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Scooby Doo, Where Are You?

S2E7: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Werewolf (1970)

Scooby and the gang end up at an abandoned mill where they are chased off by a werewolf. This here pretty much hits all the right notes in this first incarnation of the series. There are plenty of nice jokes aimed at kids as well as adults but best of all is that we're given a fairly good mystery but an excellent villain. There's no doubt that the series offered up a great number of memorable bad guys and the werewolf here is one of them. I'll admit that he looks more like a zombie due to the lack of hair on his face but it's still a very entertaining monster to help you through the running time. There's no question that the highlight is the scene where Shaggy and Scooby decide to play a prank on the werewolf and give him a trim.

Episode: A-

'Scooby Doo Where are You' boasts many classic episodes, especially in the first season, and even lesser episodes like "Decoy for a Dognapper", "The Backstage Rage" and "Scooby's Night with a Frozen Fright" have much to enjoy still.

Season 2 is not quite as good as the first season, mainly due to there being a preference for episodes without the songs accompanying the more elaborate chases, which do vary in memorability and are pretty samey stylistically and sound-wise.

"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Werewolf" is one of the second season's best episodes along with "Jeepers it's the Creeper" and "Haunted House Hang Up". Sure the story is very daft, one of the daftest of the whole show actually, but still incredibly entertaining, never dull and boasts a great atmosphere, and while this reviewer liked that it was one of the very few episodes to have a genuinely surprising final solution rather than a predictable and over-obvious one not everybody is going to like the ambiguity of the perpetrator or that suspects are few.

The werewolf, despite not looking remotely like one, is a very enjoyable and quite scary villain, while the abandoned mill setting has a real creepiness as did the glowing eyes in the camp scene towards the start. The humour doesn't disappoint, love the vintage and endearingly goofy dialogue and jokes and the werewolf getting a trim scene by Shaggy and Scooby is an unforgettable highlight, one of my favourite scenes of the second season. The chase is also great, with the most energetic song of the show, and the final trap is one of the season's most imaginative as well.

As always, Shaggy and Scooby's friendship still charms, amuses and affects, and they steal the show. Velma, Fred and Daphne also are good characters and one loves the chemistry between the whole gang. The animation is fine, lush colours, mostly smooth if occasionally crude drawings and very detailed backgrounds that add to the atmosphere.

The music is haunting and energetic, and the classic theme song, accompanying a fun, affectionate montage of the season's villains, once again shows why its iconic status is justified. As always, the unbeatable Don Messick and Casey Kasem are the standouts of the voice actors, though Frank Welker is remarkably consistent, Nicole Jaffe is solid as Velma and Heather North this reviewer has always preferred over the original voice actress for Daphne.

Overall, terrific episode and one of the second season's best of the Scooby Doo incarnation that still holds up as the best one. 10/10 Bethany Cox