The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo

The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and the seventh incarnation of the studio's Scooby-Doo franchise.[1] It premiered on September 7, 1985 (1985-09-07) and ran 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 earlier shows; another repackaged series, Scooby's Mystery Funhouse, followed.[2] This was the first show in which the Scooby-Doo characters actually encountered supernatural creatures, rather than criminals and grifters wearing disguises.[3]

The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo
Title card from The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo
Created by
Developed byTom Ruegger
Directed by
Voices of
Theme music composerHoyt Curtin
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producers
ProducerMitch Schauer
Running time22 minutes
Production companyHanna-Barbera Productions
DistributorWorldvision Enterprises
Release
Original networkABC (American Broadcasting Company)
Original releaseSeptember 7 (1985-09-07) –
December 7, 1985 (1985-12-07)
Chronology
Preceded byThe New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show / The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries (1983–1984)
Followed byA Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988–1991)
Related showsScooby-Doo

The series also aired in reruns on USA Network in the 1990s, on Cartoon Network, and from time to time on Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang until 2014. With 13 episodes, it is currently the shortest-running series in the Scooby-Doo franchise. A follow-up film, Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost, released in 2019, featured the previously unseen 13th ghost. The entire series is also available on the Boomerang and Tubi streaming services.

Plot

This is a warning to all living mortals, that whosoever opens this Chest of Demons will release 13 of the most terrifying ghosts upon of the face of the Earth!

— Vincent Van Ghoul, in the original opening title sequence

In the initial episode, the gang are thrown off course on a trip to Honolulu in Daphne's plane, landing instead in Himalayas. While inside a temple, Scooby and Shaggy are tricked by two bumbling ghosts named Weerd and Bogel into opening the Chest of Demons, a magical artifact which houses the 13 most terrifying and powerful ghosts and demons ever to walk the face of the Earth. As the ghosts can only be returned to the chest by those who originally set them free, Scooby and Shaggy, accompanied by Daphne, Scrappy-Doo, and a young con artist named Flim Flam, embark on a worldwide quest to recapture them before they wreak irreversible havoc upon the world.

Assisting them is Flim Flam's friend, a warlock named Vincent Van Ghoul (based upon and voiced by Vincent Price), who contacts the gang using his crystal ball and often employs magic and witchcraft to assist them. The 13 escaped ghosts, meanwhile, each attempt to do away with the gang lest they are returned to the chest, often employing Weerd and Bogel as lackeys.

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, among them A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Animaniacs.[4] Of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Ruegger recalls not being fond of the Flim-Flam character[4] or the other added characters in the cast.[4] As with most of the other early-1980s Scooby-Doo entries, original characters Fred Jones and Velma Dinkley do not appear, and the enemies were real (within the context of the series) ghosts and not simply 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 overhaul the series entirely, developing A Pup Named Scooby-Doo in 1988.[4] At the time of the cancellation, twelve of the thirteen ghosts were recaptured in the chest of demons with the show-stopping production before the last ghost could be found. Originally it was debatable if Captain Ferguson, the antagonist of the episode "Ship of Ghouls", counted as one of the thirteen ghosts. However it was later confirmed by Curse of the 13th Ghost writer Tim Sheridan that Captain Ferguson was one of the thirteen. To date, it is the last Scooby-Doo running series to have featured Scrappy-Doo, who was eliminated after the three Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 movies in 1987.

A direct-to-video film released in 2019, Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost, resolves the open ending of the original and features the entire gang helping Vincent Van Ghoul in capturing the last ghost.[5]

Voice cast
Main article: List of Scooby-Doo characters

Episodes
No.TitleDirected byStory byOriginal air date
1"To All the Ghouls I've Loved Before"Ray PattersonTom RueggerSeptember 7, 1985 (1985-09-07)
After crash-landing in a Himalayan village where its cursed inhabitants become werewolves at night, Scooby and Shaggy unwittingly release the 13 ghosts from the Chest of Demons.
2"Scoobra Kadoobra"Ray PattersonGordon Bressack & Mark SeidenbergSeptember 14, 1985 (1985-09-14)

The gang pursues Maldor, a ghost warlock from the Dark Ages, in the depths of a haunted castle. There, they find a powerful artifact that Maldor himself seeks but may also prove the ghost's undoing.

  • Ghost: Maldor the Malevolent
3"Me and My Shadow Demon"Ray PattersonCynthia Friedlob & John SemperSeptember 21, 1985 (1985-09-21)

Lured to the enigmatic Befuddle Manor, the gang must contend with a ghoulish convention of ghosts and the mysterious Shadow Demon.

  • Ghost: Queen Morbidia
4"Reflections in a Ghoulish Eye"Ray PattersonCharles M. Howell, IV & Rich FogelSeptember 28, 1985 (1985-09-28)

While at a Ghost Chaser convention in Marrakesh, Morocco, the gang encounter a mirror demon: a frightful apparition who has the power to trap mortals in his eerie mirror dimension. To complicate the situation, the hotel concierge thinks the gang has kidnapped a maid, although she was actually kidnapped by the demon.

  • Ghost: Reflector Specter (Mirror Demon)
5"That's Monstertainment"Ray PattersonTom Ruegger & Mitch SchauerOctober 5, 1985 (1985-10-05)

The gang is trapped in the classic horror film "The Son of the Bride of the Ghost of Frankenstein" by Zomba, a ghoul who attempts to nab the Chest of Demons from Scooby's heavily guarded room.

  • Ghost: Zomba
6"Ship of Ghouls"Ray PattersonMisty Stewart-TaggartOctober 12, 1985 (1985-10-12)

Too much of a nervous wreck to continue, the gang takes a tense Scooby on a vacation cruise, where Bogel and Weerd plan to scare Scooby to death. However, the gang does not suspect that the captain of the cruise is a ghost, and wants to free his fellow spirits from the Chest of Demons.

  • Ghost: Captain Ferguson
7"A Spooky Little Ghoul Like You"Ray PattersonJohn LudinOctober 19, 1985 (1985-10-19)

While attending a warlock convention, Vincent Van Ghoul is placed under an amorous enchantment by Nicara, an enchantress with the power to drain warlocks of their powers by kissing them.

  • Ghost: Nicara
8"When You Witch Upon a Star"Ray PattersonJeff Holder & Tom RueggerOctober 26, 1985 (1985-10-26)

Three bumbling witches named Ernestine, Wanda, and Hilda Brewski (similar to The Three Stooges) are tasked by the powerful witch Marcella to perform a spell which will free her from the dimension in which she is trapped. Meanwhile, Vincent goes to the Zone of Eternal Evil where he is subsequently captured by Marcella.

  • Ghost: Marcella
9"It's a Wonderful Scoob"Ray PattersonJohn Ludin & Tom RueggerNovember 2, 1985 (1985-11-02)

After one fright too many while pursuing Time Slime, Scooby quits the gang and moves back in with his parents. After an audition for another anthropomorphic dog, Flim Flam has Scooby replaced by a lazy and dim sheepdog named Bernie Gumsher. This not only causes child protests across the nation which in turn leads to a televised address from President Ronald Reagan, but also causes the gang to be captured by Time Slime. Vincent Van Ghoul takes Scooby to the future to show him what the world will be like if he does not return to stop Time Slime from releasing the demons that were previously reimprisoned.

  • Ghost: Time Slime
10"Scooby in Kwackyland"Ray PattersonTom Ruegger & Misty Stewart-TaggartNovember 9, 1985 (1985-11-09)

The gang and Demondo are trapped in the newspaper comics section and must rely on the help of comic characters—including Scooby's favorite, Platypus Duck—to escape.

  • Ghost: Demondo
11"Coast-to-Ghost"Ray PattersonCynthia Friedlob & John SemperNovember 16, 1985 (1985-11-16)

As part of an initiation test, the vampire demon Rankor tricks Vincent Van Ghoul into looking into the Eye of Eternity, which slowly turns him into stone. In order to cure him, the gang—accompanied by two-faced Bogel and Weerd—must travel from California to Massachusetts to acquire the Mask of Moomma. To complicate matters, they are relentlessly pursued not only by Rankor, but also by the authorities for something Bogel and Weerd did.

  • Ghost: Rankor
12"The Ghouliest Show on Earth"Ray PattersonEvelyn Gabai & Glenn LeopoldNovember 23, 1985 (1985-11-23)

A circus comes to Dooville and enchants the residents, including Scooby's parents and Flim-Flam (the latter out of seeing business opportunities). Shaggy and Scooby discover that the circus is staffed by demons and monsters and its evil ringmaster Professor Phantasmo whose calliope hides the circus' true face and who wants the Chest of Demons.

  • Ghost: Professor Phantasmo
13"Horror-Scope Scoob"Ray PattersonCharles M. Howell, IVDecember 7, 1985 (1985-12-07) (December 7, 1985 (1985-12-07))

When the gang appears on the TV show You Won't Believe It...or Else! owned by Boris Kreepoff, the lion demon Zimbulu attempts to steal the Chest of Demons, but it was stolen by someone else unbeknownst to the gang. Accompanied by Vincent Van Ghoul and a medium named Tallulah, the gang attempts to find the chest.

  • Ghost: Zimbulu

Home media

On June 29, 2010, Warner Home Video (via Hanna-Barbera Productions and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment) released The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.[6]

DVD name No. of episodes Release date Bonus episode
The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo: The Complete Series 13 June 29, 2010 (2010-06-29) Don't Feed the Animals

Reception

The series was heavily profiled in the Christian fundamentalist documentary Deception of a Generation as an example of occult influences on children's entertainment.[7]

Follow-up film

In 2019, a follow-up film called Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost was released in order to tie-up the loose end that revolved around the 13th Ghost Asmodeus.

See also

References
  1. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 534–538. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  2. Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. pp. 377–379. ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  3. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 717–726. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  4. "Tom Ruegger is back!". Platypuscomix.net. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
  5. https://collider.com/scooby-doo-and-the-curse-of-the-13th-ghost-trailer/
  6. Lambert, David (March 22, 2010). "The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo DVD news: Announcement for The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo – The Complete Series". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2012. Retrieved 2011-08-16.
  7. "Deception of a Generation". Youtube.com. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
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