Jump to content

Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 70.170.107.121 (talk) at 07:44, 9 April 2012 (→Featured Villains). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost
DVD cover
Written byRick Copp
David A. Goodman
Directed byJim Stenstrum
StarringScott Innes
Frank Welker
Mary Kay Bergman
B.J. Ward
Jennifer Hale
Peter Renaday
Tim Curry
Music byLouis Febre
Country of originTemplate:Film US
Template:Film Japan
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducersDavis Doi
Joseph Barbera (executive producer)
William Hanna (executive producer)
Running time69 minutes
Production companiesHanna-Barbera Productions
Mook Animation
(Overseas animation)
Original release
ReleaseOctober 5, 1999

Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost is the second in a series of direct-to-video animated films based upon Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was released on October 5, 1999, and it was produced by Warner Bros. Animation (although with a Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. copyright) starting in 1998. The Mystery, Inc. gang, which includes Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne and Velma, travel to a New England town called Oakhaven after being invited by horror writer Ben Ravencroft. Like a number of direct-to-video Scooby-Doo animated films released in the late-1990s and early-2000s, Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost features real ghosts instead of simple bad guys in masks, giving the film a darker tone. The videos sold well and received generally positive reviews in the press.[citation needed] The film has been adapted into a book. [1]

It is the second of the first four Scooby Doo direct-to-video film to be animated overseas by Japanese animation studio: Mook Animation.

Plot

Ben Ravencroft, a famous horror writer of whom Velma is a big fan, assists the Mystery, Inc. gang in solving a case at a museum. Afterwards, Ben invites the gang to his home town of Oakhaven in New England. But when they arrive, they find that the town has been built up by Mayor Corey into a tourist attraction, complete with a replica of the town in the 17th century and the supposed ghost of a witch who haunts the town. Mayor Corey and pharmacist Mr. McKnight explain that the ghost is Sarah Ravencroft, a relative of Ben's, who was persecuted as a witch by the town in 1657. But Ben says that Sarah was actually a Wiccan who used natural herbs to heal people, and even has a diary of all her patients that Ben wants to find to prove her innocence. Scooby and Shaggy find what appears to be a shoe buckle, and then go to a local diner for food, owned by the friendly Jack.

Ben, Fred, Daphne, Velma and many visitors stay out late and order to see the witch, but do not. But Scooby and Shaggy are chased by the fireball-throwing witch, and run into Ben and the gang returning home. The gang finds some broken branches at the scene and see a green glow coming from the treeline. As they get closer to the source of the light, the sound of guitar feedback can be heard, and when they reach a clearing they find the all-female goth rock band, the "Hex Girls", rehearsing for a show. The band is composed of Luna (keyboards\vocals), Dusk (drums\vocals) and the beautiful Thorn (guitars\vocals). The gang decides to split up; Fred and Daphne stay to watch the Hex Girls, Velma and Ben go explore an old barn, and Shaggy and Scooby follow the Mayor. Fred and Daphne see Thorn doing some sort of ritual and are convinced that the Hex Girls are actually witches. Velma and Ben find a cherry-picking truck in the barn. Scooby and Shaggy see Mayor Corey talking to and giving things to many of the townspeople, then run into the witch again, who chases them towards Mayor Corey and into Velma and Ben. Velma then tells Mayor Corey that she has a plan to catch the witch.

The gang, Ben and the Hex Girls meet in the woods. The witch appears and gives chase, but is captured by Daphne and Fred. The witch is revealed to be Mr. McKnight, who is Thorn's father (and the gang finds out that her real name is Sally McKnight). Velma then locates the truck in the trees. She explains that the truck lifted the witch and made her appear to fly, and also deduces that many townspeople were in on the trick, including Jack and the Mayor. Ben scolds the people involved for exploiting Sarah's good name for their benefit. Back at Ben's house, the gang apologize to the Hex Girls, and Thorn explains the ritual was just peppermints and cloves to soothe her vocal cords and that she's actually "1/16 Wiccan" on her mother's side (despite that Wicca is a chosen religion and not an ethnicity). Mayor Corey and Mr. McKnight then arrive to apologize to Ben for using his ancestor in their little publicity stunt, explaining that they had to use the witch to boost the town's economy because of lack of tourists. Also, the Mayor recalls that Ben once inspired him that supernatural phenomena always attracts people. They then say that they did find the head marker for Sarah's grave, but still don't know where the grave is located. Velma then remembers that the buckle Scooby found is that same one on Sarah's diary in a painting Ben has in his house.

The gang, Ben, the Hex Girls, McKnight and the Mayor go to the spot where Scooby found the buckle. Scooby digs deeper and discovers a chest. An excited Ben opens the chest to find not a diary, but a spellbook. He then explains to a horrified Mystery Inc. that Sarah was indeed a witch, imprisoned within her own book by wiccans and that he created the case at the museum in order to meet the gang, so they could find the book for him. Becoming evil with his new magical powers derived from the book, Ben captures Mr. McKnight, Mayor Corey and the Hex Girls before resurrecting Sarah. When Sarah's ghost is conjured, she rejects Ben's idea of ruling the world together, preferring to destroy it.

Horrified and disillusioned, Ben attempts to re-imprison Sarah in the spellbook, but she says only a true Wiccan of purity can return her. Velma then gets an idea: she frees the Hex Girls, and while Dusk and Luna try to release Mayor Corey and Mr. McKinght, Velma convinces Thorn to read the spell. Thorn reads the spell, sending the witch back to the book from where she was released. But Sarah won't go back alone and grabs hold of Ben at the last second, and they're both sucked back into the book. A burning branch falls on the book, disintegrating it (apparently forever trapping or killing the villains). The film ends with the Hex Girls and the gang giving a concert to the townspeople and the tourists, performing the song "Earth, Wind, Fire and Air".

  • Ben Ravencroft
  • Sarah Ravencroft

This was the first Hanna Barbera Scooby Doo movie to be wrtitten primalirly by comedy writters. Rick Copp (THE ACTOR'S GUIDE TO ADULTERY), David A. Goodman (Family Guy/Futurama) and Ryan T Young (National Lampoon/Three Degrees of Clones and Airheads) not typical choices to write a kids movie.

Cast

Soundtrack

On September 14, 1999, the soundtrack was released featuring The Hex Girls performing Hex Girl and Billy Ray Cyrus performing Scooby-Doo, Where Are You.[2]

Tracklisting

No.TitleRecording artist(s)Length
1."Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?""Billy Ray Cyrus1:02
2."Hex Girl"The Hex Girls1:43
3."Earth, Wind, Fire, and Air"The Hex Girls1:55
4."The Witch's Ghost"The Hex Girls3:10
5."It's a Mystery"The Hex Girls3:08
6."Scooby Snacks"The Hex Girls3:19
7."Zoinks!"The Hex Girls3:10
8."Those Meddlin' Kids"The Hex Girls3:17
9."Ghost Story"Louis Febre3:13
10."The Ghost Is Here"Glen Leopold, Glenn Snow2:21
11."Terror Time"Glen Leopold, Glenn Snow2:55
12."Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? [Instrumental][Mix]" 2:43

References

  1. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=EEeTGwAACAAJ&dq
  2. ^ "Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost". Amazon.com. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Scooby-Doo!_and_the_Witch%27s_Ghost&oldid=486391628"