Scoo-Be or Not Scoo-Be? is the first half of the third episode of The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries and originally aired on September 22, 1984. With a story by Gene Ayres, this episode features the gang in Denmark where they run into the Ghost of Hamlet. If you are a fan of Shakespeare, this episode might be for you. Also, we get Scooby dressed as Ophelia, 45 years before Taylor Swift sang about her (I’m being a bit Facetious with this statement).

Scoo-Be or Not Scoo-Be? – Episode Review

The gang are on a bus tour called ‘Cheapo European Tours’ of Europe and they are literally thrown off the bus at their last stop. Daphne realizes they are in Denmark and Scrappy is excited that they will be staying at the Hotel Hamlet – a former castle.

Knocking at the door they are greeted by Rosie Crantz and the hotel caretaker Yorick. We also meet Guilly Stern, Rosie’s assistant manager who tells the gang that their rooms are ready. Because this is a Scooby-Doo episode, it does not take long for Scooby and Shaggy to meet the ghost as he offers to help carry Scooby’s luggage. The ghost then blurts out “Beware the Briny Boom”.

Upon hearing about the ghost, Gilly Stern blurts out that this must be the Ghost of Hamlet, as it’s just like the play. However, Yorick corrects Gilly saying that in the play Hamlet saw the ghost of his father.

The gang are staying in room 13, and Daphne and Scrappy head in to unpack their bags, while Shaggy and Scooby head to the kitchen to calm their nerves. Before Scooby can even bite into his pickle, while in the kitchen, the Ghost of Hamlet shows up and once more warns them to “Beware the Briny Boo”.

At the front desk, Rosie calms Scooby and Shaggy down, while at the same time, Scooby is handed a rolled up newspaper from a mysterious figure hiding in a planter pot. Daphne reads the paper which says a Sea Demon is terrorizing an offshore oil rig, causing the rigs to lose oil.

The sea demon then appears from behind the front desk and takes chase after the gang who run into the ghost who leads them the coast where he points offshore towards the Briny Boom. Scrappy uses his new Infrared Fogascope to check out what is going on at see and spots a boat where someone is operating a winch and boom.

The Sea Demon appears and everyone runs off with Daphne and Scrappy running outside, whereupon Daphne trips over an oil pipeline leading from the Briny Boom to the Castle basement. Meanwhile, Scooby and Shaggy run into a castle room and disguise themselves after characters from Hamlet, with Scooby as an announcer, Shaggy as Hamlet, and then Scooby as Ophelia.

While presenting their play, the Ghost comes up from behind them at a window and raps upon it, scaring the Sea Demon off. Scooby and Shaggy exit stage left, and they return to Daphne and Scrappy. The gang continue to follow the pipe line and come across tanks where Daphne discovers oil. They figure out oil is being stolen, however, before they can get their bearings, the Sea Demon shows up.

Out on the beach, Scrappy traps the Sea Demon, and Daphne unmasks the beast, revealing it to be Rosie Crantz. Another Sea Demon emerges from a beached row boat and the Ghost of Hamlet catches this Demon, revealing it to be Gilly Stern. We discover the pair both were stealing oil.

The Ghost of Hamlet takes his costume off and it’s revealed that it is Yorick. He dressed up as the Ghost of Hamlet so he would not be ignored as nobody was listening to him, so he needed the costume to bring attention to Gilly and Rosie’s thievery. Shaggy concludes the episode by cracking the line “oil is well that ends well”.

My Thoughts

I give this episode a 7.5 out of 10. This one is fun!!! It’s also full of everything I love, ghosts, sea demons, foggy coast lines, castles and Scooby-Dooby-Doo goodness. There are some great shadowy scenes in this episode that I did not pull screen caps from, but I feel they brought me back to the more classic Scooby-Doo episodes.

You can see Scrappy’s transition here as he moves away from ‘Puppy Power’ to having more and more gadgets. (although we have experienced that in the past with his computer watch and probably a few other examples). And this is the Scrappy I prefer where he is still excitable but also a bit more mature.

While not being a very long episode, this one manages to pack in a good enough mystery, the head to the kitchen trope, the dress up and pretend trope, 2 unmaskings and one final reveal.  Good stuff!