A wonderful second episode to my favorite Scooby-Doo! show.
As this episode begins our heroes are driving through a forest when Vincent Van ghoul, warns them that they are approaching one of the 13 ghosts. This ghost is Maldor, a ghost with great magical powers. Maldor proves to be a great threat even before the gang meets him. He knows the gang is coming and uses his powers to turn trees into monsters and a rabbit into a dragon. Maldor soon captures our heroes and locks them up in his castle. There they find a wizard, who Maldor has locked up. He explains that Maldor is looking for his magic wand, that if in the right hands could make everything beautiful and in the wrong hands make everything into a living nightmare. They escape from being locked up but the ghost once again captures Daphne and curses her to an eternal sleep. Our heroes must save their friend and put the ghost back in the chest.
The gang's first real encounter with one of the 13 ghosts, is excellent. The ghost is a wonderful villain who is delightfully creepy and feels like a huge threat to our heroes. His design and voice are wonderful (even if it looks like he could have wondered off from a He-Man episode). The fact that he already has a dangerous and powerful presence before the gang even meets him only adds to this. While there is nothing new about the settings, creepy castles and forests are always great settings for a Scooby adventure and this is no exception. These settings are just as wonderfully atmospheric as one could hope and the fact that the spooks are real adds a new edge to these familiar settings. This episode also continues to make this show feel bigger than any previous Scooby show. This is especially true when Daphane is captured. While Daphne was captured quite often in Scooby-Doo! Where Are You that show had Velma and Fred in it. Here the remaining members of the gang include two young kids (Flim-Flam and Scrappy) and two members who are terrified of ghosts (Scooby and Shaggy). This certainly creates a greater sense of suspense. It also allows for these characters to have to take on roles, that are new and uncomfortable for them to save the day. This creates a whole new dynamic that creates a fresh spin on a familiar situation.
I stated in my review of the last episode that the humor in that episode was not as good as it would soon become. Well in the second episode the humor has fully found its groove. This show would often take a wackier and sillier sense of humor than the previous Scooby series. In this show it would be common for characters to break the fourth wall and talk directly to the audience or even reference the fact that they are in a cartoon. This humor is a major reason why I love this show so much. This episode has some especially great wacky gags. One of my favorites involves a complete break in the action as Scrappy talks to a woman who complains that the use of fire in this show might be harmful to children. This is a great bit of satire taking aim at how ridiculously over the top complaints from censors and parent groups could be over cartoons. I also love the gang leading us in an impromptu sing-along version of Row Your Boat. Even the standard Scooby gags of characters dressing up in costumes to confuse and distract the villain are especially great here. The scene with Scrappy and Flim-Flam pretending to be lawyers in an effort to free Scooby from the villain's clutches is especially delightful.
All in all this is a wonderful episode.
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