We've had quite a number of Dynomutt and Scooby-Doo crossovers in the past few years, reviving the series from an almost 40 year lull without any content. Most recently, Dynomutt and Blue Falcon teamed up with the gang in the Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? episode, "Scooby-Doo, Dog Wonder!" As a fan of the original Dynomutt, Dog Wonder series, when I first heard we were getting the episode way back in 2019, I was pretty excited. My excitement grew even more when we got the description for the episode, which mentioned Radley Crown and his art collection. Radley Crown is Blue Falcon's true identity, but was only used sparingly in the beginnings of the first few episodes of Dynomutt, Dog Wonder before they stopped referencing it at all. This is why I was so thrilled they were using that in this episode, as it wasn't a major trope in the series and made me believe that they would be trying to stay extra true to the original series, which is something that neither of the other two crossovers did. It turns out, I wasn't disappointed. I thought Dynomutt's quirky antics throughout the episode, as well as the mystery being centered around Radley Crown's art collection, made for a very entertaining plot that felt pretty close to what a classic Dynomutt, Dog Wonder episode was like. The only thing I didn't like from the episode was Blue Falcon, who was given a new voice actor, David Kaye. I didn't feel like Kaye did a good job at all, and he was very unconvincing at voicing Blue Falcon. Many of his lines, such as "let's go fight some crime!" and "click it or ticket!" felt super cringey and like it was written by a writer who had never seen what Blue Falcon was like in the original show. Granted, Blue Falcon was kidnapped for most of the episode, so it didn't bother me all that much. I won't go too much into it, as I've already written a detailed review about that episode (which you can read here). However, in this article, I want to rank the other six Scooby-Doo and Dynomutt crossovers, wrapping it all up by using the most recent Guess Who episode as a point of analysis. Beginning in descending order, just looking at it from a standpoint of how true each crossover stayed to classic Dynomutt, I'd have to put Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon last. I loved the movie itself, but specifically examining it as a crossover, the fact that Dynomutt was just a superhero movie strayed pretty far from the original series. I liked how the main villain was Mr. Hyde, who was the villain in the first ever Scooby-Doo and Dynomutt crossover, but Dynomutt wasn't even really in the movie, and Blue Falcon was just an actor who made brief appearances throughout. The inclusion of the Hideous Hyde Hound and the bats were kinda cool I guess, but the fact that Dynomutt and Blue Falcon weren't really in it at all puts it at the bottom of this particular list. The movie is actually one of my favorites from the past decade, but as a crossover, the other five were far better. I actually totally forgot about this crossover until I started writing the paragraph below it haha. I would rank "Heart of Evil" from Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated next. I thought they did a good job with the crossover, but Blue Falcon being so intense was a bit of a letdown for me. I know they were going for a Batman-type character, but for me, it just didn't work to have Blue Falcon act like he was about to stab someone any minute. He's very much the gentlemanly, polite crusader of justice and isn't super violent like they portrayed him in this episode. I did enjoy the backstory for how Dynomutt was a real dog who was injured and had to be made into a robot. For me, I think the episode would have ranked a little higher had I ever seen Jonny Quest, because a lot of that show was in this crossover too, even including the villain. Having no knowledge of Jonny Quest made it a little less fun, just because I didn't understand all the references with Dr. Zin, so he felt like a bit of lackluster villain to me. It is genuinely hard to rank these crossovers though, because all of them are good in their own way. They did a great job working Blue Falcon and Dynomutt into the overarching plot of this show, but not knowing Jonny Quest and Blue Falcon being so over-the-top edgy places this one at 5/6. I know people didn't like Dynomutt and Blue Falcon reversing personalities in SCOOB!, but I actually enjoyed Blue Falcon's son's silliness and Dynomutt being the serious one. It's definitely not true to anything in the original show, but it worked. I really enjoyed what a prominent role they had with helping Shaggy and Scooby with the overarching plot of stopping Dick Dastardly. Blue Falcon's intro song being DJ Khaled was...a little cringey....but amusingly so. I can absolutely understand why fans of the original show would hate this, because it did deviate pretty far from what the original Dynomutt series was going for. I think the fact that they said it was Blue Falcon's son Brian, rather than the actual Blue Falcon, is what made it work for me. If they would have had the actual Blue Falcon dancing to DJ Khaled with his typical personality, it wouldn't have worked. The fact that they made it a different character made me enjoy it more, and Dynomutt reacting to Brian's more goofy personality by becoming serious was a fun change-up. Now we get down to the three crossovers that were actually a part of the original Dynomutt, Dog Wonder series! It's pretty incredible that Scooby had a major role in three episodes of the show, given there were only twenty in all. As a side note, I'm still hoping we get a DVD release of season 2 someday, though those episodes are for some reason super rare and there were only four of them, so I imagine it's a similar situation as with The Scooby-Doo Show season 2. I imagine there's also not much of a market for Dynomutt DVDs given he hasn't had his own show in over 40 years. I really liked all three of them, but the first to go has to be "The Wizard of Ooze." I found a lot of the Dynomutt villains to be super cool, but Swamp Rat and Mudmouth have to be my least favorite. They're basically just hillbillies in a swamp, one of which who looks like a rat. I did enjoy the atmosphere of both the swamp and the town/mall, and the gang accidentally bumping into Dynomutt and Blue Falcon (and recognizing them!) while looking for a ghost was fun, but I really never cared for these villains. As a kid, I always wished Scooby would have appeared in the Iron Face episode (that's right, Dynomutt had a villain named Iron Face too!), because that one felt far more mystery-focused than Dynomutt and the gang chasing after some hillbillies, which is what we got in this episode. I did really enjoy the character interactions and setting in this episode, and would rank it 3/6. Next is "What Now, Lowbrow?", which features a caveman and his two henchmen attempting to steal a super computer from a university to become super smart. I always found Lowbrow to be a very fascinating villain, because he's the only one of the series (other than I guess Swamp Rat and Mudmouth) who's just a normal person. The difference between Lowbrow and the other two for me, though, was that we got to see Lowbrow's evolution of becoming a super villain through his quest to become smart and steal the super computer. I feel like we rarely see get to see the backstory behind the evolution of villains in these types of cartoons, so that aspect of the episode has always been unique to me. Lowbrow's super strength due to being a caveman also made him one of the more dangerous Dynomutt villains, which I found to be pretty cool. In terms of the gang, it kinda felt like they didn't really need to be here...of the three Dynomutt crossovers, this is the one they're in the least and are kinda just sent on random errands, rather than contributing to the overall plot. That's the only thing that brings this one down below the top spot, but this was still a really fantastic crossover and it was fun to see the gang help out, even if it was just a little. Taking the #1 spot is the classic Scooby-Doo and Dynomutt crossover that I feel everyone remembers, "Everybody Hyde!" It's also the very first episode of Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, which is worth noting because it's kind of unique that the first two episodes of the show were both crossovers with Scooby-Doo ("What Now, Lowbrow?" was the second episode). It's almost as if the show needed a little lift from Scooby to truly take off and grow into its own thing, which I've always found to be pretty special. It reminds me a little of how Goober and the Ghost Chasers included The Partridge Family as guest stars in six of their first seven episodes, the only one not including them being because Wilt Chamberlain was guest starring. If I may give a brief aside, Goober and the Ghost Chasers has always been a bit of an oddity to me as a series, due to their incredibly heavy use of The Partridge Family as guest stars, even though it was not advertised or intended to be a guest star focused show. Eight of the sixteen episodes included The Partridge Family as guest stars, and there were two other episodes that included other guest stars, basketball player Wilt Chamberlain, and Michael Gray. Only six episodes of the series had the Goober and the Ghost Chasers by themselves, and episode 10 was the first one not to feature a guest star. I almost feel like the writers didn't trust that Goober would have enough of an appeal without guest stars, which I mention because of the two Scooby crossovers kicking off the Dynomutt series.
Anyway, with "Everybody Hyde!", we get to see another fun evolution of a villain, though this time it's Willie the Weasel, who has transformed into Mr. Hyde (and has also transformed his dog into a monster). Soon after, while Dynomutt and Blue Falcon are on the trail of Mr. Hyde, the gang appears and think Mr. Hyde is a ghost, which I always thought was kind of a fun little throwback to the ghost of Hyde from Where Are You. What really made this episode so enjoyable to me was how much of a role the gang had in it compared to the two others. The gang finds clues that help the two superheroes, attempt to help them stop Mr. Hyde, and even set one of their famous traps that ultimately ends up capturing the villain. This episode was a perfect catalyst for kicking off the Dynomutt series by including some of the classic Scooby formula, to help the audience warm up to these new superheroes. Because of that, this is my favorite Dynomutt crossover and will always have a special place in my heart. Tying it back to the Guess Who episode, the original Dynomutt crossovers were a bit more "supervillain-y" than "Scooby-Doo, Dog Wonder!" was, but at the same time, I thought it was fun that there was finally a crossover between the two shows that felt like more of a mystery. We got three crossovers that were a little more Dynomutt-focused, and now we got a finally crossover between the two that was more Scooby-focused. It almost brought things a little full circle for me and reminded me of watching Dynomutt as a kid, so despite the flaws with Blue Falcon's characterization, the most recent Guess Who crossover with Dynomutt and Blue Falcon was a blast from the past and really captured the tone and feel of the original series.
17 Comments
Jakob123
6/18/2021 09:36:29 am
I hate to disagree with you WildWind...but I think David Kaye did a pretty impressive job voiceing the Blue Falcon.
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6/18/2021 09:55:23 am
I'm really glad you enjoyed David Kaye's voice for Blue Falcon! I just personally didn't like it as much as the original, but I definitely respect your opinion.
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Matt
6/18/2021 10:15:49 am
Ooh now here is something just right for me! I will also rank them and give a short explanation
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6/18/2021 10:31:45 am
Interesting! It looks like we have the exact same rankings other than Mask of the Blue Falcon! I loved the movie itself, but my issue was like you said, it can only go so far without Dynomutt actually there. I'd place Dog Wonder in between #3 and #5 as well.
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Matt
6/18/2021 11:00:37 am
Now if I were ranking based off of my enjoyment if each episode/movie 6/18/2021 11:50:23 am
My list would be:
Matt
6/19/2021 01:15:17 pm
Wizard of Ooze is weaker, but those first two Dynomutt crossovers were something special 6/27/2021 03:24:24 pm
Agreed! They were amazing and I wish there would have been more.
Scoobyfan4ever
6/18/2021 11:10:02 am
What about the Scooby-Doo Team Up story?
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6/18/2021 11:47:36 am
I forgot about that one! I was mainly going for comparing the animated crossovers that have happened in shows/movies in this post anyway, so I probably wouldn't have included it. I enjoyed that comic though.
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James Dixon
6/18/2021 01:32:08 pm
I admire David Kaye's enthusiasm, but it can be hit or miss most of the time. His Radley Crowne is even worse, and yet it's from the exact same actor doing the exact same voice.
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6/18/2021 02:41:14 pm
I wasn't super familiar with his other roles, but a quick check of IMDb shows he actually has had quite a few in the past few years. I agree they can be kind of hit or miss, depending on what character he's playing.
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James Dixon
6/18/2021 03:42:22 pm
Of course, I meant with his Blue Falcon. He did it better than Jeff Bennett's Adam West version of Blue Falcon, but sometimes it's like Kaye just lost the voice sometimes.
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6/18/2021 09:31:48 pm
Agree it was better than Bennett's version of him, but yeah, Kaye didn't do a great job IMO
Shadowscooby
6/18/2021 02:23:55 pm
Is there going to be a blue falcon Dynomutt poll?
Reply
6/18/2021 02:41:59 pm
You read my mind, because that's the poll I just wrote yesterday, to be posted this coming Sunday haha.
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Shadowscooby
6/18/2021 05:23:56 pm
Oh wow hahaha Leave a Reply. |
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