Thursday, April 12, 2012

DVD Review - The Best of Archie's Weird Mysteries



I recently won a giveaway that including several cartoon DVDS and as soon as I ripped open the box I saw the cool cover of The Best of Archie's Weird Mysteries, which is a homage to the 50's and 60's B-movie posters. I recall watching the Archie Show when I was kid, but I was unaware of this incarnation. After doing an online search, I learned that the series lasted only one season, 1999-2000, with 40 episodes.

In this release from Cookie Jar Entertainment consists of ten episodes: 

  1. Attack of the Killer Spuds
  2. Me! Me! Me!
  3. Driven to Distraction
  4. Attack of the 50-foot Veronica
  5. Invisible Archie
  6. The Haunting of Riverdale
  7. Cure of the Mummy
  8. Fleas Release Me
  9. Mega-Mall of Horrors
  10. The Jughead Incident


Just like the cover, b-movies are the basic plot and feel of the series. After a terrible accident happened in the Riverdale's High School lab, strange things happen in the small town. Archie Andrews is a reporter for the school newspaper. He investigates every mystery along with his friends, Jughead Jones and Dilton Doliey, his girlfriends, Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge, and his frenemy, Reggie Mantle. Yes, I said girlfriends, as both Betty and Veronica are both in love with Archie.

Some of the b-movie themes are: aliens, a werewolf, a cursed mummy, a 50-foot Veronica, a ghost, creatures, and Veronica clones. In Invisible Archie, both Reggie and Archie turn invisible after a lab accident, which is a spoof of The Invisible Man movies. Most of the episodes play homage to old scifi and horror movies. My favorite was Attack of the Killer Spuds, a spoof of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but instead of pods the aliens use potatoes.

The Archie gang has a new modern day look to them, but all the old gags are still there, including Jughead's love of hamburgers and Veronica is still spoiled. As a b-movie fan and cartoon fan, I enjoyed watching these weird episodes and I recommend the DVD to other fans too.

*There is also a bonus episode from Sabrina the animated series, which also aired during the 1999-2000 season.


4 comments:

  1. We've recently watched this. My son seems to really enjoy it. The concept is similar to Scooby Doo with the mysteries they solve. And he loves Scooby Doo, so now Archie's Weird Mysteries is a common show on at our house.

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  2. We have never seen this but I am sure my boys would be very interested.

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  3. I always love reading Archie's comics. They kinda keep me entertained and I love the rival story between Betty and veronica. :D

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