The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo - The 1985 animated series

December 8 2020

The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (in the original English: The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo ) is an American animated TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and the seventh series of the Scooby-Doo cartoon character. The series premiered on September 7, 1985 and aired for one season on ABC as a half-hour program. Thirteen episodes of the show were made in 1985. It replaced Scary Scooby Funnies, a repackaging of the previous shows; another repackaged series followed, Scooby's Mystery Funhouse.

il Italia was broadcast for the first time on 25 June 2001 in the various national networks: Raiuno, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, ORF 1, Italia 1

The series also aired reruns on USA Network in the 90s, Cartoon Network and occasionally on Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang through 2014. With 13 episodes, it is currently the shortest series in the Scooby franchise. - Doo a Data. A later movie, Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost, released in 2019, featured the thirteenth ghost never seen before. The entire series is also available on the Boomerang and Tubi streaming services.

History

In the opening episode, the gang is thrown off course during a trip to Honolulu on Daphne's plane, landing in the Himalayas instead. While inside a temple, Scooby and Shaggy are tricked by two clumsy ghosts named Weerd and Bogel into opening the Demon Chest, a magical artifact that houses the 13 most terrifying and powerful ghosts and demons that have ever walked the face of the Earth. Since ghosts can only be returned to the trunk by those who originally freed them, Scooby and Shaggy, accompanied by Daphne, Scrappy-Doo and a young con man named Flim Flam, embark on a worldwide mission to capture them before they destroy irreversible devastation of the world. .

Helping them is Flim Flam's friend, a sorcerer named Vincent Van Ghoul (based on and voiced by Vincent Price), who contacts the gang using his crystal ball and often employs magic and sorcery to help them. The 13 escaped ghosts, meanwhile, each attempt to get rid of the gang lest they be returned to the chest, often employing Weerd and Bogel as lackeys.

Episodes

1 "To all the Ghouls I've loved before" by Ray Patterson Tom Ruegger September 7, 1985
After a crash landing in a Himalayan village where its cursed inhabitants become werewolves at night, Scooby and Shaggy unknowingly free the 13 ghosts from the demon chest.

2 "Scoobra Kadoobra" by Ray Patterson Gordon Bressack and Mark Seidenberg September 14, 1985
The gang pursues Maldor, a ghost sorcerer from the Dark Ages, into the depths of a haunted castle. There they find a powerful artifact that Maldor himself seeks, but which could also prove the ghost's undoing. Ghost: Maldor the Malevolent

3 "Me and my shadow demon" by Ray Patterson Cynthia Friedlob and John Always 21 September 1985
Lured by the enigmatic Befuddle Manor, the gang must deal with a macabre ghost convention and the mysterious Shadow Demon. Ghost: Queen Morbidia

4 "Reflections in a macabre eye" by Ray Patterson Charles M. Howell, IV and Rich Fogel September 28, 1985
During a Ghost Chaser convention in Marrakech, Morocco, the gang encounters a mirror demon: a frightening apparition that has the power to trap mortals in its creepy mirror dimension. Complicating the situation, the hotel concierge thinks the gang kidnapped a waitress, although she was actually kidnapped by the demon. Ghost: Reflector Ghost (Mirror Demon)

5 "This is Monstertainment" by Ray Patterson Tom Ruegger and Mitch Schauer 5 October 1985
The gang is trapped in Zomba's classic horror movie "The Ghost of Frankenstein's Bride", a ghoul who attempts to steal the demon chest from Scooby's heavily guarded room. Ghost: Zomba

6 "Ghoul ship" by Ray Patterson Misty Stewart Taggart 12 October 1985
Too nervous to continue, the gang takes a tense Scooby on a vacation cruise, where Bogel and Weerd plan to scare the shit out of Scooby. However, the gang does not suspect that the cruise captain is a ghost and wants to free his fellow spirits from the Cache of Demons. Ghost: Captain Ferguson

7 "A ghostly little ghoul like you" by Ray Patterson Giovanni Ludin 19 October 1985
While attending a warlock convention, Vincent Van Ghoul is subjected to a love spell by Nekara, an enchantress with the power to drain the powers of warlocks by kissing them. Ghost: Nekara

8 "When you are a witch on a star" by Ray Patterson Jeff Holder and Tom Ruegger October 26, 1985
Three clumsy witches named Ernestine, Wanda and Hilda Brewski (similar to The Three Stooges) are commissioned by the powerful witch Marcella to perform a spell that will free her from the dimension she is trapped in. Meanwhile, Vincent travels to the Eternal Evil Zone where he is later captured by Marcella. Ghost: Marcella

9 "He is a wonderful Scoob" by Ray Patterson John Ludin and Tom Ruegger November 2, 1985
After one scare too many while chasing Time Slime, Scooby leaves the gang and returns to live with her parents. After auditioning for another anthropomorphic dog, Flim Flam has Scooby replaced by a lazy, dull sheepdog named Bernie Gumsher. This not only causes protests from children across the nation which in turn leads to a televised speech by President Ronald Reagan, but also results in Time Slime's capture of the gang. Vincent Van Ghoul takes Scooby into the future to show him what the world will be like if he doesn't return to stop Time Slime from freeing the demons that were previously imprisoned. Ghost: Temporal Slime

10 "Scooby in Kwackyland" by Ray Patterson Tom Ruegger and Misty Stewart Taggart November 9, 1985
The gang and Demondo are trapped in the comic section of the newspapers and must rely on the help of comic characters, including Scooby's favorite Platypus Duck, to escape. Ghost: Demonndo

11 "Coast-to-Ghost" by Ray Patterson Cynthia Friedlob and John Always November 16, 1985
As part of an initiation test to join SAPS (short for Spook and Poltergeist Society), the vampire demon Rankor tricks Vincent Van Ghoul into looking into the Eye of Eternity, which slowly turns him to stone. To cure him, the gang, accompanied by double-faced Bogel and Weerd, must travel from California to Massachusetts to acquire the Moomma Mask. To complicate matters, they are relentlessly persecuted not only by Rankor, but also by the authorities for something that Bogel and Weerd did. Ghost: Rankor

12 "The most macabre spectacle on Earth" by Ray Patterson Evelyn Gabai and Glenn Leopold November 23, 1985
A circus arrives in Dooville and enchants residents, including Scooby's parents and Flim-Flam (the latter for seeing job opportunities). Shaggy and Scooby discover that the circus is made up of demons and monsters and its evil circus director, Professor Phantazmo, whose calliope hides the true face of the circus and who wants the demon trunk. Ghost: Professor Phantazmo

13 "Scoob horror" by Ray Patterson Charles M. Howell, IV December 7, 1985
When the gang appears on the TV show You Will't Believe It… or Else! Owned by Boris Kreepoff, the lion-like demon Zimbulu attempts to steal the Demon Chest, but it was stolen by someone else without the gang's knowledge. Accompanied by Vincent Van Ghoul and a medium named Tallulah, the gang attempts to find the chest. Ghost: Zimbulu

Production

The series was created and produced by Mitch Schauer. Tom Ruegger was associate producer and story editor, the irreverent, fourth wall-breaking humor found in each episode resurfaced in his later works, including The Scooby-Doo Pup, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Animaniacs. Of the 13 ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Ruegger remembers that he doesn't love the Flim-Flam character or the other characters added to the cast. As with most other Scooby-Doo voices from the early 80s, the original characters Fred Jones and Velma Dinkley do not appear, and the enemies were real (in the context of the series) ghosts and not just humans in costume. 13 Ghosts ended its run after 13 episodes and was replaced by reruns of Laff-a-Lympics in March 1986, before the end of the season.

After a hiatus, Ruegger and ABC decided that they would completely overhaul the series, developing A Pup Named Scooby-Doo in 1988. Upon the cancellation, twelve of the thirteen ghosts were caught in the demons' chest with the show by ceasing production before l last ghost could be found. Originally it was debatable whether Captain Ferguson, the antagonist of the episode "The Ship of Demons", was considered one of the thirteen ghosts. However it was later confirmed by the writer of The Curse of the 13th Ghost, Tim Sheridan, that Captain Ferguson was one of the thirteen. To date, it is the last running Scooby-Doo series to have featured Scrappy-Doo, who was removed as a regular character after the three Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 films in 1987-8.

A movie aimed for home video released in 2019, Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost, solves the original's open ending and features the entire gang helping Vincent Van Ghoul capture the last ghost.

Technical data

Original title The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo
Original language English
Country United States
Producer William Hanna, Joseph Barbera (executive), Mitch Schauer, Tom Ruegger (associate)
character design Iwao Takamoto
Music The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo It was composed by the American musician Hoyt Curtin.
Studio Hanna-Barbera
Network ABC
1st TV 7 September - 7 December 1985
Episodes 13 (complete)
Episode duration 22 min
Italian network Raiuno, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, ORF 1, Italy 1
1st Italian TV 25 June 2001
Italian dubbing studio CDC
Italian dubbing director Manlio DeAngelis
Gender thriller, comedy
Preceded by The All-New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show
Followed by The Scooby-Doo puppy