The gang ends up in Canada and decides to visit Bottomless Lake. However there is nobody else around because that were all scared away by the beast of the lake.
There is quite a bit to enjoy about this episode. The humor with Shaggy and Scooby is especially good as there are some very good comedic moments here. Even Scooby's facial reactions during some of these comedic moments made me smile. Even the wrap of who done it and why had some very good slapstick in it, which was easily enhanced because of some pretty good limited animation that let you see what was going on in Scooby's mind. The closing gag is also excellent. This is also a very atmospheric episode. The Candana setting really works to this episode's advantage. The background art here is especially fantastic. The trees and mountains against a very dark blue sky gives this episode an effectively creepy and unique feel. The underground area is also wonderfully atmospheric.
Unfortunately the monster here feels quite generic and doesn't really stand out from many of the other monsters we have met. The mystery is also pretty easy to solve as there are so few suspects.
All in all this is a really fun episode, even if the monster isn't that memorable.
Hello my friends and welcome back for another service of Cowboy Church.
Today's musical selection begins with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with Do What the Good Book Says. Even today centuries after the Bible was written, it words still ring just as true today and it is important that no matter what happens in this world that we still do what the good book says.
Afterwards is Jim and Jesse with The Old Camp Meeting Days. This recording comes from their 1964 gospel album, The Old Country Church. This is some pure bluegrass gospel music at its best.
Then comes Nat Stucky and Connie Smith with their cover of Johnny Cash's He Turned the Water into Wine. This is from a 1970 gospel album the two country singers did together that is called Sunday Morning with Nat Stuckey and Connie Smith. This was the second album that the two made together. The first was 1969's Young Love. The idea to pair the two come from the record company, as both had recently had major hits and the company believed that their two voices would blend very well together.
This is followed by Willie Nelson with his self-penned gospel song, In God's Eyes. Speaking about this song in his autobiography It's a Long Story: My Life Willie stated, "I needed to remind myself that, although I've strayed from the straight and narrow, I never strayed from my core beliefs. In 'In God's Eyes,' the next song in the sequence, I made that very point." This song comes from Willie's 1971 album, Yesterday's Wine. About this album Willie would state (also in his autobiography), "I looked up and simply began asking questions. Rather than keep those questions to myself, I put them into songs. The songs became my own particular prayers, my own personal reflections. I strung those prayers and reflections together in a loose-fitting suite. Music critics were throwing around the term 'concept album' - like the Beatles' Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club or Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. I suppose you could say this new notion of mine came together as a concept album. Rather than trying to write a bunch of hit singles, I simply followed the natural path taken by my mind."
Next comes one of my favorite current singers Anne Wilson with a very recent song, Strong.
Now for The Sons of the Pioneers with He Walks with the Wild and Lonely. This song was written by Bob Nolan, one of the founding members of the group and one of my personal favorite songwriters. When in a 1979 interview fellow cowboy singer and songwriter Stuart Hamblen asked Bob what he thought the best song he had written was, Bob answered that it was quite possibly this song. He explained why stating, "The lyrics and the music were so perfectly wed that I just couldn’t improve on it."
Afterwards is The Carter Family with their original 1928 recording of Keep on the Sunny Side.
Today's musical selection ends with Johnny Cash singing Don't Give Up on Me.
Now for a message from S. M. Lockridge.
Now for an episode of Gene Autry's TV show.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14
He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed. Proverbs 3:34
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:2-3
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:19
The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them. Ezekiel 18:20
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2
Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another service of Cowboy Church. Happy trails to you until we meet again.
In this episode our friends go to Venice to visit their friend Antonio in Italy. However the Ghostly Gondolier is haunting their friend and trying to steal an ancient necklace that he wears.
This episode is so much fun. There is a great sense of atmosphere throughout. This is especially true of the outdoor scenes which do a wonderful job with the lighting and use of fog. While there have been plenty of Scooby mysteries that took place outdoors and, in the fog, this episode really stands out because it is done so well and because the Italian setting adds a lot. The background art in this episode is once again wonderful and simply a joy to look at. This episode also benefits from a great villain. While he may not be the creepiest Scooby villain, he has a great design and a wonderful voice, both of which make him so much fun to watch. The fact that he kidnaps Daphne adds a great sense of suspense to the story and makes this episode feel like it has larger stakes than the average Scooby-Doo mystery. Though this episode may not be as reliant on the slapstick gags with Scooby and Shaggy as many others, around this time period, the slapstick gags with the two we do get are quite good and a lot of fun.
This is truly a great episode and one that I think deserves more attention than it gets.
Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons.
Today's cartoon selection begins with the first Mickey Mouse cartoon made, Plane Crazy (1928). This was back in the days when Mickey was still a simple country mouse who went around barefoot and didn't wear gloves. These early Mickey cartoons have a genuine rural feel to them (partly because Walt always considered himself a farm boy at heart) that I personally find irresistible and definitely prefer over the later and bland suburban settings featured in his later cartoons. In this film Mickey dreams of being a pilot and makes himself a homemade plane that would make the Our Gang kids jealous. This is because aviation was a popular topic around this time due to the fame of Charles Lindbergh (briefly caricatured here) after his New York to Paris flight of 1927. Walt had already had his earlier star, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in an aviation themed cartoon with The Ocean Hop (1927). This cartoon began production in March, 1928. The production of this cartoon was done in secret due to the fact that Walt was still under contract to make Oswald cartoons for Universal. Animator Ub Iwerks (who animated the film by himself) was separated from the artists working on the Oswald shorts so that he could not be seen by them. Hugh Harman later described this saying, "They curtained off part of the studio with a great black drop, black skim of some kind, so that I and a few others who were leaving couldn't see the great secret that was going on." Ub Iwerks was one of the fastest animators of the time and finished this cartoon in only a matter of weeks. It has been said that he made as many as 700 drawings in one day. This cartoon was originally made as a silent film, yet you will notice the opening title card says "Sound Cartoon." The reason for this is that after the success of Steamboat Willie (1928) with sound, a soundtrack was added to this cartoon.
Next we join our good friend Dinky Duck in Sink or Swim (1952).
Now it is time for a vintage Aesop's Sound Fables cartoon, Hot Tamale (1930). This short film creates a couple mice characters who bare more than a passing resemblance to Mickey and Minnie Mouse. These mice were known as Milton and Rita Mouse. Walt Disney got temporary court injunction against the Van Bueren Studio for these characters. However, as Roy Disney would later state, “We just stopped him. That’s all we were out to do. We didn’t ask any damages. We even let him finish marketing his pictures. We wanted to establish our right. That’s what we were after. To establish a copyright like that is a big thing and that’s an important thing to do.” The characters actually existed before Mickey and Minnie since 1921. However, when Mickey became a major film star, John Foster had redesigned that characters to look more like the famous Disney mice.
If you have trouble reading the page below, click on it and use your touch screen to zoom in.
Exhibitors Herald World, 1929
Next comes one of the best post-golden age Looney Tunes cartoons, Little Go Beep (2000). This short film was released in movie theaters with the feature film, Best in Show (2000). Cartoon buffs should note a picture of Wile E. Coyote's dad with Chuck Jones, the Charles M. Jones Super Genius Award and the Maltese trophy. Chuck Jones directed all of the best short coyote and roadrunner films and Michael Maltese wrote most of them. Of course, the Maltese trophy was also a reference to the Humphry Bogart classic, The Maltese Falcon (1941).
Now it is time for a commercial break.
Up next comes the silent Out of the Inkwell film, KoKo Sees Spooks (1925). This film perfectly shows the pure creativity that I love so much about this series.
Now for the Pink Panther in Pink in the Woods (1979). In this short film, The Pink Panther gets a job as a lumberjack. He had previously been a lumberjack in Pink Is a Many Splintered Thing (1968).
Today's cartoon selection ends with The Simpsons in Shell Game (1988). This was one of the Simpsons shorts made for The Tracy Ullman Show before the cartoon family got their own TV series.
Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another selection of animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.
Resources Used
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History by J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein
Of Mice and Magic: A History of the American Animated Cartoon by Leonard Maltin
In this episode the gang visits China and gets lost in the city of Rampoo. While there the gang runs into a moon monster.
There is a lot to enjoy about this episode. The chases with Scooby and Shaggy are as always a lot of fun and there are some good slapstick gags that put a smile on my face. There is also some of the wonderfully atmospheric artwork that I love about this series. I especially love the scene with the moon monster getting away in a boat at night. This scene was simply beautiful to look at and creates a delightfully atmospheric feel. The mystery also is quite good here. There aren't many suspects but each of the suspects there are make perfect sense. When the identity is revealed it makes perfect sense. The design of the monster is pretty cool looking although I wish it didn't look so obviously like a man in a costume. This is animation, so there is no reason it had look so obvious. I do love the aura of light around the monster though. That is a very nice touch.
The only problem with this episode is that is simply is not that memorable. Most everything is done well, but there is little to make it stand out among the many other Scooby-Doo! episodes that follow this formula. I also think the episode could have taken better advantage of its Chinese setting.
This episode is definitely fun to watch but it is also not one that will stick in your mind long after watching it.
The reason why this film is still enjoyable despite its flaws is because it perfectly understands why people love underdog movies. People love to see those who seem like they have no shot at winning, beat those who have every advantage. This film has this in spades. Even if you (like me) have never paid attention to the stock market to root for these underdogs to win. You see the finical trouble these Davids have, and you see how the Goliaths don't play the game fair. This is not done in a subtle way at all, but it is certainly effective. Also helping this movie is that Paul Danno is simply wonderful in the main role, bringing a lot of charm and likability to the character. There are also some clever bits of filmmaking here. This includes some great use of real footage of news broadcasts and the climatic hearing. The film mixes the footage of the real person doing the interviewing with the actor playing the real-life person who was being interviewed. The effect is near perfect.
This film does have quite a few major flaws though. One is that there are so many characters, and the film keeps switching back and forth between them. Because of this we don't feel like we get to really know any of these characters. Instead, most of them either come off as bland stereotypes or just plain bland. This is also a movie that is just as much a comedy as it is a drama. The problem is most of the time the comedy isn't funny and often seems to think being crude and foul mouthed automatically makes it funny.
This movie could have been much better but for what it is, it still works as an effective underdog story.
In this episode, the gang goes to the Decade Records recording studio to see their friend rock and roll singer, Jimmy Lewis. However when they come the studio is being haunted by the mysterious phantom. Before you can say "Jinkies" the gang has another mystery on their hands.
This episode benefits from quite a strong villain. Not only is his design quite cool, but his voice is fantastic. This is one of the creepiest and most memorable voices for a Scooby-Doo! villain. There is a little bit of a robotic feel to his voice that makes its all the creepier and more effective. This episode also benefits from some delightful comedy. The scene with Shaggy and Scooby with the milkshake machine is a wonderful little comedic skit that definitely put a big smile on my face. Though the setting of a record store may not be the most memorable location for a Scooby mystery, this episode does have the usual great background art and use of lighting that I love about this era of Scooby-Doo!
The main problem with this episode is that the mystery is incredibly easy to solve. Also with this episode focusing heavily on the Scooby and Shaggy slapstick, as well as the duo discovering the main clues, Fred, Velma and Daphne don't really do that much here and feel more like supporting characters rather than the major characters they normally are.
The desgin of the villain of this episode was clearly inspired by the rock band Kiss. The same year this episode came out, Hanna-Barbera would release a live action made for TV movie starring the famous rock band, Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978). Kiss themselves would later meet the Mystery Inc. Gang in the What's New Scooby-Doo! episode, A Scooby-Doo Halloween (2003) and the direct to video movie, Scooby-Doo! & Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery (2015).
This may not be the strongest Scooby mystery, but it is still a lot of fun.
