Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (film)

Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders is a 2000 sci-fi mystery comedy direct-to-video film based on the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! TV series in 1969. It was released by Warner Home Video through the Warner Bros. Family Entertainment label on October 3, 2000. It was written by Lance Falk, with additional material added by Davis Doi, and directed by Jim Stenstrum. The film is the third installment in the Scooby-Doo direct-to-video film series.

After the Mystery Machine breaks down in the desert, Mystery Inc. get stuck in a remote town in Roswell, where the locals are troubled by alien abductions.

Detailed summary
At the SALF (Search for Alien Life Forms) station, Max, Laura and Steve suddenly get a loud reading that's off the charts, and when it disappears, Steve gets something on the radar.

The Mystery Machine is driving through a desert. A sand storm kicks in and Shaggy makes an accidental turn into government property. The sight of a UFO causes Shaggy to lose control of the vehicle and crashes into a cactus. Mystery Inc find themselves on the outskirts of a small town. While Scooby-Doo and Shaggy stay with the van, the rest of Mystery Inc. walk into the direction of a town ahead; they make it to a local diner to ask for directions. While waiting, Shaggy and Scooby fight over a Scooby Snack they find. Shaggy and Scooby then encounter a fictional animal called a jackalope. When they chase it into the mouth of a cave; they see a glow in the distance. Two aliens then approach them from behind and chase them towards a diner.

Shaggy and Scooby run into the diner in panic, claiming to have seen aliens. The diner waitress, Dottie, says that they never see the aliens but see strange lights and hear strange sounds at night. The chef, Sergio (pronounced "Serge"), says that a month ago, local cattle vanished overnight without a trace and a lot of people moved away. A man named Lester claims to have been abducted once before, and believes them. He also says that he has pictures; the gang goes to his house to see them, but they turn out to be nothing more than paintings by Lester. Lester then offers to let the gang stay for the night. Daphne and Velma sleep in a bunk bed and Fred sleeps on Lester's couch.

Scooby and Shaggy sleep on the roof, and are abducted. Scooby is the first to see the same two aliens they ran from earlier and wakes Shaggy. The aliens then touch Scooby and Shaggy's forehead while the two of them panic. The Aliens buckle them to beds. The aliens then put wires on them which tickle, Shaggy in the neck and Scooby on the side. Scooby manages to break free from the buckles and runs with Shaggy's bed in while the aliens pursue. Eventually they are trapped and a third alien comes forward with some sort of alien taser, the two black out. The next day the two find themselves in the middle of nowhere. They are awakened by a hippie-chick photographer, Crystal, and her golden retriever, Amber. Scooby and Shaggy fall head over heels in love the moment they lay eyes on them. Crystal and Amber give them a ride back to the diner, Scooby is making more moves than Shaggy. They meet the rest of the gang there with Lester who catch on to them being in love. They were so smitten that for the first and only time the pair have no appetite. When Crystal and Amber leave, Shaggy and Scooby get all washed up for when they can see them again. They go to a mechanic and ask if he can fix their vehicle; he says he'll look over it. They then meet Max who works at the SALF station; they help him load up oil. Crystal and Amber drive Shaggy and Scooby off to go looking for the jackalope. Shaggy tries to make the jackalope seem bigger, with no avail. Scooby picks flowers for Amber who gives him a kiss, Scooby rejoices greatly. When Shaggy tries the same thing a spider get into his shirt and he freaks out, still impressing Crystal towards the end.

Velma, Fred, and Daphne meet the crew of SALF. Velma becomes suspicious when she sees dried mud on their boots, since they are in the desert. Later, she decides to take the gang to a canyon where she presumes a river might run. The canyon proves to be dry, but they find mining equipment, and in the caves, gold. Meanwhile military police make Shaggy, Crystal, Scooby-Doo and Amber leave the area as it's government property. Crystal then tells Shaggy she is really a government agent and not a photographer. She wants them to go back in. Shaggy and Scooby aren't sure, but when they use their charm on them they agree; Amber licks Scooby's cheek and he just laughs. Shaggy leads them to the cave where he first saw the aliens and saw the jackalope disappear. They quickly hide inside when the MPs come back, but are able to trick them into leaving by pretending that Scooby's tail is a snake. A real snake then scares Shaggy and Scooby into going further into the cave with Crystal and Amber close behind. They also discover the gold, but are then found and chased by the aliens and the MPs, the gang too.

The gang gets trapped in a net while Scooby and the others fall off a ledge after being cornered by the MPs. After the aliens send the MP's after them it's revealed that the aliens are really the SALF crew. They hold them hostage as they explain that they stumbled upon this cave when searching for ground to place another SALF dish. Since it was on government land, they decided not to report it, and plan to keep it that way. They are also revealed to be the aliens who abducted Scooby and Shaggy; the UFO was nothing more than a dressed-up helicopter, and the UFO interior was a movie set. Meanwhile the others wake up and find themselves deep in the cave still close to another ledge.

When the MPs show up Shaggy and Scooby try to protect them by doing kung fu moves, the MPs aren't afraid. Crystal and Amber then scare them off by revealing their alien selves, but give the boys the credit. The MPs come running to the crew, but when all they see is Scooby and the others they send them back. This time when Shaggy and Scooby do the kung fu moves the MPs grab them and threaten them. Crystal and Amber then reveal their alien selves to all of them and scare the MP's off. Shaggy and Scooby didn't see the change so when they turn around and see them; they run off. The SALF members then try to capture them and as danger draws near Shaggy and Scooby come to the rescue and defeat the bad guys.

Crystal and Amber explain that they're aliens from a planet twenty light-years away from Earth, and that they had dressed and acted the way they did because they had gotten their information on Earth from TV and radio programs form the 1960s, and assumed that the people of Earth still talked and dressed like that. Also, it turns out that the UFO that ran the gang off the road near the beginning of the movie was actually Crystal and Amber's ship, which SALF had tracked. Crystal and Amber have to go back to their home planet, but they share a heartfelt goodbye with Shaggy and Scooby.

The SALF-agents are arrested by the authorities, and Buck comes by with the Mystery Machine all fixed up—Buck explains that the radiator patch he put on will hold until they get to the city and charges them $30 for it. Fred and the gang are happy that the van is finally fixed, and as Fred gives Buck the money for the repairs, he questions the mechanic on why he was out in the desert one day—Buck, though obviously very reluctant, reveals to Fred and the girls that a hobby of his is collecting pressed flowers, which was why he was out in desert that day. Fred and the girls are surprised to learn this, but note that the flowers Buck collected as very beautiful—Buck explains that he prefers keeping this particular hobby of his a secret, and Fred and the girls agree not to tell anyone.

After Buck leaves, Daphne notices Shaggy and Scooby staring up at the sky, obviously still sad about Crystal and Amber leaving. Fred and the girls feel bad for Shaggy and Scooby, but they help the duo feel a little bit better by giving them some Scooby Snacks. The gang than drives away just as the jackalope watches them leave. It then looks up to the sky and sees a shooting star pass by in the sky.

A post credits scene, involves an alien burning a hole in the screen, who then reveals itself to be Scooby in disguise.

Memorable quotes
Shaggy: You understand him? Crystal: Clear as crystal. Ha. That's my name, too. I'm Crystal. Like, what's your name? Shaggy: Norville. Crystal: Norville? Shaggy: But, like, everyone calls me Shaggy. And that's Scooby-Doo. Crystal: Wow, groovy names. Shaggy: Groovy? Crystal, you're talking my lingo.

Characters
In order of appearance:

Mentioned and non-speaking characters are in italics


 * Max (Kevin Michael Richardson)
 * Laura (Audrey Wasilewski)
 * Steve (Mark Hamill)
 * Shaggy Rogers (Scott Innes)
 * Scooby-Doo (Scott Innes)
 * Velma Dinkley (B.J. Ward)
 * Fred Jones (Frank Welker)
 * Daphne Blake (Mary Kay Bergman)
 * Jackalope
 * Aliens (Kevin Michael Richardson)
 * Dottie (Jennifer Hale)
 * Lester (Jeff Glen Bennett)
 * Sergio (Neil Ross)
 * Lester's kids
 * Crystal (Candi Milo)
 * Amber (Candi Milo)
 * Fake MPs
 * Shaggy Rogers, Jr.
 * Scooby and Amber's puppies
 * Buck
 * FBI agent

Locations

 * United States
 * Roswell, New Mexico
 * Sergio's Diner
 * Lester's home
 * SALF station
 * Scorpion Ridge
 * Egypt

Objects

 * Scooby Snacks

Vehicles

 * The Mystery Machine
 * Alien spaceship

Development
After the previous movie, Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost, suffered from Warner Bros.' interference, with the crew having to rework the film to their liking, the studio backed off this time, giving the crew free reign to do as they pleased, although it was to be the last time, which would bring an end to the style introduced in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. Because of Glenn Leopold's loss of residuals from the previous film, he is given a story credit.

Filming
After finishing recording as Daphne and during the film being animated, Mary Kay Bergman, who long suffered depression, committed suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The film included a dedication to her in the end credits.

Music

 * Main: Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (soundtrack).

Louis Febre composed the music for the film, which he was nominated for an Annie award for. Jennifer Love Hewitt performed a pop version of the "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" theme song.

Behind the scenes

 * The first two trailers parody the theme song of the TV series The X-Files.
 * The opening of the film is similar to Star Trek: The Next Generation.
 * SALF (Search for Alien Life Forms) is a reference to SETI, which stands for Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence. This is the collective name for a number of activities people undertake to search for intelligent extraterrestrial life. SETI projects use scientific methods in this search.
 * Inside the diner when Shaggy and Scooby first burst in, there is a cameo of the middle-aged guy wearing flannel and overalls from Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost.
 * When Shaggy says, "Hey, come on guys, don't ya need to, phone home or something?", he references the movie, E.T. A similar reference occurs in the lyrics of the chase song, "The Aliens Are Here".

Errors

 * Velma is suddenly an expert on oil hydraulics when draws attention to the fact that the oil that they helped Max load into the SALF van is the wrong kind for hydraulics. How on earth did she figure that out? All that the viewers ever saw was gold-labeled cans with red flowers on them. The oil viscosity is never shown. Also, the dried mud that Velma saw on the SALF members' shoes is never seen either before or after Velma mentions it as a big clue that they're up to something!
 * Also, Velma's muddy shoe clue can be explained by the SALF crew venturing into town to buy supplies, for example. Just because they work in a clean facility does not mean that they are confined to it, after all they did encounter one of the crew members at the mechanic shop. This is not a real strong hint that the SALF crew is up to something suspicious.
 * The first time Scooby crawls through the small space on the bottom of the fence while he and Shaggy were chasing the jackalope, he gets stuck since he's too big to fit through it. After running while stuck in the hole for a few seconds while Shaggy climbs over the fence, Scooby pops out of the other side of the hole. The second time he crawls through it to follow Amber, he doesn't, but on the third time, he crawls through it again, he gets stuck again. Scooby pulls himself hard for a few seconds and manages to pull himself through with a pop. Amber fits well through it, but not Scooby.

Trailers
Teaser trailer #1:

Teaser trailer #2:

Trailer #3: