SCOOBY-DOO AND THE WITCH'S GHOST (1999) / SCOOBY-DOO AND THE ALIEN INVADERS (2000)
Hanna-Barbera Double-Feature
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 66 Minutes 38 Seconds Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost), 72 Minutes 40 Seconds (Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders)
Audio: English DTS HD-MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Director: Jim Stenstrum
Cast: Scott Innes, Mary Kay Bergman, Frank Welker
SCOOBY-DOO AND THE WITCH'S GHOST (1999)
Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost (1999) was the second of the straight-to-video offerings, wherein Scooby-Doo (Scott Onnes, Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island), "Shaggy" (Innes, again), Fred (Frank Welker, Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island), Daphne (Mary Kay Bergman, Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero) and Velma (B.J. Ward, Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf), travel star off my sleuthing a mummy-mystery at a San Francisco museum with the help of mystery/horror writer Ben Ravencroft (voiced by Tim Curry, Stephen King's It). Afterward the author invites the Mystery Inc. to his hometown of Oakhaven, Massachusetts for the annual Autumn Harvest Festival. Arriving the gang soon find themselves sleuthing a new mystery, that of the ghost of Ravencroft's ancestor Sarah, who now haunts the place. While history remembers her as a spell-casting evil witch Ravencroft is convinced that she was an herb-healing Wiccan in tune with nature. a trio of witchy women of the all-girl band Hex Girls also figure into the story, and features The Go-Go's Jane Wiedlin as Dusk. Released in time for Halloween back in 1999, which scarily was 25 years ago now, this was has a wonderful autumnal feel with plenty of the usual Scooby-Doo scare-vibes. We get not only a fireball throwing ghost-witch, but a monstrous turkey and creepy ambulatory jack-o-lanterns, plus some witchy twists and turns that are sure to be a treat for both kids and older monster kids who grew up watching the classic Mystery Inc capers. Unlike the old series these direct-to-video offering actually had "real" supernatural happening, as well as local yokels disguised as monsters to scare of kids off of some hot real estate or profitable opportunity, and that is true here as well. I love the goth-rock tunes of the all-girl rockers Hex Girl, the songs are actually fun and well put together, plus they feature Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Gos which is just cool, and we get the voice talents from Mr. Tim Curry (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Legend) who brings a lot of spark to the role. What I love most about it is the wonderful autumnal feel and Halloween vibes it gives off as well, making it perfect October viewing for kids and monster-kids of all ages, especially if you're looking for a kiddie-friendly introduction to horror for the little ones. I will say it is not as string on the horror elements as Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, it does not go that dark, but it's still a groovy Scoob and the gang spook-tacular.
SCOOBY-DOO AND THE ALIEN INVADERS (2000)
The next year we got another direct-to-video Scooby offering by way of the sci-fi-tinged Scooby-Doo and The Alien Invaders (2000), also released to DVD in October, but less frightful and more sci-fi Hijinx. This time out Scooby-Doo (Scott Innes), "Shaggy" (the talented Innes, again), Fred (Frank Welker), Daphne (Mary Kay Bergman, who sadly died the same year this was released) and Velma (B.J. Ward) find themselves broke down and stranded in a desert town where they soon discover a plethora of flying saucer buffs and some broccoli-headed extraterrestrials! Scooby and Shaggy get abducted and then wake up in the middle of the desert where they meet cute photographer named Crystal and her female dog Amber (both voiced by Candi Milo, Cool World), with both Shaggy and Scoob being quite smitten by their new found friends. Other characters that come into play are a trio of scientist manning a space-telescope, the SALF (Search For Alien Lifeforms) project monitoring the skies for alien-signals. The SALF trio consist of Max (Mark Hamill, Star Wars), Laura (Audrey Wasilewski, HBO's Big Love) and Steve (Kevin Michael Richardson, Ralph Breaks the Internet), plus we have a diner waitress Dottie (Jennifer Hale, X-Men '97), a mechanic named Buck (Neil Ross) and a desert-rat named Lester (Jeff Bennett, Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon). With the stage set we get tales of missing cattle, a fenced off area guarded by suspicious MPs, and a network of caves hidden under the town, and of course plenty of alien shenanigans. I sort of love how Shag and Scoob get love interests in this one, we get some nice character moments I don't normally associate with these characters, and of course having the talented Hamill in the voice cast is always a bonus.
Audio/Video: Both Hanna-Barbara telefilms arrives on a single-disc Blu-ray from Warner Archive in 100p HD framed in the original 1.33:1 broadcast aspect ratio. It's a generally very strong looking image with good looking line work and vibrant cell coloring. It does look like it's been DNR'd pretty well, it's very smooth with only the faintest hint of the original grain structure for either film, but not so much so that I noticed any disappearing animation lines, it still looks fantastic, but it's not optimal in my opinion. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles, the track is clean and well-balanced and has some decent atmospherics in the surrounds, and the intro songs and tunes features sound terrific.
Extras include archival extras that were present on the original DVD releases, these include brief archival Making of featurettes for both films, featuring voice actors Scott Innes, Mary Kay Bergman, Frank Welker, Tim Curry, all three members of The Hex Girls (including Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go's!), plus both Billy Ray Cyrus and Jennifer Love Hewitt who sings the respective theme songs for these telefilms. I can honestly say that this is the best work that Cyrus has ever done in my opinion. We also get a brief clips of the Music Videos for "Scooby Do Where Are You?" And "Hex Girl", plus a Promotional Trailer for each film. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork.
Special Features:
- "Making of" Featurette: Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost
(4:48)
- Promotional Trailer: Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost
(1:02)
- Music Video for "Scooby Do Where Are You?" And "Hex Girl"
(1:10)
- Promotional Trailer: Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders *1:00)
- "Making of" Featurette: Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders
(5:56)
I am loving all the Scooby-Doo releases coming to Blu-ray, a lot of this 90's and 00's stuff were releases I missed out on the first time around, I have been having a blast revisiting these and in some instances, seeing them for the first time.
I think at the time I was so into the the original run of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969-1976) that I grew up watching during re-runs I never gave these more modern incarnations a spin. It's only recently that I came down of my gate-keeping pulpit and opened myself up to them, and I've been having a ton of fun diving into the 80's -00's toons and telefilms, and this double-feature is pretty aces in my opinion. While neither are quite up there with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998) or Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988) they both tickled my monster-kid and sci-fi fan funny bone, and are worth owning for kids of all-ages
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