OllieSuave-007
After many ghost-unmasking mysteries in the dozens of Scooby-Doo episodes, this series incarnation of the Great Dane features real ghosts - 13 of them, inadvertently released from an old red chest. As a result, it is up to the Mystery, Inc. gang to do their clue-finding and mystery solving acts to bust these demons.Best friends Scooby and Shaggy continue their wise-cracking, slapstick comic relief in their food-loving characteristics and in their humorous ways in case solving. Daphne and Scrappy returns - the more serious and go-get'em of the bunch, now joined by new character Film Flam. He's an OK character some of the time, but he can be an overly assertive, a blabbermouth and too overzealous. Also, another new character, Vincent Van Ghoul, serves as a nice addition to the cast - instructing and helping the Mystery, Inc. gang out in catching the demons and lending his magic when need be.With real ghosts in this series, the stories are more daring and creepy, and still keeping up the entertainment, laughs, jokes and fun adventures. The haunting and foreboding theme music in the opening and end credits remind you that the Scooby-Doo series has taken a new turn.Still missing the flavor of the original Mystery, Inc. gang and the episodes overall are entertaining, but not as great as the shows with the original crew. Grade B
Growlyted
I've just discovered this on Virgin. (TV on Demand, Boomerang) It has my favourite pup, Scrappy, who still worships his Uncle Scoob, but has learned the art of running away. And he has a new friend called Film Flam - a street urchin. He doesn't bother me either. I didn't like the costume change for Shaggy, but he's just as goofy & lovable. Daphne also remains. However the stand out character is Vincent Van Ghoul, a warlock (played by Vincent Price) who lends magical aid to the gang. The annoying characters in the show are Weird & Bogle, who act as henchmen to the evil ghost of the episode - very cartoony, & as in the other Scrappy cartoons - real. (Sorry, I'm not that keen on the older fake ghost episodes.) And Scooby is Scooby. It's not the standard formula, but it's entertaining enough. Whether or not you like the younger characters, it's worth a look. 7/10
dootuss
They can't!!! This is one of my favorite "Scooby-Doo" shows out of all of them. This show is quite a bit different from the past "Scooby" shows because in this show, Scooby, and the gang have to get 13 ghosts back into a chest that Scooby opened by accident, no guy in a costume here, these are actual ghosts (which is cool, and it was a great step for "Scooby-Doo"),and this show is more wackier than previous "Scooby-Doo" shows, which is cool. Anyways, this show also featured a new character in Flim-Flam who was OK, and Daphne, and Shaggy wore different clothes in this show as well. Vincent Price did a great job as Vincent VanGhoul, and those 2 ghosts who were always trying to stop Scooby ad the gang from getting the ghosts back into the chest were cool too. Bottom Line: A great "Scooby" show!!!
TelevisionJunkie
Scooby Doo had become a dismal show during my early childhood. Shifting the focus away from Freddy, Velma, and Daphne, that wretched Scrappy Doo took over star billing. Which was why it was so refreshing when this series came along. Although Scrappy was still part of the cast for this series, he was no longer the star, so he got pushed into the background as the new characters took stage. And Daphne, who was gradually worked back into the cast a year or two prior, finally returned full time with a new hairdo and outfit. Even Shaggy got new threads, turning in his patented green T-shirt for a red one.The inspired casting of Vincent Price as Vincent Van Ghoul was enough to get me back on the bandwagon for new episodes. I had already become a fan of Price's films and the albums that he appeared on with Alice Cooper and Michael Jackson. In animated form, Vincent was as dignified as ever, and he added some charisma that had been missing from the previous series of the last few years. Among other new characters was Flim-Flam, the conniving kid with the Lots-of-Luck-Joy-Juice ("a lucky charm in a bottle"). Flim-Flam added the comic relief that Scrappy was supposed to have brought to the previous series. Which makes one wonder why Scrappy was still there. And the other new characters, ghosts Bogel and Weerd, were just hammy enough to blend with this great cast of characters.Throughout the first few series, the ghosts and monsters were always a bad guy in a rubber mask. When they had exhausted those storylines, the ghosts became real, but many of us had tuned out (or stuck to reruns) by that time because of the annoying Scrappy Doo. This time around they were still real and Scooby and Shaggy, who were tricked into opening The Chest of Demons in the pilot, had to return all 13 ghosts back to the chest. Though more cartoonish than the monsters (masks) had been in the original series, all of the ghosts were well-designed and the storylines were more inventive than they had been in years. Episodes had the gang thrust into comic strips and mirrors; Vincent was under the spell of a beautiful demon in one episode and nearly turned to stone in another -- and in one episode Scooby even quit the show (and was replaced by another puppy) but was urged to come back by then-President Ronald Reagan in a spoof of "It's a Wonderful Life."Out of all the incarnations of Scooby Doo, this one remains my favorite, which is probably why only 13 episodes were produced and they rarely get played. Hopefully they'll get a video release someday. If only they had dropped Scrappy and brought back Fred and Velma, it would have been perfect.. .