That may sound like hyperbole for a show that is considered by a lot of people as one of the worst Scooby Doo incarnations (personally have never agreed with this opinion and consider it the best of the incarnations to feature Scrappy). But "It's a Wonderful Scoob", the title referencing one of my all time favourite films 'It's a Wonderful Life', to me really is that. Along with "A Spooky Little Ghoul", it was one of the episodes seen later than the others so childhood memories of this are not quite as fond.
"It's a Wonderful Scoob" on first viewing struck me even back then as a great episode, though convoluted at times (was still in early double digits then to be fair) and one of the more interesting ones premise-wise. On re-watches, it's still one of the best episodes of 'The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo' along with "That's Monstertainment" and "Scoobra Kadoobra" and actually gets better with each viewing. The concept of "It's a Wonderful Scoob" is one of the most unique ones of the show and is surprisingly deep.
Nearly everything is brilliant. The animation is beautifully drawn, the background detail is rich (managing to still make the barren landscapes of the future scenes interesting) but it's the colours that stand out here. Loved the contrast of the vibrant past world, the just as vibrant but with more darkness as well present world and the truly bleak and austere future world. The music fits harmoniously and the theme tune and titles sequence have lost none of their memorability. The organ instrumentation always stuck out vividly when younger and is still striking.
Have no issues with the voice acting. Dignified and authoritative Vincent Price and menacingly booming Robert Ridgeley really stand out wonderfully, as does Don Messick in some of his most poignant voice work ever. Time Slime is a great villain, easily one of the show's most dangerous and one of the few to come so dangerously close to succeeding in his plans along with Nicara. Bogol and Weerd are tolerable and not as inept as they usually are, and "It's a Wonderful Scoob" is one of only two episodes where Flim Flam is toned down and doesn't irritate, "That's Monstertainment" is the other.
What also really stands out is the story, one of the more creative storylines for 'The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo' and the one with the most depth. It is very clever in its showing of Scooby's past, present and what will happen in the future. All done very unsettlingly and movingly, especially the future section. This easily could have been convoluted, and at times it was to me on first viewing but following it now is easy as cake, but wasn't. To balance out the seriousness though, there is also some witty and very funny fourth wall breaking. Loved Vincent's role and really felt for Scooby throughout. The climax is genuinely very suspenseful.
My only real issue with "It's a Wonderful Scoob" is Time Slime's far too easy and almost throwaway defeat, even when in early double digits that bothered me.
Summarising, wonderful. 9/10.
"It's a Wonderful Scoob" on first viewing struck me even back then as a great episode, though convoluted at times (was still in early double digits then to be fair) and one of the more interesting ones premise-wise. On re-watches, it's still one of the best episodes of 'The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo' along with "That's Monstertainment" and "Scoobra Kadoobra" and actually gets better with each viewing. The concept of "It's a Wonderful Scoob" is one of the most unique ones of the show and is surprisingly deep.
Nearly everything is brilliant. The animation is beautifully drawn, the background detail is rich (managing to still make the barren landscapes of the future scenes interesting) but it's the colours that stand out here. Loved the contrast of the vibrant past world, the just as vibrant but with more darkness as well present world and the truly bleak and austere future world. The music fits harmoniously and the theme tune and titles sequence have lost none of their memorability. The organ instrumentation always stuck out vividly when younger and is still striking.
Have no issues with the voice acting. Dignified and authoritative Vincent Price and menacingly booming Robert Ridgeley really stand out wonderfully, as does Don Messick in some of his most poignant voice work ever. Time Slime is a great villain, easily one of the show's most dangerous and one of the few to come so dangerously close to succeeding in his plans along with Nicara. Bogol and Weerd are tolerable and not as inept as they usually are, and "It's a Wonderful Scoob" is one of only two episodes where Flim Flam is toned down and doesn't irritate, "That's Monstertainment" is the other.
What also really stands out is the story, one of the more creative storylines for 'The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo' and the one with the most depth. It is very clever in its showing of Scooby's past, present and what will happen in the future. All done very unsettlingly and movingly, especially the future section. This easily could have been convoluted, and at times it was to me on first viewing but following it now is easy as cake, but wasn't. To balance out the seriousness though, there is also some witty and very funny fourth wall breaking. Loved Vincent's role and really felt for Scooby throughout. The climax is genuinely very suspenseful.
My only real issue with "It's a Wonderful Scoob" is Time Slime's far too easy and almost throwaway defeat, even when in early double digits that bothered me.
Summarising, wonderful. 9/10.
