Doom Service is the first half of the fifth episode of The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries and it originally aired on October 6, 1984. With a story by Glenn Leopold, this episode sees the gang staying at the Overview Hotel, which is a bit of a parody of Stephen King’s ‘The Shining’.

Welcome to the Overview Hotel…

The episode begins with Shaggy explaining to Daphne that he feels like going to the Overview Hotel is a bad idea. Shaggy is reading from the book, Ghosts of the Rocky Mountains, where it says the place is haunted by a ghost! While driving en route to the hotel, the gang pass a Western Air Command Base, guarded by a soldier with a nightstick.

At the Overview Hotel, Daphne notices the parking lot is empty. Posing as help, the gang meet the hotel owner – Ebeneezer Overview who died 100 years prior. We also meet Jack Marsten, the real owner, and Sheldon Keats, the famous horror novelist and occult expert who is writing a novel about the hotel called Secret Rooms. Finally we meet Mrs. Von Loon who is walking her invisible dog named Max.

Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy are in charge of the Kitchen, while Daphne works as a Chambermaid and is given keys to every room. The man in room 6 on the 7th floor requests a sandwich, so Scooby delivers it, only to be scared away by the Ghost of Ebeneezer Overview. Scrappy takes down Sheldon Keats, and Sheldon hears about the ghost suggesting a seance in an hour.

Cleaning up, Scooby discovers a secret passage to a mountain tunnel in Sheldon’s room. Scrappy also discovers a piece of paper that says ‘Secret’.

We then cut to the Seance where Sheldon tries to talk to Ebenezer who proclaims he’ll never leave. Everyone decides to leave, except a bad blizzard has hit, so Scooby and Shaggy can not leave. Instead they stay in the van while Daphne and Scrappy go to check out a hunch. Scooby is accidentally driven away on a snowmobile by the ghost while Daphne discovers a hidden tape cassette player.

Daphne discovers the top secret papers which were stolen from the military air base that she planned on selling to the highest bidder. Scooby then celebrates with a sandwich, which the phony invisible dog Max eats.

My Review

I give this episode a 7.5 out of 10. It’s a lot of fun! We get nearly everyone in winter gear, plus Scooby in a waiter jacket and Daphne in a maid outfit. The play on the Shining Hotel was fun, as was the Seance. The ghost, however, kind of stock – I guess they didn’t want to make this too scary for kids but this would have shined a lot brighter if the ghost wasn’t some old man who was not very spooky at all.