Let’s Speculate: Supernatural 13.16 “Scoobynatural”
The show starts with Dean fighting a plush dinosaur. Sam gets into it too, managing to hurl it to the ground. Dean pores holy oil on it and lights it on fire. It explodes , sending white poofy fluff all over the shop. “Is it over?”asks a scared older gentleman, nervously peeking up from behind his counter. Another man enters. He owns a lot of businesses in the area. He suspects Sam and Dean of messing up the shop, but the owner says, no, they actually rescued him. The grateful shop owner offers them anything he has in the shop. Sam refuses, but Dean’s eyes light up when he sees something. We realize what it is shortly afterward, as the two of them are carrying a large flat screen TV out of the door.
Back at the bunker, Sam is doing research when Dean asks to show him something. When Sam keeps obsessing about research, Dean tells him to be like Elsa and let it go: he has created a Dean cave, or the Fortress of Dean-itude with recliners, a bar, a foosball table, and of course the flat screen TV! Dean adds dramatic sound effects as he turns on the television, except suddenly the television sends out a bright purple beam and zaps both of them into TV land.
Sam and Dean look at each other in disbelief and shock. “You’re a cartoon! I’m a cartoon!” Is it an angel thing? Is it a trickster thing? Sam reminds Dean that the trickster is dead – supposedly. Sam says that this is beyond weird, and Dean replies that beyond weird is kind of our thing. Baby is on the road behind them, and Dean says they need to drive.
They pull up to a malt shop and see the Mystery Machine. Sam is annoyed but Dean is excited. Dean loves Scooby-Doo. It was one of the things that remained consistent in their childhood: motels with televisions that played Scooby-Doo. And Dean calls dibs on Daphne! He asks how he looks. The answer? Two-dimensional!
They introduce themselves to the Scooby gang, who are enthusiastically friendly. They explain how Scooby has been left an inheritance, and show the Winchesters a newspaper. Sam is annoyed because there are no words in the newspaper. The brothers decide to go along with them. Scooby and Shaggy quickly make a ridiculously gigantic sandwich, and Dean gleefully joins in. Their jaws open to abnormally wide angles to inhale their sandwiches. Dean has to point out to Sam, ” Look how big my mouth is!”
At a stoplight, Dean challenges Fred to race, but when the Mystery Machine lurches ahead, it leaves Sam and Dean choking in a cloud of dust and Dean outraged that a microvan got the jump on Baby. As we watch the car tail lights disappear down the dark road, we see a mysterious figure looking after them down the road.
They pull up in front of a spooky old mansion. Dean recognizes the Scooby-Doo episode, naming it, “The Night of Fright is No Delight”. He tells Sam that they cannot allow the Scooby gang to find out that monsters are real because they are pure and innocent and good.
Inside the mansion, five heirs, including Scooby, have gathered to hear the reading of the will. If they can stay overnight in the haunted house, they will each get a million dollars. The executor of the will laughs maniacally. Dean says that of course laughing guy is the villain.
Dean offers to spend the night with Daphne for her protection but she says he’s silly because girls and boys don’t sleep in the same room. Sam is amazed when Dean enters the guys’ bedroom because Dean is wearing a nightcap and a knee-length sleep shirt. It doesn’t phase Dean in the least. He says it feels like he’s wrapped in hugz! Down the hall, one of the heirs is brushing his teeth when a scary Phantom appears behind him and stabs him. Everyone hears a scream and comes running. They find a body in the hallway and to their shock realize that he is really dead. This wasn’t in the original episode. Things are changing and for the worse!
Fred cheerfully says that there’s a mystery here, completely oblivious to danger. Sam tells Dean that they could die, but Dean is more worried that Scooby could die. He loves that dog! He’d take a bullet for him.
A mysterious figure appears outside the large french window. They all leap on him only to discover that it’s Cas. He explains that he had just gotten back from Syria with one of the ingredients they need, only to see Sam and Dean on television and then he got zapped too.
The horrible ghostly creature appears again, its fanged mouth agape. Scooby jumps into Shaggy’s arms and Shaggy jumps into Castiel’s arms!
They open one of the many doors in the mansion to find another of the guests has been killed, beheaded this time. “That’s not good,” Fred says.
They split into groups to explore the mansion. Velma is kind of insulting Sam, but he notices something: “Why are you always talking about my shoulders?” She blushes. He tells her that monsters are real, but she won’t believe him, even when toys come alive and start floating around the room. Sam notices ectoplasm.
Fred, Daphne, and Dean are exploring together. Dean asks Daphne what she looks for in a guy. “Strong. Sincere. Wears an ascot.” Dean notices one particular book in the library. He’s about to say that it’s the only book not painted on but stops himself before he gives away that they’re a cartoon. He pulls the book, and a trapdoor opens in the floor, sending them plummeting down. In the darkness, Dean tries to reassure Daphne only to realize he’s next to the ghost. They run. The ghost chases them.
Lots of scenes of running down hallways and in and out of doorways. They try to nail the doors shut to stop the ghost; Dean especially enjoys the view of Daphne working. When the ghost appears in the room anyway, Fred runs at him, only to get viciously tossed aside. The girls are pinned to the wall near the ceiling, and Shaggy gets tossed through the window. Sam and Dean grab two iron candlesticks and stab the phantom. Outside, Shaggy’s precarious hold on something that broke his fall comes loose and he plummets to the ground. Scooby frantically goes out the window after him, and Cas goes after them both, managing to slow them down to a not devastating landing. However, Shaggy’s arm is broken, and Fred’s a little bloody. They don’t understand what’s going on so the Winchesters give them The Talk: monsters are real.
They all start to freak out: Fred is horrified that he’s wasted his time hunting petty criminals when there are truly evil creatures out there; Daphne is terrified that she’s going to hell. Shaggy is mad at them for not believing him all along: he’s ALWAYS said ghosts were real! Seeing them freak out, Dean rallies the troops by giving an effective pep talk, and he finds a way to rebuild Fred’s confidence. He asks him to build a trap. The Scooby Gang eagerly get to work. The trap is ridiculous including coconuts and soap bubbles. Sam asks Dean where the coconuts came from, and Dean just tells him to be quiet. The ghost enters the room, but the trap doesn’t work: Castiel, Shaggy, and Scooby get sent down the soap bubble trail and trapped in the washer. Sam is concerned, but Dean isn’t: “Fred’s traps never work.” On to plan B.
They pull the lever on the bookshelf, the trap opens up and the ghost falls down like before, only this time he’s trapped in a circle of salt. In Scooby World, we can see the power of the salt. It’s like the phantom is trapped in a cylindrical aquarium. It swirls around inside angrily and impotently for a while, before changing shape. Instead of a horrifying phantom, there’s a small boy. He explains that he’s dead and the bad man has been making him do things that he doesn’t want to do. His spirit was tied to a pocket knife and the bad man slips the knife into various things (like the purple dinosaur), making him lose control. Sam and Dean tell him that they’ll help him if he’ll get them back to their world.
They’ve solved the mystery and captured the ghost, but the Scooby Gang is a little blood-thirsty now, ready for shotguns, so Sam and Dean lie to them, telling them that it really WAS just a bad guy all along, that ghosts AREN’T real. They pull off a robe to reveal the executor of the estate (the villain of the original episode Dean had watched). Dean realizes Fred isn’t too bad of a guy, Cas hugs Shaggy and Scooby, and Velma yanks Sam down to give him a smooch.
The child zaps them back: they are once again in the bunker. Together, they smash the TV and find the knife. They use a blowtorch on it, and the sad child ghost disappears. Sam and Dean go back to the original shop where they’d gotten the television. The owner is about to sign the place over to the other guy when the Winchesters tell him to stop. This guy had been using the knife to scare nearby business owners into selling their property to him. Dean, who is wearing a red ascot, is gleeful that the bad guy really is a crooked real estate developer, just like in so many ScoobyDoo episodes. As the police take the bad guy away, he glares and says he would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those meddling kids! Dean is thrilled, enough so he stared at the camera and does Scooby’s line. (“Did he just break the fourth wall?” asks my daughter.). Cas and Sam are looking at him like he’s crazy. They also won’t tell him that the ascot is a good look for him.
Questions:
- Has Dean seen Frozen or is he just culturally aware of it? (How could anyone NOT be?)
- What did you find funnier: Dean’s enthusiastic enjoyment of the situation or Sam’s grumpiness?
- How in the world could the Mystery Machine EVER beat Baby?
- This was an unusual episode. Did you think it worked?
- If you were suddenly transported to a cartoon, which one would you like to be in?
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