A wonderful episode.
In this episode the gang visits Velma's friend, Professor Greer. When they discover that there is a giant monster that looks like a praying mantis scaring everyone away from the botanical garden that Professor Greer owns. Before you can say Jinkies, the gang has another mystery on their hands.
The mystery element is surprisingly very strong in this episode. While most of the Scooby mysteries of this time are too easy to solve, that is not the case here. There are quite a few suspects that all seem like they could have done it and the villain reveal here actually took me by surprise. Yet when one looks at all the clues the reveal makes perfect sense. Speaking of the villain, the monster here has a great design. He has quite a cartoony look that somehow manages to feel both creepy and threatening at the same time. This character perfectly captures the charm of this franchise as he combines creepiness and cartoony fun. Speaking of cartoony fun the humor in this episode is quite funny especially the slapstick with Shaggy and Scooby. Like most Scooby mysteries of this time, this episode benefits heavily from a great sense of atmosphere and wonderful background art that gives it a delightfully creepy feeling. The very foggy night scene is especially effective here.
It has been said that the monster here was based off the monster in the Vincent Price movie, The Fly (1958). Vincent Price would of course later voice a major character in the Scooby-Doo! TV show, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo! This is also the only episode in which Velma and Daphne sit together in the back of the Mystery Machine.
This is an excellent episode.
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