There seemed to be many reasons to be excited waning spirit Scooby-Doo divided , Velma. On the one hand, the writer/actress/producer has established herself over the years, with creations that include The Mindy Project, I never Yup The sex life of college girls. The series also features an all-star supporting cast of Sam Richardson, Constance Wu and Glenn Howerton to round out the Mystery Inc. gang, with the titular character at the end get a weird story . However, with the release of the first two episodes on HBO Max, Velma is being slammed by fans and critics alike, with accusations that a childhood favorite has failed.
There were a lot of changes to the characters, so many of us grew up watching Velmaand one of the more baffling decisions was eliminating Scooby-Doo altogether. Kaling said he experienced a backlash when it was announced that she would be voicing Velma, but much of the criticism surrounding the show’s launch has focused on the unrecognizable personalities of the beloved characters, rather than the changes in your career . Rotten Tomatoes user Jess B was apparently taken aback by all of this, commenting:
In essence, a fanfic insert that not only changed the appearance of the characters, but also completely changed their personalities. It would have been better if they made their original show with original characters. The old childhood nostalgia howled.
This viewer was one of many rotten tomatoes wondering why developer Charlie Grandy didn’t just create an original animation, but instead made such drastic changes to the existing IP. The series had compiled an audience rating of just 8% on the review aggregation site at the time of writing, and viewers weren’t shy about sharing their opinions. Other comments say:
- I don’t mind the race changes, but they’re not the same characters… not at all. There’s not an iota of reverence for the source material. It has as much to do with Scooby Doo as it does with the board game Clue. This show is not for Scooby Doo fans. – Kile S.
- I’ve seen the clips so I tried to watch some of the first episodes. Too awful for a hate watch. Why was this done? Didn’t people there realize it was that bad? Very creepy. —Sean O
- I grew up with the original Scooby-do, but it seems like the writers never did. –Rikwin d.
- Think about the worst thing you have ever seen or remembered (in your entire life). It is, but with someone constantly punching you in the face and yelling laugh now, laugh now, laugh now. -Steve P.
- A Scooby-Doo show without Scooby-Doo. It’s exactly what I expected. Terrible. – Gee
It wasn’t just the fans who took issue Velmabut also criticism. And while the critic score was much higher, at 50%, on Rotten Tomatoes, the reviews weren’t exactly enthusiastic. Joshua Alston of Variety he stressed that the problem isn’t the race-changing characters or LGBTQ+ histories. Instead, she calls the characters “bad” and wonders how it belongs to Scooby-Doo universe saying:
Many of these jokes are downright funny, which isn’t surprising coming from seasoned comedy writers. But the jokes could belong in just about any contemporary sitcom, so what exactly makes Scooby-Doo the ideal canvas for this vision over any other property? This was never made clear in the eight episodes of Velma screened for reviewers, which lack even an ounce of genuine respect for the source material… Velma’s biggest mystery is why she has to exist.
Angie Han of THR says that while Velma she clearly has affection for the classic character, is unduly sarcastic, and an abundance of meta-humor gets in her way. Some of the humor also doesn’t work as intended, as the reviewer notes:
For every solid crack (“Rating hot girls is exactly how the Trojan War and Facebook started!”), there’s an observation that sounds like a Twitter draft repurposed from a harassing screenwriter’s file. . “I tell the truth without a filter, like all comedians before #MeToo,” Velma says, never mind that the joke doesn’t make much sense if it comes from a proud teenage feminist in 2023. -coms, yass-queen feminism, furry Brooklynites and, for some reason, the film Serpico, the future Scooby-Doo gang and their companions may seem less like individuals than joke-delivery machines.
The first two episodes of Velma are available to stream now with a Maximum HBO subscription with episodes 3 and 4 on Thursday 19 January. Be sure to check out ours TV show 2023 to see what other previews are coming to TV and streaming soon.
Source: Cinemablend
