Case in point, "The Nutcracker Scoob" episode of The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries.
Edit, 12/21/2020: We've located a screencap from the episode:
Fred (Frank Welker) returns for this episode, one of several appearances he'd make during the season. Y'don't suppose that might be to ensure there is no chance at Shaggy & Daphne getting close, do you? And, man, don't ya think they could've used him for the later 13 Ghosts series?
Rating: B.
Rating: B.
6 comments:
@Hobbyfan: Just wanted to let you know that the actual year this episode aired was 1984, not 1983; actually this episode has become one of my favorites, as i've managed to catch on Boomerang or Cartoon Network over the years around the Holidays pretty regularly(at least when both networks cared about classic cartoons).
Incidentally, this episode is also on the Scooby Doo 13 Spooky Tales Holidays Chills and Thrills DVD(which I purchased some time ago), so now I can watch said episode pretty much every year and I don't have to worry about the whims of Boomerang and Cartoon Network, and their scheduling(bad as it may be).
By the way, this episode of course was not the only episode that featured Fred and/or Velma guest starring.
The other episodes that season to feature them were the season premiere Happy Birthday, Scooby Doo(celebrating Scooby's then 15th year on the air; another personal favorite of mine), The Ghosts of The Ancient Astronauts(which had Fred and Velma; which was also a pretty good episode), A Night Louse At The White House(featuring Velma only), A Halloween Hassle at Dracula's Castle(featuring both Fred and Velma, and other personal favorite as it had the gang actually meeting real monsters and gasp: helping them!, I always thought that was pretty cool), and finally Sherlock Doo(featuring just Fred).
I did have a fundamental problem with Sherlock Doo though. The villain of the episode was the Ghost of Sherlock Holmes, who of course was never a bad guy, he was always a good guy first of all; second, Velma was not there(she would have been great in the episode), even though she has proven to be a Sherlock aficionado(as shown in the 1979 Scooby and Scrappy Doo episode The Night Ghoul of Wonder World as she had a fantasy in which she solved a case with Sherlock Holmes).
Putting on my amateur producer/writer hat here, if I were making that episode(and I may remake it someday, i'm not sure yet), I would have had a different villain(maybe the Ghost of Professor Moriarty would have been awesome), I would have had Fred and Velma there as well, along with Shaggy, Scooby and Daphne(maybe Scrappy would be there, or maybe not).
Finally, I might have added a twist to the episode: the twist being that the ghosts of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are involved, but they can only be seen and appear to Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo.
I would imagine Shaggy and Scooby would freak out, but after seeing that the two of them don't mean the gang any harm, they might be cool with having a couple ghosts help out the gang. I would love Velma's reactions to solving a case with the ghosts of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson particularly, as she probably would be freaking out at first, but then she probably would show Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson that she learned from the two of them and that she is a master sleuth(much like Sherlock and Dr. Watson).
I can fix the date. That's the easy part. I'll also amend the text to your point. The ghost of Moriarty would've made more sense in "Sherlock Doo", that's for sure. I don't know who the writer(s) was (were), but apparently there was a lack of attention to detail.
FWIW, a time-tripping adventure pairing Batman with Holmes would be an even better draw.
@Hobbyfan: Cool.
Yeah, it did seem like the writers back then missed some details; as for having Fred around for the 13 Ghosts series, that would have been awesome(that of course was one of the first fan fiction ideas I explored: a remake of the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo with Fred and Velma; although if she was in 13 Ghosts, I wonder who would have voiced her).
What did you think of the idea of Sherlock Holmes ghost and the ghost of Dr. Watson only appearing to Scooby and the gang? I think that would have made for a fun twist to the episode, if the gang had to track down the ghost of Professor Moriarty; sort of one last battle between Holmes and his most famous adversary(with Mystery Inc. helping out of course).
Batman and Sherlock Holmes solving a case together would be rather interesting; I wonder if DC Comics has ever done that in their history? If not, they definitely should.
Seeing as how I haven't yet seen Sherlock Doo, I'll have to let you know when I do. DC has had Batman & Holmes meet, by the way. Nearly 30 years ago, in fact, in an issue of Detective Comics (1st series). A wondrously ingenious little story. If you can find it, get it.
@Hobbyfan: I have seen the episode on numerous occasions, it is a pretty good episode. I might have to look into that comic with Batman meeting Sherlock Holmes.
I don't have the issue number committed to memory, and I had it in my collection at one time. Came out around 1987 or so. I think that this had something to do with Holmes' 100th birthday or something.
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