The gang returns to Crystal Cove only to discover all the townspeople have disappeared!
The episode provides examples of:
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Fred to Daphne, Sheriff Stone to Mayor Nettles.
- Bait-and-Switch: The sequence that ends in the destruction of the Mystery Machine is made in such a way that it implies that half the gang is in the van, with even Shaggy and Scooby believing that the others were killed when it blew up. It is only afterwards we learn they were in a separate vehicle operating the van by remote control.
- Big Damn Kiss: Fred and Daphne do this before the gang enact their plan to free the Crystal Cove citizens.
- The Cameo:
- Ex-Mayor Jones is seen with the other parents when the gang realizes that their parents are among the prisoners. He doesn't appear during the uprising later, though.
- Alice May is in one of the crowd scenes.
- Scooby can be seen telling Angel's hairstyler and Nettles's publicist of the uprising plan in the background.
- Clarke's Third Law: Velma uses this to come to terms with the recent supernatural activity.
- Down L.A. Drain: How the Mystery Van enters the underground tunnels.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Mr. E objects to Pericles wanting to kill all the citizens of Crystal Cove once the door is found, until Pericles forces him to comply.
- Hand Wave: Lucky thing Velma explained that she had Jason Wyatt had an audio amplifier to her binoculars.
- Heel Realization: After finding out that Cassidy was killed by Pericles, and being ordered to send the townspeople to their deaths, Ricky seems to have this, refusing. Pericles puts a stop to it, however.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Fred blows up the Mystery Machine when Pericles's bots corner it.
- Mood Whiplash: The aftermath of the Mystery Machine's Heroic Sacrifice is this as initially everyone, including Shaggy and Scooby and the Audience, assume that Fred, Daphne and Velma were in the van, and died when it was destroyed, only for the mood to shift when they reveal they weren't in the van, only for Fred to have a moment of My God, What Have I Done? when he sees the burning wreck of his beloved van.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!Scooby-Doo: Professor Pericles is going to regret the day he messed with Scooby. Dooby. Doo!
- Seinfeldian Conversation: In the midst of the current crisis the gang has a strange argument about whether the townspeople should be referred to as Crystal Covites, Crystal Covians, or Crystal Covers. They spend the rest of the episode calling the townsfolk Crystal Coviterians.
- Shout-Out: This episode probably contains more quotations from other sources than any previous episode.
- Top Gun: (Shaggy observes an airplane taking off) "I feel the need, the need for... Pizza!"
- Lost in Space: "Danger Danger Will Robinson!"
- Star Trek III: The Search for SpockFred: What have I done? (after detonating the tricked-out Mystery Machine)
Daphne: You did what you've always done.
- Took a Level in Badass: Shaggy, Scooby and Sheriff Stone
- Weirdness Magnet: Velma reasons that the evil entity under Crystal Cove is responsible for all the masked crime shenanigans.
- Working on the Chain Gang: Minus the actual chain
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Pericles states this about the citizens of Crystal Cove once the door has been found, leading to...
- You Monster!: Mr. E immediately calls him on it.
- Fred: All right, gang, now let's see where this uber mystery really leads. Ready?
Daphne: Ready.
Shaggy: Like, ready.
Velma: Ready.
Scooby: Professor Pericles is gonna regret the day he ever messed with Scooby Dooby Doo.