Tooned In: The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985)

I’m sure there’s a lot of you who wanted Flim Flam to be the one to be made humble…

Happy Saturday Morning! So I had something that turned up on MeTV Toons at last, but have been sidetracked by various stuff, including but not limited to not feeling motivated due to sickness, cold weather, and sucky heating.

But speaking of turning up on MeTV Toons, starting this coming Monday we get some new entries into the schedule: Taz-Mania joins weekday afternoons, as I felt the Christmas episode might be a preparation for. Some extra Hanna-Barbera ‘70s comedy on Sundays with Speed Buggy and The Hair Bear Bunch, and we also dip into more H-B action on Saturdays with Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor, as well as the long-awaited debut of the Herculoids and Space Ghost. Don’t get too excited…it’s the ‘80s version with Space Ghost and, like, no one else you remember from the original or from Coast-to-Coast. There’s also some 2000s DC shows in Legion of Super Heroes and Krypto the Superdog…I guess I can see the latter being there because of the James Gunn Superman. Only show really leaving the schedule is Where’s Huddles, and an hour of the Terrytoons block. Well, the Terrytoons are showing up on other Me blocks anyway.

But for now, we got an earlier long-awaited premiere, as the channel finally included The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo in its rotation of Scooby shows during the week. When will I learn to always trust in Weigel? In case you needed a brief introduction, 13 Ghosts was a slight reinvention of the Scooby franchise, where they return to the idea of the gang facing real monsters, the idea being that they are tricked into opening the “Chest of Demons,” and thus releasing the titular 13 ghosts out into the world. Because they did so, it is now up to the present members of Mystery Inc. to return the spirits to the Chest.

The main cast we’ve had for the last two seasons are back: Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne, and Scrappy, and they are back to just being freelance adventurers instead of the excuses the other ‘80s seasons seemed to add for their following kooky mysteries (the gang were journalists in the 1983 episodes, Shaggy was working for his uncle’s detective agency in 1982). They also get a makeover, with Red Shirt Shaggy’s first appearance and Daphne having April O’Neil-type jumpsuits. And there’s a new Mystery Machine to replace the old hippie van.

But what’s a new season/soft reboot without some new characters? We get two bumbling ghosts, Bogel and Weerd, as semiregular antagonists to join the Monster of the Week. And with Fred and Velma otherwise occupied, we’re also introduced to…Flim Flam, a con artist kid who exists because Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was a thing. But more importantly, there’s Vincent Van Ghoul, a Dr. Strange-like sorcerer voiced by VINCENT PRICE himself. And speaking of which…

BANGER INTRO TIME:

Make no mistake, it’s a banger mostly because of the Vincent Price narration. But the music and animation do make this feel like much higher stakes. Does the show itself follow suit?

WHEN YOU WITCH UPON A STAR

As is often the case, we begin with Vincent doing what he does best and waxing poetic, this time lamenting dinner guests. Scrappy calls him to his spirit monitor, where we see the Brewski Sisters : a group of bumbling witches who prove to be a very obvious gender swapped parody. There’s three of them, the leader has dark hair and is prone to calling her red-head and plus size sidekicks “knuckleheads” and the like. Said plus size witch also likes to say “certainly” with a Brooklyn accent, and has a distinct “nyuk-nyuk” laugh. Have you got it at home? By themselves, the Brewskis don’t seem to be much of a threat, but then a sentient cloud that Vincent identifies as coming from the Chest of Demons arrives, leading Shaggy to beg to change the channel…and the monitor switches to a Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? Rerun. Cue Ruegger! But they kind of have to go back to the witch story, where the evil mist gives the sisters a book of spells, promising that if they meet at Stonehenge and use Spell #13 to free her, they will also become the most powerful witches in the world. The Brewskis celebrate with the first of several instances of their trademark song, as seen within this clip:

The gang’s job is to get the book away from the witches, while Vincent stays behind. Shaggy does his usual routine of wanting to stay too, until it’s revealed that doing so is just as/more dangerous, and he and Scooby take the lesser of two evils. Here, Vincent says he has to go into the Evil Zone to find the source of the mist the sisters have been talking to. Meanwhile, the Brewskis are preparing for the spell, but lack a cobra’s rattle and “icky poo” Paris sewer water. Like I need to be reminded of the villains from Pound Puppies. They’re interrupted by Shaggy and Scooby in disguise as “crazy” salesmen, making this show clearly mid-80s. Though I guess moreso if you lived in the New York City area and knew who Crazy Eddie was. Flim Flam and Scrappy add onto the distractions when they pretend to be perfume peddlers. In the confusion Scooby gets the book, but soon loses it back. Over in the Evil Zone, Vincent is trapped by Marcella, the witch who was communicating through the mist cloud. I am personally tickled to hear that every witch’s spell this episode is accompanied by the “Wonder Twin Powers, activate!” sound effect.

Going back to the Brewski Sisters, they use their magic to transform Hilda (the Curly of the bunch) into a female cobra, so that she may seduce the snake guarding the cobra’s rattle they need. When the time comes to get the sewer water, Flim Flam has another plan that again amounts to the gang trying to fool the witches with a disguise…

Well, you get Daphne in a harem outfit, one out of three ain’t bad, or something. The witches are not fooled, however, and they decide to bring Paris to them, but end up turning the city into Nome, Alaska somehow. Insert Scooby sleigh ride gag until they get the spell right and get the water. And how do our heroes intend on stopping the witches now? Why, with ANOTHER disguise! I don’t think Shaggy and Scooby did this EVERY episode back in the day. Should I keep myself from going insane and just chalk this up to the exaggerating and/or fourth wall breaking the 80s Scoobys were known for? Cue Ruegger #2? At any rate, the witches eventually see through the charade and blow up a door as the gang escapes. They nonetheless celebrate by again singing the “We are witches of the night” song, and while I used to find that hilarious when I was younger, it too is starting to get a bit tired. Marcella urges them to get to Stonehedge at once, and Scoob and company get the Mystery Flying Machine to follow, after which they attempt to stop the spell by…stop me if you heard this…DISGUISING THEMSELVES AGAIN. This time, they pose as a rival tribe of witches. By the time Marcella strips them of their costumes, though, Flim Flam has the book, and a chase ensues. Now, what of Vincent Van Ghoul? In the evil zone, he is rescued by Eidsvick, a lackey creature of Marcella’s whom Vincent rescues from danger earlier, and who had had enough of the witch’s mistreatment. Arriving just in time, he changes Spell #13 before letting the Brewskis have the book, only to find out that the new spell instead sends Marcella back to the Chest. Everyone, witches included, celebrate by singing “Witches of the Night” complete with “Scooby Dooby Doo” lyrics replacing the “nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah”. If only they did it while wearing costumes, then it would bring everything full circle.

Don’t know if I chose a light episode or what, but aside from Vincent Price being his usual self and the new angle to the story, this is just a 1980s Scooby-Doo cartoon. Super Powers Team had the better makeover this season.