Is it for that long? 3 Reasons Why The New ‘Velma’ Animated Series Caused Controversy

We live in a time full of nostalgia where the big entertainment companies are bringing back some of the series and movies that were part of our childhood/adolescence. Although yes, instead of offering the same, there are those who prefer to give their stories and characters a spin to offer something more to the viewers. Such is the case of the new animated series Velmawhich shows us a new version of the characters created by Hannah-Barbera.

It was at the beginning of October 2022 and in the middle of the New York Comic-Con when HBO Max released the first trailer for this production based on the origins of Velma Dinklewhich was created by and starred Mindy Kaling. And of course, from that glance he made many raise their eyebrows, because in a few seconds we realized that this plot brought back the Mystery team to the Orderbut unlike the animations where Scooby-Doo appears (who we will not see on this occasion), the series is focused on the adult audience.

The ‘Velma’ series finally premiered on HBO Max and caused a lot of controversy

Little by little, more details about the animated series of Velma, like the new looks of Fred, Daphne and Shaggy, which angered the old school fans who grew up watching them on TV. Nevertheless, many decided to give this proposal a try, because beyond how the endearing characters of Hannah-Barbera look -which sometimes, this point is inconsequential-, It looked very interesting in terms of tone, humor and especially animation. Finally On January 12, the first two episodes of this production arrived at the HBO Max catalogand the truth is that we did not expect so much hate to rain down on him.

I had not completed a day on the streaming platform and at least on social networks we could already read a lot of users complaining and disappointed by what they just sawr but is it really that bad? Well then Here we will explain some points for which the new adventures of Velma and the entire gang of Mystery to Order have caused controversy. Although yes, At once we warn you that here you can find spoilers, so if you don’t want to know what happens in the first chapters, we recommend that you check all this later. They are already warned.

The change of the iconic Scooby-Doo characters

Ok, let’s start with the most basic. As we mentioned before, Scooby-Doo fans were screaming when they saw what the members of Mystery to Order would look like in this new animated series. To get started, Velma Dinkley is now a girl of African-Asian origin, which can be understood, since the creator of this project is Mindy Kaling and perhaps she was looking to create a character that looked like her or with whom she could empathize to write a better story. Also, here they reaffirm what had already been confirmed a few months ago: that she is a lesbian and has feelings for Daphne, with whom he had a great friendship when they were children.

However, she was not the only one who changed her origin, because in the first episodes they show us that Daphne also has Asian features and is the adopted daughter of a lesbian couple, and they even sense that she is interested in Velma in another way, implying that she identifies as bisexual.. Nor can we ignore Shaggy, who is now called Norville and is shown as a black teenager a little smarter who dies for the protagonist of this series. Although yes, even though Fred looks very similar to Hannah-Barbera, some didn’t think he was portrayed as a dumb rich young man who can’t fend for himselfbecause they consider that they ridiculed him and practically left him as a useless character.

Of course, this is in contrast to the original protagonists of the franchise that most of us grew up with. However, as has happened with other productions, negative comments for the animated series Velma focused on the so-called “forced inclusion” that unfortunately, instead of opening the dialogue and looking for a better way to show communities such as Afro-descendants, Asians or LGBTQ+, once again they let us see a bit of the racism that many are propagating on social networks. Well, you know, there are those who disagree with the way in which the production companies change the origins of the characters to include sectors of the population that have not been correctly portrayed in film and television. (HERE We tell you about toxic fandoms and some cases about series that have had to face threats from the public).

The humor is a bit strange

Another part that many did not like in the first episodes of Velma was the humor. For some fans of the Scooby-Doo universe, those involved tried to do with this project something similar to what the Harley Quinn animated series offers, which shows its characters making off-color jokes, saying the odd rude thing and putting them in trouble. situations in which we never thought we saw them. However, unlike that production, things with the Mystery to Order gang just don’t add up.

We know that Mindy Kaling was one of the great sitcom writers—as The office– and he’s amazing as a comedian, but here it seems like with the jokes they’re trying to make the characters look smart but sound pretty pretentious (at times they can even come across as obnoxious). In a nutshell, they think a lot about a joke and they don’t get anywhere, which can make the public not connect with the protagonists, much less laugh at what is happening, one of the reasons why we watch a comedy series, don’t you think? Well, those who have already checked the chapters that are available on HBO Max did not like that.

Scenes or situations that are new to the characters in Mystery to Order

Last but not least, it’s time to talk about various situations within the series that made Scooby-Doo fans angry. To begin with, there is the fact that there are some who consider that there are moments that are perhaps a little too much, such as the first take of the entire Velma series where we see Daphne fighting in the showers and without clothes with another girl. Despite the fact that the existence of this sequence at that moment is somehow justified –because in it they mock and refer to series like riverdale use sexuality and nudity to sell or attract an audience–, there were those who took out the rosary and began to pray for what they had just seen.

Continuing with this part, in the second episode we see that Daphne is the one who sells drugs in the high school she attends, and even bribes Velma by not giving her the information she seeks if she doesn’t give her money or help her deliver her product.. Here they also caused controversy because we had never seen these two characters doing illegal things and of course it was unthinkable that they would draw them as dealers. But perhaps what caught our attention was that at some point in this very chapter, both end up kissing and even giving us to understand that between them there is something more than friendship… as is well.

So, there are a lot of scenes that for the old school could be very strong, but it seems that they are trying to reinvent these characters that emerged more than 50 years ago for a new generation with the animated series Velma. Because come on, we all already know the formula for their stories and to be honest, what HBO Max is doing is interesting, but the rhythm, tone, and comedy are probably not ideal enough to break it, because the public –mostly – they are not liking how they are treating the whole gang. What do you say? Do fans have the right to be angry or is it too much?

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