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Post by wileyk209 on Jul 3, 2019 13:20:57 GMT -5
So like I said, back in May I wrote a Scooby-Doo fanfic where they meet the Funky Phantom crew and team up to solve a mystery. I had no idea "Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?" was going to have an episode with basically the same premise, except in mine the mystery is different, and the idea came to me after watching some episodes of "The Funky Phantom" and noticing the many similarities with the old Scooby-Doo episodes. So Tom Kenny voices Mudsy again. If Warner ever has Snagglepuss appear in animation again, I wouldn't be surprised if Kenny voices him as well. (Though Snagglepuss is still considered part of the H-B family by Warner, unlike Scooby-Doo!) I wasn't surprised to hear that H-B "Tube Take" sound effect used, given that Advantage Audio used it on virtually every episode of "Wabbit"/"New Looney Tunes"... Speaking of which, in this episode they use the Treg Brown/Warner Bros. teeth chattering sound effect for Scooby and Shaggy, yet they never used it in "New Looney Tunes?" (Instead they'd use the H-B teeth chattering in that show.) What are those Advantage Audio editors on? But I did enjoy hearing those classic H-B magic sound effects uses for Mudsy, Boo and the Lincoln ghost. (The original "Funky Phantom" used these bizarre twangy sounds for the ghosts, since post-production was done in Australia. I wasn't that big on Skip acting like a jerk. That's more like Augie's thing. (At least in my fanfic, I kept Skip true to his character.) And in my fanfic, I didn't make Velma skeptical about Mudsy like she was in this episode; I instead made her react in a manner like young Velma did to a real ghost in that "Pup Named Scooby-Doo" Halloween episode. It was amusing seeing both gangs argue a lot; in my fanfic I kept the arguing to a minimum, though, and made them more willing to work together. LOL at Daphne commenting she hates the "head them off at the pass" cliche! I knew they were going to joke with the "meddling kids" line involving both teams, especially since I've heard the Funky Phantom crew called that in at least one episode of their show... LOL at the Speed Buggy gang cameo at the end! Overall, a fun episode, but I still like my crossover fanfic better.
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Post by jonathanmuddlemore on Jul 3, 2019 13:28:48 GMT -5
I wasn't that big on Skip acting like a jerk. That's more like Augie's thing. (At least in my fanfic, I kept Skip true to his character.) And in my fanfic, I didn't make Velma skeptical about Mudsy like she was in this episode; I instead made her react in a manner like young Velma did to a real ghost in that "Pup Named Scooby-Doo" Halloween episode. Didn't Daphne fill the usual Velma role in that episode?
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Post by wileyk209 on Jul 3, 2019 13:37:47 GMT -5
I wasn't that big on Skip acting like a jerk. That's more like Augie's thing. (At least in my fanfic, I kept Skip true to his character.) And in my fanfic, I didn't make Velma skeptical about Mudsy like she was in this episode; I instead made her react in a manner like young Velma did to a real ghost in that "Pup Named Scooby-Doo" Halloween episode. Didn't Daphne fill the usual Velma role in that episode? Yeah, in many cases on "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo," Daphne had some of Velma's mannerisms, largely with being skeptical about the supernatural and such, and of course bribing Scooby with Scooby Snacks. Velma didn't speak as much, but she was still the brains of the group, and often the one to devise traps to catch the Ghost/Monster of the Week, something that Fred would normally do.
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Post by futurerocker on Jul 4, 2019 1:22:39 GMT -5
Much better episode compared to the first one. Glad to see the gang have more interactions and the two groups fighting each other was a good laugh. The monster design was really good and hope it only gets better from here. Wish Velma wouldn't have been skeptical the whole time with Mudsy being fake. Wish they would've ended it with her at least questioning her belief with the supernatural.
One complaint I have with this episode is how they don't really have much interaction with the ghost. The gang had a brief run in and then the next time they meet him it's trap time. Both episodes to me have this feeling of trying to do everything in this short amount of time they have. This series would benefit from a longer run time. It was also super easy for me to figure out the culprit, though I guess watching Scooby all my life has made me an expert at figuring out the bad guy. It was also weird to advertise this episode guest star as Abraham Lincoln instead of the Funky Phantom who played a bigger role.
Overall, a favorite episode so far and that cameo at the end gives me hope that maybe we will see other mystery gangs!
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Post by scoobylover on Jul 4, 2019 2:34:40 GMT -5
I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this cause I’m not big on other Hanna-Barbera character but this was much better than the first episode. Much more interaction, much more investigation, much more personality coming out of the gang. I love the fact that Daphne was being the most rational and calm while I’m happy they keep Velma her old skeptic self because that’s what her character implies. I thought this was much better paced than the first one, no awkward silences and we saw the ghosts a good amount of time, contrary to what it’s been said. My complaints are: Daphne didn’t intervene as much as the others; the jokes just aren’t funny, I miss Be Cool’s wittiness; culprit was easy to figure out but it’s better in this episode since there were too many characters at once. For the rest I enjoyed the bickering and all the classic Scooby references like thinking about the mystery at a diner etc. I also loved Augie’s accent sounding so vintage. One last thing, I want more women!!! Enough with all the male suspects. The ratio for last episode was 4 male suspects for 1 female and now there were 2 males. Really triggering
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Post by elemage on Jul 5, 2019 17:35:50 GMT -5
I wasn't that big on Skip acting like a jerk. That's more like Augie's thing. (At least in my fanfic, I kept Skip true to his character.) And in my fanfic, I didn't make Velma skeptical about Mudsy like she was in this episode; I instead made her react in a manner like young Velma did to a real ghost in that "Pup Named Scooby-Doo" Halloween episode. Didn't Daphne fill the usual Velma role in that episode? Oh, yeah. Pup Daphne was just as stubborn of a skeptic as KISS/13th Ghost/Guess Who Velma. For some reason, it's more tolerable and charming with a preteen Daphne than a fully-grown Velma. I think it's because Daphne uses her skepticism to balance out Shaggy and Fred's overreactions to literally anything, while Velma's been using hers to make everyone around her (especially HER) look like fools. I have so many issues with this characterization of Velma.
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Post by magicdog on Jul 6, 2019 8:04:00 GMT -5
Definitely an improvement over episode 1 in many ways, but it had its flaws:
Velma was clinging too hard to her skepticism over Mudsey being a real ghost. Even in the original "New Movies", when the gang encountered Jeannie and The Addams Family, they accepted things once it was beyond rational explanation. Even Velma should have been able to accept Mudsey was real, even though the villain's ghost wasn't.
I didn't like the VAs for Augie and Skip. I secretly hoped Micky Dolenz would reprise the role of Skip (he sounds much younger than he is and could have been a great callback) but it didn't happen. Billy West voiced him and it just didn't seem right. I think David Kaufman (Danny Phantom) would have made a better VA for Skip and Augie perhaps could have been voiced by S. Scott Bullock (who voiced Dash in DP) rather than Tom Kenny. From the VA credits, there was a lot of double duty for them!
Skip was also characterized here as the "Velma" of their group even though I don't recall him being such in the original cartoon. Augie was ok - he was maybe a notch above "dumb muscle" from the original show. April barely got any characterization at all - and we also curiously never saw Augie and Skip competing over her (something also from the original show).
Elmo the dog seemed more orange in color; I seem to remember him as being more yellow. Also, no teasing by Boo, although he seemed to focus more on teasing Shaggy and Scooby. Plus Tom Kenny voiced Mudsey again, as he did in SDMI and I think he actually improved. Daws Butler is irreplaceable, but I think Kenny's version is adequate.
I also enjoyed that little Speed Buggy cameo at the end - even though Speedy used to deal with "take over the world" villains not ghosts.
On the plus side:
It was nice to see the Funky Phantom gang again and they had much more to do compared to when we saw them in SDMI. Plus, there were other shout outs to the original show, like their introduction with their hand gestures!
The title card at the beginning being a big fake out as to who the guest star REALLY was! Better still, that Mudsey was the ghost of Lincoln the whole time. That fake out has to count for something.
I was a bit surprised that both gangs were arguing with one another and competing to solve the mystery. Usually, the gang was cordial to whomever they met. It reminded me of those comic stories in which two heroes meet for the first time, think the other is a villain and start fighting one another before realizing they're on the same side. If the show were longer, perhaps we could have had a breather moment where the kids make peace, pool resources and April, Augie and Skip tell Mystery Inc. how they came to meet up with Mudsey and that at least some earthbound spirits are real and not always scary or dangerous.
Perhaps this episode should have been longer considering all the people and personalities involved.
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Post by jonathanmuddlemore on Jul 6, 2019 8:48:15 GMT -5
Skip was also characterized here as the "Velma" of their group even though I don't recall him being such in the original cartoon. Augie was ok - he was maybe a notch above "dumb muscle" from the original show. April barely got any characterization at all - and we also curiously never saw Augie and Skip competing over her (something also from the original show). I recall Skip and April carrying co-Velma duties on the original show
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Post by wileyk209 on Jul 6, 2019 9:01:36 GMT -5
I recall Skip and April carrying co-Velma duties on the original show That's right. Skip was usually considered the brains of their group, while Augie was the brawn. Also in a way, Skip seemed to have traits of both Velma and Shaggy in the original show (though Augie was a bit like both Fred and Shaggy, too!) Like I said, my fanfic from a couple months ago kept them truer to how they were in their original series. As for Billy West's voice for Skip, I couldn't help but be reminded of Philip J. Fry, one of his most famous roles.
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Post by manbearpig on Jul 6, 2019 18:43:04 GMT -5
I liked this episode despite my indifference to Funky Phantom and other Scooby clones. The plot was quite good and entertaining, the animation - nice and classic. I'm waiting for Velma losing her glasses, that would be even more classic!
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Post by ilovescoobydoo on Jul 6, 2019 21:49:39 GMT -5
I loved seeing the Speed Buggy gang at the end. I hope they get their own episode.
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Post by Doo on Jul 8, 2019 22:27:07 GMT -5
I may be the one that absolutely hated this episode.
To someone who enjoyed the original series, The Funky Phantom gang was intolerably arrogant to the point of being out of character. 90% of the episode's dialogue was just them arguing and not really getting anywhere. Skip and April in particular seemed unnecessarily antagonistic towards the gang. Augie was just okay. Him being a bit rude and standoffish is part of his character, but his complete lack of reluctance to believe Abraham Lincoln was a ghost seemed silly. Literally, Lincoln was on screen like one second and Augie's like "Yes sir Mr. President!" It seemed kiddy and less than believable, particularly since that group has unmasked many fake ghosts in the past. The argument could be made that they know Mudsy and Boo are real ghosts, but still, you think he'd at least be a bit more reluctant to believe in the ghost given many they've run into have been fake. The Funky Phantom himself was pretty good, though his voice sounded off and some of his sayings were kind of stilted.
The ghosts also didn't get enough screen time. They showed up like once for the gang, then they trapped the ghost. Too much time was spent on arguing, and also the chase scene at the end was way too long. More time should have been devoted to the actual mystery and giving the ghost(s) screen time. Abe Lincoln was pretty good, though his line before they captured the ghost was really dumb. "You must take responsibility for tomorrow!" just seemed random and unrelated to anything that was going on, like the writers just put "insert random old timey saying here that sounds good to the kids!" None of the jokes were really funny, other than the reenactment grandpa one about Mudsy.
The Speed Buggy thing at the end was cool, I guess. I was so disillusioned from the rest of the episode that it didn't really matter at that point. I also didn't like how they billed Abe Lincoln as the guest star when it was just Mudsy in disguise the whole time. I'll admit that was a clever twist for the episode. Rumor has it that they chose Abe Lincoln to commemorate the $5 bill WB spent making this episode.
Sorry to be so negative, kids, but this one was just really bad for me.
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Post by somebody-doo on Jul 8, 2019 23:26:35 GMT -5
Rumor has it that they chose Abe Lincoln to commemorate the $5 bill WB spent making this episode. Spot on. I was, quite frankly, appalled by the quality of writing in this episode. I have very low expectations for the series. The Funky Phantom, which was one of my favorite shows, was honestly disgraced in this episode.
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Post by mattpricetime on Jul 15, 2019 18:03:00 GMT -5
I'm watching with the Cn debuts so i'm a little late in that regard but I'm going to disagree and say I liked the choice of having the Funky Phantom crew be antagonistic to Mystery Inc, (although Scooby and Shaggy still tried to be nice). It reminds me of back on their original show they would bicker with each other but still function as their group.
To me the most annoying part of the episode were that the voices were too jarring to me. I know it's the first time some of them had a serious appearance in years but the effect just would take some getting used to if they ever appear again.
I'm also glad this episode seems to be solid evidence the corporate side that didn't want explicit supernatural things in Curse of the 13th Ghost are no longer in influence. Mudsy was his normal self but Velma is just written as a skeptic to it. I hope Return to Zombie Island is also like that instead of Curse of the 13th Ghost style.
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Post by jonathanmuddlemore on Jul 15, 2019 19:39:53 GMT -5
I'm watching with the Cn debuts so i'm a little late in that regard but I'm going to disagree and say I liked the choice of having the Funky Phantom crew be antagonistic to Mystery Inc, (although Scooby and Shaggy still tried to be nice). It reminds me of back on their original show they would bicker with each other but still function as their group. I agree though I personally would've preferred it if Mystery Inc. were the elitist ones and The Funky Phantom Crew needed to prove themselves.
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