Scoobynatural?
Really? I thought the cartoon episode was desperate (if fun). Is that the sound
of barrel scraping I hear? Are they really this out of ideas?
Though I do think
this is proof that the actors for Supernatural cannot sing a note - because
there’s no way you get this desperate without doing at least one musical
episode.
And before going into
this I’m going to give everyone a heads up. I hate Scooby Doo. I’ve always
hated Scooby Doo. Even as a child I loathed Scooby Doo. From the fake laughter
to the superfluous characters who just hung around doing nothing to the catch
phrases to the same ending every time. I hated this show soooooooo much. Honestly,
it was almost pathological
So I’m not
approaching this in a good place
And I forgot how much
Scooby’s voice annoyed me
So the lead in is
that the Winchester brothers are fighting a giant plushie dinosaur, which leads
to a store owner rewarding them and Sam being all gracious and self-effacing
while Dean takes the large screen television. Because he’s Dean
He merrily sets up
his mancave while dismissing Sam’s ongoing research into angry plushie
dinosaurs. And I think at some point we need to poke the fact that Sam and Dean
haven’t really grown up as this show has progressed and what was cute with two
guys in their early twenties is a bit more dubious for men pushing 40.
When showing off the
television they’re dragged into a show - and find themselves all cartoony (with
the car as well because of course the car comes). And go driving looking for
answers - and find a malt shop
Whatever one of those
is.
Inside they find the
Scooby gang and Dean is super thrilled and geeky. He’s always been a fan of
Scooby Doo - for a rather poignant reason. While he grew up on the road, all he
had as a constant was television. And Scooby Doo was always on (another reason
why I dislike the show). It was a constant from his childhood. And he sees
parallels with them solving mysteries and such. With Castiel as their talking
dog.
And he has a crush on
Daphne, while very much not liking Fred. Sam has no time for any of this
nonsense.
So, by convoluted
reasons (involving a newspaper with no writing because it’s a cartoon), the
Scooby gang are going to a haunted mansion, of course, and Dean insists they
tag along for fanpoodle reasons but also working on the theory that if they go
along with the episode they will eventually return to where they should be.
Naturally this
involves a convoluted reason to spend the night in a haunted house, required by
a lawyer, Cosgood creep (Sam snarks at the obvious villain name and Dean
admits that yes, of course he’s the villain)
Dean has seen all of
the episodes before and knows what’s going to happen so kicks back to watch the
action and repeatedly try to hit on Daphne, foiled by her obliviousness and
cartoon rules (including that men and women always sleep in separate rooms).
While Velma has a
crush on Sam (which shows again how little Supernatural knows fandom or
Velma would definitely be a lesbian) and his hulking hugeness.
The mansion is
haunted and everyone expects some guy in a mask - Velma especially who
adamantly doesn’t believe in ghosts, just (usually) crooked real estate
developers. Sam points out how ridiculous this is
And then bodies show
up. Actual bodies. Horrible stabbed, brutally murdered bodies. Which isn’t the
usual thing in the plot of Scooby Doo, but the Scooby gang is rather
ridiculously blase about the whole thing which Sam snarks a lot. It turns out
they’ve got an actual ghost on the premises, a vengeful spirit, which Velma
refuses to accept exists
Castiel joins them
having been sucked into the television as well, and everyone decides to split
up and look for clues (standard tactics, which Sam most disapproves of because
they’re daft). Castiel is teamed with Shaggy and Scooby and not amused
After much searching,
some chase scenes and a ridiculously convoluted trap which fails - as is
expected - they manage to capture the spirit. And reveal that its the ghost of
a child, from the real world, used and abused by a dodgy real estate developer
to allow him to buy land cheaply.
Yep a Scooby Doo plot
but I think a haunted television doesn’t really mesh with spirit powers to date
They manage to fake a
standard “bad man pretending to be a ghost” storyline and convince the cast
again that ghosts aren’t real since they’ve all pretty much had complete mental
break downs in the face of actual ghosts and actual physical damage (Shaggy
broke his arm and is duly horrified this can actually happen)
With the ghost free
he takes them back to the real world to free the ghost and then confront the
man using him and this weirdness ends
Ok… there was that?
I’m not sure what that was or what the point was. Ok, I think I am - I’m
supposed to be overcome with childhood nostalgia and get all gooey. Except for
that whole childhood seething loathing thing.
Though I have to
admit I was kind of amused by it - mainly the snark from the Winchesters
more-real-world-view to the Scooby gang - someone’s dead! Show some respect! Do
they always walk away from dead bodies?!. The snark amuses me muchly. So,
points for that, I guess. It takes skill to make me enjoy moments that i would
generally hate - but in the end this episode probably meant more to people who
actually enjoyed Scooby Doo
