Difference between revisions of "Beware the Beast from Below"

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Revision as of 19:53, 24 March 2024

Beware the Beast from Below
Slime Mutant spies on Fred and Daph.png
Premiere date April 5, 2010 (sneak peek)
July 12, 2010
Run time 23:06
Starring Frank Welker
Matthew Lillard
Mindy Cohn
Grey DeLisle
Gary Cole
Patrick Warburton
Vivica A. Fox
Lewis Black
Kath Soucie
Francis Conroy
Kevin Dunn
Casey Kasem
Dee Bradley Baker
Fred Tatasciore
Tony Cervone
Music composed by Robert Kral
Writer(s) Mitch Watson
Storyboard artist(s) Mike Borkowski
Curt Geda
Douglas Lovelace
Doug Murphy
Craig Wilson
Director(s) Curt Geda
Collette Sunderman (voices)
Art director(s) Dan Krall
Episode navigation
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Title card
SDMI 101 title card.png

"Beware the Beast from Below" is the first episode of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated season one. It aired on April 5, 2010 on Cartoon Network. It was written by series co-creator, Mitch Watson, directed by Curt Geda, and voice directed by Collette Sunderman.

Sheriff Stone bars the gang from getting involved in any more police affairs, but when a mutated slime creature attacks the town, they jump right on into investigating.

Detailed summary

Under false pretenses, the gang has been led by Sheriff Stone to his cell, where they congratulate each other on solving another mystery. Unfortunately, Sheriff Stone is not too pleased about them interfering in official police business, which is why he closes the cell on them and proceeds to call all their parents to come to get them, who he now has on speed dial. Daphne laments that she wishes they could be thanked for once, while Fred speaks before thinking and says it's good that they're not in it to be liked.

The gang is picked up by their parents off-screen and goes back to their lives, while their parents berate them for hanging out with each other, who the parents view as bad influences. Although their kids try to convince them otherwise, especially Daphne in regards to Fred, who she's secretly in love with. It is then, that Fred has turned up in the Mystery Machine to give Daphne and the others a ride to school.

Meanwhile, a construction crew is working in a sewer where their work causes a weakened wall to break apart, revealing another part of the town's underground caves. The men investigate to find abandoned radioactive symbol-marked barrels, with one of them containing something crawling around inside. They decide the best decision is to inspect what's inside, which they discover to be a possibly fatal mistake, when the first workman pops open the lid, causing whatever's inside to burst out, bellowing a puff of green smoke over them.

On the way to school, Velma and Shaggy secretly discuss the romance they've been having. Shaggy was supposed to call Velma the night before, but he fell asleep with Scooby after eating pizza and watching a Vincent Van Ghoul movie. Velma quickly forgives him and wants to proceed with a kiss, but Shaggy doesn't want to do it in front of Scooby, for fear of how he'll react. He's trying to find the right time to tell him, although Velma is ready now. But as she calls for him, a manhole cover pops open caused by the same green smoke as what engulfed the workmen a while ago. Fred hits the brakes, swerving in the opposite direction the manhole cover lands. The Slime Mutant then emerges and attacks the gang, while they are still inside the Mystery Machine. It rocks them back and forth with its stream of green, sticky ooze, before leaving back to the sewer. Shaggy is terrified, while Fred wants to investigate (which he prioritizes to be more important than school), leading the gang into the sewer, as well.

They come to a stop at the same barrels as the workmen found, which Velma deduces were once military and are 30-40 years old. Daphne looks around to find another mystery in the form of a locket, which comes with a jingle when opened and the photo of a teenage couple. Fred is impressed, but not that impressed to spark enough interest in swooning over Daphne, much to her disappointment. Shaggy goes on to find a hardhat on the ground, followed by the workmen themselves, who have been cocooned to the ceiling, with a major case of dehydration.

They call the police, with the Sheriff holding them accountable for what has transpired and wanting them to stay out of the way as it's a potential tourist attraction now. Fred says he'll talk things over with the Sheriff, but to their surprise, he comes back running, carrying one of the cocooned victims. He hurries the gang back in the van, with the body loaded in the back of it.

Fred takes the body to Professor Raffalo while he is in the middle of teaching. The sight of the cocooned body has terrified all of his students away, frustrating Raffalo. Nevertheless, he examines the body and his diagnosis of the body is a temporary form of a dehydrated stasis. He needs to run further tests to find out what caused it, assuming that the Sheriff has approved it, which Fred nervously confirms he has, despite being a lie, and hurries the gang out.

The gang takes a break at Fruitmeier's, which sells a jello-like concoction like its ice cream. Velma doesn't understand why it's taken the town by craze, whereas Shaggy believes it to be because of the secret ingredient its creator, Franklin Fruitmeier, boasts about. Velma then wonders about the scientific creation of the Slime Mutant, wanting to know what Shaggy thinks, in a romantic way, that makes Shaggy frantically dodge the question and rush back into Fruitmeier's, along with Scooby. The one person who does notice, though, is Daphne, who asks Velma if there's something going on, to which an aggravated Velma can only deny in a half-truth, due to Shaggy's actions. Velma storms off, leaving another potential couple for a romantic ride by themselves. Fred, oblivious as usual, wants to get Daphne home as soon as possible, so he can go to work on building a trap for the Slime Mutant. Unbeknown to both of them, they are secretly being watched from the sewer by the Slime Mutant.

Back at school at night, Raffalo is studying what are apparently the cells of the cocoon substance under a microscope, when he is worried about noise outside his classroom, which turns out to be only from the janitor. He goes back inside, just so this time, the janitor can be spooked by Raffalo's scream. But when the janitor goes to check up on him, he's nowhere to be seen, unless you look up at the ceiling, where Raffalo has become the next victim of the Slime Mutant.

The news spreads and Fred has retreated to K-Ghoul, another hangout of the gang's. The rest of the gang is welcomed by the owner and DJ, Angel Dynamite. They try and console Fred and get him back to himself, so they can continue on with the investigation, with Velma taking with them a sample of the cocoon, only to find Scooby eating the evidence. The gang and Angel are worried, but Scooby informs them that he's eating Fruitmeier's dessert, also confirmed by Shaggy. This makes Franklin Fruitmeier the prime suspect (not to mention the only suspect).

The gang looks online for details on Franklin Fruitmeier, who may have a bit of a shady past, since he only popped up two months ago, with nothing before that. To find out more, they plan on getting on the inside as Fruitmeier is looking for new girl servers. Much to Shaggy and Scooby's horror, though, it is they who will be seeking out the new jobs, undercover, of course, as Daphne and Velma flat-out refuse for unclear reasons.

After having worked their day shifts as girls, Scooby and Shaggy let the others in at night, as they have been allowed to look up after Fruitmeier. They go snooping, where Shaggy and Scooby get the locked storage room open, thanks to Scooby's nail, and just happen to find the Slime Mutant hiding in the storage room, causing them to flee in fear. Daphne, having previously left to look for a key, returns, only to be locked in, presumably by the Slime Mutant. Fred and Velma break Daphne out just in time to see Shaggy and Scooby run, or rather crash, back into the storage room, screaming about the monster, who is nowhere to be seen. The crash Shaggy and Scooby made had apparently caused Daphne to fall through a hidden hole in the floor, which leads back to a part of the caves. The gang follows the path to another hole that has been made beneath Crystal Cove Bank, revealing Fruitmeier's would-be crime.

The gang is now ready to set a Rube Goldberg trap for the Slime Mutant, so they goad it into attacking them, leading it right in their trap. Unfortunately, the final part of the trap, a cage, lands right on top of Fred, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby. Now Daphne is left by herself with the Slime Mutant. She climbs back up to the surface of Fruitmeier's, but the Slime Mutant covers the front door in slime. Daphne tries to run away but the Slime Mutant sticks her feet to the floor. Just as the Slime Mutant makes its final move on Daphne, Fred fires a hose full of Fruitmeier's desert at the Slime Mutant, sticking it to the wall.

Right when they're needed for the unmasking, Mayor Jones and Sheriff Stone enter, confused as to what's going on. Mayor Jones wants to know why his latest tourist attraction is stuck to the wall, but Fred protests that it is not a real monster. The gang figures it is Franklin Fruitmeier, but Sheriff Stone points out that that's impossible, since Fruitmeier was the one who called him after his silent alarm was set off. So, Scooby takes off the mask to reveal who is underneath the mask once and for all: Professor Raffalo. Professor Raffalo's minimal teaching paycheck wasn't enough, so when he was down in the caves collecting spores and accidentally knocked down the eroding wall of the bank, it gave him the perfect opportunity. He built himself a special suit, covering himself in Fruitmeier's desert to frame him and led people to believe he had been a victim to throw off any suspicion on himself. Daphne also wants to know about the locket she found where he was digging, but he's never seen it before. It does, however, get the unnoticed attention of a concerned Mayor Jones. Sheriff Stone begrudgingly thanks the gang's for their good work, although they also lost the town a big stream of revenue.

Most of the gang celebrates back at K-Ghoul, except for Daphne, who ponders over who the locket belongs to. Just then, the radio station receives a call, which Shaggy answers happily at first, then suddenly shaken by the ominously threatening voice on the other end, who declares that they should never have brought that locket back with them, which tells of a greater mystery at play, one which may spell certain doom for them all.

Memorable quotes

Sheriff Stone: You see this badge? Know where it came from?
Velma: It came with the shirt?


Sheriff Stone: Oh, by the way, I've called all your parents, who, by now, I have on speed dial. Oh, are you in trouble. Especially you, Fred. Say hi to Dad, the mayor.


Daphne: Just once, it'd be nice if someone thanked us for solving a mystery.
Fred: Good thing we're not in this to be liked. Maybe that didn't come out quite right.


Velma: My generation, we've only got one thing on our minds--.
Fred: Solving mysteries and building traps.


Mayor Jones: Tickling chin whiskers, Fred. The mayor's son is supposed to set an example.


Mayor Jones: Life is not all about traps. It's also about--.
Scooby: Pancakes, and Bacon.
Shaggy: And sausages, and orange juice.


Colton: Your mother and I are worried about this mystery phase you're going through. We're not saying find new friends. We're--.
Paula: Yes we are. Find new friends.
Shaggy: Oh, you guys have got nothing to worry about, man. Me and Scoob always play it safe. If there's danger...
Scooby: We run fast. Really fast.
Shaggy: And as for our friends, if you just gave them a chance, you'd see--.
Daphne: The gang is misunderstood. We're just solving mysteries. All the kids are doing it.
Nan and Barty: No, they're not.
Nan: And what about this Fred Jones? Certainly, there must be other boys?
Daphne: Not like Fred. He's, like, one of those geniuses that no one understands until they're dead. He sees things different, and he wants to catch those different things in his traps.


Workman #2: Is that another sewer?
Foreman: Impossible. There's only one sewer, and we're in it. Unless...
Workman #1: We've broken into another dimension.


Shaggy: Not here. Velma, not in public.
Velma: Why? Daphne and Fred are going to find out sooner or later.
Shaggy: I'm not worried about them. It's Scooby-Doo, he's my best friend. I want to break it to him, like, gently. I'm just waiting for the right time.


Daphne: Hey! Fred, I found something.
Fred: Mmm. Could be a clue. Good work, Daphne.


Sheriff Stone: All right, you see what happens when you kids stick your noses where they don't belong? People get cocooned!
Shaggy: Like, man, we found them like that!
Daphne: Sheriff, there was a monster!
Sheriff Stone: Quiet! From this point forward, this is a crime scene and future tourist attraction. Stay out of it!
Velma: I got his stay out of it right here.
Fred: Let me talk to him.
Daphne: Don't worry. Fred will make him understand.
Fred: Shaggy, start the car!
Shaggy: Wait! I thought you were going to talk to him!
Fred: He wasn't in a listening mood.
Velma: So, you stole a body? Rockin'.


Professor Raffalo: Who can tell me what photosynthesis is? And please don't say "plant farts."


Fred: Professor Raffalo! We need your help.
Professor Raffalo: Couldn't you kids have waited for break?!


Franklin: Welcome, everyone, to Fruitmeier's. Remember, it's not ice cream. It's not yogurt. Ha. I really don't know what it is.


Fred: Hey, you know, if that cocoon does turn out to be organic, we might have a real honest-to-goodness monster in Crystal Cove.
Velma: My guess? The cocoon is a multicelled mutation, probably a result of radiated allotropes and free radical implosion. What do you think, Shaggy?
Shaggy: Uhh, I think I want more Fruitmeier's!
Scooby: Yeah, me, too!
Daphne: Velma, is there something going on between you and Shaggy?
Velma: No. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Why would anything ever be going on between me and Shaggy?
Daphne: Well, looks like it's just us, all alone. Maybe we could go for a drive, talk about that pretty locket I found. Wonder what it would be like to get such a romantic present?
Fred: Oh, come on, Daphne. You know you don't care about that girly stuff. That's why we're such good friends. I'll drop you at home. I want to get started on a new trap for the monster.
Daphne: Ok. Good luck with that.


Velma: I've brought a sample--Scooby! What are you doing?!
Scooby: What?! It's Fruitmeier's! Yummy!
Velma: Eww.
Angel: Check it out! If that dog mutates, I'm putting it down, dig?


Daphne: But if the cocoon is made of Fruitmeier's dessert...
Shaggy: That means if we capture the monster, we can have our own shop, and we can have an endless supply of Fruitmeier's dessert. Oh, boy.


Shaggy: If the girls can get jobs at Fruitmeier's, they can snoop around and find out more.
Fred: Great idea, Shag.
Shaggy: Like, uh, this isn't exactly what I had in mind. Why are Scooby-Doo and I dressed like girls, when Daphne and Velma are girls?
Scooby: Yeah. My skirt's too tight.
Daphne: Because Velma and I refused.


Daphne: Fred! You saved me!
Fred: Not right now, Daphne. I have to figure out why my trap didn't work.


Mayor Jones: Why is the town's latest tourist attraction cocooned to the wall?
Fred: Dad! Sheriff! Hold on! You don't understand. That is not a monster.
Mayor Jones: Oh, hopping steam clams, Fred. Then who is it?
Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby: Franklin Fruitmeier!
Velma: He was trying to rob Crystal Cove Bank.
Sheriff Stone: Uhh, that's impossible. Franklin Fruitmeier's the one who called us.


Professor Raffalo: Oh, it was foolproof genius. That is, until you--you--.
Sheriff Stone: Meddling.
Professor Raffalo: Meddling--Yes! Meddling kids and your blasted dog ruined everything.


Sheriff Stone: All right. Well, guess we owe you kids thanks. You did save the bank. Although you also lost the town a serious revenue stream. Stream of revenue!


Shaggy: Like, K-GHOUL, 101.4. What can we scare up for you, daddy-o?
Mr. E: You're all doomed.
Shaggy: Like, uh--like, who--who is this?
Mr. E: You can call me Mr. E. You should never have brought that locket out of the cave. You don't know what you've uncovered.
Daphne: Uncovered? Uncovered what?
Mr. E: A truth that should have remained hidden--the truth behind the curse of Crystal Cove. The real mystery has just begun.
Scooby: Scooby...Dooby...Doo.

Characters

Legend
Character debut Speaking debut Ep. debut No lines Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character Actor
Velma Dinkley Mindy Cohn
Fred Jones Frank Welker
Velma Dinkley Grey DeLisle
Scooby-Doo Frank Welker
Shaggy Rogers Matthew Lillard
Sheriff Stone Patrick Warburton
Mr. Baywosenthal N/A
Mrs. Baywosenthal N/A
Female tourist Kath Soucie
Don Knotts lookalike Jeff Bennett
Sally's husband Unavailable
Fernando El Aguirre
Cletus Darrow
Mrs. Darrow
Danny Darrow
Cletus's daughter
Green Ghost (exhibit) N/A
Luna Ghost (exhibit) N/A
Space Kook (exhibit) N/A
Charlie, the Haunted Robot (exhibit) N/A
Miner '49er (exhibit) N/A
Captain Cutler's Ghost (exhibit) N/A
The Creeper (exhibit) N/A
Captain Cutler
Hank
Mr. Jenkins
Dale Dinkley Kevin Dunn
Angie Dinkley Francis Conroy
Mayor Fred Jones, Sr. Gary Cole
Paula Rogers Grey DeLisle
Colton Rogers Casey Kasem
Nan Blake Kath Soucie
Barty Blake Frank Welker
Daisy Blake N/A
Dawn Blake N/A
Dorothy Blake N/A
Delilah Blake N/A
Foreman Gary Cole
Workman #1 Kevin Dunn
Workman #2 Fred Tatasciore
Vincent Van Ghoul
Slime Mutant/Professor Emmanuel Raffalo Dee Bradley Baker (Slime Mutant)
Jeff Bennett (Professor Raffalo)
Brad Chiles (photo) N/A
Judy Reeves (photo) N/A
Deputy N/A
Paramedics N/A
Gary Tony Cervone
Class squirrel(?) Unavailable
Franklin Fruitmeier Dee Bradley Baker
Janitor N/A
Angel Dynamite Vivica A. Fox
Deputy Bucky N/A
Mr. E (voice only) Lewis Black


Organizations

Locations

Objects

Vehicles

Production

Development

Filming

It was copyrighted in 2010.

Music

The theme song was written and performed by Matthew Sweet. The music was composed by Robert Kral, and was edited by Christine Luethje.

Crew credits

Release

Dates are in order of release:

Behind the scenes

  • While Funland was originally in an unnamed town beside a beach in the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode "Mine Your Business" (which due to the prequel series, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, may be retconned to take place in Coolsville), it has been retconned in this series to be situated in Crystal Cove. This is backed up by Daphne in "The Night the Clown Cried II - Tears of Doom!," when she says the furthest she had been outside of Crystal Cove was to Gatorsburg, which occurred in "The Creeping Creatures."
  • Shaggy says "Zoinks" once.
  • Danger-prone Daphne moments: She gets locked in the storage room, and slips on the Slime Mutant's slime.
  • Shaggy says "Gangway" once.
  • Velma says "Jinkies" once.
  • The paramedics resemble John Gage and Roy DeSoto from the TV series Emergency.
  • Professor Raffalo's design is a parody of Mr. Lobo, a television personality and host of the horror TV series Cinema Insomnia.
  • The framing of the Slime Mutant and Daphne's faces, as the former corners the latter at the front door of Fruitmeier's, is an homage to a similar encounter between the Alien and Ripley in the film Alien 3.
  • Special thanks are given to Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, not because they worked on this episode, but because they created Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

Errors

  • The gang doesn't get in trouble for ditching school to investigate. Interestingly, this kind of behavior is contradicted in "The Man in the Mirror", when Velma says she's never been late.
  • The sign on Fruitmeier's is missing the second "e."
  • As the Slime Mutant, Raffalo is watching Daphne and Fred leave Fruitmeier's, as Raffalo is also supposed to be at the school investigating the origin of the cocoon.
  • There's a moment of crisis within Fred when he believes Raffalo to have been a victim of the Slime Mutant, but this is character development is dropped later in the episode. For instance, he shows no sign of betrayal from Raffalo.
  • Raffalo made himself look like he had been caught in the Slime Mutant's cocoon to throw suspicion off of himself, but what were people supposed to have suspected him of doing?
  • Fruitmeier's is so hot, that the gang only visits in this episode.

Everlasting influence

  • The scene where the gang realizes that Raffalo turned to crime because being a teacher doesn't pay well was used as a topic of news on E!'s The Soup, presented by Joel McHale. This was noticed by lead character designer, Derrick J. Wyatt,[1] and voice actress Grey DeLisle.[2]
  • In "Howl of the Fright Hound," the Crystal Cove News has a page on the gang uncovering Raffalo's crime, although it's more about bashing them for ruining the ghost-based economy.
  • The last episode, "Come Undone," pays homage to two scenes in this episode:
  • The first one is the opening of "Beware the Beast from Below", where the gang congratulates each other, but "Come Undone" takes them out of the station and onto a street, where Sheriff Stone and his family (he created in the new timeline) interrupts them, reminding them that Daphne has to babysit his and Mayor Nettles' kids.
  • The second one is when Daphne's parents wish she could be more like her older sisters who look glamorous and have successful careers in "Beware the Beast from Below", whereas in "Come Undone", her parents praise Daphne for her life-turning out better than her older sisters, who are no longer glamorous and never had their successful careers.
  • The scene with Velma acting as a tour guide in the museum is used in the direct-to-video film Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob. Considering the film is supposed to be from a separate continuity, it's unclear how these two continuities can co-exist.

Marketing and promotion

At the time of the episode's official airing, Cartoon Network uploaded their online game, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: Crystal Cove Online, with the first level based on the Slime Mutant case.

On June 1, 2011, a year after the episode had aired, Scholastic published under the same series name and episode title as Beware the Beast from Below, although it remained the only one. The artwork was done by Scott Neely.

Critical reception

In other languages

Language Name Meaning
French Méfiez-vous des monstres gélatineux Beware of Gelatinous Monsters
Greek Προσοχή! Τέρας στο Βάθος (Star Channel)
Φυλαχτείτε! Τέρας από Κάτω (Boomerang) 		Attention! Monster Ahead (Star Channel)
Beware! Beast Below (Boomerang)
Hungarian Félelem a szörnyetegtől Fear of the Monster
Italian Crystal Cove Crystal Cove
Norwegian Se opp for beistet fra dypet Look out for the beast from the deep
Portuguese Cuidado com o Monstro que Vem de Baixo Beware the Monster that Come from Down
Russian Бойтесь чудовища с подземелья Be Scared of the Monster from the Dungeon
Spanish (Latin America) Cuidado con la Bestia de las Alcantarillas Beware the Beast from the Sewers
Spanish (Spain) La Bestia de las Profundidades The Beast from the Deep
Ukrainian Перестерігайтеся проблем з підземелля Beware the Troubles from the Dungeon

Home availability

References

  1. ^ Wyatt, Derrick J. (July 22, 2010) "SDMI hits The Soup!". A Delightful Tedium. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  2. ^ Writer (August 28, 2010). "You're the Voice: Grey DeLisle". Pop Dose. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
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