The new take on Scooby-Doo and Velma starring Mindy Kaling as the titular character is now out on HBO Max, and as expected (saying that a lot lately), it’s getting vaporized by fans on Rotten Tomatoes.
And not only are the fans really not liking what they are seeing but the critics are also not too favorable of the show that reimagines Velma as an East Asian character.
Presently, Velma has a 50% Rotten Tomatoes Score from the critics and a 12% Audience Score. Check out the reactions below.
Mindy Kaling blasted fans for Velma response
The show also hasn’t come without controversy as previously Mindy Kaling blasted fans for their response to changing the character.
“Hopefully, you noticed my Velma is South Asian,” she told the crowd in New York City when the first look was unveiled. “If people freak out about that, I don’t care.”
Mindy Kaling also appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers in July.
“When it was announced that I was going to do the voice of Velma, people were very supportive and happy on Twitter. And so I felt great,” she explained. “Then it was announced a month ago that the Velma character would be reimagined as South Asian. And people were not happy. There was a lot of, like, ‘So not Velma!’ Those kind of tweets. ‘Not the classic Velma that I’m always thinking about.’”
Kaling continued, “First of all, I didn’t know that she elicited such strong reactions in either direction. I just couldn’t understand how people couldn’t imagine a really smart, nerdy girl with terrible eyesight who loved to solve mysteries could not be Indian. There are Indian nerds. It shouldn’t be a surprise to people, but people are like, ‘No, no, no.’ But it made me think, ‘OK, we’ve got to be really careful with this character,’ which we will be because we love her.”
What do the Velma reviews on Rotten Tomatoes say?
What do the critics think?
Regarding Rotten Tomatoes, check out what the negative reviews from the critics:
“Sporadically witty but ultimately rather tedious, the HBO Max comedy leverages more than a half-century of name equity to yield an animated prequel that’s definitely not for kids, meddling or otherwise.” – CNN
“It’s been done before, and much better, using unique takes on the gang that maintained their essence, so Velma is never as groundbreaking as it seems to think it is. More than that, these characters are just really unpleasant to spend time with.” -Variety
“All the pieces of a great Scooby spin-off are here, so why does this not come together? The answer: a combination of uneven humor, too little mystery, and a core misunderstanding of Velma herself.” – Mashable
“A hodgepodge of ideas that never connect, especially in its humor. The comedy lands when it veers into absurdism with visual gags and everything Howerton’s Fred says. What falls flat is the frustrating meta approach it takes.” – Paste Magazine
“Too much meta humor, not enough heart.” – THR
“While Velma certainly suffers in comparison to HBO Max’s Harley Quinn, the series’ problems are entirely its own, perhaps the biggest one being a failure of tone and balance, as there’s too much jammed into this series and no clear focus.” – Consequence
What do the fans think of Velma?
Here are some reactions from fans who aren’t too happy with the series:
– This show is an absolutely terrible idea. Instead of creating OC, the writers decided that they would remove the main character from a universe and then re-skin all of the remaining characters. They even changed the personalities. It’s a sad attempt at appealing to wider demographics while not actually putting in the effort or being creative. The humor is meta and annoying; nothing about it is actually funny. Overall, this show is a disgrace to a franchise that is attempting to ride to coattails of in a strangely insulting way.
– I just watched the first two episodes and unfortunately that is time all never get back. I don’t even really want to recount what I’ve watched as that would take more effort than what was clearly put into the show by the writers. Save yourself the morbid curiosity and skip this one.
– Velma is a typical TV show where the producers wanted to make a series just for themselves, and still being hostile with their target audience, not to mention the change in personality and appearance of all the characters which could even be justified by a good script but in this show was certainly done in the worst possible way. This universe and these characters can indeed be adapted for an adult audience in an extraordinary way but it certainly wasn’t this time, unfortunately.
– This is how you destroy a beloved IP, by giving creative freedom to people who dislike/disregard what most people enjoy about the series to begin with. The humor, characters and tone are consistent with Netflix’s Big Mouth, but not Scooby-Doo. There is plenty of other quality movies and shows released within the past decade that celebrate this series. This unfortunately will only appeal to people who think pandering is representation.
– If you went to a grade school and asked 3rd graders to create their own show where they are the king/queen and everyone else around them is inferior this is the show. Jinkies this was bad. Can you make characters more stereotypical in any way? When jokes are centered around these stereotypes they telegraph themselves. Mindy simply should have created a self named show and character that solves mysteries.
– Horrible, just horrible. Why was this made, and for who? A Mindy Kaling ego project, maybe she had a childhood fantasy to be Velma, but other than that? It’s just upsetting and ruining a childhood favorite of many.
– It’s a shame! Totally shame. This is not Velma.. This is not Scooby Doo Gang!
– A bunch of bad jokes thrown together does not make it funny, but annoying instead. Quantity over quality rarely work.
– Nope, this ain’t it babe; this is a pathetic excuse of a series and in no way comes close to the Scooby Doo series of my childhood. It’s not funny or charming in any way, shape, or form and I won’t even thank you for trying because apparently you didn’t.
– The show may actually be good if it had better jokes, my main problem with though is the fact that uses Scooby Doo popularity to people see it even though the it changes in the most crucial ways from the original material (Didn’t really care for the characters swaps but shaggy is to much of a pop culture icon to be changed so much from what we are used to see)
– As others have stated, the characters are no longer the same. They act completely different. Along with their bad jokes and stereotypes, this was a bad show.
– Velma is an absolute disaster. As a fan of the original series, I was deeply disappointed by the way the creators took one of my favorite shows and completely massacred it. The show tries to incorporate a meta, self-referential type of humor, but it falls flat on its face. The attempts at humor are weak and often obnoxious, and the characters are taken out of the original universe and turned into an extreme parody that doesn’t fit at all. The writing is bad and not entertaining, and the jokes are bland and unappealing. The poor attempt at humor comes across as if it was written by a 12 year old boy with his friends. It’s unclear what audience the show is even trying to appeal to. Overall, this show is legitimately unwatchable, and I would advise anyone to avoid it at all costs. Endless cringe.
