Weekly Poll #127

5/1/2022

I made a miscellaneous sports poll since I didn't feel any of these episodes really fit into a category. I guess "The Spirit Spooked Sports Show" and Scooby-Doo! Spooky Games could fit into the track and field category, but it's a bit of a stretch.

Here are the results for last week's poll, and it seems we have our first tie!
Which season of What's New had the best villains?
Season 1 - 23
Season 2 - 23
Season 3 - 17

42 Comments

Becker

5/1/2022 09:09:09 am

That tie between S1 and S2, speaks for itself in terms of cosistency, along with S3 just a few points behind.

Ok, so we can all agree Ghastly Goals is definitely NOT the winner here! As a fan of soccer (football), this crap's an absolute travesty to watch...

Now onto the rest which I like. Yes, that includes The Warlock of Wimbledon. I would not call it a great episode, but it's a very entertaining one. The first half is genuinely solid and has TSDS season 1 vibes, and then the second half goes kinda batshit and stupidly funny which innately makes it enjoyable to me, even if in a more ironic sense.

Spooky Games is clearly one of the best 2010s specials, along with Haunted Holidays (notice how they gradually went downhill). It's a pretty good example of how a show based on the style of the current style of DTVs could look like. It's a shame we haven't gotten one... it could have been a nice flip-flop to the 2000s era, where the movies were the ones based on the show style. Would've preferred it to Guess Who. However, I wouldn't consider it one of my favorites specials (TSDP and NofLD), it's just a very solid one.

Diamonds Are a Ghoul's Best Friend has always been a very well executed unique novelty episode. Love the setting, monster, mystery and a lot of jokes. There's really not much I can say bad about it, just that it doesn't get my vote (it's not far from it) cuz I have my personal preferences.

Ultimately, I had to go with The Spirit Spooked Sports Show. I acknowledge it's very much personal preference, this episode to me is one of the consistently and insanely entertaining, funny and rewatchable episodes of the franchise. I know that sounds kinda out of left field, and I can't even explain myself fully why, but everything I love when it comes to Scooby-Doo comedy and great silly ideas is present here! Never gets boring or old, probably my favorite NSDMo episode, and gets my vote.

Becker

5/1/2022 09:17:00 am

Consistency*

WildwindVampire link

5/1/2022 11:20:04 am

Absolutely! WNSD is arguably one of the most consistent Scooby series of the entire franchise.

Yes, I think we can all agree Ghastly Goals is pretty awful haha.

I've never hated "The Warlock of Wimbledon" as much as some others either. It's certainly not the best TSDS episode, but the second half is indeed so ridiculous it's kinda funny and entertaining. It's almost like two different people wrote each half haha. I do wish it could have stuck more with the tone of the first half.

Yeah, I also thought the specials really went downhill after Haunted Holidays. Mecha Mutt Menace is okay, but the other three aren't all that good. I've always considered these specials to be a show in the style of the DTVs as well. They were fun, but I wish the non-2012 ones would have been written a bit better.

"Diamonds Are a Ghoul's Best Friend" is definitely a fun novelty episode. The uniqueness of the setting, mystery and monster make this episode amazing.

Your opinions on "The Spirit Spooked Sports Show" are definitely not out of left field, at least in my opinion. The episode has always been a personal favorite of mine for how entertaining the dynamic between Tim, Shaggy and Scooby is. Something about the silliness and randomness of the antics in this episode is just so entertaining, which makes this episode have a lot of rewatchability for me. This is also what got my vote.

Becker

5/2/2022 03:23:40 am

Those DTV style specials are almost like a miniseries of 6 episodes. The Spooky Scarecrow special was alright I guess. But yeah... the 2012 ones are very good, the 2013 ones are decent enough, and the 2014-2015 ones are just... bad. No wonder they stopped.

WildwindVampire link

5/2/2022 01:10:40 pm

Yeah, they do kind of feel like a miniseries. I found Spooky Scarecrow to just be okay. Not bad, but relatively forgettable. There was definitely a dropoff in quality after 2012. Personally, I didn't mind Beach Beastie and remember it being comparable to Spooky Scarecrow and Mecha Mutt Menace.

Becker

5/2/2022 01:34:24 pm

Ghastly Goals is definitely the worst one, but I couldn't care less about Beach Beastie. It's an improvement over Ghastly Goals, but that's not a hard thing to achieve.

Shadowscooby

5/1/2022 09:19:09 am

I picked Spirited Spooked Sports Show. It’s one of the best of NSDM.

WildwindVampire link

5/1/2022 11:06:54 am

Agreed! That was my pick as well.

Shadowscooby

5/1/2022 09:19:50 am

Where’s The Crown Jewel of Boxing?

WildwindVampire link

5/1/2022 11:07:17 am

Oops, you're right! So sorry about that. I just added that option to the poll.

Matt

5/1/2022 10:09:22 am

5. Ghastly Goals- I don’t actually remember much about the episode itself, or not enough to see why it gets such an angry reaction, but I do remember being very bored and unimpressed enough to put it last

4. Warlock of Wimbledon- First half of this episode is very, very, very good. Unfortunately, the sports part itself falls into the bad half of the episode

3. Spooky Games- Well done special. Probably my favorite of those 2010s specials besides Haunted Holidays

2. Spirited Spooked Sports Show- A classic NSDMovies episode. Would be a worthy winner as well but…

1. Diamonds are a Ghoul’s Best Friend- HOCKEY! I love hockey and this episode has some great humor. A favorite of WNSD for me

Becker

5/1/2022 10:19:18 am

I think the hatred for Ghastly Goals grows the more the viewer likes soccer. That's my case at least, as a soccer kind of guy.
Can't argue with Diamonds Are a Ghoul's Best Friend, I would've voted for it if I wasn't so biased towards Spirited Spooked Sports Show. Agreed otherwise.

WildwindVampire link

5/1/2022 11:12:22 am

6. Ghastly Goals - One of the worst pieces of Scooby media to be released. I'm not a fan of soccer, so I don't think that's necessarily it. I just found the plot to be very thin, and the animation quality and backgrounds were so poor to the point of being lazy. I was pretty bored by this.

5. The Crown Jewel of Boxing! - I enjoyed this episode and liked the robot, even if he did repeat "destroy" like 100 times lol. Laila Ali was a great guest star.

4. The Warlock of Wimbledon - Same reason as you. First half of the episode was great, not really sure what happened with the second half haha.

3. Spooky Games - One of my favorite DTV specials. The villain was creepy and it was cool they made a special to align with the 2012 Olympics. I agree it's the best special besides Haunted Holidays.

2. Diamonds Are a Ghoul's Best Friend - a close first. The Frozen Fiend's design is so cool and I like the switch-up where they try to catch the monster first. Great suspects, an engaging mystery, and an interesting twist on the gang splitting up, with Velma going by herself.

1. The Spirit Spooked Sports Show - I have a lot of nostalgia around this episode. I really like the ghost of Fireball McFain, and the setting is cool given it's Velma's old high school. Tim Conway was an excellent guest star. The twist at the end was really fun and surprising.

Matt

5/2/2022 02:17:06 pm

I watched Ghastly Goals again, and yeah, it was pretty bad. The first thing I noticed was how bad the backgrounds were. It was as boring as a bad Guess Who episode. As someone who doesn’t care much for soccer as compared to other sports, I also disliked it, which means it is probably just a bad episode

WildwindVampire link

5/3/2022 01:22:56 pm

Yeah, the backgrounds were absolutely awful in this. I wonder if there were budget issues that caused them not to be able to have as good of backgrounds as the previous specials, because this one stands out to me as being just awful in terms of animation compared to other stuff at the time.

Matt

5/3/2022 06:00:28 pm

It was so bad that it made me wonder if all of them had been that bad and I just hadn’t noticed

WildwindVampire link

5/3/2022 09:55:14 pm

I found the other three to be decent, but not as good as Haunted Holidays and Spooky Games.

Matt

5/4/2022 09:35:05 am

I should’ve clarified I was talking about the background animation specifically. I know for sure that I enjoyed Haunted Holidays and Spooky Games a lot, and Spooky Scarecrow was pretty good. Mecha Mutt Menace was decent enough, and I don’t remember as much about Beach Beastie.

But I always thought these specials were animated very well in the past. But watching that one… yeesh

WildwindVampire link

5/4/2022 01:06:10 pm

Oh okay, I understand what you mean now. I think Beach Beastie fell in that "decent enough" category in terms of animation, though it's been years since I've watched it.

Shadowscooby

5/1/2022 11:30:40 am

The Spirited Spooked Sports Show:

This was the very first sport themed episode and it was a really fun one. I like the idea of the gang going back to Velma’s old high school to watch a sporting event.

I also like the idea of Shaggy and Scooby participating in the games to so that they will continue, not be canceled and Tim Conway won’t lose his job. It was also a nice idea to have them be scared so that they can run fast. Tim Conway was a really funny guest star and him, Shaggy and Scooby made a good team together.

The Spirit(s) of Fireball Mcphan was a great villain. It was pretty obvious that Jesse Finster was the culprit. I wasn’t expecting Mr. Griffith having an evil twin brother.

The ending was great with Shaggy, Scooby and Tim Conway performing tremendously at the games.

WildwindVampire link

5/1/2022 04:18:59 pm

This is one of my favorite episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies. The gang returning to Velma's old high school was sweet. The plot was super engaging and it was a very unique idea to have their motivation come from being terrified. The mystery was quite engaging and I also found Shaggy and Scooby having to compete so Tim didn't lose his job to be quite compelling. Tim was an amazing guest star, and the dynamic between Shaggy, Scooby and him was excellent. The villain was excellent and I liked how he could pop up everywhere. The culprit was pretty obvious, but like you said, the twist of him having a twin was really surprising. I loved the ending and Tim's instructions for stretching about lifting your left and right leg, then going to the hospital was funny.

Jakob123

5/1/2022 12:28:17 pm

The Spirit Spooked Sports Show (Good)

The Warlock of Wimbledon (Good)

Diamonds Are a Ghoul's Best Friend (Great)

Scooby-Doo! Spooky Games (Have not seen yet)

Scooby-Doo! Ghastly Goals (Have not seen yet)

The Crown Jewel of Boxing! (Good)

WildwindVampire link

5/1/2022 04:10:09 pm

Great rankings! I agree with you.

Shadowscooby

5/1/2022 12:38:17 pm

The Warlock of Wimbledon:
I liked this episode. The first half was totally spooky. Anthos the warlock was a creepy villain. I liked that he had a devil hound. That added even more creepiness to him. The thing with the staff was also creepy. The second half got a little weird but I still enjoyed it. I liked the thing with the glasses. Jimmy being able to win at Wimbledon was nice.

WildwindVampire link

5/1/2022 04:15:46 pm

Anthos and the Devil Hound were indeed really fun villains. Although I've seen a lot of complaints about Anthos' costume looking goofy, I actually quite like his design. The staff thing was super creepy. I liked this episode a lot, although like you said, I wish it would have stayed more similar to the first half, as the second half got a little bizarre. The glasses part of the mystery was really interesting.

Jacob Staggs

5/2/2022 10:53:43 pm

The glasses thing was interesting but also my least favorite part of the episode. I wear glasses so even as a kid I knew that Velma could not just give Jimmy a pair of her glasses to wear. It really takes me out of the scene but it is interesting in the sense that the writer has no idea how glasses work.

WildwindVampire link

5/3/2022 08:48:14 am

That's the amusing part of it to me, that the writer has this bizarre idea of what glasses are lol. To my knowledge, glasses with special frames also can't exactly make you see people that aren't actually there haha.

Shadowscooby

5/1/2022 12:39:40 pm

Diamonds Are A Ghouls Best Friend:

This was a great episode. Everything about this episode felt unique. I like that the setting was at a hockey tournament in Russia. I also liked the inclusion of famous hockey player, Bret Hull.

The mystery was good. How they split up differently was interesting. I loved the suspects. Fred doing the reversal of having them catch the monster before the mystery is solved.

The Frozen Fiend was such a cool and original villain. Velma being a huge hockey fan. Scooby being afraid of the ice. How they had a double mystery with one the super-fans. How Galina was caught and try to escape but they managed to capture her.

The ending was nice with the gang taking the super fans spot and Velma being the goalie for the USA hockey team.

WildwindVampire link

5/1/2022 04:20:29 pm

Agreed, this is such a unique novelty episode of What's New. The setting, mystery, villain and different split-up arrangements were all cool. The suspects were interesting and it made for a very engaging mystery. I also liked how Fred have them capture the villain before solving the mystery. The Frozen Fiend is one of my favorite What's New villains; his design is amazing! The ending was super sweet.

Mr Neither

5/1/2022 12:54:07 pm

The Spirit Spooked Sports Show, I love how Shaggy and Scooby are motivated

WildwindVampire link

5/1/2022 04:13:43 pm

That part has always been quite amusing to me haha.

Shadowscooby

5/1/2022 02:12:44 pm

How they trapped the Frozen Fiend is similar how they trapped the Wax Phantom. The gang used frozen substances to capture the monsters and they also accidentally ended up capturing Shaggy and Scooby. They are also unmasked differently with their costumes being broken and collapsing.

WildwindVampire link

5/1/2022 04:14:12 pm

That's a great point! I hadn't considered that before.

Shadowscooby

5/1/2022 02:13:57 pm

Scooby Doo!SpookyGames:
I really like this special. It was pretty cool that this special was based off the London 2012 Olympics. It was nice to see Shaggy compete in the games and Scooby being his coach. It was also funny that Scooby was giving him food to help him run faster.

Steve Looker was a great character. I like that he believed in both Shaggy and Fred as they were participating in the games.

Fortius was a great villain. It’s so funny and cool that he looks just like Horror the character from Billy and Mandy’s Big Boogey Adventure.

The ending was great with Steve beating the pole vaulting record, being awarded the medal, everybody clapping, Fred shedding a tear and Steve, Shaggy and Scooby on the big screen.

WildwindVampire link

5/1/2022 04:22:51 pm

I've always found it cool that they made a special for the 2012 Olympics too. This felt very similar to "The Spirit Spooked Sports Show" like you said. Fortius was a very creepy villain. I hadn't watched Billy and Mandy, so I wasn't aware of the similarity but that's cool. The ending was really heartwarming. :) This was one of my favorites of the 2012-2015 DTV specials, along with Haunted Holidays.

Shadowscooby

5/1/2022 02:16:22 pm

This special also felt like a perfect mix of The Spirited Spooked Sports Show and The Unnatural.

Both track episodes involves Shaggy competing in the games. Scooby competed in the games in the Tim Conway episode but in the special he was Shaggy’s coach.

Both involved Shaggy needing to be scared in order to run fast.

Both have a member of the gang dressing up as the monster to scare Shaggy for the race. Fred dressed up as the Spirit of Fireball Mcphan to scare Shaggy and Scooby. Scooby dressed up Fortius to scare Shaggy.

There was pole vaulting in both episodes.

Both The Unnatural and Spooky Games had star athletes hoping to break world records. Luis Santiago and Steve Looker.

Members of the gang go crazy over the star athletes. Fred goes crazy over Luis Santiago. Daphne goes crazy over Steve Looker.

Monsters disrupting the sporting events and threatens the star athletes.

In both episodes, Shaggy and Scooby get treated to a lot of food.

The culprits turned out to be former athletes who now work in sport broadcasting. Bob Taylor and Jack Riggins. The star athletes ask why they did it and they say they’re were trying to prevent the record from being broken

Bob Taylor played on the same baseball team as Cad Craig. He was also his best friend and he didn’t want his record broken. Jack Riggins was a former track athlete and didn’t want his record to be broken.

Both episodes ended with the star athletes breaking the records, everyone celebrating, fireworks in the sky, and Scooby on the big screen and saying his catchphrase.

WildwindVampire link

5/1/2022 04:23:43 pm

It's really cool how many similarities there were between these episodes and the special! :)

Carson Maitland - Smith link

5/2/2022 01:23:16 pm

Ghastly Goals

Jacob Staggs

5/2/2022 11:01:11 pm

I picked Spooky Games. The other options are not really my cup of tea. If any polls should have the "all sports are awful" option, it should be on this one and the football one it was already on.

WildwindVampire link

5/3/2022 08:46:54 am

I actually meant to include that option, I just must have forgot haha. I've added it now if you want to revote.

Shadowscooby

5/7/2022 06:58:03 pm

Scooby Doo! Ghastly Goals:
I was looking forward to this special because I though it would be as great as Spooky Games because that was based off the 2012 London Olympics. This was based off The 2014 Fifa World Cup. This special ended up being pretty rushed but I still found it enjoyable.

Eshu was a pretty cool and original villain. I liked that he could disappear. The ball bouncing was kind of cool. I liked the running gag of someone saying gesundheit when someone said Eshu thinking they said achoo. I liked the scene where the gang and Eshu where in the soccer ball pit.

You can see Diane from Spooky Games and if you look closely, you can also see Angel Dynamite in the crowd at the parade.

WildwindVampire link

5/8/2022 11:04:25 am

I'm glad you liked this special! I didn't like how rushed this special was. However, Eshu was a cool villain. I found it cool how they included old characters from previous content in a lot of these specials.

Weekly Poll #127

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