Scooby-Doo! And Guess Who? - S01E23 - A Run Cycle Through Time! - Toonstalgia

Scooby-Doo! And Guess Who? - A Run Cycle Through Time!

Season 1, Episode 23

Premiered July 2, 2020

Quickly

Malcolm McDowell takes the gang on a trip through time.

Thoughts, Details and Recap

The gang is driving through the desert near Santa Barbara. A wormhole opens and a monster comes out. This is the first episode where I noticed the outline that appears to belong to recurring clown Simone in the opening credits. 

Malcolm McDowell comes out to meet the gang. Apparently, they were traveling to meet him to answer an invitation. He invites them into his work shed. He claims to have invented a time machine.

They are attacked by a monster. Shaggy and Scooby are spared from being chased for a while as they are busy eating. They note the food all tastes the same. Everyone flees on the time machine into the future. Shaggy and Scooby apparently destroy the world in their travels.

While fleeing from the monster, Malcolm is knocked off the carousel. They arrive further in the future. The future is a land of devastation and floating robots. They meet Scooby-Doo's future self. He's part robot and attacks them. Cyborg Shaggy and Malcolm show up and save them. Cyborg Shaggy and Robo-Scooby fight.

Shaggy and Scooby make a vow to always be best friends. This transforms the future into a paradise.

The Chronobeast attacks again. They flee on the time machine. They miss a perfect opportunity to reference A Pup Named Scooby-Doo when a younger Scooby and Shaggy appear. They kind of look like their counter parts but not enough for it to be a reference. The warping background makes the chase hard to look at.

They land again in the distant future. The carousel is destroyed. Velma has a plan to capture the beast. It works. Velma reveals they never time traveled. They were in a high tech soundstage. Malcolm explains he was trying to convince them time travel was real so they would endorse their park. The gang agrees to endorse the park because they were had fun. 

The RoboScooby and Cyborg Shaggy are revealed to be sentient animatronic robots. They steal the Mystery Machine.

This was a really interesting and fun episode. It's not really a mystery even if there's an unmasking. It's a great adventure piece that reminds me of "Epic" or "Escape in Time" from the 60s series, The Avengers. I like that it's something different.