Batman has many nicknames: the Caped Crusader, Dark Knight, and World’s Greatest
Detective. Mystery Incorporated also has a few: the Scooby Gang and those “meddling
kids.” Frankly, Batman kind of likes the last one. They get along fairly well—maybe
because this isn’t their first meeting. The characters had crossover team-ups
in “The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair” and “The Caped Crusader Caper,” two installments
of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, which was really just another Scooby TV series,
even though it pretended its episodes were movies. Their most recent on-screen collaboration
really is a movie—that even had a theatrical premiere before releasing
direct-to-DVD. Having laid the groundwork for the Batman & Scooby-Doo
Mysteries comic book that launched in 2021 (and still regularly revives
with special issues), Jake Castorna’s Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave
and the Bold airs this coming Saturday on the Cartoon Network.
Mystery
Incorporated’s unmasking successes finally convinced Batman to recruit them for
the Mystery Analysts of Gotham City. They simply had to pass a test he arranged
with the help of Martian Manhunter and Detective Chimp. Honestly, the real
mystery is why Warner Animation hasn’t used Detective Chimp more often. (His
guest appearance in Wonder Woman #16 was a delight.) Then, they gang
also must sleuth their way to the meeting, where they also meet the Question,
Plastic Man, and Black Canary. As it happens, Fred Jones is totally gob smacked
by her, which should put to rest a lot of rumors. For the record, the ascot
does not help his cause.
Naturally,
they want to help solve Batman’s only unsolved case, which coincidentally might
be related to Gotham’s latest break-in. It seems the spectral Crimson Cloak’s
theft of radioactive isotopes might be related to the unstable teleportation
device from Batman’s notoriously open case. It turns out he saved the wrong lab
assistant. The innocent one remains missing in the ether, but the other has
been remanded to Arkham Asylum, under the name The Riddler. So off to Arkham
they go, even though bad things always happen there.
Obviously,
there are a lot of jokes in Scooby: The Brave and the Bold. It is a
Scooby-Doo movie. However, it features the voices of Diedrich Bader and horror
legend Jeffrey Combs as Batman and the Question, neither of whom get the credit
they deserve for their DC animated work. Indeed, Bader’s Batman hits the right
sardonic notes, indicating he is in on the jokes, at least to the extent he is
constitutionally capable of acknowledging humor.
Arguably,
the one character who suffers from Paul Giacoppo’s screenplay treatment is
Aquaman, who comes off looking and sounding like a clumsy, obtuse meathead. Plastic
Man is the same Plastic Man from the 1979 Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show.
On the other hand, Black Canary and the Question should have seen their fandom
stock rise from their appearances in this film.
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.
You might think Casey Kasem was from Shangra-La, considering the voice-over
artist dubbed that “meddling kid,” Shaggy Rogers well into his eighties. Unfortunately,
time catches up to even the eternally youthful. Although Kasem once again
performed as Shaggy in this feature, it was animation legend Josph Barbera’s
final Scooby project. It was also dedicated to the memory of late Disney
and Hanna-Barbera animator Iwao Takamoto, a longtime contributor to the Scooby
franchise. Scooby and Shaggy have outlived them all, presumably thanks to
diet and exercise (all that running from monsters). They get another workout
(this time at high altitude) in Joe Sichta’s Chill Out, Scooby Doo,
which airs on the Cartoon Network.
Fred,
Daphne, and Velma thought they were meeting Scooby and Shaggy in Paris for a
well-earned vacation. Instead, Rogers and our favorite Great Dane are lured to
the Himalayas by cryptid-hunter Alphonse LeFleur, by the promise of an
all-you-can-eat flight. He intends to use the duo as bait for the Yeti.
Fortunately,
Scooby and Shaggy quickly ditch LaFleur, reconnecting with an old friend,
cryptozoologist Del Chillman, who now happens to be the local DJ, even though
he only has one regular listener, Minga, the sister of Pemba the sherpa.
Unfortunately, Pemba’s latest client is clearly up to no good. Professor
Jeffries hopes to plunder the crystals of Shangra-La, right under the nose of
the High Lama. There is also the Yeti, who clearly enjoys chasing Scooby and
Shaggy. In fact, he pursues them right into Shangra-La.
As
straight-to-DVD features go, Chill Out really plays like an extended episode
of the various Mystery Incorporated series. Even by the franchise
standards, the humor is shamelessly goofy and logic immediately goes out the
window. For instance, the rest of the meddling kids manage to drive their van from
Paris to Himalayas, within the first act.
