![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brendalaI can't believe it's taken me this long to get to episode one!
Well, here it is! Hope it was worth the wait:
Because this is the first episode, the characters are slightly different and it has a few elements that got scrapped later on. Despite that, it does a good job of setting up the universe and the characters. And it’s insanely fun and extremely cute, too.
We open at the Rogers’ house. And no, this episode does not take place during Christmas time. The Rogers are just one of those tacky families that like to keep their Christmas decorations up year round.
And then we hear Narrator-Shaggy establishing the world he lives in and his morning routine. His boss drops off the papers for his paper route; and Scooby serves as his alarm clock.
Shaggy sends him out to load the papers onto his bike. But, because this is a Scooby Doo show, a monster pops out of nowhere and steals Shaggy’s bike away.
Scooby calmly runs in to tell Shaggy about this unexpected turn of events…
And then we cut to the Scooby Doo Detective Agency Tree House HQ.
In a rare moment of insight and Daphne-style sarcasm, Freddy commends Shaggy for taking the stolen bike situation like a man.
Daphne wonders who would want Shaggy’s crappy old bike (yeah, she’s a bit of a snot here) and Scooby tells her about the monster.
Daphne gives her first of many “there’s no such thing as ghosts/monsters” lectures and Fred posits that, since Daphne says it can’t be a monster, then the thief must be
***Drumroll***
Red Herring!
Since this is the first episode, the other kids go along with Fred’s “let stalk Red to his hideout and try to find evidence against him plan” without any resistance. Apparently, they haven’t learned to tune Fred out yet.
Red’s hideout is in a spooky swamp in Coolville’s Weirdo Woods (damn, Red is a pretty bizarre kid). Shaggy is understandably freaked about going in. And his fears are magnified when he hears the normally calm and collected Daphne screaming bloody murder!
…and then it turns out that she was screaming because her boots got dirty. Can’t say I blame her, those Faye Valentine boots are gorgeous!
A swamp monster emerges to terrify the gang. But it turns out to be Red Herring in disguise (he just wanted to freak them out for s**ts and giggles).
While Freddy is giving Red the third degree, Velma and Scooby scuttle around looking for clues
And they find a bicycle in the bushes.
Fred thinks the mystery is all wrapped up. But Shaggy tells him that the bike isn’t his (Shaggy’s bike is red, the bike in the bushes is blue). Freddy, being Freddy, assumes that Red painted Shaggy’s bike to cover up the theft. So he whips out a sander and strips the paint!
Only to discover that Shaggy was right. Red is understandably pissed that his paint job was ruined and proceeds to kick Freddy’s ass while the gang stands by and does nothing.
Cut to Shaggy’s house:
The girls (and Scooby) are wearing cute nurse and doctor outfits and tending to Freddy’s injuries.
Shaggy is standing by, reading a comic book, and whining about how now they’ll have to dip into the Scooby Doo Detective Agency’s treasury to buy Red a new bike.
"Screw you Fred. You had it coming."
Velma looks at Fred’s track injuries and dramatically shouts “AH HA”. Promping the entire gang to react in shock at the sound of Velma actually speaking!
FUN FACT: According to the show’s producers, the original plan for Velma’s character was for her to be practically mute and only speak when she found a clue. That plan was ditched when they realized that not allowing the smartest character in the cast to speak made it extremely difficult to explain the clues and wrap up the mysteries at the end of episodes. So for the first few episodes, Velma comes across as a cuter, girlier version of Harpo Marx.
Back to the episode!
Velma fiddles on her computer
Then she points to the tracks, and then to Scooby. And then the two proceed to be adorable.
From this little game of charades, the gang figures out that Scooby can sniff the tracks from Shaggy’s bike and lead them to the thief.
Scooby drags Shaggy to the location he sniffs out via leash while the rest of the gang follows in the proto-Mystery Machine (a little motorized skateboard with the Mystery Machine’s flower pattern on it).
This skateboard never got an official name in this show (I think they just called it “Velma’s skateboard”); so I’ve chosen to dub it “The Proto-Mystery Machine” unless someone else can give me a better name for it.
Oh, and apparently Velma is quite the little speed demon. I guess it’s always the quiet ones
Scooby’s super-sniffer leads them to the The Daily Babbler newspaper building and right into the office of Shaggy’s boss, Mr Conrad.
Mr Conrad makes pleasant small talk with Shaggy and, while Shaggy fills him in on why they’re there, Scooby has an over the top allergic reaction to the printing ink.
This causes Mr Conrad to immediately go from being jolly to being pissed off and kicking the kids out of the office.
Luckily, Scooby sniffs another lead. And we get this cool traveling shot of the kids!
Cut to the kids at the gates of the spooky old Furgeson Estate.
Obligatory scary lightning shot!
After bribing Scooby with a Scooby snack, the kids enter using their best “sneaky walks”
And Fred utters a classic Fredism
“We’re sure to find Shaggy’s bike and stay safe if we all stick together. So LET’S SPLIT UP GANG!”
And, since this is only episode one and Daphne hasn’t learned to stomp over him and take over yet, the gang goes along with his plan. Fred pairs Velma with Shaggy & Scooby (presumably so she can keep them from escaping) and Daphne with him and they go on their merry ways.
Shaggy is understandably freaked out about having to investigate a cemetery. But he puts on a brave front and asks Scooby to check the cellar while he and Velma go look around. It's a bit odd to see him calling the shots when Velma is right there. But I guess he has to be the one taking charge since Velma isn’t a big talker yet.
When Scooby freaks, Shaggy volunteers to look. And then this happens.
Velma and Scooby try to hide from the monster by burrowing under Shaggy’s shirt (no, really!). I guess that’s why he always wears baggy clothes.
When they all try running into different directions, Scooby gets launched into the air.
The trio tries to fill Fred and Daphne in on what they found. And after a few seconds of incoherent babbling, Shaggy finally manages to say that a ghost attacked them. Prompting Daphne to begin her “there’s no such thing as ghosts” speech.
But her speech is suddenly interrupted by a mystery woman.
The woman’s sudden appearance startles Fred and Daphne…
…and frightens Velma and Scooby (causing them to hop right back under Shaggy’s shirt). So, in addition to being a lot quieter in the early episodes, Velma is also a lot easier to scare.
Maybe Scooby ships them and he gave Velma the idea to hide in there! ~_^
The woman’s name is Shirley McLoon (no relation to the valley girl duck from Tiny Toons). And she claims to be a world famous psychic medium.
She claims that her psychic powers have lead her to that house because evil spirits haunt the place. Naturally, Daphne thinks Shirley is a hack and doesn’t hesitate to accuse her of spewing bullcrap. And she does so with an epic hair flip of dismissiveness!
When Shirley claims that the “Evil spirits” are speaking through her and telling the kids to GET OUT NOW OR DIE; Daphne and Fred (yes, THAT Fred) are skeptical.
And Shaggy, Velma, and Scooby totally believe her. Apparently, in addition to being silent, Pup-Velma was also originally intended to be a bit more gullible, naïve, and easily spooked.
After delivering the supernatural death threat, Shirley casually strolls away and leaves the kids to continue trespassing in the creepy and dangerous estate. But on her way out, she drops her camera.
Fred identifies the camera as a “spy camera”. And he posits that Shriley is an alien from Mars who is stealing bicycles as part of an elaborate plot to take over the world (of course!).
Before Fred can elaborate, Scooby finds Shaggy’s bike fender and a trail of footprints leading to the front door of the main house
Fred assures the gang that he wont let them down if they just follow him. And then he leads them onto loose a loose floorboard and they all plummet into the basement
This turns out to be a happy accident. As the gang falls right into a huge pile of cash!
HELL YEAH!!!!!
Since Daphne is already wealthy, she’s unimpressed by the money pile and simply gets down to business and asks where it came from. And Fred is sure that Crazy Shirley vaporized Fort Knox with her alien technology and teleported the money into the spooky house.
Shaggy doesn’t care what either of them has to say and reacts by saying “Whoo! Forget my crappy old bike! I can buy a million new bikes now!”.
And Scooby proves himself to be the coolest member of the team by channeling Scrooge McDuck.
Sadly, Velma is forced to burst Shaggy’s bubble when she realizes that all the bills have the same serial number (which proves they’re all counterfeit).
The monster chooses this time to burst in
Forcing Velma to push a mystery button and trigger a trap in order to get them all out of there
The kids fall into the bowels of the basement. Which looks like a medieval dungeon with random fire pits scattered about.
The kids find a printing press in the dungeon. And Fred is sure that it’s there so the martians can make travel brochures to lure humans to their home planet so they can eat us like in that Twilight Zone episode!
The gang ignores him and keeps investigating. And Scooby literally stumbles on the missing bike.
ouch
Velma shocks the gang by saying “Jinkies” and revealing that the bike chain is missing.
She quickly realizes that the chain is attached to the printing press. But the monster attacks before she can share her find with the rest of the gang.
Fred orders the gang to split up to evade the monster, and this leads us into our first musical chase sequence. And boy is it a doozy!
We get the stairway chases
We get our first look at the recycled dance animations we’ll see a LOT throughout the rest of the series and we also get to see them dance alone,
And in various groups
And we get to see Daphne show off her mad skills by running, dancing, and applying makeup at the same time. Is she talented, or what?
We also get a “Velma loses her glasses” sequence. Surprisingly, this classic gag is only used once in A Pup Named Scooby Doo. But the one time they do it, they go absolutely NUTS with it! It starts with poor Velma tripping and losing her glasses
Awww, poor baby.
After her glasses fall off, she immediately turns into Mr Magoo and starts crawling right toward a freakin fire pit!
HOLY HELL!!!! O_o
Luckily, Scooby is there to save the day
He puts her on a ceiling beam. And she immediately walks off it and falls directly onto the monsters head. Dang! It’s like watching an episode of Mindy and Buttons!
Lucky for Velma, Scooby is there to save her again
You may be wondering what the rest of the gang is doing while Velma is narrowly avoiding a firey death. They’re….still dancing. And completely oblivious to her plight.
YAY! PRIORITIES!!
Scooby takes a moment to showboat before setting Velma back safely on the ground and retrieving her glasses.
And Velma thanks him for being the only member of their team who actually lifted a finger to help her
Shaggy could have gotten some of that if he had just stopped dancing and helped her!
I guess this explains why Velma and Scooby are so close in this series. When her glasses come off, Scooby is the only one willing to drop everything in order to keep her alive. If she ever loses her glasses during a dance routine and Scooby isn’t around, she will die. And she knows it.
This sequence is so crazy I just had to capture it here for y’all. So, if the screen shots aren’t enough for you, watch it here:
Anyhoo, after the song ends, Daphne, Fred, and Shaggy are cornered by the monster while Velma and Scooby hide behind the printing press
Velma and Scooby find more of the allergy inducing ink. And said ink causes a violent sneezing fit that makes Scooby bounce off the walls and knock the monster onto the press.
Which gives Velma the chance to turn on the machine and put the monster through the ringer!
Freddie breaks the forth wall and asks the audience if they know who the monster really is.
Then he reviews the facts. He starts off by reminding us that Shirley McLoon is a suspect and her motive is that she’s an alien spy from Mars who wants to take over the universe.
But just then, Daphne finds Shirley locked in a closet (I guess the monster locked her in there). Turns out she’s an undercover agent for the US Treasury. She had been investigating the counterfeit operation for months. And I guess she sucks at her job because a bunch of grade schoolers beat her to the punch
Fred accuses Red Herring. And the girls ignore him so they can remind the audience of the one big clue (the green ink that made Scooby sneeze and was found at both the newspaper office AND the crazy fire pit dungeon).
Velma unmasks the crook and reveals him to be…
Mr Conrad!
Shaggy is shocked! He asks his boss why he would steal the bike; and Mr Conrad says he knew Shaggy’s bike had the right size chain, so he decided to just take it.
Personally, I think that going to a bike shop and buying a chain would have been WAY easier for Mr Conrad than making a monster suit and stealing from a kid who (a) does freelance detective work, (b) is the son of a cop, and (c) knows him personally and would have inevitably questioned him about the theft of the bike and newspapers.
...but hey, I guess that's why I'm not a Scooby Doo villain. :P
As Shirley hauls Conrad away, Shaggy and Scooby take the opportunity to tell him that they don’t want to deliver his dirty papers anymore and quit the paper route job!
You go boys!!
And the gang celebrates a job well done.
Cut to Fatty’s Malt Shop (it’s too bad we don’t see much of this place later on. It’s pretty cool)
Shaggy shows off the front page story about them to the audience. And I just LOVE this picture! Not only is it cute as heck, but it does a great job of showcasing everyone’s personalities.
Shaggy brings up that he’s looking for a new part time job. And Freddy responds by saying, “Yeah, you’re gonna need one to pay our fee!”
…geez, what a douche! Can’t he have a little sympathy for the poor guy who just lost his job!? And what ever happened to employee discounts? Their group is named after Shaggy’s dog! Shouldn’t that entitle him to a damned freebie!?
And the callousness isn’t limited to Fred. Daphne (the girl who is so rich she could buy Coolsville 10 times over) reminds Shaggy that the fee is 10 cents a day plus food expenses. I guess the Blakes didn’t get rich by showing mercy to the lower classes.
Shaggy, being a much better person than I am, thinks that’s fair and asks to see the food bill. When he does, he flips out and demands to know who’s been pigging out (which is a pretty hypocritical accusation coming from him)!
Turns out the piggy was Scooby Doo. Scooby decided that he wanted the most patriotic sundae on the menu. And little American garnish flags are NOT cheap! Sucks to be you, Shaggy!
In conclusion: This is one of my favorite episodes. It does a good job of setting up this radically different new version of the franchise. And you get a feel for the characters’ new personalities and dynamics right away. Not all of the character traits introduced in this episode end up sticking for the rest of the series (mainly Harpo-Velma and Semi-intelligent-Freddy); but all the good stuff is present from the get go; which is pretty unique considering the time period this show was produced in.
And I liked how the characters were split up into their classic pairings (Scooby/Shaggy/Velma and Freddy/Daphne). It made my inner shipper squee. ^_^
Well, here it is! Hope it was worth the wait:
Because this is the first episode, the characters are slightly different and it has a few elements that got scrapped later on. Despite that, it does a good job of setting up the universe and the characters. And it’s insanely fun and extremely cute, too.
We open at the Rogers’ house. And no, this episode does not take place during Christmas time. The Rogers are just one of those tacky families that like to keep their Christmas decorations up year round.
And then we hear Narrator-Shaggy establishing the world he lives in and his morning routine. His boss drops off the papers for his paper route; and Scooby serves as his alarm clock.
Shaggy sends him out to load the papers onto his bike. But, because this is a Scooby Doo show, a monster pops out of nowhere and steals Shaggy’s bike away.
Scooby calmly runs in to tell Shaggy about this unexpected turn of events…
And then we cut to the Scooby Doo Detective Agency Tree House HQ.
In a rare moment of insight and Daphne-style sarcasm, Freddy commends Shaggy for taking the stolen bike situation like a man.
Daphne wonders who would want Shaggy’s crappy old bike (yeah, she’s a bit of a snot here) and Scooby tells her about the monster.
Daphne gives her first of many “there’s no such thing as ghosts/monsters” lectures and Fred posits that, since Daphne says it can’t be a monster, then the thief must be
***Drumroll***
Red Herring!
Since this is the first episode, the other kids go along with Fred’s “let stalk Red to his hideout and try to find evidence against him plan” without any resistance. Apparently, they haven’t learned to tune Fred out yet.
Red’s hideout is in a spooky swamp in Coolville’s Weirdo Woods (damn, Red is a pretty bizarre kid). Shaggy is understandably freaked about going in. And his fears are magnified when he hears the normally calm and collected Daphne screaming bloody murder!
…and then it turns out that she was screaming because her boots got dirty. Can’t say I blame her, those Faye Valentine boots are gorgeous!
A swamp monster emerges to terrify the gang. But it turns out to be Red Herring in disguise (he just wanted to freak them out for s**ts and giggles).
While Freddy is giving Red the third degree, Velma and Scooby scuttle around looking for clues
And they find a bicycle in the bushes.
Fred thinks the mystery is all wrapped up. But Shaggy tells him that the bike isn’t his (Shaggy’s bike is red, the bike in the bushes is blue). Freddy, being Freddy, assumes that Red painted Shaggy’s bike to cover up the theft. So he whips out a sander and strips the paint!
Only to discover that Shaggy was right. Red is understandably pissed that his paint job was ruined and proceeds to kick Freddy’s ass while the gang stands by and does nothing.
Cut to Shaggy’s house:
The girls (and Scooby) are wearing cute nurse and doctor outfits and tending to Freddy’s injuries.
Shaggy is standing by, reading a comic book, and whining about how now they’ll have to dip into the Scooby Doo Detective Agency’s treasury to buy Red a new bike.
"Screw you Fred. You had it coming."
Velma looks at Fred’s track injuries and dramatically shouts “AH HA”. Promping the entire gang to react in shock at the sound of Velma actually speaking!
FUN FACT: According to the show’s producers, the original plan for Velma’s character was for her to be practically mute and only speak when she found a clue. That plan was ditched when they realized that not allowing the smartest character in the cast to speak made it extremely difficult to explain the clues and wrap up the mysteries at the end of episodes. So for the first few episodes, Velma comes across as a cuter, girlier version of Harpo Marx.
Back to the episode!
Velma fiddles on her computer
Then she points to the tracks, and then to Scooby. And then the two proceed to be adorable.
From this little game of charades, the gang figures out that Scooby can sniff the tracks from Shaggy’s bike and lead them to the thief.
Scooby drags Shaggy to the location he sniffs out via leash while the rest of the gang follows in the proto-Mystery Machine (a little motorized skateboard with the Mystery Machine’s flower pattern on it).
This skateboard never got an official name in this show (I think they just called it “Velma’s skateboard”); so I’ve chosen to dub it “The Proto-Mystery Machine” unless someone else can give me a better name for it.
Oh, and apparently Velma is quite the little speed demon. I guess it’s always the quiet ones
Scooby’s super-sniffer leads them to the The Daily Babbler newspaper building and right into the office of Shaggy’s boss, Mr Conrad.
Mr Conrad makes pleasant small talk with Shaggy and, while Shaggy fills him in on why they’re there, Scooby has an over the top allergic reaction to the printing ink.
This causes Mr Conrad to immediately go from being jolly to being pissed off and kicking the kids out of the office.
Luckily, Scooby sniffs another lead. And we get this cool traveling shot of the kids!
Cut to the kids at the gates of the spooky old Furgeson Estate.
Obligatory scary lightning shot!
After bribing Scooby with a Scooby snack, the kids enter using their best “sneaky walks”
And Fred utters a classic Fredism
“We’re sure to find Shaggy’s bike and stay safe if we all stick together. So LET’S SPLIT UP GANG!”
And, since this is only episode one and Daphne hasn’t learned to stomp over him and take over yet, the gang goes along with his plan. Fred pairs Velma with Shaggy & Scooby (presumably so she can keep them from escaping) and Daphne with him and they go on their merry ways.
Shaggy is understandably freaked out about having to investigate a cemetery. But he puts on a brave front and asks Scooby to check the cellar while he and Velma go look around. It's a bit odd to see him calling the shots when Velma is right there. But I guess he has to be the one taking charge since Velma isn’t a big talker yet.
When Scooby freaks, Shaggy volunteers to look. And then this happens.
Velma and Scooby try to hide from the monster by burrowing under Shaggy’s shirt (no, really!). I guess that’s why he always wears baggy clothes.
When they all try running into different directions, Scooby gets launched into the air.
The trio tries to fill Fred and Daphne in on what they found. And after a few seconds of incoherent babbling, Shaggy finally manages to say that a ghost attacked them. Prompting Daphne to begin her “there’s no such thing as ghosts” speech.
But her speech is suddenly interrupted by a mystery woman.
The woman’s sudden appearance startles Fred and Daphne…
…and frightens Velma and Scooby (causing them to hop right back under Shaggy’s shirt). So, in addition to being a lot quieter in the early episodes, Velma is also a lot easier to scare.
Maybe Scooby ships them and he gave Velma the idea to hide in there! ~_^
The woman’s name is Shirley McLoon (no relation to the valley girl duck from Tiny Toons). And she claims to be a world famous psychic medium.
She claims that her psychic powers have lead her to that house because evil spirits haunt the place. Naturally, Daphne thinks Shirley is a hack and doesn’t hesitate to accuse her of spewing bullcrap. And she does so with an epic hair flip of dismissiveness!
When Shirley claims that the “Evil spirits” are speaking through her and telling the kids to GET OUT NOW OR DIE; Daphne and Fred (yes, THAT Fred) are skeptical.
And Shaggy, Velma, and Scooby totally believe her. Apparently, in addition to being silent, Pup-Velma was also originally intended to be a bit more gullible, naïve, and easily spooked.
After delivering the supernatural death threat, Shirley casually strolls away and leaves the kids to continue trespassing in the creepy and dangerous estate. But on her way out, she drops her camera.
Fred identifies the camera as a “spy camera”. And he posits that Shriley is an alien from Mars who is stealing bicycles as part of an elaborate plot to take over the world (of course!).
Before Fred can elaborate, Scooby finds Shaggy’s bike fender and a trail of footprints leading to the front door of the main house
Fred assures the gang that he wont let them down if they just follow him. And then he leads them onto loose a loose floorboard and they all plummet into the basement
This turns out to be a happy accident. As the gang falls right into a huge pile of cash!
HELL YEAH!!!!!
Since Daphne is already wealthy, she’s unimpressed by the money pile and simply gets down to business and asks where it came from. And Fred is sure that Crazy Shirley vaporized Fort Knox with her alien technology and teleported the money into the spooky house.
Shaggy doesn’t care what either of them has to say and reacts by saying “Whoo! Forget my crappy old bike! I can buy a million new bikes now!”.
And Scooby proves himself to be the coolest member of the team by channeling Scrooge McDuck.
Sadly, Velma is forced to burst Shaggy’s bubble when she realizes that all the bills have the same serial number (which proves they’re all counterfeit).
The monster chooses this time to burst in
Forcing Velma to push a mystery button and trigger a trap in order to get them all out of there
The kids fall into the bowels of the basement. Which looks like a medieval dungeon with random fire pits scattered about.
The kids find a printing press in the dungeon. And Fred is sure that it’s there so the martians can make travel brochures to lure humans to their home planet so they can eat us like in that Twilight Zone episode!
The gang ignores him and keeps investigating. And Scooby literally stumbles on the missing bike.
ouch
Velma shocks the gang by saying “Jinkies” and revealing that the bike chain is missing.
She quickly realizes that the chain is attached to the printing press. But the monster attacks before she can share her find with the rest of the gang.
Fred orders the gang to split up to evade the monster, and this leads us into our first musical chase sequence. And boy is it a doozy!
We get the stairway chases
We get our first look at the recycled dance animations we’ll see a LOT throughout the rest of the series and we also get to see them dance alone,
And in various groups
And we get to see Daphne show off her mad skills by running, dancing, and applying makeup at the same time. Is she talented, or what?
We also get a “Velma loses her glasses” sequence. Surprisingly, this classic gag is only used once in A Pup Named Scooby Doo. But the one time they do it, they go absolutely NUTS with it! It starts with poor Velma tripping and losing her glasses
Awww, poor baby.
After her glasses fall off, she immediately turns into Mr Magoo and starts crawling right toward a freakin fire pit!
HOLY HELL!!!! O_o
Luckily, Scooby is there to save the day
He puts her on a ceiling beam. And she immediately walks off it and falls directly onto the monsters head. Dang! It’s like watching an episode of Mindy and Buttons!
Lucky for Velma, Scooby is there to save her again
You may be wondering what the rest of the gang is doing while Velma is narrowly avoiding a firey death. They’re….still dancing. And completely oblivious to her plight.
YAY! PRIORITIES!!
Scooby takes a moment to showboat before setting Velma back safely on the ground and retrieving her glasses.
And Velma thanks him for being the only member of their team who actually lifted a finger to help her
Shaggy could have gotten some of that if he had just stopped dancing and helped her!
I guess this explains why Velma and Scooby are so close in this series. When her glasses come off, Scooby is the only one willing to drop everything in order to keep her alive. If she ever loses her glasses during a dance routine and Scooby isn’t around, she will die. And she knows it.
This sequence is so crazy I just had to capture it here for y’all. So, if the screen shots aren’t enough for you, watch it here:
Anyhoo, after the song ends, Daphne, Fred, and Shaggy are cornered by the monster while Velma and Scooby hide behind the printing press
Velma and Scooby find more of the allergy inducing ink. And said ink causes a violent sneezing fit that makes Scooby bounce off the walls and knock the monster onto the press.
Which gives Velma the chance to turn on the machine and put the monster through the ringer!
Freddie breaks the forth wall and asks the audience if they know who the monster really is.
Then he reviews the facts. He starts off by reminding us that Shirley McLoon is a suspect and her motive is that she’s an alien spy from Mars who wants to take over the universe.
But just then, Daphne finds Shirley locked in a closet (I guess the monster locked her in there). Turns out she’s an undercover agent for the US Treasury. She had been investigating the counterfeit operation for months. And I guess she sucks at her job because a bunch of grade schoolers beat her to the punch
Fred accuses Red Herring. And the girls ignore him so they can remind the audience of the one big clue (the green ink that made Scooby sneeze and was found at both the newspaper office AND the crazy fire pit dungeon).
Velma unmasks the crook and reveals him to be…
Mr Conrad!
Shaggy is shocked! He asks his boss why he would steal the bike; and Mr Conrad says he knew Shaggy’s bike had the right size chain, so he decided to just take it.
Personally, I think that going to a bike shop and buying a chain would have been WAY easier for Mr Conrad than making a monster suit and stealing from a kid who (a) does freelance detective work, (b) is the son of a cop, and (c) knows him personally and would have inevitably questioned him about the theft of the bike and newspapers.
...but hey, I guess that's why I'm not a Scooby Doo villain. :P
As Shirley hauls Conrad away, Shaggy and Scooby take the opportunity to tell him that they don’t want to deliver his dirty papers anymore and quit the paper route job!
You go boys!!
And the gang celebrates a job well done.
Cut to Fatty’s Malt Shop (it’s too bad we don’t see much of this place later on. It’s pretty cool)
Shaggy shows off the front page story about them to the audience. And I just LOVE this picture! Not only is it cute as heck, but it does a great job of showcasing everyone’s personalities.
Shaggy brings up that he’s looking for a new part time job. And Freddy responds by saying, “Yeah, you’re gonna need one to pay our fee!”
…geez, what a douche! Can’t he have a little sympathy for the poor guy who just lost his job!? And what ever happened to employee discounts? Their group is named after Shaggy’s dog! Shouldn’t that entitle him to a damned freebie!?
And the callousness isn’t limited to Fred. Daphne (the girl who is so rich she could buy Coolsville 10 times over) reminds Shaggy that the fee is 10 cents a day plus food expenses. I guess the Blakes didn’t get rich by showing mercy to the lower classes.
Shaggy, being a much better person than I am, thinks that’s fair and asks to see the food bill. When he does, he flips out and demands to know who’s been pigging out (which is a pretty hypocritical accusation coming from him)!
Turns out the piggy was Scooby Doo. Scooby decided that he wanted the most patriotic sundae on the menu. And little American garnish flags are NOT cheap! Sucks to be you, Shaggy!
In conclusion: This is one of my favorite episodes. It does a good job of setting up this radically different new version of the franchise. And you get a feel for the characters’ new personalities and dynamics right away. Not all of the character traits introduced in this episode end up sticking for the rest of the series (mainly Harpo-Velma and Semi-intelligent-Freddy); but all the good stuff is present from the get go; which is pretty unique considering the time period this show was produced in.
And I liked how the characters were split up into their classic pairings (Scooby/Shaggy/Velma and Freddy/Daphne). It made my inner shipper squee. ^_^
