Scooby serves up another helping of mysteries!
The Mystery Inc. gang is hitting the road again! With oddities and ghosts around every corner, there is never a shortage of work for Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby. The gang finds themselves on haunted islands with the Harlem Globetrotters, travelling the Mississippi with Josie and the Pussycats, travelling to Persia with Jeannie, trying to help Tim Conway save Velma’s school, fighting bug infestations with Don Adams, riding around with the Speed-Buggy gang, helping Cass Elliot exorcise her candy factory of ghosts, and getting Dick Van Dyke’s carnival running. Monsters abound, but the Mystery gang is going to solve the crimes.
The New Scooby-Doo Movies—Season 2 is a Hanna-Barbera cartoon which aired on Saturday mornings on CBS from September 8, 1973 to October 27, 1973. The season’s episodes have been collected in multiple formats and is complete as part of The New Scooby-Doo Movies—The (Almost) Complete Collection.
Alan M watching over them like a taskmaster…you better play Josie!!!
The New Scooby-Doo Movies were always a fun thing as a kid. It was a lot of childhood heroes that as a kid seemed to always been on shows like Love Boat. For someone born a few years off the original airing, The New Scooby-Doo Movies is a fun flashback, but younger viewers might just be scratching their heads.
The show essentially follows all the Scooby-Doo formats. The gang rides into town and a mystery erupts. Here, they are teamed with a “popular” or cross-marketing celebrity. The episodes are too long for the stories, and would have been better served as a half hour format. Generally there isn’t enough content to fill the time.
Jeannie practically stuck around here longer than in her own animated show
The show has a few episodes that try to market other Hanna-Barbera shows at the time or that had recently ended. You get a Josie and the Pussycats crossover in “The Haunted Showboat” (Josie and the Pussycats and Josie and the Pussycats in Outer-Space had already ended). It is a bit odd since Josie characters have different facial designs (matching Archie) and share voices. “Mystery in Persia” is a crossover with the 1973 TV animated series Jeannie which ran for a season. “The Weird Winds of Winona” is the final cartoon crossover for the series and features a team-up with the cast from Speed-Buggy (which frankly always freaked me out). I wish this series had been later so Mystery Inc. could have met the Clue Club which would have been an obvious crossover.
More children had been demanding Mama Cass
The celebrities will mostly be baffling to younger viewers. The Harlem Globetrotters (who also appeared in Season 1) were the classic Globetrotters that many know, but the other celebrities are a bit of an odd hodgepodge of actors. The oddest crossover would probably be with Cass Elliot because in 1973 she was already her prime popularity and was trying to stage a comeback (which probably resulted in her inclusion). The episode is kind of rough for the PC crowd and younger viewers with fat jokes being thrown out by the gang and Cass herself, but it was kind of Cass’s shtick to make jokes about her own weight…she died of a heart attack the next year in 1974.
The New Scooby-Doo Movies wasn’t the best iteration of Scooby-Doo but it was in its own way a fun one. The series ended with this season which was too bad since there so many more “team-up” options available. The show did get a spiritual successor in 2019 with the Warner Bros. series Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Which aired on the Cartoon Network and Boomerang. The New Scooby-Doo Movies was followed by The Scooby-Doo Show in 1976.
The New Scooby-Doo Movies—Season 2 Complete Episode Guide:
“The Mystery of Haunted Island”
2.1 The Mystery of Haunted Island Airdate: 09/08/73
A planned day at Picnic Island turns into a night on a haunted island for Mystery Inc. Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, and Daphne find themselves teamed with the Harlem Globetrotters…and if the Globetrotters can’t get their sleep, they’ll never win their game against the Scorpions.
“The Haunted Showboat”
2.2 The Haunted Showboat Airdate: 09/15/73
Captain Canaby is hoping to restore the Dixie Queen to its glory as a showboat and has invited the Pussycats to play. When the Mystery Inc. gang shows up, the group learns that the Dixie Queen is haunted by Injun Joe and Captain Scavenger who are threatening to ruin the Dixie Queen’s grand relaunch.
“Mystery in Persia”
2.3 Mystery in Persia Airdate: 09/22/73
When Fred spots Jeannie and wrecks the Mystery Mobile, Jeannie transfers Scooby, Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, and Velma to Persia with Corey Anders, Henry Glopp, and Babu. In Persia, they discover Prince Abin almost ready to take control of his country but haunted by an evil genie named Jadal.
“The Spirit Spooked Sports Show”
2.4 The Spirit Spooked Sports Show Airdate: 09/29/73
The Mystery Inc. gang is headed to Velma’s old high school where they find Tim Conway as the head coach. Tim reveals that the school is being haunted by a former athlete called the Spirit of Fireball McPhan, and if the ghost isn’t caught, the school might not survive.
“The Exterminator”
2.5 The Exterminator Airdate: 10/06/73
A trip to Hollywood has Mystery Inc. teaming up with Don Adams for his extermination business. Don, Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, Fred, and Daphne are assigned to exterminate an infestation at the home of legendary silent film actor Lorne Chumley for the bank, but something else might be living in the Chumley estate.
“The Weird Winds of Winona”
2.6 The Weird Winds of Winona Airdate: 10/13/73
Mystery Inc. is headed up to see the legendary Speed-Buggy race, but an accident leaves them sidelined in a town called Winona. When Mark, Debbie, and Tinker show up in Speed-Buggy, the gang finds themselves trying to find the source of a strange wind that is plaguing the town.
“The Haunted Candy Factory”
2.7 The Haunted Candy Factory Airdate: 10/20/73
A plea for help leads Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, and Velma to Mama Cass’s newly purchased chocolate factory. Something strange is happening in the factory which is rattled with odd noises and seemingly haunted by a pair of gooey ghosts. The Mystery Inc. gang agrees to help Cass Elliott get to the bottom of the haunting.
“The Haunted Carnival”
2.8 The Haunted Carnival Airdate: 10/27/73
Tired of haunted houses, Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne, Velma, and Fred decide to visit a carnival…unfortunately they learn from the owner Dick Van Dyke that mystery has followed them, and the carnival has ghosts of its own.
Related Links:
The New Scooby-Doo Movies—Season 1 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Scooby Doo, Where Are You!—Season 1 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Scooby Doo, Where Are You!—Season 2 Review and Complete Episode Guide
