'Scooby Doo Where are You' is the first incarnation of Scooby Doo, the one that started it all, and to me though as a big fan of the character and has found great enjoyment from most of the shows and films it's still the best.
Generally, Season 1 has the bigger number of classic episodes, though all the Season 2 episodes are good ("Scooby's Night With a Frozen Fright") to great, "Jeepers it's the Creeper", "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Werewolf" and "Haunted House Hang Up" being the best of the season. "A Tiki Scare is No Fair" is not quite a classic, but it's one of the great episodes.
The asset that came off least was the very limited and somewhat forgettable character of the giant statue Mano Tiki Tia. The Witch Doctor however is an excellent main ghost, if not quite as eerie as the Headless Spectre or as iconic as The Creeper, and makes quite a scare in his first entrance. The story is on the daft side, but also lots of fun, easy to follow with some nice diverting clues and a great red herring involving a suspicious old man and the Hawaiian setting is both exotic and eerie.
As always, "A Tiki Scare is No Fair" excels in atmosphere (especially the creepy haunted village) and humour. Particularly the latter, with vintage endearingly goofy dialogue especially Shaggy and Scooby and very funny gags, even if there are more memorable ones in the show. This is the only episode of Season 2 to not contain a song, which this reviewer has always been mixed on, so it feels a little closer to the first season.
Shaggy and Scooby's friendship still charms, amuses and affects, and they steal the show as always. Velma, Fred and Daphne also are good characters and one loves the chemistry between the whole gang. The animation is fine, lush colours, mostly smooth if occasionally crude drawings and very detailed backgrounds that add to the atmosphere.
The music is haunting and energetic, and the classic theme song, accompanying a fun, affectionate montage of the season's villains, once again shows why its iconic status is justified. As always, the unbeatable Don Messick and Casey Kasem are the standouts of the voice actors, though Frank Welker is remarkably consistent, Nicole Jaffe is solid as Velma and Heather North this reviewer has always preferred over the original voice actress for Daphne.
In summary, great episode. 9/10 Bethany Cox
