The Haunted Historical Society is about to put on its play about "The Donkey That Saved Crystal Cove!" Unfortunately, the production is plagued by a vengeful ghost attacking the players, claiming that "the story must not be told!" However, the Show Must Go On and Mystery Inc is enlisted to fill the key roles by their new director, Vincent Van Ghoul.
The episode provides examples of:
- All Part of the Show: The audience think the ghost’s appearance was the play.
- Calling Your Attacks: Shaggy yells "Churro!" right before he throws one in the ghost's mouth.
- Continuity Nod:
- Doogal McGinnis returns from "Grim Judgment"
- George Avocados returns and references the events of "Scarebear"
- The Monks seen in a picture in "Night Terrors" are given a backstory.
- There is a reference to the "The Dog Dies" gag from "The Creeping Creatures".
- We see how the Planispheric Disc piece came to be inside the wheel of cheese from "Hodag of Horror."
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: George Avocados. In his first appearance, he was a respected politician and mayoral candidate. Then his family’s history of crime was exposed, so he had to go into farming avocados. Then the gang destroyed his crop, leaving him to go back into his family’s one remaining business; stealing. And then the diamond his father stole that he was trying to recover gets found and turned in to the police before he can so much as look at it.
- Monster of the Week: The Mummy of Friar Serra, a corpse brought in for van Ghoul's play that rose from the dead to stop it.
- Real After All: The gang encounters the friar's real ghost at the end of the episode.
- Shout-Out:
- Vincent Van Ghoul speaks of monsters "terrorizing y'alls neighborhood" followed by a maniacal laugh. The dance Shaggy and Scooby do after is also reminiscent of "Thriller".
- "Come with me if you want to live" is said twice.
- The Show Must Go On: Van Ghoul is in charge of continuing a show where the lead and the original director quit. And his replacement has little acting experience. Nevertheless, he prevails.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: The donkey was actually evil, as revealed by the actual friar's ghost at the end of the episode. Because of this, he warns Mystery Inc. that Scooby will eventually become a Villain Protagonist.
- Wham Episode: There was another group of mystery solvers, also betrayed by the animal mascot.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Lampshaded by Daphne when she says no one has seen Mr. LeFranc since the first attack.
- Friar Serra: Beware, Nibiru is coming. This has all happened before, it begins with the animal. Always the animal. Heed the warning of the alligators! The dog dies!
<Friar Serra's corpse crumbles to dust>Scooby: <gulps>The dog dies? Is he talking about me?!
