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 

The Worst Witch

Premiered on HBO and Central Independent Television in the Fall of 1986

Miss Cackle's International Academy Of Witches is a boarding school where girls hone their witching skills. But one student is going through a rough patch, Mildred Hubble (Fairuza Balk) is having trouble casting spells and flying her broomstick.   She manages to turn herself and her lab partner invisible when they were supposed to be creating a laughing potion.

Hazards of imprecise potion making

She is constantly bullied by mean girl, Ethel Hallow (Anna Kipling).

One of Mildred's teachers, Miss Hardbroom (Diana Rigg) seems to have it in for Mildred.

Pleasant nightmares!

Even the school's headmistress, Miss Cackle (Charlotte Rae) calls Mildred "the worst witch" in the school.

Her only friend, Maud Warlock (Danielle Batchelor), offers encouragement to Mildred, telling her to ignore her detractors.

Halloween is approaching.  All the girls, including Mildred are anticipating the Halloween Festival.  The guest of honor will be the Grand Wizard (Tim Curry).  The girls fawn over him like a rock star.

Sooo dreamy!?

Meanwhile, Miss Cackle's evil twin sister Agatha is plotting to take over the school.  Agatha ("Aggie" to her "friends") will stage a coup during the Halloween celebrations, when the school is distracted.

Agatha and hench witch Delilah

After much practice,  Mildred shows major improvement in her flying skills and is happy when she is added to the broomstick display team which is scheduled to perform for the Grand Wizard on Halloween night. Ethel isn't happy about Mildred's inclusion on the team and gets a nasty idea.  Mildred's broom is broken, so Ethel lends one of her spare brooms.

Ethel is up to no good

Unbeknownst to our heroine,  Ethel has placed a curse on the broom!

Halloween arrives, as does the Grand Wizard, in grand style.

 He entertains everyone with a Halloween song.

Anything can happen on Halloween

 Next, it's time for the broomstick team's performance.  Everything is going well, the girls are flying in formation, but suddenly Mildred's broom goes haywire.  She crashes, ruining Halloween.  The Grand Wizard departs for another gig and Mildred is sent to her room without supper, fully expecting to be expelled the next morning.

Mildred is despondent, feeling like the whole world is against her and decides to run away.   She stumbles upon Agatha and her cronies (pun intended) getting ready to make their move on the school.   Will she be able to stop their depredations?  Will she be expelled from school?

RigbyMel says:

I have very fond memories of watching this little film when it first showed on HBO.   It quickly became a family favorite - my brothers and I watched the VHS tape quite a bit.   I think most kids can relate to the feeling of not quite being in step with those around them and the misfit theme certainly crops up in various holiday programs aimed at children.

Watching it as an adult has caused some of the shortcomings of The Worst Witch to stand out a bit more than they did when I was 10.    This is a very low-budget production,  the special effects are not of great quality and proportions of characters to backgrounds vary wildly within the same scenes. The plots is a bit on the paper thin side, but is enjoyable.  Much of the budget probably went to paying talent like Diana Rigg, Charlotte Rae and Tim Curry to appear in the film.   Each of the cast members give their all.

One of my favorite bits of The Worst Witch has not changed from when I saw it as a child.  Tim Curry's song as the (unfortunately named) Grand Wizard is a cheese-tacular wonder that should not be missed.  The lyrics are silly and fun and it seems to be trying to incorporate just about every music video sin from the 1980s that it can cram into less than four minutes,  but somehow it is endearing and is definitely proof that "anything can happen on Halloween".

Behold, I am in an '80s music video!

 (It's also an amusing callback to Curry's more famous turn as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show aimed at a much younger audience.)

In fact, this song is so amazing, I feel we must share it on the blog,  so without further ado, here's Tim Curry as the Grand Wizard singing "Anything Can Happen On Halloween":



Awe-inspiring, isn't it?  ;-)

The Worst Witch also has some interesting resonances with the Harry Potter universe - both include schools dedicated to the training of young witches and wizards as well as  protagonists who must deal with bullies and with dark external forces that wish to harm the school and its students.  Both feature important events that take place on Halloween.  And both universes also feature testy potions instructors.

There may also be a lesson to be learned about what happens to bullied children from Fairuza Balk's later career, she stars as a teen witch gone bad in the 1996 film The Craft!

This is a fun, goofy  Halloween movie whether one is young, young at heart or just obsessed with Harry Potter and/or the 1980s.  

RigbyMel's rating:

3 and a half jack o'lanterns

The school is lit up like a giant jack o'lantern on Halloween.

J.A. Morris says:

Unlike RigbyMel, I had never heard of The Worst Witch until a few years ago.  But I've always enjoyed the work of Diana Rigg, Charlotte Rae and Tim Curry.  The dulcet tones of Rae's "singing" voice is something you must hear.  She has made an art form of (intentionally) singing badly.  Plus, Rae has a dual role in this story, as portraying both Cackle and her sister Agatha.

Agatha lets out an evil screech and casts a spell at Mildred.

Curry's song has become a favorite, I've put it on a few playlists for Halloween parties.

Ethel & the other witches in-training get black kittens...

...while Mildred, being the Worst Witch, is given a tabby.

Fairuza Balk may not have become a superstar, but she's had a respectable acting career as an adult since this film.  Balk's very believable here as a kid going through an awkward stage.  I especially liked the scene where all the witches in training are given black kittens.  Mildred is given a tabby cat (she names it Tabby, after thinking about naming her Blackie "because she isn't"!) and doesn't feel the least bit left out.  Tabby is a misfit just like Mildred and she bonds with the cat over this common trait.

Ethel taunts Mildred...

...until Mildred turns her into a pig!

Most of the other kid actors don't make much of an impression, but Anna Kipling is good as mean girl Ethel Hallow.  Every good story needs a good villain, if you were ever bullied at school, you will recognize Ethel.  Kipling seems to have stopped acting in 1990, but she will live forever in the minds of every kid who watches The Worst Witch.

Mildred can't bear to look as she crashes her broom.

 The plot isn't that great.  We never learn why Agatha is no longer in charge of the school.  And her plan to overthrow Miss Cackle is sketchy at best, but the story never gets boring.  

Mildred enjoys a flight on the Grand Wizard's cape.

But some of my co-blogger's nostalgic feelings have rubbed off on me, it's become part of our yearly Halloween viewing.  While the special effects are sometimes laugh-inducing, the film has its heart in the right place.  The Worst Witch is good, seasonal fun, with some nice performances by the veteran actors, and it's anti-bullying message is still important today.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 jack o'lanterns.