The Backstage Rage

"The Backstage Rage" is the ninth episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! season one. It aired on November 8, 1969 on ABC. It was produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the co-founders of Hanna-Barbera Productions.

A violin case filled with cash, leads the gang to a theatre with spooky puppets jumping out everywhere.

Detailed summary
Scooby and Shaggy are walking home from a pizzeria when a car rolls by and hits a bump, causing a violin case to fall out of the back window. Shaggy picks up the case and discovers it is full of money. Shaggy goes to call the gang, leaving Scooby to guard the violin case. The same car drives over near Scooby. Suddenly, a poodle dog whining and limping attracts Scooby's attention. Scooby puts down the violin case and heads over to the poodle. Two hands are seen picking up the violin case. The poodle giggles and Scooby turns his head to hide his giggles, and the poodle is raised up and the car drives off. Scooby is confused and also sees that the case has been stolen. When the gang gathers, Scooby explains the whole situation.

The gang search the area and find a puppet controller with "Pietro's Puppets" written on it. Under the circumstances, the gang deduce this was the work of counterfeiters. So, Mystery Inc. head to Strand Theater, an old theater where Pietro's Puppets is located. They talk with the doorman who they fool by signing Scooby up for an audition. But Shaggy finds a discarded counterfeit bill, and with the evidence, the gang leave. In the van, however, Velma concludes it was a real dollar. The gang return and sneak past the sleeping doorman. The gang split up and a phantom in a black cape begins to stalk the gang, trying to drop sandbags, and set props onto them. The gang see the phantom and follow it into a room filled with empty violin cases. They are lured back on stage by the sound of an organ playing and as they get onto the stage, they see the phantom playing the organ. In a second, the phantom disappears. All of a sudden, the gang are attacked by Viking and pirate figures, and the girl poodle shows up and Scooby disables the dog. and they see it is a puppet.

In the dog's stuffing, rests a money-printing case for a 20 dollar bill. They confront the doorman, but he is just a life-size puppet! The gang returns to the room underneath the stage and find a secret room. Inside they find a printing press and the phantom that gives chase. Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby go back onto the stage and the pirates and Vikings attack again, but Velma realizes they are just puppets. Scooby spots the phantom working the puppets from a catwalk and corners him on a rope. Freddy pulls another rope, causing the villain to fall into a trap, and the phantom is unmasked as Mr. Pietro. With Pietro now in a cop car, the gang explain to the officer that he pretended to be the doorman to throw himself off suspicion and was scaring everybody away from the theater so his counterfeit operation would not be discovered. Shaggy adds that the real hero was Scooby, just when he can't find him. They spot him at the stage door entrance, wearing a magician's hat and cape. Velma responds by calling him a ham.

Memorable quotes
Velma: He's gone! Daphne: It must've been our imagination. Shaggy: Well, that was the first time I ever heard mine.

Characters
In order of appearance:


 * Shaggy Rogers (Casey Kasem)
 * Scooby-Doo (Don Messick)
 * Puppet master (Vic Perrin)
 * "Girl dog" (Frank Welker)
 * Daphne Blake (Stefanianna Christopherson)
 * Fred Jones (Frank Welker)
 * Velma Dinkley (Nicole Jaffe)
 * Pietro (Vic Perrin)

Organizations

 * Mystery Incorporated

Locations

 * The Pizza Palace
 * The Strand

Objects

 * Scooby Snacks
 * Johnny the puppet
 * Viking puppet (John Stephenson)
 * Pirate puppet (John Stephenson)

Vehicles

 * The Mystery Machine

Development
Joe Ruby and Ken Spears either wrote or story edited, as they were unable to remember what they specifically did past the fifth episode.

Behind the scenes

 * Velma talks about Mata Hari, an archetype of the femme fatale.

Errors

 * The pepperoni is more decorative when the pizza is first taken out of the box and then looks regularly placed when Shaggy has it balanced on his finger.
 * At one point, the mysterious sedan looks as if it is driving on the sidewalk.
 * When Scooby mimes playing the violin, his sclera are missing.
 * There are several mistakes with the violin case:
 * Shaggy's arms while holding it are reversed in different shots.
 * Although Scooby doesn't put it anywhere near a storm drain, it's next to one when the puppeteer picks it up, at which time it's also facing the opposite direction.
 * Nobody was driving the mysterioous sedan when the puppeter pulls up the girl dog puppet
 * When Shaggy says that a star is about to be born, Daphne's dress turns into a lighter purple.
 * When the gang first split up, the scenery wall the phantom pushes onto Shaggy, and blames on Scooby, is gone a few moments later.
 * When Velma removes the engraving plate from the dog puppet it is still there.
 * When they go to wake up the doorman (and before they discover he is a puppet) his eyes are wide open.
 * When the gang catch the puppeteer, he falls into a bass drum that looks like it was already broken.
 * It is unexplained how Pietro could continue to manipulate the girl dog puppet and also go over to get the counterfeit money. Perhaps he had a remote control.
 * A puppet dog, a violin case, packs of brand new bills equals counterfeiters? That literally makes no sense.
 * Shaggy and Scooby are noticeably less cowardly than usual in this episode - they don't protest about returning to the theatre, splitting up and looking for clues or express a desire to leave, and Scooby even chases after the villain at the end without incentive, much like he does the Ape Man in "Never Ape an Ape Man".
 * Why would Pietro keep the lock to his door open? Unless if he actually wants intruders to come and expose his wrongdoings he should have kept the door locked at all times.
 * There was no way that Pietro was able to get back on the stage during the tunnel chase scene because the door they went through became bolted lock and there was no other way out. Perhaps there was another door and the gang didn't notice it because they were chased by the puppet master.
 * Why did Pietro let go of his foot of the trapdoor that the gang was trying to get out of? Surely if the gang had just uncovered his wrongdoing, he would make at least some effort to try to trap the gang.
 * It is unknown if Scooby ate the Scooby Snack that Daphne offered him by throwing it in the prompter's box. If he would have eaten it, he would have been really fast in finding it and eating it because he was never shown to eat it on screen.

Everlasting influence
This episode has been adapted several times in the following decades:
 * Gold Key Comics' Scooby Doo... Where Are You! #3 (retitled "One Spook Too Many")
 * The episode was rebooted in the Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! episode "Socerer Snacks Scare".