Actually liked "Twenty Thousand Screams Under the Sea" more as a child compared to now, due to Scrappy not being an issue to me at the time and not being as mixed on the villain the Sea Beast. Although the final solution back then wasn't as clear as it is now, was on first viewing confused on the incriminating clue. Season 1 of 'Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo' is by far the best season, being the only one that feels watchable and some of the season's episodes are very good indeed.
"Twenty Thousand Screams Under the Sea" is to me not one of the very good episodes, though it is a long way from being a bad one. When ranking the season's episodes, it's in the middle category. It is better than "The Sorcerer's a Menace" (another episode that has not held up to me), "The Hairy Scare of Devil Bear" and particularly "The Ransom of Scooby Chief". It is also no "The Scarab Lives", "The Night Ghoul of Wonderworld", "Shiver and Shake, That Demon's a Snake", "I Left My Neck in San Francisco", "The Ghoul, the Bat and the Ugly" and "Rocky Mountain Yiiiii!", which are the very good episodes.
Shall start with what "Twenty Thousand Screams Under the Sea" does well, which is actually a lot despite how the above sounds. The animation has liveliness and atmosphere, just love how foreboding the sea looks. The Scooby Doo franchise was often good at making water scary oddly enough. Acapulco is put to good use. The music also has the liveliness and atmosphere present in the animation, the first couple of appearances of the Sea Beast are suitably ominous in scoring. The voice acting is fine too, Casey Kasem and Don Messick continue to be the definitive voice actors for Shaggy and Scooby and despite not caring for Scrappy in this incarnation Lennie Weinrib did voice him with a lot of spirit (though he did tend to overdo the moments where Scrappy is more excited).
Dialogue is quite fun, Shaggy has always scored when it comes to comedy gold lines throughout the franchise. As are some gags, like Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy in the cave. That balances beautifully with enough moments of creepy atmosphere, especially the opening scene that begins a promising first half. Although the mystery could have been better overall, the clues are quite nice. Everything with the coin is clever, one of the cleverest touches of all the villains of the season.
Was on the other hand rather mixed on the Sea Beast. His design was cool, creepy and unique. Personality-wise, it's the opposite and personally on later viewings found him nothing special. He also would have been a lot more menacing if he had a deeper voice or if had not spoken at all, the voice chosen does not fit the design and for my tastes sounded too goofy.
Felt that while it had moments, especially everything with the coin and the beginning, the mystery was not much to write home about either. Too bland and derivative, from being a mix of familiar ideas that lack freshness. What also diluted any suspense was the obviousness of the person behind it, with suspects being too few, and it always seems to be one motive (that or one other one, which was ruled out due to the setting) when it comes to Scooby Doo episodes with any kind of sea beast as the villain. All the humour with Scrappy has gotten stale.
On the whole, above average but could have been better. 6/10.
"Twenty Thousand Screams Under the Sea" is to me not one of the very good episodes, though it is a long way from being a bad one. When ranking the season's episodes, it's in the middle category. It is better than "The Sorcerer's a Menace" (another episode that has not held up to me), "The Hairy Scare of Devil Bear" and particularly "The Ransom of Scooby Chief". It is also no "The Scarab Lives", "The Night Ghoul of Wonderworld", "Shiver and Shake, That Demon's a Snake", "I Left My Neck in San Francisco", "The Ghoul, the Bat and the Ugly" and "Rocky Mountain Yiiiii!", which are the very good episodes.
Shall start with what "Twenty Thousand Screams Under the Sea" does well, which is actually a lot despite how the above sounds. The animation has liveliness and atmosphere, just love how foreboding the sea looks. The Scooby Doo franchise was often good at making water scary oddly enough. Acapulco is put to good use. The music also has the liveliness and atmosphere present in the animation, the first couple of appearances of the Sea Beast are suitably ominous in scoring. The voice acting is fine too, Casey Kasem and Don Messick continue to be the definitive voice actors for Shaggy and Scooby and despite not caring for Scrappy in this incarnation Lennie Weinrib did voice him with a lot of spirit (though he did tend to overdo the moments where Scrappy is more excited).
Dialogue is quite fun, Shaggy has always scored when it comes to comedy gold lines throughout the franchise. As are some gags, like Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy in the cave. That balances beautifully with enough moments of creepy atmosphere, especially the opening scene that begins a promising first half. Although the mystery could have been better overall, the clues are quite nice. Everything with the coin is clever, one of the cleverest touches of all the villains of the season.
Was on the other hand rather mixed on the Sea Beast. His design was cool, creepy and unique. Personality-wise, it's the opposite and personally on later viewings found him nothing special. He also would have been a lot more menacing if he had a deeper voice or if had not spoken at all, the voice chosen does not fit the design and for my tastes sounded too goofy.
Felt that while it had moments, especially everything with the coin and the beginning, the mystery was not much to write home about either. Too bland and derivative, from being a mix of familiar ideas that lack freshness. What also diluted any suspense was the obviousness of the person behind it, with suspects being too few, and it always seems to be one motive (that or one other one, which was ruled out due to the setting) when it comes to Scooby Doo episodes with any kind of sea beast as the villain. All the humour with Scrappy has gotten stale.
On the whole, above average but could have been better. 6/10.
