The Scooby-Doo Project

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The Scooby-Doo Project
Title card
Details
Production company	Cartoon Network
Air date	October 31, 1999 (Cartoon Network)
Starring	Scott Innes Frank Welker Mary Kay Bergman B.J. Ward
Written by	Casper Kelly Larry Morris
Directed by	Casper Kelly Larry Morris
Chronology
Previous special	Those Meddling Kids
Next special	Night of the Living Doo

The Scooby-Doo Project is a Halloween special that aired during Cartoon Network's Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! marathon on October 31, 1999. It was broadcast in small segments during commercial breaks, and at the end of the marathon, the segments were reaired in complete form, with an extended ending.

It is a parody of then recent "found footage" horror film, The Blair Witch Project, while also poking fun at the Scooby-Doo franchise in the process.

Premise

The gang go into the woods to search for a monster, leading to their disappearance.

Synopsis

Velma introduces each member of Mystery Inc. by the Mystery Machine and explaining that she is documenting one of their mysteries. She introduces Shaggy by his real name of Norville, which leads to Daphne, Fred and Scooby teasing him after he firmly reminds them that he goes by Shaggy.

The footage then cuts to the gang interviewing the locals of Casper County, where each one describes the monster reported to haunt the local woods very differently (10 foot tall monster with spiked arms, a large luminescent creature, the ghost of a Civil War soldier, bioengineered aliens and a giant radioactive cat around the local nuclear plant). Discussing this information, Velma mentions how all of their stories are different and thus don't add up. Scooby mentions that he doesn't like giant cats, and him and Daphne squabble over his speech pattern, as she interprets his statement as being about rats. They then interview an elderly woman, who warns them away from going near the woods, though when back in the van, Shaggy criticizes the woman's dental hygiene, much to Daphne's shock.

Arriving at the Casper County Woods, Shaggy breaks the fourth wall by telling Velma that the woods look more "realistic" and different from their regular woods, making him uneasy. Scooby echoes this sentiment, although Fred calms them down saying they'll have fun and that it's Fred's turn to unmask the villain.

As they walk into the woods, the gang bids farewell to the Mystery Machine, and Shaggy points out the fact that they always solve mysteries at night time. They arrive in the cemetery inside of the woods, the place where Casper County's curse began, and Shaggy is horrified to learn that they'll be sleeping by the cemetery for the night. Velma then begins to explain the curse ("One spooky night, in 1773, some local people from the town are... sent... ghost..."), unfortunately she is drowned out by Shaggy and Scooby.

The footage then cuts to the next day, and the gang have had an off-screen encounter with the creature in the woods, as Velma remarks they've been walking forever to find whoever or whatever's been trying to scare them. Daphne voices her belief that it's just a farmer annoyed that they're on his land, and possibly even the farmer they'd interviewed earlier. She then accuses Velma of aggravating him with her camera, to which Velma defends herself, saying she just wanted to make a visual record of their adventure. Daphne points out that all they've done is gotten lost, lived off of the land, and used Scooby for a blanket, and Shaggy claims he doesn't want to sleep outside again as sleeping against a gravestone did a number on his back, to which Scooby agrees.

An irritated Velma asks Fred if he has any ideas, to which he tells her to turn off the camera so they can put up the tent. The rest of the gang complains at having to pile into one tent, and the footage then cuts to nighttime, where Velma struggles to put up the tent while filming, not wanting to miss anything. Fred remarks that it'd be easier to do the tent without filming, and the rest of the gang loudly tell her to turn it off.

Once in the tent, Fred and Daphne pull out sleeping bags, to which Shaggy replies he only has a rock for a pillow. Daphne asks who left snack crumbs in her sleeping bag and accuses Scooby, who in turn accuses Shaggy. Shaggy then points the finger at Fred, who is implied to be the culprit as he then blames Daphne herself, who asks why she would complain if she herself was the culprit. Shaggy then accidentally hits Velma with his feet, to which she replies to watch it, and Daphne tells him to take off his shoes, quickly changing her mind once she smells his feet.

The footage cuts to Shaggy telling Scooby about all of the food he would take on a trip to the moon, though Scooby has fallen asleep, snoring and laughing in his sleep when Shaggy ends. The camera then cuts to Velma telling a ghost story to her friends, though Shaggy interrupts her and tells her they were all present and it was actually one of their cases, and it turned out to be that "old ship's Captain". She then sheepishly turns off her flashlight.

Velma wakes up in the middle of the night to find the tent wide open and goes outside to investigate. She's horrified to find their backpacks have been broken into and all of their food is missing... Until she finds Scooby eating it by the tent. She then scolds Scooby, to which he replies with his catchphrase.

Velma wakes up again to a sound outside the tent, though this time Daphne wakes up as well, shouting for Fred, who wakes up from a dream about Daphne. Velma asks if it's Scooby again, only to hear Scrappy yell "Puppy puppy!" as a response. This sends the entire gang scrambling out of their tent into the woods.

After catching their breath, Daphne reprimands Scooby after her stockings get torn, telling him she doesn't have another pair. Fred tells them he hears it again, and Scrappy begins asking for his Uncle Scooby. Fred tells them to turn their flashlights off and Velma asks what Scrappy is doing there. Shaggy asks if Scooby invited him, which Scooby denies. Then Velma remarks that he's probably there to solve the mystery for them, as he loves doing that, only to be shushed by Fred. They turn the flashlights back on after hearing footprints, and are face-to-face with Scrappy. The gang screams, and the footage cuts again.

Going back to their tent, the gang is hearing even more noises. Fred suggests splitting up to search, which Shaggy vehemently refuses, and Daphne begs anyone to go outside for a Scooby Snack. As the monster begins shaking the tent, Fred asks Shaggy and Scooby to dress up the surgeons and tie the monster to an operating table, though Shaggy says he can't because they're in the woods.

Being convinced to go out to look for the monster, Shaggy and Scooby head to the cemetery where they discuss Hawaiian Pizza. Scooby grips onto Shaggy's leg after hearing the monster, and upon letting go, they actually see the monster run across the headstones. The gang then begins to desperately and frantically call for Scooby, though he was actually a short distance behind them the entire time.

The next morning, Velma finds weird piles of Scooby Snacks outside of the tent, and Shaggy claims even he wouldn't touch them, as they were now haunted. It's heavily implied once Shaggy gives Scooby full access to the snacks, however, that he is the one who piled them up just to scare Shaggy.

Velma tries to interpret the map, but Daphne calls her out for failing to do so for the past two hours. After Fred claims their destination should be nearby, Daphne complains about her feet hurting, to which Velma calls her out for wearing heels in the forest. Daphne then snaps back that at least she tries to look feminine, which stuns Velma into silence.

Once again trying to interpret the map, Velma has it taken away by Fred, while Shaggy and Scooby exclaim that they just want to go home. Shaggy then calls out Velma for following a map that was a simple dotted line.

Fred gets excited upon finding a trail of footprints in the cemetery, exclaiming the monster must have ten legs, though Velma anguishes over the fact that they're the gang's footprints, making Shaggy and Scooby freak out at the fact that they've gone around in a large circle.

Fred and Velma then begin arguing over who had the map, with both saying the other had it last, though Shaggy and Scooby reveal they ate the map with Tabasco sauce due to it being useless to them. Velma then asks them incredulously if they ate the map, to which they respond with laughter.

Trying to retrace their steps by studying their footprints, Fred tells everyone to remain calm, though Velma points out she's calmer than him, and it's revealed Fred is now in the middle of a mental breakdown.

The footage then cuts to night time, where Fred reveals they've been trapped in the forest for a week and they haven't yet unmasked a villain. Daphne and Velma then ask him what his point is, to which he replies (breaking the fourth wall yet again) that every night, they find a mystery and usually wrap it up in 20-22 minutes, which is simple unlike their current predicament.

Shaggy and Velma then begin arguing over their catchphrases as she asks him what zoinks even means, to which he replies "I'm sorry, what do you want me to say? 'Jinkies'?", resulting in laughter from Fred and Daphne.

Velma then asks Fred if he's scared, to which he replies that there's got to be a perfectly logical explanation for all that's occurred. Finding even more piles of Scooby Snacks, Shaggy and Scooby go to taste them despite Daphne insisting against it. Shaggy then begins to scream in terror due to the Scooby Snacks being stale.

Velma loses her glasses in the forest, to which Fred loses his patience and yells at her to get a glasses strap, and she replies that she needs help to find her glasses. As Fred is looking at her glasses with the camera, he snaps that she wants them to find her glasses for her, to which Shaggy defends her saying Velma's blind as a bat. Fred fires back that it's night time, meaning visibility is reduced for all of them, but at this point, Velma has wandered off and Daphne's gone to look for her.

Daphne begins breaking down in front of Velma, telling her they have no food, no clean clothes and she hasn't had access to nail polish in two days, though Velma tells her to shush and they hear the monster shrieking in the forest. After another encounter with Scrappy Doo, Velma chases after Daphne, who has gone running blindly into the forest. After Velma explains to Daphne that it's just Scrappy, Daphne exclaims she knows and he's the reason she's running. Daphne and Fred both begin to unravel as Daphne rips both her dress and her other stocking, as well as breaking a nail, and Fred loses his favorite ascot.

The gang tracks the monster's noises to a house in the middle of the forest, and they go inside to ask for help. They find a radio and Velma decides to see if they're on the news. However, "Seven Days a Week" to which Shaggy exclaims in horror that they always get chased when music is playing. The monster then appears and chases them upstairs, while Velma says she hates the part with the doors, standing to the side and filming the monster chase the others through a hallway populated with doors. The monster then pops up in front of Velma and chases her down into the basement, where Shaggy is standing in a corner, facing the wall out of fright. The monster then charges at Velma, and the screen cuts to black.

Extended ending

The gang has trapped the monster, who is now tied to a chair. Fred unmasks him to reveal a random man, and he calls them intrusive kids, causing Shaggy to remark that he didn't call them meddling. Velma asks why he was trying to scare people away, to which he replies it's Halloween. Fred asks him why he scared them the previous night in the cemetery in that case, to which the man responded he didn't go to any cemetery. Daphne then asks who it was that scared them, and the real monster screams at them through an open window, making the kids drop the camera and run. The man is left tied to a chair, and we hear a struggle and running as the camera cuts out. Eventually, the Mystery Machine was found, and search parties found hundreds of Scooby Snacks over several days, as well as the camera, though Mystery Inc. was not found. A poster appears showing Scooby Doo and his gang with the title of "Missing", suggesting that they disappeared after the monster attacked them.

Characters

Main characters:

• Mystery Inc.
  • Scooby-Doo
  • Shaggy Rogers
  • Daphne Blake
  • Velma Dinkley
  • Fred Jones

Supporting characters:

• None

Villains:

• Monster ^{(only appearance)(disguise of house owner)}
• House owner ^{(only appearance)(redeemed)}
• Monster ^{(only appearance)}

Other characters:

• Interviewee 1 ^{(only appearance)}
• Interviewee 2 ^{(only appearance)}
• Interviewee 3 ^{(only appearance)}
• Interviewee 4 ^{(only appearance)}
• Interviewee 5 ^{(only appearance)}
• Scrappy-Doo ^(cameo)

Locations

• One of the gang's home
• Casper County
  • Forest
  • Residential areas
  • Cemetery
  • Abandoned house

Objects

• Scooby Snacks

Vehicles

• The Mystery Machine

Suspects

Suspect	Motive/reason
Suspect	Motive/reason

Culprits

Culprit	Motive/reason
Culprit	Motive/reason

Cast

Scott Innes	Scooby-Doo Shaggy Rogers
Frank Welker	Fred Jones
Mary Kay Bergman	Daphne Blake
B.J. Ward	Velma Dinkley

Notes/trivia

• A promo for the special makes it look like Daphne is running from a monster, but Velma calls out that it's just Scrappy-Doo, which she reveals is the reason why she was running to begin with.
• Another promo for the special see the gang come across an abandoned drive-in in the woods. Shaggy and Scooby begin eating the abandoned candy to which Velma exclaims it must be 30 years old.
• One bumper for Cartoon Network featured Mystery Inc. beating up the monster while Seven Days a Week played in the background.
• Another bumper for Cartoon Network featured the monster chasing Mystery Inc. through Scooby Dooby Doors, only for everyone to crash together in a heap and Shaggy unmasking him, revealing a white haired man underneath.
• During Cartoon Network's airing of "The Big Game XXVIII", a 4-hour marathon of Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons, Fred tells Moltar about this case, establishing that Mystery Inc. survived the purposefully vague ending.

Cultural references

• Casper County is named after the co-writer and co-director Casper Kelly.