How's it going everyone? Happy MLK Jr day, unfortunately what I'm gonna be talking about today is anything but happy. Today I'll be giving my review for the...much anticipated disaster that is...Velma.
I honestly did not think I could find something even worse than the Fairly Odder show.....but once again, life finds a way.....to prove me wrong. While Fairly Odder is the worse variation of a beloved franchise in the form of a kids show, Velma is definitely the worse variation of a beloved franchise in the form of an adult show. There is so much wrong with this show that I don't even know where to start, guess I'll dive into this dumpster fire and hopefully come out the other side with my sanity intact.
I guess we should start with how Scooby Doo started. This property goes all the way back to 1969, All the characters have been established since 1969. Now I don't have a problem with modernizing the characters, I honestly don't. There have been several attempts to make them up to date and each decade has had one iteration or another of the Mystery Gang. Now some can argue those old direct to video Scooby Doo movies from the 80's with Red shirt Shaggy and Scrappy Doo is a notable exception where the gang wasn't present and that's true. Some argue that they're great some argue that they go against the source material it's kind of mixed. I personally thought they were entertaining despite that the gang wasn't whole and that it focused on wacky monster adventures rather than solving mysteries. While that is the case, they at least kept the main character Scooby Doo in the movies and they kept in spirit of the franchise. It is a Scooby Doo project that's trying to mix up the formula. Velma feels completely opposite, it feels like it was meant to be something else, but someone at WB decided to slap the Scooby Doo characters names on it because no one had faith in the show. This is the exact same reason the Halo TV Show failed. They made something generic and used a beloved property to make sure its watched to a certain degree. Velma pays no respect to the franchise its "supposedly" based off of. All the characters are different and given either architypes that don't fit them at all like Shaggy (or Norville as he's called in the show. guess they wanna use Shaggy's real name to make him less stoner...idk it doesn't work) or cliché architypes like Fred who of course was given the rich white boy who's dumb and slightly racist. Velma and Daphne are basically self inserts of Mindy Kaling and Constance Wu.
Now the characters/cast, no disrespect to any of them they're all just doing their jobs. However, it does not excuse how the direction given to them is nothing short of a...not so much a slap to the face of the Scooby Doo fandom, but more of a sledgehammer to the face. Mindy herself is an executive producer and I really feel she wanted to make this show something else but someone told her "Use the Scooby Doo franchise, that'll make your show great!". As I mentioned, the show is so far from the source material that it doesn't feel like Scooby Doo. In fact, Scooby Doo, the main character and mascot of the Mystery Gang, is not in the show. To be honest that is probably for the best so they don't ruin him. How can you have a Scooby Doo show without Scooby Doo? It's not a spinoff it's its own thing. I mentioned what types of characters they are, and each one is just...unlikable, especially Velma. Again, no disrespect to the cast for doing their jobs but none of the characters are likable in any way shape or form. Velma is cocky, know it all, rude, mean spirited, a basic bitch. Daphne is a cliché popular girl who is just inconstant yet has her moments of character development but it feels so forced that it's hard to enjoy it. Norville (aka Shaggy) is suppose to be the opposite version of Shaggy where he anti-drugs, bland personality, he's a literal simp for Velma (who treats him poorly), and is just boring to watch. Fred is the preppy rich white kid who looks down on everyone under him and his gag is that he has a small penis...no jokes its a gag that just doesn't go away. Daphne is by far the least bad but that's not saying much. I can't enjoy any of them, they're just hard to watch and mean spirited overall. As I said, I don't have an issue with reimagining's of characters, I'm not bothered by the fact that they're different ethnicities and backgrounds. It's a bit jarring because why not just make original characters with these designs? If you want representation then created new characters that can set that trail. But even if you change these established characters backgrounds, it wouldn't been an issue if you were able to maintain the key aspects of those characters. This show just straight up replaced their character aspects with something different. All the lovable traits of the gang are all gone, they've all been replaced with just generic high school tropes.
Damn, I'm barely getting to the actual episodes just now? That should be a telling sign. I tried to watch the first episode and I could not make it pass the ten minute mark. I have not raged out of a show that fast since Fairly Odder last year. The first episode tried to real Meta and poke fun at movies/tv shows tropes but it doesn't land. The humor feels so forced and nothing builds up to it. A show can at least be watchable if the humor makes it so bad its good, but the humor is such a miss 99% of the time and its so bad...its just bad. They make fun of tropes and try to be meta but none of it works, there's no real set up for the humor and the jokes feel more mean spirited like the 420 joke they told in this show, jabbing at adults who like animation. It doesn't feel like it was made for fun, it felt like it was meant to resent the audience and alienate the fandom. The locker room scene with the dead girl had the joke "She has no brain!" that joke felt like it was AI generated or something a 10 year old could have made. I also find it odd how they talk about the nudity tropes while there's high school girls nude in the shower. If this is meant to appeal to an adult audience...why have high school girls naked? This show is trying to be woke and PC yet you went with a cliché that I strongly feel is outdated and unnecessary as well as just alarming. I understand these are fictional characters, but it doesn't make it any less creepy and unnerving. They also make plenty of pop culture references that just feel....lame. None of it is funny or delivered in any fun or funny way.
Do I think a Scooby Doo show with more mature themes can work?
Yes! It can work and its been proven to work. Mystery Incorporated proved it can work with dark mature themes and fleshing out the characters for modern times. If Velma took a page out of Mystery Incorporated, it could have actually been an entertaining adult cartoon. The Velma show had the potential to be good, I'll admit the animation isn't half bad at times. For the most part it looks average, but the animation has it's moments especially when Velma has her ghoulish anxiety episodes, the animation is actually pretty cool I wish it was more like that style. Even if they didn't want to take inspiration from Mystery Incorporated, I still feel that they could have gone about this show in several ways.
First off, age the characters up. Make them like young adults in college or just in general that way the nudity and raunchiness has more justification to stay rather than sexualizing high schoolers (which has been done to hell and back and is just outdated).
Secondly, there should be more focus on Velma's mom. That may be the one element that could save the show. I don't know if they're saving it for later on or as a finale type deal but I feel that had they established Velma's mom as a main plotline in the show, it would make it more interesting, more of a Mystery/crime solving show.
Third, why couldn't these characters be their own characters rather than the actual mystery gang? I think these guys would have done better if they were a new batch of meddling kids that would be successors to the original mystery gang. In fact there is gonna be a Scooby Doo show about that for preschoolers called Scooby Doo and the Mystery Pups coming soon. It is exactly what I'm suggesting for the Velma show. This should have been new characters brought in to take on the mantle of the mystery gang rather than being cheap imitations of the actual gang.
Final suggestion, DONT MAKE A SCOOBY DOO SHOW IF THERE IS NO SCOOBY DOO!
Overall, This is yet another show that was trying to build off the name of a beloved franchise and failed completely. This I feel is yet another instant of handing beloved properties to people who do not like or respect the source material in the slightest and made whatever they felt like and alienated the fanbase. Velma is down there with Animaniacs (2020), Powerpuff Girls (2016), Teen Titans Go!, and Fairly Odder. There's talks of a Season 2 coming out and I encourage everyone to not watch it. Don't give it the time of day because if you do, WB will continue making shit like this and the only way for them to stop is to hit them where it hurts, profit. If you wanna give Velma a go then by all means but I'm not gonna keep watching it. If something happens that makes it suddenly good then I'll be pleasantly surprised, but I highly doubt that.
Rating Velma I am giving it:
0.5/10
I know this may seem premature to rate it this early on in its run but I do not believe it will get any better. If by some miracle it does, I will come back and reevaluate it with a firm apology. I'm open to be proven wrong but I stand by that this show is beyond saving and I do not recommend anyone watch it whether its Ironic or Unironic. Never thought there could be a show that would beat out Fairly odder.
First review of 2023, off to a good start....Hopefully the next pieces of media I cover won't be as horrendous.
See Ya!