Never Ape an Ape Man

Never Ape an Ape Man is the seventh episode of the first season of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!.

Premise
The gang take jobs as extras on the set of Daphne's uncle, John Maxwell's, movie set of The Ape Man of Forbidden Mountain. But, a real apeman has been sabotaging the movie and Mystery Inc. need to catch this ape before he causes the movie to end permanently.

Synopsis
Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby take jobs as extras on the movie set of The Ape Man of Forbidden Mountain, directed by Daphne's uncle, John Maxwell. Uncle John states that filming has not been going well, considering local legends say that a real apeman is haunting the grounds. During filming, the lead role, Candy Mint gets attacked by a real Ape Man who tries to throw her off of a narrow bridge. Scooby comes in and saves Candi and then after settling down, they decide to go look for the stuntman Carl, who was supposed to be playing as the Ape Man. They find Carl locked in a trunk and he says a large hairy animal locked him in there.

Candi and Carl quit until the Ape Man is caught and Mystery Inc. go look in an old mansion for the Ape Man. They find a half-eaten hamburger. Apes eat meat? It's a clue, and after investigating it, Scooby gobbles it up (though Shaggy refuses to eat after an ape). Later on the set, the gang encounters a live parrot that says "Stick 'em up! What's the password?" Then a motionless Ape Man model is hurled toward Shaggy, whom demolishes it in the struggle, only stopping his panic attack once he realizes it's only a stuffed dummy. Later in the library set, Freddy winds up falling through a trapdoor (thanks to Daphne), and then the Ape Man disguises as Scooby-Doo to encounter the real Scooby at a phony "mirror." Once unmasked, Scooby manages to ward off the Ape Man, but only temporarily, before finding Freddy and the gang set up a trap. Shaggy and Scooby are sent out as bait (thanks to some Scooby Snacks, and a "Shaggy Snack" made exclusively for Shaggy), and when playing billiards they discover the Ape Man posing as a hunting trophy head. They manage to lure the ape to the trap, but it backfires (Shaggy winds up caught instead). So, the ape runs off into the basement and the gang follows him through a secret cave that leads back to the dressing rooms. Shaggy and Scooby enter a trailer, and Shaggy finds a old-timey camera. They play around with masks and other costume parts, until the Ape Man enters without his mask, and Shaggy snaps a picture before fleeing. The two run into the rest of the gang, and before Shaggy can reveal the picture, the Ape Man chases them back to the old mansion and upstairs. Freddy flips a switch, where the stairs convert to a ramp, sending the Ape Man sliding and crashing into a pile of furniture. The picture Shaggy took reveals Carl the stuntman as the ape. And, sure enough, the ape is unmasked as Carl, who was angry for not getting the lead role. He was clever to lock himself up in the trunk, but he wasn't clever enough for Mystery Inc. The episode closes out with Scooby and Shaggy having some more disguise fun, Scooby in the Ape Man's head, and Shaggy wearing the Scooby-Doo mask from earlier.

Villains

 * Ape Man/Carl

Suspects
None

Locations

 * Starstruck Productions
 * Mountain
 * Bridge
 * Underground
 * Trailers
 * Old mansion

Notes/trivia

 * Scooby shows a rare amount of courage when he manages to fight and chases off the Ape Man early in the episode.
 * Shaggy calls Scooby "Laddie", after the son of the famous Lassie, the titular character in the 1945 MGM film, Son of Lassie.
 * The villain is not unmasked in the episode, but revealed through a photograph (a first in the series).
 * Carl's costume was surprisingly his own (another first in the series). He was supposed to be the Apeman in the movie, but it turns out he was pretending to be a real apeman while disguised as one.

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches

 * During the scene when Scooby, Shaggy and Velma find the parrot in the old mansion, Velma's eyes disappear in one shot.
 * When Fred pushed a button to flatten the steps, he didn't push a button at all.

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities

 * When Velma was prepared to pull down the trap switch, it was the middle one. After Scooby got off her, she reached for the middle one again, but it was the light switch.
 * Where did Carl get a rubber Scooby-Doo mask? It is likely he may have had it made by a professional make-up artist on the set, but creating a latex mask can take quite a while (sometimes a few days.)
 * Why would the film crew leave a live parrot on the set after they had quit working on the movie? Hopefully someone remembered to feed it.

Home media

 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons DVD set.
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: Volume 2 - Bump in the Night DVD.
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series DVD set.
 * Scooby-Doo! and the Movie Monsters DVD released November 20, 2012.
 * Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright DVD set to be released August 20, 2013.
 * Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright Blu-ray Disc set to be released August 20, 2013.