The Creeping Creatures

"The Creeping Creatures" is the second episode of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated season one. It aired on July 19, 2010 on Cartoon Network. It was written by Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas, produced by Mitch Watson, one of the creators of the series, and directed by Curt Geda.

The gang gets stuck in Gatorsburg after the engine to the Mystery Machine is stolen, so they must spend the night in a creepy hotel, which is crawling with vicious gator people.

Memorable quotes
Mayor Jones: Malevolent mushroom caps, Fred!

Gunther: We would've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling juveniles and your unauthorized investigation of our synthetic gator accessories.

Characters
Unavailable for gator noise Unavailable for gator noise
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Dad
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| David Kaye
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Mom
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Beverly D'Angelo
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Tween girl
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Grey DeLisle
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Petals
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Unavailable
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Gator man #1
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Unavailable
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Gator woman
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Grey DeLisle
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Gator man #1
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Unavailable
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Gator woman
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Grey DeLisle
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Gator woman
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Grey DeLisle
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Gator man #2
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Billy West
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Billy West
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Velma Dinkley
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Mindy Cohn
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Shaggy Rogers
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Matthew Lillard
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Daphne Blake
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Grey DeLisle
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Scooby-Doo
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Frank Welker
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Fred Jones
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Frank Welker
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Mailman
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| John DiMaggio
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Mr. E
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Old miner
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Gary Cole
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Angie Dinkley
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Frances Conroy
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Venus
 * style="background-color:#ffff00"| N/A
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Grady Gator
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| John DiMaggio
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Mayor Fred Jones, Sr.
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Gary Cole
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Nan Blake
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Kath Soucie
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Sick Little Monkey
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Colton Rogers
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Casey Kasem
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Paula Rogers
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Grey DeLisle
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Greta Gator
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Grey DeLisle
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Gunther Gator
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Billy West
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Sheriff Stone
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Patrick Warburton
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Phantom of Vasquez Castle
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Carlotta
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Deputy
 * style="background-color:#ffff00"| N/A
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Deputy Bucky
 * style="background-color:#ffff00"| N/A
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Casey Kasem
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Paula Rogers
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Grey DeLisle
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Greta Gator
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Grey DeLisle
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Gunther Gator
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Billy West
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Sheriff Stone
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Patrick Warburton
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Phantom of Vasquez Castle
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Carlotta
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Deputy
 * style="background-color:#ffff00"| N/A
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Deputy Bucky
 * style="background-color:#ffff00"| N/A
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Carlotta
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Deputy
 * style="background-color:#ffff00"| N/A
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Deputy Bucky
 * style="background-color:#ffff00"| N/A
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Deputy Bucky
 * style="background-color:#ffff00"| N/A
 * style="background-color:#ffff00"| N/A

Organizations

 * Mystery Incorporated
 * Crystal Cove Police Department

Locations

 * California
 * Gatorsburg
 * Gator Avenue
 * Gatorsburg Gas
 * Gator mine
 * Gator Burger
 * The Drowsy Gator Hotel
 * Crystal Cove
 * Jones residence
 * Crystal Cove High School (mentioned)
 * Vasquez Castle (mentioned)
 * Fort Bragg (mentioned)
 * New York (mentioned)
 * Broadway (mentioned)

Objects

 * Traps Illustrated
 * Fred's Traps

Vehicles

 * Station wagon
 * The Mystery Machine
 * Steam locomotive
 * Grady Gator's towtruck
 * Sheriff Stone's squad car

Music
The theme song was written and performed by Matthew Sweet, while the main music was performed by Robert J. Kral, which was edited by Christine Luethje.

Release
It was originally aired in the United States by Cartoon Network on July 19, 2010, followed by its premiere in the United Kingdom & Ireland on Boomerang on October 25.

Behind the scenes

 * The family in the opening of the episode is a parody of the Griswolds in the film National Lampoon's Vacation:
 * The cartoon parents look practically the same as Chevy Chase's Clark and Beverly D'Angelo's Ellen, with David Kaye doing an imitation of the former and D'Angelo herself playing the wife.
 * The cartoon station wagon (with the luggage on top) is based on the Wagon Queen Family Truckster in the film; both have the crown logo.
 * The significant difference is that the parents have only one young daughter, whereas, in the latter, the parents had a teenage boy and girl, as well as not owning a dog, although they do take along their relatives' dog for a short while.
 * Both feature a gag with the dad getting more gas.
 * Traps Illustrated is a parody of Sports Illustrated.
 * Gatorsburg's riches were built on discovering a gator mine, instead of an oil mine. Yes, that's the joke!
 * The old miner in the flashbacks is based on Nuggest Nose, the title character of the TV series The Galloping Ghost.
 * Curiously, Shaggy sits at the front with Fred and Daphne, instead of Velma.
 * The hotel has paintings of Dogs Playing Poker and American Gothic'', but with anthropomorphic alligators.
 * The cases involving the Phantom of Vasquez Castle and Carlotta, the gypsy, is in reference to the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episodes "Hassle in the Castle" and "A Gaggle of Ghosts", respectively. Although technically, that series doesn't belong in the same continuity as Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. Carlotta wasn't the name of the gypsy in the latter, but is borrowed from "The Ghosts of Grimstone Castle" in Gold Key Comics' Scooby Doo... Where Are You! #10.
 * How many times does Shaggy say "Zoinks"? Twice.

Errors

 * Is the Fort Bragg listed as 27 miles away the same Fort Bragg all the way in North Carolina, which is 2213 miles from California?
 * Shaggy finds a tiny cooked alligator in burger buns, despite the fact the gator mines ran dry.
 * It's never explained who installed the new engine. Was it Ed Machine?
 * Mr. E says in the second letter that their case was the first part of the puzzle, which is never elaborated on. Outside of what was retconned later on with the "Dog Dies" message, nothing that went on in Gatorsburg, the Creeping Creatures, the missing engine had anything to do with the series overall arch.
 * An empty cop car still remains at the end of the episode.

Everlasting influence
Mitch Watson stated on the podcast, Unmasked History of Scooby Doo, that the hotel's neon sign flicking to show "The Dog Dies" was a one-time gag, but was changed to mean something deeper when he heard fan speculation, eventually being retconned in the season two episode "Theater of Doom".

The scene where Fred shows Daphne his scrapbook is used as a flashback in "In Fear of the Phantom", when Daphne gets frustrated with his treatment of her and joins the Hex Girls, which forces Fred to think back at the times he's spent with her and realize how much she means to her.

Marketing and promotion
The episode inspired the second stage of Cartoon Network to update their online game, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: Crystal Cove Online, which was updated at the time of the episode's release.