Haunted buildings was a very familiar type of story for the Scooby Doo franchise well before 'The Scooby Doo Show' and continued to be used many times since to varying effect. It has been done incredibly well throughout the franchise quite a lot before and since. Even if the formula was a common one for the franchise, there was still enough variety to stop it from feeling too repetitive. Museums were popular throughout the franchise and episodes did utilise them very well, the episode that started it all "What a Night for a Knight" is a franchise classic.
While it falls short of being a genre classic, "The Spirits of 76" uses the museum setting very well indeed. It is also an episode that fits in the "likes and appreciates it a lot more" category when trying to rank 'The Scooby Doo Show's' episodes and separating them into different groups. Other episodes stuck out at me a lot more when a lot younger, including a few of the show's worst episodes shamefully, but as a young adult while not a favourite it is a lot of fun and one of the better episodes of Season 1, the best perhaps since "A Frightened Hound Meets Demons Underground".
Not all the animation is great, the background detail is fine and there are some lovely colours. The museum setting is suitably haunted. The first shot of Benedict Arnold at the beginning is very creepy too. The drawing though did look less careful and some of the animation on the ghosts seemed at times recycled, like when they are chasing the gang.
It is on the slightly thin side to start off with too.
The mystery though is a solid and fun one, with suitable creepiness, and next to nothing is obvious too early. A good deal happens without feeling over-stuffed and there are some clever clues, the noise for the locomotive is suitably unsettling and the final trap is one of my favourites of Season 1 as it did fondly remind me of the one in "What a Night for a Knight" except not quite as funny. The motive is not foreseeable until late in the episode and the ending is the cleverest of the second half of Season 1, which is saying a good deal considering the endings were weak links in most episodes in the season's second half. The identity of one of the ghosts was a case of it being it could only have been one person, but one of the reveals was a real shock when the episode did such a great job making the viewer believe it was another character. The only previous episode to have that effect is "Harum Scarum Sanitarium", a show high-point.
Music still has nostalgic value and the theme song is tireless. The dialogue has some endearingly silly humour and intrigue when putting pieces together. The pace is lively and Shaggy and Scooby always delight. The voice acting is fine again, John Stephenson having the lion's share but Don Messick and Casey Kasem shine best (both unequalled as the character).
Overall, very good. 8/10
While it falls short of being a genre classic, "The Spirits of 76" uses the museum setting very well indeed. It is also an episode that fits in the "likes and appreciates it a lot more" category when trying to rank 'The Scooby Doo Show's' episodes and separating them into different groups. Other episodes stuck out at me a lot more when a lot younger, including a few of the show's worst episodes shamefully, but as a young adult while not a favourite it is a lot of fun and one of the better episodes of Season 1, the best perhaps since "A Frightened Hound Meets Demons Underground".
Not all the animation is great, the background detail is fine and there are some lovely colours. The museum setting is suitably haunted. The first shot of Benedict Arnold at the beginning is very creepy too. The drawing though did look less careful and some of the animation on the ghosts seemed at times recycled, like when they are chasing the gang.
It is on the slightly thin side to start off with too.
The mystery though is a solid and fun one, with suitable creepiness, and next to nothing is obvious too early. A good deal happens without feeling over-stuffed and there are some clever clues, the noise for the locomotive is suitably unsettling and the final trap is one of my favourites of Season 1 as it did fondly remind me of the one in "What a Night for a Knight" except not quite as funny. The motive is not foreseeable until late in the episode and the ending is the cleverest of the second half of Season 1, which is saying a good deal considering the endings were weak links in most episodes in the season's second half. The identity of one of the ghosts was a case of it being it could only have been one person, but one of the reveals was a real shock when the episode did such a great job making the viewer believe it was another character. The only previous episode to have that effect is "Harum Scarum Sanitarium", a show high-point.
Music still has nostalgic value and the theme song is tireless. The dialogue has some endearingly silly humour and intrigue when putting pieces together. The pace is lively and Shaggy and Scooby always delight. The voice acting is fine again, John Stephenson having the lion's share but Don Messick and Casey Kasem shine best (both unequalled as the character).
Overall, very good. 8/10
