Bedlam in the Big Top/A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts

Bedlam in the Big Top

Look, I’ll be honest. I wrote a traditional Scooby ‘Cap for this but my computer ate it somehow. The thought of rewatching the episode again frankly made me stare out the window solemnly for about five minutes. If this was my job, I certainly would. But it’s not. It’s a newsletter you get for free whenever I feel like it. So instead I’m going to do the old AV Club trick of using this episode to talk about the series as a whole.

Suffice to say, this is not a very good episode of television. It’s about a hypnotist clown who temporarily turns the gang into circus performers and then tries to murder them by making them step into a lion’s den and/or fall off a trapeze.

At this point in the season, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? is in a slump. We’ve been sidetracked from the spooky, effective openers into a run of C-Tier ghosts like this week’s evil hypnotist clown. Gone is the sense of place and jokes that made the early episodes so effective. Taking stock of where they were, the writers presumably decided to go big or go home. Or more likely, their weed dealer got restocked and their creative energies were refilled. Either way, the next episode is a gamechanger for the show.

A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts

Every TV show has the episode where it goes from a solid collection of ideas to something more. The Sopranos had “College.” The X-Files had “Ice.” Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? has “A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts.” Instead of just meeting Dracula, the writers decide to throw the whole Universal Monsters canon at the gang Abbott and Costello-style to thrilling results.

We open on the wolf man looking out from a castle as the Mystery Machine approaches. Fred talks about how excited they are to visit Franken Castle, the only American castle imported over stone by stone from Transylvania. What a fun, not ominous attraction!

Daphne sees a fortune-telling stand by the side of the woods and DEMANDS the gang stop to get their fortunes read. The fortune-teller looks in the crystal ball and predicts they’re on a pleasure trip. What gave it away, their hippie attire or the weed smoke pouring out of the van? She also says that they remain in danger as long as they’re in these mountains. She specifically warns them away from the castle and says the caretaker ran away in fear earlier that day.

The gang completely ignores her and continues to the castle, which is closed because they’re unstaffed and it’s the middle of the night. Undeterred, Fred forces everyone to get out and look around. They will not go home until someone starts having fun. Lightning lights up the sky and the drawbridge lowers itself. Fred deduces that the caretaker must have come back and leads the gang across the bridge as Velma says “See? Everything’s alright.” I hope they never meet a real movie monster or they would be dead in seconds.

All of a sudden, Dracula appears and warns them away or they’ll never see the sun again. Velma iconically retorts with: “You stop that.” Dracula is deeply shaken but warns them again anyway. Velma boldly declares they have permission to visit the castle, which they absolutely do not! Dracula turns into a bat and flying off. Dracula’s usually known for murdering first and warning later so this is our first clue that this monster may not be real. The bridge then goes up and the gang makes a run for it. Everyone makes it off except for Danger-Prone Daphne who slides back into the castle as Frankenstein’s MONSTER approaches her.

This is all escalating pretty quickly, so Daphne runs away. Fred throws a rope over one of the parapets and forces Shaggy and Scooby to swing across, although they’re almost bitten by an ALLIGATOR (or crocodile) on their way over! Once they arrive, the Wolf Man attacks before they can lower the drawbridge. Shaggy and Scooby flee deep into the castle. The mastermind of this episode has dismantled the Mystery Machine gang more effectively in one minute than any monster has in the past 10 episodes.

Shaggy and Scooby hide in the parlor and Shaggy taunts the werewolf with ventriloquism. His jokes are not that funny but the werewolf is sufficiently enraged to destroy all the furniture in the room, including a grand piano. Scooby puts the piano keys in his mouth and pretends to be a monster, chasing the werewolf under a chandelier which Shaggy drops on him. Rather than knocking him out or something, they take off while the werewolf writhes under the chandelier.

Meanwhile, Fred and Velma have somehow made it into the castle and start looking for their friends. They come across an old banquet hall with a big fire and Fred speculates as to whether they’re expected for dinner. Velma says they probably are the dinner. Dracula appears and threatens them again before turning into a bat. In the chaos, Velma loses her glasses and wanders into the fireplace, which is hiding a trap door.

Shaggy and Scooby wind up in the kitchen and decide it’s the perfect time for a snack. Unfortunately, the castle only stocks Werewolf Snacks, Fried Moonbeams and Pickled Vampire Wings. They’re repulsed, though honestly, how different is this from their normal diet? Scooby goes to investigate the pantry which of course is occupied by Frankenstein’s monster. While fleeing, Shaggy accidentally covers the monster in flour, blinding him. The two flee into the dumbwaiter and descend.

In the dungeons, Velma aimlessly wanders. She mistakes a skeleton for Shaggy (burn!) and thinks all the torture instruments are toys. She hears Shaggy and Scooby coming and flees before tripping and falling into a barrel. Scooby sniffs her out based on the Scooby Snacks she’s carrying and Velma tosses him one. Thankfully, Shaggy has her extra glasses on hand so Velma’s eyesight has been restored. Maybe Velma should have some kind of monitor around her all the time to make sure nothing like this happens again.

Conveniently, Daphne is also nearby in a pit where she’s been presumably trapped for hours. While they try to get her out, Dracula emerges from an iron maiden and tries to push the others in. Bravely, Scooby grabs a rope and ties it around Dracula’s feet, dragging him into the pit. Despite having captured another monster, the gang lets him go and flees into the iron maiden where a secret passage awaits. Once they emerge, Shaggy and Scooby have of course mysteriously disappeared. Luckily, Fred shows up. Daphne pulls out a note that she discovered about secret treasure buried in the crypt and the gang goes to investigate rather than find their missing friends.

Scooby and Shaggy have discovered the mad scientist’s laboratory and what looks like Frankenstein’s monster taking a nap on a table. They decide to blast him with a fire hose before he makes a move, but it turns out it’s just a wire mannequin so Shaggy just ends up spraying Scooby instead. With no monster around, Scooby and Shaggy move around to Plan B: fuck around. Shaggy tries to experiment with Scooby as his monster, strapping him to an operating table. Of course the real Frankenstein’s Monster appears just then and Shaggy abandons his friend. The monster pushes Scooby after Shaggy and the table slams into him, taking them on a joyride.

They come to a stop far in the castle and find the others. Velma asks what they’re doing horsing around and Shaggy snidely responds with “Well, since you got yourself lost, Scooby and I thought it would be a good idea.” Someone was really mad about that skeleton joke earlier.

Fred explains to Shag and Scoob about their plan to investigate the crypt. Shaggy says “What’s a crypt?”

They find the coffin with the treasure and push it back to reveal Dracula sleeping. Just stake him and get it over with! They don’t take my advice and run away instead. Shag and Scoob hide behind a tapestry while Fred and the others lure him off. As they lure him back to the the tomb, Shaggy and Scooby throw the tapestry over him and send him flying back into the coffin. But when they open it again, he’s gone! All that’s left is some jewelry and a piece of the tapestry which turns out to be inlaid with jewels.

The gang deduces that the tapestry is the Franken Castle treasure and that the jewelry belongs to the fortune-teller. They go back to her hut to beat a confession out of her. To save time, Scooby grabs the tapestry and drags it off before the fortune-teller yanks it back and flees. Scooby gives chase and catches her. It turns out she’s “Big Bob Oakley” also known as “The Actor,” a con man criminal wanted by the police. There sure are a lot of con men with elaborate aliases in the Scooby-verse. The police show up and claim he’s a master of disguise who can assume any identity. This doesn’t really explain how he was able to appear in 3 places at once but whatever.

The gang throws a celebratory picnic and wonder about how Oakley pulled off the trick with the bat. I think my question is more important but I’m not part of the mystery solving wunderkinds! It turns out he just had a bat on a wire. Scooby makes use of this setup to rob Shaggy of his sandwich and cackles maniacally as we go to credits.

Scooby Snack Stock Market: One Scooby Snack is tossed out of barrel for the price of Velma getting an extra pair of glasses. The barter economy could work effectively in the Scooby-verse.

Where in the world is the gang?: Definitely still in America, the writers jokingly assure us in the opening minutes of this episode. The fortune teller mentions mountains nearby so I imagine this castle is set up somewhere in the Catskills.

Overall Rating: 5/5 Scooby Snacks. A masterful episode that’s packed full of monsters, jokes and atmosphere. The gold standard of everything we’ve seen so far.

Next Week: We finish off the Universal canon with “Scooby-Doo and a Mummy Too” and go the swamp with “Which Witch is Which?”, an episode that features only one witch.