Velma is coming to HBO Max, and with it comes an important question: How much is this going to inform our love of Scooby-Doo? Or more accurately, how much is our love of Scooby-Doo going to affect how we feel about Velma? For me, I got to sit in at the press conference at New York Comic-Con, and hearing how both star Mindy Kaling and creator Charlie Grandy loved the original cartoon has given my Scooby-loving heart hope. (Velma is also not the only content we’re getting, there is a Scooby-Doo Halloween special happening too!)
I was that kid who had a Scooby-Doo doll and a clock with Scooby-Doo on it in my room. I loved this detective dog and his group of friends as they tried to solve mysteries, and I wanted more. So getting a series about the gang that is geared towards adults? That’s a treat! An animated series heading to HBO Max, the show is a bit more diverse than the group of white kids in the Mystery Machine.
The series is all about them as teens and helps to inform why they became the Mystery Gang as we knew them. The press conference had Grandy saying that the show was an adult answer to something like Riverdale, and it did get compared, often, to the animated Harley Quinn show to help set the tone, but it also is a new fun look at characters we know and love.
Learning about the Gang as teens
When you think about Velma, Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, and Daphne, you instantly think about them unmasking creeps and riding around in the van. You think about their iconic looks and their adult selves but there are moments in their lives that we don’t know much about. Like the why of it all. Grandy pointed out that it was the inspiration for the series and also noted that if you stop and think about it, they were seemingly solving these mysteries for free.
So this series takes us to them as kids and is meant to inspire them to become the gang as we know them. Shaggy isn’t even his name yet, and seeing the evolution of these characters is really exciting. As someone who is a fan of the original cartoon as well as the live-action movie, getting any new information in this universe is an exciting time, but it is also just fantastic to think about this series and this world and what could have inspired them.
It just feels like this world is so ripe for storytelling, and it is weird that there isn’t more Scooby-Doo content out there. Who doesn’t instantly recognize the coloring of the outfits or the Mystery Machine? It’s a staple, and I love that we’re getting shows like Velma, and I can’t wait to see what it holds for us.
So does being a fan of Scooby-Doo help? Yes! Because you care. This show seems like the kind that even if you didn’t care about the world, you could enjoy, but having that loved built in and enjoying these characters before? That can only help to enrich the story we’re being told, and it is going to be a beautiful ride. Also, an adult show where the gang swears and talks about sex and murder? SIGN ME UP.
(featured image: HBO)
