The New Scooby-Doo Movies (TV Series) The Spirited Spooked Sports Show (1973) User Reviews

One of the better episodes of Season 2

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 5 September 2016]

While 'The New Scooby Doo Movies' is a long way from a flawless series, with episodes and guest stars better than others (even the best ones have flaws too, the less than great animation being the most common factor), it was still an entertaining watch and one of the better Scooby Doo shows generally.

"The Spirited Spooked Sports Show" may not quite be one of the best of the show, like the Batman and Robin episodes, "Wednesday is Missing" and "Scooby Doo Meets Laurel and Hardy". But is it one of the better episodes of Season 2? Definitely, as well as being a huge improvement over the previous episodes "Mystery in Persia" and "The Haunted Showboat", two of the show's weakest.

Again the animation is not only less than great it's also pretty poor. Not quite as cheap as the animation in "Mystery in Persia" and "The Haunted Showboat", the animation of Redbeard in the first Harlem Globetrotters episode or the basketball sequences in the episodes with The Harlem Globetrotters. But it contains all the flatness, stiffness and choppiness that pretty much the whole of Season 2 had, none of the episodes in Season 1 are that well animated but the animation quality took even more of a nose-dive in the second season, plus there are some very noticeable and pretty inept goofs, some of the worst of the show.

It has also been said that the identities of the villains are easy to figure out. Have to agree there too, or at least with one of the villains who is blatantly obvious from the get go and it was easy to figure out that there was more than one person involved. There was a reasonably good twist on the other perpetrator though.

Conversely, the music is haunting and energetic with the theme tune as ever being infectiously catchy. The writing is some of the best and funniest of the second season, though the Dick Van Dyke episode is the season's funniest. Not just from Shaggy and Scooby but also some fun quips from Tim Conway and Fireball McPhain is huge fun, a good threat and definitely the second season's best villain by a wide margin.

The story feels like a mystery and for 'The New Scooby Doo Movies' it's action-packed and eventful, instead of feeling padded, overlong or over-stretched. There is a good balance of mystery and guest star rather than being non-existent, too much or too cluttered, and Conway acquits himself well. Shaggy and Scooby are funny and endearing, with such a charming friendship that gives a lot of heart to the franchise in general, and the voice acting is fine.

Overall, enjoyable episode and for Season 2 it's a good one. After being underwhelmed by "Mystery in Persia" and "The Haunted Showboat", "The Spirited Spooked Sports Show" was a refreshing step in the right direction and actually felt like Scooby Doo. 8/10 Bethany Cox

One of the best from this series.

[TOMASBBloodhound · 8/10 · 21 June 2014]

Too bad this one got left off the DVD package. Apparently they couldn't reach an agreement with Tim Conway in terms of fees. But if you can find this one on TV or online somewhere, please give it a look. This time, the gang pulls into Velma's home town on a foggy night and finds the ghost of a once-great athlete is haunting the athletic facilities at her old high school. Oh, and Tim Conway is working as a coach there, too. Hard to say which the gang finds more shocking. Anyway, Conway and the school principal are hoping to save the school by putting on some sort of athletic exhibition to raise funds. But that darn ghost has seemingly scared away all the athletes in the area. The gang soon finds out that Shaggy and Scooby can run faster and jump higher than any athlete once a ghost starts chasing them. And there is a LOT of chasing around in this one.

Tim Conway gets some good quips in, but the funniest part of this episode is all the meaningless bluster of this ghost known as Fireball McPhain. He constantly threatens the gang and refers to himself as the greatest athlete of all time. This from a ghost who can't catch Tim Conway in a foot race. His threats are bellowed out by legendary voice actor John Stephenson who also voices the character of Jay Teller, an obvious red herring. Also on hand is another legend in the voice-over world, Michael Bell. He voices the creepy janitor who naturally warns the kids to leave the premises before the ghost gets them. The action is nearly constant, and the episode is reasonably funny as much as a Scooby Doo episode can be. The animation is a little choppy though, and once again its way too easy to figure out who the villain(s) are. This episode also has one of the worst goofs in series history. When the principal's brother and the janitor are unmasked as being McPhain, they are both wearing his athletic clothing. A few seconds later as they are being placed into squad cars, both men are wearing the same clothing they had worn the rest of the episode; a suit and janitor overalls, respectively! Superman can't change that quickly in a phone booth! Still a fun episode for fans of this series! 8 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

The blase one for me

[richard.fuller1 · 26 March 2006]

Tim Conway at the stadium chasing the barbell moustached ghost is a bit less than likable for me.

Some of these, such as Conway as the coach, Dick Van Dyke in a carnival or Don Adams as an exterminator were a bit of a stretch for me to like.

Adams at least was salvaged by his previous cartoon work as Tennessee Tuxedo and a couple of good lines.

Conway, whose talent is more physical than his vocal dynamics, is a bit bland.

The animation is utterly weak here as well.

I think Conway would redo the stuck-in-the-garbage-can bit later on for real in the Disney movie "Gus".

No idea how he managed to do it in cartoon-form here first.

This IMDb listing isn't complete. There is no listing for either of the 3 Stooges adventures, nor is the Laurel & Hardy adventure listed.