Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost
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| Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost | |
|---|---|
| |
| Distributed By | Warner Home Video |
| Release Date | October 5, 1999 |
| Runtime | 69 min. |
| Starring | Scott Innes Frank Welker Mary Kay Bergman B.J. Ward |
| Producers | Joseph Barbera (executive producer) William Hanna (executive producer) Davis Doi (supervising producer) |
| Music | Louis Febre |
| Edited By | |
| Produced By | |
| Written By | Rick Copp David A. Goodman |
| Directed By | Jim Stenstrum |
| Previous Film | Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island |
| Next Film | Scooby-Doo And The Alien Invaders |
Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost is the second in a series of direct-to-video animated films based upon Hanna-Barbera's Scooby Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was released on October 5, 1999, and it was produced by Warner Bros. Animation (although with a Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. copyright). Like a number of direct-to-video Scooby-Doo animated films released in the late-1990s and early-2000s, Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost features real ghosts instead of simple bad guys in masks. The videos sold well and received generally positive reviews in the press.
Contents |
Premise
The Mystery Inc. gang travel to a New England town called Oakhaven after being invited by horror writer Ben Ravencroft.
Synopsis
Ben Ravencroft, a famous horror writer of whom Velma is a big fan, assists the Mystery Inc. gang in solving a case at a museum. Afterwards, Ben invites the gang to his home town of Oakhaven. But when they arrive there, they find that the town has been built up by its mayor into a tourist attraction, complete with a replica of the town in the 17th century and a supposed ghost of a witch who haunts the town. The mayor and pharmacist Mr. McKnight explains that the ghost is of Sarah Ravencroft, a relative of Ben's, who was persecuted as a witch by the town in the 1600's. But Ben says that Sarah was actually a wiccan who used natural herbs to heal people, and even has a diary of all her patients that Ben wants to find to prove her innocence. Scooby and Shaggy find what appears to be a shoe buckle, and then go to a local diner for food, owned by the friendly Jack.
Ben, Fred, Daphne, Velma, and many visitors stay out late in order to see the witch, but do not. But Scooby and Shaggy are chased by the fireball-throwing witch, and run into Ben and the gang returning home. The gang finds some broken branches at the scene, as well as a local goth girl rock band named the "Hex Girls", comprised of Luna, Dusk, and Thorn. The gang then split up; Fred and Daphne follow the Hex Girls, Velma and Ben explore an old barn, and Scooby and Shaggy follow the Mayor. Fred and Daphne see Thorn doing some sort of ritual, and become convinced that the Hex Girls are actually witches. Velma and Ben find a cherry picking truck in the barn. Scooby and Shaggy see the Mayor talking to and giving things to many of the townspeople. They then run into the witch again, who chases them past to Mayor and into Velma and Ben. Velma then tells the Mayor that she has a plan to catch the witch.
The Gang, Ben, and the Hex Girls meet in the woods. The witch appears and gives chase, but is captured by Daphne and Fred. The witch is revealed to be McKnight, who is Thorn's father. Velma then locates the truck among the trees. She explains that the truck lifted the witch and made her appear to fly, and also deduces that many townspeople were in on the trick, including Jack and the Mayor. Ben scolds the people involved for exploiting Sarah's good name for their benefit. Back at Ben's house, the gang apologize to the Hex Girls, and Thorn explains the ritual was just to improve her vocals, and that she is actually 1/16th wiccan. The Mayor and McKnight then arrive, explaining that they had to use the witch to boost the towns economy because of lack of tourists. They then say that they did find the head marker for Sarah's grave, but still don't know where the grave is located. Velma then remembers that the buckle Scooby found is that same one one Sarah's diary in a painting Ben has.
The gang, Ben, The Hex Girls, McKnight, and the Mayor go to the spot where Scooby found the buckle. Scooby digs deeper, and discovers a chest. A excited Ben opens the chest to find not a diary, but a spell book. He then explains to a horrified Mystery Inc. that Sarah was indeed a witch, and that he created the case at the museum in order to meet the gang so they could find the book for him. Becoming insane with his new magical powers derived from the book, Ben captures McKnight, The Mayor, and the Hex Girls before resurrecting Sarah. But Sarah's ghost rejects Ben's idea of ruling the world together, and instead wants to destroy it. Horrified by this, Ben attempts to imprison Sarah back in to book, but she says only a wiccan can return her. Velma then gets an idea, and frees Thorn and asks her to read the spell, and sends Scooby and Shaggy to get the book. The gang tries to get the book many times, but Sarah keeps turning pumpkins, trees, and even a turkey into monsters to stop them. Eventually, the gang obtains the book, each throwing it to another person when they get captured, until it reaches Thorn. Thorn reads the spell, sending the witch and Ben, whom she grabbed hold of at the last second, back into the book. A burning branch falls on the book, disintegrating it. The gang then free the others, and the witch's monsters turn back to normal (except for the enormous turkey which the town can now use as a tourist attraction). Later that night the Hex Girls (and the gang) give a concert to the townspeople and the tourists.
Cast and characters
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Scott Innes | Scooby-Doo Shaggy Rogers |
| Mary Kay Bergman | Daphne Blake |
| Frank Welker | Fred Jones |
| B.J. Ward | Velma Dinkley |
| Tim Curry | Ben Ravencroft |
| Kimberly Brooks | Luna |
| Jennifer Hale | Thorn Puritan woman (uncredited) |
| Jane Wiedlin | Dusk |
| Bob Joles | Jack |
| Tress MacNeille | Sarah Ravencroft |
| Peter Renaday | Mr. McKnight (credited as "McKnight") |
| Neil Ross | Mayor Corey (credited as "Mayor") |
| Uncredited | |
| Enormous turkey | |
| Professor | |
| Griswald | |
| Non-speaking roles | |
| Perkins | |
| Willard | |
Songs
- Main article: Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost (soundtrack)
| Song | Credits | Performed by |
|---|---|---|
| "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" | Written by David Mook and Ben Raleigh Produced by John Kelton and Keith Stegall | Billy Ray Cyrus (Courtesy of Mercury Records) |
| "Hex Girl" & "Earth, Wind, Fire, and Air" | Music by Bodie Chandler Lyrics by Glenn Leopold Produced and arranged by Gary Lionelli & Bodie Chandler | The Hex Girls (Jennifer Hale, Jane Wiedlin and Kimberly Brooks) |
| "The Witch's Ghost" | Music by Bodie Chandler Lyrics by Glenn Leopold Produced and arranged by Gary Lionelli & Bodie Chandler | The Hex Girls (Terry Wood, Angie Jaree and Gigi Worth) (end credits) |
Villains
- Sarah Ravencroft
- Ben Ravencroft
- Witch's Ghost/Mr. McKnight (redeemed)
Suspects
| Suspect | Motive/reason |
|---|---|
| Hex Girls | They were doing some sort of ritual, and it looks like they are actually witches. |
| Mayor Corey | Tourism. |
Culprits
| Culprit | Motive/reason |
|---|---|
| Opening mystery culprits | |
| Griswald Perkins | Wanted revenge on the curator for cutting their funding. |
| Main film culprits | |
| Mr. McKnight Mayor Corey | To make the town a tourist attraction. |
| Ben Ravencroft | To become all-powerful, and to rule the world. |
| Sarah Ravencroft | Wanted revenge on the town for imprisoning her. |
Locations
- Museum
- Oakhaven, Massachusetts
- Puritan village
- Oakhaven Restaurant
- Ben Ravencroft's mansion
- McKnight home
- Hardware store
Continuity
- Ben finds out about Mystery Inc. from seeing them in the paper after solving the Moat Monster case which happened in a flashback in the previous film.
- Daphne wears the same purple suit she wore in the previous film.
Notes/trivia
- This is the second film to make reference to a possible romantic relationship between Daphne and Fred. She asks him why the two of them are always splitting off from Shaggy, Velma, and Scooby and going off alone. Fred hesitantly begins to answer but is distracted by the Hex Girls approaching. This a nod to the original series, where they would often pair off together most often than not. A romantic relationship between the two had already been alluded to in the gang's guest appearance in the Johnny Bravo episode, Bravo Dooby-Doo.
- Billy Ray Cyrus sings the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? theme song in the museum chase scene.
- Ben Ravencroft seems to be a play on H.P. Lovecraft, who was also a horror writer or Stephen King who is a modern horror writer.
- The scene at the end with the gang playing along with the Hex Girls is a nod to what the original Scooby-Doo series was supposed to be before the idea was changed. Originally, the show was going to be about a group of teens who are in a band with their dog that travel around performing while solving mysteries. The instruments the gang plays are the same ones they were going to play in the show which even included Scooby on the bongos.
Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches
- None known.
Inconstitencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities
- It seems odd that Ben would discover the gang's Moat Monster case from a newspaper report, a case that's supposed to be a few years old. Even including the fact that Daphne had brought it up in her TV interview it still wouldn't make the papers because it was just from her memories.
- There's also the issue of their clothes. Daphne and Fred both wear the new outfits introduced in the previous film when they should be wearing their original ones.
- This could all be due to the fact that at the end of the previous film when the gang and Detective Neville would back up each other's stories that werewolves and zombies, etc. were real. From an in-universe point of view it could be assumed that no one believed them, but from the writer's perspective (considering both films have the same principal crew) it would be a continuity trap. The point of the last film was to bring them "back together", not make them famous or even professional. In fact Daphne's whole role of a TV journalist/presenter is dropped which was presumably the whole point of even giving her the more professional wardrobe to begin with.
- Wicca is a nature-oriented religion that did not appear until the 20th Century however nature-oriented spiritual healers could very well have existed in the 1600s. Additionally, being a religion, Wicca is not passed down through bloodlines (that would be like someone saying they have "Catholic blood" or being "1/16th Catholic").
- Velma is correct in stating that the modern-day word for witch comes from the word wicca, however wicca is a masculine Old English word that means sorcerer meaning that wicca and witch are technically synonyms.
- If Sarah Ravencroft is a ghost how is it possible for her to get wet or for the bucket to get stuck on her head?
Home media
Quotes
- (Shaggy sees three girls coming toward them)
- "Girls."
- "Yeah, rirls."
- (both make themselves look handsome by pulling their full stomachs as being buff, and Shaggy makes his hair a different style as a romantic look)
- "Like, hi girls."
- "Hi."
- (Shaggy and Scooby look frightened as they see their vampire-like fangs, then yell and run as the Hex Girls can be heard laughing)
- - Shaggy & Scooby and Thorn, Dusk, and Luna.
- (Shaggy throws a bucket of water on Sarah Ravencroft)
- "What was that?"
- "Like, it worked in The Wizard of Oz."
- - Sarah Ravencroft and Shaggy.
Gallery
.JPG)
