Returning of the Key Ring! is the sixteenth episode of season 2 of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? and the forty-first overall.
Premise[]
A plant monster is haunting a hardware mega store. However, Daphne's friend, Sean Astin, is focused on returning a lost "ring of key" while the gang tries to solve the mystery. But maybe the two things are actually connected!
Synopsis[]
At the More Walls! Doors! Stuff! store, an old woman is shopping for some standard thread socket head-screws. She asks a teenage worker, who doesn't seem to really care about it. He shows her one that she doesn't want, which makes her complain about it angrily. The worker walks away to ask the manager for the right one. The old woman notices a slice saw on a shelf, and holds it, but as she does so, a plant with an evil-looking face spurts out of it. It coughs purple smoke into her face. Vines from under the shelf grab the old woman and tangle her up in them. The green man monster's head opens as the woman screams.
The manager and the teenage worker find that the woman has vanished. All that's left is the flower with a demonic face.
The gang are outside a diner, about to meet Daphne's friend, Sean Astin. Daphne warns that they cannot say the word 'ring' because Sean gets super sensitive about it; he never got to carry it in any of his movies. They enter the diner to see Sean sitting at a nearby booth. They sit down and converse. Daphne accidentally slips up and says the word 'ring', which makes Sean's eyes look like swirls!! Thankfully, Daphne explains it properly which stops the trance. A waitress comes over and takes everyone's order. Scooby orders some 'onion rings' which makes Sean go crazy again. Thankfully, he explains that too.
A few minutes later, outside the diner, Velma notices a store key ring next to the Mystery Machine. This makes Sean identical to his Lord of The Rings character, he tells the gang that the key ring (or the 'ring of key' as he refers to it as) must be returned. He checks if the key ring belongs to anyone in the diner, and it does not. Sean tells Mystery Inc. that they need to go on a quest as the 'Alliance of The Ring'! The gang agree to join.
Daphne discovers that the key ring has a loyalty card is from the More Walls! Doors! Stuff! store on it. The Alliance of The Ring head on their way there.
They enter the store, to the delight of the manager, who has been struggling to get customers in his store. Recently, they have all gone missing. The gang reach a key-grinder on a checkout divider. It seems that a lot of keys have been ground with it recently, which is odd when you don't have a lot of customers. The manager explains that it has been the work of his assistant, and that he's newer to hardware business. Just then, some vines appear behind him. The vines grow bigger and bigger. The demonic flower coughs some purple smoke into the manager's face before he is dragged away by the plant monster. Attempting to save him, Sean, Shaggy and Scooby tear through the plants, but they find nothing in there. He has disappeared.
The rest of the gang run over to Sean, Shaggy and Scooby. They all ask Scooby what happened, but he has vines tied around his face. The green man monster appears right behind them. In the security room, it seems that an old man is spying on the gang through the cameras. Shaggy and Scooby disagree with Sean about completing the quest, running away archaic. The green man monster chases them around some shelves.
Sean, Scooby and Shaggy hide in some toilets, making a mini Scooby-Dooby doors scene. They push the monster in one of the toilets and run off. Then, another doors-scene with department store doors plays out. In disguise, the trio pretend to be workers of the store. They load heavy objects into the monster's hands, which makes it drop to the floor. Quickly, it rears its ugly head and gets back to chasing them.
Shaggy, Scooby and Sean crash into some vines and get tangled in them; Sean thinks it is the end of the Alliance of The Ring. They are about to be taken when Daphne, Velma and Fred save them by sawing the vines apart. The monster slides away. Behind the gang, a giant mess of vines rises up. Fred and Sean rip it apart to reveal the teenage worker, who had been stuck in there because of the monster. He leaves, suspiciously muttering that the store is the worst.
Just as Fred is about to pick up some weedkiller, the garden department lady of the store tells him to step away from it She seems sympathetic to the monster plants and asks them what the gang did to them. She says it's about time that plants take over and leaves. Shaggy and Scooby are about to leave when Sean persuades them with 'sad eyes' to stay. The gang split up and look for clues.
Daphne almost slips on some red hydraulic fluid on the floor. Fred remarks that there are lots of fluids on the isle that they're in: the automotive isle. Meanwhile, the green man monster sneaks up on Sean and steals the key ring! It cackles and smacks Sean as he tries to get it back. Stealthily, Scooby grabs the key ring with his teeth and hops onto Shaggy and Sean. They fall into a mysterious hole, which is conjuring up purple smoke. Velma finds them and points out that it's a clue; the start of a tunnel. Velma hints at Fred that they're going to be making a trap.
Shaggy, Scooby and Sean have to go shopping for the main parts of the trap. Unfortunately, they run out of time, as the monster has already entered the scene. Scooby and Sean hop into the shopping cart while shaggy dashes away with it. Since the trap can't work, Fred says they'll need to improvise in the gardening department.
Meanwhile, the old man watches the security cameras intently, with a big grin on his face. A tangle of demon flowers have also arrived, making them trapped between it and the green man monster. Fred grabs a leaf blower and blows the green man monster away! Scooby and Shaggy get some shears and snip away at the demon flowers! They form into a plant sculpture of Scooby himself, which turns out to still be evil! It grabs Scooby and Shaggy with its vines, not long before Velma shreds it with a chainsaw and Daphne runs it over!
The monstrous, green-skinned creature chased Sean into a secluded aisle lined with rings. Sean grabbed a bag of onion rings and started munching. Suddenly, the monster appeared behind him, reaching out to grab him. In a desperate attempt to escape, Sean tossed his key ring into a nearby fireplace. It missed the flames and landed on the metal grate. Just as the monster was about to strike, Fred charged in and tackled it, trapping it in a bale of hay.
The monster, to their astonishment, turned out to be the garden department lady. Velma explained that someone had been cutting a lot of brass keys, the kind used for safety deposit boxes. The vines that had been moving around were actually designed to conceal a plumber's snake. The hole Shaggy, Scooby, and Sean had fallen into was a hidden tunnel.
An elderly man entered the room, revealing himself to be a bank detective. He explained that the garden department lady had been planning a massive bank heist. Sounds had been detected from the vault next door to the store. The plant monster had been a distraction to scare people away while she tunneled into the bank in order to get the money.
Outside the store, The Alliance of the Ring of Key believed their quest was complete. But then, a mysterious map appeared on Sean's arm. It led them to the legendary pirate treasure of Mad Matey Mckwinkle. Without hesitation, they jumped into the Mystery Machine and set off on their next adventure.
Characters[]
Main characters:
Supporting characters:
- Sean Astin (only appearance)
- Manager (only appearance)
- Bank detective (only appearance)
Villains:
- Green Man Monster (only appearance)(no lines)(Garden department lady's disguise)
- Garden department lady (only appearance)
Other characters:
- Old lady (only appearance)
- Worker (only appearance)
- Diner customers (only appearance)(no lines)
- Waitress (only appearance)
Locations[]
Objects[]
- Key ring with one key
- Key-cutting machine
- Vines
Vehicles[]
Suspects[]
| Suspect | Motive/reason |
|---|---|
| Bank detective | He was watching the gang over the cameras. |
| Worker | He hates his job at the store. |
| Garden department lady | She said it's time that the plants take over. |
Culprits[]
| Culprit | Motive/reason |
|---|---|
| Garden department lady as the Green Man Monster | To tunnel under the store and pull off a bank heist. |
Cast[]
Notes/trivia[]
- Daphne announces the guest star.
- The door gag is done using toilets, and then a second time with display doors.
Miscellaneous[]
- Disguises: Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and Sean Astin as shop assistants.
- Traps: A net trap which involved various tools in the store. This trap did not happen successfully because the monster appeared before it was ready. Mystery Inc. improvised using the power tools.
- Clues: A key ring, a key cutting machine, and a hole in the ground.
Cultural references[]
- As Sean Astin stars in the The Lord of the Rings film franchise, this episode contains numerous references:
- Sean Astin calling the group comprising himself and Mystery Inc. the "Alliance of the Ring of Key" is a reference to "The Fellowship of the Ring" from The Lord of the Rings.
- The title of the episode could also be a reference to the last movie/book in the The Lord of the Rings-series; The Return of the King.
- The ending is likely a reference to the 1985 film The Goonies.
Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches[]
- None known.
Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities[]
- Before Shaggy, Scooby, and Astin fall into the hole, Scooby holds the key ring in his teeth. However, after they fall, the ring is around Astin's neck.
- It is not revealed what happened to the people taken by the Green Man Monster.
Home media[]
Scooby-Doo! and Guess Who?: The Complete Second Season DVD set released by Warner Home Video on June 28, 2022.
Quotes[]
External links[]
- TBA