Top 10 “Scooby” Scares

As a child of the 80s, I grew up on some of the best in syndicated animation.

At the same time that I was enjoying “He-Man,” “G.I. Joe,” or “Thundercats,” it was also incredibly common to find “Scooby-Doo” on in reruns as his old adventures, and newer ones too, were still quite popular at the time.

Journey with me back to a childhood of spooks, specters, misguided miscreants, meddling kids, and a quivering chowhound of a Great Dane detective known as “Scooby-Doo.”

*This is NOT an official list; these are MY picks for some of the best monsters and miscreants. In a lot of ways, I’ve picked these choices based on the episodes surrounding them too. You may disagree with some picks; you may rue that there is only room for TEN monsters/miscreants-in-masks on this list. They are MY picks; and, for such a long running franchise, there is room for HEALTHY debate.

Also, I quit really enjoying any Scooby episode after Scrappy’s first season (the season that stayed to 22 minute mysteries and still involved all of the group). These picks ALL come from “…Where Are You?,” “The New Scooby Movies,” “The Scooby-Doo Show,” and “Scooby and Scrappy-Doo, Season 1.*

Let’s get going…

10. THE GUNSLINGER (“Ghastly Ghost Town/…Meets The Three Stooges 1”; “The New Scooby-Doo Movies,” a robot/Amos Crunch in matching cowboy duds; an undercover uranium mining operation).

Scooby and company run into “The 3 Stooges” in their very first outing alongside special guest stars. The Stooges are trying to run an amusement park.

What could go wrong?

Well, among other things, the animals are getting loose every night, Tyrone, the Mechanical Dinosaur has run amok, there’s a ground-shaking Indian rain dance; but all are NOTHING compared to…

“DRAW!!”

Like a scene straight out of a watered-down, Saturday-Morning-Friendly Westworld, Scooby-Doo must contend with a mouthy, mechanical gunslinger. Shaggy, inexplicably, breaks character to laugh off the threat of the Gunslinger; right up until he obeys his own command to “DRAW!!” and is now armed with a REAL GUN (that he then consistently harmlessly discharges into the air). Shaggy assesses the new dilemma and his cowardice promptly returns. Not so for Scooby who now senses a challenge (and, ALSO breaking character, steps up to it).

The ”Three Stooges” episodes were NEVER my favorite episodes of the “New Scooby…Movies” growing up. I did, however, always enjoy the scene of Scooby and the Gunslinger in the opening credits and had finally found the episode that the scene belonged to. Oddly enough, the episode is beginning to grow on me well into my adulthood.

Anyway, the less said about Amos Crunch in a cameo appearance in the Gunslinger’s getup long after the robot is destroyed, the better; except that he and his associate, Rhino, had a pretty devious plan to shutdown the Stooges’ park to strip mine underground Uranium deposits.

9. THE DEVIL BEAR (“The Hairy Scare of the Devil Bear;” Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show; Chuck Hunt; Hoarding cave treasures).

It is only fair to pick at least ONE “monster/ghost/ne’er-do-well-in-a-costume” from Scrappy’s episodes.

With only ten slots for this list, I’m reducing “Scrappy’s” first season to ONE recipient; and The Star Creature, The Night Ghoul, and the Neon Phantom, while all great episodes (“The Night Ghoul of Wonderworld,” in particular, is my favorite episode of “Scooby and Scrappy”) have all just become DISHONORABLE MENTIONS to make way for…

“The Devil Bear.”

The Devil Bear is said to haunt Ancient Indian Caves in the Grand Canyon and to safeguard a treasure.

It’s one thing when the miscreant in question dresses himself as a humanoid ghost/phantom. It DOES up the ante when the bad guy CHOOSES a costume that represents something larger than life and bigger than a person (say, the spirit of a rampaging bear).

It turns that that the rascally Chuck Hunt is after keeping the treasure for himself and the guise of a bear-skinned, monstrous thug is his idea of making it happen.

8. THE INDIAN WITCH DOCTOR (“Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?”; “Decoy for a Dog Napper; Buck Masters; Sabotaging a dog show for his own “prize-winning” dog).

Holy cats; there’s a dog-napping ring sweeping the city just before a BIG dog-show!

Scooby-Doo and Mystery Inc. are on the case!

Buck Masters, the owner of a prize-winning Great Dane, hires out the crew to doll up Scooby to look like the prized pooch. (It’s one of the few times that the gang uses high-tech tracing technology from the back of the Mystery Machine; or that anyone besides Fred devises the trap for the crook).

By the way, we haven’t even MET a ghostly monster yet by this point.

Scooby eventually gets kidnapped by hoods “in confusion” over the fact that he’s not Masters’s Great Dane and the gang is off and running.

There is a very brief appearance from “The Ghost of Geronimo” in a very short-lived ploy to scare Shaggy; but the gang eventually DOES find their prized pooch, and the other dog show participants, in the conniving clutches of an Indian Witch Doctor.

… “Surprising” absolutely no one REMOTELY familiar with the “Scooby-Doo” franchise, the dog-nappings were a hoax and the “Indian Witch Doctor” was a creep in a mask. (Le Gasp!) It was Buck Masters all along; who’s prize-winning pooch was scheduled to “reappear” (as the only contestant to do so) just before the dog show.

Not much of a prize-winner, was it?

…I’m sorry, it needs to be addressed; I can’t remember the exact PURPOSE of “The Ghost of Geronimo,” beyond scaring the pants off of Shaggy and, eventually, leading the crew RIGHT TO the show dogs. This would require “research” (watching that episode again; and I’m trying to save the Scooby-Doo blu rays for October).

7. THE CREEPER (“Jeepers, It’s the Creeper!”; “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?”; Mr. Carswell; Crooked robbery of OWN bank.)

It took me AGES (the advent of at least DVD, if not Blu Ray) and about 15 views of this episode over the years to finally realize that The Creeper kept mumbling the word “PA-PER!” as he threatened the kids over a “blank” sheet of paper; and their sole clue. (If not for this revelation, I thought that he kept repeating his own name to freak the kids out [“CREE-PER; CREEEEE-PER!”]).

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The kids are enjoying a Barn-Dance with the rest of their classmates when, upon the end of the shindig, they find an abandoned, ransacked automobile; and its delirious and beaten driver: the bank guard.

The kids accept a strip of paper from him and the ominous clue of “The Flame Will Tell The Creeper.”

The kids blindly accept the paper and take the guard to the Bank President’s house for some R&R; at which point they inquire about “The Creeper” and Carswell, the kindly bank president, spins a mile worth of yarn about a “mysterious phantom” who had been robbing the banks in town.

The kids leave with their sole clue; and “The Creeper” hot on their heels.

There’s a “B” story involving a baby chick and a Z-Story involving a stereotypically creepy hermit.

Anyway, thanks to an automatic haybailer, Scooby nabs The Creeper just long enough for the grand unmasking of…Mr. Carswell himself, Bank President and safecracker of his own bank. (Apparently, predatory lending policies weren’t very big back in the late 60s/early 70s).

And “The Flame Will Tell…?” The security guard had installed security cameras in the bank; unbeknownst to the bank president until the kids were kind enough to deliver his harmed guard to his house and TELL him about the “blank” piece of paper in their possession. The “blank” piece of paper, held up to a lighter, showed a GREAT side profile of a leering Carswell stealing from his own bank…

6. THE SPOOKY SPACE KOOK ([Episode titled after creature]; “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?”; Henry Bascombe [the belligerent, crotchety farmer’s next door neighbor]; Dirt-cheap land buy-up scheme).

This grinning, glowing, giggling ghoul could rightly scare ANY child!

He also came complete with a “space ship” to open the episode, thereby raising suspicions that he truly WAS from space.

We “open”…well, with the space ship, followed very closely by the Space Kook himself breaking the Fourth Wall and giggling straight into the camera.

THEN, we cut to Mystery Inc driving somewhere and Fred discovering that they’re in need of gas for probably the 12th time this week (Seriously, Fred; you’re always the driver; READ THE GAS GUAGE!)

The gang picks up some gas from a kindly, pleasant, enabling elderly farmer and they’re well on their way again; now with brand new knowledge that reporters have been desperate to speak to the crotchety, belligerent farmkeep. Why? Well, because he was just such an amicable chap…because of reports of the Space Kook in the near area, scaring his chickens.

I wonder what ELSE this spacely specter has been up to; and how it could involve an old airfield…?

…Admit it; you haven’t watched these since you were a child, you’ve forgotten, and now YOU’RE wondering too, aren’t you?

Fear not; I’m here with more spoilers.

The kids are directed, somehow, to an abandoned air field where they meet good old BAD glowing, giggling, and gruesome. His space ship is always there to follow him (whilst he’s clearly on the ground and chasing the kids)! There’s a runaway jeep with no driver! Just at the moment when ONE Space Kook could rightly frighten anyone, BOOM, there’s an ARMY of Space Kooks lying in wait (and, strangely, standing perfectly still and letting the kids do the running!) What goes on here???

Shortly, the farmer finds the Mystery Machine parked at the airfield (having, at some point, taken a liking to and concern for the well-being of the kids) and brings the sheriff to “get to the bottom of these shenanigans!” Managing to chase the Speedy, Spooky Space Kook into a giant wind tunnel is enough for the grand unmasking of…Henry Bascombe, “Mr. Farmer’s” crooked next door neighbor who, in Shaggy’s own words, is now “tired of being a space ghost.” (“SPAAACE GH-OHHHHHST!”)

…Admit it; I’m not the only one who got that reference and responded likewise.

Okay; so Bascombe had gotten wind about the old abandoned airfield and wanted to buy it up dirt cheap. The space ship was a “home movie/” hologram projected against the night sky. The “runaway” jeep was a remote-controlled concoction. The three-second cameo appearance of SEVERAL Space Kooks were all stuffed dummies; save for Bascombe’s original. And Mr. Space Kook’s constant, spine-tingling cackle; a speeded-up soundtrack broadcast over a loudspeaker (thereby adding to the plausibility that there COULD BE several Space Kooks all cackling at once).

5. THE 10,000 VOLT GHOST (“Watt a Shocking Ghost;” “The Scooby-Doo Show;” Mr. Voltner; dirt cheap landgrab).

The kids are off to Winterhaven for…reasons. (Again, I REALLY want to hold off on the blu-rays/DVDs until October). Upon their arrival in their winter getaway destination, they slip and slide their way into ANOTHER mystery as they find a town besieged by blackouts and plagued by a giant, glowing, gurgling, electric monster called the 10,000 Volt Ghost.

The kids meet the enabling Mayor Dudley who offers to set them up for the night (in a town that, barely a minute ago, we established was COMPLETELY OUT OF POWER!). The Mysteries Inc. crew appreciates the expression of hospitality; but they just caught the scent of ANOTHER mystery to crack wide open for the amiable Mayor Dudley and the fine folks of Winterhaven. Dudley, grateful public official that he is, then makes absolutely certain to warn the kids of the 10,000 Volt Ghost, a glowing, growling, towering spirit that is the remains of the power plant’s dearly departed senior technician, Voltner.

The tale behind the creation of the 10,000 Volt Ghost was fairly spine-tingling for late 70s, Saturday Morning Hanna-Barbera fare. Add in that, in many scenes, the 10,000 Volt Ghost seemed to dwarf our teenaged sleuths (Again, like “The Devil Bear,” there was something extra threatening about the extra large specters that propagated Scooby’s Rogue’s Gallery).

…or WAS Mr. 10,000 Volt Ghost really so big and tall? He sure seemed that way when he was a glowing ghost (in many of his scenes anyway). Then, he lost approximately 9,990 of his volts in a melting giant snowball to reveal a man in a battery-pack powered insulated suit (remove the insulating factors of the rubber suit and we’d REALLY have an incandescent ghost on our hands).

Come to think about it, if you REALLY pay attention to the episode, the animators DID kind of appear to be all over the map about the 10,000 Volt Ghost’s height.

Anyhoo, the 10,000 Volt Ghost disguise has been short circuited to reveal a man in a suit. That man in that suit was…Voltner, the now DISGRACED senior technician from by way of the Power Plant. As for the yarn where the 10,000 Volt Ghost was some kind of glowing phantom that was all that remained of Voltner’s spirit? Well; the amicable Mayor Dudley just might have been one of the Forefathers for the modern-day “swampy” politician; he was out for a dirt cheap landgrab; with his new buddy, Voltner, being in on the scam to run people out of Winterhaven before discovering their scheme…

4. THE DIABOLICAL DISC DEMON ([Self-Titled Episode]; the third season of “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” [thereby, using the intro and credits for “The Scooby-Doo Show”]; Ace Decade; blackmarket sales of Jimmy Lewis records).

We open with an old man being chased, scared for his life, through a building. We then see the SOURCE of his fear in the form of what appears to be a phantom “Kiss” member in an even-more garish outfit and hairstyle.

Remember, this is STILL ABC Saturday Morning and still “Scooby-Doo;” for context, THIS is kind of intimidating…

Cut to the gang driving the Mystery Machine over to a recording studio. You see, the kids’ one-off friend, Jimmy Lewis, has invited them to his private recording session and Daphne and Velma are positively GA-GA over such an idea (Remember, Velma was supposed to be the brains of the outfit; and Daphne was kind of-sort of supposed to be DATING Fred).

The kids arrive at the recording studio and are introduced around to the recording arranger, security guard, and Ace Decade, THE Mr. Decade (of Decade Records’s) nephew. His songwriter, Tony Sines, doesn't seem to be on hand for the introductions; or for the recording session for that matter.

Jimmy accepts a piece of music that looks like his missing songwriter wrote it during an earthquake. Perplexed, but nonetheless accommodating, Jimmy begins banging on the keyboard, convinced that he’s a rockstar keyboardist. He is roughly 9 notes into the “song” when the keyboard decides that it has heard enough and ALL of the recording equipment “inexplicably” begins to go haywire.

…Did I neglect to mention that there was ONE entity that Scooby-Doo and the crew hadn’t met yet as they had already known Jimmy and had just gotten introduced to the security guard, the pianist/arranger, recording technician, and Decade’s nephew? Oh silly me; they were right on track to make the acquaintance of one,…the Diabolical Disc Demon, a neon-clothed and red/orange haired nightmare version of the unspoken-of member of Kiss.

Constant chasings throughout a single building eventually find a trashcan of (presumably unreleased, I think) Jimmy Lewis albums and a locked room where the kids eventually find Tony Sines, the “missing” songwriter who had last scribbled out the background noise provided by the keyboard just before every piece of recording equipment decided that its best fate would be to begin spontaneously exploding.

Oh; and the tune that Mr. Sines had rush-written out? “T-H-E D-I-S-C D-E-M-O-N’-S R-E-A-L I-D-E-N-T…”

I jest.

“A-C-E D-E-C-A-D-E” (It’s, of course, Velma who, literally, spells this out for everyone).

Decade, Recording Studio Owner’s Ne’er-do-well nephew is after MORE than just inheriting a recording studio. No; he wants the quick-cash from black-market record sales.

We’re approaching the Top 3 of, quite possibly, favorite spooks (of course, favorite episodes) ranging from the first four iterations of “Scooby-Doo.” Hang tight for one moment longer as I warn you now that I’m about to break-up the continuity in the title headers.

You know how all of these headers so far have been UNMASKING the crook, let alone exposing their plan? Wellll; that was all well-and-good for picks 4-10…

3. GHOST OF ELIAS KINGSTON (“What The Hex Is Going On?”; “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?”; ???)

…I already broke momentum to separate the Top 3 from the rest of the (equally well-distinguished) pack of bogus poltergeists. I want to take an extra second to acknowledge that Hanna-Barbera had finally animated a woman MORE beautiful than Daphne Blake in the form of one, Sharon Weatherby. Thank you, Hanna-Barbera.

On to the ghost in question.

“Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” was, quite often, far darker, spookier, and grittier than its successors. THIS is one of several episodes that plays off the spookiest aspects of the series; and runs it neatly against the absolute comedy (remember the opening title sequence of Shaggy on Rollerskates, just before he loses control and crashes into a [now functioning] bathtub? It came from THIS episode).

Okay; “Sharon’s hot” and “Shaggy’s inexplicably on skates.”

The Ghost of Elias Kingston (and the mystery of Sharon’s vanishing Uncle Stuart that leads to the ghost’s arrival) fit right in with the original slightly dark and gritty mystery tones, blended seamlessly with the most lighthearted elements, of the original series. The Ghost, and the old Kingston Mansion, are…well…haunting.

Of course, it’s not long before the “ghost,” however truly suspenseful, is unmasked and there sits the “missing” Uncle Stuart, fresh off of an elaborate attempt to fake his own disappearance and swindle the Kingston Fortune…

2. DRACULA/THE GYPSY/ WOLFMAN/ FRANKENSTEIN (“A Gaggle of Galloping Ghouls;” “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?;” ???).

…The perpetrator was “Big Bob” Oakley and he was after the Frankenjewels of Franken Castle.

“Big Bob” Oakley sounds like either a safecracker or, more realistically, a bumbling brutish henchman for a far smarter, and bossier, mastermind.

His alias was “The Actor;” and he EARNED his credits by roleplaying not ONE masked miscreant but ALL FOUR!

Picture not one but FOUR ghosts placed against the dark, suspenseful, gritty backdrop of the original “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” Shaggy and Scooby can hardly get into enough shenanigans to remind the audience that this is a comedy-mystery series predominantly meant for CHILDREN. (That being said, Scooby as the substitute gypsy/swamy in one particular scene WAS pretty funny).

We’ve been through monsters/episodes 2-10 to comprise MOST of my personal all-time favorite masked/made-up miscreants (Some of these monsters DID transcend an episode that sort of paled in comparison to the villain. I’m looking at you “Pick #2”).

On to, honestly, THE penultimate “Scooby-Doo” spook, and his accompanying GREAT episode; an opinion established well-over thirty years ago when I owned, and lost just before COMPLETELY wearing out, THIS particular VHS. Fresh out of “The Scooby-Doo Show” and the aptly entitled “No-Faced Zombie Chase Case” comes…

1. THE NO-FACE(D) ZOMBIE (???)

…In all of these years, between VHS, “accidentally” sitting through the entire episode any time it came on television, or DVD, I STILL don’t know if the derivation is “No-Face Zombie” or “No-FACED…”

Often times, at least the FIRST season of “The Scooby-Doo Show” honestly did TRY to pit brighter, more vibrant colored characters up against the suspenseful backdrop that had helped make “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” such a hit and, therefore, Scooby-Doo such a long-lasting franchise.

THIS episode, while not necessarily helped by a couple of comic bits in the middle, honestly did possibly the best at pitting a vibrant monster against a dark, suspenseful backdrop.

We open with “No-Face” entering the scene in limping, growling fashion just before he smashes into a coin shop after ONE coin: “The Mysterious Golden Galleon.”

Scooby and the kids are in a sub shop (where else WOULD the innocent sandwich shop be BUT RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the coin shop?) Anyway, Scooby innocently dips outside of the diner for a moment to get a bite out of the world’s largest sub sandwich at the PRECISE moment that the “No-Face Zombie” casually breaks down the door opposite the window that he had already entered through (well, he does so as “casually” as being unnaturally strong will ALLOW him to do). Mystery Inc must interrupt their dinner for ANOTHER case…!

The coin shop owner, a police lieutenant, and a multitude of newspaper reporters/photographers have all teleported in from Lord-Knows where and the owner of the coin shop is beside himself about the legendary curse connected with the rare (and absent) “Golden Galleon.” A hardnosed and dismissive Police Lieutenant is “only after the facts” and laments about “no witnesses,” prompting the gang to shoehorn their way into the conversation and introduce one, Scooby-Doo, as the sole witness to the crime.

With no help from the flippant police lieutenant, it is the Mystery Machine that eventually discovers a wayward Hurst. Guess who’s DRIVING it…?

The chase ends at the Dilly Dally Dolly Company with the zombie safely inside and roaming about and the kids on the OUTSIDE, trying to negotiate with a night watchman who is even gruffer than the police lieutenant. Eventually, the kids’ determination wins out and they DO sneak in; just in time to lose the zombie AGAIN and meet Messrs. Dilly and Dally with all evidence pointing to the KIDS breaking and entering. The shop owners vow to search while the kids remain in one room. Dally’s search is a brief one, as a neighboring door swings open and, sure enough, Mr. Zombie grabs hold of his collar.

The kids must now chase the zombie through a giant toy factory as they on-and-off-again juggle possession of the stolen coin with an angry zombie. They do, however, stumble upon their sole clue: “a magazine with ONE conspicuously missing page.”

Being “Scooby-Doo,” there has to be a comedic, lighthearted B-Story. We’re “in luck;” Scooby manages to get separated from the kids as he’s being chased by either the Zombie or a giant gorilla who has now decided to get in on the act while whoever isn’t after Scooby is after the kids instead. The chase ends with Scooby tripping over a banister and falling into a toy duplicating machine all while yelping his famous “RELP!”

There is a brief moment of peace where the Zombie is no longer after Mystery Inc., at which point Shaggy can’t find Scooby. That is the precise moment when Fred overhears Scooby’s bellowing from nearby and the kids open the right door to find, to their understandable astonishment, “a thousand Scoobies; ALL chicken.”

“A thousand” Scoobies (approximately ten of which are only ever seen at one time) all “RELP!”-ing simultaneously is just a bit too obnoxious to really be funny. THAT, and the sudden gorilla, are my quibbles about this episode. “The No-Face Zombie” is just enough to SAVE it and preserve its top ranking. Anyway…

Finally, Scooby and Shaggy manage to exit the factory and find a magazine stand with the COMPLETE magazine that they’re looking for (Three guesses who’s attending the magazine stand; and it ISN’T the zombie who’s still at the factory and juggling possession of the Golden Galleon while “seeming to look for someone.”)

Finally, the kids have gained possession of the coin; and KEEP IT long enough to call up the lieutenant. Scooby and Shaggy manage to get a lift back to the factory with him. As the kids’ literally HAND the Police Lieutenant the coin, he intones “I believe that you recovered the coin, kids; but a ZOMBIE? Heh, heh, heh.”

“No-Face,” never one to miss a cue this entire episode, promptly snatches BACK the Golden Galleon and the Police Lieutenant, who must have Mr. Magoo’s Eye Doctor, asks what THAT was. Velma’s answer of “THAT was a zombie; heh-heh-heh” was only slightly uncalled for and that type of sarcasm/egotism-surrounding-her-own-intelligence is partially WHY she was always my least favorite member of Mystery Inc.

The chase is on AGAIN between the kids, the lieutenant, a momentarily triumphant Zombie, and a Gorilla who just WILL NOT leave the episode and let the Zombie play the true star that he deserves to be.

CRASH! BANG!

The chase is over, the good guys have the coin back for keeps, and the zombie will “never be the same.”

In one of the more dramatic reveals over the “Scooby-Doo” franchise, without any REAL suspicious characters who could have possibly fit into the zombie’s suit, the “No-Faced Zombie” is none other than… “a computerized robot!” in one of Velma Dinkley’s more REDUNDANT observations (MOST robots, being mechanical and all, are computerized).

The case behind this episode’s titular star is all wrapped up but the gorilla still wants the spotlight. He swoops in after the Golden Galleon, takes it, and takes off for The Hurst. Scooby and Shaggy on a forklift put an end to THAT idea and the gorilla is just as subdued as the ruined No-Faced Zombie.

…Okay; so why with the rampaging gorilla? Because most robots (as the zombie was revealed to be) DON’T BUILD AND PROGRAM THEMSELVES. Whilst the Night Watchman could have just as easily fit into a Gorilla suit, it was, in fact, Mr. Dilly, intelligent enough to build and program the zombie. The magazine’s formerly missing page explained it all that “despite the curse connected to the Golden Galleon, the Sultan of Swahili was ready to offer $1,000,000.00 for the priceless piece.” The zombie had spent its time circling the factory, wondering where Dilly was that he might return the coin; and found himself locking up Dally and Night Watchman in the store room while simultaneously chasing the kids around the building as they swapped ownership of the valuable coin…

Choc up another case for Mystery Inc.; the Golden Galleon was in safe hands again and Shaggy and Scooby were ready to cash in on their idea of a reward in the Employees’ Cafeteria; except for one tiny issue that “a thousand” Scoobies, all just as hungry as the original article, had found a door left open and found their way around the factory (unnoticed until this PRECISE moment) and had made their way STRAIGHT to the kitchen…

The episode closes with the backing instrumental track being the “SCOOBY; SCOOBIDY-DOO!” portion of my favorite theme song sequence from any of the Scooby-Doo franchises that I had enjoyed in my youth…

I hope that you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know that a lot of these reviews deviated into my complaining and quibbling over one thing or another in what was SUPPOSED TO BE my “favorites” list.

Trust me; THESE ARE.

Honorable mentions who would still deserve their due credit as Scooby-Doo villains would have included The Specters of Ebeneezer and Nettie Crabb (“High Rise Hair-Raiser;” “The Scooby-Doo Show;” Red Sparks and Jim Rivets; safecrackers), the Black Knight from Scooby-Doo’s PREMEIR episode of his PREMEIR series (“What a Night for a Knight;” Mr. Wickles; art swindler/counterfeiter) and the aforementioned Neon Phantom, Star Creature, and Night Ghoul (“The Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show”).

Scooby-Doo has been a franchise since 1969; and still IS to this day.

That is A LOT of room for a LOT of healthy debate about who was the best of the baddest of Scooby’s revolving door of masquerading rogues.

I know that you’re list wouldn’t match precisely mine for all of the exact same reasons.

Who were some of YOUR favorite spooks and specters (and, like a vast majority of mine, did the correlation exist between some of your favorite villains and THOSE being some of your favorite episodes?)

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