SCOOBY-DOO! Winter Wonderdog (Video 2002)

SCOOBY-DOO! Winter Wonderdog (Video 2002). 1h 15m | Not Rated

“u0026#39;Winter Winterdogu0026#39; (2002)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOpening thoughts: Have been a big Scooby Doo fan since late single digits and that is never going to change, because of how much it, Disney, Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes helped me through a tough secondary school period. The Scooby Doo franchise proved many times, with pretty much all the Scooby Doo shows having at least one winter episode (apart from u0026#39;The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Showu0026#39;), that it could do episodes in wintery settings and with a winter theme.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis compilation features four episodes, u0026#39;The New Scooby Doo Mysteriesu0026#39; u0026quot;The Nutcracker Scoobu0026quot;, u0026#39;Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doou0026#39;su0026#39; u0026quot;Alaskan King Cowardu0026quot;, u0026#39;The Scooby Doo Showu0026#39;su0026#39; u0026quot;A Scary Night with a Snow Beast Frightu0026quot; and u0026#39;Scooby Doo Where are Youu0026#39;su0026#39; u0026quot;Thatu0026#39;s Snow Ghostu0026quot;. One is an episode that has always been very dear to my heart, one is near-classic Scooby Doo, one is good but not great and one while better than remembered still doesnu0026#39;t do much for me.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor me, the best of the four has always been u0026quot;The Nutcracker Scoobu0026quot;, which for me has always been by far the best episode of that show. It is only let down by the loose end regarding the ghostu0026#39;s first appearance, have never been sure as to whether the perpetrator already had knowledge of the emerald in that appearance. If so there would have to have been another conversation about it prior to what is shown in the episode, which is not explained.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOther than that, it has a great Christmassy atmosphere, affectionate and clever references to Christmas and Dickens, a genuinely scary villain that is the best one of that show, a memorable Scrooge-like character in Winslow Nickelby, an exciting climax and plenty of funny moments. The best being the chimney sweeps scene, Shaggyu0026#39;s lines in the lead up to the ghostu0026#39;s first appearance and Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy as Santau0026#39;s Elves. Scrappy is also tolerable.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSecond best is u0026quot;Thatu0026#39;s Snow Ghostu0026quot;. Which is notable for the wintery setting, the frightening Snow Ghost, some genuinely fun moments like the tense scene with the log (great to see Scooby being brave here) and the Shaggy and Scooby versus Snow Ghost snow car pursuit and the intriguing Snow Ghost backstory.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHave never liked Hal Smithu0026#39;s over the top voice acting for Greenway though and have always found the ending too rushed and the perpetrator one of the showu0026#39;s most blatantly obvious almost straightaway.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Scoobyu0026#39;s Night with a Snow Beast Frightu0026quot; is mostly good and has grown on me. The ending is bland with an obvious motive and with it being a perpetrator one never really gets to know and the Snow Beastu0026#39;s constant size changes distracted a bit.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt is advantaged a lot by the setting, the intimidating Snow Beast and one of the showu0026#39;s most ominous openings that actually had some jeopardy. It also is a strong example of how much the animation improved in Season 3 (it was always fine in u0026#39;The Scooby Doo Showu0026#39; but it was brighter, more detailed and more refined in the third season), while the locations were more exotic and varied and the music also had more variety.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Alaskan King Cowardu0026quot; was an episode this reviewer hated as a child and skipped whenever watching. On recent rewatch of all the u0026#39;Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doou0026#39; shorts, which actually was not too great on the whole while not as bad as feared, it fared quite a bit better. Still donu0026#39;t like it very well, very few laughs, very repetitive, very thinly plotted, over-stretched, irregular animation, too much Scrappy overkill and one of the biggest examples of Scrappy making things worse.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat makes it more tolerable and less hate-worthy now is the setting, a couple of amusing lines from Shaggy and the monster (a lot more menacing than remembered and more antagonistic than most of the shortsu0026#39; bully-like characters). As well as the voice work.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eComing onto the individual elements, the animation is generally quite good. Especially in u0026quot;Scoobyu0026#39;s Night with a Snow Beast Frightu0026quot; (unevenly sized monster aside) and u0026quot;The Nutcracker Scoobu0026quot;. The music also fares very well mostly, with it only not fitting in u0026quot;Alaskan King Cowardu0026quot;. u0026quot;The Nutcracker Scoobu0026#39;su0026quot; climax is especially well scored. There are plenty of funny and spooky moments, all four villains are memorable and mostly the mysteries are good (the bland u0026quot;Scoobyu0026#39;s Night with a Snow Beast Frightu0026quot; climax faring weakest. The voice acting is very good overall, Casey Kasem and Don Messick are immortal as Shaggy and Scooby.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eClosing thoughts: Overall, worth watching.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e7/10.”