Post by matt on Jul 24, 2021 13:23:26 GMT -5
Time for a battle of heavyweights here. We are matching up The Headless Horseman of Halloween against Vampire Bats and Scaredy Cats
These episodes have long been run together. They are both great Halloween episodes, even if the latter doesn't necessarily take place on Halloween. They are also the two most prominent episodes featuring Scooby Doo's cousin, Scooby Dum. So for those reasons, these episodes have always kinda gone together including in media releases. Both were featured on the Spookiest Tales dvd and Vampire Bats was also the extra episode on the Cartoon Network Headless Horseman of Halloween VHS tape (which I own, it is a joy to watch those two back to back). So which episode wins the comparison? Let's dig into it
We'll start out with the earlier episode in Headless Horseman of Halloween. I can say without hesitation that this is one of my favorite Scooby episodes of ALL TIME. Firstly, it takes place in Sleepy Hollow and is a parody of (obviously) the Headless Horseman legend. The scene where the Headless Horseman shows up at the party is a perfectly creepy little scene as well as the scene where he "took Elwood's head" is very dark and creepy and I love it. The scenes with Velma, Shaggy, and the Scoobys searching upstairs are also great including the bowling ball scene. And the amount of clues and the use of reasoning (such as the ignition keys or the telephone wire) that the gang might not normally think of (or the writer might not normally put in an episode) just makes this an extremely well done episode. As Fred said "Okay everybody, it looks like it's time to do the best detective work we've ever done, and the fastest!" and both of those rang true! My only complaint is the airplane scene at the end of the episode. In such an eventful episode, I wish they didn't have to put that filler in there! I guess it could be seen as an epic conclusion and trap to an epic episode, but I found it rather boring
Next up is Vampire Bats and Scaredy Cats and... I can also say without hesitation that this is one of my favorite Scooby episodes of ALL TIME. Other than the Harum Scarum Sanitarium, this is the darkest episode of Scooby ever made up until this point. And I think it stays that way until the days of Mystery Incorporated. This episode is widely lauded as one of the greatest episodes of Scooby Doo ever made by most, and obviously I agree. It is so creepy. I love the dock scenes, the coffin convention, and the creepy scene with the dogs and Shaggy finding the vampire in the hotel room. Not to mention, the dark implications of what the perpetrator is trying to do. This dude is pure evil and it is actually incredibly sad for Lisa.
Now it is decision time. This is a tough one that could flip very easily any given day but I am leaning towards Vampire Bats and Scaredy Cats. A lot of that has to do with the airplane scene not working for me while everything works for me in Vampire Bats. Right now VBASC is in my top ten of all time episodes and THHOH is right outside of it
These episodes have long been run together. They are both great Halloween episodes, even if the latter doesn't necessarily take place on Halloween. They are also the two most prominent episodes featuring Scooby Doo's cousin, Scooby Dum. So for those reasons, these episodes have always kinda gone together including in media releases. Both were featured on the Spookiest Tales dvd and Vampire Bats was also the extra episode on the Cartoon Network Headless Horseman of Halloween VHS tape (which I own, it is a joy to watch those two back to back). So which episode wins the comparison? Let's dig into it
We'll start out with the earlier episode in Headless Horseman of Halloween. I can say without hesitation that this is one of my favorite Scooby episodes of ALL TIME. Firstly, it takes place in Sleepy Hollow and is a parody of (obviously) the Headless Horseman legend. The scene where the Headless Horseman shows up at the party is a perfectly creepy little scene as well as the scene where he "took Elwood's head" is very dark and creepy and I love it. The scenes with Velma, Shaggy, and the Scoobys searching upstairs are also great including the bowling ball scene. And the amount of clues and the use of reasoning (such as the ignition keys or the telephone wire) that the gang might not normally think of (or the writer might not normally put in an episode) just makes this an extremely well done episode. As Fred said "Okay everybody, it looks like it's time to do the best detective work we've ever done, and the fastest!" and both of those rang true! My only complaint is the airplane scene at the end of the episode. In such an eventful episode, I wish they didn't have to put that filler in there! I guess it could be seen as an epic conclusion and trap to an epic episode, but I found it rather boring
Next up is Vampire Bats and Scaredy Cats and... I can also say without hesitation that this is one of my favorite Scooby episodes of ALL TIME. Other than the Harum Scarum Sanitarium, this is the darkest episode of Scooby ever made up until this point. And I think it stays that way until the days of Mystery Incorporated. This episode is widely lauded as one of the greatest episodes of Scooby Doo ever made by most, and obviously I agree. It is so creepy. I love the dock scenes, the coffin convention, and the creepy scene with the dogs and Shaggy finding the vampire in the hotel room. Not to mention, the dark implications of what the perpetrator is trying to do. This dude is pure evil and it is actually incredibly sad for Lisa.
Now it is decision time. This is a tough one that could flip very easily any given day but I am leaning towards Vampire Bats and Scaredy Cats. A lot of that has to do with the airplane scene not working for me while everything works for me in Vampire Bats. Right now VBASC is in my top ten of all time episodes and THHOH is right outside of it
