Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? Episode 7: Never Ape an Apeman

A giant ape messes up production of an ape-themed B-movie.

Episode Summary

The episode begins with the Scooby gang on a set for a really schlocky film, The Ape Man of Forbidden Mountain; Daphne’s uncle is the director, and he’s hired the gang as extras. During filming, the actor in the ape costume starts getting really aggressive towards the lead actress. Was the man in the ape costume replaced by an actual ape? Apparently.

Scooby surprisingly comes to the actress’ aid and attacks the ape, causing it to run away.

The ape actor, Carl the stuntman, is later found locked in a trunk. It seems the real ape man put him there. The gang looks around the studio for clues and finds a half-eaten hamburger on the floor covered in claw marks. “That’s odd. Apes don’t eat meat,” says Daphne.

In the basement, where the final scene of the film is going to be shot, there’s an intricate trap system already set up. Shaggy and Scooby act as bait to lure the ape, but Shaggy accidentally gets caught in the trap and the ape gets away.

Damning Evidence

Shaggy and Scooby play around with a bunch of movie props. Shaggy grabs an instant camera and snaps a photo of the ape man, who just happened to be nearby, and just happened to be without his mask for a brief moment.

The ape chases Scooby and Shaggy up a flight of stairs. Fred pulls a switch that turns the stairs into a ramp, and the ape falls and crashes into a room. Shaggy looks at his photo to reveal who was in the ape costume – it was Carl.

So essentially, the guy in the ape costume turned out to be…the guy in the ape costume. Why wasn’t this guy suspect number one?

Carl’s goal was to sabotage production of the film because he was angry he didn’t get the starring role. What, the same role we saw that actress playing early in the episode? The ape’s not a bad role. Carl could have been the next Roddy McDowell!

Thoughts

There wasn’t much to this episode but I felt it went by quickly, which is strange because there were a lot of time wasters, like the random parrot the gang finds that kept saying “Stick ‘em up! What’s the password?” This bird didn’t figure into the plot at all.

There’s a scene in the episode of the ape putting on a Scooby-Doo mask and pretending to be Scooby’s mirror reflection, reminiscent of a Marx Brothers routine. What I want to know is where the ape acquired this Scooby-Doo mask.

The monster was plain and boring. A giant ape. Scary.

Shaggy eats a “Shaggy Snack” in this episode that Daphne pulled out of nowhere. In case you wanted to make this snack yourself, here are the ingredients: a pot pie with pizza crust, anchovies, pepperoni, cherries, all covered in chocolate sauce.

What I really didn’t like about the episode was how serendipitously the ape man’s identity was revealed, with Shaggy just randomly taking that photo at just the right moment. It really stretched credibility…in a show with a talking dog.