"The Vampire Strikes Back" was one of those "liked it but didn't love it" sort of episodes on first watch. Due to loving the vampire and atmosphere, but being mixed on the story and the animation. Vampires were not uncommon villains in the Scooby Doo franchise, 'The New Scooby Doo Show's' "Vampire Bats and Scaredy Cats" had a very scary villain with a dark motive in one of that show's best episodes and 'The Scooby and Scrappy Doo's' "I Left My Neck in San Francisco" had that show's best villain.
As far as Season 2 goes, "The Vampire Strikes Back' is one of the weaker ones with my initial feelings being pretty much the same now. It was great to see the Hex Girls again (one of the episode's interest points), but they could have been utilised better. It's better than "Large Dragon at Large" and particularly "Homeward Hound", neither of which bad episodes in my view but were also quite mixed in the story. But it's no "Mummy Scares Best" or "Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman", the latter of which being one of the most creative of the show.
On the most part, the animation is fine. Especially the colours and backgrounds, the vampire has a cool look too as does the ominous castle setting. The music isn't at odds with the action and has groove and atmosphere, really enjoyed the Hex Girls opening song and wished it wasn't too short. The more action oriented scenes don't come over as over-scored. The chase is good fun and well animated and there are some nice kooky supporting characters, including a Vincent Van Ghoul lookalike and a Peter Lorre-inspired hunchback.
A good deal of the writing works, Shaggy and Scooby are amusing as always and the Fred bat is priceless. The story is involving on the whole and has genuine energy and creepiness, with nothing feeling obvious. The vampire is far from goofy and has menace. Nice to see the Hex Girls again and the opening scene is truly atmosphere filled visually and musically. The voice acting is very good, as to be expected.
Not all the animation works, with some of the character animation and transitions seeming rushed. The humour also doesn't always work, with some of it sounding rather forced. Such as Fred's "tire treads bridge" line, don't like that the episode dumbs down Fred somewhat.
Did occasionally find the story confusing from trying to do a little too much towards the end, as well as being easy to figure out the writers did try to make the fairly predictable ending more complicated than needed. While the Hex Girls are cool, especially in the opening scene, they made a bigger impression in 'Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost' and did feel that they were on the underused side.
Good episode on the whole but not outstanding. 7/10.
As far as Season 2 goes, "The Vampire Strikes Back' is one of the weaker ones with my initial feelings being pretty much the same now. It was great to see the Hex Girls again (one of the episode's interest points), but they could have been utilised better. It's better than "Large Dragon at Large" and particularly "Homeward Hound", neither of which bad episodes in my view but were also quite mixed in the story. But it's no "Mummy Scares Best" or "Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman", the latter of which being one of the most creative of the show.
On the most part, the animation is fine. Especially the colours and backgrounds, the vampire has a cool look too as does the ominous castle setting. The music isn't at odds with the action and has groove and atmosphere, really enjoyed the Hex Girls opening song and wished it wasn't too short. The more action oriented scenes don't come over as over-scored. The chase is good fun and well animated and there are some nice kooky supporting characters, including a Vincent Van Ghoul lookalike and a Peter Lorre-inspired hunchback.
A good deal of the writing works, Shaggy and Scooby are amusing as always and the Fred bat is priceless. The story is involving on the whole and has genuine energy and creepiness, with nothing feeling obvious. The vampire is far from goofy and has menace. Nice to see the Hex Girls again and the opening scene is truly atmosphere filled visually and musically. The voice acting is very good, as to be expected.
Not all the animation works, with some of the character animation and transitions seeming rushed. The humour also doesn't always work, with some of it sounding rather forced. Such as Fred's "tire treads bridge" line, don't like that the episode dumbs down Fred somewhat.
Did occasionally find the story confusing from trying to do a little too much towards the end, as well as being easy to figure out the writers did try to make the fairly predictable ending more complicated than needed. While the Hex Girls are cool, especially in the opening scene, they made a bigger impression in 'Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost' and did feel that they were on the underused side.
Good episode on the whole but not outstanding. 7/10.