'Scooby Doo and Guess Who' sounded very interesting and really liked the idea of the gang solving crimes with various guest stars (a mix of real life celebrities in the film, music and sporting industries and popular characters). So a more modern version of 'The New Scooby Doo Movies', loved that show as a kid and quite a lot of episodes and guest stars hold up but some episodes and guest stars don't quite do it now. This show turned out to be mostly very well done and at its best great.
Liked "The Nightmare Ghost of Psychic U" quite a lot on first watch, and one of the primary reasons was Whoopi Goldberg. Have always liked her as an actress, having grown up with her 90s work. Am a lot less keen on her politics, but that doesn't stop me from liking her work as a firm believer of separating the person from the artist. On rewatch, "The Nightmare Ghost of Psychic U" still is quite good if not mind blowing or one of the best 'Scooby Doo and Guess Who' episodes. With Goldberg, the villain and atmosphere more than compensating from the writing not always working.
"The Nightmare Ghost of Psychic U's" best aspect is Goldberg, she is an absolute joy here and clearly had fun doing the episode. It was clear that the writers had fun writing her dialogue as well with some great sassy humour. She interacts very entertainingly with the gang and is well used, not dominating too much (unlike Steve Urkel for example) or underused (from memory Christian Slater). Shaggy and Scooby are their usual delightful self, being as hilarious, charming and endearingly goofy as ever.
What also works really well is the very atmospheric setting, that is one of Season 1's creepiest. One cannot talk about "The Nightmare Ghost of Psychic U" without mentioning the villain, calling it terrifying is an understatement (nightmare inducing on first watch. A few fellow Scooby Doo fans talked of it reminding them of Slender Man and can totally see why. The perpetrator is a big surprise, there are many episodes where it could only have been one person or if the suspect count is low but there are also some where the perpetrator was a character that this reviewer didn't suspect. And the latter is the case here.
Most of the writing is fine with some amusing humour, with it working best with Goldberg and with Shaggy and Scooby. The story has a lively pace and has a lot of spookiness, the mystery is quite thin but the atmosphere more than makes up for that. The animation mostly is good, with rich background detail with the interiors and vibrant and eerie colours. The music fits well tonally and the theme tune is still catchy though too on the short side.
However, "The Nightmare Ghost of Psychic U" is inconsistent in the character writing and the writing in general. Had no issues with Goldberg, Shaggy and Scooby, but Fred, Velma and Daphne don't have a huge amount to do here and come off a bit bland. What really stuck out like a sore thumb was Velma's line regarding the FBI and law enforcement. For someone so intelligent, it was staggering to me that she would make such a basic fundamental falsehood like that.
Not all the animation is quite there, with some of the character designs being off model and there was a sense that more than one animation company worked on the character animation because the difference in quality with the gang and Goldberg (the latter is much better drawn) is pretty vast and immediately noted.
Good but not great episode overall. 7/10.
