What happens to an IP that gets drastically changed from the original? Well, if you ask all the viewers of the recently released Mindy Kaling led Velma, then you completely break everyone.
For those living under a rock, the latest Scooby-Doo cartoon stars velma and the gang minus Scooby-Doo before they became the mystery solving crew that we all know and love. A lot is different with this version of the Scooby-Doo gang. The most obvious is the missing dog, and second, the race swapped characters. Velma is South Asian in this iteration, also bisexual and shaggy, or Norvell is African American. People had so much issue with shaggy, but I digress.
Fred is a self-absorbed dumbass trying to live up to his parents' expectations, and Daphne is a mean girl raised by 2 moms.
Is there too much woke in this show? Maybe, but what is woke? Why is being aware of problematic behaviors such a bad thing? Whatever, people are dumb.
My point, though, isn't about whether or not this cartoon is too in your face with its message. Yes, this Velma is really annoying. She is a lot less likable and a lot more mean to the point where you wonder how this version resembles the old. Yes, Shaggy isn't a stoner, but when have we ever heard that he was?
Sure, it was implied, heavily, but it was never confirmed. Fred is a problem, his character seemingly irredeemable, but im only 3 episodes in. Who knows what will happen next to his character. My point is, if we take away the Scooby-Doo name and change the character names to different original characters and take it for what it is, the show isn't terrible. I know, hot take, but stay with me.
We all love what we love and never love change, especially to our comic books, cartoons, and any type of character. We want them to fundamentally be the same. But why? Why can't they change?
I get the need for original characters, I agree with that 100%, but why can't we change our old ones?
Why can't Superman be black? He's a literal alien. Why can't he be evil? We actually have 2 versions of Superman that tackle him as evil. The 1st was the video game in which he became a dictator and the second a movie that's esntailly a what-if movie on what would happen if Superman was evil, called brightburn.
I think we seem to forget that these versions of these characters exist and have already been made. But why are people freaking out so much about Velma? I really don't know, I mean, how could I?
The last of us is brilliant!! Just came out, and people had issues with Joel being Latino and his daughter, Sarah, being biracial. The characters behave the same they do in the game, but they are just race swapped. Maybe it is a race thing, which come on, thats fucking lazy and we're in 2023!!! And for the record it's totally a race thing, at least for TLOU, but Velma is more than that. People are insulted that this cartoon that most if not all of us grew up watching, changed not just the race but the characters themselves. I will die on the sword that if these characters or show weren't in any way related to Scooby-Doo, people would be fine with this cartoon and maybe, like me, even enjoy it.
But they didn't change the name and characters. They redesigned Scooby-Doo, and I hear it now. "But they aren't anything like the characters we grew up with,"
But I ask you, did they really? Velma has always been a bit annoying, a know it all and her sexuality has always been in question. (I ship shaggy/velma) Shaggy has always been a coward, not wanting to put himself in danger, but easily influenced into doing things. Fred has always been self-absorbed and some what of an idiot that had more luck than skill involved in his captures. Daphne has always been the pretty, somewhat mean girl who was always concerned with herself and Fred. The characters in this show haven't changed. They've just been exaggerated to the point that it really bothers us. These characters are parodies of themselves, and you know what, that is okay.
The show needs work, no doubt, but make no mistake I enjoy this show and so should you, or at least take a different look at the show and take it for what it is, a different version of characters we love. The show may fall off a cliff and become something I don't like. I'm only 3 episodes in, but until then, I'm not gonna allow those who hang on to traditional values ruin something that could be fun. Give it a chance.
