Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins

'Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins' is a 2009 reboot to the theatrical films, Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. The TV film is an origin story for Scooby and the Mystery Inc. gang, revealing how they met and the events of their very first case. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 22nd.

Premise
Unjustly accused on staging a spooky practical joke complete with ghosts, four unlikely high school students (and one Great Dane) team up to clear their good names after they are suspended from school. The kids must now solve the mystery of the haunting of Coolsville High before their parents are informed that they were expelled.

Synopsis
On the bus going to Coolsville High, goofy teenager Shaggy meets Fred after his bullying friend trips him down the aisle. He is then introduced to Velma and finally Daphne. The bus arrives at school, without any further interaction between the four. Shaggy later has a talk with Principle Deedle about his lack of friends, and Deedle gives Shaggy a book on stamp collecting called Philately (which the principal is obsessed with).

Meanwhile, after not being adopted at a pet adoption fair, the Great Dane Scoobert Doo accidentally falls out of a truck and wanders into a graveyard. Two ghosts scare him away, and he bursts into Shaggy's bedroom window. Shaggy nicknames the dog "Scooby" and says he can stay at his house. Scooby agrees.

The next day, Shaggy tries to sneak the (clothed) Scooby onto the bus with him. Their cover is blown, however, when Scooby bites the ankle of a bully. A fight breaks out on the bus, and because the driver is distracted, he crashes the bus into a pole (which smashes Vice Principal Grimes' windshield). Shaggy, Velma, Daphne and Fred are all sentenced to detention for causing the distraction, while Scooby remains tethered outside.

While an argument breaks out among them during detention, the weather turns cold and books start flying off the shelves. Two ghosts come and scare the kids into the pep rally where a third ghost appears telling everyone to leave. They then disappear. Vice principal Grimes accuses the four kids of pulling a prank, and suspends them.

The gang then follows Scooby to the graveyard, where he saw the ghosts, to clear their names. At the graveyard, two suspicious graves (Prudence Prufrock and Ezekial Gallows) are found and Velma makes a rubbing of them.

The next day, the kids meet up in Shaggy's basemant. Velma tells them about how the two graves were the founding faculty of the old school, which was wiped out in the Coolsville flood just before 1900. They decide to go looking for clues at the school that night.

Once they arrive, Velma finds a sticky fluid beneath where the third ghost appeared. The ghosts of Ezekial and Prudence then posses two football mannequins and attack the group, who split up and are chased by the ghosts. Fred discovers another clue, the gymnastics harness, which would allow the specter to 'fly'. During the chase, Shaggy and Scooby are locked in the school's freezer, but the rest of the gang escapes.

The next day, Velma, Freddy and Daphne return when they realize Scooby and Shaggy are gone. Grimes discovers the two in the freezer, along with a lot of damage caused to the school by the ghosts. Although the gang is expelled, Velma reveals the liquid they found can be used to make a smokescreen like the third ghost had used. Shaggy would later tell them about two possible suspects, Otis and the librarian.

The gang comes back later in the school day wearing disguises to spy on the suspects. Fred and Daphne find out that Otis just wants to be a dance star. Velma not only finds out that the librarian got a transfer, but that Vice Principal Grimes checked out a book on raising the dead. The gang decides to go to Grimes' house, but they do not have a car or licenses to drive all the way to Coolsville Mountain where he lives. They take Daphne's van, after Shaggy reveals he was held back and has his license.

Searching at night at Grimes' house, they find information about a time capsule in the book on raising the dead. The ghosts further attack, and the teens are knocked out by the Specter. They awake back at the school, where the Specter has blown a hole in the floor of the gym that leads directly into the old school (which was buried in the flood).

The Specter, keeping Scooby and Grimes as prisoners, forces the gang to search underground for the time capsule. The gang goes down into the old school, but trick the Specter into coming down to carry the capsule out of the hole. Unnfortunately, their plan backfires when they try to lock him up in a flooded room. The Specter steals back the capsule, but unleashes Ezekial and Prudence on them.

As he looks for a spell to get rid of the ghosts, Shaggy accidentally releases more ghosts onto the town. Meanwhile, Scooby breaks free of his bonds.

Shaggy eventually manages to banish the ghosts (who were not in control of their actions), and Scooby arrives jut in time to tie up the specter. But when the gang unmasks the Specter, he turns out to be... Principle Deedle. He had wanted a rare misprinted stamp buried in the time capsule. After the exposed Deedle is sent to prison for his actions, the gang is personally awarded by Grimes (whom they rescued) and are welcomed back into school.

With the mystery over, there is nothing to bind the friends together anymore and they start to go their separate ways. Just then, Velma comes back and informs them of some "strange goings-on at the museum." They now set off to solve another mystery along with Scooby-Doo!

Cast and characters

 * Credit errors
 * Despite only being referred to as the "Specter", the credits list him as "Dark Specter".

Villains

 * Specter
 * Ezekial Gallows
 * Prudence Prufrock

Locations

 * Coolsville
 * Coolsville High School
 * Coolsville Pet Adoption Day
 * Coolsville Cemetery
 * Rogers home
 * Blake Mansion
 * Coolsville Mountain
 * Vice Principal Grimes's home (Old Spooky House)
 * Coolsville Museum (mentioned)

Notes/trivia

 * The trailer for Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins was first seen on the DVD of Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword.
 * The What's New, Scooby-Doo? themesong played at the end was originally performed by Simple Plan. It was re-recorded by Anarbor especially for the film.
 * Captain Cutler's Ghost from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is seen in the end of the film.
 * This is the first time Scooby is being shown tickled on a live-action film.
 * The role of Otis is played by C. Ernst Harth; C. Ernst Harth also portrayed Miner 49er in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.
 * Its release on September 13, 2009, marked the 40th anniversary for the release date of the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!.
 * As stated on the side of the school buses, Coolsville High is in district #1969. 1969 is the year Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! premiered.
 * When she first sees the broken down van at Daphne's house, Velma exclaims: "It's a mystery this machine is still running." This is a reference to the eventual name of the van as the Mystery Machine.
 * Scooby Snacks were first introduced in the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode, Decoy for a Dognapper
 * The music is scored by Academy Award-nominee David Newman. Newman had previously scored the theatrical films.
 * This is the first live-action film to have Frank Welker voice Scooby-Doo. Neil Fanning voiced Scooby in the first two films.
 * Fred is interpreted as having black hair instead of his normal blond. This could be a reference to the deleted scene from Scooby-Doo in which Fred reveals he dyes his hair.
 * Other known titles are Scooby-Doo 3 and Scooby-Doo: In The Beginning.
 * Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins discards the continuity established in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo for its own origin story; the film establishes the group being formed in their teens.
 * In the closing credits, a montage incluindg several scenes from the opening of the original cartoon are depicted by the live-action characters. These include numerous bats flying out of a house and Freddy falling backwards into a book case.
 * Captain Cutler's Ghost is one of the monsters the gang faces.

Filming locations
Production took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from August 4, 2008. Cartoon Network's content advisor Rob Sorcher had said, “This contemporary take on Scooby-Doo will be an exciting movie event on Cartoon Network. This project is also an anchor component of our new push into movies, our great partnership with Warner Premiere and the overall expectation of Cartoon Network programming efforts.”

Templeton Secondary School stood in for Coolsville High School.

Home media

 * Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (DVD)
 * Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (Blu-ray)