Gates of Gloom

Gates of Gloom is the twenty-fourth episode of the second season of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, and the fiftieth episode overall in the series.

Premise
While Mystery Inc. are away, an earthquake sucks down citizens of Crystal Cove beneath the earth!

Synopsis
The gang arrives at an airport in Crystal Cove, alongside Mayor Nettles and Velma's mom. After dropping off Velma's mom at the Spook Museum, it's become clear that Crystal Cove has become deserted, and everyone in town has been "eaten" by the ground. Later that day, after witnessing Mayor Nettles and Sheriff Stone vanish, the gang goes to Fred's house to discuss the Planispheric Disc, Nibiru, the cursed treasure, and an upcoming planetary alignment. The ground then starts to shake and open, which fails to suck the gang. Soon an armored mole-like truck emerged from the hole and Kriegstaffebots went out, shooting at the gang. Fred uses the traps in his house to literally cut the robots into pieces.

The gang sets off beneath Crystal Cove, and discovers everyone in town working for Professor Pericles and the rest of the original Mystery Incorporated. After hearing a conversation between the old Mystery, Inc., the gang devise a tactical plan to bust everyone out and shut down the operation. Shaggy and Scooby go undercover as Kriegstaffelbots, while Fred and the girls use an now-heavily armored Mystery Machine to attack the robots. After the word is spread, the armored Mystery Machine invades the mines and attack the robots. At the same time, Sheriff Stone leads a rebellion against the Kriegstaffelbots and Pericles, destroying every Kriegstaffebot they encounter. Shaggy is discovered to be a fake and was ordered to be shot to death, but an angry Scooby defends his buddy and wildly shoots down all the Kriegstaffelbots aiming at Shaggy. The battle tilts in favor of the citizens of Crystal Cove as hundreds of Kriegstaffelbots were destroyed and the mines sabotaged. Soon, a remaining number of Kriegstaffelbots stop Fred, Velma, and Daphne in their tracks, forcing them to blow up the Mystery Machine (in which everyone thought they were). It turns out that the Mystery Machine was remotely controlled by Fred, Velma, and Daphne in a different car. After all is resolved and the doorway to the cursed treasure is opened, the gang gears up with the relics and follows the original Mystery Incorporated into the caverns.

Villains

 * Professor Pericles
 * Kriegstaffebots
 * Mr. E
 * Brad Chiles
 * Judy Reeves

Suspects
None

Locations

 * Crystal Cove
 * Airport
 * Crystal Cove Spook Museum
 * Crystal Cove Police Department
 * Jones Mansion
 * Underground caverns

Continuity

 * Mystery Inc., along with Angie, retrieved the Heart of the Jaguar from Yucatan Peninsula after travelling their in the previous episode; they were first told about it by the Nova possessed-Anunnaki in Nightmare in Red.
 * Professor Pericles took command of the Kriegstaffebots in The Midnight Zone.
 * Nova has been in the hospital since Dance of the Undead after being seriously wounded from falling out of a damaged helicopter in mid-flight and into the Horrible Herd's stampede in The Horrible Herd.
 * Professor Pericles implanted cobra larvae in Mr. E's spinal column in The Devouring.
 * Brad and Judy were surgically altered to look like Fred and an old Daphne, respectively, in The Man in the Mirror and are still waiting for Professor Pericles to approve the reversal procedure.
 * Alice May was the Ghost Girl and Obliteratrix in The Legend Of Alice May and Pawn Of Shadows, respectively; some of her prison sentence was seen in Wrath of the Krampus
 * Howard E. Roberts appeared in The Shrieking Madness.
 * Curator Vronsky appeared in The House of the Nightmare Witch.
 * Gorgeous G was Cassidy Williams's hairdresser in The Night the Clown Cried II - Tears of Doom!.
 * J.R. Kipple was Mayor Nettles's publicist also in The Night the Clown Cried II - Tears of Doom!.
 * Randy Warsaw appeared in Art of Darkness!.
 * Dan Fluunk appeared in Night Terrors and Wrath of the Krampus, respectively.
 * Blaine LeFranc appeared in Theater of Doom.

Notes/trivia

 * This is the first in a three-part story which is continued in Through the Curtain and concluded in Come Undone.
 * Scooby announces the "previously on..." recap.

Home media

 * Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: Season 2, Part 2 - Spooky Stampede DVD set to be released June 18, 2013.