Mystery Mask Mix-Up

Mystery Mask Mix-Up is the second episode of the second season of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, and the nineteenth episode overall in the series.

Premise
Daphne buys a decorative, and purportedly cursed, mask in Chinatown, and is subsequently kidnapped by a pair of ghastly ancient Chinese figures. The rest of the gang trail the kidnappers to the temple of the evil Zen Tuo, who is apparently haunting the temple and wants to do away with the gang.

Synopsis
Fred, Daphne, Velma, Scooby and Shaggy are watching a parade in San Francisco's China Town. After the parade, the gang stops by at an antique store and Daphne purchases a golden Chinese mask encrusted with jewels. The gang leaves and two hooded ghosts arrive at the antique store and ask for the mask. The store owner, frightened, tells the ghosts that a girl took it.

While walking down the streets, the gang runs into the hooded ghosts who attempt to take the mask. Scooby creates a smokescreen from a steam press and the gang flees. Mystery Inc. heads to an oriental art shop where a man, Mr. Fong, informs them that many centuries ago, the mask was stolen from the tomb of Zen Tuo, a Chinese warlord whose ghost returns to seek the mask.

While driving in the Mystery Machine, the hooded ghosts start following them in their car. A car chase ensues, leading the gang to crash into Fisherman's wharf and land in a pile of fish. In the conclusion, Daphne is kidnapped (bound and gagged in the back seat of the ghost's car) and the mask is taken and the hooded ghosts drive away. The kidnappers leave behind a paper that reads "The Temple in the Hills".

The gang heads to the temple and enter. Splitting up, Fred and Velma find a secret room. They enter, hear a noise and look to see a bound and gagged Daphne. She struggles to speak through her gag. They remove it and she says it's a trap: the door closes and locks and they are all trapped inside.

Scooby and Shaggy run into Zen Tuo (now wearing the golden mask) and the hooded ghosts who chase them. They eventually are captured and placed in a room tied up on a pile of fireworks, a lit fuse making it's way toward them. They manage to escape, and in the process, let Daphne, Fred and Velma out of the room.

Daphne leads the gang to a secret room that she saw on her way in, full of pigeons in coops. Messages that read dates and times have been tied to their legs.

Freddy formulates a trap, where Zen Tuo comes in, he steps on a train powered by Roman candles, and the trap is set. But Scooby doesn't finish laying the track pieces out and the train runs into Scooby Doo. In spite of this, the villain is captured.

Zen Tuo is Mr. Fong, and the hooded ghosts are his henchmen. Mr. Fong has been the leader of an international smuggling ring. Information about dates and times entered the country inside masks and then the info was sent to other gang members by the pigeons. The mask Daphne bought was sent to that antique shop by mistake and the ghost act was to scare people away from the temple, their center of the operation.

Villains

 * Zen Tuo/Mr. Fong
 * Scare Pair/Mr. Fong's henchmen

Suspects

 * None

Locations

 * San Francisco, California
 * Chinatown
 * The Temple in the Hills
 * Curio shop
 * Chinese laundry
 * A. Fong Oriental Art
 * Hotel
 * Fisherman's Wharf
 * The Dingy

Notes/trivia

 * Disguises: Shag's and Scoob's Haunted Chinese Restaurant.
 * Scooby and the gang don't venture outside the U.S. again (if this episode did take place in China) until the episode Mystery in Persia of The New Scooby-Doo Movies when they travel to Persia (Iran), and various episodes of The Scooby-Doo Show take place in foreign countries.
 * Scooby can speak Chinese and Velma can read it (and therefore presumably speak it too).
 * H&B Tuna Co. is a reference to Hanna-Barbera.
 * Whilst not yet retconned, Daphne's wealth is implied in this episode, being able to buy an ornate golden mask inlaid with jewels as an impulse purchase. On the other hand, having been delivered by mistake to a Curio shop, it may not have been that expensive.
 * Zen Tuo is the second villain to attempt to kill members of the Gang, after the Snow Ghost in That's Snow Ghost.
 * Both Zen Tuo and the scare pair appear in Scooby-Doo! Unmasked.

Miscellaneous

 * Scooby Snacks: 1 (eaten by a mouse)

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches

 * When one of the zombies demanded the mask, he and his partner's tunic folds (the y-shapes in front) were faced the wrong way.
 * When first confronted by the zombies, the only female silhouette shown is Daphne's, which mouths "Yow!" However, it is Velma's voice that proclaims this most profoundly.
 * When Scooby opens the zombies' car and gasps, they have yellow pupils in the black eye sockets of their masks.
 * During the chase scene right after the Fisherman's Wharf sign appears, Scooby is shown in the Mystery Machine. Two seconds later he is back on top of the zombies' car.
 * When Scooby was digging for Shaggy in the fish, his arm turned the color of Shaggy's shirt, twice.
 * When Zen Tuo was crossing the first line Shaggy drew it showed another line already drawn behind him.
 * After being unmasked, the Zen Tuo costume turned black, even though it was white for the rest of the episode.
 * When the fish squirted water at Scooby, its eyes were closed, even though fish don't really have eyelids. Although the usage in animation gives it a more facial expression to the character.

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities

 * One cannot be exactly sure where this episode takes place. It would appear that Scooby and the gang have traveled to China (thus making this the first time that Scooby and the gang venture outside the U.S.) but the episode could very well take place in San Francisco, which has a large Chinese neighborhood (Chinatown) and population. The chase scene ends with the Mystery Machine crashing within Fisherman's Wharf (which is located in San Francisco). If the setting is San Francisco, then why is there a Chinese temple there?
 * For comical effect, the Mystery Machine slips on a bannana at the end of the chase scene. (In fact it's the reason it ends.)
 * When the zombies come to get the mask from the salesman, he says it was "just purchased by a young girl". Considering this very generic description, it is amazing how quickly they realised Daphne had the mask. Furthermore, it would have been perfectly easy enough for Daphne to deny all knowledge of it, having never met them before.
 * Why would the zombies be carrying around a piece of paper with "The Temple in the Hills" written on it, considering they are already aware of where the hideout is?
 * All Zen Tuo and the zombies wanted was the mask- why kidnap Daphne? That's just an invitation to be followed. They probably couldn't allow any witnesses.
 * Having been worn throughout the episode, why does the mask still contain messages within its mouth at the end?
 * If the mask was delivered by accident to somewhere else, how did the zombies know where to find it? They must have connections within the postal service.

Home media

 * 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.