''Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase'' is a 2001 American

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy w ...

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

science fiction comedy Science fiction comedy (sci-fi comedy) or comic science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that exploits the science-fiction (SF) genre's conventions for comedic effect. Comic science fiction often mocks or satirizes stand ...

mystery film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, i ...

, and the fourth in a series of direct-to-video animated films based on

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

's ''

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the original series, ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are ...

Saturday morning cartoon "Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre's popularity had a br ...

s. It was released on October 9, 2001. The film was produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. In spite of its grimmer atmosphere, it also has a lighter tone, similar to its predecessor, '' Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders''. It is the final Hanna-Barbera production to be executive produced by both

William Hanna William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator and cartoonist who was the creator of ''Tom and Jerry'' as well as the voice actor for the two title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the anim ...

and

Joseph Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian ...

before Hanna's death on March 22, 2001. It is also the fourth and final ''Scooby-Doo'' direct-to-video film to be animated overseas by Japanese animation studio

Mook Animation is an animation studio based in Japan and started in 1986. Mook Animation formed a business alliance with DLE (company), DLE in 2006 and was known as Mook DLE; however they ended their partnership in 2008. Mook has created animation services for ...

. This film, along with ''

Aloha, Scooby-Doo! ''Aloha, Scooby-Doo!'' is a 2005 American animated adventure film, and the eighth in a series of direct-to-video animated films based upon the ''Scooby-Doo'' Saturday morning cartoons. It was produced and completed in 2004 by Warner Bros. Animati ...

'', was part of the first ''Scooby-Doo'' films to be re-released on Blu-ray on April 5, 2011. This was also the first film to feature Grey DeLisle as the voice of

Daphne Blake Daphne Blake is a fictional character in the ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise. Daphne, depicted as coming from a wealthy family, is noted for her beauty, orange hair, lavender heels, fashion sense, and her knack for getting into danger, hence the nick ...

after the death of

Mary Kay Bergman Mary Kay Bergman (June 5, 1961 – November 11, 1999), also credited as Shannen Cassidy, was an American voice actress and voice-over teacher. She was the lead female voice actress on ''South Park'' from the show's 1997 debut until her death. Thr ...

in 1999. It was also the last film where Scott Innes voiced Scooby-Doo and Shaggy, as well as the last film where B. J. Ward voiced Velma. The ''Scooby-Doo'' direct-to-video films would not feature real supernatural creatures again until ''

Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King ''Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King'' is a 2008 direct-to-DVD animated comedy horror film, and the twelfth in the series of ''Scooby-Doo'' direct-to-video films produced by Warner Bros. Animation (though it used a Hanna-Barbera logo at the end of t ...

''.

Plot

Mystery Inc. visits their old friend and college student, Eric, who has invited them to see a prize-winning computer game he made based on their adventures and a high-tech laser, both of which intends to enter at a campus science fair. Upon arrival, the gang learn a "Phantom Virus" materialized from Eric's game and attacked him before his teacher, Professor Kaufman, drove it off with a high-powered magnet and that it has been terrorizing the campus ever since. While investigating potential suspects Eric; Kaufman; Bill, Eric's best friend and baseball-loving programmer; and grumpy campus security guard, Officer Wembley, the gang encounter the Phantom Virus before someone uses Eric's laser to beam them all into his game, where the gang learn that they must complete every level by finding a box of Scooby Snax to get out of the game. Following initial difficulties in the first three levels, the gang progress quickly until they reach the final level, where they meet cyber-versions of themselves. After escaping from the Phantom Virus, the cyber-gang reveal that they know where to locate the final box of Scooby Snax, and lead the original gang to an amusement park, where they battle real versions of monsters that Mystery Inc. have previously faced and unmasked as human criminals. Eventually,

's cyber-double distracts the Phantom Virus so the original Scooby can grab the last box of Scooby Snax, deleting the Phantom Virus and returning the gang to the real world. Using baseball-related clues they found and phrases the Phantom Virus used during their adventure, they reveal Bill as its creator. Following a failed escape attempt, he is arrested by Wembley and reveals that he was jealous that Eric's video game was chosen for the science fair over his even though he had been at the school two years longer, so he created the Phantom Virus to scare Eric away and claim the prize money for himself. Fearing that Mystery Inc. would discover he had created the virus, he beamed them into cyberspace in the hope that they would not survive. Afterwards, the gang and Eric go to a local restaurant to celebrate and reunite with the cyber-gang. In a

post-credits scene A post-credits scene (commonly referred to as a stinger or credit cookie) or mid-credits scene is a short clip that appears after all or some of the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV series, or video g ...

, the gang tells the audience what their favorite parts of the film were.

Voice cast

* Scott Innes as

and

Shaggy Rogers Norville "Shaggy" Rogers is a fictional character and one of the main characters in the ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise. He is generally depicted as an amateur detective, cowardly, lazy, and the long-time best friend of his equally cowardly dog, Sco ...

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

as Fred Jones * Grey DeLisle as

* B.J. Ward as

Velma Dinkley Velma Dinkley is a fictional character in the '' Scooby-Doo'' franchise. She is usually seen wearing a baggy orange turtleneck sweater, a short pink pleated skirt (or in later episodes an A-line skirt, or sometimes shorts), knee socks, Mary Ja ...

Joe Alaskey Joseph Francis Alaskey III (April 17, 1952 – February 3, 2016) was an American actor, voice actor, broadcaster, impressionist and stand-up comedian. Alaskey was one of Mel Blanc's successors at the Warner Bros. Animation studio until his de ...

as Officer Wembley *

Bob Bergen Robert Bergen (born March 8, 1964) is an American voice actor. He voices Warner Bros. cartoon characters Porky Pig and Tweety and has voiced characters in the English dubs of various anime. He formerly hosted the children's game show ''Jep!'', ad ...

as Eric Staufer *

Tom Kane Thomas Kane Roberts (born April 15, 1962) is a retired American voice actor. He is best known for his work in animation and video games, most notably in the '' Star Wars'' franchise. Career Kane began his voice-over career in 1977, at fifteen ye ...

as Professor Kaufman * Mikey Kelley as Bill McLemore *

Gary Sturgis Gary Anthony Sturgis is an American actor, musician, writer, director, producer, teacher and entrepreneur, known for his role as Bar Patron and other characters in the television series ''America's Most Wanted'', and for providing the voice of Eb ...

as The Phantom Virus

Production

''Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase'' is the fourth direct-to-video ''Scooby'' feature, and was the last for the original team that worked on the first four films. The team was led by Davis Doi, and included Glenn Leopold, Jim Stenstrum, Lance Falk, and others. They had previously clashed with studio executives who suggested outside screenwriters for the second ''Scooby'' film, ''Witch's Ghost''. For ''Cyber Chase'', it was the same situation: executives recommended Mark Turosz, a writer already under contract with Warner Bros. who had little experience with animation. The crew had produced the first ''Scooby'' film, ''Zombie Island'', as well as the third, ''Alien Invaders'', with total autonomy, and were insulted by Warner's insistence that they use Turosz's script. The team were particularly critical of Turosz's draft of the script, which according to Falk was considered a regression in terms of the franchise's potential. They felt its pacing and plot line were unsatisfactory. In addition, it was reportedly poorly formatted and unfamiliar with the animation process. For example, the script included complicated camera moves impossible to do with their budget, as well as countless locales that would prove tedious to design. As a result, the original team moved onto other projects after the film's completion. The next ''Scooby'' feature, '' Legend of the Vampire'', was also written by Turosz. Stenstrum initially suggested they explore using live-action actors for scenes set inside the video game, though the idea was quickly dropped. Out of the first four films, ''Cyber Chase'' features the largest array of storyboard artist credits, as the team were under significant time constraints and required additional help. ''Cyber Chase'' was also the last ''Scooby'' film to feature animation produced at Japanese studio Mook Animation.

Reception

Despite having a lack of critical consensus and reviews, the film has a 60% approval on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, based on five reviews.

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

gave the film a two out of five stars, saying, "The gang's trapped in a video game; peril, cartoon violence."

Home media release

''Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase'' was released October 9, 2001 for both VHS and DVD formats. The film was re-released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

on March 29, 2011. This was the first animated Scooby-Doo film to be produced in the high-definition format.

Video game

A video game based on the film was released by THQ in 2001 for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...

and

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...

. This is the first Scooby-Doo video game to be on a sixth-generation handheld.

References

External links

* * * {{Warner Bros. animation and comics 2001 films 2001 animated films 2001 direct-to-video films 2000s American animated films American children's animated comic science fiction films American children's animated science fantasy films American children's animated mystery films Warner Bros. Animation animated films Warner Bros. direct-to-video animated films Films set in universities and colleges Films about video games Films about virtual reality Films directed by Jim Stenstrum Scooby-Doo direct-to-video animated films 2000s children's animated films 2000s English-language films