A Menace in Venice is the first of three segments of Scooby's All-Stars. It was later repackaged as the thirteenth episode of the third season of The Scooby-Doo Show, and the thirty-seventh episode overall in the series.
Premise[]
The gang visit their friend, Antonio, in Venice, Italy, and find that he's being haunted by the spirit of an ancestor, the Ghostly Gondolier, who seeks to steal the ancient necklace Antonio wears!
Synopsis[]
At the Venice Opera House, a hooded figure swings in and grabs a triangular medallion from its display above the stage. After escaping through a gondola, he says to himself, "Soon the Doge's treasure will be mine."
The gang arrive in Venice, Italy, after their friend Antonio invites them for a visit. They travel via gondolas in order to reach Antonio's restaurant before it closes. During the trip, Shaggy and Scooby encounter a hooded figure whom they believe is a ghost. The gondolier who took them assures them it was just the fog playing tricks. They soon arrive to meet Antonio, where he informs them that he is still studying art at his academy. Velma proceeds to ask him about his famous ancestor, Doge Malvolio IV. Antonio claims that his treasure was never found, along with his portrait. The only thing Antonio has left of his famous ancestor, is four golden medallions. He has one, the other two other medallions reside in the palace museum. The fourth medallion was recently stolen.
As soon as they leave the restaurant, Antonio's friend Mario rushes up to him stating that another medallion has gone missing and was taken by the ghostly gondolier. Then Antonio takes the gang to the academy he attends to let his professor explain who the ghostly gondolier is. On the way, he shows them some portraits of his ancestors (minus the one of Doge Malvolio). Then Velma notes the similarity between them and Antonio, their green eyes. Then the gang meet Antonio's teacher, Professor Salari, who tells them the story of the Ghostly Gondolier. During the rule of Doge Malvolio, the Ghostly Gondolier was sentenced to life imprisonment, but he managed to escape and then he led his armies into Venice to overthrow the doge. The royal fortune was gone, except for the medallions. Then the gang and Antonio head to the palace to secure the medallion that's there, during which Velma notices that the gondolier who gave them a ride is lurking around.
Then Antonio shows the gang the medallion, and then they all pass it around for a look. Daphne tries it on, and soon the Ghostly Gondolier appears behind her. Everyone makes a run for it, but Daphne manages to get captured by the ghost. Then the gang follow him outside where they see him rowing away in a gondola with Daphne tied up in a bag with her head sticking out. They're unsuccessful in catching him and notice that his gondola simply disappeared. Then Velma finds a small vial on the ground where the boat vanished. Velma, Fred, Antonio, Scooby and Shaggy meet up with Mario and they decide to search the academy. Splitting up, Shaggy, Scooby, and Antonio search the basement, while Velma, Fred, and Mario search upstairs. When Mario goes to retrieve keys from Antonio's office, Velma and Fred hear a scream, and the ghostly gondolier's sinister laugh. Then they find Antonio's office ransacked, and red plastic bits on the ground. Meanwhile, Shaggy and Scooby search the basement, and noticed that Antonio has vanished.
Then they're chased around by the ghostly gondolier. They escape from him, and meet up with Fred and Velma. Then they follow a pair of footsteps leading outside to a gondola, where they see the ghost in another boat. Then they chase him, but then he stabs a hole in the boat, causing them to sink. Then Scooby discovers a hidden lever on one of the rocks, which it opens a hidden room leading to the palace. There they discover the missing portrait of the Doge. Behind the portrait is a room where Antonio and Daphne are locked up and the gang free them. A clue in the portrait helps Velma figure out where the ghost is, along with the treasure. Then the gang trace the ghost to the Piazza San Marco, where they see him use the medallions to open a secret passageway. There they find him, along with the lost treasure. While chasing after Scooby and Shaggy, along with enduring a few gags, the ghostly gondolier gets trapped in a punctured inflatable gondola and captured.
And the Ghostly Gondolier turns out to be Mario, who's also a descendant of Doge Malvolio (from another branch of the family). He wanted to steal the medallions to recover the lost treasure, and didn't want to share it with Antonio. Mario masked his one family trait to keep their relation a secret: his green eyes. He used red contact lenses to make his eyes appear brown, which it explained the red plastic Velma found. He also used a deflatable gondola in order to squeeze through tight crevices.
The regular gondolier who'd been lurking around shows up. As it turns out, this particular gondolier wasn't trying to harm them--then he reveals that Fred's keys to the Mystery Machine that had fallen out of his pants pocket, and he simply wanted to return them. The next day, they're having lunch, as Shaggy and Scooby are walking with a lot of food. Fred tells them to watch where their going, but then they fall into a river. After they fall into a river, Shaggy tells Scooby that they should've had submarine sandwiches to which Scooby Doo responds by saying his catchphrase.
Characters[]
Main characters:
- Mystery Inc.
Supporting characters:
- Antonio (only appearance)
- Gondolier (only appearance)
- Professor Salari (only appearance)
Villains:
- Ghostly Gondolier (only appearance)(Mario's disguise)
- Mario (only appearance)
Other characters:
- Conductor (only appearance)
- Fish (only appearance)(no lines)
- Doge Malvolio IV (only appearance)(flashback only)(deceased)
- Guards (only appearance)(no lines)
- Green bellringers
Locations[]
- Venice, Italy
- Venice Opera House
- Merchant Venice Pizza
- Academy of Fine Art
- Doge Malvolio IV's Palace (flashback only)
Objects[]
- Compressed CO2
- Red plastic from red contact lens
- Lost portrait of Doge Malvolio IV
Vehicles[]
- The Mystery Machine
- Gondoliere
Suspects[]
| Suspect | Motive/reason |
|---|---|
| Gondolier | Suspiciously following the gang around. |
| Professor Salari | He knew all about the legend of the Ghostly Gondolier. |
Culprits[]
| Culprit | Motive/reason |
|---|---|
| Mario as the Ghostly Gondolier | To find the lost treasure. |
Cast[]
| Don Messick | Scooby-Doo
Mario Ghostly Gondolier |
|---|---|
| Casey Kasem | Shaggy Rogers
Gondolier |
| Frank Welker | Fred Jones |
| Heather North | Daphne Blake |
| Pat Stevens | Velma Dinkley |
| John Stephenson | Professor Salari |
| Allan Melvin | Antonio
Doge Malvolio IV |
Notes/trivia[]
- A doge was the chief magistrate in the former republics of Venice and Genoa during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The last Doge of Venice abdicated in 1797. The word comes from a Latin word that means "duke".
- Professor Salari mentions that the Ghostly Gondolier has been dead for five hundred years, that means he died in 1478.
Cultural references[]
- Antonio has a pizza parlor called Merchant Venice Pizza. The title character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is named Antonio.
- He's also a descendant of Doge Malvolio. Malvolio is the name of a character in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
- Salarino is another Merchant of Venice character, which sounds close to the name of Professor Salari.
Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches[]
- None known.
Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities[]
- The quantity and color of the pieces of luggage that Shaggy and Scooby unload from the van vary from shot to shot. There seem to be over a dozen pieces in the car. Shaggy catches seven that Scooby throws to him. But the two paddle the final distance to the pizza parlor on rafts made of four suitcases each. Velma seems happy with the "door to door service", and doesn't complain about all the luggage that must have been dropped at the dock or lost in the river.
- The Ghostly Gondolier gets his name even before he died. It's possible he was a costumed criminal who used a fake name to conceal his identity while he committed high treason.
- When the gang finds the hidden passage and hear Daphne and Antonio locked in a cell, she sounds like she has something covering her mouth, only mumbling, not talking. But when the gang finds her only seconds later, she has nothing over her mouth.
- The Ghostly Gondolier took Antonio to get the medallion, but Antonio was still wearing his when he was bailed out.
- It would be impossible for Scooby-Doo to fly a statue possibly made of marble. Its weight would make it fall down to the ground and collapse. This is a perfect example of toon physics.
- In the flashback that explains the Ghostly Gondolier's past, he looks exactly the same as his ghost when he was alive. However, it's possible he was wearing a mask when he died due to again being a costumed criminal.
- At one point, Fred calls Daphne "Dophne".
- It's unknown where the green medallion is.
In other languages[]
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| French | Les Fantômes de Venise | The Ghosts of Venice |
Home media[]
- Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Third Season DVD set released by Warner Home Video on April 10, 2007.
- Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series (limited edition) DVD set released by Warner Home Video on November 9, 2010.
- Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series released by Warner Home Video on November 21, 2011.
- Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series released by Warner Home Video on November 13, 2012.
- Scooby-Doo! 13 Spooky Tales Around the World DVD set released by Warner Home Video on May 15, 2012.
Quotes[]
| Fred: It's Mario! |
External links[]
- TBA
Gallery[]
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