'Scooby Doo and Guess Who' "The Dreaded Remake of Jekyll and Hyde" (2020)
Opening thoughts: 'Scooby Doo and Guess Who's' "The Dreaded Remake of Jekyll and Hyde" is not the first guest appearance of Sandy Duncan in the Scooby Doo franchise. She was also the guest star in 'The New Scooby Doo Movies' "Sandy Duncan's Jekyll and Hyde", liked that episode as a child but as a young adult it is less easy to overlook the wafer thin mystery and pacing while liking the setting and villain. So this was watched with mixed expectations, due to knowing this was linked directly to that while taking into account that 'Be Cool Scooby Doo' remade a couple of episodes from the classic period of the franchise and wonderfully surprisingly.
"The Dreaded Remake of Jekyll and Hyde" was a great episode on first watch and got better and better with each rewatch. While not an instant 'Scooby Doo and Guess Who' classic like "I Put a Hex on You" and "The Last Inmate", it is one of the best, most entertaining and creepiest episodes of Season 2. Also think that it is superior to "Sandy Duncan's Jekyll and Hyde", with a much better mystery, better pacing and Duncan's guest appearance makes a bigger impression here. It does a great job with the referencing and nostalgia value, but does even better at setting itself apart in its own way and right.
Bad things: My only complaint is the coda, which is very corny and dumb.
Good things: Otherwise, "The Dreaded Remake of Jekyll and Hyde" is wonderful. The animation is very vibrant and atmospheric, the standout being the character design for the villain and wonderfully varied sets, which was like reliving a love letter to film making. The music is groovy and haunting, the intro is typically catchy though too brief. The voice acting is excellent, Matthew Lillard is typically zany and Frank Welker shows no signs of being long in the tooth (amazing for somebody who has been voicing Fred from the very start in 1969!).
Duncan is a great guest star and it is much better than her 'The New Scooby Doo Movies' appearance. She has a lot more personality here, much livelier and she is not annoying either and contributes more to the mystery. She is also used perfectly, not too dominant or underused. The setting was a joy for film enthusiasts like me and was like reliving childhood, it is also used perfectly and made the most of. Everybody involved clearly had fun with the setting and episode.
Furthermore, the episode benefits massively from having a genuinely scary villain in all senses, one of the show's creepiest and most elaborately designed, one that doesn't suffer from too many disguises. It is very true tonally to the original episode, the atmosphere being the same even with a scarier villain, while never feeling like a rehash due to having plenty of its own identity. Loved spotting all the numerous references to the original episode, which was like seeing my childhood revisited. Very cleverly they were used too, not gimmicky or thrown in. Like a love letter.
There is a very creepy and diverting mystery that was eventful and not obvious or confusing. It is much tighter paced than the original episode, is more eventful and has no padding. The perpetrator was one of the season's more surprising ones. All the humour lands, and it is genuinely funny, most of it from Shaggy and Scooby. Love the character chemistry and all the character writing works, even Velma who tends to be too abrasive and too know it all is but is truer to her original personality.
Closing thoughts: All in all, wonderful.
9/10.
