It's a Wonderful Scoob is the ninth episode of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo.
Premise
Scooby has a traumatic experience with demon Time Slime and is replaced by lazy dog Bernie Gumsher, but Vincent Van Ghoul shows what will happen to the gang if Scooby doesn't come out of retirement.
Synopsis
While in pursuit of Time Slime, a demon (or ghost) who can control time, Scooby and the gang have a close call, forcing Vincent Van Ghoul to intervene. He manages to transport them all, except for Scooby, who was holding Time Slime's time scepter during this time, inadvertently knocking him through a temporal vortex. Scooby attempts to use the time scepter, which shows him a "window" through the past to his own birth, and then to more recent events, when he first released all the horrifying monsters from the Chest of Demons.
Van Ghoul manages to get him back to them, but this trauma has made Scooby decided he doesn't want to be in the ghost chasing business any more, and quits the gang. Moving back in with his parents (Mumsy and Dada Doo), he refuses to even speak with any of his old associates, other than telling them he is done and is not coming back.
At a loss, the gang puts the pursuit of Time Slime on hold and starts to interview for a team replacement for Scooby, fielding many anthropomorphic dog interviewees. Flim-Flam, predictably, picks the absolute worst candidate: Bernie Gumsher, who is cowardly like Scooby but also dim, lazy and extremely unmotivated. The reformed team resumes the hunt, but are easily captured by Time Slime.
Vincent, observing this disastrous turn through his crystal ball, takes a more subtle approach to bring Scooby back into the fold. He visits Scooby and shows him, by use of the time scepter, the future if things continue the way the are. The world has totally fallen into ruin, Time Slime has absolute rule, and his old friends have either turned evil or insane. This gives Scooby new resolve, and, in a rare form for Scooby, fiercely attacks Time Slime and defeats him singlehandedly. The gang welcomes Scooby back into the fold, whereas Bernie is ambivalent (indeed, maybe even relieved) with his dismissal from the team.
Characters
Main characters:
- Gang
- Scooby-Doo (main story and flashback)
- Shaggy Rogers (main story and flashforward)
- Scrappy-Doo (main story and flashforward)
- Daphne Blake (main story and flashforward)
- Flim-Flam (main story and flashforward)
Supporting characters:
- Vincent Van Ghoul
- Bernie Gumsher (only appearance)
- Dada-Doo (main story and flashback)
- Mumsy-Doo
Villains:
- Time Slime (only appearance)
- Bogel
- Weerd
- Zomba (no lines)(illusion)
- Marcella (no lines)(illusion)
Other characters:
- Nurse (only appearance)(flashback only)
- Bonecrusher Bigelow (only appearance)
- Boys (only appearance)(miscellaneous speaking)
- Girl (only appearance)
- Daily Skrorkle announcer (voice only, only time heard)
- News Nightline TV reporter (only appearance)
- President of the United States (only appearance)
Locations
Objects
- Time scepter
- Chest of Demons
Vehicles
- TBA
Cast
Continuity
- While trapped in the time vortex, Scooby sees himself releasing the 13 Ghosts from the Chest of Demons which happened in the first episode. He also sees Zomba and Marcella, whom he captured in That's Monstertainment and When You Witch Upon a Star, respectively.
Notes/trivia
- The Lair of Lost Time is also referred to as the Lair of Time.
- This episode is the first time in the franchise that Scooby is seen as a newborn; he looks exactly like Scrappy.
- It bears noting that, at the end of the episode, Scooby fearlessly confronts Time Slime alone, frees his friends, destroys the trap, takes down one of the thirteen ghosts, Bogel and Weerd singlehandledly in seconds. This seems to hint that, aside from Scooby's usual cowardly reactions, he can be extremely competent at battling ghosts when he's motivated.
Cultural references
- The episode references the film, It's a Wonderful Life, in which a man gets to see how many things would have gone wrong if he had never been born.
- The President of the United States is based on Ronald Reagan (who was in office at the time of this episode), and presumably is intended to really be him. On his desk is a jar of jellybeans -- Reagan was famous for loving Jelly Belly brand Jellybeans.
Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches
- In the auditions, Flim-Flam's fingers transform from four to five.
Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities
- In the future, Daphne and Shaggy (and even Bogel and Weerd) look significantly older, whereas Flim-Flam and Scrappy do not appear to have aged at all.
Home media
- The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo!: The Complete Series DVD set released by Warner Home Video on June 29, 2010.
Quotes
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External links
- TBA