As a kid, "The Creepy Heap from the Deep" was not one of my favourite episodes of 'The Scooby Doo Show'. It was certainly creepy and Shaggy and Scooby have some very welcome humorous moments, but even when younger the mystery struck me as particularly predictable and not particularly memorable. Because of some story elements being similar to story elements in previous and succeeding episodes of the show and of the previous and succeeding incarnations.
"The Creepy Heap from the Deep" strikes me as a far from bad episode having watched it a few times as a young adult after a long time of not seeing it. Before my first re-watch, there were parts remembered very vividly but too much of it was rather vague. My overall opinion as it stands now is that "The Creepy Heap from the Deep" is far from bad and has a good deal going for it, but was at the same time a somewhat unremarkable episode that one doesn't remember much of after watching. Loved Season 2 on the whole, but to me this is the weakest episode of the season and felt this way as a child too.
Will start with the good things. Some of the season's, and show's, creepiest (in terms of atmosphere that is) animation is here. The settings, whether the sea, the beach or the house, have a real sense of dread and horror, thanks to the chilly attention to detail and suitably muted but not over drab colours. The music is ominous at points and light-hearted at others. The theme song is a classic. The gang are on great, especially, predictably, Scooby and Shaggy. The voice acting is fine.
Furthermore, there is a nice balance of humour and creepiness in the writing and story. The first time we see a soulless Captain Clements for me as a child was one of the scariest individual moments of the show, while the classic Shaggy and Scooby girly makeover gag is still very funny. As is the coda. A few of the clues are intriguing towards the end. Captain Clements is a memorable character.
However, for me the monster generally was a lot scarier from a child perspective. Actually think design-wise it looks quite silly now, a very similar feeling felt with the demon shark in "There's a Demon Shark in the Foggy Dark". The mystery has its moments but tends to underwhelm, made up of a fair share of familiar elements that made it very predictable and the final solution is the most obvious from the start one in every regard of all the Season 2 episodes and one of the show's most obvious.
Other episodes of the show have more energy too, "The Creepy Heap from the Deep" is quite slow going at times with everything just happening competently but with not enough spark. Even those that really try not to nit-pick watching a Scooby Doo episodes may find themselves rolling their eyes at the odd physics regarding the scuba gear.
Concluding, not bad at all and has its moments but unremarkable and at times forgettable. 6/10
