Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers is a television special produced in 1987 by Hanna-Barbera for the Superstars 10 series. Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and Scrappy-Doo head down south to the Beauregard Mansion. The owner of the plantation, Colonel Beauregard, has passed away and left everything to Shaggy. There, they learn that hidden somewhere on the property is a 'king's ransom' worth of treasures. However, like all old houses, the estate is haunted! Scrappy decides to hire some ghost exterminators. What our heroes get are the Boo Brothers: Straight Man Freako, wise-cracking Shrieko, and the aptly-named Meeko.
If that wasn't enough, there are other perils on the treasure hunt: an escaped circus ape wandering around; hillbilly neighbors the Scroggins siblings, consisting of the overly-affectionate Sadie Mae and her gun-totin' brother Billy Bob; the plantation's butler of doubtful loyalty, Farquard; and cantankerous Sheriff Rufus Buzby.
Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy have to all this to deal with and more as they track down the treasure, following clues left behind by the colonel.
This was the first of the three Superstars 10 movies to star Scooby, and rather conservative compared to its successors (Ghoul School and Reluctant Werewolf). The presence of real monsters is comparatively minimal, and the plot does contain several mysteries (complete with the classic "Scooby-Doo" Hoax), as opposed to the other two's emphasis on straight-up action and adventure.
The film is also notable for being the only animated Scooby film to not feature any voice work from franchise regular Frank Welker.
This Made-for-TV movie has examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Sadie May Scroggins. She's a perfectly pretty scantily clad blonde with long legs and a beautiful figure, and she makes sure her brother doesn't shoot Shaggy, but she comes on so strong that Shaggy is soon more scared of her than the ghosts.
- American Accents: Several southern ones, with the sheriff's being more gentlemanly and the Scroggins siblings having more of a hillbilly vibe. The ghost of Shaggy's uncle uses a stronger drawl and speaks more slowly. Farquard instead uses more of a "creepy" voice with a slight European-ish accent.
- Ambiguous Time Period: Shaggy is driving a truck modeled after a 1986 Suzuki Samurai, but other elements of the movie (the old-fashioned telephone, the types of guns the sheriff and Billy Bob have, Shaggy's uncle apparently being a civil war veteran etc.) could indicate a setting several decades earlier.
- Animation Bump: The animation in this special is much more dynamic than in regular Scooby media up to this point, brimming with strong actions and reactions bordering on wild takes.
- Barefoot Poverty: Being hillbillies, Sadie Mae and her brother are both barefoot.
- Bears Are Bad News: One appears and his cave also holds one of the hidden jewels as well.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Several things menace Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy in this one. There's the ghost of Shaggy's uncle; the walking skeleton; the floating, headless skeleton; a headless horseman; an escaped gorilla (though he's more freaked out than anything); a large bear at one point; and Billy-Bob Scroggins. It ends up the sheriff's brother TJ was behind the ghostly uncle, the skeleton, and the horseman. And with the gorilla not meaning to be scary, and Billy-Bob nothing more than a dangerous annoyance, it's really just a single Big Bad.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- For all of their messing around, the Boo Brothers do help Scooby's group out of some jams, including from the Colonel's ghost trying to attack them.
- Sadie Mae also stops several of her brothers attempts to kill Shaggy.
- Butt-Monkey: Sheriff Buzby stops by several times and ends up this way.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: The real Sheriff Buzby shows up moments after the ghost is captured.
- Civil War: Shaggy's uncle apparently served, since he wears a Confederate uniform (that is oddly blue). But even if we assume this movie takes place in the 1970s, Shaggy's uncle is described to have known him in his first riddle, and so would have been at least 150 years old (if he was twenty during the war).
- Closed Circle: Because Shaggy's jeep sinks into the mud, the phone lines don't work, and both Billy-Bob and a Killer Gorilla are prowling around in the woods, the main trio just leaving the manor is not an option.
- Cold Cash: The first of the jewels is hidden in the ice tray in the freezer. According to the note with it, Colonel Beauregard purposely hid it there because he knew Shaggy's propensity for food would lead to his checking out the fridge early on.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: Early on, Billy Bob Scroggins is shooting off his gun and shoots Sheriff Busby's belt, causing his pants to fall down and expose his polka-dot boxer shorts.
- Covered in Kisses: Averted: A recurring gag in the film involves Sadie pulling Shaggy off-screen and kissing him repeatedly. However, she lacks the lipstick needed for this to work.
- Covers Always Lie: One poster has Shaggy in his green shirt and brown/brownish red pants
◊ when he actually wears his red shirt and jeans◊ in the movie. - Cranial Eruption: The ape gets one after a brick hits his head.
- Cuckoo Finger Twirl: The Sheriff does this while discussing Farquad's sanity.
- Cute Bruiser: Sadie Mae Scroggins, who can twist her brother's gun around his neck, or in knots.
- Scrappy has his moments, including tussling with Farquad for a diamond off-screen. And standing up to the gorilla.
- Damsel in Distress: Played with. Sadie ends up stuck on a branch of a tall tree. She calls out to Shaggy to help her down, promising to give him a big kiss if he does.
- Dance of Romance: One-sided, Sadie Mae thinks that the guys are having a party when music starts playing. She then takes the confused Shaggy and starts dancing. She's immediately smitten with. Shaggy? Not so much.
- Double Take: The sheriff does this when he sees tells Shaggy and Scooby to pull over to the side of the road, initially only seeing Scooby (who is sitting on Shaggy's lap), causing him to accidentally drive into a bilboard."All right, just pull that thing over to the side of the road there, doggy. (Beat) Doggy? [...] I gotta get off the night shift.
- The Dreaded: Subverted. In the opening scene of the movie, a ghost scaring Shaggy and Scooby out of their home repeatedly states how terrified they are of the Boo Brothers. When we see the Boo Brothers for ourselves, one has to wonder just why they were so scared of these guys.
- Escaped Animal Rampage: One of the many threats is a Killer Gorilla who escapes from a wrecked circus train.
- Everybody Cries: The Boo Brothers' story about being orphans causes Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy to break into tears.
- Evil Twin: TJ, the real sheriff's brother, turns out to have been impersonating his brother throughout the movie to get the Beauregard treasure.
- Expy: The Boo Brothers are obvious parodies of both The Three Stooges (Freeko is Moe, Shrieko is Curly, and Meeko is Larry) and of the Ghostly Trio from Casper the Friendly Ghost (Fatso, Fuzzo, and Layzo, according to old comic books).note
- Extremely Short Time Span: The entire movie is set over the course of two nights, at most. And the first night and the day all take place within the first five minutes of the movie, with most of that consisting of the opening credits; the rest of the film takes place all in one night.
- Failed a Spot Check: At one point, Shaggy goes walking through the woods, with Sadie Mae trying to grab Shaggy for a kiss and Billy Bob aiming his gun at Shaggy, both from behind. Despite the two siblings literally wrestling each other away from Shaggy a few times each, Shaggy never notices. There's also some Dramatic Irony in the scene, as while Sadie Mae and Billy Bob are fighting behind him, Shaggy is giving himself a lecture that he's being paranoid and that nobody's out to get him.
- Farmer's Daughter: Sadie Mae comes off as one, though this comes with having violently protective brothers, especially Billy Bob. The latter wants Shaggy's head in the cross-hairs of his gun for even looking at Sadie Mae.
- Feuding Families: Apparently the Beauregards and the Scroggins have been feuding for years, which is why Billy-Bob Scroggins wants to fill Shaggy full of lead.
- Forceful Kiss: Sadie Mae does this to Shaggy at least twice in the movie. Granted, because it's a kid's film, we never see lip contact. Shaggy's "Like yuck!" response suggests so.
- Foreshadowing: There are three of them in regards to Sheriff Buzby being an imposter.
- First, he gets a call from The Mayor, wanting to know why he isn't chasing the escaped circus animals, and Buzby irritably asks who wants to know. It's portrayed as him just being a smart-ass, but is a sign that he didn't recognize the voice of his own supposed boss.
- When Shaggy and Scooby call the sheriff at the end, Shaggy comments how he sounds different, although this is hidden with it being mentioned that he is apparently getting a cold, something which had been shown in the sheriff's last scene.
- In the same phone call, the sheriff asks where he can find the boys, and a surprised Shaggy remarks that they're at the manor—where else would they be? Of course, the real sheriff doesn't know where they are—his brother is the one that's been following them around the property.
- Furry Reminder: Scrappy starts acting like a dog for the first time since Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, getting on all fours and sniffing the ground, biting at cloaks and growling.
- Get Out!: Shaggy's response when he finds out The Boo Brothers invited their family over for a party.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: The first thing the Boo Brothers do to the Civil War ghost is slingshot Meako onto him. The Colonel responds in kind.
- Headless Horseman: One of the many ghosts, only for our heroes to learn he's just a dummy on a robot horse.
- Hunter of His Own Kind: The Boo Brothers are ghost exterminators- who are ghosts. When Shaggy brings this up, their retort is;Freako: It takes one to catch one, don't it?
Shrieko: Except in our case, it takes three, nyuk nyuk! - Identical Twin ID Tag: It's eventually revealed that the sheriff was actually being impersonated by his brother T.J. The real sheriff differs from his brother by having a mustache.
- Inescapable Net: After providing the MacGuffin Delivery Service for the Skull Ghost, the latter captures the heroes under a fishing net and sends them off in a speed boat.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: When Scooby accidentally uses the Headless Horseman's horse to chase Sheriff Buzby into the pond, Buzby starts telling Scooby to "Push the button!" This gets Shaggy wondering - how did the Sheriff know the horse was mechanical? And for that matter, even if Buzby did know the horse was mechanical, how did he know how to stop it? It's a clue that the Sheriff is not what he seems.
- Irrational Hatred: The Scroggins males want to kill Shaggy just for existing, and that is before their sister goes ga-ga for Shaggy. Bear in mind, Shaggy didn't even knew he was part of a Feuding Families situation until he introduced himself to the Scroggins and they went all "he's a Beauregard! BLAST HIM!"Billy-Bob: (whistles) Hey boys! We've got ourselves a Beauregard!Scroggins Family Members: BEAUREGARD?! (Immediately starts shooting Shaggy)
- I Thought Everyone Could Do That: When Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy are trapped behind a secret door that is opened by a broken piano key on the other side, Meako suggests they just pass through the walls like they can, forgetting that they can't go through walls because they're not ghosts.
- Killer Gorilla: Subverted—Scrappy even lampshades that the gorilla might not actually be all that dangerous and could be just scared and lonely (the gorilla himself overhears Scrappy saying and acknowledges that he's right).
- Leitmotif: The jaunty square dance music that's used in a dance montage early in the movie serves as Sadie Mae's theme in the film's score, and there are smaller variations of it scattered throughout the movie during her scenes.
- Linked List Clue Methodology: This is how Shaggy's uncle leaves behind the trail to his treasure. Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy have to follow a list of rhyming clues, with each message leading them to the next one (and occasionally a few jewels to encourage them). The last of these clues finally reveals that the treasure is in the fireplace in the mail hallway of the manor.
- Lovable Coward: Besides Scooby and Shaggy, there's also Meeko of the Boo Brothers. Freako has to literally drag the poor ghost into the hunt.
- Love at First Sight: Sadie Mae falls head over heels in love with Shaggy after meeting him during a dance and is talking about how she'd like to marry him less than ten minutes later.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane:
- The Big Bad was behind some of the ghosts and haunts. But what about the candle that won't blow out? The hand that scratches Scooby's ear? Shaggy's trousers dancing a jig? The picture that threw a sword at Shaggy? Were those part of it, or where those actual spirits?
- The Skull Ghost is obviously a guy in a costume; in some scenes, you can see the black lining around the bones. But in earlier scenes, the ghost has glowing eyes and no black lining, implying that some of the time, it's a real ghost.
- While Shaggy is reading one of the clues, two people are watching him. The Big Bad was acting alone and didn't have an accomplice.
- And then there's Shaggy's uncle appearing at the end, and his voice is heard a while before that... Ghosts obviously do exist in this film, since the Boo Brothers are real ghosts. So what's to stop some of the "ghosts" being real ghosts?
- Not to mention that sometimes the ghosts interact directly with the Boo Brothers without being very fazed by the experience. If they were all being impersonated by the bad guy at all times, then it seems a little odd that "they" would regard real ghosts such as the Boo Brothers as such an Unusually Uninteresting Sight (assuming that the imposter(s) would not be fleeing in terror at the idea). On the other hand, if they themselves were actual ghosts as well, then it would likely be a different story.
- While there is an escaped circus ape on the loose, it may also be a ghost some of the time, since Farquard brings it up as one of the ghosts haunting the grounds of the Beauregard Mansion.
- MacGuffin Delivery Service: Every time Shaggy reads a clue out loud, there's usually a shot of a shadowy figure listening in. After he reads the last clue, the Skull Ghost appears, intending to dispose of the heroes now that they're no longer useful.Skull Ghost: Thank you for solving the mystery for me, fools!
- The Millstone: While they do have some Big Damn Heroes moments, the Boo Brothers tend to cause more roadblocks for the heroes than they solve. Usually, their antics cause so much trouble that Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy have to drop what they're doing and deal with the Boo Brothers. It's bad enough when the brothers are just engaging in hijinks to mess with them, but inviting over a lot of ghost relatives to the manor causes Shaggy to declare it The Last Straw.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Billy Bob doesn't want Shaggy anywhere near his overly affectionate sister, giving him another reason to try and shoot him. Played with in that the sister wants Shaggy, but the inverse is untrue. Shaggy keeps insisting he wants nothing to do with Billy Bob's sister, but Billy Bob doesn't listen.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Sadie-Mae certainly looks fit, but not exactly muscular. Cue her grabbing Billy-Bob's shotgun, and bending it like a pretzel around his body.Billy-Bob Scroggins: Dadgummit! Why'd you have to go and take that mail-order muscle course?!
- Mythology Gag: There's a tiny bit of Recycled Plot here from the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode, A Night of Fright Is No Delight, in which a different "Colonel Beauregard" also bequeathed a haunted mansion and a fortune — to Scooby, in that instance.
- No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Sadie Mae would love for Shaggy to stop playing "hard to get" so she can be with her beloved. Shaggy is absolutely not interested.
- Nothing Can Stop Us Now!: Holding Shaggy and the dogs at gunpoint, the Skull Ghost repeats this phrase nearly word-for-word by the time he finds the treasure. Had he been paying attention, he might've just got it. Instead, he becomes a Self-Disposing Villain.
- One Crazy Night: Shaggy and the dogs drive out to an old mansion Shaggy just inherited, and find themselves overwhelmed by ghosts (both real and fake and friendly and hostile), a treasure hunt, an escaped circus ape, and an Abhorrent Admirer and her Knight Templar Big Brother. They actually try to just go to sleep at the beginning of it all, but a spooky haunting makes that impossible, so the heroes spend all night racing through a nonstop adventure. Once the mystery is solved, they pack their bags and leave town before the sun is even up.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: A possibly intentional case: when the Skull Ghost uncovers the treasure, he drops his British-esque accent and starts sounding Dixie.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Shaggy gets REALLY fed up with the ghosts at one point and wants them out of the mansion, even going as far as breaking the record they were dancing to.
- Overly-Long Gag: Shaggy spends ninety seconds walking through the woods, talking about how paranoid he's getting with the ghosts while he knows there's really no one following him. The whole time, Sadie May and Billy Bob are following him, tackling each other to try to get an advantage at hugging or shooting him, respectively. Shaggy never notices.
- Police Are Useless: Sheriff Buzby, who does make some efforts at pursuing the ape or stopping Billy Bob but comes around only to be the victim of slapstick. Turns out this guy isn't really the sheriff, but his twin brother, TJ, who does arrive in time to help wrap things up.
- Poorly-Disguised Pilot: Given the theme song is entirely about the Boo Brothers, with Scooby-Doo hardly mentioned, it's hard to believe this wasn't a pilot for a Boo Brothers series.
- Powder Trail: Billy Bob blows himself up with the accidental variety.
- Power Trio: Besides Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy, there's the Boo Brothers.
- Pungeon Master:
- Shrieko, who gets a Dope Slap from Freako in return.
- Also Shaggy's deceased uncle—many of his riddles are solved with puns. The house's knee, for example? The chim-ney.
- One more of the clues: "There is no pendulum in this clock. So what does it lack besides a tock?" A tick. That is, "attic."
- Real After All: The Ghost of Shaggy's uncle. In the end, after the hoax has been exposed, Shaggy sees the ghost and assumes it's Scooby joking around...until Scooby pops up next to him to prove it's no joke! While the previous instances of this ghost appearing was TJ Buzby in disguise (at least much of the time), this time it's the real deal.
- Red Herring: When Farquad turns out to have the jewel the ghost in the attic stole, it's assumed that's he's responsible for the "Scooby-Doo" Hoax. It's the man calling himself Sheriff Buzby. Farquad is certainly bitter that Shaggy gets the treasure instead of him, but he's willing to relent with it. In the end, Shaggy does let Farquad keep some of the treasure, so it's not a total loss for him.
- Riddle Me This: The clues all come with diamonds, and riddles that point to the next location, all of which are in rhyme. The one exception is the last clue, since it just blatantly says where the treasure is located. To be specific, the last clue says "No more riddles; here ends the chase. The treasure is hidden in the fireplace."
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: It turns out that the 'ghosts' scaring Scooby and company were the result of one of these. Shaggy begins to suspect as much when they find trap doors and such all over the plantation grounds.
- Shipping Torpedo: Billy Bob has no desire for his sister Sadie Mae to marry a Beauregard, making him want to fill Shaggy with bullet holes quicker.
- Shout-Out:
- One haunted house and a trio of incompetent would-be ghost exterminators is like the old Disney short Lonesome Ghosts.
- The phone book page that lists ghost exterminators includes a picture of a crossed-out ghost that is almost like the symbol of the Ghostbusters.
- Silly Spook: The Boo Brothers, who come across as a ghostly version of the Three Stooges.
- The Starscream: Farquad, who while he doesn't make any attempts on Shaggy himself, shows no real concern for Shaggy's welfare, and giddily enjoys the prospect of his leaving and tries to beat them to several of the jewels. He makes it quite clear that he doesn't enjoy being left out of the will after working for 60-odd years.
- Strongly Worded Letter: Sheriff Buzby's reaction to Billy Bob's Reckless Gun Usage shooting off the belt to his pants (but doing no damage, aside from causing the sheriff's pants to drop) is to threaten to write the hillbilly a citation. After Billy Bob blows out his vehicle headlights, he increases the threat to two citations.
- Sunglasses at Night: The special takes place at night, yet Farquad wears sunglasses. He takes them off only once to show that he's got a bad case of Fish Eyes.
- Smooch of Victory: Averted. Sadie, having landed on the branch of a tall tree, calls to Shaggy. She tells him that if he gets her down, she'll give him a big kiss. Shaggy, having already endured some unwanted kisses from her, turns Sadie down.
- Super-Strength: Sadie May Scroggins ties her brother's rifles into knots several times. Her brother's so mad she "took that mail order muscle course!"
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Shaggy lets Farquad keep a diamond he stole from Scrappy, if only because that way he won't think about the riddle they have. Farquad later serves them a nice dinner at the end, presumably appeased.
- Trigger-Happy: Billy Bob Scroggins' first reaction to finding out that Shaggy is "kinfolk to the Beauregards, who us Scroggins' have been a-feudin' with for over 145 years" is to try to shoot him, and continues to do so throughout the course of the special. Thankfully, his sister won't let him succeed.
- Two Aliases, One Character: The same person turns out to be dressed as multiple ghosts.
- Verbal Tic: Shrieko's 'Nyuk nyuk', which doubles as a Shout-Out to The Three Stooges.
- Vinyl Shatters: Shaggy stops the Boo Brothers' party by grabbing the record of a phonograph and breaking it on the ground as it makes the sound of glass breaking.
- What's a Henway?: Shrieko tells Freako to be sure he looks in 'the updoc', leading to this exchange:Freako: Updoc? What's updoc?
Shrieko: Nothing! What's up with you? - What Happened to the Mouse?:
- While the gorilla and Farquad storylines are resolved, Billy Bob and Sadie Mae just vanish altogether after the well.
- A wolf also appears during the beginning of the movie, but disappears shortly afterwards. It may have been robotic like the Headless Horsemen's horse, though.
- When Billy Bob first starts feuding with Shaggy, he yells out for a lot of other unseen relatives in the woods who also start shooting, but none of them show up in the flesh or take part in his later attempts to kill Shaggy.
- Where It All Began: When Shaggy and the dogs first enter the house, they skid into the fireplace. Guess where the treasure is?
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Though this could be said of many villains in the Scooby-Doo franchise, in this film, it's actually zig-zagged. The main villain is impersonating a cop for the duration of the film, and is carrying a weapon, but doesn't ever just shoot Shaggy and his dogs. Why? Because it would draw unnecessary attention, and later, he uses Shaggy to find Beauregard's treasure. However, when Shaggy and the others do attempt to (uncharacteristically bravely) stop the villain at his moment of triumph, he does pull a gun on them as he doesn't need them anymore. Luckily, he is stopped by his own carelessness.
