Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island is a 1998 direct-to-video animated mystery comedy horror film based on Hanna-Barbera's "Scooby-Doo" Saturday-morning cartoons. In the film, Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, Velma, and Daphne reunite after a year-long hiatus from Mystery, Inc. to investigate a bayou island said to be haunted by the ghost of the pirate Morgan Moonscar. The film was directed by Jim Stenstrum, from a screenplay by Glenn Leopold.
Popularity for "Scooby-Doo" had grown in the 1990s due to reruns aired on Cartoon Network. The channel's parent company, Time Warner, suggested developing a direct-to-video (DTV) film on the property. The team at Hanna-Barbera consisted of many veteran artists and writers. Much of the original voice actors of the series were recast for the film, although Frank Welker returned to voice Fred Jones. It was also the first of four "Scooby-Doo" direct-to-video films to be animated overseas by Japanese animation studio Mook Animation. Rock bands Third Eye Blind and Skycycle contribute to the soundtrack.
"Zombie Island" contains a darker tone than most "Scooby-Doo" productions, and is notable for containing real supernatural creatures rather than people in costumes. The film was released on September 22, 1998, and received positive reviews from critics, who complimented its animation and story. The film is also notable for being the first Scooby production featuring the entire gang (sans Scrappy-Doo) since The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries episode "A Halloween Hassle in Dracula’s Castle", which premiered on ABC on October 27, 1984. The film was aided by a $50 million promotional campaign, and sponsorship deals with multiple companies. Sales of the film on VHS were high, and it became the first in a long-running series of DTV "Scooby-Doo" films.
Two decades after the film's release, Warner Bros Animation developed a sequel, "Return to Zombie Island", released in 2019.
Plot.
The five members of Mystery, Inc. go their separate ways after becoming bored of mystery solving because culprits are always people in costumes. Daphne Blake, along with Fred Jones, starts running a successful television series, determined to hunt down a real ghost rather than a fake one. Fred contacts Velma Dinkley, Shaggy Rogers and his dog Scooby-Doo, and the entire gang is brought back together for Daphne's birthday. They embark on a road trip scouting haunted locations across the U.S. for Daphne's show.
After encountering a lot of fake monsters, the gang arrives in New Orleans, Louisiana, fed up by this time. They are invited by a young woman named Lena Dupree to visit her workplace at Moonscar Island, an island allegedly haunted by the ghost of the pirate Morgan Moonscar. Although skeptical, the gang decides to go with Lena. On the island, they meet Lena's employer Simone Lenoir, who lives in a large Southern home on a pepper plantation. They also meet the ferryman Jacques and Simone's gardener Beau. Shaggy and Scooby encounter the ghost of Moonscar, who becomes a reanimated corpse, and the gang gets several ghostly warnings to leave. Despite this, they stay overnight, still skeptical. Shaggy sees another ghost, one of a Confederate colonel warning them to leave.
That night, Shaggy and Scooby are chased by a horde of zombies. Velma suspects Beau while Fred and Daphne capture a zombie. They believe it is a mask until Fred pulls its head off, revealing that the zombies are real. As the horde chases them, the gang gets split in the chaos and Daphne accidentally causes Fred to drop his video camera in the quicksand, losing film evidence for their show. In a cave, Shaggy and Scooby discover wax voodoo dolls resembling Fred, Velma, and Daphne. Playing with the dolls, they involuntarily control the gang's actions with the things they make the dolls do, leaving the gang confused. Shaggy and Scooby drop the dolls and flee when they disturb a nest of bats.
The rest of the gang and Beau discover a secret passageway in the house. Lena tells them that the zombies dragged Simone away. The passageway leads to a secret chamber for voodoo rituals, where Velma confronts Lena about her lie: the footprints in the passageway were Simone's, as she had walked to the chamber as opposed to being dragged away. After trapping the gang with the voodoo dolls, Simone and Lena reveal themselves, along with Jacques, to be evil werecats. Simone tells them that 200 years ago, she and Lena were part of a group of settlers on the island who worshiped a cat god. When Moonscar and his crew invaded the island, they chased the settlers into the bayou, leading them to be eaten alive by alligators, but Simone and Lena escaped the carnage. They prayed to their cat god to curse Moonscar. Their wish was granted and they were transformed into werecats. They killed the pirates, but later realized that invoking the cat god's power had also cursed them, so every harvest moon, they lure and exploit all victims by draining their lives to preserve their immortality. Jacques became their ferryman to bring them more victims as he wanted to have immortality. The zombies are actually their previous victims who awaken every harvest moon and try to scare people away in order to prevent them from suffering the same fate. 
Shaggy and Scooby disrupt the werecats' draining ceremony. The gang free themselves but the werecats surround them. However, it is too late; the time for the ceremony has passed. The werecats crumble into dust, allowing the zombies' souls to finally rest in peace. Beau reveals himself to be an undercover police officer who was sent to investigate the numerous disappearances on the island. Daphne asks Beau to guest-star on her show, and they all leave the island in the morning.
Production.
Origins and story.
The "Scooby-Doo" franchise, which by the time of the film's release was nearing its 30-year mark, had entered into a period of diminishing returns in the early 1990s. After the conclusion of the sixth iteration of the series, "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo", the character became absent from Saturday-morning lineups. In 1991, Turner Broadcasting System purchased Hanna-Barbera, the animation studio behind "Scooby", largely to fill programming at a new, 24/7 cable channel centered on animated properties: Cartoon Network. The advent of cable gave the franchise renewed popularity: rapidly, "Scooby" reruns attracted top ratings. "Zombie Island" was not the first attempt at a feature-length "Scooby" adventure; several television films were produced in the late 1980s starring the character, such as "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School". In 1996, Turner merged with Time Warner. Davis Doi, in charge at Hanna-Barbera, was tasked with developing projects based on the studio's existing property. Warner executives suggested "Scooby", given that the property held a high Q Score, and proposed it could be a direct-to-video feature film.
The team assembled to work on the production were veterans of the animation business, and had most recently worked on "" and "The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest". Screenwriter Glenn Leopold had been with the franchise since 1979's "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo". The film was directed by Jim Stenstrum, who had worked on "Scooby" projects beginning in 1983 "The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show". As the film was considered a one-off experiment by studio brass, the crew worked with little oversight and complete creative freedom. Doi and writer Glenn Leopold developed the film's story, with Leopold receiving sole credit for the screenplay. Much of the script is recycled from Leopold's script for the unfinished "SWAT Kats" episode, "The Curse of Kataluna". Jim Stenstrum, the film's director, suggested in early story meetings that the monsters in the film be real—previous "Scooby" outings were nearly always "bad guys" in rubber masks. Leopold disagreed, noting that throughout the franchise's history, it always remained a simple, solvable mystery. Stenstrum felt this worked for a half-hour television episode, but might grow tiresome over a feature film length. Lance Falk, who worked as model coordinator on the film, suggested they combine both ideas.
Casting.
Casey Kasem was originally set to reprise his role as Shaggy, but had recently gone vegan and demanded the character follow suit and cut all meat and dairy from his diet. The creative team found this absurd, given that eating anything and everything was a hallmark of the character for decades. In addition, they had already began production on "Zombie Island", which features Shaggy indulging in crawfish and more. The team decided to recast Shaggy with voice actor Billy West. They gave Kasem a last-minute reprieve before recording the film, noting that they could pay-or-play West, though Kasem still refused. Radio personality Scott Innes ended up voicing Scooby-Doo, as Don Messick, the character's original voice actor, retired in 1996 and died in 1997. Zombie Island was dedicated to him. Heather North was set to reprise her role as Daphne, but after a day of recording, Mary Kay Bergman replaced her, while B.J. Ward, who played Velma in a "Johnny Bravo" crossover episode, reprised her role for this film.
Frank Welker is the only actor from the original series to reprise his role, as Fred Jones. He had initially worried that the producers would replace him as well, given that the producers believed his voice had gone down an octave. The voice director kept requesting Welker perform the voice at a higher pitch. Welker insisted his voice was the same, as Fred's voice is close to his natural speaking voice. The team went back and viewed early "Scooby-Doo" episodes and found that Welker's impression was more or less the same. Bob Miller, of Animation World Network, suggested that the reruns of "Scooby-Doo" aired on Cartoon Network perhaps gave them a false idea of the character's voice, as the episodes were typically time-compressed (or sped-up) to allow more room for commercials, thus giving all of the show's soundtrack a higher pitch.
Animation.
Japanese animation studio Mook Animation were contracted to work on the film; Doi had a relationship with the team at Mook as they had previously collaborated on "Swat Kats" and "Jonny Quest". Hiroshi Aoyama and Kazumi Fukushima directed the film as well, but are not credited on the picture. The film was animated and is presented in standard full frame format. The team were allowed more time to work on the film, as there was no real set schedule—just delivery to the home video department upon completion. The American crew re-designed the series cast for the film, giving them an update fashion-wise. The team felt Fred and Daphne, with their ascots and his bell-bottoms, felt particularly out-of-date. They briefly changed Shaggy's shirt color to red and gave him sneakers, though they quickly relented, as they viewed his original outfit as more timeless.
The group were trusted by the studio's management as they had worked together for a long time, and all involved on the film had a real passion for the project. Drew Gentle was the main background designer for the project, with Falk contributing to the film's color key. Occasionally, the crew would hire freelance artists to contribute to ancillary designs. In addition, the group enlisted the assistance of Iwao Takamoto—the original designer of Scooby-Doo, still on salary at Hanna-Barbera—for advising on scenes. Takamoto called the film "a good solid mystery", and storyboarded several sequences of interplay between Shaggy and Scooby.
Music.
Composer Steven Bramson, who is known for "Tiny Toon Adventures", "JAG" and the "Lost in Space" film, scored and conducted the film. The soundtrack for the film features three songs composed specifically for the film. "The Ghost Is Here" and "It's Terror Time Again", both written by Glenn Leopold, were performed by Skycycle. The title track, "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!", was performed by Third Eye Blind.
Themes.
This and the following three films had a darker tone than the original animated series ("Scooby-Doo, Where are You!" and several spinoffs), and the marketing emphasized: "This time, the monsters are real." However, it's worth noting that "Scooby" writers had introduced real supernatural elements into the franchise back in 1980 with the second season of "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo", possibly to avoid some of the show's formulaic trappings. In the first segment, "A Close Encounter with a Strange Kind," the series takes its first delve into science fiction when Shaggy is abducted by real aliens. In the second segment, "A Fit Night Out for Bats," Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy spend the night in a castle with a real vampire and eventually escape from him. No attempt is made at an unmasking, and the characters do not comment on how unusual it is for them to meet a real monster.
Supernatural elements would continue to be incorporated through the remaining "Scrappy" series and through TV movies until "Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf" (1988). However, there are several notable differences between this production and earlier ones to feature real monsters. First, Fred, Daphne and Velma are all present; they had frequently been absent during the earlier adventures. Second, Scrappy is absent from this story, as he has been in all productions since 1988 (except for comical cameos). Third, this was the first storyline to focus on the gang's surprise at the monsters not being fake. So "Zombie Island" does at least feature some breaks with tradition.
Release.
The film was released on VHS on September 22, 1998, through Warner Home Video. Because of the cost of production, the tape retailed at $19.95, which was higher than other direct-to-video titles of that era. Sales for the film exceeded the studio's expectations, according to a 1999 "Billboard" article. It was released on DVD on March 6, 2001, and later re-released in 2008 as a double-feature on DVD alongside the third direct-to-video "Scooby" film, "Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders" (2000).
The film was aided by a reportedly $50 million promotional push, as advertisers believed the character's iconic nature would generate strong sales, and deserved "equal visibility to a theatrical release." Tie-ins included the Campbell Soup Company, SpaghettiOs, 1-800-COLLECT, Wendy's, LEGO, and Cartoon Network, who debuted the film on television on October 31, 1998, after a month themed after the series. It was also promoted as part of the network's "Wacky Racing" sponsorship deal with Melling Racing in 1998, as the third of four paint schemes featured on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series #9 Ford Taurus driven by then-rookie Jerry Nadeau. The paint scheme debuted at Richmond International Raceway in the Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400 on September 12, 1998, and was featured on the car through the Dura Lube Kmart 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on October 25, 1998, for a total of seven races out of the thirty-three race schedule. The promotional push was, at the time, the biggest marketing support in Warner Bros. Family Entertainment's history.
Reception.
The film received positive reviews from critics, and currently holds a "Fresh" rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. Donald Liebenson of the "Chicago Tribune" described the film as "ambitious" and calls it "a nostalgic hoot [that] resurrects all the touchstones of the original cartoons." "Entertainment Weekly" Joe Neumaier praised the film as "Fast, fun, and filled with knowing winks, the mystery honors the show’s beloved structure, but writ large." A 1998 "New York Times" article by Peter M. Nichols complimented the film as "well-made." Lynne Heffley at the "Los Angeles Times" called the film "more entertaining than you'd expect, despite the familiar Saturday morning-type animation."
Later assessments of the film have been similarly positive. Michael Mallory at the "Los Angeles Times" credited it and its subsequent features for "[spinning] the characters into more modern treatments of action and horror, and toyed with [a] self-spoofing quality."
In 2011-12, British comedian Stewart Lee dedicated an extensive section of his live show "Carpet Remnant World" to the 'jungle canyon rope bridges' in "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island", linking what he described as the parlous state of such bridges with the neoliberal regime of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Sequel.
A direct sequel, titled "Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island," had its world premiere at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 21, 2019, followed by a digital release on September 3, 2019, and a DVD release on October 1, 2019.
External links.
 