Gene Shepard's Cabinet Of Curiosities comes to Crystal Cove with its main attraction, a Hodag. Everyone passes it off as fake, but later it comes to life and steals specific objects. Later at a party at the Blake mansion celebrating the reunion of Fred with his parents, the Hodag crashes the party and steals something that makes Scooby Doo very unhappy.
The episode provides examples of:
- All Love Is Unrequited: Scooby falls for Nova, Brad and Judy's pet cocker spaniel. Shaggy is left depressed as Scooby's attention isn't on food for once.Velma: Payback, thy name is Nova.
- Code Name: The episode has the gang communicating via walkie-talkie with the code names "Smart Girl" (Velma), "Smokin' Hottie" (Daphne) and "Scarf Boy" (Fred).
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Brad and Judy regret leaving Fred for so long, but they insist that they feared Mayor Jones harming him and had no other choice. Fred can't really fault their reasoning.
- Enemy Mine: Following the gang's finding of the 4th piece of the puzzle, Professor Pericles forges a truce with the original Mystery Inc gang, including Fred's biological parents.
- Fearsome Critters of American Folklore: The Hodag.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Just as Gene Shepherd's about to leave town, Velma notes they don't get acts like his very often and asks what brought him to town. His answer, while sounding quite bizarre and creepy, cues up a major arc development.
- Gotta Catch 'Em All: Scooby and the gang now possess pieces three and four of the Planespheric Disc. Professor Pericles calls a powwow regarding this.
- Grail in the Garbage: Not quite in garbage, but a Planespheric Disc section in a 500-year-old cheese comes close.
- Historical Domain Character: Showman Gene Shepard is inspired by and named for the creator of the original 1893 Hodag hoax.
- In the Blood: Fred is ecstatic to learn that his real parents are master trap-makers.
- Little "No": Judy upon learning from Pericles that Fred has gotten mixed up in the search for Planespheric Discs.
- Monster of the Week: The Hodag, a hokey exhibit from a traveling museum come to life.
- Shout-Out: Sheriff Stone apparently came across a Lament Configuration and solved it, but casually dismisses the Cenobite that appears as a weirdo and slams the door on it.
- Source Music: During Scooby and Nova's date at the party, romantic violin music can be heard, and is shown to be played by an actual violin player attending the party.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Sheriff Stone solves a Lament Configuration and is greeted by an offscreen Cenobite speaking in Black Speech and just slams the door shut on him, calling him a “weirdo”.
- Wham Line: "It was the cheese. The cheese told me to come here."
- Pericles: It would appear the kinder, the new Mystery Incorporated, have obtained the third and now the fourth piece of the Planispheric Disk.
Original Mystery Incorporated: No.
Pericles: Yes, this cannot continue and as such, I have a little proposition for all of you.
