Never Ape an Ape Man


 * This article is about the episode. For the comic adaptation, see Never Ape an Ape Man (Gold Key Comics).

Never Ape an Ape Man is the seventh episode of the first season of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!.

Premise
The gang take jobs as extras on the set of Daphne's uncle, John Maxwell's, movie set of The Ape Man of Forbidden Mountain. But, a real apeman has been sabotaging the movie and Mystery Inc. need to catch this ape before he causes the movie to end permanently.

Synopsis
Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby take jobs as extras on the movie set of The Ape Man of Forbidden Mountain, directed by Daphne's uncle, John Maxwell. Uncle John states that filming has not been going well, considering local legends say that a real apeman is haunting the grounds. During filming, the lead role, Candy Mint gets attacked by a real Ape Man who tries to throw her off of a narrow bridge. Scooby comes in and saves Candy and then after settling down, they decide to go look for the stuntman Carl, who was supposed to be playing as the Ape Man. They find Carl locked in a trunk and he says a large hairy animal locked him in there.

Candy and Carl quit until the Ape Man is caught, and Mystery Inc. go look in an old mansion for the Ape Man. They find a half-eaten hamburger. Apes eat meat? It's a clue, and after investigating it, Scooby gobbles it up (though Shaggy refuses to eat after an ape). Later on the set, the gang encounters a live parrot that says "Stick 'em up! What's the password?" Then a motionless Ape Man model is hurled toward Shaggy, whom demolishes it in the struggle, only stopping his panic attack once he realizes it's only a stuffed dummy. Later in the library set, Freddy winds up falling through a trapdoor (thanks to Daphne), and then the Ape Man disguises as Scooby-Doo to encounter the real Scooby at a phony "mirror." Once unmasked, Scooby manages to ward off the Ape Man, but only temporarily, before finding Freddy and the gang set up a trap. Shaggy and Scooby are sent out as bait (thanks to some Scooby Snacks, and a "Shaggy Snack" made exclusively for Shaggy), and when playing billiards they discover the Ape Man posing as a hunting trophy head. They manage to lure the ape to the trap, but it backfires, with Shaggy being caught instead. So, the ape runs off into the basement and the gang follows him through a secret cave that leads back to the dressing rooms. Shaggy and Scooby enter a trailer, and Shaggy finds an old-timey camera. They play around with masks and other costume parts, until the Ape Man enters without his mask, and Shaggy snaps a picture before fleeing. The two run into the rest of the gang, and before Shaggy can reveal the picture, the Ape Man chases them back to the old mansion and upstairs. Freddy flips a switch, where the stairs convert to a ramp, sending the Ape Man sliding and crashing into a pile of furniture. The picture Shaggy took reveals Carl the stuntman as the ape.

Sometime later, Uncle John explains that Carl was angry for not being cast in the lead role. He thanks the gang for helping him, but Velma says that most of the credit should go to Shaggy. But where's he got to? They find Scooby and Shaggy having some more disguise fun; Scooby in the Ape Man's head, and Shaggy wearing the Scooby-Doo mask from earlier.

Characters
Main characters:
 * Mystery Inc.
 * Scooby-Doo
 * Shaggy Rogers
 * Daphne Blake
 * Fred Jones
 * Velma Dinkley

Supporting characters:
 * John Maxwell
 * Candy Mint

Monsters and other villains:
 * Ape Man /
 * Carl

Other characters:
 * Crewman
 * Parrot

Locations

 * Mountain
 * Bridge
 * Underground tunnel
 * Trailers
 * Old mansion

Objects
Clues:
 * Ape Man hair
 * Half-eaten hamburger
 * Script

Food and drinks:
 * Hambuger
 * Scooby Snacks
 * Shaggy Snack
 * Cherries
 * Chocolate sauce
 * Pepperoni
 * Pizza crust
 * Sardines

Other objects:
 * Animal head trophies
 * Ape Man mask
 * Cue sticks
 * Cue balls
 * Make-up kit
 * Net
 * Stuffed Ape Man
 * Scooby-Doo mask
 * Shaggy's wristwatch
 * Spotlight
 * Trunk
 * Wig
 * Velma's glasses

Suspects
None

Full credits
The following credits are how they are seen on-screen (or as close as possible).


 * Produced and Directed by: Joseph Barbera and William Hanna
 * Associate Producer: Lew Marshall
 * Story: Ken Spears, Joe Ruby, Bill Lutz
 * Story Direction: Howard Swift
 * Voices: Nicole Jaffe, Hal Smith, Casey Kasem, John Stephenson, Don Messick, Jean Vander Pyl, Vic Perrin, Frank Welker, Stefanianna Christopherson
 * Animation Director: Charles A. Nichols
 * Production Design: Iwao Takamoto
 * Production Supervisor: Victor O. Schipek
 * Layout: Bob Singer, Alvaro Arce, Paul Gruwell, Mike Arens, Alex Ignatiev, Ric Gonzales, Bill Lignante
 * Animation: Bill Keil, George Rowley, Oliver E. Callahan, Ed Love, Rudy Cataldi, Bill Nunes, Zdenko Gasparovic, Joan Orbison, Bob Goe, Jay Sarbry, Hicks Lokey, Ken Southworth, Lloyd Vaughan
 * Background Styling: Walt Peregoy
 * Backgrounds: Ron Dias, Gary Niblett, Daniela Bielecka, Rolly Oliva
 * Title Design: Bill Perez
 * Titles: Robert Schaefer
 * Musical Director: Ted Nichols
 * Technical Supervisor: Frank Paiker
 * Ink and Paint Supervisor: Roberta Greutert
 * Xerography: Robert "Tiger" West
 * Sound Direction: Richard Olson
 * Film Editing: Gregory V. Watson, Jr., Ted Baker, Chip Yaras
 * Camera: Dick Blundell, Bill Kotler, George Epperson, Cliff Shirpser, Charles Flekal, Roy Wade
 * A Hanna-Barbera Production
 * © 1969 Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc.
 * a hanna-barbera production
 * A Taft Broadcasting Company

Notes/trivia

 * The following scenes are used in the first season's opening and closing sequences:
 * Fred falling backwards through a secret tunnel in the "library".


 * This episode is notable for breaking several formulas and characteristcs:
 * Scooby shows a rare amount of courage when he both runs across the bridge to challenge the Ape Man, and then manages to win a verbal fight against him, causing him to back off, early in the episode.
 * Daphne sets off a trap, but Fred's the one to fall victim (no pun intended).
 * Carl's costume was surprisingly his own (another first in the series). He was supposed to be the Ape Man in the movie, but it turns out he was pretending to be a real apeman while disguised as one.
 * The villain is not unmasked in the episode, but revealed through a photograph.
 * This is the second episode without the Mystery Machine.
 * Production-wise this is the first appearance of a Shaggy Snack, although chronologically they had appeared in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo first.
 * The Ape Man wearing a Scooby mask, while pretending to be the latter's reflection, is a reference to the phony mirror gag made famous in the Marx Brothers' short film, Duck Soup.

Miscellaneous

 * Disguises: None.
 * Scooby Snacks bribe: 4 (possibly 5).
 * "Zoinks" count: 2.

Cultural references

 * Shaggy calls Scooby, "Laddie", after the son of the famous Lassie, the titular character in the 1945 MGM film, Son of Lassie.
 * Shaggy sarcastically refers to himself as "King Kong in the flesh."

Adaptations

 * Gold Key Comics adapted this episode (along with the first episode) into the comic book story of the same name for Scooby Doo... Where Are You! #1.
 * While the events of the situation aren't clear, the montage sequence before the end of the closing credits to the live-action telefilm, Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins, did have Fred fall backwards in a library.

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches

 * In the first shot with Velma, her lenses are missing.
 * When Mr. Maxwell's replies to Scooby's shock of seeing the Ape Man mask, he's against a trailer as if he's outside when they're actually inside Carl's trailer.
 * When Velma thinks it's Shaggy trying to scare her and Scooby by saying "Stick 'em up! What's the password?", her sclera have almost disappeared and her pupils are very faint.
 * When Fred pushed a button to flatten the steps, he didn't push a button at all, and his hand was in a different area to the button Daphne pressed earlier in the episode.

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities

 * John Maxwell is only either called Uncle John or Mr. Maxwell, but a crewmember refers to him as J.J.. It's unknown what the second "J" is supposed to stand for, presumably it would at least be the first initial of his middle name.
 * If a real mountain bridge was being used instead of a set then a stunt person should've taken the place of Candy.
 * The force of the Ape Man vigorously trying to shake Candy off of the bridge should've surely sent her falling off as she wasn't holding onto anything. Even though her reactions are close-up, she doesn't seem to even wobble. Perhaps the shaking of the screen was supposed to emulate that.
 * Though Carl, as the Ape Man, falls off the cliff, he is unhurt.
 * Scooby bounces straight up and down near the far cliff face, but on his last bounce, he somehow ends up next to the near cliff face.
 * Epi-Center Film Company was already implied to be the film's production company, but Starbright Films appears on a board outside the mansion set. They possibly could be providing the sets, including the mansion, at the very least.
 * Shaggy tries to open the door while holding it closed with his foot.
 * If the parrot is indeed a trained animal in the film (as opposed to someone just seemingly leaving it there for no apparent reason) then what it's saying may be its line in the film, although this is not revealed.
 * Why would the film crew leave a live parrot on the set after they had quit working on the movie? Hopefully someone remembered to feed it.
 * It's unknown if Scooby got that bonus snack.
 * When Velma was prepared to pull down the trap switch, it was the middle one. After Scooby got off her, she reached for the middle one again, but it was the light switch. Furthermore, Fred said he would shine a spotlight on the Ape Man to stun him, but the room is pitch black when Velma hits the switch and turns the light off.
 * Where did Carl get a rubber Scooby-Doo mask? It is likely he may have had it made by a professional make-up artist on the set, but creating a latex mask can take quite a while (sometimes a few days.)
 * When Shaggy and Scooby are playing pool, the 6 ball appears in two different locations on the table without being touched.

Home media

 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons DVD set released by Warner Home Video on March 16, 2004.
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons DVD set released by Warner Home Video on June 20, 2005.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: Volume 2 - Bump in the Night DVD released by Warner Home Video on May 5, 2009.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series (limited edition) DVD set released by Warner Home Video on November 9, 2010.
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series DVD set released by Warner Home Video on November 21, 2011.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series DVD set released by Warner Home Video on November 12, 2012.
 * Scooby-Doo! and the Movie Monsters DVD released on November 20, 2012.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright DVD released by Warner Home Video on August 20, 2013.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright Blu-ray Disc released by Warner Home Video on August 20, 2013.
 * Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright DVD released by Warner Home Video on August 20, 2013.