The Scooby Zone
A podcast where 2 old friends watch a bit of Scooby-Doo media and then talk about it.
The Scooby Zone
Never Ape an Ape Man
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Everyone throw out those bananas and grab some burgers as we watch the episode "Never Ape an Ape Man". Who's uncle is unable to hire extras for his movie? Who turns out to be an expert photographer? And who thinks Shaggy is great enough to make him his own snack? All this and more awaits inside the Scooby Zone.
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Hello and welcome to the Scooby Zone, the podcast where I hate taking a bath in a haunted house as we watch a bit of Scooby-Doo media. I'm Rob. And I'm Katie. And today we'll be watching Never Ape an Ape Man. Episode 7 of Scooby-Doo. Where are you?
SPEAKER_01Episode number seven.
SPEAKER_00Seven.
SPEAKER_01Seven. Lucky number seven. I don't know. Is this episode gonna be considered lucky?
SPEAKER_00Um that is a good question.
SPEAKER_01This isn't it.
SPEAKER_00This is one episode where it's like I don't remember watching it a whole lot.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But so much of it just sticks out in my head.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I still cannot tell if that's a good sign or a bad sign.
SPEAKER_01I have no idea either. We'll have to find out.
SPEAKER_00Because it's like there are definitely memorable things to this episode. Right. And unfortunately, they can either be memorable for the right reasons. Or for the wrong reasons. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Oh man.
SPEAKER_00But, anyways, you guys, you can find us on the interwebs.
SPEAKER_01Ah.
SPEAKER_00You know, we are, you know, you can find us at the Scooby-Zone on Facebook, the Scooby Zone Podcast on Instagram, at the Scooby-Zone on X, which is formerly known as Twitter. Twitter. Whichever names of those you want to use is fine.
unknownYep.
SPEAKER_01Whichever one you want to like or follow is fine too. But like at least one of them, please.
SPEAKER_00Yep. You know, you can also email us directly at Scooby-Zonepodcast at gmail.com. Yep. You know, there as of now, there's still time to let your voices be known to us on if you want us to cover Scooby-Doo's All-Star Laugh Olympics episode by episode or one brief overview. You can also tell us if you want us to be gluttons for punishment and do a whole episode by episode watch through for Velma when we get to that far, or just one big general overview. As much as as much as it really has nothing to do with Scooby-Doo in terms of what it all brings to the table, I do think it is worth talking about in some degree to this podcast, because it does still technically involve Scooby-Doo characters and some poor Scooby-Doo mythos.
SPEAKER_01Yes, definitely.
SPEAKER_00However, we have a very much long time before we get to that. You know, unless we get a lot of feedback on they want us to cover it, in which when we have some downtime between some series to round out an even year before starting a new series, we could squeeze in a quick. The changing costumes in the middle of the running, the running through the doors. It was lampooned in Velma by being part of a the doors were part of a carnival ride that resulted in I think Fred had a nervous breakdown about it because of how ridiculous it was. And I think in the same chase sequence, Daphne and Velma, one of them makes a comment about putting on a disguise and how impractical that would be. That like at the time on a first watch through, like it was kind of like a funny ton-in-cheek, ton-in-cheek type joke. You know, you know, I think I could find some humor in that. I watched that specific clip off of YouTube to see if that still held up, in my opinion. And it didn't. It felt very pandering. So yeah, watched the entire first season of Velma, and I don't think it should have gotten its second season.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I wouldn't definitely think not.
SPEAKER_00While it wasn't completely terrible for a lot of the reasons it's Spence said it's terrible, I think its biggest problem is being tied to the Scooby-Doo characters.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I but I also think like it only gained any sort of fame, for lack of a better word.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Or attention to it because of the Scooby-Doo characters.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But that is a discussion for another time. Yep. Instead, today we are talking about Never Ape Man.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Yep.
SPEAKER_00So we're gonna go to some good old classic Scooby-Doo.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So let's split up, look for some clues, and we will see you guys in just a bit. And we're back. That was never Ape Ape Man, and it's another case where we are mistaken in our pre-watching assessment of it being a standard know nothing episode.
SPEAKER_01Definitely wasn't incorrect.
SPEAKER_00Being just incredibly fun.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00Oh boy.
SPEAKER_01Pretty good episode, though. Surprisingly enough.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I thought it was gonna be actually.
SPEAKER_00Even remembering as much of this episode as I did, it's like yeah, I remember a lot of this episode. A lot of what I remember isn't really mem like fun or exciting.
SPEAKER_01Right. No, I guess.
SPEAKER_00I guess I'm mistaken.
SPEAKER_01You are somehow mistaken, I guess. I guess that's how that works.
SPEAKER_00Alright, so let's go ahead and take it from the top.
SPEAKER_01Take it from the top, guys.
SPEAKER_00So the game has been hired as extras in Daphne's Uncle John's movie, The Ape Man of Forbidden Mountain.
SPEAKER_01Catchy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. The reason they're hired as extras is Uncle John is having a difficult time to get local people to work on the movie. Yep. Because they believe a legend of a real ape man who is upset about the movie shoot and was causing a whole bunch of problems.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00After hearing that, Shaggy decides to check his magically appearing watch.
SPEAKER_01Magically appearing watch. He's never had before, but suddenly he has it. Later. Later. But suddenly he has it now, just for the meaning of the time.
SPEAKER_00Remember and he has a dentist appointment in town.
SPEAKER_01Yep. That's where Scooby remembers he has one too. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know. The rest of the game basically stop him from leaving. Yep. They're about to shoot a bridge scene with the actress Candy Mint.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00Where she's on the bridge when all of a sudden the ape man is, you know, starts shaking the bridge. Ridiculous. Trying to throw her off, which is not in the script.
SPEAKER_01Nope.
SPEAKER_00We also get a nice animation error there in which the ape man's left hand just kind of just flickers for a bit, like off like out of screen and everything. Yep. Scooby. He's tremendously brave in this episode.
SPEAKER_01I don't understand why. And without a Scooby snack, too. Yeah. So that doesn't make any sense.
SPEAKER_00So first we get Scooby versus 8-man round one. In which basically he gets there, he gets the 8-man. You know, he wins. Yep. Because he gets the 8-man to stop shaking the bridge so Candy can run off. Right. And kind of immediately, well now Scooby's holding onto the bridge so he doesn't fall off. Yep. Well, unfortunately, the bridge does collapse. Yep. Scooby falls down and bounces off of a tree limb sticking out of the cliff. And then we get Scooby versus the Eight Man, round two. You know, where Scooby in a show of fisticuffs beats up the eight-man and tosses him down the cliff. Before all of a sudden, Scooby is caught in a giant net. Yep. Where did they get?
SPEAKER_01I have no idea where they got the giant net.
SPEAKER_00Guys, it's not like a giant net like you'd see underneath like trapeze or something, like a safety net or something. No, it's like a giant fishing net or butterfly net.
SPEAKER_01With a long handle.
SPEAKER_00You know, they then go and check the stuntman Carl's trailer. Yep. Looking for him, where they find that he was locked in a box.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00And he says that the ape-man locked him in there.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Candy decides to quit production until the Ape Man Matter is taken care of.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00And the Stuntman Carl goes with. With her.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00Mystery Inc. convenes at an old mansion set for the film. Talking about how, you know, they'll get to the bottom of the mystery. Shaggy says zooks. No, not Zoinks. Zooks. In which, you know, they decide they're going to go ahead and split up. Of course. It's another instance of we don't see what Fred and Daphne get into. No, we don't, do we? But we do get Shaggy and Velma terrorized by a parrot.
SPEAKER_01Oh, right. Yep.
SPEAKER_00Um before a dummy ape man chases after Shaggy down a set of stairs in which it's then revealed that, you know, it's just a stuffed ape man on a rolling cart.
SPEAKER_01Didn't fool Shaggy for a minute. Yeah, exactly. No, why not?
SPEAKER_00They meet up with Fred and Daphne in a library room where Fred is reading over script of the movie that was laying out on the table.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00While Daphne is moving her hand along some shelves and pushes a button that makes the wall behind Fred disappear, like move in, and Fred falls backwards into the passageway. So Fred is now gone.
SPEAKER_01Oh no.
SPEAKER_00At the same time, Scooby is like walking along the shelves, tapping on them when he taps on what looks to be a mirror.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00Where we see what looks to be the body of an ape man with Scooby's head.
SPEAKER_01Scooby's head on it.
SPEAKER_00So something phony. Yeah. You know, we see the ape man put on a dummy Scooby mask, and yeah, we get that kind of classic trope of where two people are walking past the doorway and they imitate one another in a sense. One person is trying to fool the other as like they're a reflection. You know, up until the point where Scooby points it out to everyone else in the room. And it's the eight-man.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00In which we get Scooby versus the Ape Man round three. Round three, guys. In which it's, you know, they've convinced Scooby, talk to him. Dog to beast.
SPEAKER_01Dog to beast. Yep.
SPEAKER_00And whatever Scooby says does make the Ape-Man retreat.
SPEAKER_01It does.
SPEAKER_00And he's chasing the Ape Man up the steps.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00Daphne pushes a button on a panel of buttons and turns the stairs into a slide. In which Scooby just slides down into everyone and asks why he didn't stop. And Scooby's response is He likes to slide. He likes to slide.
SPEAKER_01I write to Rod.
SPEAKER_00Daphne in her infinite wisdom decides to push another button. Yep. And we find a secret room under the stairs. And Fred. And Fred is standing there. He managed to somehow get stuck in the basement where he no where he basically he sets up the trap that is set up at the end of the movie to catch the ape-man, which is basically just a big net.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00They decide to have Shag and Scooby the bait. Scooby gets what looks to be about four Scooby snacks.
SPEAKER_01Scooby snacks, give or take.
SPEAKER_00And this is the first instant, possibly only instance, of where we find out that Daphne has made a Shaggy snack.
SPEAKER_01Why would she have made him a Shaggy snack?
SPEAKER_00I don't know.
SPEAKER_01This is like the only episode I think this has happened. I mean, we'll have to see what the other thing is.
SPEAKER_00I've never seen Daphne make fret anything.
SPEAKER_01That is true. She doesn't really cook. I don't really think I've seen her cook. I don't think I've really seen any of them cook. With how much Shaggy and Scooby love Scooby.
SPEAKER_00I think I've seen Shaggy cook Shaggy roast the weenies.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00Well. And he makes his sandwiches.
SPEAKER_01That's right. He might if his imagination could like cut it in half.
SPEAKER_00No, that was a ghost sandwich.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, but he'd be pretty scared stiff, but you know.
SPEAKER_00So Shaggy and Scooby go off to go get the ape-man. They go to a room that's got a pool table and some animal head trophies on the wall. Yep. The last one looking mighty suspicious.
SPEAKER_01It does look pretty suspicious, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00So, you know, Shaggy and Scoob decide to shoot a couple rounds of pool. Yep.
SPEAKER_01Nothing wrong there.
SPEAKER_00And Scooby notices one of the animal heads is missing. Yep. And Scooby wanders off to continuously count heads where Shaggy ends up poking the ape-man in the stomach with a pool cue when lining up for his shot.
SPEAKER_01Looks like it hurt too. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00They go and get chased by the ape-man around the pool table. Yep.
SPEAKER_01Which is a safety concern.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I mean, you're not supposed to run around a pool.
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_00Is it okay to run around a pool table? I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I've never seen it.
SPEAKER_00Is the floor slippery when wet?
SPEAKER_01It might be.
SPEAKER_00You know, they run back to the trap area. Somehow they manage to crash into some boxes.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00Scooby then jumps into Velma's arms and manages to fog up her glasses.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00So she throws the wrong switch and they catch Shaggy and Scooby in the net. And King Kong in the flesh. Yeah. Yeah. Velma screwed up the trap this week.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_00Didn't even catch the ghost.
SPEAKER_01No, didn't even choose the ghost.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Velma.
SPEAKER_01Thanks, Velma.
SPEAKER_00It's at that point they find a big giant wine barrel. Yep. And uh they open it to find a secret tunnel.
SPEAKER_01Oh, a secret tunnel.
SPEAKER_00Secret tunnel!
SPEAKER_01Toft of hair at the bottom.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Whose hair could that be?
SPEAKER_00They follow it down and find that it comes out right by the trailers for all the movie stars. Yep. You know, they split off again. Shaggy and Scooby this time on their own and messing around with a bunch of costumes and whatnot. Yep. Where Shaggy finds one of those jiffy cameras that can develop a snapshot in less than a minute.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00And while fooling around with Scooby, manages to get a glimpse of the ape-man without his mask on. Exactly. Yep. And he snaps a picture. Which results in the ape-man chasing them. So we get our second trap of the episode. Our second part. Where they all run into the mansion set. And they run up the stairs while Fred stays by the switch panel. And as the ape-man is going up the stairs, Fred turns it into a slide.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00And the eight man slides down into a bunch of debris at the bottom of the steps.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00The picture is fully developed by now. And it turns out to be Carl the stunt man.
SPEAKER_01I never would have guessed.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, who would have thought the eight-man stunt man was the actual eight-man? We then get to the wrap-up scene. They're talking with Uncle John that, you know, this was all happening because Carl was mad he wasn't the lead. What? But it's like he was the stunt man of the eight-man. Like the lead actor for the eight-man wasn't having his face shown.
SPEAKER_01Right. So why how would anyone have known any of that anyway? And you know, he was the ape of the ape from the show from the movie.
SPEAKER_00How would you not have been we then cut to uh the eight-man and Scooby sitting in some lawn high-backed chairs by a fire?
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00In which it turns out Scooby is wearing the ape-man mask, and Shay Yee is wearing the dummy Scooby mask.
SPEAKER_01Yep. That the Ape-Man was wearing.
SPEAKER_00Yep. And they comment how they should be in show business.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00And that is the gist of the episode. Yep, pretty much. It was a fun ride.
SPEAKER_01It actually was a fun ride.
SPEAKER_00You know, Scooby being incredibly brave.
SPEAKER_01Which was very surprising. And without a Scooby-Snack, who would have thought he would have been doing that without a Scooby Snack? I mean, and it's not like he liked the pretty girl or anything like that. So it was really weird how he just went after it like that. Um being told to, he just shut out, which usually he doesn't do that. That's uncharacteristic with him.
SPEAKER_00Right? You know, I mean Yeah, it's like and you know, Carl really ruined it for himself. Because if he didn't leave, he had the perfect alibi. He's the stunt man for the eight-man of the movie.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Which makes sense for him to be in the eight-man costume.
SPEAKER_01Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, it's like, if he would have stayed, it would have thrown all suspicion off of him.
SPEAKER_01Right. But he decides to leave, and that ruins it for him.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because like why would he still be on set if he left?
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Oh well.
SPEAKER_01Oh well.
SPEAKER_00So let's get to our fun responsibilities.
SPEAKER_01Right. Yeah, our fun responsibilities.
SPEAKER_00Hey, we get our first relative. We do have a relative. For the you know family. Friends. Right. Yep. You know, we get Daphne's Uncle John, who's a movie director.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00You know? It's gonna be fun finding out more of their family lives. It will be. And we'll never hear about Uncle John again, I bet you.
SPEAKER_01Oh, we'll never hear about Uncle John again. Darn.
SPEAKER_00For our snack and take, we have another four Scooby snacks. Four Scooby snacks. Plus a shaggy snack.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, how what are how are we gonna Okay, so four, then how are we gonna do like plus snacks?
SPEAKER_00I know plus one shaggy snack.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Have like shaggy snacks as his own thing. It'd be like plus one.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01There's not gonna be many shaggy snacks, I don't think.
SPEAKER_00No, that's this was again probably going to be the only one.
SPEAKER_01That's besides the point.
SPEAKER_00So in terms of our Scooby snack and snacking, we're up to 18.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00Which is now giving us an average of two and a half per episode.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So if we get zero Scooby snacks next episode, I think that brings our average to three.
SPEAKER_01Might, yeah. We'll have to see what happens.
SPEAKER_00No, it would have been three if it was last week we had 18. I can't do math right now.
SPEAKER_01You can't do math right now. Okay, alright. Okay. Come back to that later.
SPEAKER_00So let's go ahead now to the m- Manifest of monsters.
SPEAKER_01Manifest of Monsters. Alright.
SPEAKER_00Alright. Our current list.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00At the bottom, we've got the Vasquez Castle Ghost.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00Then it's the Black Knight Ghost. Yep. Minor 49er. Yep. The Indian Witch Doctor. Yep. Captain Cutler. Yep. And currently the number one monster of Scooby-Doo is the ghost of Elias Kinston. Yep. Where would you put the eight man?
SPEAKER_01Oh man. I mean. I mean, I guess it's hard to say. I mean, he is a. He's a pretty good. I don't know, but he did get scared off by school.
SPEAKER_00The laziest costume design. It's literally just a gorilla costume. But you could go and buy it at the store. Like it's almost lazier than Vasquez Castle Ghost, which is just like a bed sheet.
SPEAKER_01It's just like a bed sheet.
SPEAKER_00But it's not a bed sheet.
SPEAKER_01It's not a bedsheet.
SPEAKER_00He has like a robe thing on when we unmask him.
SPEAKER_01Right. So what? Are you gonna are you telling me that he's below the ghost? Do you think he's below the ghost? I'm asking you because it sounds like you want to put him in. I mean, I kind of do, because it's like you kind of do.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_00Like it's it's literally just his costume for his job.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, I was supposed to mean it's it's he's yeah. Alright, he can be in the I mean, wow. It's like he didn't even he didn't even have to supply it himself. It just came with the gig.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So wow, something is worse than the oh man. Alright. That's just worse.
SPEAKER_00All right, enough for the trap. Enough for the trap. All right. Well I think for the record, we should not rate the giant net trap that Fred had first initially had. Okay. Because it just utterly fails. It just didn't. Right. And with where it was placed in the episode, there was no way it was going to actually be in any sort of position to work. Right. Okay, so only part two? Yeah, so you know, the giant slide. Which, for the record, right now our trap lists is at the bottom. We've got the instant suds. Still instant suds, yep. Then it's the Stampede of Dogs. Yep. The fake train. The special effects ridiculousness from last week. Definitely. And then the better mouse trap.
SPEAKER_01The better mouse trap, yep.
SPEAKER_00So oh man. Okay. You know, the giant slide is basically just instant suds just without the suds.
SPEAKER_01It is. Okay. So are you saying this is worse than instant suds? Is that what I'm thinking?
SPEAKER_00Um possibly. Like I mean, honestly, like, at least with instant suds, it looks like Fred put thought into it.
SPEAKER_01It does.
SPEAKER_00You know, they attach soap to a fire hose.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00This, all they did was run up some steps and Fred pushed a button.
SPEAKER_01He didn't even build it. He didn't even build the trap. Wow. All right. We found something worse than instant suds. I didn't think that was going to be a possibility so soon. Well, you talked about instant sud was the worst.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I mean, instant suds is not very creative. This is less creative. Fred didn't build the giant slide. He just like utilized the movie sets. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01Oh man, that's pretty good.
SPEAKER_00Now, for the table of snacks, how many snacks does this episode bring? Oh man, I mean I don't think we've had this much fun. I don't think so. Since like boy.
SPEAKER_01Boy.
SPEAKER_00That's quite a I mean we had a lot of fun last week.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, that is true. We didn't know. Especially in the what decoy for Dognapper when we realized they weren't driving the van.
SPEAKER_00So like we have had fun within these last couple of weeks, but this one just feels like we had more fun.
SPEAKER_01Is that what kinda like boy?
SPEAKER_00It's like, on the one hand, I don't know if this is a five episode.
SPEAKER_01I don't think so. I honestly I agree with you on that.
SPEAKER_00But at the same time, it also doesn't feel like it's a four.
SPEAKER_01Down to four and a half, make it in the middle. Or like four point two, go points two, four point three.
SPEAKER_00I mean, we can still like it's a high four, I'd say.
SPEAKER_01You know like what, like a four point eight?
SPEAKER_00Or a four point. If we were gonna break up the fours that way, probably like I think like compared to our other fours, you know, which was like a clue for Scooby-Doo, mind your own business, like I f and you know what the heck's going on, like I think this one is probably higher than all than those three.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00But still in the fours, you know, no, I for simplicity. Yeah, like I I feel like if because this is a this is a very straightforward episode. Right, it is if it had just a bit more either, I don't know, ridiculous Shaggy and Scooby chase scenes or some other more iconic Scoobiness, right? This would be a solid five easily.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know we just get some expert photography from Shaggy to unmask the ghost.
SPEAKER_01Here's your expertise again.
SPEAKER_00Well again, when Shaggy stops being an expert in something.
SPEAKER_01Yep. He's an expert photographer, who knew?
SPEAKER_00So okay, this one is a solid four. Alright, solid four. So, unless you've got anything.
SPEAKER_01I don't think I have it.
SPEAKER_00I think that might just about wrap up.
SPEAKER_01I think you're right.
SPEAKER_00You know, don't move on don't go across shaking bridges that have no safety rails.
SPEAKER_01And rails, people. Yeah, yeah, it's like the safety concern.
SPEAKER_00Don't get into unnecessary fights with eight men.
SPEAKER_01Don't run around a pool table.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, don't run around a pool table either, you guys. So with that, you know, we will be back next week with that's a good question. As you're fumbling through all your stuff. I keep forgetting about foul play and fun land. And I love this episode.
SPEAKER_01It's a good one. Actually, it's good in a good one.
SPEAKER_00So yeah. We'll be back then for episode 8, Foul Play and Funland. And until then, just remember, they would have gotten away with it too.
SPEAKER_01If it weren't for those meddling kids.
