Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island


 * This article is about the film. For other uses, see Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island.

Scooby-Doo On Zombie Island is the first in a series of direct-to-video films based upon Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was released on September 22, 1998.

It was the first movie to feature real monsters instead of simple 'bad guys' in masks. This was heavily promoted before its release including a tagline used during commercials stating, "This time, the monsters are real." This theme would be followed up in several subsequent direct-to-video Scooby-Doo animated films released in the late-1990s and early-2000s. Although real monsters had previously appeared in most of the 1980s Scooby-Doo series and features, this continuity was ignored with the characters said to be encountering real monsters for the first time. After Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, the direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movies would not feature real monsters again until ten years later in Scooby-Doo! And The Goblin King.

Premise
The Mystery Inc. team split up to do their own thing but come together again to solve a real ghost mystery. The gang of sleuths get more than they bargained for when, on Moonscar Island in the Louisiana bayou, they find themselves amongst worshipping un-dead werecats and a swarm of zombies.

Synopsis
Insert details here.

Characters
Main characters:
 * Mystery Inc.
 * Scooby-Doo
 * Shaggy Rogers
 * Daphne Blake
 * Velma Dinkley
 * Fred Jones

Supporting characters:
 * Chris
 * Beau Neville
 * Snakebite Scruggs

Villains:
 * Moat Monster /
 * Mr. Beeman
 * Vampire bat creature /
 * Elderly man
 * Hooded skeletal ghost
 * Swami
 * Zombie riverboat captain /
 * Elderly woman
 * Lobster-man /
 * Nerdy-looking man
 * Werecats /
 * Simone Lenoir
 * Lena Dupree
 * Jacques
 * Morgan Moonscar's crew
 * Morgan Moonscar's crew

Other characters:
 * Airport manager
 * Pierre
 * Market shoppers
 * Mojo
 * Big Mona
 * Present-day alligators
 * Simone Lenoir's cats
 * Owl
 * Frog
 * Settlers
 * Settlers' cats
 * Past alligators
 * Plantationers
 * Tourists
 * Zombies
 * Colonel Jackson T. Pettigrew

Locations

 * Castle
 * Chris
 * Airport
 * Velma's bookshop
 * Daphne's home
 * Louisiana
 * New Orleans
 * Mansion
 * Cemetery
 * Riverboat
 * Bubba Joe's
 * Market
 * Pierre's Poor Boys
 * Louisiana bayou
 * Jacques Landing
 * Moonscar Island
 * Moonscar Mansion
 * The Maelstrom

Objects

 * Scooby Snacks

Vehicles

 * The Mystery Machine

Continuity

 * In the flashback of the gang's old case, Fred and Daphne are wearing their original clothes based on 60s fashion, while in the present, they are now wearing more sophisticated and professional clothing.
 * Daphne's surname was revealed in The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show episode, No Sharking Zone.
 * Fred's surname was revealed in The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries episode, Happy Birthday, Scooby-Doo.
 * Velma's surname was revealed in The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries episode, Happy Birthday, Scooby-Doo.

Notes/trivia

 * This movie features an all-new cast of voice actors for the adult Mystery Inc., save for Frank Welker who returns as Fred. This is the first Scooby-Doo production not to feature Don Messick and Casey Kasem as Scooby and Shaggy; Messick had passed away (the film is dedicated to him) while Kasem had protested Shaggy's carnivorous appetite as the actor was vegan so Scott Innes and Billy West replaced them, respectively. From the next movie Innes would voice both Scooby and Shaggy. Mary Kay Bergman and B.J. Ward replaced Heather North and Marla Frumkin as Daphne and Velma, respectively; Ward had previously voiced Velma in the Johnny Bravo episode, Bravo Dooby-Doo.
 * This is the first Scooby-Doo production that alludes to a romantic relationship between Fred and Daphne (which had been poked fun at in the Johnny Bravo episode, Bravo Dooby-Doo); they get jealous of each other when Fred takes a shine to Lena and Daphne is interested in Beau. Velma also forms a friendship with Beau, but denies an attraction to him.
 * This is the only direct-to-video movie not executive produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera prior to their deaths, and the only movie that doesn't have the 'Special Thanks to Joe Ruby and Ken Spears' credit at the end, who were the creators of the characters. Instead, the former two are given sole credit of creating the characters when, in fact, it was just their company which produced it. Later films would say "Based on Characters Created By Hanna-Barbera Productions".
 * This story is based on Glenn Leopold's unfinished Swat Kats episode, The Curse of Kataluna.
 * The film ignores Scrappy-Doo, just focusing on the original core group.
 * The videos sold well and received generally positive reviews in the press, leading to a series of future direct-to-video Scooby-Doo feature films, and a new television series, What's New, Scooby-Doo?.
 * Out of all of the direct-to-video movies this one is argueably the darkest and most frightening out of all of them.
 * Also the only one where characters are killed: three on screen, dozens off.
 * It was nominated for an Annie in Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Home Video Production, and for a MPSE Golden Reel for sound editing for a direct-to-video, both in 1999.
 * Simone was voiced by actress Adrienne Barbeau who is known for her roles as Catwoman in Batman: The Animated Series, and DJ Stevie Wayne in the 1980 horror film, The Fog, which deals with ghostly and/or undead sailors terrorizing a seaside town. Undead sailors (i.e. pirates) and cats are featured prominently in this film.
 * This was the first time a real monster was discovered by the original Mystery Inc. gang.
 * While this was the movie's tagline, the original Mystery Inc. line-up did encounter real supernatural monsters and beings in the episodes Mystery in Persia, A Halloween Hassle at Dracula's Castle and Ghosts of the Ancient Astronauts.
 * Mr. Beeman's counterfeiting scheme is vaguely reminiscent of what Mr. Conrad did in the A Pup Named Scooby-Doo episode, A Bicycle Built For Boo !.
 * The house Daphne waits in front of (which presumably belongs to her), resembles the house Daphne and Velma shared together in the What's New, Scooby-Doo? episode, A Scooby-Doo Valentine. Whether the latter was an intentional reference is unknown.
 * Bubba Joe's is a parody of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, which was inspired by the film, Forrest Gump.
 * Daphne being the believer and Fred being skeptical is a reversal of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, just without the cartoony exaggeration.
 * Notably, Fred is seen eating and drinking like a normal human being, probably more than he ever did in the almost thirty year history of the series.
 * Snakebite may be a parody of "Crocodile" Dundee.
 * There are a few in-jokes as the gang settle into Moonscar Mansion, the first is when Shaggy ponders if he should dress up for dinner, opening a suitcase full of identical clothing he's already wearing, then he trims his whiskers, but they look no different; meanwhile Fred tries on an ascot before deciding against it.
 * When Fred is trying to "unmask" the zombie pirate he yells "It's the ferryman!" While, Jacques is obviously not the zombie, he actually is one of the villains, and partly responsible for some of the events of the movie.
 * Morgan Moonscar can either be viewed as an anti-hero, or as redeemed altogether. He was partly to blame for Simone and Lena's curse. In his undead form, he attempted to warn and/or help the living escape Simone and Lena.

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches

 * When Pierre brings the guys their sandwich, the basket of peppers looks more like soup. The basket is also irreregularly in front of the item next to it, instead of sitting next to it.
 * The Jacques Landing sign is missing grammar, so it neither says "Jacques' Landing" or "Jacques's Landing".
 * When Simone and Lena, as cat creatures, catch Scooby and Shaggy the first time, Scooby is missing his collar, which returns in the next shot, and later ripped off by Jacques. Scooby remains without a collar until the sunset, when they all leave Moonscar Island.
 * The glow on the cats' eyes aren't actually properly placed on their eyes, but above them.

Inconstitencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities

 * Velma's bookshop has three different names: "Dinkley's Mystery Book Shoppe" on the window; "Dinkley's Mystery Books" on the sign sticking out; and then calls it "Mystery Inc. Bookshop" on the phone.
 * The Mystery Machine has been redesigned to be more like a mini van, yet in-universe, it's still supposed to be the same. Yet, in Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, Fred makes an oblique comment about it being good to be back in the old Mystery Machine, while riding around in the Cyber Gang's van.
 * Shaggy says to Scooby not to hog all the hot sauce, but he doesn't use any himself anyway.
 * It's unknown how Simone provided for herself and Lena, as well as pay Beau for his work. She could actually sell the island's peppers, but that would probably bring more attention to the island than she would want. Of course, she might have stolen money from the victims they drained, as if what they were doing wasn't bad enough.
 * Morgan Moonscar's buried treasure does exist, as shown in the cutscene describing his demise. However, it is dropped from the story altogether as a red herring, but the treasure presumably is still there.
 * The cutscenes show his crew carrying the chest ashore and later beginning to bury it, so it appears that the motive of killing the colonists was (at least in part) to keep them from witnessing where he buried his treasure.
 * The chances of an undercover detective (especially one investigating a possible string of homicides) not carrying a gun or a dispatch radio are extremely remote, even in a cartoon.
 * How Simone and Lena got ahold of Velma's eye glass cleaning cloth and other articles of clothing and/or hair from Fred and Daphne was never explained. Beau already lived there so the two women could have taken something from him at anytime.
 * The reveal at the end of Simone's cats' eyes glowing could suggest something more to them, such as a long lifespan (even immortality), since they were more than just house pets, they were creatures that Simone and Lena worshipped in the 1700s, meaning the cats in the flashback and Simone's could be one in the same, although, of course, this isn't directly confirmed.

Home media

 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island VHS released by Warner Home Video on September 22, 1998.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island DVD released by Warner Home Video on March 6, 2001.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders/Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island double feature DVD released by Warner Home Video on February 12, 2008.