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Attack of the Headless Horror is the twenty-second episode of the first season of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.

Premise[]

After an explorer named Rick Spartan is cursed by a headless monster, the gang must help break the curse.

Synopsis[]

In the Amazon, Dr. Rick Spartan, his wife, Marion, and manservant, Chachinga, find the ancient burial heap of Sklar Gringat. Marion breaks her ankle, so Rick sends Chachinga back to camp for the medicine kit. Rick climbs the temple alone and rolls the cover stone off, nearly crushing Marion. He descends and reads the inscription on the chest on the altar: Take not my head or a curse on you. My body shall forever avenge the wrong you do. He opens the chest and lifts out a shrunken head, which tells him he was warned. A headless creature, with a face on its chest, stands there and he screams.

Fred is driving recklessly through traffic because he doesn't want to be late for school. Their new biology teacher is Dr. Rick Spartan, a legend at getting out of traps. Velma and Shaggy decide to maybe be friends again, maybe.

In school, Dr. Spartan recounts his battle with the headless horror to the class. He then dismisses them with 45 minutes left. Fred asks him if he still has the shrunken head and Spartan invites them over for dinner that night.

Dr. Spartan is teaching at the high school so that Marion can have a break from life in the jungle. Charles Wheatlesby and Spartan were students at Oxford; after graduation Spartan hired him as his assistant and started calling him Chachinga so that he can pretend he's a wild savage. Chachinga kept the spear but didn't wear the whole outfit, a brief argument ensues and Chachinga goes to his yurt. Marion points out to Rick he should be nicer as he saved Rick's life many times. Soon Spartan shows the gang the shrunken head, which is hanging on the wall in his study. As Fred touches it, the Horror crashes through a wall. Spartan attacks it, but it seizes him. Fred grabs a spear and attacks and tells Shaggy and Scooby to do the same. With Spartan's help they drive it off, but it promises to be with him forever. As Marion treats Rick's injuries, Chachinga enters, saying he heard a frightful commotion. Spartan has no idea how to break the curse, but Velma says she knows someone who might.

In the Broken Spine Haunted Gift Shop & Coffee Bar, Angie Dinkley finds an incantation to break the curse. It must be said in the jungle, which the Crystal Cove Botanical Gardens has in its mini rainforest, by a talking jackal, which Scooby can stand in for.

That night in the Botanical Gardens, Dr. Spartan and the gang are joined by Angie. At midnight Scooby digs a hole, recites the incantation, places the shrunken head inside and buries it. The Headless Horror climbs out of the earth, attacks Spartan and leaves, saying he will never be rid of it.

In the hospital, the doctor says Dr. Spartan just needs rest and quite a few operations. Chachinga arrives and Spartan tells him he's quitting; Marion is delighted. Fred asks for one more chance to figure out how to stop the Horror.

The gang return to the Botanical Gardens and discover a huge contact lens containing a miniature video camera, and an Oxford ring.

In the hospital, Sheriff Stone arrests Chachinga for being the headless thing that's been whomping on Dr. Spartan. When Spartan hears the news, he realizes the curse is fake, so he can go back to the jungle and live a life of adventure again. At this, the Headless Horror breaks through the ceiling. The gang push Spartan's bed down the hospital corridors, chased by the Horror. As they leave the front door, Fred springs his trap.

The police return with Chachinga and Marion is revealed to be the creature. Two things that gave her away was the ring they found at the Botanical Garden, it was women-sized and they realized if Dr. Spartan found out the curse was fake, he would want to go back to the jungle (which she hated). She admits this and explains that she forged the map, pointing to an old, abandoned movie set, faked her injury and sneaked around the back to put on the costume and the shrunken head was from a halloween store and she recorded it to say those words. Dr. Spartan says he doesn't want to press any charges and invites everyone to pizza and a movie in the hospital room. Velma tells Shaggy she just wants to be friends. While saddened at first, Shaggy eventually doesn't mind.

Characters[]

Main characters:

Supporting characters:

Villains:

  • Headless Horror (only appearance)(main story and flashback)(Marion Spartan's disguise)
  • Marion Spartan (only appearance)(main story and flashback)(redeemed)

Other characters:

Locations[]

Objects[]

Vehicles[]

Suspects[]

Suspect Motive/reason
Charles "Cachinga" Wheatlesby He is annoyed about the way he's treated and his nickname.

Culprits[]

Culprit Motive/reason
Marion Spartan as the Headless Horror To scare her husband out of adventuring so she could live a normal life.

Cast[]

Frank Welker Scooby-Doo
Fred Jones, Jr.
Matthew Lillard Shaggy Rogers
Grey DeLisle Daphne Blake
Dr. Thistle
Mindy Cohn Velma Dinkley
Frances Conroy Angie Dinkley
Patrick Warburton Sheriff Bronson Stone
Dee Bradley Baker Headless Horror
Nerdy boy
Shrunken Head
Julie Bowen Marion Spartan
Greg Ellis Cachinga
James Patrick Stuart Dr. Rick Spartan

Continuity[]

Notes/trivia[]

  • When on Netflix, the subtitles change Shaggy's line to Velma at the museum, from "To be honest with you, Velma" to "To be honest with you, Norma" in the Netflix subtitles.

Miscellaneous[]

  • Running gags: Dr. Spartan asking the gang if they want to do something, Fred saying yes, and the rest of them say, "not really."

Cultural references[]

  • Dr. Rick Spartan is based on old-fashioned adventure archetypes like Indiana Jones and Doc Savage.

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches[]

  • TBA

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities[]

  • When Rick is telling about his fight with the Headless Horror, he says he kicked it right in the face. HEADLESS creatures have no face. However, it has a sort of "face" on its torso.
  • For a single shot after Marion's flashback, Rick has a red scarf around his neck, similar to that of his wife.
  • Rick Spartan is credited as "Nick Spartan," and the Headless Horror is credited as the "Headless Creature."

In other languages[]

Language Name Meaning
Greek Η Επίθεση του Ακέφαλου Τρόμου The Attack of the Headless Horror
Italian Attacco Del Mostro Senza Testa Attack Of The Headless Monster

Home media[]

Quotes[]


External links[]

  • TBA


Previous episode: Series: Next episode:
Menace of the Manticore Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated
Season 1
A Haunting in Crystal Cove
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