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Hassle in the Castle is the third episode of the first season of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!.

Premise

After getting lost in the fog, the gang arrive on Haunted Isle, where they meet an unearthly ghost haunting an old abandoned castle.

Synopsis

The gang is out on a fishing expedition but have become lost in the fog. Their boat runs aground on Haunted Isle, the location of the Vasquez Castle, an old pirate fortress. On their way to the castle to find help, they find an old map with a threatening note at the back warning them to leave. Inside the castle, they contemplate the portrait of Vasquez the pirate; Daphne falls through a trapdoor; and the rest of the gang flees in a panic when a cackling laugh breaks out. The rest of the gang tries to find Daphne, but Scooby and Shaggy become separated from Fred and Velma, meeting up with a talking skull. A panicked Shaggy idly asks for a calm-inducing ham sandwich, and the sandwich materializes out of mid-air. Fleeing again, Scooby and Shaggy find Daphne and Fred and Velma, and the full gang is then threatened by the Phantom, a billowing, sheet-wrapped figure. Fred, Shaggy and Scooby try to tackle the apparition, but they pass right through it; the Phantom then disappears through a wall. Even Velma thinks that they must have stumbled onto a genuine haunting.

Daphne discovers a giant key engraved with the message "Second Passage of The Old Bell". They deduce that this must refer to a book, and they find The Old Bell in the castle library; the second passage in the book refers to "catacombs." Beneath the castle they find a room stocked with magician's props. The Phantom appears, spreading panic; for a moment it looks as though Shaggy is being sawn in half before it is revealed as a trick. Fred, Daphne and Scooby try fleeing on a magic carpet. When they all regroup after losing the Phantom, they resolve to catch the Phantom; to that end, they send Scooby (dressed up in a hat, trenchcoat and moustache) out to lure the Phantom into a trap. He brings the Phantom in but lands in the trap himself. Fortunately, he falls out of the trap, catching the Phantom, who is unmasked as Bluestone the Great, a magician-turned-crook wanted in six states. Bluestone was searching for the Vasquez treasure and using his magic tricks to frighten snoopers away. Scooby then goes digging for the treasure, but only finds a squirrel.

Characters

Main characters:

Supporting characters:

Monsters and other villains:

Other characters:

  • Crab (only appearance)(no lines)
  • Laddie (first mentioned)
  • John Wayne (first mentioned)
  • Rabbit (only appearance)(no lines)
  • Rin Din Din (first mentioned)
  • Squirrel (only appearance)(no lines)
  • Vasquez (only appearance)(portrait)

Locations

Objects

Clues:

Food and drinks:

Other objects
  • A saw-him-in-two box
  • Anvil
  • Cannonball
  • Chandelier
  • Crossbow
  • Disappearing cabinets
  • Dummy head
  • Giant saw
  • Levitating table
  • Magic carpet
  • Magician's hat
  • Magician's wand
  • Map
  • Projector
  • Shaggy's coins
  • Skull
  • Spring
  • Squirting flowers
  • Suit of armour
  • Phantom's telescope
  • Trick mirror
  • Vase
  • Vasquez's treasure (mentioned)

Vehicles

Suspects

None

Culprits

Culprit Motive/reason
Bluestone the Great as the Phantom He wanted Vasquez's treasure.

Cast

Don Messick Scooby-Doo
Police officer
Casey Kasem Shaggy Rogers
Frank Welker Fred Jones
Stefanianna Christopherson Daphne Blake
Nicole Jaffe Velma Dinkley
George A. Robertson Bluestone the Great
Hal Smith Phantom

Full credits

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


Notes/trivia

  • Although this episode was the third to air, it was the second produced.[1] Any time Warner Home Video releases the series in order from the first episode, they always put A Clue for Scooby Doo and Hassle in the Castle in production order instead of air date order. Of course, nothing is lost because there's no continuity between episodes, but it might be a problem for those that use the play all feature since it will show those episodes in the opposite order.
  • This is the first episode in the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! series to use the standard title card sequence.
  • The following snippets from this episode can be seen in the first season's opening and closing sequences:
  1. The Phantom's arm grabbing at Daphne just as she walks away, following her intuition after getting lost down a trap floor.
  2. The skull talking (indicated by its glowing eye sockets), albeit with an extreme, zooming close-up.
  3. The scene where the Phantom says to the gang they will pay for not leaving. The background however is not within the castle, but the cemetery from What the Hex Going On?.

Miscellaneous

  • Disguises: Scooby as a human.
  • Scooby Snacks bribe: 3.
  • "Zoinks" count: 1.

Cultural references

  • After Shaggy politely thanks the skull for telling him where the gang went the skull replies, "S'awright", the tradmark reply Señor Wences's Pedro (the head in a box) does.
  • Fred tries to talk Scooby into being Laddie and then John Wayne in order to catch the phantom.

Adaptations

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches

  • While Fred is shown holding the boat steering wheel, the wheel hasn't been drawn into his left hand, only his fingers are holding on, and his right hand is just next to it.
  • In the first close-up of the gang on the boat, Velma's skirt loses its pleats the entire time. At the same time, Scooby's spots on his back are missing, even when the camera switches to another close-up showing just him and Velma.
  • When Freddy takes the map, he's looking at the back until Scooby's close-up, when the map is suddenly turned correctly.
  • While Shaggy's on the floor after having a blow to the head from the vase, Scooby's sclera are brown.
  • The rims on Daphne's cuffs are whitish on close-up up of her holding the key.
  • The page they're on says "2", despite the fact that they're half way through the book.
  • When the gang finds the door that fits the key, the room looks different in two different shots.
  • "Into the closet," says Fred, but the closet has stairs and passageways inside.
  • According to the solution to the mystery, all the flying objects are moved by wires. When Freddy and Daphne unroll the magic carpet, why don't they notice the wires?
  • The falling anvil produces white "force lines" common to cartoons to denote moving objects. Only these lines remain in the shot.
  • Bluestone wears gloves throughout the episode, except when Scooby falls on him.
  • Bluestone's costume has a separate mask at episode's end, although it doesn't look that way at any other time.

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities

  • It's not explicitly stated, but the Phantom would most likely be based on Vasquez.
  • None of the contents Shaggy mentions his Super Shaggy Sandwich having is seen on-screen.
  • Shaggy politely thanks the skull for saying "thataway," although, without a hand to point with or eye movement, there is no actual indication.
  • Shaggy and Scooby must've felt brave for a moment if they were actually trying to run after the Phantom, instead of running the other way.
  • The key they find is novelty size.
  • In trying to give a hint in the clue, the key probably meant to find a passage in the second page of the book. Either that or there was bad communication between the writers and animators.
  • Freddy asks what happened to Daphne although he can clearly see the trapdoor closing.
  • It really should be called a "saw-her-in-two" box as it's usually the magician's "lovely assistant" that is the volunteer. It might be a coincidence that Shaggy just happens to be the victim.
  • There would be no possible way Bluestone could make a dummy head or feet of Shaggy Rogersto be used in time (or even if he needed to use one). Does he have dummy heads of the others?
  • At the time of this episode Rin Tin Tin's name was not trademarked (it wasn't until 1993) so it could've been used instead of "Rin Din Din". Perhaps the writers did it intentionally or perhaps they didn't and thought three real-world names in a row was a bit too much.
  • Bluestone claims that he used wires to levitate. If that was true, who was working the wires?
  • How did the suit of armor in the trap grab Scoob by the collar? 

In other languages

Language Name Meaning
Greek Το Μαγεμένο Κάστρο The Magic Castle
Polish Spotkanie w zamku An encounter in the castle

Home media

Quotes

Daphne: You sure picked a spooky day to go boating, Freddy.
Fred: Well it didn't start out that way. What could've happened?
Velma: It's very simple. When the barometric pressure dropped, and the warm offshore air came in contact with an inland cold front, we ran into some unnavigable mugilation.
Fred: You're right, Velma. Whatever you said.
Velma: I said, we're lost in the fog.
Shaggy: (sticks his head out from the bottom) You buzzed?


(the gang's boat crashes into some rocks surrounding the surface of Haunted Isle during a dense fog)
Daphne: Now what happened?
Fred: Looks like we've run aground.
Shaggy: Yeah, but, like, where?
Velma: Well, if I'm not mistaken, it looks like we're stuck on Haunted Isle.
Shaggy: (sarcastically) I'm sorry I asked.


Shaggy: I'm so scared I wish I had a ham sandwich to calm my nerves. (a ham sandwich floats down out of nowhere)


Shaggy: Like, he went through the wall -- nonstop!
Velma: There's a very logical explanation for all this.
Shaggy: Quick, tell me.
Velma: The place is haunted.
Shaggy: (sarcastically) Thanks a lot.

Gallery


References

External links


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A Clue for Scooby Doo Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
Season 1
Mine Your Own Business
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