Comedian, actor, and ventriloquist Jonathan Winters invites the gang to a friend's farm, where the owner is looking for a lost formula that makes chickens grow in size. Mystery Inc. and Winters end up chasing trespassers and someone dressed as a scarecrow.
This episode contains examples of:
- All for Nothing: The culprit tries going after a growth formula for chickens. Unfortunately the growth formula is worthless as it wears off and the chickens that eat it return to normal size.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Grandma Frickert created a formula for chicken feed that make them grow big as a person. While hiding inside the chicken coop, Shaggy and Scooby find what look like crackers, but a rooster eats them all. They turn out to be the secret feed formula, which cause the rooster to grow until it breaks through the coop's roof.
- …But He Sounds Handsome: Winters tries to flush the scarecrow out of hiding by using his ventriloquist skills to make it seem like the police and the military have been called to the farm. He has the "police chief" refer to Winters as his favorite actor and talk about how unfair it is that Winters doesn't have his own TV show.
- Cool Old Lady: Grandma Frickert is a cheerful, witty, and fearless old woman.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Dopey farmhand Vernon gets one moment of surprising intelligence when he summons the local sheriff to deal with the trespassers.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The whole movie takes place over one evening.
- Good All Along: The two men who everyone thinks are trespassers out to steal the formula. Really, they just want to rent the farm for a rock concert, but the overzealous Vernon keeps chasing them away before they can say so.
- Ham-to-Ham Combat: Shaggy and Winters are both snarky, over the top Lovable Cowards who get plenty of opportunities to interact and try to one-up each other in cowardice.
- Morally Bankrupt Banker: Zigzagged. The local banker is a stuffy man who refuses to give Grandma Frickert a business loan, but she is a poor investment risk (she only has $ 27.00 in her bank account). The end of the episode reveals that he's trying to steal the chicken formula so he can start his own franchise, so he fits the trope much better than he initially seemed to. Frickert lampshades this.Grandma Frickert: This is Mr. Shakey, my banker. He's nobody's friend."
- Not So Above It All: The logical Velma has this to say when Daphne freaks out after they see one of the trespassers covered in flour.Velma: That's silly, there's no such thing as a ghost. But whatever it is, yikes!
- Recognition Failure: The gang don't recognize Jonathan at first, and Vernon the farm hand has never heard of him.Winters: I'm Jonathan Winters, the famous comedian.
Vernon: Jonathan who? The famous what?
Winters: Johnathan Winters, the nearly famous comedian. - Skewed Priorities: After being captured, the culprit is more outraged at being mistaken for one of the other suspects (a fairly idiotic character).Simon Shaky: How dare you mistake me for Vernon!
- Wasn't That Fun?: Shaggy gets hung up on a grist mill's paddlewheel and constantly getting dunked in the river as a result. Scooby tries to help by grabbing his legs, but he winds up in the same boat. When Vernon (Maude Frickert's farmhand) finally helps them out, Jonathan Winters comments:
- Jonathan Winters: Hey, that looked like fun! I'd try it myself except for this sprain in my pinky.
Shaggy: [to Scooby] Fun?! Did you think that was fun???!
Scooby: Nooooooooooo way!!!
- Scary Scarecrows: The villain disguises himself as a scarecrow, although he isn't terribly scary and the gang spends most of the episode chasing him.
- Worthless Treasure Twist: The chicken feed formula MacGuffin wears off after a few minutes, rendering the whole affair pointless.
- You Remind Me of X: Done in the Jonathan Winters episode:Maude Frickert: [to Fred] I like you, sonny. You look just like my idol. Greatest man that ever lived.Fred Jones: Who's that, ma'am?Maude Frickert: Glen Campbell.
