Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost

Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost
DVD cover
Written by	Rick Copp David A. Goodman
Directed by	Jim Stenstrum
Starring	Scott Innes Frank Welker Mary Kay Bergman B.J. Ward Jennifer Hale Peter Renaday Tim Curry
Country of origin	United States Japan
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Davis Doi Joseph Barbera (executive producer) William Hanna (executive producer)
Running time	69 minutes
Distributor	Warner Bros. Home Video
Chronology
Preceded by	Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)
Followed by	Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (2000)

Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost is the second in a series of direct-to-video animated films based upon Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was released on October 5, 1999, and it was produced by Warner Bros. Animation (although with a Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. copyright) starting in 1998. The Mystery, Inc. gang, which includes Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne and Velma, travel to a New England town called Oakhaven after being invited by horror writer Ben Ravencroft. Like a number of direct-to-video Scooby-Doo animated films released in the late-1990s and early-2000s, Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost features real ghosts instead of simple bad guys in masks, giving the film a darker tone. The videos sold well and received generally positive reviews in the press.^{[citation needed]} The film has been adapted into a book.

It is the second of the first four Scooby Doo direct-to-video film to be animated overseas by Japanese animation studio: Mook Animation.

This film marks the first time voice actor and radio-personality Scott Innes voiced Shaggy.

Plot

Ben Ravencroft, a famous horror writer who Velma is a big fan of, assists the Mystery, Inc. gang in solving a case at a museum. Ben invites them to his hometown, Oakhaven, in New England. When they arrive, they find the town converted into a tourist attraction by Mayor Corey, complete with 17th-century replicas and attractions based on the alleged ghost of Sarah Ravencroft, an ancestor of Ben's who was persecuted as a witch by the town in 1657. Ben disputes this, claiming Sarah to be a Wiccan who used natural herbs to heal people and had a diary that could prove her innocence.

Scooby and Shaggy are chased by a witch and run into Ben and the gang. They find broken tree branches at the scene and are drawn to an all-female gothic rock band, "Hex Girls", lead by Sally "Thorn" McKnight. The gang then decides to split up; Fred and Daphne stay to watch the Hex Girls, Velma and Ben go explore an old barn and Shaggy and Scooby follow the Mayor. Fred and Daphne see Thorn doing some sort of ritual and are convinced the Hex Girls are witches. Velma and Ben find a cherry-picking truck in the barn. Scooby and Shaggy follow Corey, until they encounter the witch and flee to the gang.

The gang, Ben, and the Hex Girls meet in the woods. The witch appears and gives chase, but is captured by Velma. The witch is revealed to be Mr. McKnight, who is Thorn's father. Velma locates the truck and explains that the truck's arm made the witch appear to fly, with the townspeople jointly involved. Ben scolds everyone involved for exploiting Sarah's good name. Back at Ben's house, the gang apologize to the Hex Girls and Thorn explains the "ritual" was for soothing her vocal cords and that she is actually part Wiccan. Corey and Mr. McKnight arrive to apologize to Ben for using his ancestor in their publicity stunt, explaining the witch was to boost the town's failing tourist economy and that they found inspiration from digging up the head marker for Sarah's grave. It is then recalled that Scooby found what appeared to be belt buckle earlier, which was actually from Sarah's diary.

Everyone goes to the buckle's location, where Scooby discovers the buried book, which is actually a spell book. Ben reveals that Sarah was indeed a witch who was imprisoned within her book by Wiccans. He engineered the encounters with the gang, as he knew they could lead him to the book. Ben taps into his ancestral powers and summons Sarah. He soon discovers, however, that her ambitions are to destroy the world, rather than remake it in her image.

Disillusioned, Ben attempts to imprison Sarah, but learns that only a Wiccan could defeat her. The gang launches an attempt to get the book while Sarah begins to turn pumpkins, trees, and a turkey into monsters in order to stop them. Daphane and Velma free the Hex Girls and Velma convinces Thorn to use her part Wiccan ancestry to banish Sarah into her imprisonment. Sarah, however, manages to pull Ben in to suffer her fate, and they are both imprisoned inside the book. The book is then destroyed when a tree branch which caught fire falls on it and incinerates it. The gang and townsfolk celebrate their deliverance with a Hex Girl concert with Scooby Doo and the gang (and the still gigantic turkey) joining in on the performance.

Featured Villains

• Ben Ravencroft
• Sarah Ravencroft

Cast

• Scott Innes - Scooby-Doo and Shaggy Rogers
• Frank Welker - Fred Jones
• Mary Kay Bergman - Daphne Blake
• B.J. Ward - Velma Dinkley
• Tim Curry - Ben Ravencroft
• Jennifer Hale - Sally "Thorn" McKnight
• Neil Ross - Mayor Corey
• Jane Wiedlin - Dusk
• Kimberly Brooks - Luna
• Tress MacNeille - Sarah Ravencroft
• Bob Joles - Jack
• Peter Renaday - Mr. McKnight

Soundtrack

On September 14, 1999, the soundtrack was released featuring The Hex Girls performing Hex Girl and Billy Ray Cyrus performing Scooby-Doo, Where Are You.

Tracklisting

No.	Title	Recording artist(s)	Length
1.	"Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?""	Billy Ray Cyrus	1:02
2.	"Hex Girl"	The Hex Girls	1:43
3.	"Earth, Wind, Fire, and Air"	The Hex Girls	1:55
4.	"The Witch's Ghost"	The Hex Girls	3:10
5.	"It's a Mystery"	The Hex Girls	3:08
6.	"Scooby Snacks"	The Hex Girls	3:19
7.	"Zoinks!"	The Hex Girls	3:10
8.	"Those Meddlin' Kids"	The Hex Girls	3:17
9.	"Ghost Story"	Louis Febre	3:13
10.	"The Ghost Is Here"	Glen Leopold, Glenn Snow	2:21
11.	"Terror Time"	Glen Leopold, Glenn Snow	2:55
12.	"Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? [Instrumental][Mix]"		2:43

Follow-up film

Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders, a direct sequel to Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost, which was released in 2000.

External links

• Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost at the Internet Movie Database
• Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost at AllRovi