Scooby-Doo! in Jungle Jeopardy is a children's book by Scholastic.
Premise[]
The gang travels to Central America to visit an archaeology dig, where they run into cat creatures guarding an ancient temple.
Synopsis[]
Soon after arriving to visit Daphne's teacher, Professor Peabody, on a dig in Central America, Shaggy locates an undiscovered Mayan pyramid guarded by a cat creature and a volcano explodes. The creature chases them back to the scientists' base camp where they are ridiculed by the other scientists. The lead scientist, by name of McGurty, shames Professor Peabody for getting kids like Mystery, Inc. to believe his stories, which he regards as such a "crackpot theory". The gang agrees to solve the mystery of the cat creature so that the professor can return to his work.
On their way back to the pyramid, the gang pass spooky idols and Shaggy and Scooby fall into a pit. Lighting a torch reveals the pit is connected to caves full of vampire bats, which chase Shaggy and Scooby deeper into the tunnels. While preparing to climb down after them, Velma notices a nearby cave, shaped like a cat, which appears to connect to the same tunnels. However, before they can head inside, a cat creature cuts loose large logs that chase Fred, Daphne and Velma into a river. They climb aboard one of the logs and ride it down a waterfall, straight into the clutches of a trio of cat creatures.
Meanwhile, still trying to make their way out of the caves, Shaggy and Scooby stumble across a bunch of snakes and are chased up a set of stairs. As their torch is about to go out, the two reach a large chamber inside an ancient Mayan temple which is lit by torches of its own. Behind them, the cat creatures arrive with the rest of the gang and, in an attempt to save them, Scooby accidentally knocks over a stone idol. Despite catching the cat creatures' attention, they all manage to escape, though soon find themselves stuck in a pit of underground salt.
Sinking in the salt like quicksand, the gang is dropped into another chamber and make their way into the hollow interior of the volcano, revealing it to be to be a hoax. They're soon located by a cat creature who chase them with a steam shovel, although they're able to escape via a mine cart.
At the end of the track, the gang finds themselves in a cavern full of gold, silver, diamonds and rubies and Scooby is so overcome by the treasure that he faints. Velma discovers a passage back to the surface where Fred devises a plan. After a bribe with some Scooby Snacks, Shaggy and Scooby agree to be disguised as cats by Velma and Daphne using vines and palm fronds.
As the plan goes into action, the cat creatures see through the disguises and chase after Shaggy and Scooby. Fred unleashes a bunch of large logs that the cat creatures wind up running on top of. Once they leap off, underneath a tree, Velma unloads a net full of coconuts on them, which further angers the creatures. They head towards her only to be hit by another net full of coconuts. Looking to flee, they run towards a clearing at the river where Daphne pulls a tripwire, sending them into the river.
The cat creatures yell for help, unable to swim, and the gang pulls them to shore where they're revealed to be McGurty and three other scientists. It's explained that they'd been using the costumes and volcano hoax to keep people from snooping too close to the hidden temple full of treasure. In the end, they're turned over to the authorities and the gang leads Professor Peabody to the temple's treasure.
Characters[]
Main characters:
Supporting characters:
- Professor Peabody (only appearance)
Villains:
- Cat creatures (only appearance)(no lines)(McGurty and accomplices' disguises)
- McGurty (only appearance)
- McGurty's accomplices (only appearance)(no lines)
Other characters:
- Blonde-haired female archaeologist (only appearance)(no lines)
Locations[]
- Central America
- Mayan pyramid
- Volcano
- Chamber
- Archaeologists' camp
- Cave
- Mayan temple
- Salt mine
- Treasure room
Objects[]
- Stone idols
- Fresh fruit
- Torch
- Logs
- Mayan treasure
- Scooby Snacks
- Vines
- Coconuts
Vehicles[]
- The Mystery Machine
- Steam shovel
- Mine cart
Suspects[]
- None
Culprits[]
| Culprit | Motive/reason |
|---|---|
| McGurty and three unnamed accomplices as the cat creatures | To keep treasures they found for themselves. |
Notes/trivia[]
- TBA
Miscellaneous[]
- Disguises: None.
- Scooby Snacks bribe: 1.
- "Ruh-roh" count: 0.
- "Zoinks" count: 7.
- "Jinkies" count: 3.
- "Jeepers" count: 3.
Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities[]
- Professor Peabody hugging Daphne at the end seems a bit intimate and inappropriate for a teacher-student relationship, even if she was a college student (which she probably wasn't).
- Although Professor Peabody is initially referred to as working in archaeology, for the remainder of the story, the expedition team are generalized as scientists.
- Shaggy spots the hidden pyramid that Professor Peabody is implied to have been searching for a while, only moments after arriving.
- Despite his reactions to other cat creatures he's faced before and after this (at least in animated continuity), Scooby acts tough towards and actually has to be convinced to run away from these cat creatures, with the explanation being simply because Scooby doesn't like "mean cats".
- McGurty referred to Professor Peabody's claim of seeing a cat creature one of his "crackpot theories". What were these other so-called crackpot theories? Allowing himself to be taken to Central America to search for a lost pyramid? Well he certainly found it. Of course he probably said that to keep up the pretense that the search was hopeless. If this was the case then his change of attitude (if it was any different before) should have been noticed. Of course the pyramid wasn't explicitly referred to as why they came to Central America, but it's the only example.
- It's unknown what happened to the one archaeologist who didn't betray Professor Peabody after her first appearance.
Quotes[]
Shaggy: Like, professor, I don't see a pyramid, but there's some sort of old blocky place over there! |