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Jan 26, 2023 · It packs a surprising amount of sex, violence, and drug references into a half-hour cartoon. While fans of Scooby and Shaggy have long joked about the pair's apparent cannabis use, "Velma" sees ...
- 10 Velma Herself Is Incredibly Selfish & Mean
- 9 Velma Has No Scooby-Doo
- 8 Velma Is Heavy on Freewheeling Cynicism
- 7 Velma Has New Characterizations That Are Lazy & One-Note
- 6 Voice Acting in Velma Is Lazy
- 5 Scooby-Doo Related Jokes in Velma Don't Make Sense
- 4 Velma Has Inconsistent Character Designs & Styles
- 3 Velma Problematically Handles Sexuality
- 2 Velma Is Too Serialized & Lacks Episodic Mysteries
- 1 There Are Smarter Scooby-Doo Parodies & Deconstructions Out There
A common thread throughout Mindy Kaling's television series is that there's usually a self-insert character who represents Kaling's own ideals. In Velma, it's Velma Dinkley, who receives a Kaling-esque makeover. There's nothing wrong with Velma and her family being represented as South Asian Americans, but what does become an issue is that Velma is...
Velma prides itself in its hot takes on the human members of Mystery Inc., but the biggest omission is that the original series' namesake, Scooby-Doo, is nowhere to be seen in Velma. This isn't to say that a Scooby series without its classic canine is destined to fail, but his presence is sorely missed. Scooby's absence feels more like a decision t...
There's a difference between a mean show and a show with mean characters, but a major hurdle that Velma faces is that it seems to seriously hate the idea that it's a Scooby-Doo prequel. There's a free-floating negativity where Velma rages against everything in sigh. Velma's vitriol reaches a point where it's hard to figure out who its target audien...
Velma is far from the first revisionist prequel series that attempts to push stock characters to more nuanced places. There's an argument to be made that Shaggy and the rest of the Mystery Inc. team were never that deep, but they at least cared for each other and there's a consistency in who they are and what motivates them. RELATED: 10 TV Characte...
The vocal performances that help bring animated characters to life are often just as important as the visuals and the story being told. Scooby-Doo has been able to resonate with audiences for so long because of the iconic voices that are associated with its characters. Velma has an all-star cast that features the likes of Glenn Howerton, Constance ...
There are certain expectations for any prequel series to slowly connect the dots to its source material, even if they start in incredibly different places. There's a considerable amount of dissonance between the start of Velma and where the Mystery Inc. crew are when Scooby-Doo begins. Rather than naturally build to these ideas, Velma instead indul...
Velma is a series that looks absolutely gorgeous and Warner Bros. Animation has figured out how to create stylized and surreal visuals that bring out Velma's genre sensibilities. As a whole, Velma's aesthetic decisions are strong but their inconsistent and can't seem to settle on a single visual style. RELATED: 10 Hated Animated Characters Who Impr...
Velma wastes no time in establishing its "edgy" attitude geared towards a mature demographic. A Scooby-Doo show that's full of graphic violence and copious sexuality could work in the right context, but Velma is edgy for the sake of it rather than finding a justified reason for this newly extreme material. Velma begins in a girls' locker room and t...
The rise of binge-watching and full-season dumps on streaming services has increased serialized storytelling. Velma is deeply reliant on this structure and practically every installment goes out on a cliffhanger that helps contribute to the season's larger mystery. Velma doesn't always fumble its storytelling, but it's antithetical to Scooby-Doo's ...
Velma immediately leans into the idea that it's not just a deconstruction of Scooby-Doo, but that it's also actively a meta and self-aware parody of this classic animated mystery series. Something like Velma could stand out if this angle was never tackled before, but there are already a handful of superior Scooby satires that make Velma's perspecti...
- Daniel Kurland
- Senior Staff Writer
Jan 24, 2023 · Deggans believes Velma is being panned for not showing enough respect for the source material. “Velma is an example of a TV project that can really go off the rails if there isn't a solid vision for why the show should exist in the first place. I mean, if you think about those live-action Scooby-Doo films, they were always careful about how ...
- Los Angeles
- Writer
Jan 18, 2023 · HBO Max's new animated series Velma is drawing wide criticism, prompting one newspaper to call the show, based on characters from the Scooby Doo universe, "the most hated series on TV."
- Eric Deggans
Jan 20, 2023 · This week, it’s HBO’s Velma, a Scooby-Doo spin-off geared toward grown-ups and starring the voice of Mindy Kaling. The cartoon is at 52% on RottenTomatoes, with an audience rating of 6.2 of 10 ...
Jan 20, 2023 · The show, as a result, doesn’t feel clever; it just feels mean. In other words, Velma isn’t really reimagining Velma—or Daphne, or Fred, or Norville—at all. Through endless references and ...
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Apr 27, 2024 · Before Velma premiered on HBO Max (now known as just "Max"), many were wary about the prospect of an adult version of Scooby-Doo, and the worries were warranted as the show was received extremely negatively, leading some to wonder how bad it truly is (and if it's as terrible as everyone says it is). The adult animated mystery television series ...
