"Mystery Incorporated Theme" is the theme song for the series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.
The song was written and performed by Matthew Sweet. It is the first Scooby-Doo TV theme song to be an instrumental, the only words heard being "Scooby Dooby Doo", as the music ends.
The music is fast-paced, while the synthesized sounds evokes a slightly spooky vibe.
Description[]
The Mystery Machine drives under the Crystal Cove sign at night, some paper fluttering in its wake. The camera zooms in on Scooby, who has his head out of the window, tongue flapping in the wind. We then see the whole gang in the van, and focus in on Velma's portable TV.
On the TV we see Fred holding a remote control. We zoom in on the image and see Fred is using the remote to drop a number of cage traps. The scene freezes on a hero image of Fred, captioned with his name, to a blue background of his full name, showing trap plans.
The image pulls back and we see Daphne is looking at that image in a picture frame, which she lovingly hugs. The picture changes to a torch, as the camera moves around her, until it freezes into her hero image, again captioned with her full name on a purple background of Mystery Machine patterned flowers.
The camera pulls back to show Velma looking at the image of Daphne on her laptop. She pulls out a handheld device, possibly a mobile phone as the camera moves around her and freezes on her hero image, captioned with her full name on an orange background showing printed circuits and electronics. The image zooms in on her right eye, pulling back to show Shaggy looking through a magnifying glass.
Shaggy uses the magnifying glass to inspect a giant pile of hamburgers, and as the camera circles around him, we see a hamburger in his left hand. The scene freezes into his hero image, captioned with his full name on a green background of hamburgers, pizza, hotdogs, cakes and shakes. He then falls backwards into the hamburgers scattering them everywhere.
Scooby-Doo jumps into the flying hamburgers, grabbing one in his mouth. The camera moves around him as he swallows the burger, the background still the same as Shaggy's. It then freezes on his hero image, the green background momentarily turning brown. It is captioned with his full name on the background.
Scooby then falls into Shaggy's arms, at which point the scene rapidly zooms out to show the gang standing outside a spooky mansion, the Mystery Machine nearby spotlighting them all. The series logo then appears as we hear Scooby say "Scooby Dooby Doo".
Hot Dog Water version[]
At the start of the episodes The Night the Clown Cried II - Tears of Doom! and Web of the Dreamweaver!, when Daphne temporarily leaves the Gang, the opening credits sequence is modified to replace Daphne with Hot Dog Water. Interestingly, in the opening scene in the Mystery Machine, Daphne is still shown.
Hot Dog Water's scene starts with the picture frame showing Fred, but it immediately changes to Velma. The scene continues like Daphne's with her hugging the frame lovingly and then holding a torch in her hand as it freezes on her hero image. Both her caption and the background say "Hot Dog Water" - she has a red background of scientific equipment.
Velma's scene starts with her seeing Hot Dog Water on her laptop screen, and the sequence continues as usual until the final shot outside the mansion, where Hot Dog Water is standing in Daphne's spot.
Notes/trivia[]
- While the theme to The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo was the first theme not to have sung lyrics, it does have a long explanatory voice-over.
- The opening sequence and theme does not appear in the first two episodes of Season 2 - The Night the Clown Cried and The House of the Nightmare Witch - when the Gang has fractured after the final events of Season 1.