- Title: Scooby Doo, Where Are You! – Bedlam in the Big Top
- wiki: link
Throwback Thursday takes us back to Scooby Doo, Where Are You! for another mystery involving some meddling kids and their talking dog. A run-in with two performers fleeing a circus leads Mystery, Inc. to investigate the mysterious events under the big top where a Ghost Clown (Barry Richards) has been chasing away all of the entertainers. There’s less haunting than usual, instead the Ghost Clown hypnotizes various characters into putting themselves in danger while sitting back to enjoy the show. Because so much of the episode is taken up by various members of the gang being hypnotized, there are also less clues to be discovered as the motives for the Ghost Clown turn out to be exactly as they appear.
In true Scooby-Doo fashion, the gang’s trap fails to catch the clown, but, remembering the gold coin, Shaggy (Casey Kasem) is able to come up with a back-up plan to turn the tables and lead to the unmasking of a former circus performer out for revenge. The episode is notable for several characters discovering circus talents they didn’t know they had, Scooby‘s (Don Messick) curiosity leading to him being left behind at the circus (as the gang uncharacteristically leaves rather than sticking around to solve the mystery), as well as reusing several frames including Scooby’s reaction shots and the Ghost Clown prowling the circus at night.
