Revenge of the Man Crab

This new Scooby Doo show tries to put a bit of characterisation on Fred and Daphne.

Fred has a thing about steel traps. Daphne has issues with her own family.

Whereas Scooby and Shaggy are watching their junk food intake.

As for the mystery. A Man Crab is attacking a beach volleyball tournament in Crystal Cove.

All the evidence points to crusty Skipper Shelton who is unhappy with the authorities of Crystal Cove.

There is a lot that reminds you of the movie Jaws after the Man Crab attacks. The authorities do not want to shut down the beach tournament and scare the tourists away.

Surely the villain is too obvious to be Skipper Shelton.

There is a bit of a classy cast with George Segal, Lewis Black and Vivica Fox providing the voices.

Will admit to not being particularly crazy about "Revenge of the Man Crab" on first watch. On paper, the story and the monster sound quite silly and at the end of my first watch years ago there was not an awful lot that stuck out that much other than the unintentional goofiness. The episode was rewatched as part of my rewatch of the whole of 'Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated' (which is still to me one of the best Scooby Doo shows) and some of the episodes did fare better on rewatch.

"Revenge of the Man Crab" was one of those, actually thought on rewatch that it was very good which was a real surprise. And the story and villain are far less goofy and less stupid than they sound, as the synopsis is not that inspiring or easy to take seriously and the villain's name is enough to induce unintentional laughter. This is a case of not judging something by its cover, "Revenge of the Man Crab" actually to me was very entertaining and had the right amount and type of atmosphere.

The animation is still very colourful and atmospheric with a lot of rich background detail. Loved the look of the villain, the upside down visuals really do catch the eye and are very clever. The music has personality and is not discordant with the action, fitting the show's darker tone while not being over serious. Absolutely loved how the setting was used, with the caverns having a feeling of old Scooby Doo which was great.

Also liked the villain a lot, didn't on first watch but when looking past the name he is very cool and creepy, with the upside down visuals making him stand out. The humour was funny, while there is vintage Shaggy and Scooby humour Fred digging was funny too. The more serious elements with the ongoing mystery intrigue and not done in too serious a way, easy to do for a show with as dark a tone as this does. The story always intrigues and entertains, loved the atmosphere while the reveal isn't too obvious or confusing. The character writing for the gang is with little issue and can't fault the voice acting.

It's not a perfect episode mind. Didn't like Velma's bossiness which the writers did overdo, Shaggy did not deserve to be treated in that way.

Otherwise, very good and a lot better than remembered. 8/10.

This one's a fun and bouncy episode full of elegance and drama. Mostly this one is set-piece and action, so the characters development is shortened and stripped back slightly for a fun and action-packed spectacle, I enjoy the episode for doing this as the action for the Time was actually deeply horrifying and disturbing with a big massive Crab on the loose.

So the episode is set on the Beech where we see people playing sports, such as Swimming and Beach Volleyball which is so fun-to-play may I add. I enjoy the atmosphere as it's elevated by electronical music that beeps and beeps when the Crab comes. The story has action where the Crab is mostly chasing the gang on high-ends, and the other glock of screaming people.

The colourful effects are good, as the outside is light, the library is tinted with a black ooze of soft colourings and I found that approach fun. The history was quite short as the Crab was around. My feeling is this episode tried to have to much action and didn't flesh out the world-building or the History as well. As "Ghost Rig" the previous episode and "creeping creatures" did it better in my opinion.

But the episode does have some fun charm to it as the characters are abit more lovey dubby with each other due to Velma showing more interest in shaggy.

I'd rate this episode a 7 Out of 10 Because the episode was action-heavy and fun, but the episode lacked in other areas. It still had the scares, the frights, so be careful watching this at night, the Crab is full of delight.

I'm not sure this is the best moral for a children's TV show but it was a good episode none the less. My only real issue with it is the whole man-crab joke "Is it a man or is it a crab?" It looks nothing like a man, just a giant crab!