Jeepers, It's the Creeper

Jeepers, It's The Creeper is the fourth episode of the second season of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, and the twenty-first episode overall in the series.

Premise
A school dance at a rural barn is disrupted by the Creeper, a zombie-like figure who has been seen robbing banks at night in town. The gang searches the woods and countryside for clues, with being chased by The Creeper, encountering an eccentric old hermit who wants their company.

Synopsis
A bank guard driving through the evening countryside stops to move a log out of the road; from out of the bushes a green-faced, monstrous figure rises and stalks him. Meanwhile, the team is on its way to a school dance which is being held in a barn. They happen upon the scene of the bank guard's accident. He has been knocked out and his car ransacked. The guard regains consciousness long enough to thrust a blank piece of paper at Freddy and mutter "the flame will tell… the Creeper!" The gang take the guard to the nearby house of Mr. Carswell, the bank president, who explains that the Creeper is a phantom who has been robbing the bank. He agrees to look after the guard and sends the kids along to the dance.

At the barn everyone is having fun until the lights go out; not wanting to dance in the spooky barn, everyone drives off to the Malt Shop, except for the team who stay behind to clean up. But as Shaggy and Scooby are taking the garbage outside they run into the Creeper, who demands the "paper" of them. The Creeper chases the kids about the countryside; Freddy, Daphne and Velma wind up in a ditch with a horse and cart, while Scooby and Shaggy crash into a hen-house. After the Creeper leaves, Shaggy and Scooby start to go too, but a baby chick hatches and immediately attaches itself to Scooby. Meanwhile, Freddy and the girls have found a car hidden in the bushes; it has no identification papers, but they find torn-up photograph negatives on the floorboards.

After running into Shaggy and Scooby (still fleeing the Creeper) they find some footprints which lead to a rope bridge spanning and chasm and plunging into a cave. The cave is the home to the "hermit of the hills" (whose cooking disgusts even Shaggy and Scooby). They escape from the hermit (who is all-too-eager for their company) and make their way back to the Mystery Machine, only to find the Creeper waiting behind the wheel for them. The Creeper chases them; everyone (except Scooby) falls into the hay-bale-making machine, leaving the Creeper (and the rest of the gang) neatly bundled up.

The Creeper is unmasked as Mr. Carswell, who had been robbing his own bank and using the Creeper disguise to throw people off the track. But the security guard had installed a camera that caught Carswell in the act, and so Carswell had acted to silence the guard. The blank paper was actually a photograph (activated by heat) that showed Carswell looting the safe.

Villains

 * The Creeper/Mr. Carswell

Notes/trivia

 * The Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode, The Legend Of Alice May, has its own version of this episode.
 * The episode's title is a play on the popular 1938 jazz-song Jeepers Creepers.
 * The physical violence in this episode should be noted: The Creeper/Mr. Carswell attacks the bank guard (off-screen) and leaves him unconscious in the middle of the road (only to later tie him up and dump him in the basement); Shaggy and Scooby accidentally knock Velma to the ground, Scooby kicks the Creeper twice, Velma kicks the Creeper in the knee, Shaggy whacks his head on a wooden pole, Shaggy, Scooby and the Creeper all hit themselves on the rake in the barn, the wagon Fred and the girls are in crashes down a cliff and the wagon lands on top of them, and last but not least the gang and the Creeper fight inside the hay before Scooby bounds them into hay bails.
 * Why was the guard taking the evidence to Carswell's house rather than to the police? Was blackmail on his mind?
 * This episode was one of four Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episodes, (the other three being A Clue For Scooby Doo, Hassle in the Castle, and The Backstage Rage), that were selected for the 1998 VHS Scooby-Doo's Greatest Mysteries by being voted "Most Popular" by the fans.

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches

 * In one scene, Mr. Carswell's left leg is not drawn in the animation.

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities

 * None known.

Home media

 * Scooby-Doo's Greatest Mysteries VHS released April 13, 1988.
 * Scooby-Doo's Greatest Mysteries DVD released May 6, 2003.
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons DVD set released March 16, 2004.
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You: The Complete Series DVD set released November 9, 2010.
 * Scooby-Doo! and the Ghosts compilation DVD released August 30, 2011.