Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster

'Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster' is the seventh of a series of direct-to-video animated films based upon the Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was released on June 22, 2004, and it was produced by Warner Bros. Animation (although Warner Bros. had fully absorbed Hanna-Barbera Cartoons by this time, Hanna-Barbera was still credited as the copyright holder and the movie ended with an H-B logo). In it, the Mystery Inc. gang encounter the Loch Ness Monster.

Plot
The Mystery, Inc. gang travel to Loch Ness in Scotland to see the famous Blake Castle, the home of Daphne Blake's Scottish ancestors as well as her cousin, Shannon. The Castle grounds are home to the first annual Highland Games, composed of many traditional Scottish sports. But when they arrive Shannon informs them that the Castle had recently been terrorized by the Loch Ness Monster. Shannon says she has seen the monster and it is indeed real, a position shared by Del Chillman, the Loch Ness Monster enthusiast and amateur cryptozoologist, and Professor Fiona Pembrooke, a scientist who has staked her whole career on proving the monster exists. Taking the opposite end of the argument are Colin and Angus Haggart, their father Lachlan, local competitors in the games, and Sir Ian Locksley, the head judge of the games (as well as director of the Scottish natural history museum). Locksley and Pembrooke share a mutual hatred for each other (she was Ian's research assistant at his museum until he fired her for spending too much time on the Loch Ness Monster's trail).

That night, Scooby and Shaggy are chased by the monster, and destroy the playing field in the process. Velma discovers that the Loch Ness Monster tracks head into town instead of the loch. The next day, the gang and Shannon travel to Drumnadrochit. After enlisting the help of the Haggarty's to rebuild the field, Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Shannon take Professor Pembrooke's boat, filled up with out of date research equipment, to search for the Loch Ness Monster by sea, while Shaggy and Scooby take the Mystery Machine and search by land. While Shaggy is distracted, a hand switches a sign on the road leading to Shaggy getting lost. Both groups are attacked by the Loch Ness Monster, seemingly being in two places at once.

After returning the badly damaged boat back to Professor Pembrooke, the gang discovers Sir Ian has taken it upon himself to patrol the waters with a high-tech ship to prevent any further "peculiarities", as he is still not convinced of the monster's existence. On Locksley's ship, the gang and Shannon find something deep in the loch using sonar equipment. They take Locksley's mini-sub down to investigate. In the water, the gang is attacked by the Loch Ness Monster, but is saved by a large magnet claw on the ship (before reaching the surface, the Loch Ness Monster knocks the submarine's sonar camera off of its hull). When they return to Blake Castle, they find Chillman sleeping in the Mystery Machine, who explains his van has been stolen. Later, the Loch Ness Monster chases the gang, Shannon, and Chillman into a bog, where it is revealed to simply be a canvas covering Chillman’s van. Fred deduces the Loch Ness Monster to be a decoy, and sets up a trap to catch the real one.

Fred sends Shaggy and Scooby out on the loch to act as bait, while he and Del prepare to use nets to surround the cove capture the Loch Ness Monster. A large fog appears, blocking visual contact with Shaggy and Scooby. Making matters worse, Locksley’s crew mutinies because they want to capture and sell the Loch Ness Monster, and capture Daphne and Shannon. The Loch Ness Monster attacks Shaggy and Scooby, chasing them out of the cove. Locksley’s ship attaches to the nets, dragging Chillman and Fred with it. The crew attempt to harpoon the Loch Ness Monster, but Daphne and Shannon distract them long enough to make them miss. Just as the Loch Ness Monster is about to attack Chillman and Fred, Daphne captures it by using the ship’s magnetic claw. All of a sudden, a second Loch Ness Monster appears and gives chase to Shaggy and Scooby, but falls into a previously set trap. This monster is revealed to be a huge puppet controlled by the Haggart brothers, and the one Daphne captured is revealed to be a home-made submarine operated by none other than Professor Pembrooke. Pembrooke used a secret entrance in her boat to go into the Loch Ness Monster and operate it. She also hired the Haggart brothers to man the second monster, but Angus and Colin reveal that they just wanted to do it as a prank. Velma explains that Pembrooke’s plan was to use her machine to convince Locksley the real monster existed, and enlist his aide in finding it.

The next day, the games begin on schedule; But Locksley calls everyone to his ship to look at new pictures of the monster that his mini-sub's sunken (and yet obviously still working) camera had taken, at a depth well below what a ramshackle home-made submarine like Pembrooke's could survive. These, plus three other photos that Pembrooke had taken several days earlier finally convince him the monster does exist. The film ends with the gang leaving Blake Castle, and Scooby briefly seeing the real Loch Ness Monster pass them by.

Cast

 * Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo, Fred Jones, Lachlan Haggart
 * Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rogers
 * Mindy Cohn as Velma Dinkley
 * Grey DeLisle as Daphne Blake, Shannon Blake
 * Michael Bell as Duncan MacGubbin
 * Jeff Bennett as Del Chillman, Sir Ian Locksley, Harpoon Gunner
 * John DiMaggio as Colin Haggart, Volunteer #1
 * Phil LaMarr as Angus Haggart, Volunteer #2
 * Sheena Easton as Professor Fiona Pembrooke

Trivia

 * This is the first Scooby-Doo direct-to-video movie that shows the Mystery Inc. gang in the same clothes they wear in What's New, Scooby-Doo?.


 * The Scooby films are now no-longer produced in the retro feel that the previous two films were, as from here until Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword, the direct-to-video movies will be produced in the same animation as What's New, Scooby-Doo?.


 * This is the second Scooby-Doo direct-to-video movie that Daphne is voiced by Grey DeLisle since Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase and will remain as such from here on in. This is also Mindy Cohn's first time voicing Velma in a direct-to-video movie.


 * Del Chillman returns in Chill Out, Scooby-Doo! claiming that Nessie "was a no-show".


 * Daphne's being danger-prone, a running gag in the old episodes, is revealed to be a trait that runs in her family.


 * The gang discover Del sleeping in the Mystery Machine on Velma's poncho after his own van was stolen. This is the very same poncho that she wore in Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico.


 * The Loch Ness Monster in this movie bears a strong resemblance to The Giant Behemoth.


 * This movie is one of the few films to feature both a fake monster (actually three fakes) and a real one (the real Nessie is captured on film and seen by Scooby-Doo at the end).


 * This is the third time Scooby has met the Loch Ness Monster. He also met her in Laff-A-Lympics, as the challenge was to get a picture of her, and once on The Scooby-Doo Show, in the episode "A Highland Fling with a Monstrous Thing".


 * When Del Chillman first appears, he is listening to "Back on the Train" by Phish on his van's radio.


 * Sir Ian Locksley's mini-sub bears a very strong resemblance to the Russian Mir submersible(s).

Novelization
Scholastic Inc. released a novelization of the story in conjunction with the film. The novel was written by American fantasy and science fiction author Suzanne Weyn.