It's a Wonderful Scoob

It's a Wonderful Scoob
Details
Episode #	109
Air date	November 2, 1985 (ABC)
Story by	John K. Ludin Tom Ruegger
Directed by	Ray Patterson
Chronology
Previous episode	When You Witch Upon a Star
Next episode	Scooby in Kwackyland

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

Scooby-Doo quits

Time Slime, Bogel, and Weerd

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 anymore, 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 they 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)}
• Ronald Reagan ^{(only appearance)(cameo)}

Locations

• Cuckoosberg
  • Lair of Lost Time
• Dooville
  • Dooville Veterinary Hospital ^{(flashback only)}
  • Mumsy and Dada-Doo's home
• Daphne Blake's home
• News Nightline
• Washington, D.C.
  • The White House

Objects

• Time scepter
• Chest of Demons

Vehicles

• TBA

Cast

Don Messick	Scooby-Doo Scrappy-Doo Dada-Doo Mumsy-Doo
Casey Kasem	Shaggy Rogers
Heather North	Daphne Blake
Susan Blu	Flim-Flam
Vincent Price	Vincent Van Ghoul
Howard Morris	Bogel
Arte Johnson	Weerd
Robert Ridgely	Time Slime

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, except for being a darker shade of brown.
• 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 singlehandedly in seconds. This seems to hint that, aside from Scooby's usual cowardly reactions, he can be extremely competent and brave at battling ghosts when he's motivated - perhaps, it was the sight of his beloved friends in danger that triggered Scooby's inner courage.

Cultural references

• The episode references the film It's a Wonderful Life, in which a man named George Bailey (played by the late James Stewart) gets to see how many things would have gone wrong if he had never been born.
• The President of the United States is Ronald Reagan, who was in office at the time of this episode. On his desk is a jar of jellybeans - Reagan was famous for loving Jelly Belly brand Jellybeans.
• The post-apocalyptic future is inspired by the Mad Max franchise. 

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches

• In the past when Mumsy held baby Scooby, his fur color was normal brown. But in the next scene it was the same shade of brown as Scrappy's.
• 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.
• In the present, Mumsy and Dada-Doo appeared younger than they did in their previous appearances where they apparently were in their senior years.

Home media

• The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo!: The Complete Series DVD set released by Warner Home Video on June 29, 2010.

Quotes

Shaggy: Scooby, what are you trying to say? Scooby: I quit. Shaggy: You quit? Ha, ha. Zoinks! Scooby, wait. You can't quit the gang.

Scooby:Scrappy, uh, it's me, your Uncle Scooby. Scrappy:No,I had an Uncle Scooby once. I thought he was a hero, but then that lousy chicken abandoned me. Now Time Slime's my hero. Scooby:Oh, no.

External links

• TBA