Absolutely loved "A Run Cycle Through Time" on first watch and loved pretty much everything it, primarily its uniqueness, the villain and the time visuals. Not to mention Malcolm McDowell, it was a bold move casting an actor who had one of the most controversial films ever made (back then and still is), which was 'A Clockwork Orange', as the film that put him on the map. But he has done many voice roles before, primarily villains, and is very good at it, so no problems there.
'Scooby Doo and Guess Who' had on the whole pretty much hit its stride in Season 1's second half, after a less consistent first one. For me, one of the best episodes is 'A Run Cycle Through Time", which is one of the best Scooby Doo episodes etc to have time travel playing a major role. It was a standout episode on first watch and still is. The concept for the episode was fantastic and one of the Scooby Doo franchise's most creative, that creativity is matched in the execution of the story and the visuals.
The animation here is excellent and this has to be one of the best looking 'Scooby Doo and Guess Who' episodes, with a much more polished and imaginative look compared to when the show first started (it was fine before, but has shown significant advancement here). The music has energetic groove and atmosphere and do like the theme tune despite it being too brief. Apart from shrill Kate Micucci, the voice acting is very, very good.
Loved McDowell's guest star turn. He was clearly really into his role and clearly enjoying himself, he is also true to personality and the episode does nothing to water him down (which it wouldn't have needed to do in the first place). He has great interaction with the gang and the way he is used is just right and one of not many episodes in the first season to achieve the balance perfectly in an aspect that was very uneven in the season's first half. The gang are written well and while the interaction could have been more in quantity, particularly Daphne, what there is nicely done.
Shaggy and Scooby are a delight, displaying everything that has always made them such classic characters, and their future selves was a masterstroke and one of the main highlights. The villain is extremely cool, uniquely designed with one of the most imaginative villain character designs of the franchise and has menace. The writing is full of entertainment value and the story is an inventive and energetic one with lots of creepiness, even if a little complicated on occasions. The time travel was colourfully animated and bursting with imagination and the writers clearly were having the time of their lives with the setting.
Also found the denouement one of the cleverest, most shocking and remarkably unique ones in not just this show but of the franchise. Was not massively shocked by the culprit, though that was not an issue as they were only suspected marginally late in, but never expected any of the truly ingenious and surprisingly complex how it was all done explanation.
Wonderful episode and one of the best. 9/10.
