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The Haunted Carnival

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The Haunted Carnival is the eighth and final episode of the second season of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, and the twenty-fourth and final episode overall in the series.

Premise[]

When no one shows up at his carnival, Dick Van Dyke enlists the help of the kids to track down the ghost that is scaring away his customers.

Synopsis[]

Mystery Inc. drives the Mystery Machine to a carnival after seeing the sign but find the place empty. They recognize the ticket salesman as Dick Van Dyke, and as the gang enters they don't see anyone working except Van Dyke pretending to be some workers. During a show in the Masked Marvel Tent, Van Dyke pretends to be the Masked Marvel only to trip and be unmasked. Van Dyke confesses that carnival has been empty because people believe it is haunted and he needs help. However, a Ghost Hand appears and frightens them. The gang then decides to help Van Dyke solve the mystery.

Shaggy and Scooby-Doo go to the Hot Dogs & Hamburgers Stand to make some burgers and fries, but the food disappears and the two run. They head to the Fun House where they look through some mirrors and try lifting weights but also meet another ghost. In another part of the carnival, Van Dyke, Fred, Velma, and Daphne spot the Ghost Hand at the Baseball Throwing Concession, Van Dyke tries to stop him but the hand gets away. Later, Van Dyke does a disappearing act with Velma while pretending to be a magician. Meanwhile, Shaggy and Scooby hide in the Caterpillar Ride but the Ghostly Strongman turns on the ride and rides with them. Van Dyke, Velma, Daphne, and Fred spot the roller coaster moving and Van Dyke runs to go help them.

However, the Ghostly Strongman pulls the lever which stops the ride and sends Shaggy and Scooby flying into the Balloon Stand. The Ghostly Strongman then inhales a big balloon which sends Shaggy and Scooby flying up the air. He then starts popping them with a magnifying sunlight which causes the duo to fall. Van Dyke manages to save them by using the ice cream cart for them to land. Later, the gang splits up again to catch the ghost with Van Dyke going with Shaggy and Scooby and Velma going with Fred and Daphne. Van Dyke, Shaggy, and Scooby run into the phantom and ended up in the Tunnel of Love.

While in the tunnel, Van Dyke searches for a way out of the tunnel. Meanwhile, Fred, Velma, and Daphne search for the ghost but Daphne wants to get her picture taken at the picture booth. Fred and Velma check on her and find another ghost in there. Fred tries to catch the ghost but it disappears. The two go search for Daphne and find her in the motor room where she reveals that she fell through a trapdoor and landed one of the cars. Suddenly, a ghost driver appears and causes Daphne to crash and the three to chase after it. They arrive in a secret passageway where Van Dyke finds a hatch that leads to the secret passage. He is then pulled through by Fred.

The gang reunites and discovers that the culprit was the carnival strongman, who made the carnival haunted so he can get Van Dyke to sell it to him for cheap and take over the carnival. Shaggy and Scooby tries to run, but the strongman knocks them on the Carousel. Shaggy and Scooby then forces the strongman into the ice cream cart after he tries to stop the carousel. With the strongman captured, the gang helps Van Dyke work at his carnival for saving it.

Characters[]

Main characters:

Supporting characters:

Villains:

Other characters:

  • Gypsy Machine (only appearance)
  • Ape Man (mentioned)
  • Bird (Who looks like a fish) (mentioned)
  • Rin Tin Tin (mentioned)
  • Juggler (mentioned)
  • Pigeons (only appearance)(no lines)
  • White Rabbit (only appearance)(no lines)
  • Blog the Magnificent Ferret (mentioned)
  • The Human Fish (mentioned)
  • 1/2 Man 1/2 Woman (mentioned)
  • JoJo the Dogfaced Man (only appearance)(no lines)

Locations[]

Objects[]

Vehicles[]

Suspects[]

  • None

Culprits[]

Culprit Motive/reason
Carnival Strongman as the Ghostly Strongman To scare Dick into selling his carnival cheap.

Cast[]

Don Messick Scooby-Doo
Carnival Strongman
Ghostly Strongman
Casey Kasem Shaggy Rogers
Franklin Welker Fred Jones
Heather North Daphne Blake
Gypsy Machine
Nicole Jaffe Velma Dinkley
Dick Van Dyke Himself

Full credits[]

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

Notes/trivia[]

Blog The Ferret

Early (albeit different) use of the word "blog"

  • This was the last first-run episode aired on CBS, as well as the last new episode for roughly three years, with CBS airing reruns of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! instead. In 1976, Scooby would move to ABC for The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour.
  • This is the final time that Nicole Jaffe voices Velma until Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire.
  • This episode features the smallest guest cast of this particular series.
  • This episode features the appearance of the word "blog," more than two decades prior to its first official usage, although is referring to a ferret, not an online posting.
  • Scenes from this episode were intended to be inserted into an episode of Diagnosis: Murder, as a "Sweeps Week" gimmick circa 1997. The plot would've seen the character Jesse Travis, doing some sleuthing for Mark Sloan (played by Dick Van Dyke), get knocked on the head and dream of solving an animated mystery with Sloan. The recycling of footage from this episode would've been necessary as the Diagnosis: Murder budget didn't allow for their own animated sequences. Unfortunately the deal fell through, after several weeks of negotiating, as Warner Bros. was concerned of the affect it might have with the live-action movie they were developing at the time.[1][2]

Miscellaneous[]

Cultural references[]

  • The Baseball Throwing Concession offers Cupie Dolls as prizes, an altered spelling of the real world Kewpie dolls which were often used as carnival prizes, as far back as the 1920s.
  • While attempting to catch Shaggy and Scooby-Doo with a catcher's mitt as they fall from the sky, Dick Van Dyke mentions having played baseball in high school. In real life, Mr. Van Dyke dropped out of high school to join the Army, but for his first acting role, on The Phil Silvers Show, played an army recruit who's such a gifted baseball player that he's drafted by the Yankees.

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches[]

  • When Mr. Van Dyke juggles, there are several voice mistakes: Daphne says, "Great" but the voice is Velma's, Velma says, "Terrific", but the voice is Daphne's, and Daphne says, "Fantastic...", but the voice is Velma's.
  • At the end of his juggling routine, Mr. Van Dyke gets ice cream on his head, but in the next scene he appears, it's gone, despite him having no time to clean up.
  • During and after Mr. Van Dyke's Magical Cabinet trick, Daphne's right arm is missing while Fred's right hand rests on her waist.
  • When shown on the ground, the Balloon Stand has "Balloon" written on its sides, but in the shots of it in the air, the words have been pluralized to "Balloons."
  • Before Mr. Van Dyke directs who goes with who before splitting up, his shirt is tan brown like his vest instead of pinkish-red, with only his collar being the latter color.
  • Near the end of the episode, when Mr. Van Dyke makes the gang part owners of the carnival, Shaggy says "You mean it?" but with Velma's voice.
  • When the gang are made part-owners, Scooby's nose is brown instead of black.

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities[]

Strongman's Costumes

A couple of the strongman's unidentified costumes

  • Both Fred and Velma refer to the rest of the gang as "kids," despite being roughly the same age.
  • Although considered the "smart one" in the gang, Velma is initially convinced that Dick Van Dyke has employed his family at the carnival, when he first tries to run everything himself and appears before them in disguises that are no more than a new outfit and fake mustache.
  • The sign in the Masked Marvel Tent reads "The Masked Marvel of Muscel" which appears to be a typo and not a reference to the Romanian places of the same name, as Mr. Van Dyke once refers to this character as the "Masked Marvel of Muscles," implying the latter part of the name is in reference to anatomy and not location.
  • The Carnival Strongman's disguises don't have names, and only some are referred to at all by Dick Van Dyke or the gang.
  • After it goes wild on his Baseball Throwing Concession, Mr. Van Dyke says the Ghost Hand owes him $27, though if his previous 5¢ per throw statement was true, that would mean the ghost made a total of 540 throws. This would not only be unlikely for the ghost hand to be capable of, but would also be unlikely for Mr. Van Dyke to have been able to count. There were also clearly not that many balls available on the counter at the booth.
  • Shaggy says the Ghostly Strongman claims to be over 600 years old which, if this episode is set in 1973 (the year it premiered), this would mean he was born at least 395 years before the origins of the modern circus, and at least 520 years before the Chicago World's Fair, which has been considered the catalyst for the modern carnival.
  • Many of the strongman's illusions are not fully explained but simply all attributed to luminous cloth, wires and springs when Mr. Van Dyke and the gang discover his costumes. However, soon after this statement, they mention the ghost hand was something he had to wear, which really brings into question how the rest of him wouldn't have been visible.
  • Only the props for the Ghost Driver and ghost hand are shown in the strongman's possession, and while that leaves some of the other illusions unaccounted for, there are a few luminous costumes shown prominently that don't seem to match any of his ghosts: a magician's robe, a cloak and hood and then two other cloaks or jackets.
  • After Mr. Van Dyke gives the gang jobs at the carnival, everybody's position is listed off, except for Velma's.

In other languages[]

Language Name Meaning
Greek Ο Σκούμπι-Ντου Συναντά τον Ντικ Βαν Ντάικ Scooby-Doo Meets Dick Van Dyke
Polish Scooby-Doo spotyka Dicka Van Dyke'a
Hungarian Vurstli, virsli, fantomok Frankfurter, funfair, phantoms

Home media[]

Quotes[]

Shaggy: If there's one thing worse than a ghost, it's a ghost with muscles!


Velma: I'd love to probe the scientific intricacies of this feat of legerdemain.


Dick Van Dyke: Presto change disappear-o! Find the door that's in the rear-o!


Dick Van Dyke: I'm a Van Dyke! We don't run from danger!
Shaggy: What are you thinking?
Dick Van Dyke: I'm thinking about changing my name!


Fred: This is a ghost hunt, not a beauty contest.

References[]

  1. ↑ Rabkin, William (March 21, 2009). "Yes, But We Almost Did It First...". Moon & Sun & Whisky. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  2. ↑ Goldberg, Lee (March 22, 2009). "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?". Lee Goldberg. Retrieved January 8, 2019.


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