The Scooby-Doo! Show: A Creepy Tangle in the Bermuda Triangle (1978)

 

A fun and atmospheric episode. 

In this episode the gang decides to go sailing. However a storm, leaves them stranded on a "deserted" island. Here they discover what appears to be a UFO and there are some skeleton men roaming the island. Could this be connected to the planes that have disappearing around the Bermuda Triangle recently? Looks like the gang has another mystery on their hands. 

There is a lot to enjoy about this episode. The deserted island is a perfect setting for a Scooby-Doo! mystery. There is something inherently creepy about being stuck on a supposedly deserted island that might be haunted. Like all Scooby-Doo mysteries of this time period, this is helped by wonderful background art and use of lighting. This episode also has a great amount of suspense due to the fact that the gang is not just being chased and scared here but are in real danger. There is even a moment where Fred, Velma and Daphne are trapped and about to drown. The slapstick with Scooby and Shaggy is even better than usual here. The chase scene is quite funny and the early slapstick with Scooby fishing is excellent. 

There are a couple problems with this episode though. One is that the design of the skeleton men looks like people in painted wet suits. While you can argue that that is exactly what it is (I don't think saying the monsters are fake is a spoiler for a Scooby-Doo! episode), there is no reason that that should be what they look like. This is a cartoon, and it could easily have used cartoon license to make the monsters look real, like the majority of other episodes do. Having them look fake takes away from the creepy atmosphere a little bit. The mystery is also very easy to solve as there really aren't that many suspects. 


Live action versions of the skeleton men appear in the theatrically released movie, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004). The Bermuda Triangle would also play a major role in the direct to video movie, Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! (2006). 

This may not be one of my favorite episodes but it is still a lot of fun.