Some of my favorite characters from my childhood will get to take on their toughest adversaries ever next year at Universal Studios Hollywood.
The theme park confirmed last week that it would bring back its spring after-hours Universal Fan Fest Nights event for a second year. The park also announced that one of next year’s Fan Fest attractions will be a backlot mashup of Scooby-Doo and the Universal Monsters.
That could be an all-time great combination. Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne and Fred have been exposing monsters ever since the Hanna-Barbera animated series debuted in 1969. Of course, most of those “monsters” turned out to be ruses — crooks and con artists disguised as monsters to scare off witnesses or anyone else who would stand in the way of their misdeeds.
Putting Scooby-Doo and the gang up against real monsters creates some great storytelling opportunities. Theme parks mash up characters from different franchises all the time. But parade character floods and simple mash-ups such as those found in Disneyland’s Avengers Campus offer the theme park equivalent of a Comic-Con show floor. They provide great photo ops and wonderful meet-and-greet opportunities. Yet they lack the coherent storytelling that drives great theme park experiences.
Scooby-Doo can be a tricky franchise for a theme park attraction. The best episodes split the gang, creating multiple story arcs for the characters. That can be tough to recreate on a theme park ride, which usually demands a linear story arc.
The best implementation of Scooby-Doo in a theme park to date has been “Scooby-Doo! The Museum of Mysteries,” at Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, which uses a trackless ride system to recreate the narrative chaos of a classic Scooby-Doo episode. But an interactive experience such as what Universal did with Back to the Future at Fan Fest Nights last spring would provide an even better medium for a Scooby-Doo theme park adventure.
Fan Fest Nights would not be the first time that Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolf Man and other classic monsters have shared space with Scooby-Doo and the gang. Versions of those characters have appeared in multiple Scooby-Doo productions over the years. Universal’s classic monsters also have shared the screen with comedy acts, starting with a series of crossover movies featuring Abbott & Costello, in the 1950s.
But most of those productions fell into the trap of self-parody that ensnares so many attempts at franchise crossovers. That just amplifies my excitement for what Universal will attempt with Scooby-Doo and its classic monsters, though. There is some risk here.
Halloween Horror Nights did not include a Universal Monsters house this year, so it will be nice to see these characters back in the park for Universal Fan Fest Nights. But I want to see the best version of those characters going up against the best version of the Scooby-Doo gang. Because at their best, the “meddling kids” on Scooby-Doo and the Universal Monsters disguised smart social commentary within their stories.
I hope that Universal honors these characters at Fan Fest Nights by embracing that opportunity and not just settling for a parody or photo op.