The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and the seventh incarnation of the studio's Scooby-Doo franchise.[1] It premiered on September 7, 1985, and ran for one season on ABC as a half-hour program. Thirteen episodes of the show were made in 1985. It replaced Scary Scooby Funnies, a repackaging of earlier shows; another repackaged series, Scooby's Mystery Funhouse, followed.[2]
The series also aired in reruns on USA Network in the 1990s, on Cartoon Network, and from time to time on Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang until 2014. With 13 episodes, it is currently the shortest-running series in the Scooby-Doo franchise to date. A follow-up film, Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost, released in 2019, featured the previously unseen 13th ghost and ended the series. The entire series is also available on the Boomerang and Tubi streaming services.
Plot[]
- “This is a warning to all living mortals that whosoever opens this Chest of Demons will release 13 of the most terrifying ghosts upon the face of the Earth!”
- ―Vincent Van Ghoul, in the original opening title sequence
In the initial episode, the gang are thrown off course on a trip to Honolulu in Daphne's plane, landing instead in the Himalayas. While inside a temple, Scooby and Shaggy are tricked by two bumbling ghosts named Weerd and Bogel into opening the Chest of Demons, a magical artifact that houses the 13 most terrifying and powerful ghosts and demons ever to walk the face of the Earth. As the ghosts can only be returned to the chest by those who originally set them free, Scooby and Shaggy, accompanied by Daphne, Scrappy-Doo, and a young con artist named Flim Flam, embark on a worldwide quest to recapture them before they wreak irreversible havoc upon the world.
Assisting them is Flim Flam's friend, a warlock named Vincent Van Ghoul (based upon and voiced by Vincent Price), who contacts the gang using his crystal ball and often employs magic and witchcraft to assist them. The 13 escaped ghosts, meanwhile, each attempt to do away with the gang lest they are returned to the chest, often employing Weerd and Bogel as lackeys.
Production[]
The series was created and produced by Mitch Schauer. Tom Ruegger was associate producer and story editor, the irreverent, fourth wall-breaking humor found in each episode resurfaced in his later works, among them A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Animaniacs.[3] Of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Ruegger recalls not being fond of the Flim-Flam character[3] or the other added characters in the cast.[3] As with most of the other early-1980s Scooby-Doo entries, original characters Fred Jones and Velma Dinkley do not appear, and the enemies were real (within the context of the series) ghosts and not simply humans in costume. 13 Ghosts ended its run after 13 episodes and was replaced by reruns of Laff-a-Lympics in March 1986, before the end of the season.
After a hiatus, Ruegger and ABC decided that they would overhaul the series entirely, developing A Pup Named Scooby-Doo in 1988.[3] At the time of the cancellation, twelve of the thirteen ghosts were recaptured in the chest of demons with the show stopping production before the last ghost could be found. Originally it was debatable if Captain Ferguson, the antagonist of the episode "Ship of Ghouls", counted as one of the thirteen ghosts. However it was later confirmed by Curse of the 13th Ghost writer Tim Sheridan that Captain Ferguson was one of the thirteen. To date, it is the last Scooby-Doo running series to have featured Scrappy-Doo, who was removed as a regular character after the three Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 movies in 1987 and 1988.
A direct-to-video film released in 2019, Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost, resolves the open ending of the original and features the entire gang helping Vincent Van Ghoul in capturing the last ghost.[4]
Voice cast[]
- Main article: List of Scooby-Doo characters
- Don Messick – Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo
- Casey Kasem – Shaggy
- Heather North – Daphne Blake
- Susan Blu – Flim-Flam
- Arte Johnson – Weerd
- Howard Morris – Bogel
- Vincent Price – Vincent Van Ghoul
Episode list[]
- Main article: The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo episode list
Home media[]
On June 29, 2010, Warner Home Video (via Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment) released The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.[5]
DVD name | No. of episodes | Release date | Bonus episode |
---|---|---|---|
The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo: The Complete Series | 13 | June 29, 2010 | Don't Feed the Animals |
Reception[]
The series was heavily profiled in the Christian fundamentalist documentary Deception of a Generation as an example of occult influences on children's entertainment.[6]
Follow-up film[]
35 years after the series end a follow-up film called Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost was released in order to tie-up the loose end that revolved around the 13th Ghost Asmodeus.
See also[]
- Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost
- Scooby-Doo (character)
- List of works produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions
- List of Hanna-Barbera characters
- List of Scooby-Doo characters
References[]
- ↑ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield, page 534–538. ISBN 978-1538103739.
- ↑ Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications, page 377–379. ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved on March 22, 2020.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Tom Ruegger is back!". Platypuscomix.net. Retrieved on May 15, 2011.
- ↑ Trumbore, Dave (November 7, 2018). "Exclusive 'Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost!' Trailer Teases a New Mystery". Collider. Retrieved on August 20, 2021.
- ↑ Lambert, David (March 22, 2010). The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo DVD news: Announcement for The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo – The Complete Series. TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2012. Retrieved on August 6, 2011.
- ↑ Deception of a Generation. YouTube. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved on October 12, 2013.
External links[]
- The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo at Scoobypedia
- The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo at the Internet Movie Database
- The Big Cartoon Database – The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo
- The Cartoon Scrapbook – Profile on The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo
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