'Scooby Doo Where are You', the incarnation that kicked off the beloved Scooby Doo franchise that's still going strong even with a few bumps along the way, still holds up as the best one in my mind.
"Don't Fool with a Phantom" is not quite one of the classics of the show ("What a Night for a Knight, "A Clue for Scooby Doo", "Hassle in the Castle", "Foul Play in Funland", "Bedlam in the Big Top", "Galloping Ghosts", "Spooky Space Kook", "A Night of Fright is No Delight", "Jeepers it's the Creeper", "Haunted House Hang Up" and "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Werewolf".
But it is one of the stronger episodes of the second season, with the best being "Haunted House Hang Up", "Jeepers it's the Creeper" and "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Werewolf". In fact even the lesser episodes of 'Scooby Doo Where are You', which included the likes of "Decoy for a Dognapper", "Never Ape an Ape Man", "The Backstage Rage", "Go Away Ghost Ship" and "Scooby's Night With a Frozen Fright" ( most of them suffering primarily from underwhelmingly predictable reveals or uninteresting villains, have many great merits and are still good.
Pretty much the only thing that lets it down, and stops it from being top-tier, is the reveal of the perpetrator, there are more believable and less silly and head-scratching ones in the show and didn't completely buy the motivation. To a lesser extent also, the song (always have had mixed feelings on the songs used for the chase sequences in the second season) is somewhat forgettable and doesn't add much.
So much of "Don't Fool with a Phantom" makes it great, particularly some brilliant red-herrings, the creepy setting and the cool-looking and very intimidating Wax Phantom, a very memorable monster that deserved a better true identity/reveal.
Shaggy and Scooby's friendship still charms, amuses and affects, and they steal the show as always. Velma, Fred and Daphne also are good characters and one loves the chemistry between the whole gang. The animation is fine, lush colours, mostly smooth if occasionally crude drawings and very detailed backgrounds that add to the atmosphere.
The music is haunting and energetic, and the classic theme song, accompanying a fun, affectionate montage of the season's villains, once again shows why its iconic status is justified. As always, the unbeatable Don Messick and Casey Kasem are the standouts of the voice actors, though Frank Welker is remarkably consistent, Nicole Jaffe is solid as Velma and Heather North this reviewer has always preferred over the original voice actress for Daphne.
As always, "Don't Fool with a Phantom" excels in atmosphere and humour. Particularly the latter, with vintage endearingly goofy dialogue especially Shaggy and Scooby and very funny gags, even if there are more memorable ones in the show. The story is daft, but is kept afloat by the atmosphere, humour and red-herrings.
Overall, great episode and nearly top-tier and would have been with a stronger ending. 9/10 Bethany Cox
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