Trading Chases

Despite being a massive Scooby Doo fan for goodness knows how long, expectations were somehow not high for 'Be Cool Scooby Doo' prior to giving it a chance. The advertising in my mind was terrible and the animation style, one of the franchise's least appealing, was very off putting. Still gave it a chance as a fan of the franchise and of animation in general and there are films and shows that have bad advertising but turn out to be good.

"Trading Chases" is another good episode of 'Be Cool Scooby Doo', while not one of the best episodes of the show it continues the very promising standard set by most of the previous episodes (all watchable and more). My issues with the previous episodes and the show in general are present in "Trading Chases", but the triumph in humour and mostly refreshing character writing present in most 'Be Cool Scooby Doo' episodes are absolutely here. Not a great instalment, but there is more than enough here to show what made the show work.

A lot is good. The story is a lot of fun and very energetic. Really did love Jeff's interpretation of the story, which was a clever and knowing piece of writing. "Trading Chases" once again delivers on the humour, not just with Shaggy and Scooby but also with Daphne and the falcon. The writing in the episode is very good, but it especially shines in the humour, of which there is thankfully a lot.

Can't fault most of the character writing. Have always enjoyed Shaggy and Scooby throughout the franchise's history and Daphne's character writing has been refreshingly quirky without being over the top. The supporting characters are very colourful, including the very cool and creepy villain. The music is groovy and adds to the energy and quirkiness present in the writing and story. Have no issues with the voice acting too.

It isn't a perfect episode though. The animation never did it for me on this show and "Trading Chases" does nothing to change my mind. . The flat and garish colours don't appeal, neither do the sparse backgrounds. Even less appealing are the character designs that have such a rushed drugged out look and it looks ugly.

Like most of 'Be Cool Scooby Doo's' episodes, the reveal is too obvious with the suspects being too few and is very rushed. Also really disliked Fred's attitude, he comes over as a real jerk and his treatment of Jeff was completely uncalled for.

On the whole though, good entertaining episode. 7/10.