The Chiller Diller Movie Thriller is the first of four segments of Scooby's All Star Laff-a-Lympics. It was later repackaged as the fourth episode of the second season of The Scooby-Doo Show, and the twentieth episode overall of the series.
Premise
Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Dum, and the gang set out to protect Doo and Dum's cousin, Scooby-Dee, from the phantom of Milo Booth, a long dead silent film actor, determined to keep Dee from remaking one of his greatest films.
Synopsis
Scooby Dee, Scooby's cousin, is an actress and Scooby, the gang, and Scooby Dum, also Scooby's cousin, are on the set of her new movie, which is a remake of the film, Phantom of Dixie, which starred long deceased film star Milo Booth, who played the Phantom in the movie.
After filming a scene, Scooby Dee returns to her dressing room where she discovers a threatening note from, apparently, the ghost of Milo Booth, who warns Scooby Dee to quit the film or it will be her last one, and that he will not have his finest film remade.
That night, as Scooby Dee is scheduled to take a train back to the West Coast, she is put on 24 hour surveillance by orders from Mr. Mogul, the producer of the film. Rod Kennedy, Scooby Dee's acting coach, and Jim Moss, the studio chief of security, are placed under watch of Scooby Dee and the gang agrees to come aboard the train and to help solve the mystery of the phantom.
On the train, Scooby Dee is given her own private car, and the gang witnesses two men loading a coffin onto the train. Later than night, the Phantom, who has been in the coffin, arises and begins to roam around the train. Scooby, Shaggy, and Scooby Dum go into the kitchen to get some food, and encounter the Phantom of Milo Booth. They run back to tell the gang and the gang sends Scooby Dee to her private car to keep her safe, and decide to search the train for the Phantom.
Velma, Scooby, and Shaggy go to check the baggage car and discover the conductor, who was attacked by the Phantom and thrown into the coffin. They search for clues and Velma finds mud on the floor and inside the coffin, and they go back to tell the others. Back in Scooby Dee's private car, as Velma and Fred console Scooby Dee, the Phantom bursts in, going after Scooby Dee, just as Scooby, Shaggy, and Velma arrive, and turns off the lights. After a moment of chaos, the lights come back on, the Phantom is gone.
The gang set up a plan and disguise Scooby Doo as Scooby Dee and use him as a decoy. But the plan backfires and Scooby Dee ends up missing. As everyone searches for Scooby Dee, the Phantom, meanwhile, as gotten a dog that looks exactly like Scooby Dee, and switched the two, kidnapping the real Scooby Dee.
The fake Scooby Dee goes along with the plan, and fools the entire gang. They begin passing through a town named after Milo Booth, Boothville, and the train begins slowing down all of a sudden. The gang discovers that the car they are in has been unhooked from the rest of the train,and they are headed towards Boothville. They discover the Phantom heading towards the cemetery back to his grave, and follow him to the cemetery. They split up and Shaggy, Scooby Doo and Scooby Dum discover that the fake Scooby Dee is indeed not Scooby Dee, and they go to tell the others.
The gang reunite and Shaggy explains, and the Phantom along with fake Scooby Dee, locks the gang inside a mausoleum, the same one Milo Booth is buried in, where they find the coffin empty. They manage to escape, and head to town. They head for the carnival, to the Milo Booth Film Museum and discover an old film reel, that shows Milo Booth, but Velma notices something and she solves the mystery. They find the Phantom, fake Scooby Dee, and real Scooby Dee who is being held hostage. They chase the Phantom, rescue Scooby Dee and eventually capture him.
The Phantom of Milo Booth is unmasked as Jim Moss and the fake Scooby Dee was just a mutt in a costume.
Jim's plan was to make money off of his own Scooby Dee films using the fake Scooby Dee who would only listen to him. His plan was always to switch the Scooby Dee's and the fake Scooby Dee would pose as real Scooby Dee and the supposedly frightened Scooby Dee would stop obeying everyone but Jim Moss. He used the legend of the Phantom so none would get suspicious when this happened. The train sidetrack to Boothville was to make the gang think that Milo Booth had actually risen from the grave. But the mud from the train that Velma found did not match the graveyard mud, informing the gang that he had not come from the grave. And another mistake was the key they used to get into the mausoleum; it was brand new, someone planted it to make sure they could get in and see the empty coffin. He switched the nameplate to an empty coffin, making it seem like Milo Booth had risen from the dead.
They take Scooby Dee back to Hollywood where they attend an awards show. Scooby Dee wins the Golden Rover for best acting in a canine role.
Characters
Main characters:
Supporting characters:
- Scooby-Dum (final appearance)
- Scooby-Dee (only appearance)
- Mr. Mogul (only appearance)
- Rod Kennedy (only appearance)
Villains:
- Phantom of Milo Booth (only appearance)(Jim Moss's disguise)
- Jim Moss (only appearance)
- Scooby-Dee (impostor) (only appearance)(Jim Moss's dog's disguise)
- Jim Moss's dog (only appearance)(no lines)
Other characters:
- Mary Jane (only appearance)
- Phantom of Dixie (only appearance)
- Actor playing Phantom of Dixie (only appearance)(no lines)
- Phantom of Dixie director (only appearance)
- Train conductor (only appearance)
- Cat (only appearance)(no lines)
- Train passengers (only appearance)(miscellaneous speaking)
- Bug (only appearance)(no lines)
- Milo Booth (only appearance)(no lines)(newsreel)(deceased)
- Police captain (only appearance)(no lines)
- Movie awards audience (only appearance)(no lines)
- Movie awards presenter (only appearance)
Locations
- Phantom of Dixie set
- Hotel
- Boothville
- Boothville Cemetery
- Boothville Annual Fair
- Milo Booth Film Museum
- Funhouse
- Merry-go-round
- Log ride
- Ferris wheel
- Boothville Police Station
- Hollywood
Objects
Vehicles
- Train
Suspects
| Suspect | Motive/reason |
|---|---|
| Jim Moss | He was one of the two people who was placed under watch of Scooby-Dee on her trip back to the West Coast. |
| Rod Kennedy | He was the second of the two people who was placed under watch of Scooby-Dee on her trip back to the West Coast. As a dog trainer, he could have trained the Scooby-Dee imposter. |
Culprits
| Culprit | Motive/reason |
|---|---|
| Jim Moss as the Phantom of Milo Booth His dog as the Scooby-Dee (impostor) |
Moss planned to get rich making Scooby-Dee movies using the impostor, who would obey only him. |
Cast
Notes/trivia
- Only the televised version has the title card, on online streaming sites, such as iTunes, it is excluded.
- Although this is the last appearance of Scooby-Dum in The Scooby-Doo Show, he would continue to be featured in Laff-a-Lympics.
- This is the first and last appearance of Scooby-Dee. Although she has a possible cameo in the What's New, Scooby-Doo? episode, Homeward Hound.
- If Milo Booth died twenty years before this episode was filmed, then his death concured in 1957.
Cultural references
- The awards show at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood seems to be a parody of the Academy Awards.
Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches
- Mr. Mogul's hair is brown when Velma talks to him at the beginning.
- When Shaggy yanked Scooby-Dum out of the kitchen when the phantom appeared, Dum's collar was yellow instead of red.
Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities
- Although there might appear to be immoral implications with the Scoobys being attracted to and wanting a kiss on the cheek from their cousin Dee, it's only supposed to be taken innocently and they're presumably more smitten (albeit strongly) by her beauty more than anything else.
- Scooby was supposed to simply disguise himself as Scooby-Dee, but Velma makes him look like Mary Jane, the character Scooby-Dee played at the beginning of the episode.
- Jim Moss is called both a studio chief and a detective. The former job title is given by his boss, the latter by Shaggy, so the former is most likely correct.
- The first major tip off that the Phantom of Milo Booth isn't real is that he wasn't wearing glasses and the real Milo Booth did; logically a ghost wouldn't need to wear glasses because they wouldn't have any physical limitations, presumably the gang would expect him to be identical in appearance.
- Beyond that, though, the Phantom of Milo Booth was in the clothes of the Phantom of Dixie character, meaning he wouldn't have needed the glasses either way, because he clearly wore red contact lenses when playing the Phantom of Dixie.
- There is, however, one notable difference between the Phantom and the real Milo Booth: the real Milo Booth is slightly overweight while the Phantom is slender (though this is never commented upon).
- How was the fake Scooby-Dee able to speak or act like a human (the way Scooby-Doo acts) if she was really another dog (that was not a Scooby)?
- Given that Mumsy-Doo (who married into the Doo family) could also talk, it's possible that talking dogs are simply a normal, if slightly uncommon, phenomenon in the Scooby-Doo universe.
- At the police station, the gang are talking directly to the captain, but all of the questions are being asked by Rod Kennedy.
Home media
- TBA
Quotes
|
| Previous episode: | Series: | Next episode: |
| Hang in There, Scooby-Doo | The Scooby-Doo Show Season 2 |
The Spooky Case of the Grand Prix Race |