''Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated'' (also known as ''Scooby-Doo! Mystery, Inc.'' or simply ''Mystery Incorporated)'' is an American

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

horror comedy Comedy horror (also called horror comedy) is a literary, television and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as having three types: "black comedy, parody and spoof." Comedy horror can a ...

television series serves as the eleventh incarnation of the ''

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American media franchise owned by Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Entertainment and created in 1969 by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears through their animated series, ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'', for Hanna-Barbera (which wa ...

'' media franchise created by

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

, as well as the first that was not originally run on Saturday mornings. The series is produced by

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. (abbreviated as WBA) is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Group, a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery and serves as the animation divis ...

for

Cartoon Network UK Cartoon Network (commonly abbreviated as CN) is a British pay television channel aimed at children which airs animation, animated programming targeting children and young aged 6 to 12.

and premiered in the United States on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

on April 5, 2010, with the next twelve episodes continuing, and the first episode re-airing, on July 12, 2010. The series concluded on April 5, 2013, after two seasons and fifty-two episodes. ''Mystery Incorporated'' returns to the early days of Scooby and the gang, when they are still solving mysteries in their home town, though it makes multiple references to previous incarnations of the franchise. The series takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to the classic ''Scooby-Doo'' formula, with increasingly outlandish technology, skills, and scenarios making up each villain's story, and a different spin on the famous "meddling kids" quote at the end of every episode. Contrasting sharply with this, however, are two elements that have never been used in a ''Scooby-Doo'' series before: a serial format with an ongoing

story arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of a plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing narrative, storyline in episode, episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strip ...

featuring many dark plot elements that are treated with near-total seriousness, and ongoing relationship drama among the characters. Furthermore, it is also the first series in the franchise to make use of real ghosts and monsters since ''

The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo ''The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and the seventh incarnation of the studio's ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise. It premiered on , and ran for one season on ABC as a half-hou ...

''. The series pays homage to the horror genre, drawing on many works from film, television and literature in both parodic and serious ways, from

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

classics like ''

A Nightmare on Elm Street ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' is a 1984 American Supernatural horror film, supernatural slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven and produced by Robert Shaye. It is the first installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise), ''A ...

'', modern films such as ''

Saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, Wire saw, wire, or Chainsaw, chain with a hard toothed edge used to cut through material. Various terms are used to describe toothed and abrasive saws. Saws began as serrated materials, and when man ...

'', television series ''

Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American Surrealist cinema, surrealist Mystery film, mystery-Horror film, horror Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It Pilot (Twin Peaks), premiered on American Broad ...

'', and the

works Works may refer to: People * Caddy Works (1896–1982), American college sports coach * John D. Works (1847–1928), California senator and judge * Samuel Works (c. 1781–1868), New York politician Albums * ''Works'' (Pink Floyd album), a Pi ...

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

, alongside the classic monster horror films shown in previous series. In particular, in the second season, the central story arc evolves to heavily feature the use of

Babylonian mythology Babylonian religion is the religious practice of Babylonia. Babylonia's mythology was largely influenced by its Sumerian counterparts and was written on clay tablets inscribed with the cuneiform script derived from Sumerian cuneiform. The myths ...

, exploring the

Anunnaki The Anunnaki (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , also transcribed as Anunaki, Annunaki, Anunna, Ananaki and other variations) are a group of deity, deities of the ancient Sumerian religion, Sumerians, Akkadian Empire, Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylo ...

, the Babylonian and modern pseudo-scientific concepts of Nibiru, and the writings of Zecharia Sitchin. Other

Hanna-Barbera characters Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

occasionally guest-star, such as Captain Caveman,

Jabberjaw ''Jabberjaw'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera which aired 16 original episodes on ABC from September 11 to December 18, 1976. Reruns continued on ABC until September 3, ...

, Speed Buggy, The Funky Phantom, and Blue Falcon and Dynomutt. As was the case with the previous three installments in the franchise, ''Mystery Incorporated'' redesigns the main characters, this time into a retro look that returns them to their original 1969 outfits, with some small changes (such as Velma now wearing bows in her hair). The series is also the animated debut of

Matthew Lillard Matthew Lyn Lillard (born January 24, 1970) is an American actor. His 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 the voice of Shaggy, after he portrayed the character in two

live-action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games or ...

films, ''

'' (2002) and '' Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed'' (2004).

Casey Kasem Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio presenter who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably ''American Top 40'', as well as the weekly syndicated televi ...

, the original voice of Shaggy, voiced Shaggy's father in five episodes, albeit uncredited; this would be his last voice-acting role before his death.

Linda Cardellini Linda Edna Cardellini (born June 25, 1975) is an American actress. In television, she is known for her starring roles in the teen drama ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000), the medical drama ''ER (TV series), ER'' (2003–2009), and the thriller ...

, who played Velma in the live-action movies, voiced Hot Dog Water, a recurring character in the series. The show also brought back characters seen in previous Scooby-Doo series such as the eco-goth rock band The Hex Girls and Vincent Van Ghoul from ''

'', though his character is portrayed as a direct homage to

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor. He was known for his work in the horror film genre, mostly portraying villains. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price ...

, being a famous horror film actor, rather than an actual warlock.

Plot

Season 1

Fred Jones,

Daphne Blake Daphne Blake is a fictional character in the ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise. She is a core member of Mystery Incorporated and is depicted as coming from a wealthy family. She is noted for her beauty, fashion sense, and her knack for getting into dan ...

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 red pleated skirt, knee high socks, Mary Jane shoes, and a pair of black square glasses, which she ...

, Norville "Shaggy" Rogers and

are a team of teenage mystery solvers who live in the small town of Crystal Cove, the self-proclaimed "Most Hauntedest Place on Earth". The allegedly "cursed" town's long history of strange disappearances and ghost and monster sightings form the basis for its thriving tourist industry; as such, the adults of the town (chief among them being Fred's father

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Fred Jones Sr. and

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

Bronson Stone) are not happy that the kids are debunking all the supernatural goings-on that bring in so much revenue as the overwrought schemes of

charlatan A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame, or other advantages through pretense or deception. One example of a charlatan appears in t ...

s and criminals. In addition to the traditional cases they always solve, the team finds itself being nudged into the uncovering of a dark secret that is hidden in the past of Crystal Cove. Following cryptic hints from a faceless mystery-man known only as "Mr. E." (a play on "mystery"), the gang unearths the legend of a cursed

Conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

treasure, the secret history of Crystal Cove's founding Darrow Family, and the mysterious, unsolved disappearance of four mystery-solving youths and their pet bird—the ''original'' Mystery Incorporated. Standing in the way of solving this mystery, however, there are the romantic entanglements pulling the kids apart: Shaggy finds himself unable to put his new romance with Velma ahead of his longtime friendship with Scooby, while Daphne pines for Fred, who is obsessed with building traps and obliviously struggles to realize that he shares her feelings, too.

Season 2

The return of the original Mystery Incorporated to Crystal Cove begins a race between the two groups to locate the pieces of the enigmatic planispheric disk, which will point the way to the cursed treasure beneath the town. As the pieces are gathered, it becomes apparent that these two groups are not the only teams of mystery-solvers that have lived in Crystal Cove: many similar groups, always made up of four humans and an animal, have existed, and the secret behind their centuries-long connection will reveal the truth behind the curse of Crystal Cove. The fate of both the gang's friendship and all of reality itself hangs in the balance as extradimensional forces gather in preparation, and the time of Nibiru draws near.

Episodes

The first season of ''Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated'' ran for twenty-six episodes between 2010 and 2011 with an unknown stop to the airing of the episodes after episode thirteen. The first episode of the season premiered as a sneak peek on April 5, 2010,Sources for premiere date: * * and reaired on July 12, 2010 on

along with the next twelve episodes in the United States. The series continued to air on Canada's

Teletoon Cartoon Network (formerly Teletoon) is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts animated series aimed at children and teenagers. It was launched on October 17 ...

after episode thirteen. The remaining thirteen episodes, dubbed as a second season by Cartoon Network, began airing on May 3, 2011 until July 26, 2011. During the

hiatus Hiatus may refer to: * Hiatus (anatomy), a natural fissure in a structure * Hiatus (stratigraphy), a discontinuity in the age of strata in stratigraphy *''Hiatus'', a genus of picture-winged flies with sole member species '' Hiatus fulvipes'' * G ...

the first episode of the second season premiered on March 30, 2012 on Cartoon Network Videos and aired on

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool typically constructed with airfoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight, designed to return to the thrower. The origin of the word is from Australian Aborigin ...

in the UK on June 2, 2012 with four more episodes premiering until June 6, 2012. The official Warner Brothers website announced that the second season would begin airing on Cartoon Network in May 2012 but was set back to July 30, 2012 in the United States. The first fifteen episodes aired on weekdays after July 30, 2012, until August 17, 2012. The show went on another hiatus until March 25, 2013, when the remaining episodes of season two began to air in the United States and concluded on April 5, 2013. Each episode of the series is called a "chapter" in line with the show's overarching story, numbered from 1 to 52 across both seasons.

Voice cast

Main

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American actor who specializes in voice acting. He began his career in the 1960s, and held around 850 film, television, and video game credits as of 2020, making him one of the most prolific v ...

, Fred Jones Jr. *

Mindy Cohn Melinda Heather "Mindy" Cohn (born May 20, 1966) is an American actress. 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 ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise from 2002 to 2015 ...

Grey DeLisle Grey DeLisle (; born Erin Grey Van Oosbree; August 24, 1973), sometimes credited as Grey Griffin, is an American voice actress and singer-songwriter. DeLisle is known for various roles in animated productions and video games. On September 27, ...

as Norville "Shaggy" Rogers

Recurring

Lewis Black Lewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy routines often escalate into angry rants about history, politics, religion and cultural trends. He hosted the Comedy Central series ''Lewis Black's ...

as Mr. E (Ricky Owens) *

as Hot Dog Water (Marcie Fleach) *

Tia Carrere Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo (born January 2, 1967), known professionally as Tia Carrere (), is an American actress and singer who got her first big break as a regular on the daytime soap opera ''General Hospital''. Carrere played Cassandra Wong i ...

as Judy Reeves *

Gary Cole Gary Michael Cole (born September 20, 1956) is an American actor. He began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. His breakout role was playing Jack 'Nighthawk' Killian in the NBC series '' M ...

as Mayor Fred Jones Sr. *

Vivica A. Fox Vivica Anjanetta Fox (born July 30, 1964) is an American actress and producer. She began her career on ''Soul Train'' (19821983) and played roles on the daytime television soap operas ''Days of Our Lives'' (1988) and ''Generations (American TV s ...

as Angel Dynamite (Cassidy Williams) *

Kate Higgins Catherine Davis Higgins is an American voice actress, singer and jazz pianist. She is best known for her voice-acting roles of Sakura Haruno in ''Naruto'', Miles "Tails" Prower in the video game series ''Sonic the Hedgehog'', Frankie Stein i ...

as Mayor Janet Nettles *

Udo Kier Udo Kierspe (born 14 October 1944), known professionally as Udo Kier, is a German actor. Known primarily as a character actor, he has appeared in more than 220 films in both leading and supporting roles throughout Europe and the Americas. He has ...

as Professor Pericles *

Tim Matheson Tim Matheson (born Timothy Lewis Matthieson; December 31, 1947) is an American actor and director. Some of his best-known acting roles include the title character of the 1960s animated ''Jonny Quest (TV series), Jonny Quest'' TV series, Eric "O ...

as Brad Chiles *

Patrick Warburton Patrick Warburton (born November 14, 1964) is an American actor. His live action TV roles include David Puddy on ''Seinfeld'', the Tick (character), title character on ''The Tick (2001 TV series), The Tick'', Jeb Denton on ''Less than Perfect'' ...

as Sheriff Bronson Stone

Home media

Prior to the volume releases the first episode in the series, " Beware the Beast from Below" was released as a bonus episode in the special features of '' Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare'' on September 14, 2010. " Menace of the Manticore" was also released as a bonus feature on '' Big Top Scooby-Doo!'' on October 9, 2012. Also, "When the Cicada Calls" from Season 1 and "The Devouring" from Season 2 were released on ''Scooby-Doo! 13 Spooky Tales: For the Love of Snack!'' on January 7, 2014. "Night on Haunted Mountain" was also released on ''Scooby-Doo! 13 Spooky Tales: Field of Screams'' on May 13, 2014.

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

started releasing episodes to DVD on January 25, 2011 in the US. The first three volumes contain four episodes from the series each in order as they aired on Cartoon Network. The final volume (named as ''Crystal Cove Curse'') contains the remaining fourteen episodes from the first season. The first thirteen episodes of the second season were released to DVD (which is entitled ''Danger in the Deep'') on November 13, 2012, while the second half of season two (titled ''Spooky Stampede'') was released on June 18, 2013. Warner Home Video began releasing volumes for the UK on August 29, 2011. On October 8, 2013 Warner Home Video released the first season of ''Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated'' on a four

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

set in the United States. On October 7, 2014 the second season was released in another 4-disc set in the US.

Awards and nominations

Episodic online video game

released an episodic video game on their website called ''Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: Crystal Cove Online'', which had a new mystery every week based on the aired episode. The player takes control of Shaggy and Scooby as they explore Crystal Cove, solving mysteries and helping other citizens with the rest of the gang. Although there are 52 episodes, CN stopped updating the game at the end of season 1, making the last mystery "The Freak of Crystal Cove."

References

External links

* at Teletoon (Canada) * at

(United Kingdom)
Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated
at Tvguide.com
Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated
at Comic Scooby-Doo Scoob-Tacular * {{Rough Draft Studios Scooby-Doo television series 2010s American animated comedy television series 2010s American children's comedy television series 2010s American horror comedy television series 2010s American mystery television series 2010 American animated television series debuts 2013 American television series endings American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated fantasy television series American children's animated horror television series American children's animated mystery television series American English-language television shows Cartoon Network original programming American animated television series reboots Television series by Warner Bros. Animation Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios