brendala

This episode takes place on an Indian reservation. I think you know what this means: We get to see some awkward, unintentional, 80s-era cartoon racism! HOORAY!!

Our episode opens with a nice landscape pan…

...and a not-so-subtle cameo

Shaggy lets us know that the gang is spending their weekend camping at an Indian reservation (note: at no point is the term “Native American” used. I guess it wasn’t invented until the 90s or something).

Shaggy and Scooby proceed to embarrass themselves by putting on feathers & war paint and running around greeting people with “HOW, Paleface!”

No really. This is what they do.

Fred proceeds to make it worse by complimenting them on how much they look like “real Indians”. But this isn’t surprising because Pup-Fred is an established moron

Thankfully, Daphne is savvy enough to let them know that they’re being tools and she tells them that the Indians in Wild West movies are nothing like the ones who exist in the real world

A real Native American kid arrives and tells Shaggy that Daphne is right and his people are no different than the rest of civilized society

And Shaggy replies by embarrassing himself (and Daphne) by greeting the Native American kid thusly..

“How. Me Shaggy. Him Scooby.”

Daphne is both embarrassed and pissed off by Shaggy’s racist dumbassery and makes no effort to hide this fact (have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE this version of Daphne?)

However, The Native American kid takes it all in stride and introduces himself. His name is Warren, and he works as a guide for the campsite. He explains that his tribe lives in a nearby town (not teepees or straw hutches) and that the wooded area is mainly a campsite for tourists.

Shaggy and Scooby then assume that his whole tribe is made up of mighty warriors who throw tomahawks and kill lots of stuff. Because this cartoon just wasn’t uncomfortable enough already.

Daphne finally gets sick of being embarrassed by them and forces them to go collect firewood even though she knows they’re terrified of being in the forest. Normally, I’d say that was a bitch move. But I can’t really blame her right now.

Oh, and it turns out Daphne has a crush on Warren and sent Shaggy and Scooby away so they wouldn’t screw up her potential love life with their unintentional racism. Again, can’t really blame her. Warren does look like a young John Redcorn (Too bad he doesn’t seem to share her affection).

Cut to Shaggy and Scooby in the woods. Just as soon as they ditch the silly headdresses and make up, a nearby totem pole comes to life and attacks them.

Just as the rest of the gang is wondering what’s taking them so long, they arrive on the campsite to let the gang know that a mystery is afoot.

Surprisingly, the gang doesn’t believe Shaggy’s story about a totem pole monster running around (which is surprising considering that these kids have been chased by giant hamburgers before). Not even ~~Dale Gribble~~ Fred buys the story (he believes that totem monsters only live on Mars). But Warren and his grandfather overhear the gang’s argument and he tells them that totem pole monsters are VERY real.

Warren’s grandfather is the former tribal leader. And he says that the appearance of the totem is the fulfillment of an old tribal legend about how the spirits will arise whenever the sacred land is threatened. And, since a land developer is trying to force Grandpa out of his house to make room for a hotel, he believes that the spirit has come to life to protect him.

And Shaggy and Scooby are relieved to know that their bone-headed cultural appropriation and racist behavior didn’t trigger the monster

After Grandpa leaves, Warren tells the gang that he’s been hearing strange noises in the woods every night. This prompts Fred to offer up their detective services...

...and Daphne to offer up…something else

Cut to the woods. Velma finds a clue. And subtly gets the gangs attention...

...so they can examine it. It turns out to be a bead from Grandpa’s necklace!

After that, the Land Developer drives in looking for Grandpa.

He lets the kids know that he’s not a bad guy and that he wants to build the hotel (called the “Indian Inn” XP) because it will help the reservation get more tourist money. Daphne tells the guy that the Grandfather is upset because the land is sacred and that a gaudy hotel (with a stupid name) is disrespectful. But the Land Developer laughs it off and says that Grandpa is just sore because he’d have to move. Before he drives off, Velma makes sure to check out the contents of his truck

Cut to night time at the campsite

The gang is hanging out around a campfire, and Warren says he has a gift for them. Daphne assumes it’s a romantic present just for her and gets herself all excited

Then she opens the box to find a stick

Warren tells them that it’s a “story stick” and that they’re supposed to pass it around and take turns telling the same story. And that the winner is the one who tells the best story. Then he takes off and heads home (presumably to avoid being sexually harassed by Daphne).

Fred loves the idea of telling campfire stories. And Daphne is just bummed that there wasn’t a necklace in that box

Sorry Daphne, but this is your future. Deal with it.

Freddy tells the first story. His story is about a great reporter named Fred Jones who was known and loved by EVERYONE.

In his ~~fantasy~~ story, everyone wears t-shirts with his face on them

Nerdy girls swoon for him

I think this is the only Fred/Velma ship tease in this show

and fashionable girls run to him and beg for help when aliens invade the planet

Turns out the aliens and the totem people are lead by….Red Herring

The story then devolves into Fantasy-Fred and Red bickering at each other. So Daphne snaps him out of it and tells him to hand the stick over to Velma

Cue Velma’s story!

She decides to pick up where Fred left off. Except in her story, Red isn’t the alien leader. In Velma’s story, the alien leader is a “Brilliant & Beautiful Extraterrestrial Princess”. And the alien’s name is “Princess Velma of the Totem People”.

I never expected Velma to cast herself as a princess (that kind of ego trip is usually reserved for Daphne and/or Fred); but it’s adorable as hell, so I’ll roll with it.

Anyway “Princess Velma” is a benevolent alien who just wants to share her planet’s advanced technology with the people of earth. Mainly, their ability to conjure pizzas out of thin air and feed them to hungry boys and puppies to win their affection.

I, for one, welcome my adorable alien overlord!

At this point, Velma has to stop her story because she gets hit with a case of the giggles. And Shaggy and Scooby declare her the winner because her story involved magic pizzas (girl knows how to bribe a jury)

Is Shaggy drooling over the pizza or the cute alien princess? I say both!

The stick then gets handed over to Daphne. In her story, the Totem aliens are evil and want to conquer earth

They try to threaten her.

But before they can attack, Daphne lets them know that their outfits suck and proceeds to force a makeover on them. And her friends serve as her fashion pit crew. Freddy marches on screen and says “Daphne always keeps us looking sharp!”

Uh, was the Evil Kineevil look considered “fashionable” on young boys back then? I don’t remember seeing many classmates sporting it.

And then Velma scuttles on screen in a fashionable….rain coat?

Scooby comes in dressed in a respectable “Sparky the Gay Dog” ensemble

And Shaggy comes in dressed like…A PIMP!?

This is what the gang looks like in Daphne’s fashion fantasies!? She thinks this looks attractive and trendy!? I don’t care that it was the 80s, there is no excuse for this nonsense!

Before Fantasy-Daphne can play dress up with the aliens, the real Totem Monster barges in and interrupts her story time.

I’m a bit disappointed that Shaggy and Scooby didn’t get a turn with the stick. But I like to imagine that their story would have involved “Princess Velma” conquering the world so they would never be without pizza again.

Anyhoo, the monster grabs Daphne, Freddy, and Velma. And Daphne yells at Scooby and Shaggy and demands that they stop making Tex Avery faces and help them!

Scooby goes with the “throw dirt on it” plan and somehow that ends up working. Go fig

They hide in a log to evade capture

And Fred suggests talking to Warren’s Grandfather about what they just saw.

Freddy grills Grandpa about his motives for wanting to scare people off; and Grandpa tells them that the ancient spirits are simply protecting his peoples’ homeland.

Velma tells the gang that they need more clues before they can pin the crime on anyone (because her computer is on the fritz), so Freddy tells the gang to split up and do some undercover work

Fred and Daphne trail Warren and find him digging a hole in the middle of the night and pulling an artifact out of it. Fred thinks this action is suspicious. But Daphne thinks it dreamy.

Fred jumps out of the bushes and angrily confronts Warren on moving sneaking around town in the middle of the night. Prompting the town residents to lean out their windows and chew Fred out for screaming accusations in the middle of the night and waking them up.

Warren explains that digging for artifacts is a hobby of his. And that he was only doing it at night because he had been busy with them all day.

Daphne buys the story and concludes that Warren is too cute to be guilty. And then she drags Fred’s ass away once he starts going on about Warren being in cahoots with the Martians (looks like Daphne will never get her John Redcorn. Oh well).

Meanwhile, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby are clue hunting in the woods.

They find a bunch of footprints surrounding a hole.

But before they can examine it, guess who shows up

Cue the chase song!!

The chase song in this episode is one of my favorites! It’s a lot of fun and I like the mock tribal chant used in the beginning and the chorus.

Oh, and there’s a really cool scene where Yogi Bear rescues the kids by threatening the totem monster with violence. No, really!

So, that cameo in the opening actually had a point beyond mere fan-service! Well played, Pup Writers!

This also means that A Pup Named Scooby Doo beat Mystery Incorporated by doing the “violent Yogi Bear” gag 20 years before they did. It also beat Mystery Incorporated by being a FAR superior reboot and not ruining any classic Hanna-Barbera characters for the sake of a gag (I can believe that Yogi would show his teeth to protect little kids). But that’s a rant for another day.

Suck it, you awful, sexist show!

MUSIC VIDEO:

Anyhoo, after Yogi buys them some time, Velma stumbles on a piece of wood from the monster and Scooby finds a hole full of artifacts. This prompts Velma to hatch a plan.

The next time the monster shows up, they tell him it’s story stick time and it’s his turn

But Shaggy immediately takes the stick back because the Totem Monster's story is unintelligible (due to the monster’s Christian Bale Batman voice)

So Shaggy hands it to Scooby. But Scooby’s speech isn’t much clearer. So Shaggy finally gets to tell a story...

In his story, the aliens are replaced by the generic, Earth bound Totem monster. And it’s terrorizing poor Daphne, Velma, and Freddy.

Just as the totem closes in on them, Commander Cool and Mellow Mutt show up to save the day.

And since this is a Shaggy-as-Commander-Cool fantasy, it contains a swooning Velma (I guess both the boys have a thing for her in this canon?)

Speaking of cannons, that’s how Shaggy saves the day in his story. A cannon full of whipped cream (he must have borrowed it from Pinkie Pie).

After Shaggy ends his story, the monster demands a turn with the stick. But Shaggy tells him that he can’t have a turn because his Commander Cool story already won (I call foul! Velma’s story was clearly the best!!)

While they’re playing tug-of-war, Velma orders a component via Fed Ex to finish off her plan (good thing there was a mailbox in the woods)

She ordered a special breed of termite that would tear apart the totem in seconds. And while this is going on, she contacts the reservation police to apprehend the suspect. And we get another Yogi cameo: Ranger Smith!

After the termite goes to town on the Totem Monster, they pull of the mask to reveal the Land Developer!

Turns out the developer really wanted the artifacts under the ground because they were valuable (the hotel plan was just a cover story so he’d have an excuse to be around the reservation every day). But he had to use the monster ruse because it’s illegal for anyone (especially paleface outsiders) to take tribal artifacts off the reservation.

After the Land Developer is hauled off, Warren and Grandpa tell the gang that they’ve decided to build a small exhibit hall near the campsite. That way, they can bring in more tourist dollars without worrying about Grandpa having to sell his house or the sacred land getting disrespected with a tacky hotel. Daphne responds to this good news by sexually harassing Warren again.

Shaggy lets Warren know that he feels bad for being a racist tool earlier and has learned his lesson about judging different cultures based on what he sees on television. This would be a heart-warming ending if Scooby didn’t feed the traditional story stick that Warren gave them to the termite immediately afterward (I guess he was pissed about not getting a turn with it and that was his way of telling his friends to suck it).

THE END

I love this episode! Yeah, Shaggy’s behavior at the beginning is kinda cringe inducing. But it’s not out-of-character for a doofus like him to assume that the “Indians” he sees on TV represent the “Indians” that exist in real life (plus, he’s just a kid). And at least we get to see Daphne call him out on his behavior and he learns his lesson without any overblown “very special episode” plotline. This was the 80s, it could have been much worse.

The campfire scenes were cute and I liked everyone’s individual take on the same basic story (and the reveal that both the guys seem to have a secret crush on Velma).

Daphne’s unrequited crush on Warren was fun to watch. The poor girl is just gonna have to accept that canon has stuck her with the blond idiot and learn to deal with it. XD