Has there ever been an episode of Scooby-Doo that did not use the conjure-up-a-local-ghost-to-divert-attention-from-a-crime plot device?
Sure. A great many of the abysmal episodes from the 80s abandoned the whole mystery-hunting premise altogether.
As a general rule, if it doesn’t have Fred in it, and if it’s also missing either Velma or Daphne, then it’s from that wretched era. Doubly wretched if a certain scrappy pup is also in the cast.
In the original series, there was the one with the robot in the amusement park, which was a real robot built to run the park that had just gone awry. In the end of the episode it was fixed and running the park nicely. No criminal at all.
IIRC, those were the “13 (or whatever number it was) Ghosts of Scooby-Doo!” (the only good part of this series was the voice-over in the opening credits done by Vincent Price.)
The plot of those was that real ghosts were unleashed by Scooby/Shaggy/Scrappy, and they went around to put them back in their box (I think it might have even been Pandora’s Box, or a pretty obvious allegory for it.)
The episodes had Scooby, Shaggy, Scrappy, and like half of them had Velma, but no Fred or Daphne…and I think some ten year old boy in a yellow hoodie or something? Maybe that was another Scooby-Doo series, but at any rate, if it had yellow hoodie boy, it also lacked Fred and Daphne…I think…
I don’t think there are any Scooby-Doo episodes (aside from maybe more recent ones, like 90’s or 2000’s, that I don’t know anything about) that lacked Fred and Daphne, but didn’t have Scrappy. I can’t imagine what the producers were thinking with him.
"Ok, so you know how no one likes Scrappy-Doo? Well, what if, they only hate him because he doesn’t have enough screen-time? We’ll get rid of a couple of characters, and make it so there’s more of Scrappy, and that will make everyone love him!
The only good Scooby Doo is the original Scooby Doo. All others are just pale imitations.
Especially the ones with Scrappy. I hated that puppy. (Words I’ve never used in any other context.)
Meh. I like the way the new ones are going, even if Shaggy’s voice is really messed up.
Also, there was one episode recently where the bad guy used a villain from a video game, instead of a local spirit. It was one of those ones where the people go inside the video game.
Also, I didn’t dislike the one with the monster’s daughters, nor the one where they are in a race with supernatural beings.
HEY! Watch where you’re slingin’ those insults, pal!
My son has been watching Scooby Doo at his grandma’s house, and he has borrowed some of her DVDs to watch at our house.
My question is, does every episode end with “And it would have worked, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids!” It seems like I’ve heard that in every episode I’ve seen (a very limited number.)
Why didn’t the cast just begin gang tackling the kindly farmer or creepy old woman the met in each opening? that was always the villan. It would have saves them a lot of time and scooby snacks.
duh duh duh DUM dee DUH! PUPPY POWER! 
Loads.
We just watched one where the baddie was an evil inventor whose robots turned against him. At one point the Yul-Brynner-alike robot dragged the inventor into a shed, the man all the while screaming ‘not my brain! You can’t have my brain!’ implying that they’d been turning people’s brains into robots. Scooby Doo:the Sadistic Years.
Judging by the title, I thought you were going to direct me to a place where I could watch every episode. 
Also, in the original series, there was an episode that featured a switch on the usual format in that the “ghost/monster” turned out to be the good guy. As I remember (and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the episode), the owner of a house dressed up as a headless ghost to scare away some baddies who were using (or planning to use) his property for nefarious purposes. In the end, after Shaggy, Scooby, et al., discovered his charade, he teamed up with the gang to bring the crooks to justice.
[quote=“NDP, post:12, topic:551192”]
Asa Shanks, My greedy neighbor! --Haunted House Hangup. Pretty much a straight ghost story that also featured a headless specter as the good guy.