'Velma' Doesn't Work Because The Mystery Gang Doesn't Fit Into The World
Image Source: HBO Max
It is no secret that the new HBO series, Velma, has been critically panned in just about every way. With a 6% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes to go with the 1.3% rating on IMDb, some are calling it one of the worst things to happen to society. While it is not as bad as a global pandemic, it does deserve the ratings it is getting. Between the unfunny jokes, the social messages that do not fit into the world, a wasted main storyline, and flat characters, it is certainly not worth your time.
Now, the characters of the original Scooby-Doo series are as iconic as they come. Each has their own unique personality, but they all work together really well as a cohesive unit. None of the members of the group feel like they are out of place. You actually believe that they are all really close, despite the fact that each one of them is wildly different. However, Velma decides that such cohesion is a terrible idea.
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There is, of course, nothing wrong with new takes on characters, but if you are going to change characters, there are two basic rules that you have to follow. First of all, they still have to be recognizable as the original character on some level. If you had “re-imagined” Charlie Brown as a Hall of Fame baseball pitcher who always has everything go right for him, you didn’t write Charlie Brown, you just created your own character from scratch and gave him Charlie Brown’s name. Secondly, the characters have to fit into the world that you create for them. If you take the aforementioned “version” of Charlie Brown and put him in Saving Private Ryan, you have gone off the rails. Velma makes both mistakes in spades.
The closest that any of the characters in Velma get to their original counterparts is that they generally wear the same outfits, and that Velma solves mysteries. That’s it. And that is just in regards to the characters who actually made it onto the show. Velma has neither Scooby-Doo nor Shaggy. You know, the two most popular characters from the series. No, Norville does not count as Shaggy. See rule number one mentioned above. Velma’s Fred is a polar opposite from the leader who keeps the gang together in Scooby-Doo. Velma is not the brains of the outfit who is the best at noticing the little details. She is a jaded sarcastic jerk who thinks she’s smarter and therefore better than everybody else. Daphne is vapid and looks down on everybody and, like Velma, is angry most of the time. There is nothing in the old gang in this cast. They are essentially all original characters. However, that is what they have to be because the world that has been created would not fit the five of them anyway.
Image Source: ScreenRant
There is one thing that’s glaringly obvious about ten minutes into the first episode. This show desperately wants to be like the excellent Harley Quinn series that’s also on HBO. From the tone, the way the characters talk, and the more adult themes, it is blatantly obvious that Velma is trying everything it can to achieve the success of the far superior show. Here’s the thing, while Harley Quinn is a new take on the characters, it follows both rules outlined above. This is not a “new take” where Harley dresses normally and her weapon of choice is a steak knife. She is still bombastic, over-the-top and has that manic energy that we have come to love. Her insane mannerisms fit perfectly into the stylized, cartoony version of Gotham we get in the show. Velma’s premise does not work in this regard.
The one that’s actually worth watching.
Image source: Daily Beast
Scooby-Doo is, at its heart, a kid’s show. Even if some episodes are a bit more intense than others, they are still aimed at children. In Velma, we have a serial killer who removes teenagers’ brains, drugs, profanity, and… adult situations. The show opens with an eyebrow-raising locker room shower scene full of fifteen-year-olds whose “modesty” is preserved only by a few bubbles.
In any case, the classic Scooby gang wouldn’t fit into the world in Velma. They hunted masked lunatics who pretended to be ghosts to fulfill whatever scheme they had. There were silly chase scenes, obvious clues, and a fun unmasking at the end. They never went after serial killers who cut out the brains of hot teen girls. It does not matter what version you’re watching.
So this puts the creators in a bit of a bind. They want a show featuring three-fifths of the original gang in a more adult setting, but nothing about the characters lends itself to that situation. So what do they do? The only thing they can, which is to create original characters from scratch and give them a coat of paint that makes them look more like some of the Scooby gang.
Ultimately, that is one of the central issues people have with the series. Yes, it’s not funny. Yes, the “social commentary” is eye-roll inducing. Yes, everybody seems like they hate not only their lives but each other. All of this does not make for pleasant viewing. At the end of the day, it is billed as a show featuring the mystery gang. However, not only is it missing two crucial members, the three that are there are not even the characters they’re supposed to be. Would people still dislike Velma if it was its own show with no connection to the franchise we grew up with? Probably. It is still not very good, but we probably would not get a “6% on Rotten Tomatoes” level of hatred. The fact that it ties its name to Scooby-Doo is what really riles people up.
Skip it.
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