It's Mean, It's Green, It's the Mystery Machine

It's Mean, It's Green, It's the Mystery Machine is the fifth episode of the first season of What's New, Scooby-Doo?.

Premise
When Scooby, Shaggy and the rest of the gang are chased by their van, the Mystery Machine, when it goes "rogue", they must get to the bottom of the mystery before someone gets hurt.

Synopsis
Shaggy and Scooby are strolling down a street, when their van, the Mystery Machine, suddenly comes to life. At first they don't realize, but then they realize that Fred isn't driving it. The van turns around and plays a spooky music riff. The two run for their lives.

The rest of the gang are having drinks when the other two burst in hysterically. They claim that the Mystery Machine is chasing after them. They go and investigate and find that the van isn't moving and still waiting in the same spot. But then, while Fred is driving, it suddendly takes over and they head straight towards a road barrier and almost crash until Scooby releases an installed parachute. They thankfully stop before colliding with the barrier.

They go to see Murph, a mechanic, who seems keen on buying the van for a reasonable price. The gang refuse. Abruptly and without notice, the van pulls out of the garage and drives away with oil leaking onto the road. The gang follow this trail of oil and it leads them to a house. They knock on the door and a woman answers. She turns out to be the mother of the Mystery Kids, Andy and Mandy Dinwiddie. She seems keen on bringing them back to life in the music world. The kids don't seem so enthusiastic.

The gang are told by the Kids and their mother about Flash Flannigan, their late pianist who stormed off stage during a performance. They say he went to 'Rock and Roll Heaven'. When leaving, the gang bump into a brother of Andy and Mandy that Susan didn't mention. He says that he's working on a science project.

The gang head into the city center, but they are followed by the Mystery Machine, which attacks them, glowing eerie green lights and playing spooky music riffs. Luckily, the gang manage to escape. They find a cab and head towards the university where Randy is working. He explains that he's working with animatronic mechanisms, that allow him to control anything wireless.

Seeing that Murph seems the only person capable of helping them, they go back to the garage and find a 'private' back room, which happens to be filled with Mystery Kids merchandise and videos. When putting one of the films on, it talks about how Flash Flannigan disappeared and how a flower appears on his gravestone. The gang decide to investigate the graveyard.

When there, they see Andy and Mandy kneeling next to the grave of their friend. Fred suspects something. The Mystery Machine suddenly arrives and starts chasing the gang, until it finally nets Shaggy with the doors. On their scooters, the gang chase the van down the wrong side of the motorway. The Mystery Machine stops and a policeman gives Shaggy and Fred a warning for the trouble caused.

When the Mystery Machine is kept in custody with the police, the gang head to see the mystery kids prepare for their show. Murph happens to be there. Velma decides to hold a seance and Daphne improvises by pretending to call to Flash in the spirit world. The Mystery Machine coincidentally arrives, to Daphne's surprise. Velma has a plan ready though and drops a lead-lined cover over the van, meaning that wireless control doesn't work. When they pull back the table cloth, the culprit turns out to be Susan Dinwiddie who had been controlling the machine using a wireless control, which she learned while helping Randy with his homework.

It turns out that she only wanted the Mystery Kids to return to fame. Andy and Mandy disagree, and then drop their instruments and join Randy. Murph makes an appearance and offers another price for the Mystery Machine. Once again, the gang refuses.

Villains

 * Mystery Machine controlled by Susan Dinwiddie (redeemed)

Locations

 * Theater
 * Smoothie Shop
 * Murph's Rod Shop
 * Dinwiddie home
 * Defries Technical Academy
 * Flash Flannigan's grave

Notes/trivia

 * The Dinwiddies seem to be a parody of the Partridge Family or the Von Trapp family. Susan, their mother, sounds somewhat like the animated Mrs. Partridge from a 70's Partridge Family cartoon, who was voiced by Joan Gerber, and not Shirley Jones.
 * A car that drives by itself and attacks may be a reference to the Steven King book and movie, Christine. Another movie called Super Hybrid also uses a similar concept to this episode.
 * Daphne makes a reference to The Wizard of Oz.
 * This is the first (and only) episode in the series' history to give a canon backstory to the Mystery Machine's history.
 * This is one of two instances where something connected to the gang becomes a monster, the other being Shaggy in Big Appetite in Little Tokyo.

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches

 * Just before the Mystery Machine cornered the gang in the ally, the top and bottom colours changed over for a second.
 * Just after Shaggy is caught the doors are fully blue, but when the Mystery Machine drives off the bottom of the doors is green.

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities

 * None known.

Home media

 * What's New, Scooby-Doo?: Volume 2 - Safari, So Goodi! VHS.
 * What's New, Scooby-Doo?: Volume 2 - Safari, So Goodi! DVD.
 * What's New, Scooby-Doo?: Complete 1st Season DVD set released February 20, 2007.
 * Scooby-Doo! Mystery in Motion DVD released June 11, 2012.

Quotes
"We really need to find a new mode of transport, all this walking is for the birds!"
 * - Shaggy