No Sharking Zone is the second half of the first episode of The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show and it originally aired on September 10th, 1983.
Written by the prolific Tom Ruegger, this episode sees Daphne, Shaggy, Scrappy and Scooby attending a Surfing contest on the Island of Scareruba. Unfortunately, the gang also encounter a hungry shark and an irritated seaweed monster.
Fun trivia for this episode: It’s the first one where we learn Daphne’s last name.
No Sharking Zone – Episode Review
The episode begins with some surfers on Scareruba trying to catch some waves for a surfing contest. A woman paddles out to sea and below her we see a great white shark.
We learn Daphne has a reporting job and she pushes Scooby and Shaggy, her film crew out into the ocean on a boat. Daphne then heads out to talk to Prince Ruba where she meets Cowabunga Carlyle, the world class surfer. Scrappy asks Cowabunga about the rocks on his surfboard and Cowabunga blows him off with disinterest.
Out at sea, Shaggy and Scooby are causing chaos for the surfers, which gets even more intense when the shark makes his appearance.
The shark appearance cancels the competition and we learn there is a curse of Scaruba over the lost treasure hidden deep below that is protected by the Shark and a seaweed monster.
In order to find the lost treasure, Daphne tosses an entire box of Scooby Snax into the ocean, just above where the lost treasure should be.
Below Scooby and Shaggy encounter the shark and swim into an underwater sea cave to escape it. The lost treasure of Scaruba is there as well along with the Seaweed monster.
Daphne and Shaggy find some weird rocks and Daphne makes the connection between the treasure and Cowabunga’s surf board. They also find the Shark, which turns out to be a submarine, and this submarine is controlled by the Seaweed monster.
A chase ensues and the submarine crashes where Daphne is able to unmask the Seaweed monster, who turns out to be Cowabunga Carlyle
My Score
I give this one a 7 out of 10. I liked this one a lot because I’m a huge fan of Sharks and surf culture. The mystery in this one is quite interesting. My complaints is that I wish they didn’t make Scooby seem so dumb. On three occasions he says ‘I Did?’ after he saves the day. I miss the cowardly but braver/smarter Scooby we got in the first season of Scooby Doo Where Are You season one.
Another complaint, I wish this one could be longer so we got some more time for some atmosphere. The shorter episodes don’t allow for much spookiness to creep into my skull and have me worry about the gang.
