The Night of the Living Toys is the first half of the seventh episode of The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries and originally aired on October 20th, 1984. With a story by Douglas Booth, this episode features a fun take on elves creating toys.

The Night of the Living Toys – Episode Review

The gang is en route to the Black Forest Toy Shop, which is the largest toy store in the world. Scrappy is eager to do some shopping and has drawn up quite a long list on his computer (a Star Puppy cassette being one of my faves on his list), but Daphne tells him he will have to wait—they are actually there to investigate who has been stealing the store’s profits.

Once inside, Shaggy and the dogs waste no time admiring the toys and hopping on a toy train, while Daphne is introduced to the store’s owner, Herr Dreisbach.

Dreisbach leads the group upstairs to meet his assistant, Mr. Sigmund. There, Scrappy notices a portrait of Dreisbach’s great-grandfather, the store’s founder, who lived by a famous motto: “Treasure your foundation, for its bricks will build your future.” Dreisbach opens a safe hidden behind the portrait to show them his rapidly dwindling funds (there’s also some sort of guard toy robot in the safe with the cash). As they head back downstairs, Mr. Sigmund explains that the great-grandfather built the shop on top of an ancient elf king’s castle, and that the Evil Elf King has returned to reclaim his property.

Suddenly, Scrappy is scooped up by Katerina Kobald, the head of the stuffed toy department. Finding him adorable, she ties several ribbons onto him, much to Scrappy’s annoyance. Dreisbach mentions he never found the secret treasure his grandfather hid, which he desperately needs to uncover to save the business. Meanwhile, the Forest Toy Company is trying to buy the store, and Sigmund openly agrees that Dreisbach should sell. Mr. Sigmund states that Dreisbach should accept the offer, to which we get a reaction from a toy elf that lets out a sinister laugh (that the gang do not hear).

That night, the gang splits up to search the building. Scooby and Shaggy stumble upon small elf puppets and play with them until they get tangled in the strings. Suddenly, the puppets come to life and scurry off to meet their master, the Evil Elf. After freeing themselves, the duo hides among the stuffed toys and successfully fools the elf puppets. Unfazed, the Evil Elf orders his minions to grab two stuffed bears and departs. Shaggy and Scooby regroup with Daphne and Scrappy to report what happened. Daphne then discovers a lab report addressed to Katerina at “123 Forest Lane.” The report details the mineral analysis of a brick, which puzzles the gang.

They split up again to track down the Evil Elf. Daphne wants Shaggy and Scooby to check the downstairs while she and Scrappy take the upstairs. When the duo refuses, Daphne tricks them by tossing a box of Scooby Snacks down the stairs, sending them running after it. Upstairs, Daphne and Scrappy spy on the Evil Elf, who is using a toy robot located inside the safe to open it from within. The Elf pockets more money and escapes. Daphne re-reads the founder’s motto on the portrait, realizes it is a massive clue, and heads down to find Shaggy and Scooby.

While munching on their Scooby Snacks, Scooby tosses the empty box which lands on Mr. Sigmund’s head. Mr. Sigmund then warns them to leave before the Evil Elf turns them into toys. They laugh off the threat, but soon realize they are sitting on an active conveyor belt. The machine dresses them in clown costumes and traps them inside jack-in-the-boxes.

Daphne and Scrappy discover them and notice the boxes are addressed to the Forest Toy Company at 123 Forest Lane. After letting them out, Scooby accidentally gets his head stuck in the basement wall. Once he yanks it free, they notice a brick is missing from the spot—right next to more boxes bound for the Forest Toy Company.

Suddenly, the Evil Elf appears and chases the gang to the elevator, where they are cornered by the living puppets and the toy robot. Fortunately Scrappy has a plan and hops into a toy airplane to save Daphne, but is caught by the Evil Elf. Luckily, Shaggy and Scooby who slipped on some spilled marbles bounce off a trampoline, land on a rocking horse at the top of the stairs, ride it all the way down, and crash directly into the Elf.

Daphne steps up and unmasks the culprit, revealing Katerina Kobald.

While handing Katerina over to the authorities, Daphne explains the entire scheme. Katerina was the one robbing the safe; she used a remote control hidden in her glove to operate the toy robot from the inside. She then stuffed the stolen cash into the teddy bears and shipped them to the Forest Toy Company, which turned out to be her own home address. She orchestrated the thefts to find the grandfather’s hidden treasure.

Daphne then leads everyone to the basement to explain the final piece of the puzzle. Pointing to the hole where Scooby got stuck, she explains that the great-grandfather’s motto was a literal clue. Katerina had the missing brick analyzed and discovered that the bricks are the treasure. Scooby and Scrappy use a water hose to wash away the exterior of the basement wall, revealing it is made of solid gold. The mystery wraps up with Shaggy and Scooby noticing that a bunch of baby toys from the shipping boxes have climbed onto them while saying “ga-ga kiss me”.

My Review

I give this episode a 6 out of 10. It’s pretty good, with my favourite part being the robot and the Scooby Snax gag. For a toy store, I feel they could have had more fun with the toys. The toys were rather basic for 1984 as well. This was supposed to be the world’s largest toy store and we mostly saw toys that harkened back to the 1940s like dolls, rocking horses, toy planes and marbles. Which is fine, I like those toys, and I suppose you could argue they are timeless, and modern toys for 1984 may have made things seem dated. Yet at the same time it also creates a bit of a disconnect with Scrappy having a computer in the Mystery Machine and these mostly primitive toys.

I don’t even know what I’m babbling on about here. Pretty good episode, kinda creative with they pay off, loved the robot.