Despite not being a big sports fan, various sports have been portrayed in animation (am a long-term fan of) for years. Although the execution has varied, there have been many times where sports settings and games worked well in animation (i.e. The hilarious soccer game scene in 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks'). The Scooby Doo franchise had a lot of sports-set episodes, some better than others and they were reasonably formulaic but enough of them were good.
"The Demon of the Dugout" is one of the good ones. There is a lot of fondness of it still for it being one of my first episodes of 'Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo', the other being "I Left My Neck in San Francisco", but this is one of the episodes that for me was a little better when a younger viewer where it became a favourite. Don't get me wrong, "The Demon of the Dugout" is still very enjoyable, with the villain and the hotel scene being two of the best aspects, but it is a case of one half being better than the other.
Plenty of great things here. The animation is lively and colourful, with the Dragon Beast's entrances on the pitch having some quite freaky visuals and the attention to detail in the setting is nicely done too. The music is typically characterful and also atmospheric, while the theme song has yet to grate on me. The voice acting is near-faultless with the regulars and an unrecognisable Alan Oppenheimer booms menacingly as the Dragon Beast.
As for the Dragon Beast, he is one of the show's most memorable villains and the thing that stuck out most vividly about "The Demon of the Dugout" in my very long periods of not seeing the show. Particularly his booming voice and the freaky face, not to mention the entrance which is quite an introduction. There are some amusing gags and dialogue, with a standout being the hotel scene closely followed by the changing room one. Vintage Scooby Doo humour. The first half is great, with a lot of energy, humour and creepiness. Did like that the motive wasn't immediately obvious straight away.
What brings "The Demon of the Dugout" down now, in a way that was not a problem as a child, is that the second half isn't as strong. Actually felt the episode ran out of steam after the hotel scene. Becoming predictable and repetitive and even the Dragon Beast loses his menace.
Lets not get started on how too easily he's defeated, where he goes from powerful to grovelling just like that. Personally always knew who the perpetrator was early on and it was confirmed just over halfway through, a case of "it could only have been one person."
Overall, good but not great. Really like the first half, but post-hotel scene the episode loses lustre. 7/10.
