A Clue for Scooby Doo


 * This article is about the episode. For other uses, see A Clue for Scooby-Doo (disambiguation).

A Clue for Scooby Doo is the second episode of the first season of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!.

Premise
At Rocky Point Beach, the gang encounter the ghost of an old sea diver. A sailor claims it to be the ghost of Captain Cutler, who, according to legend, died at sea many years ago when his boat got wrecked and he is getting his revenge.

Synopsis
Mysterious glowing footprints appear along the shore of Rocky Point Beach. As a wave washes them out, the scene pans to a mysterious glowing diver, who slowly disappears back into the sea.

The gang arrive at Rocky Point Beach and begin cooking hot dogs and dancing while Scooby goes surfing. He begins paddling along the sea when he paddles into a mysterious object, which he pulls up revealing it as the glowing diver. Scooby quickly dashes back on shore and tackles Shaggy, telling the gang about the ghost. They themselves catch sight of the diver and Shaggy runs and hides behind a rock, having run into an umbrella on the way. The rest of the gang catch up and Velma convinces Shaggy to come out of the umbrella. Shaggy hesitates to after he's seen "what he saw", and the rest of the gang watch as the ghost again disappears back into the sea.

The gang head to the Malt Shop and read a news article about another yacht mysteriously disappearing and how the sheriff and the coast guard are baffled by the "mysterious disappearances". Ebenezer Shark, in the said article, reveals the diver as the ghost of Captain Cutler.

The gang pay a visit to Ebenezer Shark himself, who reveals that Captain Cutler was in a yacht accident that took his life and sunk him down into the Graveyard of Ships, and that his ghost is back for revenge, stealing yachts from the marina.

Scooby falls into a hole where he discovers a diving suit, which he mistakes for again being the ghost. It falls on him and he growls again and again until he gets the gang's attention. Ebenezer Shank then suggests visiting Captain Cutler's wife in the lighthouse if they want more answers.

The gang split up this way: Fred and Daphne keep an eye on Ebenezer Shark, and Velma, Shaggy and Scooby go up to the lighthouse and visit Captain Cutler's wife. There, they find she practices witchcraft, and they find mysterious cans, one of them containing hyena laughs. While looking at a book with Velma, Shaggy is frightened off by Captain Cutler's wife greeting him, which also frightens Scooby.

Captain Cutler's wife explains how she and her witchcraft brought Captain Cutler back from his "watery grave", and that if she had known he'd take his revenge, he would've been kept down in the said "watery grave".

Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby leave the lighthouse and find a clue: glowing seaweed, which Shaggy at first mistakes for being the ghost.

The gang get back together and discuss the seaweed, revealing it's only found in the Graveyard of Ships, and that maybe the ghost himself could be found there too. They take a boat and drive to the Graveyard of Ships, where several wrecked ships are, and find a bottle with a note in it. The note is revealed to just say "No deposit, no return". They then see a boat moving by itself with no one aboard and the motor not running and decide to follow it until it disappears behind a cove, meaning the gang has run into a dead-end, so they turn around and drive back to the Graveyard of Ships.

The four teens are ready to dive, but Scooby is hesitant to do so and is therefore high up on a wrecked ship. Shaggy decides to get him down and does so successfully, only he himself gets caught on the rope and plummets down with Scooby. Scooby lands on a barrel but Shaggy manages to wreck a hole in one of the ships as he crashes right through it.

The gang begin swimming and split up again, but differently: Shaggy and Scooby go the opposite direction, and Fred, Daphne and Velma will continue going the current direction.

Fred, Daphne, and Velma discover a body inside the cabin of a wrecked yacht, which at first they theorize might be Captain Cutler, until Fred reveals that the diving suit is old-fashioned meaning the body had been down there for 100 years. Just as Fred concludes his revealance, the ghost appears and locks the trio inside the cabin and runs off. The trio then realize they're locked in when they're unable to get the door open.

Shaggy and Scooby spot the ghost heading towards them, and Scooby inflates his diving suit to make himself look fat. Unappreciative of this, Shaggy punctures the suit sending Scooby hurtling through the Graveyard of Ships, hitting the ghost along the way. A steering wheel of a wrecked ship catches Scooby and he's sent the opposite direction, wrecking through another wrecked ship, and ends up in a room where several scuba tanks are being stored. Scooby then realizes he's found a clue and quickly swims out of the room.

As Shaggy wonders where Scooby is, Scooby slams through a door, which in turn slams into him. Scooby tells Shaggy he's found a clue, before being chased away by the ghost. They go onto a wrecked ship, where Shaggy assumes a cannon is loaded and he can light it with a match. However, it doesn't work out for him and he realizes that matches don't light underwater. The duo then begin swimming away from the ghost again and hang on to two separate wrecked ships. After scaring off a fish, Scooby yet again sees the ghost and the duo again begin swimming just as the ghost is about to grab Scooby. The duo crash down the door to the cabin the trio were trapped in and then begin discussing the ghost with the rest of the gang until Scooby brings up his aforementioned clue (the scuba tanks), exciting Daphne. He then leads the gang to where he found the clue: the aforementioned room inside the wrecked ship he'd wrecked into earlier.

Fred discovers glowing footprints like the ones at the beginning of the episode and the gang decide to follow them until they find the prints dead end at the side of a cliff. Shaggy sits down but doesn't realize he's sitting on the button (shaped like a rock) that opens a secret entrance at the side of the cliff until it goes down and opens the door. The gang swim through it and end up in an underground cavern, where they discover the yacht from earlier that had vanished into the cove.

The gang make a trap for the ghost, which intentionally is to spray the ghost with sudsy water, making him slip and from there send the ghost into the net. However, the plan doesn't work correctly but still catches the ghost as the hose gets out of control and sends Shaggy flying around with it. Scooby gets sudsed and hosed into a boat, which starts up by itself and sends Scooby hurtling around the cavern. Daphne cries out in worry about Scooby being unable to see where he's going. Scooby's boat eventually hits a dock and crashes into the ghost.

The ghost is then unmasked as a man whose identity is unknown until Shaggy finds some seaweed and puts it on him as an imitating beard, therefore revealing the man as Captain Cutler. He and his wife spread the phony story about Captain Cutler dying so they could steal the yachts from the marina, which would then allow them to repaint and sell them. Cutler was storing extra scuba tanks in the Graveyard of Ships so he had spares when they were needed. The glowing seaweed Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby found made Cutler's diving suit glow.

With the gang reviewing the case at the Malt Shop, Scooby closes the episode by drinking the gang's drinks and then snickering after being questioned as to how he did it by Daphne before winking at the viewer.

Characters
Main characters:
 * Mystery Inc.
 * Scooby-Doo
 * Shaggy Rogers
 * Daphne Blake
 * Fred Jones
 * Velma Dinkley

Supporting characters:
 * Ebenezer Shark

Villains:
 * Ghost of Captain Cutler /
 * Captain Cutler
 * Mrs. Cutler

Other characters:
 * Mouse
 * Sheriff
 * Coast Guard

Locations

 * Rocky Point Beach
 * Malt Shop
 * Ebenezer Shark's boat home
 * Lighthouse
 * Cutler home
 * Graveyard of Ships
 * Marina
 * Underground cave

Objects

 * Ebenezer's diving suit
 * Witchcraft Made Easy
 * Phosphorum Pyifora
 * Scuba tanks stored underwater in wrecked ship
 * Hot dogs
 * Hot dog buns
 * Jumbo pink lemonade
 * Mustard
 * Scooby Snacks
 * Radio
 * Surfboard
 * Beach umbrella
 * Straws
 * Canned hyena laughs
 * Ear of a newt jar
 * Fire hose
 * Soap
 * Soap container
 * Shaggy's scissors

Vehicles

 * The Mystery Machine
 * Car parked outside the Malt Shop
 * Boats at the marina
 * Ebenezer Shark's boat
 * Captain Cutler's boat
 * Mystery Inc.'s boat
 * Sunken ships at the Graveyard of Ships
 * Yacht from the marina
 * Yachts in the underground cave
 * Minisub
 * Wooden boat the ghost is captured in

Full credits
The following credits are how they are seen on-screen (or as close as possible).


 * Produced and Directed by: Joseph Barbera and William Hanna
 * Associate Producer: Lew Marshall
 * Story: Ken Spears, Joe Ruby, Bill Lutz
 * Story Direction: Howard Swift
 * Voices: Nicole Jaffe, Hal Smith, Casey Kasem, John Stephenson, Don Messick, Jean Vander Pyl, Vic Perrin, Frank Welker, Stefanianna Christopherson
 * Animation Director: Charles A. Nichols
 * Production Design: Iwao Takamoto
 * Production Supervisor: Victor O. Schipek
 * Layout: Bob Singer, Alvaro Arce, Paul Gruwell, Mike Arens, Alex Ignatiev, Ric Gonzales, Bill Lignante
 * Animation: Bill Keil, George Rowley, Oliver E. Callahan, Ed Love, Rudy Cataldi, Bill Nunes, Zdenko Gasparovic, Joan Orbison, Bob Goe, Jay Sarbry, Hicks Lokey, Ken Southworth, Lloyd Vaughan
 * Background Styling: Walt Peregoy
 * Backgrounds: Ron Dias, Gary Niblett, Daniela Bielecka, Rolly Oliva
 * Title Design: Bill Perez
 * Titles: Robert Schaefer
 * Musical Director: Ted Nichols
 * Technical Supervisor: Frank Paiker
 * Ink and Paint Supervisor: Roberta Greutert
 * Xerography: Robert "Tiger" West
 * Sound Direction: Richard Olson
 * Film Editing: Gregory V. Watson, Jr., Ted Baker, Chip Yaras
 * Camera: Dick Blundell, Bill Kotler, George Epperson, Cliff Shirpser, Charles Flekal, Roy Wade
 * A Hanna-Barbera Production
 * © 1969 Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc.
 * a hanna-barbera production
 * A Taft Broadcasting Company

Notes/trivia

 * The opening and closing titles for this and the previous episode, boasted different theme music composed by Hoyt Curtin, with a spooky feisty tune which is an extension of the sub-main title theme, complete with intro, bridge and close. From the third episode on, the theme song was now a composition by Ted Nichols, following lyrics written by David Mook and Ben Raleigh. The original theme was unheard for many years until the show's resurrection on USA's Cartoon Express in 1990 and was heard during its run on Cartoon Network, until Turner decided to remaster all the episodes in 1998.
 * The title card for this episode and the previous one are different than the ones in the rest of the series; both show the monster while the rest show the gang running with the title floating above them.
 * Although aired as the second episode, this was produced as the third. Any time Warner Home Video releases the series in order from the first episode, they always have A Clue For Scooby Doo and Hassle in the Castle in production order instead of air date order. Of course, nothing is lost because there's no continuity, but the fact that the usually have a play all option and are aired in the opposite order might be a problem for some. This does not apply to the UK, however.
 * Warner Home Video hyphenates the episode title as A Clue for Scooby-Doo.
 * The first season's opening and closing sequences feature five snippets from this episode, with some differences:
 * The Ghost of Captain Cutler rising from the water from the front, but with ship wreckage surrounding him.
 * A scene similar to how Scooby screams "Yipe!" as the diving suit falls on him, only he's set in a room in some castle/fortress.
 * Scooby snickering at the end of the episode, also set somewhere in a castle/fortress, although this went on to be reused in the second season's sequences.
 * Scooby holding Shaggy after the two are frightened by Mrs. Cutler's greeting, set in a room in the Kingston Mansion. This also went on to be used in the second season's sequences.
 * Fred turning his head to face right after saying "Diving suit", zoomed in and with him blinking both eyes after his head is fully turned, again set somewhere in a castle/fortress. This went on to be reused in some later episodes, and this snippet was also reused in the second season's sequences.
 * The scene of Shaggy roasting the hot dogs is essentially re-used in Decoy for a Dognapper, only with the addition of Velma.
 * The model sheet of the Ghost of Captain Cutler refers to him as just "Ghost Diver".
 * The Ghost of Captain Cutler was unique as it was the person disguised as his own ghost. He is also unique as the only villain that Shaggy figures out before Velma, as it was he who realized who it was.
 * Present-day incarnations refer to the Ghost of Captain Cutler as Captain Cutler's Ghost.
 * The Ghost of Captain Cutler seems to have inspired other non-related ghostly deepsea divers such as the Ghost of Monsoon Max from the Scooby-Doo Mysteries novel, Scooby-Doo! and the Deep-Sea Diver.
 * The sea diver ghost's roar came from the "Abominable Snowman" sketch of Stan Freberg's 1957 CBS radio show.
 * Shaggy's first toy was a garbage disposal, although this was likely a joke.
 * Mrs. Cutler is much more frightening in the storyboards (mostly due to the fact that she's more ugly and creepy, than just old and creepy).
 * This episode was one of four Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episodes, (the other three being Hassle in the Castle, Jeepers, It's the Creeper, and The Backstage Rage), that were selected for the 1998 VHS Scooby-Doo's Greatest Mysteries by being voted "Most Popular" by the fans.
 * As an homage, the scuba diving suits in Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire are identical to the ones in this episode.

Miscellaneous

 * Disguises: While not exactly disguises, Shaggy and Scooby pretend to be ship figureheads.
 * Scooby Snacks bribe: 1.
 * "Zoinks" count: 5.

Cultural references

 * Velma's line, "veeeeery interesting!", was a catchphrase of the 60s.

Adaptations

 * This episode (along with Spooky Space Kook) was adapted in Gold Key Comics' Scooby Doo... Where Are You! #4. It was renamed to The Ghostly Sea Diver.
 * Landoll published A Clue for Scooby-Doo! in their Cartoon Network Storybook series
 * The first story in DC Comics' Scooby-Doo #135 is a retelling of this episode from Captain Cutler/Ghost of Captain Cutler's point of view.
 * In the live-action film, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, the gang is now adults and have achieved celebrity stardom in their hometown, where they have donated the costume to the Coolsonian Criminology Museum. It's later brought to life by Professor Jonathan Jacobo who's out for revenge against the gang. In this incarnation, it's called Captain Cutler's Ghost and now carries a harpoon spear.
 * In another live-action continuity, this time Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins, which sees them coming together to save their school from the Specter. After this mystery is solved, they really don't have any need to stay together (because they didn't really have anything in common to begin with), but Velma has heard some strange going-ons at the Coolsville Museum (solidifying their friendship), which into turn leads to other mysteries such as the Ghost of Captain Cutler.
 * In the continuity of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, the gang now live in Crystal Cove where the monsters they have revealed to be just costumes have been put on display (including Captain Cutler's Ghost) at Velma's parents' tourist attraction, Crystal Cove Spook Museum. It features many of the early monsters the standard continuity gang had faced, only in this series it was localized to one place.
 * The opening of the Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! episode, Game of Chicken is a reimagining of this episode.

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches

 * When the gang (minus Fred) talk about unloading the Mystery Machine, there is no lip movements, or any body movements, for that matter.
 * The umbrella started off blue, but when Shaggy ran into it, it was red.
 * When Velma has the Witchcraft Made Easy book under her left arm, the title disappears.
 * The door of the locker disappears when the diving suit falls on Scooby.
 * When Shaggy says to Velma it's up to her to enter the lighthouse because he and Scooby are too afraid, the inside of his collar is skin-colored instead of green.
 * When Scooby and Shaggy fall from the boat, the bosun's chair and rope are missing by the time they hit the water.
 * When Scooby says to Shaggy he's found a clue, the door they're next to is there; however it disappears in the next shot.
 * When Shaggy grabs a bottle, his arm is bare, but before that he was wearing his long-sleeved diving suit.
 * After Shaggy says he thought the underwater rock looked suspicious, then lowering it, his hair is the color of Fred's hair.
 * A plant in the foreground moves along with the gang as they swim.

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities

 * The gang has an umbrella set up on the beach, yet even when they got there, the sky was murky; although it didn't appear to be cold. This is either a mistake, or another example of them having no concept of time (or logic).
 * Interestingly, the mustard jar with its orange label looks exactly like Shaggy's cough syrup jar from the previous episode.
 * Shaggy probably couldn't be enveloped by the umbrella, without being seriously hurt by the wires inside. Even if he managed to avoid it, he couldn't possibly avoid the pain of his head poking through the top, with the ferrule in the way (which disappears when he does).
 * When Daphne says that the ghost has gone, while hiding behind the rocks, her scarf is much bigger than usual.
 * Velma mentions the lighthouse being creepy, yet technically she was referring to Mrs. Cutler's house, not the tower itself.
 * Shaggy knows Scooby is holding the canned hyena laughs without having even looked at the label.
 * Shaggy read the name of Mrs. Cutler's witchcraft book from the inside after Velma had already opened it. It's possible though that name was at the top of the page.
 * Even with the beard, Captain Cutler looks different in his portrait.
 * The Scooby Snack looks more like a cookie in this episode.
 * Velma says that only Scooby can squeeze through the drainpipe when, in fact, if Scooby can fit inside, then Velma or Shaggy could also fit just fine. It is possible she said this just to get Scooby to go.
 * It would have been difficult (if not impossible) for the gang, and the ghost to stand, walk or run underwater.
 * There seems to be a lot of historically valuable salvage in the Graveyard of Ships, including a hundred-year-old corpse. Does anyone ever come back for it?
 * Fred tries desperately to open the door of the sunken ship, but to no avail. He might have had better success if he braced his foot on the wall instead of the door he was trying to pull open. (Unbeknownst to Fred, the door opened by pushing).
 * Shaggy punctures Scooby's diving suit but Scooby shoots off in the direction of the puncture instead of away from it. The hole in Scooby's diving suit is never seen again.
 * After Shaggy opens the secret passage, the door is fairly low, but in the next shot showing it all of a sudden it's much higher allowing the gang to move through it freely, unless the door was still opening and the gang were waiting until it was fully open to go through.
 * Cutler was able to make glowing footprints off-screen, yet somehow he doesn't make them on-screen, unless somehow he had the ability to make the footprints appear whenever he wanted to.
 * Shaggy says the cannon is loaded, but how can he tell?
 * Why does Shaggy carry matches in his diving suit?
 * When the gang spring the trap on the diver, the bottle with soap attached to the hose vanishes.
 * Velma points out the ramp to the others as if they had no idea how the trap was supposed to work.
 * The cargo net in which they planned to trap the diver disappears.
 * Daphne cries out that Scooby can't see where he's going in the runaway boat; the soap suds aren't covering his eyes; and he's not trying to steer it.
 * When the diver is unmasked, Shaggy puts seaweed on the man's face and asks if it reminds anyone of the picture on Widow Cutler's wall. Fred, Daphne, and Velma all shout, "Captain Cutler", even though Fred and Daphne never even saw the picture, unless they both went to the lighthouse themselves off-screen.
 * At the end of the episode, Scooby drank most of Shaggy's drink but when he somehow drank up the rest of the gang's drinks, Shaggy's was filled up again.

Home media

 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo's Greatest Mysteries VHS released by Warner Home Video on April 13, 1998.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo's Original Mysteries DVD released by Warner Home Video on March 14, 2000.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo's Original Mysteries VHS released by Warner Home Video on June 4, 2002.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo's Greatest Mysteries DVD released by Warner Home Video on May 6, 2003.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons DVD set released by Warner Home Video on March 16, 2004.
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons DVD set released by Warner Home Video on June 20, 2005.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: Volume 1 - A Monster Catch DVD released by Warner Home Video on January 27, 2009.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series (limited edition) DVD set released by Warner Home Video on November 9, 2010.
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series DVD set released by Warner Home Video on November 21, 2011.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series DVD set released by Warner Home Video on November 13, 2012.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo! 13 Spooky Tales: Surf's Up, Scooby-Doo! DVD set released by Warner Home Video on May 5, 2015.