Continuity Errors in Scooby Doo Return to Zombie Island

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• #1

I love Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, a very well-regarded memory of my childhood and it still holds up even into my adulthood, but this movie, a "sequel".... Oh God, what were they thinking?

It has none of the atmosphere, none of the tension, and the tone is too lighthearted, basically everything Return lacks. Velma is cast as this skeptic who doesn't believe in the supernatural... (despite y'know... actually seeing there) and huge continuity errors. (The gang are depicted as teens in the original and this movie even though they were clearly adults in the original Zombie Island)

Just an insult to a great film.

Razmos

Unshakeable One Winged Slayer

• #2

Doesn't it retcon most of the supernatural stuff from the original film into never happening?
I loved that movie

Slayven

To Infinity and Beyond Alkali

• #3

I wonder how Zombie Island did compared to the other DTV stuff. Cause they went back to the light stuff super quick

• #4

I'm actually haven't bothered to watch it because I knew it would be some BS and possibly screw around with the original.

• #5

Doesn't it retcon most of the supernatural stuff from the original film into never happening?
I loved that movie

Yeah, they don't like supernatural stuff in modern Scooby.

• #6

I wonder how Zombie Island did compared to the other DTV stuff. Cause they went back to the light stuff super quick

Not true, Witch's Ghost was fairly dark.

• #7

Misread the title and was coming in here to go on an angry rant about why the original was the best scooby doo movie ever made.

But yeah the sequel is an abomination

Slayven

To Infinity and Beyond Alkali

• #8

Not true, Witch's Ghost was fairly dark.

I assume that was already in the can after with zombie island they can pump those things out super quick

• #9

I wonder how Zombie Island did compared to the other DTV stuff. Cause they went back to the light stuff super quick

I'd have to imagine well? It's the only DTV Scooby flick from my childhood that people still talk about.

• #10

I assume that was already in the can after with zombie island they can pump those things out super quick

I mean Zombie Island revitalized the franchise.

Slayven

To Infinity and Beyond Alkali

• #11

I mean Zombie Island revitalized the franchise.

I mean yeah, but maybe not in the way most people thing. There were 2 of those but 45 WWE and Scooby crossovers

• #12

I mean Zombie Island revitalized the franchise.

Yeah, Zombie Island, Witch's Ghost and even Cyber Chase to an extent had a darker tone.

Edit: Alien Invaders as well, always forget that one.

• #13

The song in the original was fire.

• #14

Witch's Ghost is probably my favorite

• #15

I wonder how Zombie Island did compared to the other DTV stuff. Cause they went back to the light stuff super quick

Witch's Ghost was the next one and it's fairly dark too. The stuff like the John Cena crossover was what, a decade later?

Zombie Island is the best performing of them though. I just bought two copies of it last year

• #16

The song in the original was fire.

First two movies were great

*Hex Girls got a generation of people to be into goth girls lol

• #17

I like Mysteries Inc as a group that set out to catch hucksters, stepped into some legit supernatural shit one time, shrugged their shoulders and went "yeah, we got this too." Hate what they did with this movie.

• #18

First two movies were great

*Hex Girls got a generation of people to be into goth girls lol

Certified banger.

Transistor

Tis your birth and faith that wrong you, not I

• #19

Zombie Island, Witch's Ghost, and Mystery, Inc were the last good things of Scooby Doo. It's been 100% downhill since.

• #20

I can't watch Scooby Doo anymore after reading Scoob and Shag. I keep watching but there's no power ups.

• #21

I wonder how Zombie Island did compared to the other DTV stuff. Cause they went back to the light stuff super quick

I loved zombie island I thought basically everyone else felt the same

• #22

Doesn't it retcon most of the supernatural stuff from the original film into never happening?
I loved that movie

Yeah, they don't like supernatural stuff in modern Scooby.

I support this. Classic Scooby-Doo was always a parable for scientific rationality in the face of local superstition.

• #23

I support this. Classic Scooby-Doo was always a parable for scientific rationality in the face of local superstition.

Yeah, but that's the thing. That's Classic Scooby Doo.

• #24

I support this. Classic Scooby-Doo was always a parable for scientific rationality in the face of local superstition.

I had the feeling that was a precedent set by the specials/straight-to-video movies;
the TV series almost always had a rational explanation, but the 'movies' would increase the stakes with the notion that 'this time it really is ghosts/aliens/zombies/monsters!'

maybe i recall incorrectly, it's been a while.

• #25

Yeah, but that's the thing. That's Classic Scooby Doo.

I had the feeling that was a precedent set by the specials/straight-to-video movies;
the TV series almost always had a rational explanation, but the 'movies' would increase the stakes with the notion that 'this time it really is ghosts/aliens/zombies/monsters!'

maybe i recall incorrectly, it's been a while.

No, you're right. I just preferred the classic ideology.
I think it was a better message for kids that way.

Moara

Prophet of Truth - Teyvat Traveler

• #26

Wasn't there a movie where shaggy had an alien girlfriend

• #27

Wasn't there a movie where shaggy had an alien girlfriend

Alien Invaders

• #28

The original Zombie Island and those other early 2000's Scooby movies were straight bangers. The HEX GIRLS still have my heart to this day.

• #29

Man shit got real in Zombie Island

• #30

I remember loving Zombie Island, Witch's Ghost, the alien one, and Cyber Chase as a kid. Those first four were so good and actually leaned into the supernatural, but then afterwards I think they went back to being costumed bad guys which was disappointing.

• #31

(The gang are depicted as teens in the original and this movie even though they were clearly adults in the original Zombie Island)

Yeah, that's a pretty big and weird retcon, given the original's whole point was that they were all older and were coming back to the whole mystery solving thing after having disbanded for years.

• #32

I honestly stopped watching Scooby Doo after watching the 4 films (last one was Cyber Chase). I've seen a few small segments of the shows after but nothing really beat this film =/

• #33

Zombie Island and Witch's Ghost are classics. I'm willing to bet if a child saw those before ever seeing an actual horror film they're probably horror fanatics now.

• #34

So, Scooby Doo DTV movies for the last... decade or so, I think? Have tried to be presentable as the most archetypal Scooby Doo material possible; most visibly recognisable as what people think of when they think of the franchise. Like, even as the cast teams up with freaking Brave and the Bold's Batman, and thus in that iteration are quite literally teaming up with Professor Chimp and Martian Manhunter, they still operate on the premise of a bog-standard, rather arbitrarily positioned rationality. They are, I would argue, positioned as effectively movie length episodes of the original TV show, at least in terms of tone.

And like, in fairness, that kinda makes sense at the start of the 2010s, when Scooby Doo is represented on TV by a show that will ultimately go into straight up lovecraftian territory. And honestly, the decade prior hadn't really lacked for 'but the monsters are real this time' material; between the two live action movies, games like Mystery Mayhem, and yeah, the first four or so DTV films - which while technically late 90s with the exception of Cyber Chase, got tonnes of reruns as I was growing up - if you were into that angle for the franchise, you honestly should have been pretty sated.

It's just that, well, since Mystery Inc ended (2013, mind), the franchise has fairly rigidly stuck to avoiding it, as far as I'm aware. Even with followups to the likes of 13 Ghosts and Zombie Island - because nostalgia bucks, baby - the presentation, if it doesn't straight up rationalise the spooky stuff away, leaves it deliberately vague instead of just running with it as real. Because that's how 'iconic' Scooby Doo works, right?

• #35

Those first four early 90s Scooby Doo films Zombie Island, Witch's Ghost, Cyber Chase, and Alien Invaders are all so much better than the movies that come immediately after.

Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase was the final production made by the Hanna-Barbera studio, which was absorbed into parent company Warner Bros. Animation following William Hanna's death in 2001. Warner Animation continued production of the direct-to-video series while also producing new Scooby-Doo series for television.

-Wikipedia

Guess that explains it :/

• #36

Never saw any of the other movies except for Cyber Chase. Loved that one.

Honestly wasn't really into the newer Scooby-Doo stuff until Mystery Incorporated. That show was absolutely incredible.

• #37

Personally, I never liked it when the monsters and ghosts and aliens in Scooby Doo suddenly became real. In every other show the supernatural is always real and the doubters get eaten. Classic Scooby Doo was like, the only show that championed skeptisicm.

• #38

Never saw any of the other movies except for Cyber Chase. Loved that one.

Honestly wasn't really into the newer Scooby-Doo stuff until Mystery Incorporated. That show was absolutely incredible.

I heard the Be Cool show had tons of behind the scenes trouble.

• #39

Classic Scooby Doo was like, the only show that championed skeptisicm.

Even in the ones where the supernatural is real there's always some asshole manipulating the facts or using the belief in the supernatural to further benefit themselves. Skepticism continues to pay off, but skepticism and empiricism in a universe where, yes, sometines this shit turns out to happen, is far more interesting a philosophical position than in reality where it never does. Because it means actually having to weigh the facts and come to a conclusion on what's actually happening instead of trying to figure out how everything aligns with the conclusion you've already assumed.

Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby are all more interesting characters when every now and then the monsters are actual monsters.

• #40

Yeah, they don't like supernatural stuff in modern Scooby.

To be fair, the original Scooby Doo series was never supernatural, it all all about detective work and villains in disguise.

• #41

Even in the ones where the supernatural is real there's always some asshole manipulating the facts or using the belief in the supernatural to further benefit themselves. Skepticism continues to pay off, but skepticism and empiricism in a universe where, yes, sometines this shit turns out to happen, is far more interesting a philosophical position than in reality where it never does. Because it means actually having to weigh the facts and come to a conclusion on what's actually happening instead of trying to figure out how everything aligns with the conclusion you've already assumed.

Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby are all more interesting characters when every now and then the monsters are actual monsters.

I just don't agree.

• #42

I made ~4 different assertions in that post. Which are you disagreeing with?

• #43

I made ~4 different assertions in that post. Which are you disagreeing with?

Everything after the first sentence. I already stated my position in my first post. I'm not really interested in delving into the minutiae otherwise I'd have taken your post point by point. I simply appreciated that classic Scooby Doo tried to stay grounded (talking dogs aside), a rarity in kids' shows.

• #44

Zombie Island and Witches Ghost were GOATS

• #45

Zombie Island and Witch's Ghost are classics. I'm willing to bet if a child saw those before ever seeing an actual horror film they're probably horror fanatics now.

Hmm I saw those before horror movies and now I like watching horror movies lol.

• #46

First two movies were great

*Hex Girls got a generation of people to be into goth girls lol

I was humming this when coming into this thread. This movie was better than it had any right to be.

• #47

Is it full of pro wrestlers and KISS cameos? Because I thought that was the only point of those cartoon Scooby films at this point.

• #48

I saw zombie island again recently and it hold up well. I think the animation is the best part of the whole thing. It's just done incredibly well and it's just a shame that it never reaches the same high again.

• #49

How many Scooby Doo books are there? With so many kids loving Goose Bumps I'm sure there'd be an audience, heck they could even make some as cyoa.

On the debate of real vs fake monsters, I feel like they should just go all in on real at this point. Kids are constantly exposed to horror these days via YouTube let's plays, so (and this is just my own theory) having everything just end up being oh it was a disguise the entire time isn't really suited to their Target audience nowadays.

Even if kids are at the age where they're not yet into YouTube, the horror elements that are already there would be off-putting. So they either just turn it into a detective show with the gang and no monsters of any kind, or go for a slightly older (like 8-10) demographic with the potential to get even older viewers out of nostalgia and or genuine interest.

• #50

What was the movie with the lockness monster and Daphne's family? That is probably the best one post the "big 4".

mathesonyouripasted.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.resetera.com/threads/scooby-doo-return-to-zombie-island-is-an-insult.189657/

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