Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island is a 1998 direct-to-video animated comedy horror film based on Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo Saturday-morning cartoons. In the film, Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, Velma, and Daphne reunite after a year-long hiatus from Mystery, Inc. to investigate a bayou island said to be haunted by the ghost of the pirate Morgan Moonscar. The film was directed by Jim Stenstrum, from a screenplay by Glenn Leopold.

Popularity for Scooby-Doo had grown in the 1990s due to reruns aired on Cartoon Network. The channel's parent company, Time Warner, suggested developing a direct-to-video (DTV) film on the property. The team at Hanna-Barbera consisted of many veteran artists and writers. Much of the original voice actors of the series were re-casted for the film, although Frank Welker returned to voice Fred Jones. It was also the first of four Scooby-Doo direct-to-video films to be animated overseas by Japanese animation studio Mook Animation. Rock bands Third Eye Blind and Skycycle contribute to the soundtrack.

Zombie Island contains a darker tone than most Scooby-Doo productions, and is notable for containing real supernatural creatures rather than people in costumes. The film was released on September 22, 1998, and received positive reviews from critics, who complimented its animation and story. The film was aided by a $50 million promotional campaign, and sponsorship deals with multiple companies. Sales of the film on VHS were high, and it became the first in a long-running series of DTV Scooby-Doo films. Two decades after the film's release, Warner Bros. developed a sequel, Return to Zombie Island, released in 2019.

Plot
The members of Mystery, Inc. go their separate ways after becoming bored of mystery solving. Daphne Blake, along with Fred Jones, starts running a successful television series. Velma Dinkley becomes the proprietor of a mystery bookstore, and Scooby-Doo and his owner Shaggy Rogers bounce from job to job. For Daphne's birthday, Fred decides to get the gang back together for a road trip while Daphne is filming her show.

After encountering a lot of fake monsters, the gang finally arrives in New Orleans. They are soon invited by a young woman named Lena Dupree to visit Moonscar Island, her employer's home, which is allegedly haunted by the ghost of the pirate Morgan Moonscar. Although the gang is skeptical, they go with Lena, to whom Fred has taken a fancy.

On the island, the gang meets Lena's employer Simone Lenoir as well as the ferryman Jacques and Simone's gardener Beau Neville, to whom Daphne takes a fancy. They also meet Snakebite Scruggs, an ill-natured fisherman, and his hunting pig, Mojo. The gang sets out to prove that the "ghost" is a fake. Scooby and Shaggy are chased by Mojo and end up falling into a big hole, where they encounter the ghost and reanimated corpse of Morgan Moonscar. By the time the rest of the gang comes to investigate, Moonscar is not around.

Simone invites the gang to her house to stay for the night. As the gang is dressing up for dinner, Shaggy sees the ghost of a Confederate colonel in the mirror; Simone explains that the island was a temporary headquarters for a Confederate regiment during the American Civil War. Due to Scooby's antagonism to Simone's cats, he and Shaggy eat in the Mystery Machine, but find the food spicy and get some water from the lake, where an army of zombies emerge. Shaggy's bad driving gets the Mystery Machine stuck in the mud, forcing him and Scooby to flee on foot.

Fred and Daphne find the Mystery Machine, but no sign of Shaggy and Scooby. They argue about each other's supposed love interests and come across Scooby and Shaggy. They manage to capture a zombie, which is revealed to be real after Fred pulls its head off thinking it's a mask. As the zombies swarm around them, the gang splits in panic. Elsewhere, Scooby and Shaggy discover wax voodoo dolls that look like Fred, Velma and Daphne, and they play with them, causing their friends to undertake a series of involuntary actions for a short time until they leave after disturbing a nest of bats.

Fred, Daphne, Velma and Beau return to Simone's house and discover a secret passage under the staircase. They find Lena, who tells them that the zombies took Simone away. Daphne, Fred, Velma, Lena and Beau find a secret chamber for voodoo rituals, where Velma finds footprints of Simone's heels and interrogates Lena about the story. Simone then appears, and she and Lena use voodoo dolls to trap the gang in the chamber. They reveal themselves to be evil cat creatures. Simone tells them that two hundred years ago, she and Lena were part of a group of settlers who were devoted to a cat god. The vengeful Lena and Simone asked their cat god to curse Morgan Moonscar and his pirate crew, who had chased the settlers into the bayou to be killed by alligators. Their wish was granted and they killed the pirates, but the curse caused the duo to become cat creatures permanently, requiring that they drain life forces every harvest moon to preserve their immortality. They also gave Jacques immortality so they had a ferryman to bring them more victims. The zombies were their previous victims (pirates, Confederate soldiers, settlers and tourists) who awaken every harvest moon to try to stop others from suffering the same fate and were trying to warn the gang to leave.

By now, Jacques has transformed into his werecat form, and started chasing Shaggy and Scooby. After catching them, the zombies then appear and pin Jacques to the ground, giving Scooby and Shaggy their chance to escape. The two of them accidentally tumble into the cave, interrupting the draining ceremony and distracting the cat creatures. Velma quickly unties herself and creates voodoo dolls of Lena and Simone to interrupt their ritual. When they are finally cornered, the cat creatures' curse expires, causing Simone, Lena and Jacques to disintegrate, freeing the zombies' souls to rest in peace. Beau is then revealed to be an undercover police officer sent to investigate the disappearances on the island. Daphne offers Beau a chance to guest-star on her show and discuss the adventure. The next morning, Fred and Daphne become a couple again and everyone leaves the island via ferry to head back to town. A post-credits scene shows Scooby making peace with some of Simone's cats by giving them a saucer of milk.

Voice cast

 * Scott Innes as Scooby-Doo
 * Billy West as Shaggy Rogers
 * Mary Kay Bergman as Daphne Blake
 * Frank Welker as Fred Jones
 * B.J. Ward as Velma Dinkley
 * Adrienne Barbeau as Simone Lenoir
 * Tara Strong (credited as Tara Charendoff) as Lena Dupree
 * Cam Clarke as Detective Beau Neville
 * Jim Cummings as Jacques
 * Mark Hamill as Snakebite Scruggs
 * Jennifer Leigh Warren as Chris
 * Ed Gilbert as Mr. Beeman

Origins and story
The Scooby-Doo franchise, which by the time of the film's release was nearing its 30-year mark, had entered into a period of diminishing returns in the early 1990s. After the conclusion of the sixth iteration of the series, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, the character became absent from Saturday-morning lineups. In 1991, Turner Broadcasting System purchased Hanna-Barbera, the animation studio behind Scooby, largely to fill programming at a new, 24/7 cable channel centered on animated properties: Cartoon Network. The advent of cable gave the franchise renewed popularity: rapidly, Scooby reruns attracted top ratings. Zombie Island was not the first attempt at a feature-length Scooby adventure; several television films were produced in the late 1980s starring the character, such as Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School. In 1996, Turner merged with Time Warner. Davis Doi, in charge at Hanna-Barbera, was tasked with developing projects based on the studio's existing property. Warner executives suggested Scooby, given that the property held a high Q Score, and proposed it could be a direct-to-video feature film.

The team assembled to work on the production were veterans of the animation business, and had most recently worked on SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest. Screenwriter Glenn Leopold had been with the franchise since 1979's Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. The film was directed by Jim Stenstrum, who had worked on Scooby projects beginning in 1983 The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show. As the film was considered a one-off experiment by studio brass, the crew worked with little oversight and complete creative freedom. Doi and writer Glenn Leopold developed the film's story, with Leopold receiving sole credit for the screenplay. Much of the script is recycled from Leopold's script for the unfinished SWAT Kats episode, "The Curse of Kataluna". Jim Stenstrum, the film's director, suggested in early story meetings that the monsters in the film be real—previous Scooby outings were nearly always "bad guys" in rubber masks. Leopold disagreed, noting that throughout the franchise's history, it always remained a simple, solvable mystery. Stenstrum felt this worked for a half-hour television episode, but might grow tiresome over a feature film length. Lance Falk, who worked as model coordinator on the film, suggested they combine both ideas.

Voice cast
Casey Kasem was originally set to reprise his role as Shaggy, but had recently gone vegan and demanded the character follow suit and cut all meat and dairy from his diet. The creative team found this absurd, given that eating anything and everything was a hallmark of the character for decades. In addition, they had already began production on Zombie Island, which features Shaggy indulging in crawfish and more. The team decided to recast Shaggy with voice actor Billy West. They gave Kasem a last-minute reprieve before recording the film, noting that they could pay-or-play West, though Kasem still refused. Radio personality Scott Innes ended up voicing Scooby-Doo, as Don Messick, the character's original voice actor, passed away in 1997. Mary Kay Bergman was cast as Daphne, while B.J. Ward, who played Velma in a Johnny Bravo crossover episode, reprised her role for this film.

Frank Welker is the only actor from the original series to reprise his role, as Fred Jones. He had initially worried that the producers would replace him as well, given that the producers believed his voice had gone down an octave. The voice director kept requesting Welker perform the voice at a higher pitch. Welker insisted his voice was the same, as Fred's voice is close to his natural speaking voice. The team went back and viewed early Scooby-Doo episodes and found that Welker's impression was more or less the same. Bob Miller, of Animation World Network, suggested that the reruns of Scooby-Doo aired on Cartoon Network perhaps gave them a false idea of the character's voice, as the episodes were typically time-compressed (or sped-up) to allow more room for commercials, thus giving all of the show's soundtrack a higher pitch.

Animation
Japanese animation studio Mook Animation were contracted to work on the film; Doi had a relationship with the team at Mook as they had previously collaborated on Swat Kats and Jonny Quest. Hiroshi Aoyama and Kazumi Fukushima directed the film as well, but are not credited on the picture. The film was animated and is presented in standard 1.33:1 full frame format. The team were allowed more time to work on the film, as there was no real set schedule—just delivery to the home video department upon completion. The American crew re-designed the series cast for the film, giving them an update fashion-wise. The team felt Fred and Daphne, with their ascots and his bell-bottoms, felt particularly out-of-date. They briefly changed Shaggy's shirt color to red and gave him sneakers, though they quickly relented, as they viewed his original outfit as more timeless.

The group were trusted by the studio's management as they had worked together for a long time, and all involved on the film had a real passion for the project. Drew Gentle was the main background designer for the project, with Falk contributing to the film's color key. Occasionally, the crew would hire freelance artists to contribute to ancillary designs. In addition, the group enlisted the assistance of Iwao Takamoto—the original designer of Scooby-Doo, still on salary at Hanna-Barbera—for advising on scenes. Takamoto called the film "a good solid mystery", and storyboarded several sequences of interplay between Shaggy and Scooby.

Music
Composer Steven Bramson, who is known for Tiny Toon Adventures, JAG and the Lost in Space film, wrote all the music for the feature. The soundtrack for the film features three songs composed specifically for the film. "The Ghost Is Here" and "It's Terror Time Again", both written by Glenn Leopold, were performed by Skycycle. The title track, "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!", was performed by Third Eye Blind.

Themes
This and the following three films had a darker tone than the original animated series (Scooby-Doo, Where are You! and several spinoffs), and the marketing emphasized: "This time, the monsters are real." However, it's worth noting that Scooby writers had introduced real supernatural elements into the franchise back in 1980 with the second season of  Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, possibly to avoid some of the show's formulaic trappings. In the first segment, "A Close Encounter with a Strange Kind," the series takes its first delve into science fiction when Shaggy is abducted by real aliens. In the second segment, "A Fit Night Out for Bats," Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy spend the night in a castle with a real vampire and eventually escape from him. No attempt is made at an unmasking, and the characters do not comment on how unusual it is for them to meet a real monster.

Supernatural elements would continue to be incorporated through the remaining Scrappy series and through TV movies until Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988). However, there are several notable differences between this production and earlier ones to feature real monsters. First, Fred, Daphne and Velma are all present; they had frequently been absent during the earlier adventures. Second, Scrappy is absent from this story, as he has been in all productions since 1988 (except for comical cameos). Third, this was the first storyline to focus on the gang's surprise at the monsters not being fake. So Zombie Island does at least feature some breaks with tradition.

Release
The film was released on VHS on September 22, 1998 through Warner Home Video. Because of the cost of production, the tape retailed at $19.95, which was higher than other direct-to-video titles of that era. Sales for the film exceeded the studio's expectations, according to a 1999 Billboard article. It was released on DVD on March 6, 2001, and later re-released in 2008 as a double-feature on DVD alongside the third direct-to-video Scooby film, Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (2000).

The film was aided by a reportedly $50 million promotional push, as advertisers believed the character's iconic nature would generate strong sales, and deserved "equal visibility to a theatrical release." Tie-ins included the Campbell Soup Company, SpaghettiOs, 1-800-COLLECT, Wendy's, LEGO, and Cartoon Network, who debuted the film on television on October 31, 1998, after a month themed after the series. It was also promoted as part of the network's "Wacky Racing" sponsorship deal with Melling Racing in 1998, as the third of four paint schemes featured on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series #9 Ford Taurus driven by then-rookie Jerry Nadeau. The paint scheme debuted at Richmond International Raceway in the Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400 on September 12, 1998, and was featured on the car through the Dura Lube Kmart 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on October 25, 1998, for a total of seven races out of the thirty-three race schedule. The promotional push was, at the time, the biggest marketing support in Warner Bros. Family Entertainment's history.

Reception
The film received positive reviews from critics, and currently holds a "Fresh" rating of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Donald Liebenson of the Chicago Tribune described the film as "ambitious" and calls it "a nostalgic hoot [that] resurrects all the touchstones of the original cartoons." Entertainment Weekly Joe Neumaier praised the film as "Fast, fun, and filled with knowing winks, the mystery honors the show’s beloved structure, but writ large." A 1998 New York Times article by Peter M. Nichols complimented the film as "well-made." Lynne Heffley at the Los Angeles Times called the film "more entertaining than you'd expect, despite the familiar Saturday morning-type animation."

Later assessments of the film have been similarly positive. Michael Mallory at the Los Angeles Times credited it and its subsequent features for "[spinning] the characters into more modern treatments of action and horror, and toyed with [a] self-spoofing quality."

Sequel
A direct sequel, titled Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island, had its world premiere at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 21, 2019, followed by a digital release on September 3, 2019 and a DVD release on October 1, 2019.