 Hi everyone!
I really debated whether to post about this or not, since it's not entirely Scooby related, but I figured given we're all Scooby fans here that some people might find it interesting. Long story short, I inherited a cabin from my recently deceased grandparents. I had never been up there much while they were alive, but they would occasionally tell me stories of very peculiar things happening there. One such story involved my grandpa closing a window, as he did every night, with my grandma watching him. The next morning, both of them could feel a chill in the air because this same window was left wide open. My grandpa asked my grandma why she had opened the window after he closed it, to which she responded that she didn't and she said that she watched him close it. Neither of them went downstairs the entire night, and no one else was in the house, which of course begs the question of how the window could have possibly been opened when neither of them did it. There were a few other stories like that over the years, which I unfortunately don't remember in as vivid of detail as the aforementioned one. For those that don't know, I'm currently writing a fanfiction story called "Coast to Coast with Daphne Blake," which is set after Zombie Island and highlights Daphne's adventures on her haunted attraction show of the same name. For a long time now, I've thought it would be really cool to actually write a chapter about a haunted cabin in my very own haunted cabin which I inherited. This past weekend, I finally went up and stayed in my haunted cabin for four nights. (As an aside, this was also my reasoning for visiting Banning Junction for the 209th fun fact). While I wish I could say something paranormal happened while staying there, unfortunately it did not. I did, however, see quite possibly the biggest spider I've ever seen in my life lol (its body was literally as big as my thumb!) as well as hearing some wolves outside make an otherworldly howling noise. There was also a mouse that managed to get into the cabin, though luckily I slept upstairs and thus he didn't bother me. I must say, however, it definitely fulfilled one of my dreams as a Scooby fan! Staying in the haunted cabin for four nights definitely had that Scooby episode-ish vibe and I'll admit I was incredibly jumpy at night, expecting something paranormal to happen at any moment. Anyways, sorry I couldn't share anything more exciting with you guys...though I do have something exciting to share (and/or shamelessly promote) with you guys in a literary sense. I managed to write not one, but two chapters of my fanfic up there! In the first chapter, which is set in a haunted cabin, I embedded a lot of my own experiences in the cabin into the fanfic, which was quite fun to do admittedly. The second chapter was just an "extra" since I finished the first one quicker than I thought I would, though I will say that anyone who's a Shaphne fan will love this chapter! If you're interested, you can check out chapters 16 and 17 over at Fanfiction.net!
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 You may remember the first part of my Boo Brothers post which I wrote back in January. Boo Brothers is an incredibly complex film which could have so many different explanations for the very same scene! My original post discussed some arguments for and against some of the ghosts being real or fake apparitions. Unfortunately, I believe I wrote that post fully off of memory and I didn't actually go back to watch the film before writing the post. Last night, I continued my normal Halloween tradition of watching Boo Brothers every year around October 31 (it's never too early to start watching Halloween specials, haha). Having watched the film again, I have some new, more detailed arguments to add on which of the ghosts were real and which were fake. I've often joked with my Scooby fan friends that I'm so passionate about this film, I could write an entire essay on it. So that's exactly what I'm going to do...again!  As I said in part 1, the Headless Horseman is pretty much undeniably fake. The sheriff dressed up as the Headless Horseman when Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy arrived, and they discovered later the costume in the barn when the sheriff oddly yelled "push the button!", alerting the three that he knew how to operate it from previous experience. I'm sure you could, however, come up with a really creative theory about how the Headless Horseman could be a real spirit. For example, you could argue that the sheriff planned to dress up as the Headless Horseman, but he wasn't able to because a real Headless Horseman knocked him out in the barn, then went out to chase the gang. The Headless Horseman does, however, provide further evidence that the ghost of Uncle Beauregard was indeed real at several points throughout the movie. Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy saw Beauregard's ghost almost simultaneous with when they saw the Headless Horseman. There would be no possible way for the sheriff to have been dressed up as two ghosts in a matter of seconds.  The Glowing-Eyed Wolf is another tough villain to argue in favor of being a supernatural creature. Most wolves don't have glowing yellow eyes like that one did, so just for fun, let's say it could be a ghost wolf. You could really argue either way though, it could just be a random wolf that ran out, or maybe it's a supernatural being that's taken on the form of a wolf to further scare the gang.  Now we get to the fun ghosts whose existences are more controversial! Most people are pretty certain that the Skull Ghost was a fake, perpetuated by the sheriff to scare Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy off so he could get the treasure. However, in part 1 of this post, I argued that the Skull Ghost was real some of the time. Listening closely to the film last night, I realized I messed up in the last post. One of my arguments in the first part was that in some appearances, you could hear the Skull Ghost's bones clanking together. Unfortunately, in that final appearance before the unmasking by the fireplace, the Skull Ghost's bones clank together when he is about to pull the lever. So, the sheriff must have had something in the suit (maybe a tape recorder or something) to make the noise of bones clanking together. On a brief side note, one of my biggest questions about this film is how can the sheriff possibly exist inside that Skull Ghost costume? The sheriff is a pretty large man, while his Skull Ghost suit is practically supermodel-level skinny. The only possible explanation for this is that he was wearing an extra large corset the entire time! lol Anyways, back on topic. Last time, I sort of just gave a vague "he could have been real any of the times" explanation. This time around, I'm going to examine every appearance of the Skull Ghost in the film and make individual arguments for if the ghost was real in that particular appearance. So, without further ado, it's explanation time! The first appearance of the Skull Ghost is when he appears in the chimney, cackling maniacally as he is about to push Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy off the roof. For this appearance, I argue that the Skull Ghost was definitely real! Ever since I first watched this film, I've always thought the Skull Ghost looks a lot different in that appearance than in some of the later ones. In the later appearances, you can clearly see that it's a man in a bone suit with a black background, aka the sheriff, who may or may not be wearing a corset under his extra-small size skeleton suit. The skeleton's eyes also light up bright red, which is not something that ever happens after the first two appearances. The second appearance of the Skull Ghost is in the piano room with the secret passage. I also argue that the ghost is real in this appearance. He has bright red eyes once again, right as he tells Scrappy to let go of him. This is the final appearance that he has the red eyes, which oddly never appear again for the rest of the film. Shortly after, the Skull Ghost's bony finger presses the piano key to lock the gang in the secret passage room. Later on in the film, the skeleton's fingers were not bony at all, and appeared to be just a man's fingers in a cheap skeleton suit with a black background. This is the final appearance that I believe the Skull Ghost was a real apparition. Just for fun though, I'll go through all the other appearances to give my explanations as to why. The next appearance was in the cemetery. The Skull Ghost pops out from under a headstone several times, scaring Scooby. Presumably, this is the town cemetery, since there were so many graves. If the Skull Ghost was just haunting the Beauregard Mansion, what need would he have to follow them if he were a real ghost? Certainly none that I can see. This appearance was most certainly the sheriff, following them in attempt to scare them out of the treasure. Almost immediately after this, the ghost (whose voice notably sounds a bit different from the original appearance in the chimney) appears again, and pulls a lever causing Shaggy and Scooby to fall down a trap door. The "glowing" aspect of the ghost is certainly a cool touch, and I admit I was tempted to argue it was a real ghost in this instance, just because he never glowed at any other point in the film. However, what gave it away for me is the fact that he was scared of the Ghost Ape. If he were a real ghost, why would he be scared of another ghost (especially that adorable ape lol)? Because of that, he couldn't have been a real ghost in this case. A brief appearance of the Skull Ghost happens when Billy Bob pops out from under a bush to shoot Shaggy, but ends up seeing the Skull Ghost instead. Just by the fact that it looks like a man in a bone suit with a black background, I'd say the ghost is not real in this case. Another appearance, which I assume was the Skull Ghost, was his eyes peeking out from under a trap door in the mansion. At the exact same time, you can see the outline of Beauregard's ghost in the window, which logically is not possible. One of the ghosts would have to be real, as the sheriff cannot be in two places at once. By process of elimination, I believe the Skull Ghost is the sheriff in this case. Why? He was hiding in the house, where he could overhear Shaggy reading the clue. He wanted to find the treasure, and thus spied on Shaggy and Scooby. Beauregard's ghost, however, is outside the window and could not hear what Shaggy was saying. There would be no point in the sheriff hiding outside the closed window, as he couldn't have overheard anything. I'll get to Beauregard's motivations for being outside the window in his respective section, but I argue that the Skull Ghost was not real in this appearance. I'm already kicking myself a bit here, as I should have just written this post last night when it was still completely fresh in my mind! I hope I'm not missing an appearance here, but I think the next appearance was when the Skull Ghost ran into the Ghost Ape outside. Again, the sheriff was scared of the Ghost Ape, so scared in fact that the sheriff lost his pants when he was in the patrol car at one point. Both the Skull Ghost and the Ghost Ape were frightened of each other, which again, if it were a real ghost, the Skull Ghost wouldn't have been afraid of another ghost. The ghost appears at Bear Cave using a remote control device to operate Shaggy's truck. A ghost wouldn't need or want a remote control device, and the intent clearly wasn't to scare Shaggy in this case. The Skull Ghost clearly wanted to get Shaggy out of the cave so he wouldn't find the treasure, which if it were a real ghost, presumably it could just do it by jumping out or chasing the gang away. The second-to-last appearance would be when he appears behind the curtain in the mansion, along with Beauregard's ghost simultaneously. Obviously, the same person cannot be in two places at once. The skeleton is wearing his same black background suit with bones painted on, and thus, I argue Beauregard is the real ghost whilst the Skull Ghost is the fake in this case. The final appearance is at the boathouse, which obviously was the sheriff in disguise. There would be no reason for the real ghost to leave the house or trap the gang in a net so they wouldn't get the treasure. And the final final appearance was near the fireplace, and you better believe the ghost was a fake in that scene. If not, you clearly haven't watched the movie close enough, as that's the unmasking scene lol. But a final note on this, if you compare this last appearance to the very first one in the chimney, you can seriously tell the difference in the ghost's voice. The Skull Ghost in the chimney has a booming, creepy voice whereas the last appearance just sounds like some dude with a Southern accent in a suit.  The Ghost in the Attic is the final remaining controversial ghost in the bunch. There's really no evidence either way as to whether the ghost is real or not, since we never see who did it. There is the argument that I made in the last post, that the ghost literally drops 20 feet and no human could survive that. However, clearly there's some cartoon physics occurring in this film, as the sheriff literally has a fully-grown tree fall on him at one point and somehow doesn't die haha. I do sort of stand by my previous argument that Farquard's nasally voice sounds nothing like the Southern gentleman-like voice that the Ghost in the Attic has. I suppose you could argue that some people have a knack for doing accents, for example how I can do a really good British accent :). Farquard does have the same necklace the ghost stole, however, which doesn't make a lot of sense (the ghost isn't exactly going to give it to Farquard, after all) if it were a real ghost. So, in this case, I will actually change my original answer and say that this ghost was probably Farquard in a costume.  Before we get to the ghost everyone's probably waiting for, can we talk about how cute the Ghost Ape is? He doesn't even seem remotely scary and just seems like he wants some love! (there's where you all say "aww!") To me, this one has always been obviously a real ghost. The ghost looks exactly like Beebo, the name of the ape that the colonel shot and stuffed in his house. It's doubtful that another ape would look exactly like that. I don't really need to go through the ghost ape's appearances, since I argue he's real every time for that same reason. But, what I'm going to do instead is go through every appearance and talk about how freaking adorable he is! (with maybe a few arguments about why he is a real ghost in between) In the first appearance, Farquard tells the gang and the sheriff about Beebo and how the colonel had him stuffed. A second later, the ape peeks out from behind the statue and bats his eyelashes at Scooby! The next appearance is when the Boo Brothers are trying to catch the Demonstrator Ghost (which, as an aside, I just realized last night that the Boo Brothers never actually catch him!) The Demonstrator Ghost turns on a record and begins dancing, and a few moments later, the ape appears, grabbing Scooby's hand and says "let's boogie!" Seriously, how cute is that? A ghost that just wants to dance and have a good time is a really fun concept lol. The Ghost Ape also appears by the stairs where Scooby is currently hiding under a blanket. The Ape, not feeling any urge to scare anyone at all, comes up to Scooby and begins stroking his head. It's so adorable! The Ape appears later when the gang is outside, a bit angry, probably because no one is loving him like he wants! :) The next appearance, I believe, was when Shreako opens the door while they're trying to get away from Beauregard's ghost. He's pretty perturbed in this piece too, but most likely it's because they disturbed him. Even nice people need their time alone, so maybe he was taking a nap in the closet and instinctually roared in surprise. He probably felt bad about it later! Later on in the film, Billy Bob and the ape run into each other, and the ape gets angry when Billy Bob accidentally shoots him right in his adorable little fluffy butt. I don't even need to defend the ape in this case, no one would like being shot in the ass lol. In the next scene, Scrappy calls the ape a "big overgrown jungle jerk," which the ape reacts poorly to. I absolutely love this scene though, it's so cute about the ape answering Scrappy's questions so honestly. Scrappy: He's probably frightened with all these spooky happenings around here! Ape: Uh-huh! Sooo cute! In the second-to-last appearance, the ape is shot again by Billy Bob accidentally through the log. Every time I see that scene, I'm seriously rooting for Beebo...good for him for snapping the gun in half and facing up to his fears! In the final scene, the ape throws a temper tantrum, to which Scrappy gives him the mechanical horse to ride. All I'll say about this scene is that the smug look the ape has on his face while riding the horse is awesome, he just looks so pleased with himself lol! Thank you all for making it through my fawning over the ape haha. He's such an awesome character and I think it's super cute how timid the big guy is! :)  Let's get to the final ghost, my favorite of the bunch and the one you've all been waiting for. At the end of the film, it's hinted that the ghost is definitely real, since he shows up again on the road after the sheriff has been arrested. But what about all the appearances in between? Was it the sheriff every time, or was it the real ghost some of the time? Let's find out! The very first appearance is one I've already briefly discussed. Beauregard's ghost appears almost right after the Headless Horseman does, holding his hands up and telling them to "go back" and "leave this place!" With the given explanation of the sheriff dressing up as the Headless Horseman, there is no way that he could be in two places in a matter of seconds. That means that it would have been the real ghost in that first appearance. The one question that this poses is, why would he want them to leave the mansion that he personally willed to Shaggy? Well, I argue that he probably didn't know that the sheriff was planning to steal the treasure. Clearly, the sheriff was willing to do anything, even murder a human and two dogs for this treasure. Uncle Beauregard would naturally be concerned about his nephew going into a dangerous situation like that one, so he most likely wanted Shaggy to "leave this place" to get out of danger. Maybe Uncle Beauregard was going to personally scare the sheriff away, but wanted his nephew and dogs away while he took care of the situation. I know what you're probably thinking. My explanation above makes it way too broad, and it could have been the real ghost or the sheriff any of the subsequent times. The answer to that hypothetical question would be no, there are possible explanations for every appearance Beauregard's ghost makes! The next appearance is in the bedroom. The ghost goes through a solid wall on his bike, warning his nephew to leave. There is no way any human could do that, so the ghost is definitely real in this case. Additionally, on a brief side note, if I ever become a ghost, I want to have those super creepy glowing yellow eyes that Beauregard has! You literally can't even see any pupils in his eyes, which is really disturbing! The ghost also shows up right outside of the door when Shaggy is running from Billy Bob ("hey boys, we got another Beauregard!"). When Shaggy runs a few feet away from the door, he immediately runs back to the door when he sees Billy Bob shooting at him. In that couple of seconds, the ghost disappears and Shaggy is able to go back in the door the ghost was just standing at. Surely, the ghost would not have been able to go in the house that quickly without Shaggy noticing, especially since he barely ran at all before making a beeline back to the front door. I argue that the ghost must have disappeared before Shaggy ran back to the door. The ghost does not appear again in the film until the scene where he comes through the secret passage. That alone is pretty self-explanatory. The ghost rode his bike through a solid wall earlier on in the film, so why would he need to use a secret passage to get through the wall? That's another odd inconsistency which makes me believe that there were two different versions of Beauregard's ghost, one real and one fake. Beauregard's next appearance is in the cemetery. This time, however, it was likely the fake ghost who frightened Shaggy and the dogs. The ghost immediately grabs the clue and begins reading it, which would make no sense for the real ghost to do, seeing as Beauregard was the one who wrote the clue. As I explained earlier, the ghost of Beauregard and the Skull Ghost both stalk Shaggy while he is reading the clue, the Skull Ghost being the one inside hiding under a trap door. The shadow of Beauregard's ghost is also eavesdropping, however, as I argued above, the sheriff cannot be in two places at once, so one of them must have been the real ghost. I also identified that Beauregard was the real ghost, as he could not overhear what Shaggy was saying from outside the closed window. Thus, there would be no purpose for him to be there, if it was the sheriff trying to listen in on what the clue was. What was Beauregard's ghost doing out there then? Well, I argue that he was trying to watch over Shaggy, as he likely knew that the sheriff would be watching over his every move and wanted to protect his nephew. In the next appearance (including a brief flash to the ghost of Beauregard riding his bike in the cemetery), Shaggy opens the trap door on the ghost's feet, to which he yells "ouch!" (which for the record is a very unghostly thing to say, lol). Obviously, the headstone should have gone through the ghost's feet if he were actually a ghost, given the fact he was able to float through walls in another scene. The second-to-last scene is where the ghost chases after Shaggy's truck on his bike and tries to kill his nephew and dogs. That's a bit of a no brainer, seeing as that's classic uncle behavior right there. Haha I'm obviously kidding, given the fact that his uncle was just trying to warn his nephew away, it wouldn't make sense to literally throw him and his dogs off a bridge. Thus, the ghost is fake in this appearance. The sort-of final appearance was when Beauregard's ghost was hiding behind the curtain. Arguably, the ghost is real at this point. The same "the sheriff can't be in two places at once" argument applies here. The Skull Ghost also appears behind a curtain, as I mentioned above, and thus Beauregard must be the real ghost, as the skeleton is wearing his same black-backgrounded suit. There's also the very ominous scene before the last commercial break spot, where Shaggy comments "I bet there are no real ghosts here at all!" Immediately afterwards, a mysterious creepy voice replies "Oh no?" This is proof that at least one of the ghosts was real. I mean, it's not like some random guy off the street suddenly broke into the mansion and just happened to yell that at the exact time Shaggy made his comment. Obviously, a real ghost heard Shaggy's comment and decided to reply to frighten him. The final final final appearance of Beauregard's ghost is at the end of the film, when he appears on the road after the sheriff has been taken into custody by his brother. The ghost does not try to harm him or tell him to leave. Rather, he sits there and intently watches them, almost if he's paying his last respects. Well, that covers all the ghosts! I hope part 2 was even better than part 1 (I certainly think so!), and also that you were at least somewhat entertained by my theories and silliness. The only other "paranormal" happenings in that film that weren't explained was Beauregard throwing his sword off-screen, which I argue was something Farquard rigged up in advance to scare them. There was also the cannon scene, which was probably Beauregard. Given the bridge theory, Beauregard obviously isn't going to want to kill his own nephew, so it was probably the sheriff dressed up once again. There's also the mysterious hand which scratches Scooby out of the wall in the bedroom, which there's not really conclusive proof for either way given the appearance was so brief. Given Beauregard appears a second later, and I argued that he was real in that instance, I would say that the hand was maybe another ghost (possibly aiding the ghost of Beauregard) trying to scare Shaggy off so he wouldn't be put in danger by the sheriff's plan. I do realize that these could all be animation or plot mistakes on behalf of lazy writers at Hanna-Barbera. However, it seems like a bit too many coincidences in my opinion. It may be far-fetched, but I really love the concept of Hanna-Barbera making this super detailed, intricate mystery for the hardcore adult fans to be entertained as well as kids. There are so many ways you could interpret the mystery in this film, and I hope you've enjoyed reading my interpretation of it. Oh, and I know the question you've all been on the edge of your seats waiting for me to answer: were Shaggy's ghostly dancing pants real? Why yes, yes they were.   Yesterday for Scooby's 49th anniversary, I decided to do my typical Scooby mini-marathon of "What a Night for a Knight" and Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins. This year, however, I decided to also throw in the most recent Scooby film (which was released on Tuesday), Scooby-Doo and the Gourmet Ghost.
Before I give my review, I'd like to warn that spoilers are ahead! Overall, this was a great movie and probably my favorite so far of the crossovers. The film had a really solid, interesting plot, and didn't overly focus on the guest stars at the expense of Fred, Velma and Daphne. In the past crossover movies, it feels like they have been ignored and not focused on enough. However, this movie seemed to have the perfect balance between the guest stars and the main characters. I personally have always been fascinated with the history of America's beginnings and the Revolution, so naturally I really enjoyed that aspect of the film. The time-lapse opening was so cool, probably one of my favorite openings to any Scooby film. The historical feel of Rocky Harbor Resort provided a very nice setting. Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about Bobby Flay being Fred's uncle. It seems odd, given how good of friends the gang is, that Fred would never mention he had a famous uncle. If Bobby Flay was my uncle, I would be telling everyone haha! Also, as a in-universe observation that the writers probably didn't even consider, Fred has a lot of uncles! Did his parents grow up in the 1900s were the normal amount of kids was like 13? lol Bobby's cat Nacho was so cute! He's such a helpful little guy. :) I'm a huge cat person, so I loved that they included both of the chef's cats in the film. As for the other guest stars, for the most part, I liked Giada and Marcus. I have no idea how famous Marcus Samuelsson is in the chef world, but it seems like he really got the short end of the guest star stick. It felt like he was barely in the movie! One large complaint I had about the film was the humor. The jokes all seemed very cringeworthy, and none of them were particularly that funny. I hated Skip Taylor, it was painful to watch some of his scenes. I normally like characters who are bit silly or dimwitted, but this was just over the top. Speaking of which, did anyone else find Fred's comment about TV personalities to be really strange? The part where he says "It's not like a TV personality to flake out of their responsibilities." in a super sarcastic voice? I mean, what the crap? lol Another scene that really annoyed me was when Daphne gave Fred an angry look for clapping for Giada, just like everyone else was. The "Daphne is jealous of Fred" joke had its ship sail a long time ago, it's to the point where's it's not even remotely funny any more. It's just plain painful. I really liked the Red Ghost in this film. He was genuinely creepy looking, especially the "shushing" pieces. It felt like something out of a horror film! The mystery was pretty good, though it was relatively easy to figure out. From the moment we met Henry Metcalf, I knew he was the Red Ghost. It was pretty easy to put the pieces together that he wanted to preserve the image of Edward DuFlay after Noseworthy revealed that there was speculation that he was a British spy. I did not, however, guess that the realtor and Henry were the same person. That was a cool twist! For the most part, this was a really solid Scooby movie which definitely gave me hope for the future of the franchise. The plot was excellent, and it was cool how they worked the history of the American Revolution into the film. There were some genuinely spooky moments in the film, and a fantastic mystery! My one complaint was that the humor was pretty poor, as the writers mainly relied on bad puns and slapstick humor for the film, which wasn't particularly funny. Quick side note, I apologize for not including pictures in this post like I normally have for reviews. I decided to buy it digitally on iTunes, and apparently, you aren't allowed to take screencaps off of iTunes? The second I try, the screen grays out and I get a message saying that screenshotting any film from iTunes is no longer allowed. So sorry about that guys!  Exactly 49 years ago today, the very first episode of Scooby-Doo was airing on televisions across the world.
Since then, we've had a lot of interesting incarnations of the franchise. Scooby-Doo has gone from the original "Where Are You" format that we all know and love, to episodes featuring the gang teaming up with famous guest stars, episodes that show what the gang was like when they were kids, episodes involving Scooby's nephew Scrappy-Doo, and even a series where the gang takes on "13 of the most terrifying ghosts upon the face of the Earth." With the latest series, Scooby-Doo! and Guess Who?, recently announced, there has been a lot of talk among fans about where the franchise is going, especially since we are quickly approaching 50 years of our favorite cartoon canine. One large complaint among fans lately is in regards to all the films which feature celebrity guest stars helping the gang solve a mystery. While most fans enjoy crossovers, many feel that Warner Brothers is relying on the crossover idea too much. In the past five years, 7 of the 11 direct-to-video films have featured Scooby-Doo crossing over with a famous celebrity or property (i.e. LEGO). A lot of fans also feel that the quality of the franchise is significantly declining, claiming that Warner Brothers is using the crossover idea as a crutch rather than a plot device. Many people feel that WB is no longer trying, and just copying elements from previous crossover films to make new crossovers. This comment on the ScoobyAddicts forum from Russm sums the situation up humorously. Writers meeting: Writer 1: "Well we could write a tight script that is focused on the interactions between the gang as they solve a mystery, how they have each others' back and how each contribute towards the solution." Writer 2: "But we have celebrities to service and it's getting late." Writer 1: "OK, just take the script from Speed Demon, do a global find and replace on wrestler with cook and we're done!" Writer 3: "Wooo-hoo home early!" Okay, obviously the situation isn't that bad, but I thought it was an amusing way to sum up the complaints of declining quality from fans. In my personal opinion, I fully agree that the quality of the franchise is declining, at least somewhat. While the more recent Scooby-Doo movies are still entertaining, they tend to overuse celebrities and focus on Shaggy and Scooby too much. This causes the plot to be a bit thin, and while the writers' attempts are in good faith, it takes away significantly from the plot. In the films that they are not using celebrities, however, the quality is still very good and stays true to the classic style of the show, while deviating just enough to make each film different and interesting. Shaggy's Showdown, for instance, was one of the best Scooby-Doo films in years and contained a very entertaining plot and good character development in my opinion. The most recent live-action film, Daphne & Velma, was a really fun, silly little feel good movie which provided an interesting plot and very three-dimensional characters. Daphne & Velma is for sure my favorite live-action movie, and is definitely up there in my top 10 favorites list for Scooby films. One large issue with this is that most fans want different things from the franchise. Some people want a return to the classic Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? style, others want a more updated What's New, Scooby-Doo? look for the animation. When it comes to tone, some people want lighthearted and silly like Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!, while others want a much darker, more serious tone like Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated had. Some people want Warner Brothers to play it safe and stick with the simple formula we all know and love, while others are more deviant and want radical changes made to the formula, such as the Shaggy/Scooby/Daphne and Scrappy format to make a return. I could probably go on and on, but I'm guessing you all probably got the point that everyone's idea of "great" is different. While I am looking forward to the upcoming Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? series, I am a bit worried for what it means for the future of the franchise. I love a good crossover every now and then, but after a while, it gets to be a bit much. Having an entire series dedicated to celebrity crossovers might be a bit excessive, especially when future crossover movies have already been announced to happen in the near future, such as Scooby-Doo and KISS 2. I hope that if WB decides to continue with their current pattern of mainly crossover DTV films, along with the new series, that they will mix it up a bit plot wise. That meaning that they focus more on the gang, develop the characters throughout the series, and not rely on the celebrities as a crutch. Where should we go from here, though? As unfortunate as it is to say, it feels like the franchise doesn't have a very clear direction at the moment. With the extensive celebrity crossovers, it feels like we're spinning in circles. One huge example demonstrating this is the whole "Daphne's in love with Fred" plotline in Stage Fright, despite that the relationship has been explored so many different times already. I think the whole Scooby fandom simultaneously cringed when Daphne "shockingly" announced that she was in love with Fred lol. Initially, I was a bit saddened when I heard the comment at the end of this video. For those who haven't had a chance to watch, the narrator mentions that after Cyber Chase, he never had the urge to watch any other Scooby content because he knew the quality of the content was declining (presuming he heard from friends or something). However, in the past few months, I can actually say that I definitely understand why a less invested Scooby fan might lose the urge to keep up with the franchise. On the other hand, as a hardcore Scooby nerd (and just a generally dorky/quirky person in general, lol), I don't think I would ever stop watching Scooby until the quality got to the point where it was just a one-dimensional line across a white background haha. Silliness aside, I argue that the franchise should go back in the direction of the "revival" era movies, those being Zombie Island, Witch's Ghost, Alien Invaders and Cyber Chase. I can honestly say that I have never met a Scooby fan who doesn't like those movies. While there may be a rare outlier, I would say the majority of fans enjoy the more mature tone and character dynamic throughout the films. I think it would be the perfect tone for the franchise, because the films are mature enough to please the adult fans, why not being overly mature or scary to alienate the fans that are children. When I first saw Scoobynatural earlier this year, my first thought was "They should totally make a whole series like this!" That particular crossover was the only one, in my opinion, that even came remotely close to the revival films. I believe that making a full series in that sort of tone would please the vast majority of the fandom, at least more so than the current tone is. Scoobynatural was certainly the most hyped up Scooby-Doo related thing of the year, so clearly it would be beneficial for WB to push the franchise back in that direction, both to please fans and for them to bring in more revenue from the films. While it's unfortunately doubtful we'll ever get a full series like this, I hope someday, we at least get another taste of the tone of the Zombie Island era films. In those films, it felt the franchise was evolving and growing (unlike the current films), which I would argue is necessary for any franchise to flourish. Let's keep our fingers crossed that WB will someday bring us back to that wonderful era of films, or better yet, that they're reading this post! :D  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!  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.  |
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