A Clue for Scooby Doo

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
At Rocky Point Beach, the gang are all ready to have fun. But they are frightened off when the ghostly figure of a man in a diving suit materializes out of the surf. It soon vanishes, and the gang don't know what to make of it until later when they read of expensive yachts disappearing from the local marina. The newspaper quotes beach hermit Ebenezer Shark as blaming the disappearances on the ghost of Captain Cutler, who died when his boat was rammed and sunk by just such a yacht. The gang interviews Shark, whose story leaves them incredulous, especially after Scooby tangles with Shark's own diving suit, which closely resembles the one that they saw on the beach.

Fred and Daphne stay to watch Shark's movements while Velma, Shaggy and Scooby visit Cutler's widow. She is a practicing witch and claims responsibility for summoning up her husband's ghost, though she also says that she regrets that he is taking his revenge. After taking their leave, the three spot a mysterious glowing patch moving across the beach; they catch up to it and discover it is a wad of phosphorescent glowing seaweed native to the "Graveyard of Ships," the patch of sea where Cutler went down.

Changing into their diving gear, the gang heads out to the Graveyard of Ships to investigate. On their way out, they spot a yacht (empty of occupants) gliding into a cove. They follow it, but it has vanished. Returning to the Graveyard of Ships, they dive to investigate and split up.

Fred, Daphne and Velma think that they've found Cutler's corpse inside a wreck and go to investigate, but they are locked inside by Cutler's ghost, which then spots and chases Scooby and Shaggy. Scooby escapes and crashes into another wreck where glowing oxygen tanks are being stored. Shaggy and Scooby then stumble onto and free Freddy, Daphne, and Velma and the gang follows Cutler's glowing tracks to an undersea cliff, which they recognize as the spot where the yacht had vanished. Shaggy sits on a rock which works the lever that opens a secret entrance in the cliff. Inside they find a gigantic cavern containing all the stolen yachts, which are in the process of being repainted. They trap the ghost and pull his helmet off. They don't recognize the villain until Shaggy adds a patch of seaweed as a beard: It's Captain Cutler himself. While stealing yachts one evening, he became encumbered in the glowing seaweed, and he and his wife decided to use the legend of a ghost in order to cover up their scheme to steal, repaint, and resell expensive yachts.

Villains

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

Locations

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

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 (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 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.
 * A common DVD error is that this is switched with the next episode.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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 Ghost of Captain Cutler is a common villain the Smuggler's Cove areas of the video game, Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights. It is called the Ghost Diver in this.
 * A profile on the Ghost of Captain Cutler is feature in DC Comics' Scooby-Doo! #74 in the story, Who's Who In Scooby-Doo. It is referred to as Cutler's Ghost.
 * In Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!, the gang are invited on a mystery cruise by Fred's parents for his birthday. One of the would-be monsters resembles Ghost of Captain Cutler.
 * 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 sea diver ghost's roar came from the "Abominable Snowman" sketch of Stan Freberg's 1957 CBS radio show.
 * Velma's line "veeeeery interesting!" was a catchphrase of the 60s.
 * Shaggy's first toy was a garbage disposal.

Miscellaneous

 * Disguises: Mastheads
 * Scooby Snacks: 1
 * Zoinks: 5
 * Foods: Chocolate-covered hot dogs; jumbo pink lemonade

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.
 * 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 are 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.

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches

 * At one point Shaggy and Daphne both had blond hair.
 * When they arrive at the beach, the whole gang begins talking at once, but there is no lip movement.
 * Velma does an excellent imitation of Daphne due to lipsync failure.
 * Daphne has in various scenes, a green dress and poorly rendered lipstick.
 * 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.
 * The inside of Shaggy's 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 Shaggy grabs a bottle, his arm is bare, but before that he was wearing his long-sleeved diving suit.
 * When Shaggy sits on an underwater rock, his hair briefly changes to a 'hairdo' suspiciously like Fred's blond coif.
 * A plant in the foreground moves along with the gang as they swim.
 * The title is on the back cover of Velma's biology book.

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities

 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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. (Unbeknown 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
 * When the gang springs the trap on the diver, the bottle with soap attached to the hose vanishes.
 * 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.
 * 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 April 13, 1988.
 * Scooby-Doo's Original Mysteries DVD released March 14, 2000.
 * Scooby-Doo's Original Mysteries VHS released June 4, 2002.
 * Scooby-Doo's Greatest Mysteries DVD set 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!: Volume 1 - A Monster Catch DVD released January 27, 2009.
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series DVD set released November 9, 2010.