The New Scooby Doo Mysteries: "Nutcracker Scoob"

Premiered December 1, 1984.

“Like, bah humbag, the Ghost of Christmas Past is coming to haunt me!”
-Shaggy, playing Ebenezer Scrooge

It’s Christmas Eve and Scooby Doo (Don Messick), his nephew Scrappy (Messick) and their mystery-solving pals are helping an orphanage produce their Christmas pageant, which will feature performances of A Christmas Carol and The Nutcracker ballet.

Mrs. Fezziwig, the owner of the home, is grateful for the gang’s help.  Tiny Tina, a resident of the orphanage, is excited when Fred (Frank Welker) helps her put the Nutcracker on top of the Christmas tree.

Their seasonal spirits are dampened when millionaire Winslow Nickelby (Welker) and his cat Snowball (Welker) arrive.  The orphanage used to belong to Nickelby and he intends to buy it back, which would leave the children with nowhere to live.

Mrs. Fezziwig refuses to sell, but Nickelby says he’ll take it over “one way or another.”  Fezziwig assures the kids she'll never sell their home to Nickelby.

Later, while Scooby and Shaggy (Casey Kasem) are rehearsing a scene from A Christmas Carol,  they’re interrupted by a “spirit” who calls itself the Ghost of Christmas Never!  The ghost chases the gang outside into the snow.

When they go back inside the orphanage, the gans discovers that the stage and all its holiday decor have been trashed.  Daphne (Heather North) finds a lapel pin in the wreckage that bears the inscription “WN.”  Everyone guesses that WN must stand for Winslow Nickelby and they decide to pay him a visit.

Scooby and friends overhear Nickelby say that his uncle left a valuable gem in the orphanage.  While Nickelby has no legal rights to the orphanage, he says that his “friend” will force the orphans to leave their home.  This leads Shaggy to believe Nickelby is “in cahoots” with the Ghost of Christmas Never.

The gang decides that the emerald is the key to discovering the identity of the ghost and saving the orphanage.  When they search for the emerald, they find the ghost instead!  The Ghost of Christmas Never disappears with the emerald, which makes solving the mystery at hand even more difficult.

Will Scooby and his friends solve the mystery and save Mrs. Fezziwig’s orphanage?  Is Nickelby connected to the Ghost of Christmas Never?  Will the ghost’s activities ruin the Christmas pageant?  Will Nickelby find the spirit of Christmas in his heart and let the children stay in the orphanage?

J.A. Morris says:

I mentioned in our recent review of this series’ Halloween episode that its regular cast only featured Scooby Doo, Shaggy, Daphne and Scrappy.  This episode includes Fred as a guest star, but not Velma.  So Velma fans, consider yourselves warned.

Just like the Halloween episode, “Nutcracker Scoob” is a typical episode of Scooby Doo, except that it takes place at Christmas.  Lots of Christmas episodes feature references to A Christmas Carol and music from The Nutcracker ballet.  This episode features both, you can't get much more Christas-y than that!

The stakes are upped a little bit too.  I don’t remember other Scooby villains who wanted to force orphans out of their home!  Perhaps that was added to make Winslow Nickelby even more Scrooge-ish.  Nickelby and the Ghost Of Christmas Never are good antagonists for the gang and the orphanage.

Speaking of Scrooge, this episode features lots of references to A Christmas Carol and other works by Charles Dickens. Fezziwig, the name of the orphanage’s owner, was young Scrooge’s mentor.  Tiny Tina is a good stand-in for Tiny Tim.   Nickelby takes his name from Nicholas Nickelby.  However, Nickelby does not get visited by three spirits, “Nutcracker Scoob” features only one ghost.

“Nutcracker Scoob” includes the usual Scooby Doo chase scenes, with the added fun of the Christmas setting.  That means the chases involve skis and horse-drawn sleighs!

I especially liked the sleigh that looks like the Mystery Machine.

Plus, the chases and other scenes are accompanied by holiday tunes like “Deck The Halls,” “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” and “Jingle Bells”

We try to avoid spoilers here, even for 35 year-old episodes.  I won’t spoil the detail the ending of “Nutcracker Scoob,” but since it was part of a Saturday morning animated series, and it’s a Christmas episode, I don’t think it’ll come as a shock that a happy holiday will be enjoyed by everyone before the episode is over.

It’s worth noting that this is the final episode of The New Scooby Doo Mysteries.  It’s also the last appearance of Fred (as a grownup) until 1998.

I enjoyed this Christmas episode, but I would’ve enjoyed it more if Velma had been around. Otherwise, “Nutcracker Scoob” has comedy, action, good villains and it should provide solid Yuletide entertainment for everyone.

 J.A. Morris’ rating:

3 candy canes.

Be Cool Scooby Doo : "Halloween"

Premiered September 27, 2017.

"Halloween isn’t about candy and dressing up as topical celebrities.  The ancient roots of the holiday are tied to the autumn equinox and the Gaelic harvest festivals."

"Is no one else bothered by the crass commercialization of Halloween?"
-Velma

"Like, I just noticed without candy as a distraction, Halloween is utterly terrifying and filled with disturbing imagery!"
-Shaggy

When Fred Jones (Frank Welker)  was a little boy, he went trick or treating at a house he had never seen before.

Fred (center) trick or treating as a young boy, dressed as his favorite detective.

The house was occupied by a witch who terrorized Fred.  He escaped and brought the police to the house...but it was nowhere to be seen, nor was the witch.  For the first time, Fred’s detective skills were unable to solve a mystery.

On Halloween eleven years later, Fred is visiting a town called Newtown with his friends Scooby Doo (Welker) Shaggy (Matthew Lillard),Velma (Kate Micucci) and Daphne (Grey Delisle).  Shaggy, Scooby and Daphne are all excited about costumes and candy.

Shaggy and Scooby dressed as a pocket and candy vending machine.

Velma is upset about the crass commercialization of Halloween and reminds her friends of its ancient Celtic origins. Since Velma isn’t dressing up, Daphne wears a “Zombie Velma” costume for Halloween to annoy her.

In contrast to his friends, Fred plans to skip the Halloween celebrations and stay in his hotel room.  His “failure” to solve the mystery of the disappearing witch house has taught him that Halloween is the one night when mysteries are impossible to solve.  However, Fred’s friends eventually talk him into joining them for trick or treating.

Shaggy and Scooby’s quest for candy leads them to a house in the woods.  Unfortunately, it’s the residence of a witch!  She chases the gang until Scoob and Shag create a diversion.

The witch scares the locals so much that Newtown’s Neighborhood Watch cancels Halloween.

Fred realizes the house (and the witch) is the same one he stumbled on in a different town eleven years earlier!  But how could the house move?   Velma recalls a Russian folk tale about a witch named Baba Yaga who lived in a house that had chicken legs which enabled it to move around.

When the gang returns to the house to search for clues, the house sprouts chicken legs and chases them once again!

Could this witch really be the Baba Yaga?  Can Halloween be saved from cancellation?  Will Fred finally solve the mystery that has haunted him for eleven years?

J.A. Morris says:

As you may have gathered by looking at the screencaps above, Be Cool, Scooby Doo featured redesigned versions of Scooby and friends.  In spite of these changes, the characterizations and the stories were very much in the spirit of earlier Scooby TV series.

"Halloween" is a very good holiday episode.  In addition to the usual seasonal trappings, Velma gives her friends (and the viewers) a lesson about the Celtic origins of Halloween.  I'm guessing her complaints about the "commercialization" of All Hallow's Eve are meant to remind us of the similar sentiments Charlie Brown expressed about Christmas.

Like most Scooby Doo episodes, we get a "monster of the week" and entertaining chase scenes.  Baba Yaga is a great antagonist and using a witch from Russian folklore is a nice touch.

The voice actors here are all A+ cartoon talents.  Frank Welker does great performing double duty as Fred and Scooby Doo.  It's worth noting that Scooby displays a much more varied vocabulary that we've heard in earlier incarnations.  He exclaims "the logic is impeccable" near the beginning of "Halloween."  That's a big leap from his usual "ruh roh!"

Matthew Lillard, who played Shaggy in the live action movies is also great as Scooby's best bud.  Velma is voiced by Kate Micucci, best known for her work in the comedy musical duo Garfunkel and Oates (and she's also voiced tons of other animated characters) is a great Velma.  Rounding out the cast, Grey Delisle has been voicing Daphne since 2001 and she instills Daphne with a little more sarcasm and depth than in earlier iterations.

However, one thing bothered me about this episode.  Velma mentions refers to Halloween as Samhain, the original Gaelic name for the occasion.  She pronounces it "Sam Hane."  This bugged me, because I believe Velma, the smartest and most resourceful member of the mystery gang,  would make an effort to research Samhain and pronounce it correctly.  It gives me the impression that the writers and producers didn't do their research on Samhain.

"Halloween" is a very enjoyable Scooby Doo episode that is recommended for every fan of Scoob and gang.  The mispronunciation of Samhain prevents me from giving it our highest rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5

3 and a half jack o'lanterns.

RigbyMel says: 

"Halloween" is a fun episode of what looks to be a generally series.   Be Cool, Scooby Doo!  is the 12th incarnation of the franchise and has lots of meta-fun going on in it.   The characters may be redesigned, but their traits hew pretty closely to the original 1969 series, with perhaps a bit more of a comedic slant with gags going to all the characters, not just Shaggy and Scooby. 

Shaggy and Scooby take their trick-or-treat planning VERY seriously!

There are some great little in-jokes, like 11 year old Fred dressing up as his favorite Nordic detective.  I think I also spied a visual reference to The Creeper - a villain from the original series - in a scene involving kids out trick or treating.

The character redesign is fun rather than jarring in this series. 

Shaggy and Scooby's costumes and quest for candy were much appreciated as well and I really liked their attempt to fool the witch by promoting a fake cereal called "I Can't Believe It's Not The Fear Of Children."

I quite enjoyed this episode's references to Baba Yaga and to the Celtic origins of Halloween.   Unlike J.A. Morris, I am going to attribute Velma's mispronunciation of  "Samhain" to "reader vocabulary" (i.e., having read the word only and not being quite sure of how to pronounce it) and not hold it against her, or the show!

The central mystery of the witch traveling from town to town over the course of years and causing Halloween to be cancelled in each town visited rings interestingly in the current age of "trunk or treat" and generally spurious Halloween candy paranoia.

Shaggy and Scooby are disappointed they only collected a "mound" of candy, rather than a "mountain"

This is a super-fun Halloween episode with trick or treating, candy, witches, zombies, folklore (of the Celtic AND Russian variety) and the Scooby Gang.  It's well worth a look should you have the time and inclination. 

RigbyMel's rating:

4 jack o lanterns! 

Scooby Doo! and the Goblin King

Premiered September 23, 2008.

"He who holds the Goblin Scepter holds the power of Halloween in his grasp."
-The Amazing Krudsky


On Halloween, Scooby Doo (Frank Welker) and his friends from Mystery Inc. are having a great time at Coolsville’s Halloween Carnival.  The gang decides to attend the Amazing Krudsky’s (Wayne Knight) magic show.

When Scooby accidentally splashes water on Krudsky, the dog is barred from attending the show.  This prompts Shaggy (Casey Kasem) and Scooby to sabotage Krudsky and reveal that his magic is fake.  This revelation causes the audience to walk out on Krudsky’s show, and the magician vows revenge.

Scooby and Shaggy’s actions get the gang kicked out of the carnival.  They decide to go Trick Or Treating, Scoob and Shaggy wear multiple costumes...

 ...in order to maximize their treats.

Elsewhere, Krudsky is furious about being exposed.  Through a chance encounter with a fairy named Princess Willow (Hayden Penatiere), the magician learns of the Goblin Scepter, fabled wand of the Goblin King (Tim Curry).  Whoever possesses the scepter will control the magic of Halloween.  Krudsky uses a spell to steal Princess Willow’s magic powers, which gives him “the power of the light.”

After knocking on every door in the area, Scoob and Shaggy trick or treat at a mysterious mansion that turns out to be Mr. Gibble's Genuine Magic Shoppe.  They learn that Gibble (Wallace Shawn) knows the secrets of wielding real magic.

Princess Willow shows up at Gibble’s seeking help and tells him he must close up his shop.  She tries to warn them that Krudsky is chasing her and will attack the magic shop, but it’s too late.  The magician arrives, turns Gibble into a rabbit, captures Willow and flies away with a bunch of magic supplies.

Gibble explains that Krudsky has gone to the Land Of Halloween Spirits in order to get the Goblin Scepter.  This would enable Krudsky to unite the power of the light with the power of the dark and destroy the balance of the supernatural order.  If Krudsky succeeds, the powers of Halloween Night will rule the world forever and turn everyone into monsters.

Gibble tells Shaggy and Scooby it’s up to them to save the day.  They must find the castle of the Goblin King and get to the scepter before Krudsky captures it.  If they can’t accomplish this before midnight, the world is doomed!

Scooby and Shaggy encounter some interesting friends and foes on their Journey:

Glob (Jim Belushi) and Glum (Larry Joe Campbell), a duo of shadow goblins who attempt to capture Shag and Scoob when they hear they're seeking the Goblin King.

Jack O’Lantern (Jay Leno), a talking pumpkin who helps them escape from the shadow goblins.

The Headless Horseman, Jack’s “partner” who chases Shaggy and Scooby through a pumpkin patch!

The Grand Witch (Lauren Bacall), who gives our heroes a flying magic broom to help them reach their destination.

And last, but definitely not least, the Goblin King himself!

Can Scooby and Shaggy save the world from Krudsky?

J.A. Morris says:

I should mention that Scooby Doo and the Goblin King has a running time of 75 minutes.  That means it’s much longer than a typical Scooby episode.

The animation in this special looks great.  The voice actors are very good.  Casey Kasem was still alive when this was produced, so it’s nice to hear him voice Shaggy.  Frank Welker, the original voice of Fred, is back and also voices Scooby Doo.

The “guest” voice actors include several A-list talents.  Lauren Bacall brings a lot of gravitas to the witch.  Wallace Shawn makes Gibble an endearing character.  Tim Curry provides a great voice for the Goblin King and Wayne Knight is entertaining as the villainous Krudsky. 

The story here is basically good and the stakes are pretty high.  Shaggy and Scooby have to save the world from Krudsky.  That’s a bit more serious than figuring out the identity of the fake ghost or monster of the week.  The Headless Horseman is always a welcome addition to any Halloween special.

The train Scoob and Shag take to the Land Of Halloween looks pretty cool.

But Goblin King also has several problems.

It’s full of songs that feel like padding so the special could be “feature length.”  These songs aren’t bad, but most aren’t relevant to the plot and they do nothing to forward the story.

The depiction of Velma (Mindy Cohn) is problematic at best.  She’s always been the brains behind Mystery Inc, here’s she’s just a victim.  Making matters worse, there are two moments in Goblin King that insult Velma’s physical appearance (which my co-blogger will further discuss below).

Considering the talents involved and the great animation, Scooby Doo and the Goblin King could have been a classic Halloween special.  I enjoyed some of Scooby and Shaggy’s adventures and Tim Curry always makes everything better.  I’m recommending it for hardcore Scooby-philes and fans of the guest voice actors.  But the problems I mentioned keep it from getting a higher rating.

J.A. Morris’ rating:

2 and a half jack o’lanterns

RigbyMel says: 

There is a LOT going on in Scooby Doo and the Goblin King.   So much is going on that it feels like the writers didn't feel like they had enough material to fill out the time allotted to them in a feature length format.  Hence, they just kept throwing elements into the mix rather than trying to fully develop any of them.   

So we get Halloween, magicians,  fairy princesses, ghost trains, real monsters, witches, talking pumpkins, skeleton musicians, trick or treating, magical tarot cards, real monsters, the goblin king and it is ... exhausting.

As J.A. Morris mentions above, I also have big problems with the way Velma is treated in this.  Rather than being shown to be brainy, occasionally sarcastic and necessary to the Mystery Inc. gang, she comes off as a gibbering, shrill killjoy and winds up repeatedly depicted as a dog  (ok, werewolf, whatever).  Daphne (Grey DeLisle)gets turned into a witch and while not exactly a sexy witch, she at least stays more humanoid in her transformation.

The animation in Scooby Doo and the Goblin King is of reasonably high quality and the voice talent is top notch, it's just a shame it wasn't used in service of a better told tale.  Halloween and Scooby Doo would seem to go together like peanut butter and chocolate,  I feel like the writers could have done more to make this confection better.

RigbyMel's rating: 

1 and a half jack o'lanterns