Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders

Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders is the third of a series of direct-to-video animated films based upon the Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was released on October 3, 2000, and it was produced by Warner Bros. Animation (though it had a Hanna-Barbera Cartoons logo and copyright notice at the end).

Plot The story starts off when the Mystery Machine driving through a desert town. A sand storm kicks in, and Shaggy makes an accidental turn into government property. The sight of a UFO causes Shaggy to lose control of the vehicle, and find themselves on the outskirts of a small town. While Scooby and Shaggy stay with the van, the rest of the gang walks into a local diner to ask for directions. Shaggy and Scooby then encounter a fictional animal called a jackalope.

Shaggy and Scooby run in the diner in panic while the Scooby-Doo, Where are You theme song is played, claming to have seen aliens. The diner waitress, Dottie, says that they never see the aliens but see strange lights and hear strange sounds at night. The chef, Sergio (pronounced "Serge") says that a month ago, local cattle vanished overnight without a trace and a lot of people moved away. A man named Lester claims to have been abducted once before, and believes the two. He also says that he has pictures, so the gang goes to his house to see them. They turn out to be nothing more than paintings by Lester, who offers to let the gang stay for the night. Daphne and Velma sleep in a bunk bed and Fred sleeps on Lester's couch.

Scooby and Shaggy sleep on the roof, and are abducted. After some struggle on the ship, the two find themselves in the middle of nowhere the next morning. They are awakened by a hippie-chick photographer, Crystal, and her golden retriever, Amber. Scooby and Shaggy fall head over heels in love. Velma, Fred, and Daphne meet the crew of SALF: the Search for Alien Life Forms, Steve, Lora and Max. Velma becomes suspicious when she sees dried mud on their boots, since they are in the desert. Later, she decides to take the gang to a canyon where she presumes a river might run. The canyon proves to be dry, but they find mining equipment, and in the caves, gold. The SALF crew capture them and hold them hostage as they explain that they stumbled upon this cave when searching for ground to place another SALF dish. Since it was on government land, they decided not to report it, and plan to keep it that way. They are also revealed to be the aliens who abducted Scoob and Shag; the UFO was nothing more than a dressed-up helicopter. At the end of the film, Crystal and Amber prove to be aliens from 20 light years away, and are dressed like they are because their interpretations of the way humans are dressed were derived from 1960s television broadcasts. The UFO that ran Shaggy off the road was actually Crystal's. The SALF crew and the fake MPs are arrested by 35th President John F Kennedy, the Mayor and the Police. Shaggy and Scooby are heartbroken but quickly forget about Crystal and Amber when Velma gives them a box of Scooby Snacks.

Cast Scott Innes - Scooby-Doo, Shaggy Rogers Frank Welker - Fred Jones Mary Kay Bergman - Daphne Blake B.J. Ward - Velma Dinkley Jeff Bennett - Lester Candi Milo - Crystal Mark Hamill - Steve Audrey Wasilewski - Laura Kevin Michael Richardson - Max Jennifer Hale - Dottie Neil Ross - Sergio

Trivia In a part of the movie when Shaggy and Crystal are far away talking, you can hear him telling her about his and Scooby's first encounter with the Witch's Ghost from the previous animated movie. This is not the first time continuity was shown in the movies, as a scene from the Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost also shows evidence of continuity from some events in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, also, Shaggy and Scooby meet the Hex Girls again after their previous meeting (Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost) in Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire, a future movie. Jennifer Love Hewitt performed Scooby Doo, Where Are You? for the film. The track was played when Shaggy and Scooby were being chased by the "fake aliens". "Groovy", another main movie track, performed by Scott Innes as Shaggy (and in part, Scooby Doo) saw Shaggy in one of the most rare scenes where he kisses a girl in the lips (Crystal), but it was all just a dream sequence. One of the men eating at the diner, in a yellow plaid shirt, was previously seen in Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost, where he was a crowd member, waiting for the ghost's arrival. Alien Invaders is notable for Mary Kay Bergman's final performance as Daphne as this film is dedicated to her. Grey DeLisle would take over after Bergman's passing. One of the bad guys almost says the famous "And I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids!" but as soon as he comes to "meddling kids", he is ordered to be quiet by a police officer.