The Warner Archive Collection has released a Hanna-Barbera Double Feature bringing together two Scooby-Doo! movies to Blu-ray for the first time. Earlier this year, the first of the Scooby-Doo! direct-to-video movies was released onto Blu-ray. Scooby-Doo! On Zombie Island (1998) was paired with the semi-sequel, Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island (2019). This Double Feature brings together the second and third releases, Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost (1999) and Scooby-Doo! and the Alien Invaders (2000).
Buy Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost / Scooby-Doo! and the Alien Invaders Blu-rayScooby-Doo! doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Since debuting in 1969, the show has reflected the times more than any other contemporary cartoon show. The psychedelic van and hippie vibes weren’t an accident. The show was always willing to bring on pop-culture figures as themselves like Sonny and Cher, Phyllis Diller, Mama Cass Elliott, and Dick Van Dyke. The trend is important to these two releases.
The background to these film is that the franchise had recently taken a seven-year break since the end of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo in 1991. The triumphant return with Scooby-Doo! On Zombie Island (1998) gave Warner Bros and the Cartoon Network a surprise hit. The interest in these Halloween seasonal releases continued into 1999 and 2000.
Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost (1999) continues the format from these direct-to-video movies of starting with an action scene at the end of a case (not unlike the James Bond format). That fun scene in a museum leads into the theme song sung by Billy Ray Cyrus, a pretty straightforward take on the original theme song by a popular star of the era just before this release. The gang heads to Oakhaven to meet horror author, Ben Ravencroft. He’s voiced by Tim Curry, lending legitimate credibility to the program. He is perfectly understated at the beginning before he lets loose in the third act.
The entry into Oakhaven shows off the incredible attention to detail in the background art that makes this part of each film and episode my favorite. The haunted houses, the lakes, the docks, and town squares have always looked great from the original series through this movie. They introduce the Hex Girls, who star Jane Wiedlin (the Go-Go’s) as Dusk, reflect the popular girl groups of the day like Wilson Phillips. The appeal here is definitely aimed at the young girls who might not fit the horror-cartoon demo.
The plot is more action oriented than even the previous film. It’s a move in the right direction. The last third is mostly Evil Dead lite. The mystery comes together pretty quickly, and the characters go through some fun conversions. There’s a series of entertaining scenes that don’t add up to a satisfying mystery. The overall effect is of a high-quality movie that serves as a transition to the explosion of new releases over the next two decades.
Scooby-Doo! and the Alien Invaders (2000) features the theme song performed by Jennifer Love Hewitt (known here as Love, I forget if that was a thing) and Mark Hamill gets a vocal role. The voice actors have stayed consistent for this run of films, but their time is short. Mary Kay Bergman has been Daphne and this was her last role before her death. Scott Innes does the voices of Shaggy and Scooby, but that’s going to change once the live-action film comes out in 2002 and Matthew Lillard becomes the ultimate Shaggy. In the meantime, Casey Kasem will eventually do Shaggy a few more times and Frank Welker will take over as Scooby.
The plot takes some inspiration from The X-Files and the numerous shows that came from the success of that franchise. This movie flips some of the tropes of the Scooby series on its head. The Mystery Inc. gang is trying to solve a mystery with the aliens on their side against the townspeople who they would usually be helping. Then there’s a “Shaggy falling in love” story (and she has a dog for Scooby to fall in love with too) that is rather touching. When Shaggy walks out of the bathroom with his hair combed and his shirt tucked in, I had a huge smile. You get the balance of nostalgia humor for the adults and the broad action and jokes for the younger crowd. The overall vibe of this film is just what you expect from a Scooby-Doo! film. I’m not surprised that the result of this film was to expand to two films per year instead of just Halloween.
The Blu-ray release doesn’t add much in the form of extras. There is a short “Making of” for each film and a short trailer. The disc loses the bonus episodes that fill out the DVD releases of these films. The video presentation maintains the TV ratios, no widescreen versions. The colors look good but I can’t find much of an improvement from the DVD versions. The sound is the only thing noticeably better with cleaner separation of the sound effects and the dialog.
These films are important entries into the made-for-television Scooby-Doo! franchise. They set the tone for the films to come, they laid the groundwork for a new generation of fans to be excited for the live-action films, and they showed that a variety of stories can be told with the Mystery Inc. crew. The combination of classic cell animation, a variety of humor, and simply fun mysteries make this a great addition to your Scooby library.
