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This article is about the episode. For the character namesakes, see Ghosts of the Ancient Astronauts.
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Ghosts of the Ancient Astronauts is the sixth episode of The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries. While the episode wholly comprised just the one story it has been split into two parts, each with its own title card.

Premise[]

The Gang are on a South American expedition with Velma's uncle, Professor Cosmo Dinkley, to recover the Celestial Orb. The orb is a baseball-sized ruby that has a map to the Lost Temple of Sirius. The temple is believed to have been built by the ancient astronauts and filled with secrets and treasure. It soon seems that they are not the only ones searching. Professor Dinkley's ex-assistant Harriet Mullins is lurking in the background, waiting to steal the orb.

Synopsis[]

Part I[]

A cruise ship is sailing on a stormy and tempestuous sea. Velma, Fred and Daphne are the only people poolside on the rain-swept deck. Elsewhere on deck, Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy are playing shuffleboard. They are heading to South America to meet Velma's uncle and join his expedition. Also on board are Harriet Mullins's associate and his henchmen, who are following the Gang in hope of stealing treasure.

In his cabin, Uncle Cosmo explains that they will be searching the South American Jungle for the ruby called the Celestial Orb. When he mentions it is the size of a baseball, Scooby states that it is his favorite sport. Scooby gets tangled up when Uncle Cosmo grabs Scooby's baseball, and gets into an argument with Shaggy when the latter calls him "out". Cosmo explains that they need the Orb as it is a map to the Temple of Sirius. The temple is supposed to be haunted, and originally built by Ancient Astronauts. The Orb, however, is to be found in a place called the Cave of Death in the Valley of the Zombies.

Upon hearing that, Shaggy and Scooby become scared and run away - accidentally knocking the eavesdropping Associate and his henchmen overboard. They save themselves by grabbing hold of the anchor rope. Shaggy and Scooby, meanwhile, have jumped into a rowboat in an attempt to get away but only end up in the ship's swimming pool.

Reaching the island, everyone disembarks looking for the Valley of the Zombies. Using binoculars to watch them disappear into the jungle is Harriet Mullins, accompanied by her parrot Jocko. Daphne has calmed down Scooby and Shaggy by giving each of them a box of Scooby Snacks, however, a monkey steals Scooby's box. Scooby and Shaggy chase the monkey, but fall into a covered pit. Uncle Cosmo congratulates them - the pit is the entrance to the Cave of Death. He lowers a rope into the pit so everyone else can climb down. But realizing where they are, Scooby and Shaggy panic again and climb up the rope before anyone has a chance to climb down. They are grabbed by Scrappy and carried back towards the cave.

The expedition moves through the cave, which has a number of Skull & Crossbones motifs carved into the walls. They reach a junction, with no idea which tunnel leads to the Orb. Uncle Cosmo suggests they split up. Fred suggests Scooby, Scrappy and Shaggy go down one tunnel, but Shaggy has a better idea - that he runs out for pizza!

Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy hear a rumbling as the walk down their allotted tunnel. It's a cave-in. The others hear it, and go to help them. Meanwhile Scrappy continues on and finds an entrance to a big cavern. The others follow hoping it is the way out. However, they find themselves in a temple-like room, dominated by a throne on which sits a giant suited figure. The figure, which looks like an astronaut, is holding the Celestial Orb. Scrappy is too short to reach, so Scooby offers to grab the Orb, but Shaggy warns of possible booby traps. Scooby gets up the courage to grab the Orb, but it does set off some traps - a falling stone block and a catapult. As the walls start closing in they all run back to the tunnel, just getting out before a portcullis can cut them off. However the tip of Scooby's tail is caught.

They free him just as the rest of the Gang clear the cave-in. Uncle Cosmo confirms they have the Orb and therefore the map, and everyone climbs out of the pit using a ladder. But waiting for them are a group of zombies that are doing Harriet's bidding. She tells Uncle Cosmo to give her the Orb. Shaggy gives it to her but Cosmo tells her that only he can read the map. While Harriet and Uncle Cosmo get on a riverboat, the Gang is held hostage by the zombies and put in a room full of Cobra-like snakes.

Part II[]

The snakes close in on the Gang, but Scooby produces a trumpet and starts playing it, charming the snakes. He starts with it sounding like a punji, but then starts playing Little Brown Jug. Scrappy, dressed in western attire, joins in on fiddle and Fred, Velma and Daphne also dress in clothes fit for a hoedown. The snakes dance to the music in pairs, following Scrappy's hoedown call until they "conga home" back into their hole. The Gang then disguise themselves as zombies and escape.

The zombies follow them to the river where the Gang find two canoes. They row away as the zombies throw rocks, trying to sink them. However, as they get our of range, the canoe Scrappy, Scooby and Shaggy are in gets attacked by piranhas. As the fish chomp on the stern of the canoe, Scrappy hits them with his cox's megaphone until one of them grabs it from him. The pirahnas eat almost all the canoe until Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy are left perched on the prow. Scooby then uses his tail as a propeller to escape the fish.

In Harriet Mullins's castle, Uncle Cosmo vows never to help her find the Temple of Sirius. Her associate arrives and threatens to harm Velma if Cosmo doesn't cooperate. The associate gives his word that Velma won't be harmed once they learn the location of the treasure. Cosmo agrees and tells them it is at the base of Pichu Mountain, at the confluence of two jungle streams. Cosmo is left locked in his room as the villains leave to find the treasure. Harriet Mullins says Velma has already met her doom in the Pit of Snakes.

The villains drive away in the Associate's jeep, expecting to be at the temple by sunset. Shortly after the Gang arrive at Harriet's Castle but there are two zombie guards. Scrappy steals the keys from one and they chase him until they are caught in a net by Fred. The Gang release Uncle Cosmo and head off to the temple in Harriet's truck.

The villains arrive at the Temple of Sirius. Punjab and Abdul are scared that the Astronaut's ghosts are guarding it, but Harriet realizes they are just empty space suits. The Gang park next to the Associate's jeep and head up to the Temple, where they also find the space suits. Uncle Cosmo says the villains are already in the Temple. However, Scooby stops before entering to eat some Scooby Snacks, but the same monkey appears and steals the new box from him as well. Scooby runs after it, but collides with a space suit, which falls on him. The Gang come back to free him.

Further inside the Temple, the villains find the treasure, an enormous egg-shaped piece of jewellery comprising hundred of diamonds and other precious stones. Two space suits lumber towards them, scaring Punjab and Abdul. The villains all run away, and the aliens remove their helmets, revealing Scooby and Shaggy. Uncle Cosmo speculates the treasure may contain a message to benefit all mankind, but Daphne thinking it looks like an egg says she'd hate to meet the chicken who laid it. Scrappy finds something the Shaggy think looks like a million year old computer. Scooby drops it and it turns on, opening a large door in the roof and lighting up the treasure. Then two glowing aliens appear and tell the Gang that Scooby has managed to get their ship going again - when they couldn't after trying for the last six thousand years.

The aliens enter their ship and give the gang a present in thanks - the villains all tied up! The spaceship takes off leaving Uncle Cosmo to lament that "there goes the most important archeological discovery in all history".

Characters[]

Main characters:

Supporting characters:

Villains:

Locations[]

Objects[]

Vehicles[]

  • Uncle Cosmo's ship
  • Harriet Mullin's boat
  • Canoes
  • The Associate's Jeep
  • Harriet Mullin's truck

Suspects[]

  • None

Culprits[]

Culprit Motive/reason
Harriet Mullins, her associate,
Punjab and Abdul
To find the Lost Temple of Sirius and steal the treasure.

Cast[]

Don Messick Scooby-Doo
Scrappy-Doo
Casey Kasem Shaggy Rogers
Heather North Daphne Blake
Frank Welker Fred Jones
Marla Frumkin Velma Dinkley
Hal Smith Harriet Mullins's associate

Cultural references[]

  • Sirius is the name of the Dog Star, after a Greek mythical character. Oddly, the connection between Sirius and dogs remains unremarked in the episode. While the adult viewers surely recognized it, the children at whom the series was aimed are unlikely to have gotten the joke. Outer-worldly canines are a theme that appear in a variety of later Scooby-Doo media, including Alien Invaders and Mystery Incorporated.
  • "Ancient astronauts" refers to a pseudoscientific hypothesis that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistoric times. The History Channel has created twenty seasons of a show themed around this concept.
  • Scooby-Doo's attempt to pick up the Celestial Orb, setting off a booby trap, is similar to the opening scene of the Indiana Jones movie Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). As it happens, a later Indiana Jones movie, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), used the "ancient astronauts" theme.
  • "Picchu Mountain" is a real travel destination in Peru. "Picchu" means "mountain peak" in the Indigenous Quechua language.
  • Ancient alien temples as a literary trope was featured in 1970s books such as Chariots of the Gods? and the Terran Trade Authority series, as well as musical albums such as Rush's 2112.
    Starliners

    Terran Trade Authority: Starliners

Notes/trivia[]

  • This is the second episode of The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries that Fred and Velma appeared together, with the Scooby-Doo Detective Agency.
  • The Mystery Machine doesn't appear in this episode.
  • Velma and Daphne's bikinis are the same colors as their daily clothing. Fred also wears an ascot even when he is otherwise topless.
    • Similarly, while in their safari suits, their socks also reflect their signature colors.
  • While the episode title mentions ghosts, and all the characters talk about the "Ghosts of the Ancient Astronauts", there is little to suggest the alien astronauts who appeared were indeed ghosts, aside from the indicated years they'd been trying to crack the code on the computer for.
  • The scene with Scooby retrieving the Celestial Orb parallels with a similar scene in Disney's 1992 film, Aladdin. Also, the naming conventions of the treasure caves seem to parallel, i.e. the Cave of Death and the Cave of Wonders.
  • Scooby identifies baseball as his favorite sport in this episode.

Miscellaneous[]

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches[]

  • When holding Shaggy and Scooby, Fred's shirt is white, instead of blue.
  • Near the beginning of the episode when they're on the ship, the detail in Fred's shoes are missing.

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

  • The expedition climbed down into the Cave of Death using a rope, but climbed out using a ladder. Where did the ladder come from?
  • At the end of Part I, the Gang confronts snakes that look like cobras. However cobras are found in South Asia, not South America.

In other languages[]

Language Name Meaning
Greek Τα Φαντάσματα των Αρχαίων Αστροναυτών The Ghosts of the Ancient Astronauts
French Les Astronautes Antiques The Ancient Astronauts
Russian Призраки древних астронавтов Ghosts of ancient astronauts
Polish Duchy starożytnych astronautów Ancient astronauts' ghosts

Home media[]

Quotes[]

Cosmo Dinkley: From here on we'll have to go by foot.
Velma Dinkley: Into the Valley of the Zombies...
Fred Jones: To the Cave of Death.
Scrappy-Doo: (Enthusiastic) Oh boy, oh boy! Aren't you excited Uncle Scooby?
Scooby-Doo: {Poking his head out of the large bundle Scrappy is carrying and whimpers) Not exactly Rappy.


Previous episode: Series: Next episode:
A Code in the Nose The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries The Night of the Living Toys
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