The Scooby-Doo Project (1999) review

Dir. Chris “Casper” Kelly, Larry Morris, and Steve Patrick

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★½

How I never knew of the existence of The Scooby-Doo Project until yesterday is an oversight that shocks and dismays me. This is exactly the kind of one-off cartoon special I would’ve loved as a child, but perhaps one I wouldn’t have fully appreciated until I was much older. A parody of The Blair Witch Project, originally aired during a Cartoon Network marathon of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! on Halloween 1999, it’s something of a miracle the special wasn’t lost to time. Airing something this unique on Halloween — an evening where most children weren’t likely sitting at home in front of the TV — could’ve just as easily relegated it to a fate ala Nickelodeon’s Cry Baby Lane.

Thankfully, The Scooby-Doo Project easy to find, and at barely 20 minutes long, it’s absolutely worth your time whether or not you’re a fan of the long-running cartoon.

The short, written/directed by Chris “Casper” Kelly (who went on to do the ingenuous short Too Many Cooks), Larry Morris, and Steve Patrick, is largely live-action, underscored by shaky camera effects ala the 1999 found footage phenomenon. The only fully animated characters are Fred (voiced by Frank Welker), Daphne (Mary Kay Bergman), Velma (B.J. Ward), Shaggy, Scooby (both Scott Innes), and the monster, but due to what can only be assumed budgetary constraints, most of their dialog occurs when the characters are offscreen.

The plot is very faithful to The Blair Witch Project, right down to a Velma closeup in the woods, and Shaggy and Scooby “losing” (eating) the map. The gang embarks deep into the recesses of the woods to investigate a monster, with Velma documenting the adventure with a handheld camera. They interview the (live-action) locals, abandon the Mystery Machine on the side of the road, and traverse the deep wilderness.

A pile of rocks is actually Scooby Snacks. Monsters rattle their tent at night, and Scrappy-Doo (Innes) turns up to double-down on the gang’s increasingly elevated misery. While The Scooby-Doo Project boasts a surprisingly excessive amount of laughs, the live-action element proves to be creepy. The woods in which Mystery Inc. explore are genuinely terrifying, and some of those cartoon sound effects go beyond the traditional silliness and channel something creatively spooky.

In addition, there’s also something genuinely terrifying about seeing the faces of Fred, Velma, and the rest of the gang. Presently on YouTube, there’s a video of the special that follows a gaggle of equally unnerving promotional material Cartoon Network aired leading up to its premiere. What a phenomenal effort made by all involved to create one of the best Scooby-Doo works I’ve yet to see.

NOTE: The Scooby-Doo Project is available to watch on YouTube, free of charge.

Voiced by: Scott Innes, Mary Kay Bergman, Frank Welker, and B.J. Ward. Directed by: Chris “Casper” Kelly, Larry Morris, and Steve Patrick.