Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown is the 26th entry in the Scooby-Doo Direct-to-Video Film Series.
A western-themed movie sees the Mystery Incorporated gang heading to Crazy Q Dude Ranch, owned by Shaggy's long-lost cousin Tawny Rogers.
However, it turns out the ranch and the town it resides in are being haunted by the ghost of Dapper Jack Rogers, an outlaw who once terrorized the town and happens to be Shaggy's ancestor.
The gang set out to find out the truth behind Dapper Jack's appearances, while also adjusting to western life in many ways.
Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown provides examples of:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Dapper Jack's crimes included cheating at cards, robbing the poor box, and returning his library books late.
- Berserk Button: Velma hates that the font used on the ranch website is El Kabong. So much so that Daphne has to give her a paper bag to breathe into, and she later nearly assaults the person who designed the site because he mentions liking the font. Could be a Take That! toward people who get overly angry about fonts like comic sans.
- Blind Mistake: A running gag with Zeke, the farmhand, especially when mistaking Scooby Doo or Fred for a horse, and waving goodbye in the wrong direction.
- Brief Accent Imitation: When first getting to town, Shaggy adopts a southern accent. He mostly drops it shortly after but dips back into it at times when he's feeling bold.
- Butt-Monkey: Fred. Besides failing to ride a horse or use a lasso in truly astounding ways, he ends up unknowingly offering to help shoe a horse (he thought they meant throwing horseshoes) and gets kicked across the yard as a result.
- Catch a Falling Star: When Shaggy loses his grip on the cliff, Scooby dives after him, grabbing a branch with his tail on the way down. Unfortunately, the branch snaps soon thereafter.
- Casting Gag:
- Buddy G may seem like a hipster, but he's a good-natured, down-to-earth kid who acts fairly adorkable and a bit cautious. On top of that, he's voiced by Max Charles. Harvey Beaks anyone?
- Desdemona Gunderson, Buddy's older sister, is snarky, obsessed with technology, is a bit cynical, and wears punk clothing, but is ultimately a decent person. On top of that, she's voiced by Jessica DiCicco. Are you sure her name isn't Tambry?
- This is not the first time Gary Cole voiced a major antagonist in Scooby-Doo media. Just watch Mayor Jones.
- It's also not the first time that his character is in opposition of Kari Wahlgren and Nolan North's characters.
- Chekhov's Gag: Velma's hatred of the font used on the ranch website; it lets her recognize the same font on a business card, revealing both were made by Rafe and pinning him as the mastermind behind the Dapper Jack scheme.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- As expected, Shaggy's natural skill of riding and calming horses is used for the rodeo. His skill specifically with Buckstitch is later used to chase down Rafe when he tries to escape.
- Standing out from other clues, the UV powder not only serves to prove that Dapper Jack isn't actually a ghost, it's used on a net that briefly covers Dapper Jack, allowing the gang to reveal who was in the costume later on by tricking them into standing under a UV light.
- The fireworks used to create the flaming J symbol in the sky are later used to light the night up so Shaggy can see Rafe while chasing him.
- Chubby Mama, Skinny Papa: Andy and Midge Gunderson, Buddy G and Desdemona's parents, fit this trope for Andy is lean and thin while Midge is pleasingly plump.
- Cloudcuckoolander: The elderly ranch hand is even more nearsighted than Mr. Magoo, and scatterbrained too.
- Continuity Nod: Fred brings up his Camp Little Moose past.
- Cool Horse: The one Dapper Jack rides, in the more evil sense.
- Darker and Edgier: While the film still has plenty of comedy, there are also plenty of times the gang almost dies, and the ghost is actively trying to kill them. As well as the twist that Shaggy's ancestor was an innocent man who was murdered and framed by his killer, something unprecedented in the Scooby franchise. Plus in the final chase, Rafe pulls out a live Winchester rifle and tries to shoot Shaggy with it, nearly killing him were it not for Scooby's intervention.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Shaggy. While this certainly isn't the first time he's gotten the focus, it's a rare instance where, despite the whole gang being present, he gets to be the star even more than Scooby.
- Dead All Along: The real Dapper Jack was long dead by the time he committed all the crimes that made him infamous, as in truth they were being committed by his killer Sheriff Carmichael in disguise.
- Goth: Buddy G's sister, Desdemona, fits this for the following reasons; 1. She wears black clothes, 2. She's sarcastic at times, and 3. She's not that enthusiastic nor does she smile. But she does at the end of the movie.
- Fat and Skinny: Carol and Sharon due to Carol being chubby while Sharon is very skinny.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Rufus Carmichael framed Dapper Jack because he was jealous of the love the townsfolk gave him and wanted it for himself.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: Shaggy and Scooby pick up horse riding very easily, and within the same day as even learning to ride one they're doing tricks and end up taming Buckstitch, the ranch's most reckless horse. Shaggy has a bit of an excuse with his ancestor being a cowboy. Scooby, not so much.
- Heroic BSoD: Shaggy has one when he learns he's descended from an outlaw. This is Scooby-Doo, so it's the more comedic and overdramatic variety.
- Identical Grandson: Shaggy and Dapper Jack looked exactly alike, except Jack had a more full goatee. To the point where everyone mistakes Shaggy for Jack when the gang first gets to town. Played with when Dapper Jack's faithful dog was pictured by all the cast as Scooby-Doo.
- I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: The cook is a cook, thank you. (He is, however, a stagecoach driver, an interior designer, and a DJ).Cook: I'm a cook, not a mathmatologist.
- Irony: Buddy G's musical number before the rodeo is about how he loves the life of a cowboy and prefers it to playing on his phone or sitting at home in the living room. While he sings this, we see numerous people in the audience texting their friends on their phones about the performance and watching live from their living rooms.
- Jack of All Trades: The Cook because he's not only the cook but the stagecoach driver, interior designer, and DJ as well.
- Karma Houdini: Rufus Carmichael. He tricked the town into believing kindhearted Dapper Jack was an outlaw, killed him, then committed numerous crimes disguised as him. He even implicitly got to claim a reward by disappearing for a week and supposedly killing Jack after the fact, and presumably lived out the rest of his life in luxury and fame, considering to the present day he was considered a hero. However, since he wrote the truth in his diary which was eventually discovered, he now would no longer be regarded as a hero, which might be karma enough.
- Lampshade Hanging: When going over Dapper Jack's possible motives, Daphne brings up the company buying up the town — bluntly pointing out that "like 98%" of Scooby-Doo Hoaxes are ultimately real estate scams.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When the gang is being told about the tale of Dapper Jack, the audience gets to see a series of pictures depicting the events. It's mentioned that Jack had a dog, who's represented in the pictures as Scooby with a mustache. When the tale ends, the entire gang lampshades how they too pictured Scooby as the dog, with Shaggy mentioning that he pictured his ancestor's dog with a mustache.
- Mirror Routine: Shaggy manages to hide in plain sight for several minutes by mirroring everything the "ghost" does. Eventually, he falls out of sync and the chase resumes.
- Mood Whiplash: Played for Laughs in one scene. When Shaggy falls off a cliff, the rest of the gang sighs in relief when Scooby grabs him and saves him. Then they both fall further and the gang screams. Then they grab a branch and the gang's relieved. Then the branch breaks... and repeat until they eventually hit the ground relatively safely.
- Mythology Gag:
- Like many of these later movies, this movie uses a lot of things that the Scooby series have utilized before. This is the third time an ancestor of Shaggy has been the victim of a "Scooby-Doo" Hoax after his death (the previous times had been in The New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show episode "Wedding Bell Boos" and the movie Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers). This is also the second of which was officially paired with a Scooby ancestor (Shaggy's ancestor McBaggy Rogers from the aforementioned "Wedding Bell Boos" had a dog named Yankee Doodle Doo who was Scooby's ancestor). It is also the second time one of those ancestor's real ghost arrives at the end of the movie to give a silent "thank you" (the real ghost of Shaggy's uncle Beauregard turned up at the end of Boo Brothers).
- The font Velma hates so much is called El Kabong, the vigilante alter ego of Hanna-Barbera character Quick Draw McGraw.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Two horses; Buckstitch ("because when he bucks you, they gotta stitch you back together") and Widowmaker (who needs no elaboration). Naturally, Shaggy ends up having to ride both.
- Nice Guy: What Dapper Jack really was — he was one of the most generous and helpful souls there was. His legend was corrupted because the sheriff framed him, killed him, then disguised himself as Dapper Jack to commit various robberies.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The truth of Dapper Jack's infamous legacy was all written down in Sheriff Rufus Carmichael's diary, the very man who murdered and framed him. It outlines the entirety of what occurred as a confession for seemingly no reason whatsoever besides the convenience of the cast, handily resolving half the plot at the end. Of course, seeing as Rufus is long dead, it didn't really matter to him if anyone found out the truth at that point anyway, but it does mess up Rafe's plans.
- Oh, Crap!: Besides various people when Dapper Jack appears, Shaggy gets shocked when he learns the horse he's about to ride in a rodeo is called Widowmaker.
- Overly Long Gag: Shaggy and Scooby falling down the cliff. See Mood Whiplash above.
- Real After All: While the Evil Dapper Jack is a hoax the whole time, his real ghost appears briefly at the end of the movie.
- The Prankster: Both sisters, Carol and Sharon, fit this trope because they love to pull pranks on each other, which gets them into trouble at times during the movie.
- Running Gag:
- Shaggy complains about his lack of ability to grow a full beard like Dapper Jack, instead of just having chin scruff.
- Zeke's near-sightedness leads to problems, like mistaking Scooby and Fred for horses.
- So Proud of You: When the real Dapper Jack's ghost appears at the end, being proud of what his descendant has accomplished seems to be the meaning of how he smiles and nods to Shaggy. That and/or thanking him for clearing his name.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Fred's first attempts at riding a horse and using a lasso, with no instruction, go poorly for him. So does him attempting to shoe a horse, again without instruction.
- Take That!: Velma strongly hates a font named "El Kabong" and deduces Rafe, who picked up that font for the ranch's website, must be the one who picked it for the real estate company because there can't be more than one person using El Kabong.
- Tangled Family Tree: This movie adds a new ancestor and a third cousin twice removed to Shaggy's tree. While it is impossible to plot for sure given the removed part it is notable this didn't alter anything among Scooby fandom theories.
- Visual Pun: Scooby speaks to a horse by whispering in its ears.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Child star Buddy G is afraid of horses. He gets over it with Scooby's help.
- You Meddling Kids: Rafe says this after being exposed and caught as the mastermind behind Dapper Jack's ghost. Zeke adds a "nosy horse" (actually Scooby-Doo).
