Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights [1994]

Another fairly desperate attempt to wring more from Hanna-Barbera's played-out franchises. Scooby-Doo and Shaggy, not looking much like themselves despite the familiar voices of Casey Kasem and Don Messick, arrive in Arabia by flying carpet and get jobs as food-tasters for a near-sighted sultan. The expected gag soon has Shaggy disguised as a harem girl and putting off his wedding to the sultan by telling stories: a version of Aladdin with a female hero [Aliyah-Din] and Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo as the genie and his apprentice, and a take on Sinbad the Sailor with Magilla Gorilla [whom we never got in the UK, so I've no idea if he's on-model or not].

The first story is a mini-feature, with a wicked wazir who impersonates the prince to get hold of the lamp and becomes literal master of the universe for a while, but the second is just a series of gags [then again, the original is pretty picaresque] as Magilla Sinbad and a pint-sized, greedy pirate captain set sail to steal various items – a roc's egg, some jewels from a rollercoaster and a golden toothbrush owned by an effete cyclops who is upset at missing Cats to protect his property. The Sinbad sequence has a few Looney Tunes-style spot gags, but this is mostly thrown-together without thought, and doesn't even have much in the way of H-B inside jokery [TC and the Flintstones and Dick Dastardly don't get a look in]. Among the voices: Eddie Deezen, John Kassir, Allan Melvin, Frank Welker.
KIM NEWMAN

First published in this form here.

Visit Kim's Official Website at www.johnnyalucard.com