Foul Play in Funland
Foul Play in Funland
The gang is again having a night beach party where they’re digging for clams next to the closed Funland amusement park. The moment Daphne says it looks haunted, the park lights up. The gang decides it’s time to break in and investigate. Shaggy immediately heads for the hot dog counter and is shocked when he receives service even though no one’s there.
Fred plays one of those games where you knock down the bottles with the baseball and then is shocked when the cash register rings him up and he gets a prize. Look, guys, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Just enjoy the amusement park.
Shaggy and Scooby spot a creepy android running around and decide to investigate. It turns out that the android didn’t leave a scent for Scooby to track. Shocking! They see him again and follow him into the Hall of Mirrors. As usual, Scooby and Shaggy spend more time looking in the mirrors and goofing off than pursuing their lead. This gives the android plenty of time to sneak up behind them.
Terrified, they go hide in some trash cans. Fred and the ladies see the android board the Ferris wheel and give chase. Fred somehow doesn’t realize that he’s not a normal person. When he disappears, the lights go out and everyone flees. They decide to investigate the caretaker’s house. The caretaker and his “sister” say the gang is crazy and that no one is there. There are some very weird Flowers in the Attic vibes in this house, especially since they look like a married couple.
Instead of letting something go for once in their life, the gang decides to go investigate again despite Shaggy’s protests that they should just go get pizza.
The lights come on again but this time everything is going wacky. The merry-go-round’s running backwards and the hot dog machine is simply firing hot dogs into the air. Shaggy and Scooby take advantage of this while Fred sees the android juggling. Everyone gives chase and the android throws a billion stuffed animals at them to deter them.
The android runs into the tunnel of love and Fred declares “they have no choice but to go in after him.” 😉 The android capsizes their boat and Shaggy almost drowns! Just kidding. The water’s knee high. Daphne vows to make him pay for what he’s done to her hair. This time, it’s personal.
The gang splits up to find the android again, so Shaggy and Scooby immediately go play more carnival games the moment they’re unsupervised. They play the hammer strength game and Scooby gets a high score with his tail. The android clearly has a competitive streak so he takes his turn, breaking the machine. Shaggy and Scooby jump on the roller coaster to escape and the android jumps on after them. Too late, they realize they have literally nowhere to run, the geniuses.
Fred and Velma set up another roller coaster for Shaggy and Scooby to JUMP to from their ride. Despite the fact that this is insane, they pull it off, offscreen of course. The android is on top of the roller coaster and jumps off attempting to kill himself. The gang is worried he could be hurt. How has no one realized this is an android at this point is beyond me.
The gang gets a bumper car to chase after the android but Shaggy turns on the motor and Velma loses her glasses. She careens wildly down the boardwalk. She mistakes the android for a traffic cop, having tragically lost all her senses along with her vision. They almost run into a train but Velma insists “the train will have to look out for itself.” I hope she’s not licensed. Miraculously, they make it and the train plows into the android.
After witnessing all his feats of strength, the gang decides the best course of action is to trap him into a crate which he surely will not be able to escape. This time, Scooby bravely stands up for himself and claims he won’t do it no matter what. Velma threatens to put him back in the bumper car with her and this hint of violence is enough to convince him.
Scooby lures the android into the diorama exhibit and pretends to be a pirate. The android, a cold merciless being of logic, sees through his disguise and makes him walk the plank before giving chase.
Scooby lures him into the trap and he immediately breaks out. If only someone could have anticipated this.
Fred finally says “He’s not human!” Duh! I can’t believe you just figured out. The caretaker enters and says the android is Charlie the robot, something he invented to run the park who’s gone haywire. Luckily he has a piece of technology advanced enough to capture him: a giant MAGNET!
Just as they’re about to lure him in, someone cuts the cord. Nonetheless, the magnet has screwed up Charlie’s senses and he crashes. The person who cut the cord is revealed to be Mr. Jenkins’ “sister.”
She says “I don’t think robots should work where children come to have fun.” Everyone agrees a little too quickly with Robot Anita Bryant and Mr. Jenkins says he just wanted the perfect robot. He decides to rebuild Charlie and quickly becomes a Nobel prize winner and pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence. Just kidding! He continues to caretake Funland until he dies of a heart attack in four years.
Memorable Dialogue
Shaggy: “A stake-out? I’d rather have a steak in”
Scooby Snack Stock Market
Scooby actively refuses to have his worth commodified by trifling Scooby Snacks in this episode. In a sad illustration of how labor rallies to break any sign of collective action from the working class, Scooby is immediately browbeaten back into the workforce by the threat of violence.
Where does the gang live?
The beach amusement park vibe, not to mention the clams, peg this as Maryland for me.
Overall Rating: 3/5 Scooby Snacks. A solid episode with a spooky location, a creepy villain and some effective twists with the weird caretakers. There’s a little bit of missed potential but overall, a return to form.