Ghastly Ghost Town
- Episode aired Sep 9, 1972
- 1h
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
272
YOUR RATING
The great comedy trio of "The Three Stooges" owns a ghost town Theme park. Coincidentally the Mystery Machine breaks down there and the Scooby gang try to figure out who's been sabotaging al... Read allThe great comedy trio of "The Three Stooges" owns a ghost town Theme park. Coincidentally the Mystery Machine breaks down there and the Scooby gang try to figure out who's been sabotaging all the park rides and scaring off all the tourists.The great comedy trio of "The Three Stooges" owns a ghost town Theme park. Coincidentally the Mystery Machine breaks down there and the Scooby gang try to figure out who's been sabotaging all the park rides and scaring off all the tourists.
Nicole Jaffe
- Velma Dinkley
- (voice)
Casey Kasem
- Norville 'Shaggy' Rogers
- (voice)
- (as Casy Kasem)
Don Messick
- Scooby-Doo
- (voice)
- …
Heather North
- Daphne Blake
- (voice)
Frank Welker
- Fred Jones
- (voice)
- …
Daws Butler
- Larry Fine
- (voice)
- …
Henry Corden
- Rhino
- (voice)
- …
Joan Gerber
- Additional Voices
- (voice)
Pat Harrington Jr.
- Moe Howard
- (voice)
- (as Pat Harrington)
Ann Jillian
- Additional Voices
- (voice)
Ted Knight
- Amos Crunch
- (voice)
- …
Mike Road
- Additional Voices
- (voice)
Olan Soule
- Additional Voices
- (voice)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis mystery features the Three Stooges: Larry, Moe, and Curly-Joe. They were one of two old-time movie teams that were featured on The New Scooby-Doo Movies, along with Laurel and Hardy. Their voices were provided by others, even though Larry Fine, Moe Howard, and Joe DeRita were still alive.
- GoofsRight after they begin the search for Velma, she is seen right behind Freddy looking for herself.
- Alternate versionsThis is the only episode where Shaggy doesn't announce the guest star(s) on the title card. However, the restored version of the episode on The Best of The New Scooby-Doo Movies and digital HD releases appends the announcement from The Ghost of the Red Baron (1972) over the title card. The title card on this first episode also originally appeared after the climax of the opening scene (following the fade to black after The Mystery Machine hits a sand dune), but HD releases have relocated it to appear after the opening titles to bring in line with subsequent episodes. The original location can still be seen on early VHS copies.
- ConnectionsReferenced in The New Scooby-Doo Movies: The Ghost of the Red Baron (1972)
Featured review
A Rough Start to The New Scooby-Doo Movies
This is a rough episode of television. In general I'm finding the New Scooby-Doo Movies not to be that great; this one has got to be one of the worse ones, but also really highlights some of the general flaws of the New Movies. In no particular order:
The Stooges were not particularly funny - it's possible I just don't "get" the Stooges, my parents were Marx Brothers fans so I never saw any of their movies growing up - but I suspect this is a particularly weak turn for them. In their defense, at least everyone still knows who the Three Stooges are, unlike episode 4's Jonathan Winters.
A broader problem with the way they do guest stars is that so much time is devoted to introducing and giving laugh lines to the guests, that we don't really get a good introduction to the eventual villains. Not like the villains had a ton of depth in the original show, but the big reveal is less fun in the New Movies because more time had to be spent on the guests at the expense of the bad guys.
The writers seem to have struggled to spin the original Scooby-Doo format out from 23 to 45 minutes. The original series generally has really tight pacing, starting with a tease of the monster, then a series of spooky encounters and clues, leading up to a big reveal. Here, they try and do a mid-act mini-reveal of some sort but it never really lands.
This episode in particular (or at least the copy that's available on Boomerang) has several glaring continuity errors in the middle that make it difficult to follow. It seems like Velma's Act 2 disappearance was shuffled late in production - she disappears, then everyone goes to search for her, but for one quick shot she's back with the group. Later when Shaggy and Scooby are rescuing everyone, they say they're rescuing Velma, but at that point they already know that she's been reunited with Fred, Daphne, and the Stooges.
There's also some plot points that are just really bizarre! I wasn't able to follow what the backstory of the massive, extraordinarily sophisticated dinosaur vehicle was, or why the bad guys had a literal bat mobile.
The show definitely still has its moments, and the performances from the series regulars is great as always. Shaggy and Scooby are hilarious, and the whole gang are great characters that you really do enjoy watching look for clues. Unfortunately, this episode's flaws mostly drag down the fun parts.
The Stooges were not particularly funny - it's possible I just don't "get" the Stooges, my parents were Marx Brothers fans so I never saw any of their movies growing up - but I suspect this is a particularly weak turn for them. In their defense, at least everyone still knows who the Three Stooges are, unlike episode 4's Jonathan Winters.
A broader problem with the way they do guest stars is that so much time is devoted to introducing and giving laugh lines to the guests, that we don't really get a good introduction to the eventual villains. Not like the villains had a ton of depth in the original show, but the big reveal is less fun in the New Movies because more time had to be spent on the guests at the expense of the bad guys.
The writers seem to have struggled to spin the original Scooby-Doo format out from 23 to 45 minutes. The original series generally has really tight pacing, starting with a tease of the monster, then a series of spooky encounters and clues, leading up to a big reveal. Here, they try and do a mid-act mini-reveal of some sort but it never really lands.
This episode in particular (or at least the copy that's available on Boomerang) has several glaring continuity errors in the middle that make it difficult to follow. It seems like Velma's Act 2 disappearance was shuffled late in production - she disappears, then everyone goes to search for her, but for one quick shot she's back with the group. Later when Shaggy and Scooby are rescuing everyone, they say they're rescuing Velma, but at that point they already know that she's been reunited with Fred, Daphne, and the Stooges.
There's also some plot points that are just really bizarre! I wasn't able to follow what the backstory of the massive, extraordinarily sophisticated dinosaur vehicle was, or why the bad guys had a literal bat mobile.
The show definitely still has its moments, and the performances from the series regulars is great as always. Shaggy and Scooby are hilarious, and the whole gang are great characters that you really do enjoy watching look for clues. Unfortunately, this episode's flaws mostly drag down the fun parts.
helpful•61
- kaukau1
- Sep 30, 2020
Details
- Runtime1 hour
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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What is the broadcast (satellite or terrestrial TV) release date of Ghastly Ghost Town (1972) in Australia?
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