"Chiller Diller Movie Thriller" was one of the episodes that first got me into watching 'The Scooby Doo Show'. One of my fondest memories of my childhood being it being one of the episodes of the show to air early one Sunday morning when staying at one of my favourite hotels as a child and absolutely loving the premise and the mystery especially. For a while it was one of my favourite episodes of 'The Scooby Doo Show'.
Not so much now, but there is still a fondness for it and there are a lot of good things here. All the ingredients for a great episode are here, while most of the ideas had been done before the execution here didn't feel stale. It is a familiar basic premise that has been done well if not exceptionally quite a few times throughout the franchise, and "Chiller Diller Movie Thriller" is no exception. At the same time, the comedy is more variable this time around and of all Scooby Dum's episodes this is now my least.
Actually don't mind Scooby Dum on the whole, he did annoy me as a child but he did grow on me over-time and three of his four episodes are show high points, "Vampire Bats and Scaredy Cats" faring best. "Chiller Diller Movie Thriller" is my least favourite appearance of his and the only one of the four where he serves very little point, adds little to the mystery solving and he is pretty annoying here too because his dimwitted-ness goes well overboard. Hence what was meant by the comedy being variable.
Scooby Dee has always left me mixed. She does have charm and her chemistry with the dogs is cute, her appeal is understandable. Did feel though that her voice actress Janet Waldo could have toned it down at times. Also found it hard to believe that the gang didn't straightaway see through the imposter when the differences were hardly discreet.
However, the rest of the gang are on form and although Scooby Dum doesn't work comedically Shaggy and Scooby are very amusing and have delightful interaction together. The phantom is very creepy and poses more of a threat than most villains in the franchise. The final solution has always to me been one of the show's cleverest but does require full attention as it is not a simple one. The true identity and the motive are not obvious, especially the latter. The clues are clever and the giveaways are ones where one goes when revealed how did we miss that.
Really like the mystery. There is a genuine spookiness but also entertainment value and very little except the deception was obvious. While the passenger disturbance sequence was amusing, it is the Boothville portion where the episode most shines because of the very interesting touches and the atmosphere. The climax excites. The animation is nice, especially for the phantom, and the nostalgia factor is still high in the music. The voice acting is solid, with only reservations with Waldo.
In summary, not as good now as when a child but lots of fun still. 8/10
