The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo is the seventh incarnation of the Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo, and the final first-run version of the original 1969–86 broadcast run of the series. It premiered on September 7, 1985 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. 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.
Plot[edit]
In the initial episode, the gang are thrown off course on a trip to Honolulu in Daphne's plane, landing instead in the 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 juvenile Latino 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 be returned to the chest, often employing Weerd and Bogel as lackeys.
Production[edit]
Story editor and associate producer Tom Ruegger led the overhaul of the property, and the irreverent, fourth wall breaking humor found in each episode would resurface in his later works, among them A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Animaniacs.[1] Of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Ruegger recalls not being fond of the Flim-Flam character ("Definitely the product of network focus groups")[1] or the other added characters in the cast.[1] As with most of the other early-1980s Scooby-Doo entries, original characters Fred Jones and Velma Dinkley do not appear. 13 Ghosts was canceled and replaced by reruns of Laff-a-Lympics in March 1986, before the end of the season.
It is currently the latest Scooby series to feature Scrappy-Doo, as it was decided by Ruegger and ABC that they would overhaul the series entirely, developing A Pup Named Scooby-Doo in 1988.[1] At the time of the cancellation, eleven of the 13 ghosts were recaptured, although it is unknown if some of the ghosts captured in the two episodes "Ship of Ghouls" & "A Spooky Little Ghoul Like You" where more than one of the 13 ghosts were captured, are part of the originals. Flim Flam makes a cameo as a wax museum figure in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. Daphne asks Fred if he remembers him, but Fred reminds her that he wasn't with them at that time.
Introduced in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo[edit]Vincent Van Ghoul[edit]
In The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Van Ghoul is a renowned magician and warlock, with extensive knowledge of the supernatural. He is first visited by Shaggy, Scooby, Daphne and Scrappy with Flim-Flam, after they need some help with their plane, which has crash-landed in a nearby temple in Tibet. After Shaggy and Scooby unwittingly unleash thirteen terrible ghosts from the chest in which they were locked, Van Ghoul tells them that they must trap them again. "Why us?" a terrified Shaggy moans, to which Van Ghoul replies, "Because you let them out!"
Despite being very angry with the pair for unleashing the ghosts, he agrees to help them in their ghost-questing, and gives the group a crystal ball through which he can contact them. He shares personality traits with his voice actor, Vincent Price, like having a very morbid and dark sense of humour.
In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Van Ghoul is an actor who does horror films (much like Vincent Price, who was the inspiration for his character). He is constantly referenced and glimpses of his movies can be seen throughout the series (according to Shaggy he has done more than 400 movies). He makes a full appearance in the episode "Nightfright", when Shaggy and Scooby win an essay contest to have dinner with him, and later in the episode "Theater of Doom", where he directs the production of Crystal Cove's theater stage of the legend of Friar Serra and his faithful donkey Porto, who supposedly saved many inhabitants from a tsunami that destroyed Crystal Cove.
Flim Flam[edit]
Flim Flam was a part of the gang for all thirteen episodes of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo. He is seen in the first episode, "To All the Ghouls I've Loved Before", trying to sell a magic concoction to a local town located in the Himalayan Mountains. However, he was kicked out of town, and managed to meet up with the current Scooby gang, who was trying to find the Mystery Machine (an airplane) hidden by Bogel and Weerd. He took them to a psychic (Vincent Van Ghoul) who could help the whole group find their mode of transportation, and warned them of ensuing danger. Daphne is a given a drink laced with wolfsbane due to the fact the townspeople believe that she overheard their secret, and when the night falls on the town, the group finds out that the whole town is actually a werewolf cult. They are pursued into the sewers, and Flim Flam opens one of his products to spray on Daphne, who reverts to normal. He goes on to cure the rest of the townspeople, who are ever grateful for the help. When Scrappy, Daphne and Flim Flam question them as to how they got that way in the first place, they are told that they were turned into werewolves as revenge for sealing the Thirteen Ghosts into the Chest of Demons, and the current group races to keep Shaggy and Scooby from opening the chest, but to no avail. After Shaggy and Scooby open the chest and release the thirteen ghosts within it, Flim Flam decides to join them in their hunt to return them to the chest.
In the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode "The Siren's Song", Fred and Daphne come across a statue of Flim Flam in the Crystal Cove Haunted Museum among the statues of their defeated foes. Daphne remarks that Flim Flam was arrested and received a harsh sentence of 25 years to life for being a juvenile con-artist (this was an inside joke; 25 years had passed between 13 Ghosts in 1985 and Mystery Incorporated in 2010). It is also referenced that Fred was away at camp during the events of The 13 Ghost of Scooby-Doo.
Weerd and Bogel[edit]
Bogel is a fat, dim-witted ghost while Weerd is a tall, skinny, 5-haired ghost. Weerd is the mastermind of the 2. They both are reoccurring characters in the 13 Ghost of Scooby-Doo and are first seen in the episode "To All the Ghouls I've Loved Before". Weerd comes up with a scheme to lure Shaggy and Scooby to open the Chest of Demons so him, and Bogel can gain some glory with the 13 ghosts. After this both are often hired by one of the 13 ghosts to help them lure Scooby and the gang into the 13 ghost's trap so the ghost can destroy the chest. Weerd and Bogel are trying to get into S.A.P.S. (pronounced as "saps"), a legion of high honor for the most terrifying ghosts and ghouls. Their plans to join S.A.P.S. usually involves the gang and one of the 13 ghost as so happened in the episode "Coast to Ghost".
Cast[edit]
Plot[edit]
In the initial episode, the gang are thrown off course on a trip to Honolulu in Daphne's plane, landing instead in the 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 juvenile Latino 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 be returned to the chest, often employing Weerd and Bogel as lackeys.
Production[edit]
Story editor and associate producer Tom Ruegger led the overhaul of the property, and the irreverent, fourth wall breaking humor found in each episode would resurface in his later works, among them A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Animaniacs.[1] Of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Ruegger recalls not being fond of the Flim-Flam character ("Definitely the product of network focus groups")[1] or the other added characters in the cast.[1] As with most of the other early-1980s Scooby-Doo entries, original characters Fred Jones and Velma Dinkley do not appear. 13 Ghosts was canceled and replaced by reruns of Laff-a-Lympics in March 1986, before the end of the season.
It is currently the latest Scooby series to feature Scrappy-Doo, as it was decided by Ruegger and ABC that they would overhaul the series entirely, developing A Pup Named Scooby-Doo in 1988.[1] At the time of the cancellation, eleven of the 13 ghosts were recaptured, although it is unknown if some of the ghosts captured in the two episodes "Ship of Ghouls" & "A Spooky Little Ghoul Like You" where more than one of the 13 ghosts were captured, are part of the originals. Flim Flam makes a cameo as a wax museum figure in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. Daphne asks Fred if he remembers him, but Fred reminds her that he wasn't with them at that time.
Introduced in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo[edit]Vincent Van Ghoul[edit]
In The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Van Ghoul is a renowned magician and warlock, with extensive knowledge of the supernatural. He is first visited by Shaggy, Scooby, Daphne and Scrappy with Flim-Flam, after they need some help with their plane, which has crash-landed in a nearby temple in Tibet. After Shaggy and Scooby unwittingly unleash thirteen terrible ghosts from the chest in which they were locked, Van Ghoul tells them that they must trap them again. "Why us?" a terrified Shaggy moans, to which Van Ghoul replies, "Because you let them out!"
Despite being very angry with the pair for unleashing the ghosts, he agrees to help them in their ghost-questing, and gives the group a crystal ball through which he can contact them. He shares personality traits with his voice actor, Vincent Price, like having a very morbid and dark sense of humour.
In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Van Ghoul is an actor who does horror films (much like Vincent Price, who was the inspiration for his character). He is constantly referenced and glimpses of his movies can be seen throughout the series (according to Shaggy he has done more than 400 movies). He makes a full appearance in the episode "Nightfright", when Shaggy and Scooby win an essay contest to have dinner with him, and later in the episode "Theater of Doom", where he directs the production of Crystal Cove's theater stage of the legend of Friar Serra and his faithful donkey Porto, who supposedly saved many inhabitants from a tsunami that destroyed Crystal Cove.
- In The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Van Ghoul was voiced by Vincent Price. In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated Van Ghoul is voiced by Maurice LaMarche.
Flim Flam[edit]
Flim Flam was a part of the gang for all thirteen episodes of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo. He is seen in the first episode, "To All the Ghouls I've Loved Before", trying to sell a magic concoction to a local town located in the Himalayan Mountains. However, he was kicked out of town, and managed to meet up with the current Scooby gang, who was trying to find the Mystery Machine (an airplane) hidden by Bogel and Weerd. He took them to a psychic (Vincent Van Ghoul) who could help the whole group find their mode of transportation, and warned them of ensuing danger. Daphne is a given a drink laced with wolfsbane due to the fact the townspeople believe that she overheard their secret, and when the night falls on the town, the group finds out that the whole town is actually a werewolf cult. They are pursued into the sewers, and Flim Flam opens one of his products to spray on Daphne, who reverts to normal. He goes on to cure the rest of the townspeople, who are ever grateful for the help. When Scrappy, Daphne and Flim Flam question them as to how they got that way in the first place, they are told that they were turned into werewolves as revenge for sealing the Thirteen Ghosts into the Chest of Demons, and the current group races to keep Shaggy and Scooby from opening the chest, but to no avail. After Shaggy and Scooby open the chest and release the thirteen ghosts within it, Flim Flam decides to join them in their hunt to return them to the chest.
In the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode "The Siren's Song", Fred and Daphne come across a statue of Flim Flam in the Crystal Cove Haunted Museum among the statues of their defeated foes. Daphne remarks that Flim Flam was arrested and received a harsh sentence of 25 years to life for being a juvenile con-artist (this was an inside joke; 25 years had passed between 13 Ghosts in 1985 and Mystery Incorporated in 2010). It is also referenced that Fred was away at camp during the events of The 13 Ghost of Scooby-Doo.
- Flim Flam was voiced by Susan Blu.
Weerd and Bogel[edit]
Bogel is a fat, dim-witted ghost while Weerd is a tall, skinny, 5-haired ghost. Weerd is the mastermind of the 2. They both are reoccurring characters in the 13 Ghost of Scooby-Doo and are first seen in the episode "To All the Ghouls I've Loved Before". Weerd comes up with a scheme to lure Shaggy and Scooby to open the Chest of Demons so him, and Bogel can gain some glory with the 13 ghosts. After this both are often hired by one of the 13 ghosts to help them lure Scooby and the gang into the 13 ghost's trap so the ghost can destroy the chest. Weerd and Bogel are trying to get into S.A.P.S. (pronounced as "saps"), a legion of high honor for the most terrifying ghosts and ghouls. Their plans to join S.A.P.S. usually involves the gang and one of the 13 ghost as so happened in the episode "Coast to Ghost".
- Weerd was voiced by Arte Johnson.
- Bogel was voiced by Howard Morris.
Cast[edit]