Sorry this blog/review is so darn late; i've had issues with my laptop screen since last week, so that's one reason why this is somewhat late.
I was planning on writing the blog on my laptop, but the screen is partially whited out with a few black spots so i'm going to have to get it looked out(although to tell the truth, the laptop is still usable, the screen is just messed up).
I'm still writing fan fiction on the laptop as well, although it's a little difficult with part of the screen whited out, but we won't get any further ito that for now. There's no Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated update from Canada because... well, the first season has concluded running in Canada.
However, the new Scooby Doo DTV movie has been released on a certain video site through Warner Brothers account(i'm sure you all know the site, but I won't mention it by name for obvious reasons).
It is also set to be released on DVD in September I believe, although i'll have to check on the date to be sure.
Now, for the official review of this week's episode, which was titled "Menace of the Manticore". First off, I saw the episode on Tuesday, and this is Thursday, so I will attempt to include most of the major stuff from this week's episode, even though I might forget a few things.
For the opening teaser scene, we get a look at the two teens from the Man Crab episode, apparently named Brenda and Dylan(sound familiar?). Not much needs to be said about them, other then the fact they were all lovey dovey: "Oh Brenda", "Oh Dylan", which was then followed by yours truly: "Oh Brother".
Anyway, the villain of this episode is another supernatural foe that our intrepid group of sleuths has not yet encountered in the 40 some year history of the franchise: a Manticore. Apparently a manticore has the body of a lion, the tail of a scorpion, a terrifying man face(Fred's quote) and is pretty scary too.
We'll get back to the manticore in a second, but first let's talk a little about everybody's favorite African American DJ: one Angel Dynamite. Wearing a black catsuit, she gets her way through a maze of lazers and such before meeting... you guessed it: Mr. E's henchman(actually it's more like subordinate, or maybe assisitant), who of course is Ed Machine, the CEO of Destorido(from the Cicada episode).
Quick sidenote on that: How has the gang not been able to recognize Ed Machine YET? Seriously if I were a teenage sleuth(which would be awesome) I would have recognized him easily already, and here's why: first, we saw him in the Alice May episode, bailing her out of jail, second we saw him in the aformentioned Cicada episode, and third we saw him in last week's episode.
So after three appearances, wouldn't the gang be able to recongize him or at least connect the dots? I would, but of course that's just me. Now, back to our mystery: Angel Dynamite is speaking to the as yet unidentified Mr. E, who apparently wants to make sure the gang's puzzle piece(from the Darrow episode) is well hidden.
There's a reason both Mr. E and Angel Dynamite want the piece to be well hidden, because according to both of them, Professor Pericles, the mascot of the original Mystery Inc. wants the pieces as well, so that he might find the treasure, which is not want Angel and Mr. E want at all.
And speaking once again of Angel, during a closed door conversation between her and Velma, miss Dinkley tells miss Dynamite once again that she knows Angel is not who she says she is. Of course we once again find out that Angel Dynamite is really Cassidy Williams, a member of the original Mystery Incorporated(cue really suspensful music here).
Now, onto our main mystery of the night: for the first time in this series, Fred Jones Sr.(who I will have some choice words for in later blogs) wants his son and the gang to solve a mystery.
Apparently he bought an ancient temple online, an ancient haunted temple of course, and had it transported to Crystal Cove. This exchange included one of my favorite lines of the series thus far: Daphne asking the mayor "Who buys a haunted temple online?" before the mayor looks at her and Daphne looks back at him before she says "Other then you of course", or something like that.
The haunted temple includes the aforementioned Manticore, and was eventually made part of Creepy Spooky Terror Land(no, I am not making that up; that is the actual name of the amusement park. Leave it to Crystal Cove to come up with a completely ridiculous name for an amusement park of course).
In the midst of the mystery, we meet Velma's evil counterpart: Hot Dog Water yet again, and her father; voiced by the live action Velma Linda Cardenelli no less. Now, we did find out why she's named that, but we won't get into that here becuase people who read this might be eating, so we'll leave well enough alone there.
During the breadth of the mystery, we get a few interesting antecdotes, for example: Fred's dad searching Fred's room for something, only to be caught by Velma
Fred's dad reading over something in his office, only to be interrupted by Fred and Velma of course
And a few other things that might be important later on
Eventually the mystery gets solved, and the culprit is of course Hot Dog Water. Apparently she wanted to make a fortune selling a new kind of helium she developed to the germans, or something like that.
Now, onto the surprises of the night:
First, Angel mentions to Mr. E that she heard Fred say he had the puzzle piece, then she mentions Fred gave it to Shaggy and Scooby, who we would assume have it now.
And now for the ultra mega surprise: Angel planted a bug on Velma in order to listen into her conversations about the puzzle piece with the rest of the gang.
And finally, the mega super deluxe suprise of the night, Mr. E's idenity... revealed. Major spoiler alert if you have not seen the episode.... OK, ready? Here goes: Mr. E, is in reality..... Ricky Owens from the original Mystery Incorporated!!!!
Yes that's right, three of the original Mystery Incorporated members are now accounted for. Now with Ricky saying he knows Scooby is a far more trusting companion then Pericles was for him, we end the episode.
Major surprises in this installment, and shocks a plenty to be sure. Even though I knew who Mr. E was from reading online, I still was surprised to see his identity revealed. So now, that leaves the Fred and Daphne to be revealed, and let me tell you when they get revealed, it will tear apart the current Mystery Inc., possibly for good, but that's yet to come.
As for this week's installment: I give it a 9.8
We had Mr. E revealed, the truth about Angel, Fred's dad being mysterious, and a Linda Cardenelli voice cameo, what's not to like? We now have Five episodes left in this season, and the mysteries will get even more interesting I know that much.
Because of other comittments I may not be able to view future weeks SDMI's when they first air, but I will definitely blog about each episode, you can bet your Scooby Snacks on that. Until then, talk to you all next week.
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4 comments:
On Ed Machine appearances, the gang doesn't have eyes everywhere like we do.
When he sprung Alice May from jail they were nowhere near.
On the golf course? Ditto.
The two real ones are after the Aphrodite case and at the press conferences. In the later case, say they did recognize him. Would they call out, in front of the press and everyone, "Hey, you're the associate of Mr. E!"?
Good episode, which to me was the best until the last two because of seeing who Mr. E was.
Ok, so Hot Dog Water's arc is over. She's gone after 3 episodes, now that she's been busted.
We've seen Fred rebooted as a bit of a tool over the last few years, but to see his dad isn't exactly a rocket scientist, either, well, I guess it's true sometimes. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
However, from what has been leaked out on Wikipedia for the remainder of the season, all I can say is that for fans, I will invoke the title of an old Martha Reeves & the Vandellas song: "Danger! Heartbreak Dead Ahead!" (used in the movie, "Good Morning, Vietnam" w/Robin Williams & Forest Whitaker).
@RocketSunner: all good points; especially on the recongizing him in front of the press.
Partly because they would have a field day if they ever found out(considering the way the press is nowadays).
@sagg: agreed
@hobbyfan: Yep, 3 and out to paraphrase a football term.
Fred's been a bit of a shall we say, dense individual in recent memory, but after seeing everything his dad's done, and will do, his Dad the mayor seriously needs to talk to Dr. Phil, then Oprah, then Larry King, etc.
Actually Fred's dad with all the crap(excuse my french) he's done in the past, he probably would end up doing a book tour, or getting his own talk show or whatever.
Think about it: Rod Blogoevich(sp?), Anthony Weiner, etc. have all had issues, and then have gone onto either getting media gigs or getting so much attention that they've basically become media stars. So who's to say that if Fred's dad the mayor was a real person, he wouldn't get all that attention?
I could picture some radio or TV station giving him his own talk show; especially since TV and radio stations love giving shows to cotroversial figures(Rush Limbaugh, Jerry Springer, etc.).
I love that Good Morning Vietnam reference by the way, and I love the oldies music(Martha and the Vandellas for example).
One last comment on Fred's dad though: I could seriously see the Mayor Fred Jones show if this was real life. I know it sounds unbelivable, but come on, admit it: it sounds unbelievable enough to actually happen.
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