The New Scooby Doo Movies: An Appreciation

[waxphantom85]

In my opinion, The New Scooby Doo Movies is the best series in the Scooby Doo franchise. From the classic musical underscore to the detailed mysteries that occur due to the elongated run time to the many villains to the side characters with personalities that are only seen for a couple of minutes but add to the atmosphere of the show, the series has so many qualities. The music is really good, it's basically like Where Are You except less dark themes, which I would have preferred but either way, the music is still excellent and performed by the full orchestra. From the first appearance of the scarecrow in The Frickert Fracas to Pretty Mary Sunlight for basically an entire episode to the underscore when the gang meets Jesse Finster for the first time, the music is always engaging and adds to the classic feel of the show. The mysteries are so in depth and it doesn't get as much love as it should but let's look at some of the mysteries I'm referring to. First, we look at The Dynamic Scooby Doo Affair, which is truly an excellent episode. The depth of the plot is in full display, first with the many different settings, such as Mrs. Baker's house, the Bat-Cave, and the museum, which are all fleshed out well and contribute to the plot nicely. Then you add wrinkles such as the counterfeiting operation, the house that flips, the Joker and the Penguin's scheming, and Mrs. Baker's surprising involvement; this makes for such a fun, detailed, engaging episode that has a very high rewatchability. I believe that all of the episodes of this series have a very high rewatchability, but I'll address that more later. Another episode with an engaging plot is The Phantom of the Country Music Hall. What makes this episode so great is the fact that all of the mystery takes place in a singular location but is fully fleshed out and never feels dry or boring. The whole disorientation feeling of the entire episode makes it so fun and intriguing to watch. You have “The Phantom”, Ben Bing and Bertha, the stolen guitar, whatever “febag” means, the radio bulletin about the bank robbery, and then in addition to all of these seemingly unrelated things, Jerry Reed is trapped and is trying to lead the gang to him. All of these things make this episode really immersive to watch. The villains in this series also deserve some attention because while their designs may not fully be up to the Where Are You standard, their motives and episode implementation are a step above Where Are You, in my opinion. My personal favorite villains from this series are the Revolutionary War ghosts from The Loch Ness Mess. They are constantly present in the mansion in the middle of the night, which really adds to the fear factor. Their motive and cover-up is also an interesting concept. These villains seem to be some of the best executed in franchise history in fear factor, intrigue, and motive. Another one of my favorites is Fireball McFain from The Spirit Spooked Sports Show. The mystery itself is really engrossing with the haunted school aspect combined with the custodian that “left” and the impending sale of the school. Fireball also being somewhat “omnipresent” adds to the atmosphere immensely. His antics always scared me as a child and the nostalgia is very much there. On that note, this series is also my most nostalgic series. In fact, I enjoy it so much that spread out over each summer I watch the entire series over again, and it never gets old. However, I believe the most overlooked aspect of this series is the fact that the plot is built up so well by seemingly unimportant side characters. Just look at some of these side characters whose personalities resonate with me: Vernon, Lucas, Milo Meekly, Matilda, Jonathan Crabtree, Swampy Pete, Creech, Ben Bing, Otto, and soooo many more. They all really add to that nostalgic feeling and increase my enjoyment of every episode. This series doesn't lack anything that any other series has, with the sole exception of Mystery Incorporated, which is its own animal. I'll attach my episode rankings below if you're new to the series and just want to check out one or two. 

Note: I have excluded Wednesday is Missing from my rankings due to its unavailability and I wouldn't be able to properly rank it since I haven't seen it in ten or so years.

1. The Loch Ness Mess
2. The Spirit Spooked Sports Show
3. The Secret of Shark Island
4. The Phantom of the Country Music Hall
5. The Ghost of Bigfoot
6. The Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall
7. Guess Who's Knott Coming to Dinner
8. The Frickert Fracas
9. The Exterminator
10. The Dynamic Scooby Doo Affair
11. The Haunted Showboat
12. A Good Medium is Rare
13. The Ghostly Creep from the Deep
14. The Spooky Fog
15. The Weird Winds of Winona
16. The Mystery of Haunted Island
17. The Haunted Candy Factory
18. Sandy Duncan's Jekyll and Hyde
19. The Caped Crusader Caper
20. Mystery in Persia
21. Ghastly Ghost Town
22. The Haunted Carnival
23. The Ghost of the Red Baron

I'd also like to state that I very highly recommend The Almost Complete Collection blu-ray set. I have a massive Scooby Doo DVD/Blu-ray collection and this is my favorite set. The quality is just really high (with the exception of the first 5 minutes of The Haunted Showboat) and it's all in just 2 discs.

Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences with this great series!!

[Doo]

The New Scooby-Doo Movies is my favorite series of the franchise, so it's nice to meet another appreciator of it! I completely agree with everything you wrote there. I love how detailed and deep the mysteries are, and I agree the side characters are super memorable. I also am glad you pointed out the villains. I completely agree the villains in this series are something unique. The episodes that have multiple ghosts such as "The Mystery of Haunted Island" and "The Exterminator" are particularly highlights to me, as I feel the gang constantly running into spirits and monsters at every turn ups the fear factor, and makes the danger feel omnipresent. This is the series I am most nostalgic about from my childhood as well. It looks like we have our favorite episodes and villains in common; my favorite episode of the entire franchise is "The Loch Ness Mess," and the Revolutionary Ghosts are my favorite villains of the series. I love what you said about them being everywhere in Uncle Nat's house - I completely agree with you and it goes into what I was saying above about how it makes the danger feel a lot more omnipresent.

Here are my rankings:

1. The Loch Ness Mess
2. The Mystery of Haunted Island
3. Guess Who's Knott Coming to Dinner
4. Secret of Shark Island
5. The Ghost of Bigfoot
6. The Spooky Fog
7. The Exterminator
8. The Spirit Spooked Sports Show
9. Wednesday Is Missing
10. The Haunted Carnival
11. The Frickert Fracas
12. The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair
13. The Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall
14. The Ghostly Creep From the Deep
15. The Caped Crusader Caper
16. Weird Winds of Winona
17. Sandy Duncan's Jekyll and Hydes
18. The Haunted Showboat
19. Ghastly Ghost Town
20. A Good Medium Is Rare
21. The Ghost of the Red Baron
22. The Haunted Candy Factory
23. The Phantom of the Country Music Hall
24. Mystery in Persia

[waxphantom85]

Totally agree with the multiple monsters thing. Also great to see appreciation for The Exterminator, which is a really strong episode. Interesting to see how low you are on The Phantom of the Country Music Hall. I've read your write-ups about it on your blog, so I understand your viewpoint. I just respectfully disagree as I think it's one of the all time great Scooby episodes… but everyone is entitled to their own opinions

[waxphantom85]

I think what makes the concept of the ominpresent Revolutionary War ghosts in Uncle Nat's house so scary is the fact that unlike most other ghosts in the franchise, they don't haunt Uncle Nat's house. The house isn't haunted. The ghosts made their first appearance on the road miles from the house and followed the gang there and broke in, which is what makes it feel that much more threatening.

[matt]

I would put this series in my top 5, probably top 2 or 3 for a lot of the same reasons you listed. But I especially want to hit on the one point of how developed the episodes and mysteries are. Many people will say the episode lengths are bad things, but I couldn’t disagree more (well for the most part). Yes, there is filler in about every episode, and sometimes that filler detracts from the episode, but I would consider that not often. The truth to me is that I feel like the goofy hijinks really give us time to let the guest star settle into their role and their dynamic with the gang, which is something that I felt like Guess Who missed in a big way.

And that time really allows for some experimental episodes as well. A Good Medium Is Rare is a prime example… that really could have been better than it was, but it is just so charming in its oddness that I am willing to overlook how open-ended and abrupt the episode feels. A much better example would be Phantom of the Country Music Hall, which has a lot of things you already mentioned, it also plays off The Backstage Rage formula a bit in letting the atmosphere do the spooking, rather than having the villains pop around all of the time. And for the first time in franchise history, the main villain, the Phantom, is no human at all, but a threat, which is really cool to me

And I could talk about how much of masterpieces The Loch Ness Mess and The Dynamic Scooby Doo Affair are, but I would neither be the first nor last to do that

And as for my episode rankings:

1. The Loch Ness Mess
2. The Dynamic Scooby Doo Affair
3. The Secret of Shark Island
4. The Ghost of Bigfoot
5. Phantom of the Country Music Hall
6. Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall
7. The Frickert Fracas
8. Haunted Showboat
9. Haunted Carnival
10. Weird Winds of Winona
11. Guess Who’s Knott Coming to Dinner
12. Caped Crusader Caper
13. Wednesday is Missing
14. Spirit Spooked Sports Show
15. Mystery of Haunted Island
16. Haunted Candy Factory
17. The Exterminator
18. Ghostly Creep From the Deep
19. Sandy Duncan’s Jekyll and Hyde
20. The Spooky Fog
21. Ghastly Ghost Town
22. A Good Medium Is Rare
23. Ghost of the Red Baron
24. Mystery in Persia (the only one without any aspect that appeals to me pretty much)

[Doo]

May 10, 2023 16:34:07 GMT -5 matt said:

And that time really allows for some experimental episodes as well. A Good Medium Is Rare is a prime example… that really could have been better than it was, but it is just so charming in its oddness that I am willing to overlook how open-ended and abrupt the episode feels. A much better example would be Phantom of the Country Music Hall, which has a lot of things you already mentioned, it also plays off The Backstage Rage formula a bit in letting the atmosphere do the spooking, rather than having the villains pop around all of the time. And for the first time in franchise history, the main villain, the Phantom, is no human at all, but a threat, which is really cool to me

You bring up a really good point here. I think the experimental nature of The New Scooby-Doo Movies is a big part of its charm, and also why Guess Who didn't work as well. The experimenting with the formula is, in some cases, what helped the guest star's dynamic with the gang develop more. Guess Who playing it so safe sometimes felt like the guest stars were shoehorned in.

[matt]

May 10, 2023 21:20:15 GMT -5 Doo said:

May 10, 2023 16:34:07 GMT -5 matt said:

And that time really allows for some experimental episodes as well. A Good Medium Is Rare is a prime example… that really could have been better than it was, but it is just so charming in its oddness that I am willing to overlook how open-ended and abrupt the episode feels. A much better example would be Phantom of the Country Music Hall, which has a lot of things you already mentioned, it also plays off The Backstage Rage formula a bit in letting the atmosphere do the spooking, rather than having the villains pop around all of the time. And for the first time in franchise history, the main villain, the Phantom, is no human at all, but a threat, which is really cool to me

You bring up a really good point here. I think the experimental nature of The New Scooby-Doo Movies is a big part of its charm, and also why Guess Who didn't work as well. The experimenting with the formula is, in some cases, what helped the guest star's dynamic with the gang develop more. Guess Who playing it so safe sometimes felt like the guest stars were shoehorned in.

Definitely, that plus the amount of time the guest stars had to really establish their roles and their dynamics with the gang. It does it better than Guess Who in about every way possible

[sdf]

I just finished my reviews for all the episodes, so here's my review for the series:

Things that i like:
-In my opinion, the series has some of the best episodes of the classic era and maybe the best of the whole franchise (The Loch Ness Mess).
-On a personal level, I feel a lot of nostalgia for some episodes because I watched all the time as a kid (more than the previous series).
-A lot of the guests were likeable and a great fit for the gang, but the most important thing is that they didn't overshadow them like in modern crossover movies.
-The 40-minute runtime helped for more well-written plotlines and character development. SDWAY had some issues on that part.
-As I like to say, the series has lots of episodes with confusing plots (in a good way). Weird places with traps and secret doors, episodes with multiple suspects and monsters, etc. I really liked that.
-The bad guys plans were more complex and smart.
-There were changes in the formula from episode to episode and some cool plot twists.

Things that i didn't like:
- Some episodes were boring as hell. If an episode isn't interesting, 40 minutes is way too much.
-There was some offensive humor.
-Weak Season 2. Most of the episodes were just OK. I only enjoyed 1-2 of them.
-The biggest problem was the antagonists. Most of the monsters had poor or lazy designs, and most of them are forgettable.

A few more comments: 
-The intro was okay, not nearly as iconic as SDWAY.
-The animation was bad in some instances, but it is an early 1970's show, so I understand.
-There were some differences in the characters of the SDWAY gang. Daphne is something more developed, Velma is quite sassy, and Fred is more strict towards Shaggy and Scooby. (Also, both Fred and Velma don't seem to enjoy Shaggy's jokes.)

Overall, I liked the series, but not as much as I thought. 8.5/10

[sdf]

Double post for my episode ranking:

24)Mystery in Persia 4.8/10
23)The Phantom of the Country Music Hall 5.3/10
22)The Haunted Candy Factory 5.5/10
21)The Ghost of the Red Baron 5.8/10
20)The Spooky Fog 5.8/10
19)The Spirit Spooked Sports Show 6.2/10
18)The Haunted Showboat 6.8/10
17)Weird Winds of Winona 7/10
16)Ghastly Ghost Town 7.5/10
15)Wednesday Is Missing 7.5/10
14)The Caped Crusader Caper 7.5/10
13)A Good Medium Is Rare 7.5/10
12)The Ghost of Bigfoot 7.5/10
11)The Mystery of Haunted Island 7.5/10
10)The Exterminator 7.7/10
9)The Ghostly Creep from the Deep 8/10
8)The Haunted Carnival 8/10
7)The Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall 8/10
6)The Secret of Shark Island 8.5/10
5)Sandy Duncan's Jekyll and Hydes 9.3/10
4)The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair 10/10
3)Guess Who's Knott Coming to Dinner 10/10
2)The Frickert Fracas 10/10
1)The Lochness Mess 10/10

From 0-4.9 (bad episodes):1 episode
From 5-6.9 (OK episodes):6 episodes
From 7-8.9 (Good Episodes):12 episodes
From 9-9.9 (Great Episodes):1 episode
10 (The perfect 10):4 episodes

[moonscar]

I think "Loch Ness Mess" is near the very top of everybody's list. Truly an all-time classic episode and just about as good as anything from Where Are You! imo