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chuckro”I'll get the gang back together, Pericles! We'll be coming for you, or my name isn't... SCOOBY DOOBY DOO!”
My review of Season 1 is here.
The show changes in some fundamental ways, becoming much more continuous and less episodic. The mythology arc starts taking over more and more of the monsters of the week, and the subplots become much less follow-able if you haven't seen what came before. Minor characters reappear like crazy, like George Avocados and Vincent Van Ghool. Sheriff Stone even gets character development!
In retrospect, glad ARR didn't get into this early on because the later stuff gets nastier and scarier. More cases of villains clearly trying to kill the gang, more situations that feel “real” dangerous instead of “cartoon” dangerous. They gloss over it, but most of the named cast dies in the finale!
I loved the fact that, for the two episodes where Hot Dog Water was the "New Daphne", she actually replaced Daphne in the credits. (Hugging a picture of Velma. It’s about as clear as the network would allow them to make it that Velma and Hot Dog Water are together in the end, right?)
The Blue Falcon crossover episode was kinda random, actually. I mean, it was fun, but a bit out-of-genre (like the Funky Phantom episode in the first season, as well, but that was at least a dream sequence). I think it’s the only episode when the Scooby gang successfully fights something, rather than defeating it with a trap.
Another big change is there are some real, clear supernatural elements (mostly ghosts until the last few episodes) in this season. There really isn’t a way for the theater mummy monk (that gives a ton of exposition about the disk and associated treasure) to be anything but a real ghost. The Nibeiru entity even gets semi-explained as being an extra-dimensional force (and the trail leading to it as transit through various other dimensions, allowing for differences in physical laws), but the ghosts are just…ghosts.
I did love the ending, though. Stealth prequel to the rest of Scooby-doo, as the characters—now living in a lighter, softer, friendlier world—leave on a road trip to find mysteries all over the country.
Overall: I’m not sure this maintained optimal cleverness through the entire 52 episodes (it could probably have been cut down a bunch here and there), but it was very solid and the most entertaining take on Scooby-Doo I’ve ever seen.
My review of Season 1 is here.
The show changes in some fundamental ways, becoming much more continuous and less episodic. The mythology arc starts taking over more and more of the monsters of the week, and the subplots become much less follow-able if you haven't seen what came before. Minor characters reappear like crazy, like George Avocados and Vincent Van Ghool. Sheriff Stone even gets character development!
In retrospect, glad ARR didn't get into this early on because the later stuff gets nastier and scarier. More cases of villains clearly trying to kill the gang, more situations that feel “real” dangerous instead of “cartoon” dangerous. They gloss over it, but most of the named cast dies in the finale!
I loved the fact that, for the two episodes where Hot Dog Water was the "New Daphne", she actually replaced Daphne in the credits. (Hugging a picture of Velma. It’s about as clear as the network would allow them to make it that Velma and Hot Dog Water are together in the end, right?)
The Blue Falcon crossover episode was kinda random, actually. I mean, it was fun, but a bit out-of-genre (like the Funky Phantom episode in the first season, as well, but that was at least a dream sequence). I think it’s the only episode when the Scooby gang successfully fights something, rather than defeating it with a trap.
Another big change is there are some real, clear supernatural elements (mostly ghosts until the last few episodes) in this season. There really isn’t a way for the theater mummy monk (that gives a ton of exposition about the disk and associated treasure) to be anything but a real ghost. The Nibeiru entity even gets semi-explained as being an extra-dimensional force (and the trail leading to it as transit through various other dimensions, allowing for differences in physical laws), but the ghosts are just…ghosts.
I did love the ending, though. Stealth prequel to the rest of Scooby-doo, as the characters—now living in a lighter, softer, friendlier world—leave on a road trip to find mysteries all over the country.
Overall: I’m not sure this maintained optimal cleverness through the entire 52 episodes (it could probably have been cut down a bunch here and there), but it was very solid and the most entertaining take on Scooby-Doo I’ve ever seen.
