. That is such an important message in my opinion, especially in the day and age of social media where people are worried about being "cool" to others. Those two underlying messages are what made me place this episode as high as I did, though I did enjoy Lewis Black (who voiced Mr. E) as the mayor and the cool and unorthodox choice of villain.  2. Professor Huh? Parts 1 and 6 3/4 I just reviewed this one earlier this week, so I'll try to keep this bit short and not be repetitive. The reason these two episodes are placed way they are, is because I felt all the parallels and references to the past episodes were such a great way to wrap up the series.  1. Doo Not Disturb Taking the #1 spot in this list is "Doo Not Disturb!" This was definitely not a particularly funny episode, but just the fact of how creepy and dark it got made me fall in love with it immediately. In fact, JCB even said this episode was originally supposed to be much darker, but WB asked him to tone it down because it would be too scary for kids. To which my reaction was "I want darker anyway!" lol. The Ghost of Mother was sooo creepy, especially the little 15-second "ticking" warning before she appeared. As I mentioned in my top 10 villains post, I was practically yelling at my screen for Daphne to open the door in the scene where Mother is approaching Shaggy and Scooby haha. The dark plot of this episode definitely made this one my absolute favorite of the series.   Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! recreated a lot of classic memories for us fans, from recreating the gang with more three-dimensional, relatable personalities to giving us the origin of Scooby Snacks. But one of the things this show did best in my opinion is recreating old episodes in a fun, interesting way, without making them seem like we were simply watching a repeat. In today's article, I'd like to highlight some of the ways that the show recreated classic Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? mysteries with a new twist. Mystery 101
Though the episode was stylistically a bit different in setting, the premiere episode of Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! does bare a striking resemblance to the original series episode, "What the Hex Going On?" Firstly, the episode redesigned a lesser-known classic villain, The Ghost of Elias Kingston (the difference is contrasted in the two pictures above). Additionally, several references were made throughout the episode to the original episode and setting. For example, when the university dean is explaining how the institution was built, he mentions that the founder, Elias Kingston, built it over his mansion. This is clearly a direct reference to the Kingston Mansion/Manor, which is where the gang stayed with their friend Sharon in the original episode. I always thought it was cool that they decided to pick such a lesser-known/remembered episode, though I would presume it was probably due to this being Jon Colton Barry (the head writer)'s favorite episode of the show. He elaborates on this a bit in the interview I did with him on October 5, 2015, the day the show first premiered on television. I grew up watching reruns of the classic, original series the most. I've always kinda liked the first season episode "What the Hex Going On?" with the Ghost of Elias Kingston. It's a strange episode. Watching the original series as we were developing the new series made me see the odd choices the gang would make sometimes in the past. Sharon's Uncle Stuart has been suddenly turned into a decrepit, elderly man by a ghost and they decide to "watch" him overnight instead of rushing the poor guy to a hospital? Who knows how much damage is done to someone when they're magically aged 40 years? And exactly where did this guy learn such remarkable make-up skills that he could fool them even up close? I've never even seen a big Hollywood movie where "old age" make-up looks very convincing. Haha. I'm a huge fan of references and nostalgia myself, but what I like most about this series is that while it takes time to be nostalgic, and throws in those little nods to various series, it also knows when to add in a new spin on an old classic. The setting and situation is changed just enough where it doesn't feel repetitive or old and tired. Party Like It's 1899
"Party Like It's 1899" is definitely one of my favorites of the first season. While it's great seeing the gang in their original personalities, it was also fun to explore this "new" version of the gang a bit more and see how they would act in such a "murder mystery" type of situation. Besides this, it also reimagines one of my absolute favorite episodes, "Haunted House Hang-Up" in a really fun way. Throughout the years, I don't think we've ever actually seen the gang in a "murder mystery weekend" type setting before, even though that fits so well with the series (same argument I've had with how "A Christmas Carol" should have been parodied as it fits well with the tone of the show - which it finally was with "Scroogey Doo!" - but that's another topic). If I had to pick one villain from the original series that's underappreciated, it would definitely be the Headless Spectre. It's such a cool and spooky idea to have a ghost without a head (definitely spookier than the dreaded "sheet ghost" - quite literally just a guy with a sheet over his head, you can even see his legs! - which appears later on in the episode lol), so I'm glad this series gave him some love. The setting, again, was quite similar to the original haunted house setting, and we even see a few subtle nods to the original episode. One of my favorite things about this episode though is Daphne and Fred's characters - the "bumbling gloves" line had me chuckling for quite a while. Daphne's line "Yep, that's me, set for stun. Pew pew!" was admittedly a perfect line as well, especially upon rewatch after you get to know the character more. Where There's a Will, There's a Wraith
While the previous two villains were a bit more unconventional choices, these two villains are ones probably every Scooby fan knows. In "Where There's a Will, There's a Wraith," the same basic plot from the original episode, "A Night of Fright is No Delight," follows. The gang is forced to spend the night in a supposedly haunted mansion after Scooby is written into a deceased colonel's will. However, a ghost quickly appears and the gang has to solve the mystery. One striking similarity from the original episode is that "Where There's a Will" has the surprise twist of there actually being two identical ghosts as well. Though I love the original of course, I actually find myself liking the new design slightly more. The skeleton hands and tattered sheets add a bit more spookiness to the ghosts' designs, in my opinion. Additionally, the borrowed idea of using the relatives like in the original episode makes "Where There's a Will" much more nostalgic, especially as a fan who's been watching Scooby since childhood. The twist of the suspect's name being Casper Cosgoode is a really fun callback to Cosgoode Creeps as well! While having the house burn down is a much more extreme ending, it was also a cool new way to wrap up the episode that referenced the money being worthless in the original episode. In Space
This episode definitely deviated the most from its original episode, but in my opinion, it's also one of the best episodes of the series. This episode, entitled "In Space" (after the recurring gag of Fred using this phrase after every sentence her says), reimagines the classic "Spooky Space Kook" episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? The plot is as follows: "After mistakenly parking on a spaceship's loading dock, Fred and the gang are sent in space where a virus turning people into skull aliens is rapidly spreading. The gang has to figure a way to solve the mystery and avoid becoming contaminated with the alien virus." Pretty cool twist, considering the original episode just had the gang running around an abandoned airfield. This is one of things I love about Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! It can take something as simple as four teens and a dog running around an airfield and turn it into a creepy plot involving viruses that turn people into skull-headed aliens. According to a post made by JCB on the ScoobyAddicts forum, this episode was a request episode made by James Krenzke, who hoped to do an episode which referenced Ridley Scott's Alien film. Having seen that film, I must say that Krenzke and JCB did beautifully on this episode. The only thing I can honestly say I disliked was the constant repetition of Fred's "In Space" jokes. I found it funny the first few times, but it got a bit old after the first few times. Naughty or Ice
This was another pretty good episode which called back to the classic "Scooby's Night with a Frozen Fright." The same basic plot is kept intact: a caveman is found frozen in ice, but is thawed out and comes back to life. The twist with this one, though, is that in the Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! adaption of the episode, the caveman is an exhibit in the Blakes' Ice Hotel. I'd be lying, unfortunately, if I were to say that I loved this episode entirely. There were parts, like the bad ice puns and the Daphneism of the week, that I did not enjoy. From my perspective, Daphne blowing the vault didn't really make much sense, given it was her parents' hotel in the first place. Couldn't she have just asked them nicely to get her necklace back, rather than coming up with an elaborate plan and committing multiple illegal acts in the process, which ultimately got the gang thrown in jail? There were parts, however, that I absolutely loved. Shaggy and Scooby teaching the Ice Man to talk was definitely my favorite part of the whole episode. I was practically on the floor laughing when the Ice Man triumphantly announced "My name is Ice Man! My name is Ice Man!" Although I must admit it (though still amusing) it was kinda sad when Shaggy and Scooby tricked the monster and ran away! He worked so hard lol! Well, that about wraps up this article. Note that I didn't include some of the villains with simply had similarities to other previous villains, such as the Sea Monsters or the Ape Man. I believe JCB has said some of the villain references weren't intentional, though they went ahead and used them anyway despite the similarities. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and be sure to check back tomorrow for another new article!  Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! Week Day 3: How the More Three-Dimensional Characters Can Apply to Our Lives3/20/2018  One of my favorite parts of Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! is how interesting and relatable the characters were. Though of course the previous versions of the gang were likable, I feel this series added a layer of three-dimensionality to their personalities. By doing so, it allowed them to be very relatable to us, the audience, and even more likable (at least in my opinion). Personally, I felt like I could relate certain aspects of my own personality to all 5 members of this updated version of the gang. In this article, I'll highlight how each member of this version of the gang has changed from their original characters, and how I feel like a bit of each of them relates to my own personality.  This updated version of Scooby is somewhat similar to the previous incarnations, but with a few distinct differences. Scooby still has his cowardly tendencies, but is a lot more witty in this version. He also only uses around 4 words per sentence, according to head writer Jon Colton Barry. In this version, Scooby is a lot more comedic than previously, and is often spot-on with most of his jokes. As someone who enjoys making people laugh, I can definitely see a bit of Scooby in myself. Even if I'm not quite as witty and spot-on as Scooby is, regardless I still always love to put a smile on other people's faces and try to do so especially if I can tell the person is having a bad day.  Shaggy is still his same cowardly, hungry self in this series, and you may struggle to find any conspicuous differences in his character. However, I would argue that he's more full of a childlike-type wonder in this series. This is particularly present when he's with Scooby; the two of them seem to find a lot of enjoyment in the little things. You see this in a lot of episodes in this show, though the example that most comes to mind is "Pizza O'Possum's." In this episode, Shaggy is so filled with childlike wonder that he actually goes back to his childhood arcade just to get a child's toy. I can definitely appreciate that quality in Shaggy. I still am very youthful even though I'm an adult, and still take a lot of pleasure in the little or whimsical things. I feel like I'll be one of those people that's still a kid at heart when I'm 80 lol.  In this series, Fred's character is closer than the original than it's been since...well, the original itself. Instead of being dimwitted and goofy as he's been since A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Fred is a natural born leader like he was in the original show. However, in this series, Fred is displayed as more of a control freak, and gets frustrated when life doesn't go his way. He likes order and expects everyone to follow him without hesitation. Fred is probably the character that I can identify with the least, but I do have some minor similarities with him. Although I'm very laid back generally, I sometimes will be slightly overprotective of my own work and don't like people messing it up with telling me first. I also can be slightly nitpicky on things I'm passionate about, particularly the Scooby franchise haha.  Velma remains the smartest character of the gang in this iteration, but notably has more tendencies towards know-it-all-ism. However, the one thing she doesn't necessarily know is how to be social. She is very awkward socially and does not have a lot of people skills. Though I don't have the social awkwardness Velma does, I'm also very intelligent and occasionally have to push down my know-it-all-ism. I also pay very close attention to detail, and (as I mentioned) can get nitpicky sometimes if things aren't correct.  Daphne is the most changed of any character in the series. Departing from the original damsel-in-distress character, Daphne is an eccentric nonconformist, and regularly does very odd things. She's also very outgoing and optimistic, and enjoys being a "cheerleader" of sorts. She enjoys cheering people up and seeing them happy. Despite her perceived "oddness," she is always very perky and cheery. Of all the characters, I identify with Daphne's personality the most. I am usually very cheerful and friendly, and tend to have a glass-half-full approach to life. I also love seeing everyone happy, so I act as a "cheerleader" of sorts when I see someone is down or clearly unhappy. Most prevalently, I have a very quirky personality and like Daphne, I totally own the fact that I do. I also don't really care what others think of me, as long as I'm happy with myself and who I am. I hope you enjoyed this article! I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels they can relate to this version of the gang. If you feel you relate to any or all of the gang, I'm interested to see how if you choose to share in the comments!   There were a lot of great villains in Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! So many, in fact, that it was quite tough to pick just 10 to cover for this post! Here is my top 10 list of villains from Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! that were the creepiest, best designed, or just super cool.  10. Pterodactyl This villain wasn't particularly spooky or scary, but it was quite an interesting choice of villain. This one just barely made the list, since it was such an unorthodox choice of villain in general, and even more so for a Christmas special. Admittedly though, his red eyes do make him look pretty menacing!  9. The Ghost of Archie Barnes Most likely, in a few years, this villain will probably be an easily forgotten one in this series for most people. However, I though this villain was really genuinely creepy and wanted to include him in this list. His facial expression, in this picture above especially, is just so spooky looking! Although to be honest, monsters/ghosts with no pupils always freak me out haha. Additionally, the fact that he doesn't talk at all throughout the entire episode definitely amps up the creepy level! His 'hissing' that sounds like a film projector solidifies how well designed and scary-sounding he is!  8. Skull Aliens I loved the Space Kook in the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? episode, though if I'm honest I like this version of him as much, if not slightly more. The whole premise of this episode, especially with the aliens being a 'virus', made for a super creepy plot in addition to the creepy Skull Aliens!  7. Madcap I'm not generally afraid of clowns, but this one certainly passes the test for me! The whole episode in itself had a very spooky setting, but the timeliness factor of it definitely made Madcap all the more frightening. If you don't remember, around the time this episode aired, there were actually real-life people dressing up in clown outfits and walking around town to scare people. I know Madcap, particularly in this position with his teeth out and mallet over his head, would definitely scare me if I ran into him in real life lol!  6. Swamp Beast This villain is just so well designed! The seaweed-ish swamp stuff hanging off of him makes him look super creepy, and the fact that some of it is falling off around his arms makes them look like skeleton arms! The glowing yellow eyes are also a nice touch! I do wish, however, that his voice would have been slightly creepier. It sounded a bit nasally, in my opinion, and took away from his otherwise spooky design.  5. The Grim Reaper I loved all 8 of the villains from around the world in "Mysteries on the Disorient Express," but the Grim Reaper was by far my favorite. I thought it was definitely a bold move for a Scooby series, especially considering that some kids might be really afraid by the literal representation of death. However, I thought this episode handled it really well, while still taking no liberties on making the Reaper any less creepy. The red eyes and skeleton-angel wings are an amazing touch to his design!  4. The Demon of Salem This villain gets major points in my book for just being plain unique. After all, how many times can you say you've seen a deer walking on its hind legs with bat wings haha? I'll highlight this further in my post on the episode coming later this week, but I really like this episode in general for having a really important lesson as an undertone. I'll also admit to finding the description of the villain a bit lame when I first read the episode summary, but he turned out to look really cool!  3. Headless Count I love the Count's glowing head! As I'll mention in an upcoming post in a few days, the Headless Spectre from the original Where Are You series is such an underappreciated villain. I love how this series redesigned him and made him even creepier than he was originally!  2. Professor Huh? It was a near impossible decision to pick between Professor Huh? and the next villain for #1! In the end, I decided to place Huh? as #2 in this list, though I just can't say enough about how awesome this villain is. The one-eye design and hand-puppet is super creepy, and even his trench coat adds to the spookiness a bit. My favorite part about his design, however, is the green hand on his head, which I took to mean an "unmasking" of sorts. That glowing hand is sooo spooky looking and awesome! My favorite part about Huh? is his randomness. I love that kind of "silly for the sake of being silly" kind of humor, so I thoroughly enjoyed almost all of his random comments. I'd say my favorite is "I am not a Canadian citizen!" and the fact that he enjoyed hot-gluing multi vitamins to secret armed forces base helicopters lol. I really found myself identifying with Daphne's comment where she states "I finally like your father!" As someone who has a slightly eccentric sense of humor, I really appreciate Professor Huh? and his nonsensical randomness. Honestly, it makes me want another episode devoted to the professor committing random and inexplicable crimes!  1. The Ghost of Mother As I said, it was nearly impossible to pick the #1 villain just because there are so many great ones in this series. Eventually, I decided that my absolute favorite villain in the series is the Ghost of Mother, who takes the #1 spot on this top 10 list. This episode in general was so creepy, and the fact that Mother never spoke made her even spookier. The 'rules' and odd behavior of the supporting characters in this episode definitely added to this for me. The ticking noise when Mother was about to come felt like some sort of horror movie! And on a final note, I'll admit that I was practically yelling at my screen when Daphne wouldn't let Shaggy and Scooby in as Mother was closing in on them. That scene was creepy and haunting in so many ways! I hope you all enjoyed this list, and if you feel inspired to share your own top 10 list of favorite villains, I'd love to read them! :)  |
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