Why is the 'Scooby-Doo' spin off drawing criticism?

The controversial series, titled ‘Velma’, is marred by absurd race-swapping, and dull humour

The Scooby-Doo spin-off-cum-prequel, Velma, has been the target of brutal criticism ever since the first episode aired on January 12. The series follows the titular character Velma Dinkley, voiced by executive producer Mindy Kaling. It portrays the origin story for the character in an alternate setting.

The show has taken considerable creative liberty with the characters, changing many of their races to promote inclusivity. For instance, the protagonist Velma is now an Indian girl. Daphne and Norville (Shaggy) are also different, with the former being portrayed as an Asian and the latter as biracial in origin.

The race-swapping of the characters comes out rather forced, as it relies on stereotypes to paint their personalities. Race also ends up being the brunt of the show’s humour as seen in the first episode where Fred can only recognise white people or when Velma questions Daphne, now Asian, for selling drugs, mentioning that minorities can only sell drugs “to escape poverty”.

A common complaint is the removal of the iconic dog Scooby-Doo who was apparently “too goofy” for this adult take. ‘Velma’ sells itself as an adult version of the franchise but never really treats you as one. Its repetitive use of gore and nudity is for the most part unnecessary. It seems they included these elements just to make the series appear more “mature”. Velma does bring up some relevant issues but never explores them properly. This makes the social commentary come off rather shallow and snarky.

Another annoying factor is the show’s constant reliance on meta-humour. It makes use of trends and tropes from pop culture and breaks the fourth wall multiple times. Few jokes are clever. Apart from that, the series constantly making the viewer self-aware with references to the real world tends robs the viewers off their immersive experience. Much of modern entertainment is guilty of this and ‘Velma’ is no different. Apart from a handful of references, ‘Velma’ has no connection to the original series. It would have been better if they had used original characters instead of tampering with childhood favourites.

Even the style and tone of the show are different, leaning more towards the episodic subplots than the overarching mystery. The characters of the show aren’t entirely likeable either. Fred’s whiny yet narcissistic personality and Daphne’s mean popular girl dynamic are exhausting. Velma herself is unbearably cynical and hypocritical. The show does address these character flaws in certain episodes but it makes no effort to illustrate character growth as they continue to exhibit their detestable behaviour throughout the series.

The mystery itself is intriguing but poorly paced and feels stretched out. The gang hardly gets any closer to finding the serial killer with each episode. It instead uses the investigation as an excuse to start yet another subplot with some woke commentary. The series seems more like a satirical parody of Scooby Doo than a new installment.

To the show’s credit, it does exhibit some delightful animation. This is at its best when it materialises the protagonist’s recurrent hallucinations. Whenever the protagonist experiences a panic attack, the lighting experiences a green tint and the background starts warping as the environment converges to restrict her. It conveys well to the viewers what Velma is going through.

(The series is not available in India. It’s streaming on HBO Max through Amazon Prime Video.)