On first watch, "The Phantom, The Talking Dog and the Hot Hot Sauce" didn't do an awful lot for me. It did have a lot of things done well, such as a good guest star, nice setting, nice villain and some nice humour. But it also disappointed in the mystery in most respects and was rather forgettable. A lot of other episodes fared worse on first watch of 'Scooby Doo and Gues Who', but this reviewer could name many far better episodes without even having to look them up.
"The Phantom, The Talking Dog and the Hot Hot Sauce" fared ever so slightly better on rewatch, but is a long way from a great episode and not the most promising of starts for an actually on the whole better and more settled Season 2. Is it terrible? No, plenty of things work. But it also fails in the main element that matters the most with Scooby Doo and again not an awful stood out as memorable at the end of the day. Not one of the worst 'Scooby Doo and Guess Who' episodes, not one of the best.
Am going to begin with the good things. The animation is vibrant, slick and atmospheric in one of the best looking Scooby Doo incarnations. The villain especially looks great. The music has some nice groove and atmosphere and do like the nostalgic if too brief take on the iconic theme song when talking about the show in general. Liked how the episode utilised Kacey Musgraves' talents and as someone who appreciates country music it was nice to hear it. The voice acting is on the whole solid.
Musgraves is a good guest star, very cute and charming with nice comic timing and chemistry with the gang. Also really liked the very creepy villain, with one of the season's most creepiest designs, and felt he deserved a much stronger mystery and more satisfying denouement. The setting is nostalgic and atmospheric. There is some good writing here, like with the very funny 52 Pickup gag.
Unfortunately, the mystery really underwhelms. It is far too thin, drags too much in the middle and has a lot of repetitive running gag and not enough clue solving (which are also too few and not obvious until they are magically-feeling revealed at the end). Plus the running around and too many overlong running gags (like with the horse people) felt like padding. There is also nothing memorable about it.
It is a shame too that such a creepy villain was wasted by the far too easy and blatantly obvious denouement in every respect, which was figure outable pretty much immediately when the culprit actually pretty much incriminated themselves mentioning their background. Kate Micucci is too abrasive as Velma, which was a general problem for the show.
Summing up, liked a lot of things but the weak mystery brought it down significantly. 6/10.
"The Phantom, The Talking Dog and the Hot Hot Sauce" fared ever so slightly better on rewatch, but is a long way from a great episode and not the most promising of starts for an actually on the whole better and more settled Season 2. Is it terrible? No, plenty of things work. But it also fails in the main element that matters the most with Scooby Doo and again not an awful stood out as memorable at the end of the day. Not one of the worst 'Scooby Doo and Guess Who' episodes, not one of the best.
Am going to begin with the good things. The animation is vibrant, slick and atmospheric in one of the best looking Scooby Doo incarnations. The villain especially looks great. The music has some nice groove and atmosphere and do like the nostalgic if too brief take on the iconic theme song when talking about the show in general. Liked how the episode utilised Kacey Musgraves' talents and as someone who appreciates country music it was nice to hear it. The voice acting is on the whole solid.
Musgraves is a good guest star, very cute and charming with nice comic timing and chemistry with the gang. Also really liked the very creepy villain, with one of the season's most creepiest designs, and felt he deserved a much stronger mystery and more satisfying denouement. The setting is nostalgic and atmospheric. There is some good writing here, like with the very funny 52 Pickup gag.
Unfortunately, the mystery really underwhelms. It is far too thin, drags too much in the middle and has a lot of repetitive running gag and not enough clue solving (which are also too few and not obvious until they are magically-feeling revealed at the end). Plus the running around and too many overlong running gags (like with the horse people) felt like padding. There is also nothing memorable about it.
It is a shame too that such a creepy villain was wasted by the far too easy and blatantly obvious denouement in every respect, which was figure outable pretty much immediately when the culprit actually pretty much incriminated themselves mentioning their background. Kate Micucci is too abrasive as Velma, which was a general problem for the show.
Summing up, liked a lot of things but the weak mystery brought it down significantly. 6/10.
