''Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur'' is a 2011,
direct-to-video
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...
film based on ''
Scooby-Doo
''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animation, animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative List of Scooby-Doo media, media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the orig ...
''. The film was released on September 6, 2011.
It premiered on
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
on September 3, 2011.
Plot
Shaggy discovers he has a disorder which causes him to unhealthily overreact to anything frightening, putting an end to Mystery Inc. The gang takes him to a spa resort in the town of La Serena to calm his nerves. While the gang meets the resort owner, Mr. Hubley, Scooby-Doo has a run-in with a dinosaur and keeps it to himself to spare Shaggy's fears. The gang soon meets Professor Svankmajer and her student Winsor, the paleontologists in charge of an archaeological dig, before they see a large "ghost dinosaur". Scooby rescues Shaggy, paralyzed by fear, and is subsequently chased by the dinosaur until they are saved by Fred, who knocks the dinosaur off of a cliff while driving the Mystery Machine.
Mr. Hubley tells the legend of the "Phantosaur": a phantom dinosaur summoned by Native Americans to regain their land stolen by European colonists. Mr. Hubley hypnotizes Shaggy into being confident and fearless so long as he hears a keyword, the same word of which will return Shaggy to his original state of mind. However, no one, including Mr. Hubley and Shaggy, remembers what the keyword is.
At the dig site entrance, Daphne, Fred, and Velma notice dinosaur tracks and potential snake tracks. Meanwhile, at a buffet, Shaggy upsets a gang of bikers who threaten him but in doing so say the keyword, triggering the effects of his hypnotherapy. Shaggy defeats the biker gang in a brawl and agrees to a motorcycle race. However, Shaggy hears the keyword while parting ways with the bikers, returning him to his original state of mind.
As Velma plans a dinner date with Windsor, Daphne and Fred find a mining company van and witness company members meddling around the handcar Scooby escaped on and retrieving a dinosaur tooth. Shaggy learns from Daphne how to ride a motorcycle, and just before the race starts hears the keyword. Gang leader Tex almost falls off a cliff but is saved by Shaggy, who earns Tex's respect in the process. The race is later interrupted by the phantosaur.
Daphne, Fred, and Velma notice the same mining company van from earlier, which now has attached cables that leave tracks similar to the tracks that they saw at the entrance of the dig. They and the bikers flood the van, revealing that the phantosaurs are actually animatronics used to scare the paleontologists away so as to retrieve a vein of silver.
Mr. Hubley tells the gang that his equipment for hypnosis was stolen. The gang follows some velociraptors into town to encounter a seemingly different phantosaur before it disappears. The next day, they present Professor Svankmajer with photos and find out that her camp was attacked. She lies to them about having sent Winsor home and intends to leave herself.
The gang learns that the velociraptors are graduate students in costume, the new phantosaur is a projection made by Professor Svankmajer and Winsor from Mr. Hubley's stolen equipment, and its fire breath is from the super-heated air of paint strippers. The paleontologists had found a dinosaur preserved in a quartz crystal and wanted to scare away townspeople to secretly claim it for themselves. One of the paint strippers activates the explosives that the paleontologists planted to collapse the caves, and they and the gang are forced to travel deeper into the mines, led by a confident Shaggy after he hears the keyword. Near an exit to the cave, Daphne says the keyword, reinstating Shaggy's cowardice. Scooby realizes the keyword is "bad", but struggles to say it. Shaggy, out of trance, nimbly escapes the cave and finds Tex's gang, having arrived to rescue the group.
The police arrest Professor Svankmajer and Winsor. Shaggy, along with the rest of Mystery Inc., receives hypnotherapy that returns him back to his usual self, causing the whole gang to think that each of them is Shaggy.
Voice cast
*
Frank Welker
Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...
as
Scooby-Doo
''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animation, animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative List of Scooby-Doo media, media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the orig ...
,
Fred Jones and misc. bikers
*
Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lyn Lillard (born January 24, 1970) is an American actor. His early film work includes Chip Sutphin in ''Serial Mom'' (1994), Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein in ''Hackers'' (1995), Stu Macher in ''Scream'' (1996), Stevo in ''SLC Punk ...
as
Shaggy Rogers
Norville "Shaggy" Rogers is a fictional character and one of the main characters in the ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise. He is generally depicted as an amateur detective, cowardly, lazy, and the long-time best friend of his equally cowardly dog, Sco ...
and Shaky Joe
*
Mindy Cohn
Mindy Cohn (born May 20, 1966) is an American actress, who appeared on VH1's List of "100 Greatest Kid Stars". She starred as Natalie Green in the sitcom '' The Facts of Life'' from 1979 to 1988, and is known for voicing Velma Dinkley in the ''S ...
as
Velma Dinkley
Velma Dinkley is a fictional character in the ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise. She is usually seen wearing a baggy orange turtleneck sweater, a short pink pleated skirt (or in later episodes an A-line skirt, or sometimes shorts), knee socks, Mary Jane ...
*
Grey DeLisle
Grey DeLisle (; born Erin Grey Van Oosbree; August 24, 1973), sometimes credited as Grey Griffin, is an American voice actress, comedian and singer-songwriter. DeLisle is known for various roles in animated productions and video games. On Sept ...
as
Daphne Blake
Daphne Blake is a fictional character in the ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise. Daphne, depicted as coming from a wealthy family, is noted for her beauty, orange hair, lavender heels, fashion sense, and her knack for getting into danger, hence the nickna ...
*
Cathy Cavadini
Catherine Janet Cavadini is an American voice actress. She is most well known as the original voice of Blossom on Cartoon Network's animated television series ''The Powerpuff Girls'', and as and Tanya Mousekewitz in ''An American Tail: Fievel ...
as Faith
*
John DiMaggio
John William DiMaggio (; born September 4, 1968) is an American actor. His various voice roles include Bender on ''Futurama'', Jake the Dog on ''Adventure Time'', Marcus Fenix in the '' Gears of War'' series, Dr. Drakken on '' Kim Possible'', ...
as Fritz, GPS and misc. bikers
*
Michael Gough
Francis Michael Gough ( ; 23 November 1916 – 17 March 2011) was a British character actor who made more than 150 film and television appearances. He is known for his roles in the Hammer Horror Films from 1958, with his first role as Sir Arthu ...
as Mr. Babbit, Blair, Grad Student #1 and misc. bikers
*
Matthew Gray Gubler
Matthew Gray Gubler (, ; born March 9, 1980) is an American actor, filmmaker, fashion model, painter, illustrator, director, and author. He is best known for his role as criminal profiler Dr. Spencer Reid in the CBS television show ''Criminal M ...
as Winsor
*
Finola Hughes
Finola Hughes (born 29 October 1959) is an English actress, best known for her role as Anna Devane on the ABC soap operas ''General Hospital'' and ''All My Children'', and her portrayal of Laura in the 1983 film '' Staying Alive'', the sequel ...
as Professor Svankmajer
*
Maulik Pancholy
Maulik Navin Pancholy (, born January 18, 1974) is an American actor and author who is best known for his roles as Jonathan on ''30 Rock'', Baljeet Tjinder in ''Phineas and Ferb'', Neal in the first season of ''Whitney'', and as a character named ...
as Doctor
*
Kevin Michael Richardson
Kevin Michael Richardson (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, he has mostly voiced villainous characters in animation and video games. In film, Richardson voiced Goro in ''Mortal Kombat'' (1995) ...
as Tex, Cop #2, Grad Student #3 and misc. bikers
*
Fred Willard
Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film ''This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984); the Christopher Guest mockumentaries ''Wai ...
as Mr. Hubley
*
Dave Wittenberg
Dave Wittenberg, sometimes credited as Dave Lelyveld, is a South African-born American voice actor and scriptwriter.
Early life
Wittenberg was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was raised in the Los Angeles area.
Career
Wittenberg voices ...
as Cop #1, Grad Student #2, Policeman and misc. bikers
*
Gwendoline Yeo
Gwendoline See-Hian Yeo (; born 10 July 1977) is a Singaporean actress, musician and writer best known for her roles as Dr. Kelly Lee on '' General Hospital'', Xiao-Mei on '' Desperate Housewives'' and Sun Fu in ''Broken Trail''. She is also kno ...
as Ms. Detich
Reception
Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children. gave it 3 out of 5 stars, but said that it was " is too spooky for young kids" recommending it for ages 7 and over.
Ultra Instinct Shaggy meme
On October 12, 2017,
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
user Midya uploaded a video titled "Ultra Insticnt Shaggy," consisting of an edited scene from the film of Shaggy fighting Tex's biker gang. The title is in reference to the anime series ''
Dragon Ball Super
is a Japanese manga series written by Akira Toriyama and illustrated by Toyotarou. A sequel to Toriyama's original ''Dragon Ball'' manga, it follows the adventures of Goku and friends during the ten-year timeskip after the defeat of Maj ...
'', from which the Ultra Instinct form (a powered-up state where the user can react to attacks instinctively) originated; the video makes use of the "Kyūkyoku no Battle" track and slows down the footage at certain points so that Shaggy appears to have gained the power. It quickly went
viral and became part of a wave of
memes
A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...
depicting Shaggy with superhuman abilities, often requiring only a small percentage of his power to perform inhuman tasks or defeat ostensibly more powerful opponents. Variations of the meme use frames from a
behind-the-scenes featurette of the 2002 film ''
Scooby-Doo
''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animation, animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative List of Scooby-Doo media, media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the orig ...
'' with fake subtitles describing Shaggy's power.
The meme's popularity coincided with the development of ''
Mortal Kombat 11
''Mortal Kombat 11'' is a 2019 fighting video game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It is the eleventh main installment in the ''Mortal Kombat'' franchise and a sequel to 2015's ''Mortal Ko ...
'', and a petition consequently launched on
Change.org
Change.org is a worldwide nonprofit petition website, based in California, US, operated by the San Francisco-based company of the same name, which has over 400 million users and offers the public the ability to promote the petitions they care abo ...
to include Shaggy as
DLC. The petition received thousands of signatures and received the attention of ''
Mortal Kombat
''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...
'' co-creator
Ed Boon
Edward John Boon (born February 22, 1964) is an American video game programmer, voice actor, and director who was employed for over 15 years at Midway Games and since 2011 has worked for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in its daughter c ...
and Shaggy's voice actor
Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lyn Lillard (born January 24, 1970) is an American actor. His early film work includes Chip Sutphin in ''Serial Mom'' (1994), Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein in ''Hackers'' (1995), Stu Macher in ''Scream'' (1996), Stevo in ''SLC Punk ...
. Lillard also tweeted posts and retweeted fan art in support of the idea and Boon jokingly petitioned to include
Scooby-Doo
''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animation, animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative List of Scooby-Doo media, media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the orig ...
in ''
Injustice 2
''Injustice 2'' is a 2017 fighting game, fighting video game it is the sequel to 2013's ''Injustice: Gods Among Us'' and is the second installment in the ''Injustice (franchise), Injustice'' franchise based upon the DC Universe. It is developed ...
''. It was later confirmed that Shaggy would not appear in a ''Mortal Kombat'' game.
The meme was referenced in the animated film ''
Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms''. During its intro, Shaggy, surrounded by a glowing aura, appears from the
Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 1 ...
logo and grabs
Scorpion
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
, referencing the latter's catchphrase and attacks.
It is later referenced in the video game ''
MultiVersus
''MultiVersus'' is a 2022 free-to-play crossover fighting video game developed by Player First Games and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game is a platform fighter, featuring characters from Warner Bros. Discovery franchi ...
'', wherein Shaggy is featured as a playable character; he is depicted as having obtained superhuman powers, and some of his lines reference the meme, including a verbatim quote from the film.
References
External links
*
{{Warner Bros. animation and comics
2011 television films
2011 films
2011 animated films
Scooby-Doo direct-to-video animated films
Animated films about dinosaurs
American television films
2010s American animated films
Films directed by Ethan Spaulding
Film and television memes
Internet memes
Internet memes introduced in 2017
American children's animated comedy films
2010s children's animated films
American children's animated mystery films
2010s English-language films