The Creeping Creatures

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The Creeping Creatures
Creeping Creatures climb MM.png
Scooby howls for his life as the Creeping Creatures climb to the roof of The Mystery Machine.
Premiere date July 19, 2010
Run time 23:06
Starring Frank Welker
Matthew Lillard
Mindy Cohn
Grey DeLisle
Gary Cole
Patrick Warburton
Francis Conroy
Kath Soucie
Casey Kasem
John DiMaggio
Billy West
David Kaye
Beverly D'Angelo
Music composed by Robert J. Kral
Writer(s) Jed Elinoff
Scott Thomas
Storyboard artist(s) Mike Borkowski
Gary Hartle
Doug Murphy
Phill Norwood
Craig Wilson
Director(s) Curt Geda
Collette Sunderman (voices)
Animation director(s) Seongmook Jung
Gyuchang Lee
Gyeongae Min
Art director(s) Dan Krall
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Title card
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"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, directed by Curt Geda, and voice directed Collette Sunderman.

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.

Detailed summary

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

Legend
Character debut Speaking debut Ep. debut No lines Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character Actor
Dad David Kaye
Mom Beverly D'Angelo
Tween girl Grey DeLisle
Petals Unavailable
Gator man/Grady Gator John DiMaggio
Gator woman/Greta Gator Grey DeLisle
Gator man/Gunther Gator Billy West
Velma Dinkley Mindy Cohn
Shaggy Rogers Matthew Lillard
Daphne Blake Grey DeLisle
Scooby-Doo Frank Welker
Fred Jones Frank Welker
Mailman John DiMaggio
Mr. E
Old miner Gary Cole
Angie Dinkley Frances Conroy
Venus (photo) N/A
Mayor Fred Jones, Sr. Gary Cole
Nan Blake Kath Soucie
Sick Little Monkey
Colton Rogers Casey Kasem
Paula Rogers Grey DeLisle
Sheriff Stone Patrick Warburton
Phantom of Vasquez Castle
Carlotta
Deputy N/A
Deputy Bucky N/A


Organizations

Locations

Objects

Vehicles

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

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 J. Kral, and was edited by Christine Luethje.

Release

Dates are in order of release:

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 Nugget 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.
  • Shaggy says "Zoinks" twice.
  • None of the gang say their catchphrases.
  • 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

  • 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, and 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 about it meaning something deeper, 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.
  • It becomes a running gag of the family at the beginning driving into trouble. The other times are in "Night Terrors" and "Stand and Deliver."
  • When the Mystery Machine runs out of gas in "Howl of the Fright Hound," Daphne first asks if the engine is missing again.

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.

Critical reception

In other languages

Language Name Meaning
French Les Crocomonstres The Crocomonsters
Greek Πλαστά Πλάσματα (Star Channel)
Έρποντα Τέρατα (Boomerang)
Fake Creatures (Star Channel)
Creeping Monsters (Boomerang)
Hungarian Nyálkás kísértetek Mucous Specters
Italian Creature Raccapriccianti Creepy Creatures
Portuguese Monstros Assustadores Scary Monsters
Russian Ужасные Чудовища Scary Monsters
Spanish (Latin America) Los Cocodrilos The Alligators
Spanish (Spain) Las Criaturas de la Noche The Creatures of the Night
Ukrainian Страшненькі Створіння Spooky Creatures

Home availability

References