Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase

Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase is the fourth of a series of direct-to-video animated films based on Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was released on October 9, 2001. It features the Mystery, Inc. gang, which includes Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Freddy, Daphne and Velma. As is the case with all Scooby-Doo-related projects, the film is produced, starting in 2000, by Warner Bros. Animation, yet carries a Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. copyright and logo. It is recognized as the last "official" Hanna-Barbera production, as Warner Bros. had fully absorbed Hanna-Barbera after the passing of founder and creator William Hanna. It is the fourth and final of the first four Scooby Doo direct-to-video film to be animated overseas by Japanese animation studio: Mook Animation. This movie, along with Aloha, Scooby-Doo!, were the first Scooby-Doo movies to be re-released on Blu-ray on April 5, 2011.

A video game based on the film was released by THQ in 2001 for the PlayStation and Game Boy Advance. This was the first Scooby-Doo video game to be on a sixth generation handheld. The Scooby-Doo movies would not feature real supernatural creatures again until Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King, although at the end of Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster, Scooby sees the real monster before saying his catch-phrase bewildered.

Plot
In a college computer lab run by Professor Robert Kaufman, as he goes to check on his two students; Eric Staufer and Bill McLemore, a new creature - the Phantom Virus - comes out of a new game based on the Mystery Gang's past adventures and tries to scare away the game's creator Eric. The next day, Mystery, Inc. themselves come to the college where the game was created and learn from their friend Eric, that the virus had assumed a lifelike form thanks to an experimental laser that is able to transmit objects into cyberspace, and is now rampant across the campus. The gang goes on the hunt for the Phantom Virus, where the virus chases Scooby and Shaggy through the college. Unfortunately, the whole gang, including the virus, somehow gets pulled into the game after 'someone' activates the laser. Left with no other choice, the gang fight their way through the ten levels of mystery and adventures to complete the game in order to escape it, with the goal of finding a box of Scooby Snax to complete each level. Their efforts are impeded on each level by the Phantom Virus. The first level is on the moon, the second is in the Roman Colosseum, the third is in the dinosaur age, the fourth is under the sea with sharks, the fifth is in a backyard with ants, the sixth is ancient Japan with Samurai warriors, the seventh is in ancient Egypt with mummies, the eighth is in medieval times, and the ninth is in the North Pole.

After a while, they finally reach the game's tenth and final level, where they meet their virtual counterparts (who resemble themselves from the original series). They team up to defeat the Phantom Virus, who wreaks havoc across the final level and summons his friends-various monsters from the gang's past including the Creeper, Jaguaro, Gator Ghoul, the Tar Monster, and Old Iron Face. To make matters worse, all the monsters are real. The climax takes the two gangs to an amusement park, where they fight off the creatures and attempt to retrieve the last box of Scooby Snax. During the fight, they use magnets to fight the virus, whom they discover is severely weakened by magnetic forces. Cyber Scooby distracts the virus long enough for Scooby Doo to retrieve the Scooby Snax, who was happy, beating the game, deleting the monsters, and killing the Phantom Virus once and for all.

The real gang bids farewell to their virtual selves and head home. Back in the lab, the gang reveals that they know the culprit, who turns out to be Bill (who is a baseball fan, a trait exhibited by the Phantom Virus at numerous points within the game). Bill is arrested by Officer Wembley and reveals that he sought to scare Eric away and take all the credit for inventing the laser, out of jealousy for the fact that Eric was a more recent student than Bill was, and felt more deserving to win, by taking the prize cash at the science fair for himself. He beamed the gang into the game and hoped they wouldn't live because he was afraid that they would find out that he created the virus. The gang and Eric play the new Scooby-Doo game, during which Scooby interacts with the gang's virtual counterparts once again by feeding Cyber Scooby some Scooby Snax.

The post-credits scene includes the gang telling what their favorite parts of the movie are.

Voice Cast

 * Scott Innes as Scooby-Doo, Cyber Scooby-Doo, Shaggy Rogers, Cyber Shaggy Rogers. This is the last time Scott Innes does the voice of both Shaggy and Scooby as Casey Kasem would re-assume the role of Shaggy for the next film, and Frank Welker would be offered to voice Scooby, therefore, Innes was no longer needed. However, Innes would continue to voice the characters in video games and commercials.
 * Frank Welker as Fred Jones, Cyber Fred Jones, Gladiator Lion
 * Grey DeLisle as Daphne Blake, Cyber Daphne Blake. This is the first Scooby-Doo direct-to-video movie to have Grey DeLisle as the voice of Daphne Blake (due to the death of Mary Kay Bergman in 1999) but she didn't permanently voice Daphne for all direct-to-video films until Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster and onwards throughout Daphne's appearances in the tv series such as What's New Scooby-Doo? and so fourth while Heather North reprised her role in Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire and Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico.
 * B.J. Ward as Velma Dinkley, Cyber Velma Dinkley (last time she voices Velma, with the next direct-to-video to have Nicole Jaffe reprise her role until Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster where Mindy Cohn took her place).
 * Joe Alaskey as Officer Wembley, an officer who warns the gang about breaking the rules.
 * Bob Bergen as Eric Staufer, the gang's childhood friend working on a game development.
 * Tom Kane as Professor Robert Kaufman, a professor of the campus who is working with Eric and Bill.
 * Mikey Kelley as Bill McLemore, Eric's best friend and also the secondary antagonist of the film he was revealed to be the one who created the Phantom Virus.
 * Gary Sturgis as Phantom Virus, a ghost who is the main antagonist of the film.
 * George Buza as Creeper, one of the Mystery Inc.'s villains from the past.
 * Michael Brandon as Skeleton Gladiator, a gladiator on the Colosseum level.
 * Glenn Shadix as Tar Monster, one of the Mystery Inc.'s villains from the past.

Home media
Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase was released October 9, 2001 for both VHS and DVD formats. The film was re-released on Blu-ray on March 29, 2011.

High Definition
This was the first animated Scooby-Doo film to be filmed in the high-definition format. The HD version of the film is available on Blu-ray, iTunes, and similar services in the United States.

Follow-up film
Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire, which was released in 2003.