With many thanks to Scooby Doo Wikia, I tracked down the original air dates of the thirteen global stories contained on the two-disc collection Scooby Doo! 13 Spooky Tales From Around The World. I never really thought of Scooby Doo as a globe-trotting mystery solver, but the truth is, he’s been all over the place. [Just for the record, thirteen more global adventures from the past are coming in Scooby Doo! Laff-A-Lympics in July from Warner Bros., so there are more out-of-the-country adventures than I remembered.] But these are some of the classics, from 1976-1984, that find Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Vilma, and Daphne out on various vacations where adventure finds them whether they like it or not.
Thankfully, these episodes are pre-Freddie Prinze Jr.: the ghosts, ghouls, witches, and more are different human elements who are trying to terrorize or intimidate people to make a buck one way or another. The gang stays together, and exhibits intense courage (in varying degrees) to get to the bottom of the problem and prove that friendship and goodness are always stronger than crime and evil. It’s pretty harmless entertainment for the whole family, and even with the older animation from the late ’70s and early ’80s, the show is still immensely watchable!
Disc One
“The Fiesta Host Is A Ghost” (episode 2 of the first season of The Scooby Doo Show in 1976, Mexico): Expecting vacation, the crew ends up uncovering a plot where Aztec curses are being used to scare off visitors.
“The Harum Scarum Sanitarium” (episode 7 of the first season The Scooby Doo Show in 1976, Niagara Falls): Bank robbers are using the sanitarium’s studies, and its mind-controlled dogs, to cover up their attempts at running off with the cash.
“The Spirits of ‘76″ (episode 16 of the first season of The Scooby Doo Show in 1976, Washington, D.C., United States): The U.S. forefathers seem to have found new life, and not through re-enactment, in this story that proves to teach a little about history as well.
“A Creepy Tangle in the Bermuda Triangle” (episode 3 of the third season of The Scooby Doo Show in 1978, Bermuda): We know this one has to be more complicated when a UFO appears in front of a military plane, but the mystery-solvers figure out that there’s a conspiracy… minus aliens… involved.
“To Switch A Witch” (episode 2 of the third season of The Scooby Doo Show in 1978, Salem, Massachusetts): The Salem Witch Trials seem to be returning as the gang must solve a mystery to free a friend from the court of public perception!
“A Menace in Venice” (episode 13 of the third season of The Scooby Doo Show in 1978, Venice, Italy): Another friend of the gang’s finds that the Ghostly Gondolier is haunting him, with the intent to steal a family heirloom.
Disc 2
“Shiver and Shake, That Demon’s A Snake” (episode 5 of Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo in 1979, Florida Keys, U.S.): Another story about “curses,” this one seems to be following Daphne around until the crew puts a stop to it.
“Lock the Door, It’s A Minotaur” (episode 15 of Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo in 1979, Greek Islands): This isn’t quite Immortals but Theseus’ Minotaur appears to be back, terrorizing the Greeks, and Scooby’s gang has to get to the bottom of it.
“The Ozark Witch Switch” (episode 7 of the second season of The Scooby Doo Show in 1977, Missouri, U.S.): Playing on the Hatfield-McCoy feud, the gang has to figure out what the story is with a witch… and her frog-turning skills.
“Jeepers, It’s The Jaguaro!” (episode 8 of third season of The Scooby Doo Show in 1978, Brazil): Half-ape, half-sabre toothed tiger, the Jaguaro is either to be worshiped or feared, if he’s even real at all.
“Moonlight Madness” (episode 10 of first season of Richie Rich/Scooby Doo Show in 1981, Austria): At Shaggy’s ancestral home, there’s a chance that Shaggy has been turned into a werewolf!
“Ghosts of the Ancient Astronauts Part I &II” (episode six of the first season of The New Scooby Doo Mysteries in 1984, South America): A little longer with its double-episode length, this one finds the crew chasing buried treasure maps and treasure, while a “nemesis” lurks in the wings.
June 26th, 2012 at 1:27 am
CAN YOU POST SCREENCAPS FROM THE ENTIRE “SCOOBY-DOO SHOW” EPISODE TITLED “OZARK WITCH SWITCH” WITH THE “HATFIELD CHILDREN” & “VELMA” & “SHAGGY” AS THE “GHOSTS OF THE ADULT HATFIELDS” & SOME SCREENCAPS OF “FRED JONES” & “DAPHNE BLAKE” AS THE “HATFIELD SIBLING GHOSTS”, CAN YOU SEND IT TO MY e-mail ADDRESS SO I CAN LOOK AT THEM & ENJOY THEM , WILL YOU DO THAT FOR ME, PLEASE??