Directors: Jim Falkenstein, Joanna Romersa
Stars: Casey Kasem, Don Messick, Greg Burson, Allan Melvin, Jennifer Hale, Rob Paulson
Shaggy and Scooby-Doo find their dream jobs as food tasters for a Caliph! However, when they realize that they’re tasting it to make sure that it hasn’t been poisoned they soon want to leave and try to escape. However, in their disguise they get mistaken for a wife, and Shaggy has to distract the Caliph by telling stories. One of which is a retelling of Aladdin, but swapping genders so it’s about a peasant girl Aliyah-din. The genie is played by Yogi Bear, accompanied, of course, by Boo Boo. The second story is based on Sinbad, and involves Magilla Gorilla.
Have to admit, I was expecting something different here. I was hoping for a traditional Scooby-Doo story so I was dismayed when I saw that it didn’t involve Mystery Inc. The framing story is entertaining in a way, although one of the characters is a Chef so I’m not sure why they’d have to have food tasters to check for poison when there’s only one person making the food. Anyway the first story is okay and it’s quite interesting to have a twist on the usual story of Aladdin. Yogi and Boo Boo are entertaining as well. It was more of a serious story though. The second story is more slapstick. I’m not familiar with Magilla Gorilla but I always like the ‘dim but nice’ characters, and there was a great moment at the beginning where is confused as to which ship he has to board, “Well, this must be the right one because it’s on the right!”.
It wasn’t really for me since I wanted a more straightforward Scooby-Doo story, but it’s not bad.
