On DVD: Scooby-Doo Meets Batman (1972)

We've previously reviewed each of the two New Scooby-Doo Movies episodes that enabled the Mystery, Inc. team to meet Batman (Olan Soule, ex-Dragnet, Captain Midnight, etc.) and Robin (Casey Kasem, also the voice of Shaggy). The DVD compilation putting these two episodes together, unfortunately, leaves something to be desired.

The first problem is that the familiar open to New Scooby-Doo Movies was edited off each episode, and they used an edited closing credits package. Also, a laugh track, which wasn't used originally, was edited in, which killed the vibe. Would it have hurt to keep these two shows intact? The total running time is 82 minutes, or 41 minutes apiece.

As others have noted, the artists messed up coloring Batman's costume, leaving his neck exposed in several scenes in both episodes, and his tights were mistakenly left off a scene in "The Caped Crusader Caper". In "The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair", either Janet Waldo or Jean VanderPyl guested as Mrs. Baker, who was the secret ringleader of a group of counterfeiters who hired the Joker & the Penguin to pass the phony money for them. The master villains were captured too early, gone halfway through, but would stick around to the conclusion of "Caped Crusader Caper".

We reviewed "Caped Crusader Caper" more recently. To recap, Don Messick (Scooby) pulls double duty as Professor Flakey, a befuddled scientist whose experimental flying suit is targeted by Joker & Penguin.

Edit, 1/1/23: Both videos have been deleted. We'll post the DVD cover:

Fortunately, H-B's artistic team would finally figure out how to properly draw the Batman over the next 13 years........

Rating for the DVD package: C. Each individual episode merited an A.