I wasn't really sure what to expect going into this one. Overall, I really liked it! Please note that this review will have spoilers, so if you have not had time to watch the film yet, I would recommend not reading this review until you do if you are looking to avoid spoilers.

The retcon of Coco Diablo being responsible for all the gang's costumes is interesting. I wouldn't want to just consider it official continuity for the entire franchise now, but I kind of think of it like Get a Clue. It works really well as a continuity on its own, but I don't think it really fits with the franchise. I liked the gang's plan for stopping Coco at the beginning of the film, but I feel it's a bit rushed. There's no real buildup where the viewer gets to be shocked like that amazing reveal at the end of "Wrath of the Krampus," it just kind of happens and then it's over with. 

We have to get into the opening song next, because I got a really good laugh out that "no more ghouls and ghosts. Just helpin' folks!" line haha. I love that the gang is helping out Elias Kingston in the grocery store. How very wholesome of them lol.

I thought it was very interesting how Velma was crushing on Coco Diablo. It seems they were perhaps testing out what Velma plans to do in the kids' side of the franchise. From what little I've read online about fan reactions to the film, I do hope that there's not going to be some huge controversy about "omg Velma is a lesbian!" To be fair, Velma does not state she is a lesbian in this film; the film only confirms she is romantically interested in women. It does not retroactively say that her male love interests in the past did not happen, so it's also possible Velma is bi/pansexual as well. Regardless, it was neat they explored it here and I thought it was done in a very natural way.

The prison scene was quite intense. John Simms clearly has some anger issues if he has made a Scooby voodoo doll in prison and is poking it in the mouth haha. In the scene where the warden is shaking down Harry the Hypnotist, it looks as if the bars were so wide that the inmate could have fit through the bars. Speaking of that scene, the warden's veins showing in his arms as he's roughing up the inmate was an interesting thing to animate. Although the animation is rougher and more messy in this film than Guess Who was, I feel like it allowed for some interesting details to shine through, like the vein thing. I will say that all the snot jokes with Trevor were gross and unnecessary.

I really liked the villains, particularly the Misery Company. The fact that their guts and brains were exposed made them even creepier. Coco Diablo worked was as a villain too, and although I'm not always a huge fan of the "the heroes have to be helped by their old foe" type plots (because I feel they're often predictable), I thought it was done in a fun way here. I'll have to admit I did wonder for a moment if it actually was Coco when they were setting it up to look like it was undeniably her, so the fact that it was the warden was interesting. I love how happy-go-lucky the warden is about carrying out the plan, to the point of him kissing all the clues as he's leaving them. I think that's super cute lol. I also found it funny how he exclaimed "Hi Mystery Inc.!" in a goofy voice when he was caught. It was a shame that the one preview kinda ruined that reveal (although I did wonder briefly if it was Coco). I was also happy they included a more diverse selection of villains here, rather than just all Where Are You villains. It was interesting to see some New Scooby-Doo Mysteries villains that weren't even in costumes retconned.

I was interested by the fact they fell back on the "Scooby hates cats" plotline. I feel like they kind of use that trope when they want, but sometimes they drop it. And speaking of cats, it was cool they retconned the Catman. One retcon I was surprised about though was that we see Igor from "A Halloween Hassle at Dracula's Castle" among the inmates. That is a major retcon, since he was never arrested (in fact, the ghouls embraced what he did).

Just a random note, as I made quite a few of them as I watched the film, I would have been interested in knowing why Velma got detention lol.

Although I overall liked this movie, I LOVED how the last 20 minutes just divulged into random chaos. Random, absurdist humor is exactly my humor style, so it really worked for me.

I've talked in several posts about how I stan Sassy Fred, and we can now add Sassy Gators to my list of characters I stan for. I loved how those gators came up out of the sewer just to cross their arms and give the gang side-eye lol.

Although I am a cat lover, I didn't love Esteban, although the end had two great scenes with him. The fact that he had a cat computer was super funny. What I most liked though was Scooby rhetorically asking Esteban "do you like me?" to which after not speaking the entire movie, Esteban speaks in a deep voice and says "No!", but then they both agree that they don't like each other and shake hands haha.

I really liked Trevor's Mystery Machine design! One thing I will say though, I am getting a bit tired of "the Mystery Machine blows up" plots. They've done it in Return to Zombie Island, Happy Halloween, and now this one. I wasn't really that bothered by it here; I guess I'm just saying that I'm at the point where I feel like they've done enough of those and should perhaps give it a rest after this film.

I liked the bit with the prisoners escaping at the end. The "I know but this is a family movie!" comment from the Warden was funny. Given this information, I can only assume he was going to shout the f-bomb if it wasn't a family movie lol. It was really neat to see the gang wearing the classic monster costumes. I'm unsure why Captain Cutler believed it was the real ghost of Captain Cutler...you could even see Velma's face through the costume lol. It was cute how Fred wore his ascot over the Knight costume. Speaking of which, I have so much appreciation for Fred's casually saying "Hey Mr. Wickles! What a night for a knight!" It gives off such casual sass and I love it haha. Speaking of Sassy Fred, I also think the fact that the Mystery Machine rearview mirror reads "Objects in mirror are probably Fred Jones" also has major sassy vibes lol.

One plotline I felt they could have expanded upon more was Daphne questioning her role in the gang. I thought it could have been a good plotline, but they just mentioned it once towards the beginning and it's never brought up again until the end. I wish that plotline would have been developed more.

The fact that Trevor was actually a random surfer dude in a costume was hilarious. Definitely the kind of random humor I enjoy.

The one joke I didn't really enjoy, other than the snot jokes, was Scooby breaking the fourth wall to say "this whole franchise is named after me!" That's more of a personal preference than anything and I don't think the joke was objectively bad, but it felt a bit cringey to me.

I realize I'm sort of divulging into random comments now rather than giving a cohesive review, but I have some remaining notes. It was cool how the 10,000 Volt Ghost costume looks kind of like Phantom of Vasquez Castle when it is just the suit that's not powered on.

I've got a long comment to end us off here about that wishing well lol. First of all...where did Fred get that wad of cash?!? Secondly, I love how the ending is just Fred and the gang laughing nervously as they throw dollar bills down a wishing well. I genuinely don't think they could have thought of a weirder ending and I just adore it haha. I absolutely get why they did it, but I honestly think it would have been even slightly better if there was no monster eye at the bottom of the well. The ending should have just been the gang aimlessly throwing dollar bills down the well as they slowly have an existential crisis lol. It'd be dark, but also random and amusing as heck haha. I can't make a GIF since digital download sites don't allow screenshots, but somebody needs to make a GIF of that scene of them throwing dollar bills down the well as they nervously laugh, and caption it "Capitalism be like..." hahaha.

Anyway, that's my review for the film! I really enjoyed this film even a bit more than I thought, especially the last 20 minutes of it for its random chaos. I don't think this is what I would have expected when we first heard about the Trick or Treat project in August 2021, but I am very satisfied with what we got, even if it's the only Scooby movie or show we get this year (and it likely will be).

I had originally planned to read this over the course of several days. However, I just couldn't help myself and I read the entire book in one sitting today. Overall, I absolutely loved the book and thought it was quite a fitting ending to this trilogy. It was definitely worth the two years of waiting. Although I will not reveal the culprit in this review, I will be discussing events that happen in the book throughout this review. If that's something that bothers you, I would recommend waiting to read this review.

One of the biggest things I enjoyed about this trilogy is the solid characterizations of Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy. All of them have very three-dimensional personalities, and each characters' emotions are well-written. You can definitely feel the emotional struggle present for each of the characters throughout the book, whether it be Daphne's insecurities about her parents' divorce, Velma's desire to be liked by others, and Shaggy's trust issues about being open with others. I liked how Shaggy's character arc from Mystery Begins was borrowed, where he struggles to make friends. Speaking of theatrical movies, I also thought it was interesting that Velma's family was Latinx in this book, which sort of feels like it was carried over from SCOOB!. (I will admit it's been a long time since I've read the other two, so if there was a brief mention of it in a previous book, I may have forgotten about it.)

I also thought it was an interesting touch that Velma and Daphne displayed brief overtones of jealousy towards one another. In Velma's chapter, she thinks “She twirled a lock of her perfect hair and stared off into the distance.” Later, in Daphne's chapter, she says “She twirled a lock of her perfect hair and stared off into the distance.” This part felt like a good representation of how it often is for people in high school. In high school, people often wish they were something more than they are, whether it be prettier, cooler, smarter...but the reality is, the other person is probably just as insecure about somebody else as you are about them. In high school, it's all kind of a popularity contest where everyone is trying to be the most well-liked (and social media has only made that worse). However, once you get out of high school, you begin to realize that maybe being the prettiest or the coolest, or whatever it may be, doesn't really matter all that much...it matters much more that you are unashamedly yourself. It may be a cheesy sentiment, but I feel like it's true, at least in my opinion. That being said, it was a nice little detail that really made it feel true to what high school is often like.

On the same subject, while I've never really had any complaints about this series in the past, I have to be honest that I didn't really care for Velma pining over Fred. Granted, I'm absolutely not saying that these parts were poorly written or that they detracted from the plot in any way. I completely understand that as someone in my 20s, I'm not exactly the target audience for this young adult book series. I thought the romantic pieces were certainly better done than Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, where the Shaggy/Velma relationship felt toxic and overshadowed the plot. I'm just not into teenage-like romantic drama, even if it fit the genre well in this case. Something about the hopeless pining of "Does this person who I'm madly in love with even notice me?!?" does not appeal to me at all, because it feels unnecessarily dramatic and angsty. Even though I didn't like this piece, I wouldn't say it made me like the book any less, nor would I say Morgan did a bad job with it. I think she did quite a good job of keeping it at a minimum where it wasn't completely consuming the plot. If I'm honest, there's no way I would have enjoyed it because I guess I just find that sort of teenage romantic pining to be a bit cringey, such as Velma's comment "I dashed up the steps, cursing my heart for its insistence on beating double time whenever I saw him!" I know Taylor Swift told us to embrace the cringe, but how much cringe can one take? haha

Even though Scooby didn't talk, I liked how his personality kind of came through too, when he gives Shaggy an excited look when he says "quibble" (mishearing it as "kibble"). It was a nice, subtle way to allow Scooby's personality to still shine through a little bit, and I appreciated it.

The plot of the book felt more high-stakes than the previous books, especially in the sense that a character was murdered, and the culprit tries to kill Fred and Addie by trapping them in a fire. I already thought Morgan did a good job in the other two books with creating suspense and tying in horror elements, but Silas Mohl's ghost felt even creepier than both of them. The description of him having no face was quite creepy. In addition, the scene where the ghost confronts Velma in the woods and only whispers "shhh!" was incredibly vivid and terrifying. The writing perfectly described the imagery in a way that set the stage for a super creepy moment, which can be hard to do when it's not a visual piece of media, so I give Morgan major props for that.

I also want to comment on what a great job Morgan did with including very snappy phrases in her writing. Among my favorites were "Sometimes Daphne was blinded by her Blake privilege - all that new money and fame," as well as "He was capitalism in action!" to describe Shaggy's father. Perhaps my favorite was "Lots of people got phone calls. Not my friends of me, of course, because nobody under the age of forty talks on phones." It's just such a sassy line (and a great social commentary about how phone calls are now seen as being only for old people) that I can't help but love it haha. Speaking of teenagers, do teens actually say "bee tee dub" instead of "by the way" now? I'm genuinely curious now given Fred said it in this book haha.

Speaking of remaining "hip" amongst the youth, sadly, our Official Bougie Count stays at one. I was really hopeful they'd say it again, since it was said in the second book and I figured this book would be the best chance of updating it, but alas, it was not to be. I can only hope that someday someone will say "bougie" again in the franchise so I can update it lol.

I liked that Shaggy got more of a part in this book than he had in the past two. Although we never got any part of the book from his perspective, he felt like much more of a main character, as opposed to the previous two books where his appearances were much lessened. His character arc with struggling with the fallout from his rich dad's company was also very intriguing.

The ending of this was certainly surprising, and I didn't expect the culprit to be who they were. I wasn't really upset by this, but I was surprised that the series kind of ended on a cliffhanger. I would have understood if it were left it open to reader interpretation, but it wasn't. It just ended on Daphne and Velma going to search for the map. I sort of wonder if this means another book was planned to wrap things up, but Scholastic pulled the plug before that could happen. I didn't really mind that it ended without us finding out what happened, but it felt quite abrupt and it surprised me, because I was expecting this book to wrap everything up. I wish we would have gotten to see how the overarching plot ended, given it was so prevalent throughout all three books. Although that part of the ending wasn't left open to reader interpretation, I will say I think it's really cool how the culprit claimed that they did not chase Velma in the woods. Given the culprit confessed to murder, there would be no reason for them not to confess to chasing somebody, so to me, it seems like maybe that was the real ghost of Silas Mohl.

Looking back at the trilogy as a whole, I really enjoyed this series. The characterizations of the gang, especially Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby were really well done. Fred was quite unlikeable with his womanizing and toxic masculinity, but that's exactly what the book were going for. Even though I didn't like the character, I still thought the characterization was good. The villains were all great, and Morgan did an excellent job building suspense and horror all throughout this series. The other thing I really appreciated was how well Morgan pulled in various pieces of continuity from the franchise, and creatively interpreted it to fit the story. For example, Shaggy's cousin Jack was a likely nod to Dapper Jack from Shaggy's Showdown, they carried over Daphne's parents names and one of Shaggy's parents (although it's his mom instead of his dad) being a policeman from A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Shaggy's dad's name is Samuel like in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Daphne's sisters names are carried over from Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, etc. Morgan easily could just made up new names/details for all these people, so the fact that she took the time and connected all of these details from various incarnations of the franchise definitely deserves praise. I'm definitely sad this series has ended, but I think this made an amazing addition to the Scooby franchise.

So I originally had no plans to do this review, and I don't want to commit to doing reviews on anything else since I'm not entirely sure I'll have the time. In fact, this review is so random that even I didn't know I was doing it until like 20 minutes ago lol. I've never really liked this episode, tbh. Even though my favorite series is The New Scooby-Doo Movies, I just could never quite get into this one. The lack of presence of the villain and obvious culprit always bothered me, and Jerry's involvement in the episode didn't feel as strong as most of the other guest stars in the series. A few people in the comments have been suggesting I rewatch this episode for quite a while to see if my thoughts have changed, so I wanted to give it a fair chance not having seen it in years. I thought about just responding to those people in the comments, but since my review was so long, I thought I'd just share them with all of you, since others might enjoy reading my thoughts as well.

​As much as I wanted to gain an appreciation for this episode after all these years, I really couldn't get into it. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely elements here that are enjoyable, but several things brought this episode down for me. I like the spooky atmosphere of the country music hall, and the gang searching for Jerry was a fun plot. The gang having to follow the sound of Jerry's voice to figure out what room he's in made for a very unique storyline.

However, I think revealing the culprits were Bertha and Ben Bing right away took away from the spookiness of it (I don't even feel bad about putting this spoiler right here, because they literally make it so obvious within the first few minutes with Bertha and Ben talking about "getting rid of the snoopers"). I've read other reviews that mention they like how "The Phantom" isn't really a physical threat that you can see, and I think this would have been a much cooler concept if they hadn't told you who the culprits were so early on. I think the "non-physical threat" idea would have been more enjoyable if the audience would have had no idea who or what could possibly be doing this. There are some cases where I don't really mind when the culprit is made kinda obvious before the actual unmasking, like it works in "The Loch Ness Mess" since they'd already built up such a good mystery. However, here, with without a strong villain, revealing the culprit so early on made it kind of a weaker episode in my opinion.

Going further into the villains, I felt like the whole "The Phantom could be anywhere" trope also would have been better if that was the only villain. Instead, we also get the Viking and Davy Crockett, which were not very good villains in my opinion. They popped up a couple times watching from the background, but it wasn't in a particularly creepy way. The scenes were always them just walking from room to room, rather than lurking around or trying to sneak up on the gang. Neither of them didn't feel spooky or memorable at all, given they were barely there. The gang doesn't ever see them until the trap at the end. There's definitely a way to do the "you never know where the villain is lurking" plot well, but this didn't feel like the way to do it. The villains felt barely present, making the stakes feel not as high as a typical Scooby episode.

I have to comment on Fred, because his reactions to things were interesting in this episode lol. The chemistry between him and Jerry in particular was really strange. Multiple times in the episode, Jerry would make a normal comment and Fred would respond as if he wasn't even listening to what Jerry said lol. For example, Jerry says "Boy am I glad to see you!" when he's rescued, and Fred just says "you're welcome!" haha. In another part, Jerry says "If we don't find my guitar, there ain't gonna be no opening!" Fred simply replies "True." I hadn't noticed it in any previous rewatches, but I was amusing myself throughout this whole episode with how Fred just seems like he's vaguely listening, and he's hoping whatever he says kinda half fits whatever Jerry's saying lol. Later on, after Fred says he's fit as a fiddle now that Jerry rescues him, Jerry jokes "but what I need is a guitar!" In the most serious voice imaginable, Fred replies "Yeah, I know." Besides Jerry, Fred also has quite an extreme reaction to Shaggy at one point. When Shaggy gets frightened by a statue's head tumbling down the stairs and jumps in Scooby's arms, Fred shouts "You oughta be ashamed of yourself!" It seems like the situation did not require such an intense reaction to that lol. What in the world was Fred going through in this episode? hahahaha

While it wasn't a significant issue, I have to say I'm not here for the weird sexist comments in this series. Towards the end, when they're trying to figure out who's the bait, Shaggy suggests Daphne be bait instead of him, and Velma simply replies "a girl can't do it!" I guess it's not as inappropriate as Fred's horrific "how is a woman like a desert?" joke from "Ghastly Ghost Town," but I'd say it's right up there with Fred saying it's too dangerous for the girls to go with the guys to trap Bigfoot in "The Ghost of Bigfoot." Although I would honestly say it's a bit more sad here, since it's Velma herself that says it.

Besides Fred and Velma, Shaggy also had a bit of a rough time in this episode with some of his animation. It's pretty well known about how that frame where Scooby looks evil was accidentally animated into "Mine Your Own Business." I'd never noticed it before, but we also get evil Shaggy when he's playing the xylophone. I think the animators were just trying to make him seem focused or whatever, but with the weird grin, he genuinely looks kinda evil here to me. Like he's about ready to beat that xylophone up lol.

I don't even know how to describe these other ones, other than WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? hahahahaha

There were quite a few other animation errors in this episode, including the villains for some reason exiting the room twice towards the end. Another notable error was that Shaggy comments that "10 pairs of eyes are better than four," when it should have been "5 pairs of eyes" or "10 eyes." (Thanks Jayden for pointing these out!)

Even if the episode didn't grow on me like I wanted it to, I actually had a lot of fun writing this and noticing those little things I hadn't before. This remains my second-least favorite episode of the series, only behind "Mystery in Persia." I don't really know if I'll do something like this again, but it was a fun spontaneous thing to do and I hope you enjoyed reading this review as much as I did writing it.

I just finished watching this special live, and I absolutely loved it! This special exceeded my expectations. It felt like a parody, homage, and 'making-of' type production all in one, and I thought it was done wonderfully. If you haven't watched this yet, you may want to avoid reading further than this point until you do, because this review does include spoilers!

The humor in this special was hilarious. I know there was some worry from fans that the special would be overly adult and raunchy, but they did a great job working in humor for adults without making it too inappropriate for kids. I have to say my jaw dropped a little when Velma said "Scooby's a nudist!" Daphne dating Captain Caveman was quite amusing as well. My favorite joke of the special though was Janel warning Scooby about saying Snagglepuss's catchphrase because "Snagglepuss is extremely litigious!" hahaha. One of the only two jokes I didn't care for was where Scooby said he peed in Snagglepuss's suit. I'm not a big fan of bodily humor, as it feels a bit overly childish. The other joke I didn't care for was the Scrappy one. I was really disappointed the moment they brought Scrappy up, because I could tell it was going to be them bashing him again. Honestly, it made me a little sad, because it wasn't even a single "What's a Scrappy?" type joke; it was repeated bashing and just felt unnecessary, particularly the comment about Scrappy defaming Scooby in AOL chat rooms. Scrappy's nowhere near my favorite character, but when they've been making this same joke over and over again since the 2002 live-action, it becomes a bit tiring as a fan to see. This was definitely a small part of the special and it didn't bother me as much as this semi-long explanation might make it sound, but I do think WB needs to move on from making the "Scrappy sucks haha!" jokes.

I'm not typically a huge fan of animation/live action hybrids, but I really enjoyed the contrast between the two here. It felt almost The Scooby-Doo Project-ish, especially given this special was a parody of sorts. I didn't even mind the corny-looking Snow Ghost, in fact, I thought it fit well with the special. Speaking of the villain, I did think it was hilarious how the villain was a sixth character who was written out of the show. I would have loved to see an episode with the mechanic as a main character, especially given the episode they edited her into was "The Mystery of Haunted Island."

I thought all the guest star additions were great. All the Hanna-Barbera (and DC) characters having cameos throughout were cute. All the guest stars worked really well, and I especially enjoyed Karamo. As a huge fan of The Simpsons, it made me smile to see David Silverman. Janel Parrish was a really good host. I wasn't familiar with her, but she did a nice job hosting the special. However, I don't think most people were as excited for him as I was, but did anyone notice Iain Armitage's absence? It was really strange because he was announced as a guest star, but he just wasn't there.

One of my favorite parts of the special was all the various writer/animation historian stories throughout. Even if I knew almost all of the behind-the-scenes stuff about the show, it was fun to learn a few new tidbits about the franchise. It was really sweet that all the voice actors talked a bit at the end. I particularly liked hearing Frank Welker's stories...and also hearing him say "Put your hands in the air like you just don't care!" lol. It was quite unexpected and therefore funny haha.

I enjoyed the little flashbacks, though there is a bit of an asterisk to that. It bugged me that they spliced in new audio in old scenes. I believe Kate Micucci re-recorded one of Velma's lines, and nearly all of the monster roars were re-recorded. I wondered at first if it was because they couldn't get the rights to such old content, but even the Slime Mutant's roar was re-recorded, and that was a very recent villain. I really don't have much knowledge about how copyright works when they're trying to use sound effects from old content, but it would be very strange if they weren't able to. I can't imagine anyone's going to take them to court and say "You used my monster roar without my permission!"...well, unless it's Snagglepuss haha.

I thought it was quite mean of Scooby to use someone who was clearly idolized him as his "spit bucket cleaner." That's so cruel! 

The history of unmaskings at the end was interesting. I wouldn't have chosen some of the more obscure villains like the Sky Skeleton or the president ghosts as the most famous unmaskings, but I thought the montage worked well. I looked closely because I had a feeling they were going to get some of the years wrong in the history of unmaskings, and I was right..."A Night Louse in the White House" aired in 1984, not 1983; "Scooby Dudes" aired in 1988, not 1990; and "Mystery 101" aired in 2015, not 2014. It's possible they were going by production years on "Night Louse" and "Mystery 101," but it wouldn't explain why they were two years ahead in Pup. Kate Micucci also mentions she started voicing Velma in 2014, which would back up my production year theory, but it doesn't make sense why they wouldn't be consistent, or why they'd be two years off on "Scooby Dudes."

The last thing I wanted to talk about was the music. Firstly, I didn't mind that they reused "Scooby Abracadabra Doo" for the chase song. It didn't feel like they just forced it in where it didn't fit like with Scooby-Doo Adventures: The Mystery Map, where they reused a bunch of old songs from recent DTVs. It felt almost like a callback to an old chase song. While I love the Anarbor What's New, Scooby-Doo? cover...wow, they've used that version so much lol. They even have used it on a bunch of DVD menus. There must be some WB executive that loves that version of the theme, and is like coming to every Scooby production meeting excitedly seeing if they can somehow work it in to yet another Scooby movie lol. That's my headcanon, at least haha.

Overall, I absolutely loved this reunion special and am really happy they did something like this. It was a cute, quirky 60 minutes of fun and I felt, with the exception of a few small things, it honored the franchise wonderfully. :)

Also, this is the second Scooby-Doo production in a row to end with a dance party. Is every Scooby production just going to end with a dance party now?!? haha 

On December 15, 2019, we heard about this movie for the first time after I stumbled upon a TCM listing (which was removed shortly after) for this and Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo. Now, over two years later, the movie is finally out!

A lot of people watched Scooby-Doo and Courage the Cowardly Dog throughout their childhood, so a crossover was a dream come true for them. I came into this film with a bit of a different perspective, as I never watched Courage as a kid. However, this didn't affect how much I absolutely adored this film.

Even as someone who wasn't a Courage fan, I thought this movie was so well done. It seemed like they really combined the best of both worlds here, and I thought they introduced the Courage franchise in a way that could be easily understood to someone who had never seen the show before, while not overdoing the background information. I thought it was easily as good as Happy Halloween; in fact, I would say it was even better.

One of my favorite things about the movie was the tone. It had a very dark, creepy tone to it and that made for an incredibly engaging mystery. I know some fans were worried about Courage's dark tone not fitting very well with Scooby's more lighthearted mysteries, but I thought they found the perfect balance between the two tones.

I quite enjoyed the humor in the film, for the most part. I found it amusing how Eustace repeatedly brought up that he didn't vote for the mayor. Velma's political satire at the end was quite funny as well. The clown repeatedly showing up in the film was also pretty funny. I was annoyed by the immature fart jokes with the mustard bottle, especially the fact that they went back to the joke a second time. Bodily function jokes have always seemed like very lazy writing to me, and it was unfortunate they chose to do that here as I thought all the other jokes were quite good.

I really liked the cicadas as villains! I'm usually not a huge fan of bug/animal monsters to be honest, but the cicadas were super creepy in this film and I would say I liked it just as much as the Cicada Monster from Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. Speaking of villains though, while I know they were using classic villains from Scooby and Courage in the intro, I wasn't a fan of them using the green ghost, Redbeard, and the Space Kook for the millionth time. I understand that it's a cool reference to Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, but when those villains have cameos practically every other DTV at this point, it starts to feel less like a fun reference and more like they're trying to beat you over the head with forced nostalgia. If they are going to continue to reference classic villains as Easter eggs, I'd much prefer we get more obscure ones like The Wax Phantom or the Headless Spectre for example, rather than reusing the same 10 villains over and over.

I thought the film had a great balance of Scooby and Courage, and it never felt like one franchise was overshadowing the other at any point. I quite liked Courage as a character, and Muriel was super sweet. Eustace's grouchiness was quite amusing as well. Speaking of him though, Eustace rapping was incredibly cringey and him shaking his butt is not something I ever want to see again haha. I guess it makes a little sense given they riffed off Straight Outta Compton for the title of this film, but it was still really bad lol.

As a random trivia bit, I believe this is also the first time that live-action footage has been interspersed with animation, when Eustace is watching his show on TV. It's a trope I absolutely hate in animation, so it's not something I want to see again, but I thought it was worth pointing out.

I think one of my favorite parts of the film was how they explored the theme of courage, and how it doesn't mean the absence of fear, but it means being brave when there is fear. It was really neat that they chose to explore that theme, given it's such a prominent part of Scooby and Courage's character, and shows that they really did put some thought into the plot of this film instead of just trying to cash in on people's nostalgia. I quite enjoyed the self-help app Shaggy and Scooby were using too.

I thought it was neat how the culprits were two Courage villains, Katz and LeQuack. The motive behind what they did was super interesting, particularly how they dressed up as the mayor. It was quite amusing how Fred, Daphne and Velma tried to pull the mask off of Katz. Velma didn't seem overly skeptical of anything other than Katz and LeQuack not being real, but it was done in an amusing way that didn't feel overbearing like she has been in recent films.

The ending was...interesting, to say the least. The general's character honestly seemed like they just based it off of the General from those insurance commercials haha. I'm generally not a fan of movies that end with "and now everyone's dancing together!" because it seems cringey, but I didn't hate this. I'm not really sure how to feel about it though; it was just so random and out of nowhere (extra points if you got that terrible pun lol). I probably shouldn't say this, but it genuinely sounds like Eustace is saying "Where's my dang b*tches?" when he's coming down the stairs at the end hahahaha. I watched that part three times and I still can't figure out what he's saying, because I can't imagine it's that lol.

Overall, I thought this was an incredible crossover and it exceeded my expectations. They did an amazing job combining the two shows, and the message about the meaning of courage was a really cute addition. This is one of my favorite DTVs in recent years and I hope to see more movies like it in the future.

I'll admit, I never would have expected to review a non Scooby-Doo movie on this blog. I was inspired to watch a Don Knotts movie to review on here from a comment on here by Lance Rutt, although he suggested How to Frame a Figg which I unfortunately couldn't find anywhere. I've had a bunch of people recommend The Ghost and Mr. Chicken to me over the years, saying that it was exactly like Scooby. After watching it, this film totally had the same vibe as a Scooby-Doo episode. Given the Scooby undertones present throughout the film, and the fact that this is Knott an Ordinary Week on ScoobySnax.com, I wanted to write an article reviewing this film. I would highly recommend to any Scooby fan, because between the mystery aspect and the film being a bit comedic, this came pretty close to feeling like it could have been a Scooby episode! Besides, how can you go wrong with Don Knotts haha?

I'll begin with an explanation of the film for those not familiar with it. The film begins with a man who is so out of it that he's saying random nonsense. When the man falls to the ground near a haunted house, the town's local reporter Luther Heggs (played by Don Knotts) believes this man has been murdered. After Luther reports the murder to the police, he is ridiculed when it's discovered the "murder" was simply the town drunk who was knocked unconscious. Word soon spreads of Luther's foolish mistake, and he is ridiculed and mocked by the townspeople.

To show people that he isn't just a laughing stock, Luther attempts to write an ambitious article about the same house where Luther believed he witnessed the so-called "murder", which is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of Mr. Simmons who murdered his wife, right before he himself died too. a. According to legend, the ghost of Mr. Simmons plays a creepy old organ in the house every single night. On the 20th anniversary of the house's owner dying, Luther vows to stay one night in the house to prove he's not a chicken. While Don Knotts plays quite a comedic character, who's constantly getting scared about everything (including bumping into a tree, a record player, and even a cat), the film did a really good job incorporating this comedy with some suspense surrounding the mystery of the house, just like Scooby-Doo often does. Don's exaggerated facial expressions were also quite amusing lol.

When Luther goes in the house, he is quickly frightened away by the organ playing by itself, and when he finds pruning shears stabbed into a painting of Mrs. Simmons hanging on the wall. Luther tells everyone the story, and word eventually gets back to Nicholas Simmons - the nephew of the house's owners - who wants to tear the mansion down. Unexpectedly, Nicholas sues Luther for holding up the estate's arrangements, claiming he was making libelous statements in the article he wrote about his relatives' home. Luther is taken to court, where his grade school teacher Miss Tremaine is used as a witness, and reveals that Luther was a troublemaker when he was younger. This causes Luther's credibility to be questioned by the court, and he is accused of making up the whole story of the house being haunted so he would make himself look good as a reporter.

I won't go any more into the story as not to ruin the ending for those who want to watch it. The film did a really good job with making us feel for Luther. Though he is a goofball who does a lot of silly and foolish things, one part in particular really made me feel for him as a character - when he asks a woman he has a crush on "Do you think I'm crazy?". I never thought I'd feel a little sad from watching a Don Knotts movie, but that scene really hit me because it was so pitiful! While the viewer gets to enjoy Luther's comedic moments throughout the film, you also begin to feel for him as the film goes on, because he's constantly put in situations where his peers ridicule him despite it not really being his fault.

All the acting was on-point. Nothing felt stilted or out of place at all, it was a really genuine, funny, feel-good story. Given I was a fan of the show Bewitched when I was younger, I was super excited there was a mini Bewitched reunion in this film, with Dick Sargent and Sandra Gould both having roles in this. While I wasn't as big of a fan of The Waltons, it was fun to see Ellen Corby in a different role as Luther's teacher!

Don Knotts was truly the star of this film though. His goofy acting, his wacky karate moves (which were absolutely hilarious), and his overexaggerated reactions and facial expressions to things, were so much fun to see and I found myself laughing throughout the film. It's all very ridiculous, quirky humor that's super entertaining. I will admit, even though my political leanings aren't necessarily in line with this joke, hearing Don Knotts say "Who paid for this, a Democrat?" was really savage for the 60s lol (even if he was saying it just to get people to like him). And I pretty much never use slang except satirically, but Don Knotts is special enough to get the rare honor of me using slang to refer to his jokes haha. Wait, the youth of today still say "savage," right? There was that one Megan Thee Stallion song last year titled that, so I think I'm safe lol. Also, I should probably specify that I'm still young enough that I could probably be considered "the youth of today," given I don't want people to assume I'm super old given I just was talking about liking a 60s sitcom a paragraph above. It's a joke, y'all haha.

Overall, I would absolutely give this movie 5 stars. It's a movie you can Knott miss haha. The haunted house and the mystery aspect of this film were top-notch (or rather top-Knottch? haha), and the comedy mixed in make this film so much like a Scooby episode, and it's one I would recommend to all Scooby fans, regardless how into Scooby you are. Besides, again, it's Don freaking Knotts, how can you not like that? haha

To conclude, I just want to say thank you so, so much everyone for making our little Don Knotts Week so much fun. It's been so much fun doing a week centered around the one and only Don Knotts, and it's awesome to see people getting into it so much all the comments, and most people switching their names to Don Knotts puns in the comment section haha.

That's it for Knott an Ordinary Week, folks, and hopefully I made this a week that you all will Knott forget haha.

Today, Don Knotts would have been 97 years old!

​To celebrate this, and since I know people seem to enjoy reviews, I wanted to give my review of the two episodes that Don Knotts guest starred in from The New Scooby-Doo Movies, "Guess Who's Knott Coming to Dinner" and "The Spooky Fog."

"Guess Who's Knott Coming to Dinner" remains one of my favorite Scooby episodes to date, likely in part due to childhood nostalgia given it was one of the first episodes I watched as a child. The episode starts off in the most typical Scooby-Doo fashion I can imagine: the gang getting lost and looking for directions, but they end up having to stop at a haunted mansion. At one point, Scooby sees Don Knotts and tells the gang, but he disappears before Scooby is able to show him to everyone. I always found this to be one of the most fascinating scenes in the episode, as it's literally the only time Don Knotts is mentioned despite him being the guest star. After this, Don is referred to as Homer Pipsqueak, a Sherlock Holmes-esque detective. The episode leaves it completely open to viewer interpretation as if Homer is just another of Don's disguises, or if Homer Pipsqueak is a real person that just looks like Don Knotts.

Speaking of disguises though, all of Don's disguises throughout the episode are amazing! They really make the episode a lot more mysterious, particularly the first mate disguise in which the gang is debating whether he poisoned the food or not. That part always had a very creepy vibe to me, despite that part of the episode being a little more comical as well with Don's goofy disguises. The fact that all of Don's other personas continually mistake the gang for Captain Moody's nieces and nephews also adds another layer to the mystery and gives the episode a spooky vibe, because you literally have no idea what's going on in this house until Don - no, make that Homer Pipsqueak - explains it all at the end.

I also really liked the scene where the gang is trying to escape from the house by going through all the secret passages and such. It has a very Scooby-Doo haunted house-ish vibe to me, despite it not really being a traditional Scooby haunted house given we don't actually see any ghosts until near the end of the episode. The setting of this entire episode just screams "Scooby-Doo" to me, in the sense that this type of setting is exactly what I would want when it comes to Scooby. The gigantic house with all the different creepy rooms really enhanced this episode atmospherically.

I enjoyed the ghosts quite a bit, though my one minor complaint about this episode is that I really wish we could have seen more of them. It felt like the ghosts kinda barely were a part of the first 3/4 of the episode, and were just crammed in at the end. However, I loved the scene where Don dresses up as the ghost of Captain Moody, even if we never really do get to find out how he switches back and forth between the captain and a more ghostly form. The only logical explanation is that Don is immortal! lol

Overall, I feel like the setting and Don's presence are really the stars of this episode. The atmosphere of Moody Manor is exactly what I want from a Scooby-Doo episode, and Don's antics dressing up as all the different characters was so much fun. The only thing I would change is that I wish the ghosts were more of a part of this episode. They spent a little too much time with all of Don's disguises, and it felt like the ghosts (who had really cool designs) barely appeared before a sort of rushed ending where they got caught. In this case, I would say that this episode could have benefited from a slightly longer runtime, maybe even DTV-length?

Moving on to "The Spooky Fog," another one of my favorites from the series. While I like "Guess Who's Knott Coming to Dinner" a little better, this was still a very solid episode. I think I probably would have benefited from watching an episode or two of The Andy Griffith Show before seeing this episode, given the beginning of this episode is basically just a parody of that show, even down to the town's name (the town was called Mayberry in the show, whereas this town is named Juneberry) and the sheriff's name (Sheriff Dandy Griffith is a parody of Sheriff Andy Taylor, played by Andy Griffith in the show). One minor detail that's always amused me is that one of the restaurants is named El Taco, which just seems like a very silly, lazy name for a taco restaurant, given El Taco literally just means "The Taco" in Spanish lol. (You can read more about a real restaurant named this in Fun Fact #215 from November 2018).

While the beginning of the episode was quite enjoyable and entertaining (especially the ghostly giggling part in the jail at night, which was super creepy), I felt like the episode really picked up when the gang got to the cemetery. I'm a huge fan of episodes that have lots of different villains, which is one of the reasons why The New Scooby-Doo Movies is so high on my list of favorite series. In this particular case, I thought some of the villains were so good that they should have gotten their own episodes, including: the lady ghost (though I guess we got a redesigned version of her in "Mystery of Haunted Island" very briefly, the three-eyed ghost, and that skull carriage driver.

While the scene where Shaggy and Scooby are trapped in the cave dragged on a bit, there were still bits I enjoyed, and the dragging on wasn't as pronounced as it was in some other episodes of the show, such as "The Ghost of the Red Baron." It felt like the two of them were in some pretty real danger of being trapped down there forever, so all the different ways of them trying to get out, all of which ended up failing, amped up the suspense level for me.

As a brief aside, as a kid, I always found Velma giving the difference of "stalactites" and "stalagmites" to be super helpful. I still remember the difference because of Velma's explanation in that episode to this day haha.

Overall, "The Spooky Fog" was another really enjoyable episode, and despite being a little slow to start off, the action-packed bits in the cemetery were very entertaining and creepy. Because of how long the beginning drags on, I wouldn't say it was one of my favorite episodes, but the second-half really brings this episode's rating up by a lot for me.

Don will always be one of the most memorable Scooby-Doo guest stars to me, because he fit in so well with the gang that it felt like he could have been a temporary sixth member. I really hope you enjoyed the reviews! Even though Don is gone, he will Knott be forgotten haha.

I didn't expect to love this episode as much as I did, but wow, this was incredible! Reverend Run was a fantastic guest star with an amazing presence in the episode. He seemed like he was so into his role, and I honestly found his little raps throughout the episode to be kind of quirky and fun.

The setting of the abandoned Youth Center was super creepy and made the episode feel like it had the darkest tone of any episode in the show. The Ghost of Tabb Tatters and the Skeleton of Bones McCann were both incredible villains. I don't think they could have possibly made either of them any better. I wish we would have gotten to see Tabb Tatter's face turn into a skull more than just the one time in the cold open though, that was so spooky! The shadow of Bones McCann's skeleton coming down the hall towards the gang mid-way through the episode was arguably the creepiest scene in the show.

Another thing I found to be incredibly strong in this episode was the mystery. One shortcoming this series has repeatedly struggled with is not developing the mysteries very much in favor of focusing on the guest stars, but I thought this episode had a great balance of creating an engaging mystery and focusing on Reverend Run. The Crystal Cove reference when Velma was looking up the library database was fun too!

Honestly, even Shaggy and Scooby rapping didn't bother me at all. I found that and the "rap battle" with the Skeleton of Bones McCann pretty amusing. Shaggy and Scooby's "driver's license" rap was so cringey that it somehow became amazing because it was so bad lol. Olivia Rodrigo who? haha Scooby's rap at the end though wasn't in good as English as it was in Turkish. The Turkish version was far better haha.

I truly expected this to be an average episode, but this far surpassed any expectations I would have had for it. Maybe it's just the mood I'm in today...but just everything about this episode was amazing to me. This climbs right to the top for me, right below the Hex Girls at #2/52.

Star-Studded Scoreboard:
1. I Put a Hex on You!
2. The Legend of the Gold Microphone!
3. A Haunt of a Thousand Voices!
4. Total Jeopardy!
5. The Horrible Haunted Hospital of Dr. Phineas Phrag!
6. The Last Inmate!
7. The Dreaded Remake of Jekyll & Hyde!
8. Dark Diner of Route 66!
9. The Sword, The Fox and the Scooby-Doo!
10. One Minute Mysteries!
11. Dance Matron of Mayhem!
12. Returning of the Key Ring!
13. Cher, Scooby and the Sargasso Sea!
14. Scooby-Doo, Dog Wonder!
15. Elementary, My Dear Shaggy!
16. Too Many Dummies!
17. When Urkel-Bots Go Bad!
18. The Feast of Dr. Frankenfooder!
19. The Movieland Monsters!
20. Falling Star Man!
21. The Internet on Haunted House Hill!
22. What a Night, for a Dark Knight!
23. Attack of the Weird Al-osaurus!
24. The Cursed Cabinet of Professor Madds Markson!
25. A Run Cycle Through Time!
26. The Nightmare Ghost of Psychic U!
27. A Fashion Nightmare!
28. The Wedding Witch of Wainsly Hall!
29. The 7th Inning Scare!
30. The Crown Jewel of Boxing!
31. Scooby On Ice!
32. Lost Soles of Jungle River!
33. Caveman on the Half Pipe!
34. A Moveable Mystery!
35. Revenge of the Swamp Monster!
36. The Scooby of a Thousand Faces!
​37. Scooby-Doo and the Sky Town Cool School!
38. Now You Sia, Now You Don't!
39. The High School Wolfman's Musical Lament!
40. The Tao of Scoob!
41. The New York Underground!
42. The Phantom, the Talking Dog, and the Hot Hot Hot Sauce!
43. The Lost Mines of Kilimanjaro!
44. Hollywood Knights!
45. Fear of the Fire Beast!
46. The Hot Dog Dog!
47. Quit Clowning!
48. Peebles' Pet Shop of Terrible Terrors!
49. Space Station Scooby
50. Ollie Ollie In-come Free!
51. The Fastest Food Fiend!
52. A Mystery Solving Gang Divided

For those that don't know, I'm a huge fan of the original Dynomutt, Dog Wonder series that aired from 1976-1977. I was super excited when I heard this episode was coming out and was hopeful it would have a similar feel to the classic series. While this episode wasn't exactly like the original series, I definitely wasn't disappointed and felt it came somewhat close.

I really enjoyed Dynomutt and felt he was the star of the episode. I really enjoyed his quirky antics in the original show, so I liked his goofy characterization in this episode a lot. Blue Falcon, on the other hand, didn't impress me. His new voice actor, David Kaye, didn't do the best job in my opinion. A lot of his lines seemed very forced ("Let's go fight some crime!"), and good lord, I never want to hear Blue Falcon say "Click it or ticket!' again lol. I didn't even want to hear it the one time haha! Another very cringey line was Dynomutt exclaiming "it's selfie time!" Ugh lol. It was also kind of a little ridiculous that Blue Falcon immediately presumed that Dynomutt was dead when the vase fell on him, even yelling "You fiend! I will avenge you, Dynomutt!" Firstly, Dynomutt's a robot and has had much worse happen to him before in the series, so he's probably fine. But also, like, you're not even going to go over and see if he's okay first before just presuming he's dead? lol

​Velma also seemed to like adding extra "the"s to things in this episode towards the beginning. She called Medusa "The Medusa" and calls Dynomutt "The Dog Wonder." I also didn't really care for her immediately blurting out Blue Falcon's real identity, and it gave me Curse of the 13th Ghost/Return to Zombie Island Velma vibes.

I realize that was a lot of criticisms, but all the rest of the episode was great. It was cute how Dynomutt became Blue Falcon after he was kidnapped, and made Scooby-Doo become him. It would have made much more sense to just replace Blue Falcon, but it was a very Dynomutt way of doing things to switch it around like that. Seemed like Dynomutt had planned for this previously though, given he had a Blue Falcon hat haha. I liked Medusa as well as a villain and she had a cool design, though I wish they would stop just putting "Monster" after every villain name in this series. It's really not needed. I do wish they would have been more consistent about Medusa's powers though. Scooby looked at Medusa for at least a few seconds before covering his eyes, which should have turned him to stone. Also, why did Medusa need to cover her own eyes when she looked at herself in the mirror? She knows she has no real powers, because she's a guy in a costume, so that makes no sense lol. Medusa wasn't quite your typical Dynomutt villain, but I thought she still worked well. Speaking of Dynomutt villains though, I loved that they referenced Fishface and Superthug in the episode, which are two classic Dynomutt villains.

It was fun to see Radley Crown return in this episode! Radley Crown being an art dealer was a plot point of the original series, but it only lasted a few episodes before they just stopped showing that part of Blue Falcon's life, so it was a pleasant surprise to have Blue Falcon's real identity return.

Overall, while not a perfect replica of a classic Dynomutt episode, I think it came pretty close and I really enjoyed this one. This gets ranked 13/51.

Star-Studded Scoreboard:
1. I Put a Hex on You!
2. A Haunt of a Thousand Voices!
3. Total Jeopardy!
4. The Horrible Haunted Hospital of Dr. Phineas Phrag!
5. The Last Inmate!
6. The Dreaded Remake of Jekyll & Hyde!
7. Dark Diner of Route 66!
8. The Sword, The Fox and the Scooby-Doo!
9. One Minute Mysteries!
10. Dance Matron of Mayhem!
11. Returning of the Key Ring!
12. Cher, Scooby and the Sargasso Sea!
13. Scooby-Doo, Dog Wonder!
14. Elementary, My Dear Shaggy!
15. Too Many Dummies!
16. When Urkel-Bots Go Bad!
17. The Feast of Dr. Frankenfooder!
18. The Movieland Monsters!
19. Falling Star Man!
20. The Internet on Haunted House Hill!
21. What a Night, for a Dark Knight!
22. Attack of the Weird Al-osaurus!
23. The Cursed Cabinet of Professor Madds Markson!
24. A Run Cycle Through Time!
25. The Nightmare Ghost of Psychic U!
26. A Fashion Nightmare!
27. The Wedding Witch of Wainsly Hall!
28. The 7th Inning Scare!
29. The Crown Jewel of Boxing!
30. Scooby On Ice!
31. Lost Soles of Jungle River!
32. Caveman on the Half Pipe!
33. A Moveable Mystery!
34. Revenge of the Swamp Monster!
35. The Scooby of a Thousand Faces!
​36. Scooby-Doo and the Sky Town Cool School!
37. Now You Sia, Now You Don't!
38. The High School Wolfman's Musical Lament!
39. The Tao of Scoob!
40. The New York Underground!
41. The Phantom, the Talking Dog, and the Hot Hot Hot Sauce!
42. The Lost Mines of Kilimanjaro!
43. Hollywood Knights!
44. Fear of the Fire Beast!
45. The Hot Dog Dog!
46. Quit Clowning!
47. Peebles' Pet Shop of Terrible Terrors!
48. Space Station Scooby
49. Ollie Ollie In-come Free!
50. The Fastest Food Fiend!
51. A Mystery Solving Gang Divided