The 13 Most Underrated Scooby-Doo Episodes: Honorable Mentions

It's time to kick off our two week celebration of Scooby's 56th anniversary! For these next 13 days, I'll be spotlighting what I feel are the most underrated Scooby-Doo episodes in the franchise. Despite the title, there will be one film that makes my rankings.

Before starting this post, I want to acknowledge that "underrated" is a super subjective term imo. An episode that's underrated to one person might not be seen as such to someone else, or perhaps it might even be seen as overrated to another person. Because of this, I didn't want to approach this list as "these are my favorite episodes that hardly anybody else likes." While personal opinion obviously factors into the episodes I picked here, I chose to define "underrated" as episodes or films that I don't hear discussed a lot, but that I think are excellent and/or unique. I did not include "love it or hate it" episodes or films where people have strong opinions on both side (such as Goblin King, since that's more a matter it being polarizing than it not being appreciated by many.

That said, Scooby-Doo has such a big fanbase that it would be impossible to know how episodes are viewed in all corners of the fandom. I fully anticipate that a couple of the episodes I choose probably are brought up often by some, but this list is just for fun, so you're welcome to disagree with my picks!

Before starting my main list, I'm going to share three honorable mentions that were very close to being on my list, but didn't quite end up making it.

The Demon of the Dugout
Series: The Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show
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​This isn't one that would have made my list a few years ago, but recently, I've grown to appreciate this one more. This episode features the gang going to a baseball game in Japan. Soon, the game is disrupted by the Dragon Beast, who is trying to steal a priceless trophy. The reason this one almost made my list is because of the strong atmosphere. This episode has become one of my favorite sports episodes of the franchise for the excellent tone, and how creepy the dugout feels as a setting. The scene where the Dragon Beast stalks the gang and follows them back to their hotel is, in my opinion, the creepiest scene of this series. The mystery is also super well-written here! This one has grown on me so much in recent years.

Up a Crazy River
Series: The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo Puppy Hour
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I find most of the Yabba shorts to be kinda painful to sit through, so this one making the list is a ​pretty high honor. I'm not sure if the writers intended to have the writing be intentionally funny-bad, but this one falls into the "so bad it's good" category for me. The plot of the episode involves Dusty, Scrappy and Yabba stopping a store from being robbed by crooks. Despite that they are the law enforcement of this town, they're oddly hesitant to actually enforce the laws lol. As the thieves are actively stealing things out of the store, Dusty, Scrappy and Yabba just shout vague things to attempt to discourage them from robbing the store, including "Nobody messes with the law in this town!" and "You're gonna be sorry if you do that!" The funniest thing about this is that they literally just keep shouting warnings until the thieves have nearly cleared out the store, and then don't actually do anything further to stop the robbery lol. It's also clear they have a reputation for not actually enforcing the law, as at one point, the thieves are seen causally strolling out of the store with their stolen goods, not in any hurry at all haha. This is reinforced in an another episode (I forget which) where I believe Dusty calls for the sheriff to help him, then Yabba reminds him that he is the sheriff haha.
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Besides this, the thieves are also addicted to stealing. When Scrappy comments that Dusty is worth more than gold, the thieves take this literally and steal him. Shortly before that, the thieves attempt to steal Dusty's shirt and pants. Whether or not it was intentional, the writing of this short is delightfully quirky in so many ways. The rest of the Yabba shorts range from passably decent to amongst the lowest lows of the franchise, but this is the one Yabba short I'd recommend watching.

Scoo-Be or Not Scoo-Be?
Series: The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries
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"Scoo-Be or Not Scoo-Be?" is a parody of Hamlet, where the gang stays in a hotel and runs into the ghost of the titular prince. They soon discover the ghost strangely is uninterested in chasing them himself, and seems to be warning them away from something else. To make the mystery even weirder, a sea demon appears and tries to chase the gang away. Throughout this episode, the gang has to figure out how the two are connected. Besides the complexity of this mystery being super cool, I really like how the episode also feels like it has a little bit darker tone than the rest of the series.

Super Scary Movie Night
Series: Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!

"Mystery of the Missing Mystery Solvers" seems to be the most acclaimed Get a Clue episode mystery-solving and haunted house aspects, but this is another one that I feel mirrors the classic Scooby-Doo formula very tastefully. The episode involves Shaggy and Scooby's butler Robi building a five-dimensional television, but things go awry when Dr. Phibes delivers DVDs that unleash monsters into their home. While Get a Clue's comedy isn't everybody's cup of tea, the humor here is really solid. We get some hilariously silly moments with stuff like Robi's "five-dimensional television" allowing Shaggy and Scooby to feel, smell and taste what's on TV, as well as one of Phibes' monsters (the mummy) accidentally being programmed with the trait of being money hungry. The monsters give the episode a perfect balance that captures the feeling of a classic Scooby-Doo episode, and still stays true to the vibe of this series.

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So minor spoilers, but there are a handful of series that do not make my list. Two of them have already been revealed (Puppy Hour and Get a Clue), and I do not plan to make a pick for Velma or Laff a Lympics. I thought it might be fun to make picks for the other three series that aren't represented here. That said, I wouldn't consider any of these to be amongst the most underrated episodes of Scooby. These are just "honorable mentions" for what I feel is the most underrated episode of their respective series.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Werewolf
Series: Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
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With a series like Where Are You, it's honestly tough to make a choice. All of the episodes feel quite acclaimed, so including them on a list of most underrated episodes in the franchise didn't feel right. That said, this one stands out to me a little as being unique, but I don't see that talked about a lot. It's really interesting how for once, Shaggy and Scooby don't run into the werewolf at all for most of the episode, but Daphne, Velma, and Fred run into him everywhere. I also really like the setting of the old mill. This episode took what isn't a particularly spooky setting in theory, and made it feel very creepy. This one has gone up in my rankings for this series more and more each year for its uniqueness.

A Spooky Little Ghoul Like You
Series: The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo

​13 Ghosts is a rather interesting series, in the sense that I honestly feel all of the episodes are the right amount of acclaimed. All of what I'd consider the high points of this series seem to be the ones most other fans like best, and it seems most people agree on the low points (When You Witch Upon a Star, Coast to Ghost, etc.) as well. That said, if I had to pick, this one stands out to me as being pretty cool. I wouldn't call it a favorite, but it's one of the better episodes of the show that I don't see discussed a lot. The plot of Vincent being struck by a ghoul's love spell is really creepy. The hotel also has a great atmosphere! I really like how the stakes get progressively higher throughout the course of this episode, especially when she rises a cemetery full of ghosts from their graves. While it may not be this series' peak quality, it's a very good episode that I do not see discussed much.

Web of the Dreamweaver
Series: Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated
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Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated was the first Scooby series I got to experience as it was airing. There was so much hype around the series, and it continues to be seen as an iconic Scooby series to this day. In such an acclaimed series like this, it was very challenging to think of the episode that is most underrated. I remember this episode being well-liked when it aired, but in recent years, I have some some fans share that they think it's one of the less memorable episodes. Honestly, this is one of the episodes that sticks out most to me in season 2.

Having an episode that is basically a combo of Dungeons & Dragons and A Nightmare on Elm Street is so much fun. The Dreamweaver being able to make appearances in people's dreams is terrifying! The plot feels extremely high-stakes here, but is balanced out nicely with the comedy surrounding Shaggy and Sheriff Stone being closeted D&D players. This is such a great episode that stands out as a favorite from this season.

​Stay tuned for my full list of the 13 most underrated episodes! The countdown of my most underrated episodes of the franchise starts tomorrow, and I'll be revealing an episode every day through Scooby's anniversary.