The nice thing about media mergers is that it makes it so much easier to produce
franchise crossovers. For instance, a major DC super-villain appears in this Warner-produced Scooby-Doo movie—and it isn’t even a major call-out on the key art. If Paramount
bought Warners, they could team-up Nickelodeon characters with DC and
Hanna-Barbera favorites. Regardless, Mystery Incorporated manages to trap Dr.
Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. The Scarecrow, but that is only the start of their
troubles in Maxwell Atoms’ Happy Halloween, Scooby Doo!, which airs
tomorrow on the Cartoon Network.
The
Scarecrow escaped from Arkham again, which is generally very bad news. However,
once trapped, he insists he had nothing to do with the drone attack, even
though they were armed with his fear toxin. Something about the way Crane
protests his innocence unsettles Velma, but she takes the bows in front of the
media anyway. Scooby and Shaggy go off trick-or-treating to celebrate, but
nobody initially believes them when they return to warn Crystal Cove the
combination of Crane’s serum and leaked toxic waste has created an army of
mutant pumpkins.
The gang
must admit they were wrong to doubt when the pumpkins attack the Halloween
revelers on Main Street. Soon, Mystery Incorporated and the Halloween parade
grand marshal, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, flee the mutant pumpkins in
extended chase scene that nearly constitutes one third of the film.
The
Scarecrow (voiced by Dwight Shultz) and Elvira (naturally portrayed by her
real-life alter-ego, Cassandra Peterson) are welcome guest stars and
co-conspirators in this Scooby misadventure. However, the gags involving Bill
Nye the Bachelor of Science Guy fall pretty flat. Since the Mystery Machine
suffers damage from the first act drone, Nye supplies a high-tech replacement
that comes with his own annoying hologram.
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, was quite familiar with John Carradine’s work. She
featured several of his less prestigious “films” on Movie Macabre (to be
fair, The Monster Club isn’t so bad). Fortunately, he probably never
noticed or cared, whereas Elvira never embarrassed easily. Whether there was
tension or not, they both guest-starred on “October the 31st,” one
of two Halloween episodes of The Fall Guy, which mostly likely will not
be covered in the new movie reboot—but it screens through May 5th at the Paley Center.
In
the “31st,” Seavers and his proteges, Jody Banks and Howie Munson,
are working on a horror movie so schlocky, it even mortifies its star, Elvira. However,
she sees a silver lining in the manly slab of masculinity that is Colt Seavers.
Throughout the episode, she makes it clear she has one thing in mind, with
dialogue so suggestive, it is almost single entendre.
The
production contracted to shoot on-location in the spooky Deauville mansion,
because the old couple desperately needs the money. Nevertheless, grumpy old
Preston Deauville remains adamantly opposed to their presence, because he worries
someone might discover his secret. His opinion does not change, even after his
untimely death. In fact, Munson and Banks worry Deauville is haunting the production
from beyond the grave.
The
”31st” holds the distinction for featuring the only on-camera
appearance of the entire Carradine acting family together in one scene, when the
three Carradine brothers play servants old man Deauville reluctantly lays-off. The
senior Carradine is just as regally hammy as fans would hope playing Deauville.
However,
the Elvira and Colt show is what drives this episode. Frankly, it is surprisingly
they got away with all the wink-wink naughtiness in early 1980s primetime. Of
course, Cassandra Peterson was delighted. Reportedly, she was frustrated when producers
forced her to tone her Elvira persona when she previously guested on network
series. In contrast, creator Glen A. Larson and episode writer Samm Egan let
Elvira be Elvira. That led to Egan getting the gig writing Elvira: Mistress
of the Dark, the 1988 feature, and Elvira returning to The Fall Guy the
next year, in “October the 32nd.”
