Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Review: “The Scooby of a Thousand Faces!”

I‘d like to go to Themyscira.”
–Velma Dinkley

Lex and I will be alternating reviews to the forthcoming CWTVDCU version of Crisis on Infinite Earths, starting tomorrow with a joint overview of the series, followed by Lex’s take on the official start with Supergirl. Despite a plethora of guest-stars that will bring Smallville, Superman Returns, the 1990s Flash and, just possibly, the 1960s Batman (we don’t yet know which character Burt Ward will actually be playing) into continuity with the various CW series, the Crisis will leave many worlds untouched. The chaotic DC movies seem disconnected from this event, as do prestige shows like Titans and Doom Patrol.

Also missing? The latest incarnation of Scooby-Doo, who has belonged to DC for some decades now. In 2019, the pooch and his Mystery-solving friends appear in Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?, a series that revisits the premise of the first Scooby spin-off, The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972-1974), in which, each week, Mystery, Inc. stumbled onto a mystery and a famous guest-star.

In this episode, it happens to be a certain DC Amazon.

Title: “The Scooby of a Thousand Faces!”

Cast and Crew

Director: Gavin Dell
Writer: Caroline Farah

Frank Welker as Fred Jones, Scooby-Doo
Grey Griffin as Daphne Blake
Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers
Kate Micucci as Velma Dinkley
Rachel Kimsey as Wonder Woman
Phil LaMarr as Curator

Premise

While touring Greece, Mystery, Inc. encounter a museum-related mystery, a living Minotaur…. And Wonder Woman. Hilarity ensues, more or less.

High Point

Rather than worry overly about red herrings, the film’s real mystery lies in whether we’re going to get a Scooby-Doo ending, with the only logical suspect unmasked, or a Wonder Woman ending, wherein the Minotaur will be an actual mythic beast. The episode plays amusingly with the conflicting sets of expectations our heroes bring to their adventure.

Low Point

I try to be gentle with a show aimed at children, but a couple of things deserve notice here:

-We have two separate, goofy montages padding the episodes. One of them involves Scooby’s fantasy of being Wonder Woman’s dog. I found it more tedious than a classic Mystery, Inc. chase sequence.

-The episode explains and lampshade how a disguised human could stand up, however briefly, against Wonder Woman. It still feels like a cheat, even in a limited animation toon.

The Scores:

Originality: 1/6 Can Scooby do much that’s original at this point?

Animation: 4/6 We’re in a modestly-budgeted TV cartoon, and it shows.

Story: 3/6 This series emphasizes comedy over mystery and, given its intended audience, it works, but it grows tedious rather quickly.

Voice Acting: 4.5/6 Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? features fair voice acting, with attempts to communicate a sense of each character. Actor/comedian/singer/songwriter Kate Micucci has been voicing Velma since 2015, and she works quite well with the current, slightly snarkier version of the character. Of course, in this episode, she puts much of that aside as she falls into fangirlishness. Scooby, however, talks too much in this incarnation.

Emotional Response: 3/6 The episode would be fun for its intended audience, and it features a pretty good portrayal of the Amazing Amazon.

Overall: 3.5/6 I don’t expect heroic levels of entertainment from Scooby-Doo; a few jokes and references aside, this series clearly knows that Mystery, Inc. is supposed to be for the kiddies. Nevertheless, this appears to be a middle-rank Scooby series, notwithstanding appearances by Batman, Sherlock Holmes, and several popular comedians.

In total, “The Scooby of a Thousand Faces!” has a score of 19/42