What a Night for a Knight

What A Night For A Knight is the the first episode of the first season of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!.

Premise
When Scooby-Doo and Shaggy find an abandoned pick-up truck with a knight's armour in the front seat, the gang deliver it to the museum in place of the missing professor. However, this Black Knight is said to come alive every full moon. As the gang investigates the Knight, they realise that it is a full moon and the knight has come alive...!

Synopsis
A man is driving a pick-up down a road during the night, unaware that the suit of armour in the back has come to life and left his containment. Its eyes glow yellow from inside its helmet as it watches the driver.

Close by, Scooby and Shaggy are walking home, with the latter complaining that they're out so late because the former had to see Star: Dog Ranger of the North Woods, twice; Scooby is still excited from it. Just then, they hear rustling from the bushes. Scooby pokes his head in and when he takes it out, a frog is on his nose. When it jumps off, Scooby gets angry, barking and giving chase. Shaggy quickly follows behind. Scooby eventually comes to a stop when he loses it. Shaggy doesn't have time to stop and trips over him. They notice the same pick-up truck from before, now abandoned. When they go for a closer look, they see the lifeless suit of armour in the passenger seat. The two are quickly scared off once its head falls off.

They return with the rest of their group to properly examine it. Fred comments on why a knight's suit of armour would be out alone in the middle of the night? Shaggy jokes that maybe he's out for the night. Velma chides him for his joke, as Daphne wonders who it belongs to? Fred reads: "Deliver to Jameson Hyde White: Prof. of Archeaology, London, England." Shaggy makes another joke about having heard of hide and seek, but not "Hyde White". Velma says that is an English name. Daphne also finds a delivery slip reading: "Deliver to the County Museum."

The gang travels to the museum (now the next day) where they deliver the knight to the museum curator, Mr. Wickles. He thanks them, but fears that perhaps it wasn't a good idea with Professor Hyde White disappearing. He goes on to explain about the legend of the Black Knight and how it comes to life when the moon is full. Velma asks him what Professor Hyde White was doing with it (despite having already found out beforehand), and replies that the professor was delivering it to the museum all the way from England. As this is going on, they don't notice the knight's glowing eyes. Two workers begin to move the crate, one of them asking Mr. Wickles where to put it? He tells them to put it in the medieval room. As Scooby follows the workers, he finds a strange pair of glasses. He picks them up, as Daphne calls him, while Fred says they're leaving.

While driving down town, Velma says that the mystery has her baffled, and has got Shaggy hungry, asking when they can eat? Scooby pops his head up, in agreeance, while still wearing the glasses he found. The others notice, and realise he must've found them at the museum. Shaggy wonders whay they're for, with Fred suggesting they go to the library to find out.

At the library they read a book which says that the glasses are for jewelers, scientists, and archaeologists like Professor Hyde White. It also says they're made in England. These two clues indicate that something is definitely up, and plan on returning to the museum to investigate.

The gang returns to the museum at night and break in through an upper window. They split up and look for clues, not knowing that spooky eyes in an Indian effigy are watching them. Scooby, Shaggy and Velma bump into the Black Knight and have a brief altercation. Scooby runs into the fossil exhibit and begins gnawing on the bone, but is chased by the Knight. He meets up with Shaggy and the two find one of the paintings is missing. He informs the gang, but when they return, the painting is back on the wall. Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby follow a trail of paint to a hidden room behind a sarcophagus and find the room full of finished and unfinished paintings. The Knight appears and chases the gang into the relic room, where Scooby and Shaggy hide in a World War biplane. Scooby accidentally flips the power, and the plane roars to life, flying erratically around the room until it finally crashes, taking the zombie down with it. The Knight is unmasked as Mr. Wickles, the curator! He was part of a smuggling ring, he would steal the paintings and sell them, and then paint fakes of the paintings and put them back on the wall (that explained the hidden room, the missing painting and the paint drops on the floor). Mr. Wickles knew that Professor Hyde White would know that the paintings were faked, so he kidnapped him and thought up this Black Knight ruse. Professor Hyde White is later found tied up in the Indian effigy.

Villains

 * Black Knight/Mr. Wickles
 * Museum workers

Locations

 * County Museum
 * Public Library

Notes/trivia

 * This was the first episode of the series and the start of the Scooby-Doo franchise.
 * The opening and closing titles for this episode and A Clue For Scooby Doo, 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 (Hassle in the Castle) on, the theme song, composed by the late David Mook and Ben Raleigh, was used as the theme. 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 following 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.
 * The gang's names are revealed in the following order: Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne and Velma. Fred is not named in this episode.
 * Daphne's the first character to say the famous quote, "Scooby-Doo, where are you?"
 * The gang guest star in Johnny Bravo, and help the titular character find his missing Aunt Jebedissa. Along the way they encounter and catch the Ghostly Gardener. It's revealed to be none other than Johnny's own aunt, but when they originally unmasked the monster they found she was hiding under a few other memorable disguises, including Professor Hyde White.
 * Scooby and Shaggy go to see a sequel to Star: Dog Ranger of the North Woods in DC Comics' Scooby-Doo! #33, in the story, Return Of The Star Dog. They've apparently waited ten years for it, since seeing the one in this episode, although of course they haven't aged at all. It's however spelt as "Star Dog", when in the episode, Shaggy put emphasize on "Star" being seperate from "Dog Ranger of the North Woods".
 * The Black Knight is a "boss" villain in Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights, and a minor one in Scooby-Doo! Unmasked.
 * In a crossover in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!, the costume is seen along with those of other classic Scooby-Doo villains.
 * The Black Knight is in the comic-book style opening credits of Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon. The end also features the scene of the gang looking at the screen while in the library only they're looking at a Blue Falcon/Dynomutt comic, which then becomes a panel out of the same comic Shaggy and Scooby are reading while on a case.
 * This episode was included in Cartoon Network's Scooby-Doo! Back to School Marathon (August 10-11, 2013).
 * The exact same scene from this episode of the gang looking at the screen while in the library is featured in the opening theme of Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery.
 * First instance in which Velma shows the running gag with her glasses.

Miscellaneous

 * Zoinks: 4
 * Disguises: Scooby as a portrait artist
 * Scooby Snacks: 2
 * A few other non-related monsters would also be called the Black Knight.

Adaptations

 * This episode (along with Never Ape an Ape Man) was the first to be adapted in Gold Key Comics' Scooby Doo... Where Are You! #1. It contains the following differences:
 * Wickles is spelt "Wikles".
 * This episode is the first level in Scooby-Doo! Classic Creep Capers'.
 * Solving this case was the first known case of the gang in the live-action film, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. In it, the gang are now adults who have achieved celebrity stardom in their hometown of Coolsville. They have put the various monster costumes they have faced and donated them to the Coolsonian Criminology Museum, including the Black Knight. Wickles has also been released from prison and tries to go straight by opening up a theme park in Coolsville. His plans are jeopardized however, when he's set up as a suspect to have brought the Black Knight to life, after the gang encounter it in his own home. The true culprit is Professor Jonathan Jacobo, a prison mate of Wickles, who took revenge on the gang by bringing the past fake monsters they've faced to life. There are some differences including:
 * Despite this being the gang's first case, they've also faced Chickenstein which in standard continuity, this was a monster the gang faced before they were called Mystery Inc. (instead referring to themselves as the Scooby-Doo Detective Agency). The case involving the Black Knight Ghost could be retconned as the gang's first one as Mystery Inc., considering a flashback revealed that they've been friends since they were teenagers.
 * The Black Knight is called the Black Knight Ghost.
 * Mr. Wickles's full name is Jeremiah Wickles (and is nicknamed "Old Man Wickles").
 * Perhaps to show that time has moved on, Wickles is now a relatively old man (hence the nickname) and has white hair.
 * Wickles lives in his ancestral mansion in Wickles Manor.
 * 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).

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches

 * There is no one driving the truck in the very first scene.
 * Scooby pops up behind the gang while riding in the Mystery Machine, only he appears to be between Daphne and the seat back.
 * When Velma loses her glasses, she mistakes the knight for Shaggy and hearing the knight's raspy voice, Velma tries to give the knight cough syrup, thinking it's Shaggy. Shaggy enters and takes the cough syrup. A few scenes later, with no time for Velma to find her glasses, she has her glasses back on.
 * The red crest on the knight's head disappears and reappears a few times during the episode.

Inconstitencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities

 * Mr. Wickles appeared shorter than the Black Knight. Nothing was ever explained of how he made himself look taller.
 * There were two full moons in a row. Then again, the second one could have been a blue moon.
 * When Mr. Wickles was explaining about the legend, the camera moved to the Black Knight, showing its eyes lighting. This wouldn't make sense since Mr. Wickles was the Black Knight.
 * Velma asks Mr. Wickles about Professor Hyde White's role in delivering the when she already knew full well what it was. This was done either to remind the audience or to inform the new ones just tuning in, or of course both.
 * The ladder that Shaggy uses is way too long to fit in the Mystery Machine.
 * Shaggy is known as a great gymnist, however his athletic abilities are never brought up again (even when he and Scooby were dubbed "The World's Greatest Athletes" in the later episode, The Spirit Spooked Sports Show of the next series).
 * How is it possible for a plane inside a museum exhibit to be turned on and flown? Plus, even with the armor protecting him Mr. Wickles would likely have been killed by the plane's impact.
 * It is never revealed what Mr. Wickles was planning to do with Professor Hyde White after kidnapping him.
 * Mr. Wickles hides Professor Hyde White, who is bound and gagged, under a large mask and blanket. The eyes of the mask are shown to move and blink while the Professor is behind it, implying that those are his eyes moving and blinking. However, the eye holes on the mask a much too far apart for the Professor to look through them both at the same time. In addition, while he is bound, he is not actually tied to anything, so he should have been perfectly capable of moving his body get the attention of the kids. He should've also been able to make sounds as well.
 * Things are all too conventiently set up for there to be a mystery.
 * It would have been far less complicated if the suit of armour and Professor Hyde White had traveled to the museum seperately. The way it looks as if Professor Hyde White, an archaeologist, was merely being used as a delivery service to bring the suit of armour all the way from England to the County Museum. But if it was that simple then it wouldn't have the two messages. The one on the crate could be to identify who it belonged to, but that doesn't explain why he needed a letter to go to the County Museum. It's possible in-universe the letter had a specific address, if he wasn't working there to begin with, but the message on the crate said it needed to be delivered to him. It seems a lot of fuss went over a simple suit of armour unless it belonged to someone of importance? If it had been sent all the way to England then Professor Hyde White took it with him to America, then the first note on the crate with his name on it (which is presumably supposed to be a form of address, although if it were it would be a lot more specified than just "London, England") would've been already replaced by another mailing address by airplane since it couldn't have traveled all the way from England by train. The fact that the gang had the convienence of finding those two addresses is fundemental to directing their mystery to begin with (other than just finding the suit of armour), otherwise they'd just be stuck with the armour and wouldn't know what to do with it, except for calling the sheriff. (They would've likely deduced it needed to be taken to the County Museum itself anyway.)
 * Professor Hyde White said that Mr. Wickles somehow got into the armour at the train station which is a mystery itself as he would have surely been caught in the time it would have taken to open the crate and then put the armour on himself and then close the crate up.
 * It isn't explained how while Professor Hyde White was driving, Mr. Wickles was able to get him gagged and bound to the museum. He must've at least either had the professor stop the car by scaring him and then either he fainted from shock or Mr. Wickles had to knock him out, then drive all the way to the museum, then gag, bound and hide the professor away, and then finally drive the pick-up truck back to a reasonable spot back where Professor Hyde White had been driving or Mr. Wickles had him gagged, bound and hidden after Professor Hyde White had driven all the way to the museum. The two museum workers might have helped along the way since it seems too elaborate for Mr. Wickles to do it all himself.
 * Not only is it unknown what role they played in the art forgery, if they were anything more than henchmen or workers at the museum who joined Mr. Wickles, but it's also unknown if they really worked at the museum legitmately or were just pretended to as a cover.
 * It's equally unknown how the museum workers were caught. The only logical explanation would be is that Mr. Wickles ratted them out so he wouldn't take the fall himself.
 * When Scooby puts on the armour at the end of the episode, the hands have morphed to fit his paws.
 * It seems nearly impossible for Wickles to overpower Prof. Hyde-White while the former is in the bed of the pickup truck in a suit of armor and the latter is in the driver's seat.
 * When the gang finds the weird glasses Scooby took from the museum, instead of returning them like good citizens, they detour to the library to do some research on them.
 * That mousy-looking curator certainly is strong. Not only does he run all around the museum in full armor, but he lifts a table with Shaggy and Scooby hanging under it and throws it with considerable force, even though the entire load has got to weigh around 300 lbs! Of course, after he throws Shaggy and Scooby against the wall, they are shown landing facing the top of the table instead of the underside.
 * Freddy can somehow see, in the dark, that the small window way up on the top floor is open. We sure can't tell.

Home media

 * Scooby-Doo: Pesonal Favourites VHS.
 * Scooby-Doo! Scooby-Doo and a Mummy Too VHS.
 * Scooby-Doo's Original Mysteries DVD released March 14 2000.
 * Scooby-Doo's Original Mysteries VHS released June 4, 2002.
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons DVD set released March 16, 2004.
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: Volume 1 - A Monster Catch DVD released January 27, 2009.
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series DVD set released November 9, 2010.