Scooby-Doo & Guess Who? Episode 39 Review

Given this episode is a direct sequel to "Sandy Duncan's Jekyll and Hydes" from the original The New Scooby-Doo Movies series, Curse of the 13th Ghost and Return to Zombie Island got me really worried about how this episode would be. After watching it, I personally loved this episode and thought they did an amazing job. If this were what Curse of the 13th Ghost and Return to Zombie Island were like, I think it would have made fans at least somewhat happier. 

I loved the tons of references to the original episode all throughout. These were the ones I caught: Velma and Fred's comments about turning at different landmarks at the beginning, the lights falling (an illusion to the lamppost nearly falling on Sandy), the angry director, Scooby making eyes at Sandy Duncan, the mummy and pyramids, the door scene where there is a saloon and a desert, Daphne being a stunt double, Bill Billington (the actor playing Mr. Hyde) as a suspect, luring Mr. Hyde out, and the dinosaur is possibly a reference to the dragon.

Zalia Z. Fairchild making a reappearance was unexpected but very cool. The production stills showing clips from the original episode (and pictures of the Ghost of Hyde from Where Are You) was super neat, and kinda reinforced that the villain of this episode was almost a combo between the elements of the Sandy Duncan Mr. Hyde and the Ghost of Hyde from Where Are You. The updated versions of the dresses Sandy and Daphne wore in the original episode were fun.

One thing I noticed is that the mummy from Liza Koshy's video, which also featured the Wolfman and Caveman from previous episodes, appeared in this episode. That maybe me wonder if maybe that episode was meant to come after this one.

Speaking of the mummy though, it was neat how they played upon both the original episode and the New Scooby-Doo Movies' use of several villains per episode in general, but also made it their own by including two new villains: a dinosaur and a giant manta ray. The inclusion of them mixed with the two villains from the original episode (albeit redesigned) was a perfect balance to me.

Sandy was once again a great guest star. She seems like such a sweet woman and she definitely did as good in this episode as she did in the original. 

I thought the ending of them making the movie in space was really dumb though.

While this episode did have a lot of similarities to the original episode, it was done well enough where I didn't feel it was just a rehash of what had already been done. If they are going to make sequels to Scooby material, they're getting closer to the way it should be done IMO. 

This one was such a good episode, it makes top 3 for me, knocking Alton Brown's episode out of its short-lived run in the top 10.

Before I conclude this post with my rankings, I want to also say that I really enjoyed this first half of the season and it makes me excited for the remaining 13 episodes! We actually already know seven of the guests we're getting, between KISS, Lucy Liu, Dynomutt and Blue Falcon, Jessica Biel, Alex Trebek, and Sean Astin. In addition, we know Jason Sudeikis, whose episode "Lost Soles of Jungle River!" has already aired in the UK. Some people are also suspecting the voice actors themselves will be a guest star due to a post made by Tracy Mark Lee a while back. The other six are unknown at this time.

I'm not sure if we'll get another episode like this one. Not many of the guest stars are still alive, though Dick Van Dyke, Cher and one Harlem Globetrotter are still alive. I don't think we'll get the single Harlem Globetrotter, but I'd love if we got another Cher episode!

The highlights of this first half of the season for me were "The Last Inmate!", "The Horrible Haunted Hospital of Dr. Phineas Phrag!" and this episode.

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