What a Night, for a Dark Knight!
| What a Night, for a Dark Knight! | |
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| Premiere date | September 19, 2019 |
| Run time | 21:30 |
| Starring | Frank Welker Matthew Lillard Grey Griffin Kate Micucci Kevin Conroy Mark Hamill Steven Webber |
| Music composed by | Adam Berry |
| Writer(s) | Michael Ryan |
| Director(s) | Chris Bailey Collette Sunderman (voices) |
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"What a Night, for a Dark Knight!" is the thirteenth episode of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? season one. It aired on September 19, 2019 on Boomerang's SVOD service. It was written by Michael Ryan, and produced and directed by series creator, Chris Bailey, as well as voice directed by Collette Sunderman.
Mystery Inc. and Batman race to find Alfred Pennyworth and the truth behind his abduction by the Man-Bat.
Detailed summary
One night at Wayne Manor, Alfred Pennyworth looks through the mail to find a letter from Daphne. In the middle of reading it, he is attacked by the Man-Bat, leaving wrecked furniture and the letter from Daphne with a red smear.
Following that attack, the gang just happens to be on its way in the Mystery Machine to see Alfred, Daphne's uncle of sorts--the clear definition of their relationship confounding Scooby and Shaggy. Suddenly, they are quickly rocked by the speeding Batmobile passing them by. They are more excited by the celebrity of having spotted the celebrity that is Batman, than the accident they were just in because of him.
Soon, they arrive at Wayne Manor, where they find the inside of the mansion in ruins and "Uncle Alfie" nowhere to be found, but Daphne spots her letter to Alfred. Shaggy and Scooby also investigate to find the pool room where they mess around, not realizing they are being watched through a portrait. They stop when they accidentally knock down several suits of armors and a set of crossbows. Meanwhile, Fred finds the study, where he discovers a head bust has a secret button, which in turn reveals a secret compartment behind the bookcase, although Fred has his back to it and remains none the wiser. If he had turned around, he would've spotted Batman trying to change. The scene shifts back to Shaggy, where he slips on a lipstick container, and then worse Batman, who demands to know where Alfred is. Shaggy, joined by Scooby, narrowly avoids him and rushes back to the gang. Scooby goes onto explain what happened (sounding less and less like Scooby the more he drones on), distracting the gang from seeing Fred be pulled into a secret passageway in a wall, followed by Shaggy, Velma, and Daphne being caught in Batman's ropes until only Scooby is alone and also captured in a net.
Batman has them tied up and placed on a pool table in the pool room from before, where he grills them on the whereabouts of Alfred. They attempt to explain they only came to visit and that they are mystery solvers like him. Daphne asks Batman to trust them, but he isn't easily convinced. That is until he measures Scooby's foot, which doesn't match the claw marks from the Man-Bat. He releases them, but when they start getting suspicious about Batman suddenly showing up himself, he knocks them out with a sleep bomb. They awake to find themselves back in the Mystery Machine, which has been moved outside of Gotham City. They still have Daphne's letter to Alfred, inspecting the red mark again, which is neither blood nor ink, but does match the color of the lipstick Shaggy slipped on earlier. They track down the place where the lipstick, Valentine Tears #5, had been last sold, an old, abandoned department store in Gotham.
The gang break into the department store and find a display case full of the same lipstick and a set of footprints that end between the bottom of the stairs and the entrance to the basement. So, Fred announces that they will split up, with him pairing off with Daphne to go down in the basement, while Shaggy, Scooby, and Velma will check out upstairs. Shaggy protests, but as with entering the department store to begin with, Fred ignores him. As Shaggy and Scooby join Velma, she points out that she can hear a 4-T-S processor fan working overtime, which leads them to a laptop trying to hack into Bruce Wayne's bank accounts through his company. She decides to call Batman to tell him of her findings. When he responds, he immediately wants to know how she got his number, to which she reveals that she hacked into his utility belt while he was threatening Scooby and Shaggy. Although Batman's surprised to hear about the bank hacking, he is more interested in his own investigation of the attack, which leads him to Arkham Asylum, where Dr. Kirk Langstrom, aka the Man-Bat, is an inmate. He puts them on hold while he talks to the Langstrom. Inside Arkham Aylsum, he berates the guard for not informing him of Langstrom's escape, only to find that he's been in his cell the whole time. Batman is with no choice but to leave. As finally checks the screenshot Velma sent him, he zooms in on a startling discovery. He quickly resumes his call to Velma and orders them to leave the store as they are in danger, just as the Man-Bat swoops in from above, who has been spying on them the whole time. The Man-Bat chuckles as he crushes Velma's phone after she and the boys flee in terror.
A routine comical chase ensues, which includes some disguises, until they think they've successfully evaded him. The Man-Bat surprises them from behind though, causing Scooby and Shaggy to separate from Velma. She is left in quite a predicament, as she has lost her glasses, allowing her to become an easy target for the Man-Bat. Shaggy and Scooby follow her screams, but are too late. They report back to Fred, who takes it personally and wants to set up a trap for the Man-Bat immediately and wants to use Scooby as bait. Scooby barters up to three Scooby Snacks before he risks his life.
Shaggy, Daphne, and Fred put everything into place, while Scooby acts as a decoy, disguising himself as a vulnerable, rich teenager. The Man-Bat can't resist and goes for Scooby, who tries to lead him into the gang's trap, but the Man-Bat is too smart for it, and they only end up getting caught up themselves. All hope seems lost when Batman crashes through the very top of the building and kicks Man-Bat to the floor. Batman then pins Man-Bat to the wall with several Batarangs, which only temporarily holds him. Batman and Man-Bat get into a brawl, and everywhere Shaggy and Scooby hide, Batman and Man-Bat always manage to burst through. Man-Bat manages to get the upper hand on Batman by knocking down shelves on him. With Batman out of the way, Man-Bat sets his sights on Daphne, but Fred knocks him back, followed by the timely hit by a hose from Shaggy and Scooby, who had lost control of it when they tried to trap the Man-Bat. The Man-Bat retaliates by knocking them off the staircase and on top of a chandelier. As the chandelier starts to break loose, Man-Bat flies in to attack again, but all three of them manage to get caught in the chandelier, and as it falls to the bottom, Batman comes around and saves Shaggy and Scooby in the nick of time with his grappling hook, while leaving Man-Bat to plummet to the ground.
The gang and Batman gather around the Man-Bat to see who's been impersonating him. Fred pulls off the mask to reveal Langstrom, then Scooby tugs the mask off with his teeth to reveal Alfred, who begins to crazily laugh, leaving Batman to pull off the Alfred mask to reveal his archnemesis, the Joker, just as Batman deduced from the screenshot Velma sent him. But where's Velma? The Joker isn't telling. So, Batman uses an infrared scanner to locate Velma and another body, that of Alfred's. The gang and Batman break into the room, where they free and the two, as Velma explains that Joker posed as Man-Bat and abducted Alfred to get Bruce Wayne's bank passwords. It was going to be one of the biggest crime capers ever, if the gang hadn't meddled. Before Joker is presumably sent to Arkham, Daphne oddly starts complimenting Joker on his choice of lipstick and overall style, and would like to give him some make-up tips, which Joker is more than welcome to have.
The gang and Alfred return to Wayne Manor, where Alfred has cooked them a turkey dinner, although, unfortunately, Bruce Wayne was unable to join them. Scooby then plays a prank on them by pretending to be the Man-Bat. Scooby-Dooby-Doo!
Memorable quotes
Fred: Jet-powered car?
Daphne: Cape and cowl?
Velma: Gotham City plates?
Shaggy: Cold, dark, and creepy?
Daphne: That was...
Mystery Inc.: The Batman!
Shaggy: Zoinks! It's, like, the Batman!
Daphne: You have to trust us.
Batman: Trust doesn't come easily in my line of work.
Shaggy: Spooky abandoned department store in the middle of the night in one of the toughest towns, like, ever?! Oh, yeah, like, let's go there!
Fred: That's the spirit, Shaggy! Let's hit it!
Shaggy: One of these days, Scoob, I'm gonna have to teach Freddy the meaning of sarcasm.
Scooby: Yeah! ...What's sarcasm?
Daphne: Boy, this place sure gives new meaning to haunt couture. Ha!
Scooby: Huh?
Daphne: It's a fashion joke!
Fred: Let's split up and look for clues.
Shaggy: Ahem. I would now like to state my optional thusness, and obectifyingly state, splitting up never ends well for any of us. Especially for me and Scoob.
Scooby: Mm-hm. Yeah.
Fred: Great! You, Scoob, and Velma take the upstairs, Daphne and I will take the basement.
Scooby: He never listens.
Fred: It's one thing for some Man-Bat monster to take Daphne's old butler.
Daphne: Substitute polo player.
Scooby: Slash family friend.
Shaggy: Slash sort-of uncle.
Fred: But it's quite another for him to take Velma! She's one of ours!
Fred: I've got an idea for a trap. But, Scooby, I'm gonna need you to be the bait.
Scooby: Uh-huh. Nothing doing.
Fred: Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?
Scooby: Nope.
Fred: Two Scooby Snacks?
Scooby: No way.
Fred: Five Scooby Snacks?
Scooby: Three!
Fred: Done! Three.
Scooby: Hey.
Joker: I was so close to having all that money. Ha ha! And you know what? I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids and your talking dog! Oh, and, uh, Batman, of course.
Daphne: Well, at least that lipstick clue totally makes sense now.
Joker: Oh, girlfriend, I just love that shade! As decadent as it is rare.
Daphne: With your beautiful hair and skin tones, I have a few make-up tips for you to try.
Joker: Oh, do share, do share!
Characters
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Organizations
Locations
Objects
- Batman's utility belt
- Batarangs
- Valentine Tears No. 5
- Scarface puppet
- Scooby Snacks
Vehicles
Production
Development
Filming
Although aired as the thirteenth episode, it was the first to be directed. Chris Bailey directed this episode to set the tone for the rest of the series.[1]
It was copyrighted in 2018.
Music
The theme song, entitled "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?", was written by Chris Bailey, and performed by David Poe. It was produced by Vivek Maddala. The episode's main music was composed by Adam Berry.
Release
Dates are in order of release:
- United States: September 19, 2019 on the Boomerang video subscription on-demand service
- United Kingdom and Ireland: October 1, 2019 on Boomerang
- Canada: October 31, 2019 on Teletoon
Behind the scenes
- The episode title is in reference to "What a Night for a Knight", the first episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
- With every episode's title card, one of the gang announces the guest star, which is Shaggy this time.
- Scooby is bribed with three Scooby Snacks.
- Fred says "Hold the phone" once.
- Scooby says "Ruh-roh" once.
- Shaggy says "Zoinks" four times.
- Daphne says "Jeepers" twice.
- Danger-prone Daphne moments: She gets caught in the net meant for the Man-Bat.
- The Einstein bust opening the bookshelf on the wall to reveal a pole to the Batcave is a reference to what the Shakespeare bust did in the 1960s live-action Batman series.
- Fred being pulled into a secret hole in the wall is reminiscent of what occurred to him in the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode "Never Ape an Ape Man".
- The Miller & Frank Department Store is a rearrangement of Frank Miller, an American author and artist, who created the graphic novels The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One.
- Shaggy and Scooby do the Batusi to the Batman's hold music.
- As a running gag of Velma's, she loses her glasses.
- Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprise their roles from the 1990s Batman: The Animated Series and more recently, the short-lived series Justice League Action.
Errors
- When hearing Daphne has an uncle (before finding out Alfred's only an honorary uncle), Velma denies knowing she ever had one before.
- Despite Daphne having called the lipstick's name Valentine Tears #5, the display refers to it as Valentines Tears #5.
- Fred cuts the chain keeping anyone from going inside the department store. Nothing illegal about that.
- Daphne takes a bunch of lipsticks and outfits, which may be from an abandoned department store, but stealing is still stealing. Consider yourself warned. She also just spoke about her family being wealthy before that, so it's not like she was in desperate need.
- Fred instructs Shaggy, Scooby, and Velma to go upstairs, and they proceed to just walk around on the first floor.
Legacy
- The case is brought up in "The Sword, the Fox and the Scooby-Doo!" When Mark Hamill, the celebrity guest, reveals how he heard from a source about how the kids helped Batman save Alfred from Joker. In fact, it's implied that he knew about this because he is the Joker himself by expertly imitating his laugh.
Critical reception
In other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
Home availability
- In the United States:
- January 19, 2021: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo! and Guess Who?: The Complete First Season on DVD.
- September 26, 2023: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too! on DVD (Walmart exclusive).
- In the United Kingdom and Ireland:
- May 31, 2021: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo! and Guess Who?: The Complete First Season on DVD.
- September 25, 2023: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too! on DVD.
References
- ^ TheAtomicLight (May 27, 2020). "An Interview With... Chris Bailey". Scoobypedia. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
