Never Ape an Ape Man

The gang are being invited by Daphne's uncle to help film a movie a horror movie of an Ape Man terrorizing the people. Only problem is, the character has come to life and is scaring everyone away.

I had to re-watch this a couple of nights ago to give my thoughts on this. It is an episode I did not see much as a child. I overall found it to be pretty good. It's nowhere near the best but it's far from the worst. Well actually, there is no worst episode. This episode did had a few funny moments and one of my favorites was when Scooby was trying to figure out why something was wrong with his reflection in the mirror. I also like how we saw a brave Scooby-Doo moment here.

The villain was called the Ape-Man being described as an half-ape, half-man. He just looked like a normal gorilla to me and is not that memorable.

Overall good episode. 8/10

Scooby Doo, Where Are You?

S1E7: Never Ape an Ape Man (1969)

The gang visits a movie set where Daphne's uncle is working as a director on a new horror movie. The villain, a man in an ape suit, turns out to be something more frightening when a real ape man shows up. This here is certainly another good episode in the series as we get plenty of nice laughs and of course a nice monster to go along with it. The episode contains a lot of nice jokes including some aimed at movie making. One of the highlights takes place inside a costume department where we see Shaggy and Scooby trying on some new masks. The monster here is also pretty good, although he is certainly more gorilla than actual ape man. The only weak thing is the actual mystery as it's pretty easy to figure out what's going on and who's doing it. The strange thing is that they never really try to play the mystery up any.

Episode: B+

'Scooby Doo Where are You' was the first Scooby Doo incarnation, and to me it's still the best. "Never Ape an Ape Man" may be in some ways a lesser episode, but even a lesser 'Scooby Doo Where are You?' episode can still be hugely enjoyable.

"Never Ape an Ape Man" certainly is hugely enjoyable. A film set may not be the creepiest setting/location for a Scooby Doo episode, but it is still effective. The animation is lively, atmospheric, lushly coloured and nicely drawn as always, the Ape Man actually being genuinely intimidating. The music adds to the impact the atmosphere creates, and it is very difficult to resist the classic theme song, along with the opening credits where it is so fun spotting and recognising the villains, that is one of the most iconic in animation.

There are creepier and spookier episodes than "Never Ape an Ape Man", the closest it gets to creepy is the Ape Man's roar and when the gang try to trap him in the basement. What "Never Ape an Ape Man" is though is very funny, there is some hugely enjoyable and often hilarious dialogue and even better are individual scenes, the standout is in the costume department with the masks but the parts with the mirror, the stuffed ape and in the billiard room also make a positive impression.

Scooby and Shaggy are such likable characters, also love Scooby's more macho and tough attitude at times in the episode when he barks at the ape to get him away, and their chemistry is incredibly charming. The rest of the gang are fine too, and the Ape Man is cool and intimidating and the supporting characters solid enough. The voice acting is very good, particularly again from Don Messick and Casey Kasem in interpretations done by different people over the years but still remain unequalled.

Unfortunately, it is true that the true identity of the Ape Man is so easy to figure out, it was obvious early on in the episode and then it gives it away too early just before the final trap. The most obvious perpetrator is still the Witch Doctor in "Decoy for a Dognapper" but the Ape Man is one of the more glaring examples along with 49er. The ending is also agreed a bit anti-climactic and is not the most imaginative of final traps, the one in the basement had a little more imagination than that and that was halfway through the episode.

Overall, hugely enjoyable Scooby fare but there's better in the series. 8/10 Bethany Cox