There shall be no Scooby Doo in HBO Max’s Velma, the Velma Dinkley origin series created by Mindy Kaling. The show is following in the footsteps of review-bombed shows like Amazon’s The Boys (because people were mad about the weekly release schedule) and Netflix’s Masters Of The Universe: Revelation (because people couldn’t stand it when Kevin Smith dared to sideline He-Man). Both shows went on to further streaming success, and no one can fully predict whether that’s in the cards for Velma, but rumor has it that the show will score a Season 2.
Let’s back up a moment. Velma follows on the heels of the 2022 HBO Max film (Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!) that canonized Velma as lesbian. Kaling has clarified that Velma and Daphne do kiss in this show, and admittedly, the episodes that have aired so far are, well, frenetic. That doesn’t seem to be what the hate is about, though. Angry peeps aren’t thrilled about the characters’ personalities being rewritten (including Velma being edgier and of South Asian descent). Also, the absence of Scoob is being held out as a downside and a blessing in disguise.
The complaints (see below) are rather vicious, as are the numbers. Over at Rotten Tomatoes, the aggregate critical score (57%) isn’t great, but the audience score is sitting at 6% with nearly 6,000 non-fans adding hate-watch voices:
Here’s a sampling of the dissent from Rotten Tomatoes’ audience side of the score:
– This tv show is disgustung . How dare they used the scoobydoo cartoon ,one of the best cartoons of all the times amd manged to create something so horrenduos ..? Horrible,i dont have words to describe this disgraceful show
– The substances that the writers were on when they decided to make the characters unlikable a-holes are certainly not in the periodic table
– A dishonest, hateful show — that does a complete and utter disservice to the source material. Avoid to maintain any integrity you might have.
– A hateful self-insert that assassinates characters who have brought laughter to folks for decades. What were they thinking? I guess the silver lining is that they didn’t screw up Scoob while they (Mindy K) were at it.
– Made account here just to leave this review
The complainers undoubtedly hope to work some magic in the form of a cancellation, but Comic Book did some sleuthing, and the Entertainment Identifier Registry points towards more Velma.
News of season two came to light this week when the Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR) updated its entries. The catalog now lists Velma season two as in the works under HBO Max and Warner Bros. The entry goes on to suggest season two will consist of 11 episodes, but other than that, few details are known about the project.
Velma premiered on January 12 with episodes planned through February 9. We’ll see if that second season materializes, and people will surely have something to say about the result.
