Honestly I haven't looked into it but I am convinced the award had nothing to do with this show and they just mentioned the two together in the same breath to make it SEEM like there's a connection as a marketing strategy. but I haven't looked into it too deep. As always I'm more interested in just the show as it stands XD for my own sanity tbh
@@c-puff oh yeah, I don't think it had anything to do with the show. But it's one of those things that make you wonder whether we're living in the Matrix - one with a number of missing DLCs, patches and with some very obscure mods installed (such as the one that makes goats scream).
@@TroySpace honestly, I think we have to be in a beta version of the matrix that isn't getting any patches or updates. It's just auto running and slowly falling apart
@@TroySpace “Psychological Warfare” How woke can you get? The show hurt your feelings so it’s now “warfare”? No wonder the US is a dump. Actual important things are happening that need addressing but a horrendous cartoon is what people are concerned about.
To be fair, the boobytrap thing for Fred was based on him being the guy who always came up with whatever trap they needed to catch the "monster" in each episode back in the original series. So that was something sorta always there, Mystery Inc. just chose to emphasize it.
@@clarenceonyekwere5428 That's very telling though, how bad this show really is. It's so bad that even its attempts to be faithful to the source material annoy and offend its audience. It's like that anecdote, that "when you hate someone, everything they do is offensive. Look at that fucker eating those crackers. Like he fucking owns the place!"
If anyone here hasn’t yet watched Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated, it is the best display of all the characters, especially Fred. Fred was smart, charming, and a leader people could actually follow.
He's also what can only be described as Trapsexual, as in he loves making, using, and thinking of Traps... literal traps not the other kind.... And it's actually endearing tbh
About the only thing you could really hold against MI's version of Fred is that he was emotionally immature; and given his role model in the series never really encouraged emotions, it's not hard to understand why such things took the character a while to understand. All the characters have issues, but you definitely see character growth throughout the seasons.
I liked the portrayal of Velma as the bitter ex (which actually is justified) who has done the mystery inc stuff for so long she is official done with all the bullshit.
@@Donnerbalken28 If anyone had the right to be totally done with the BS, it was Velma in MI. The whole f-ed up triangle with her, Shaggy, and Scooby was really dumb drama for the pure sake of there being drama. I've never had a dog, so if they're anywhere near as needy and possessive as Scooby was, someone fill me in. Shaggy not having the guts to just tell his best friend/pet that he had a girlfriend, one said dog also liked most of the time, made even less sense!
plus actually good mysteries that ahd genuinely threatening antagonists with cool designs, fun if convoluted explanations and, most importantly, actually good jokes built off of the situation.
Velma straight up committing assault in the first episode for no other reason than she’s a shitty human being is what boggles my mind. Like there is no reason to route for her with that one move.
I feel like part of the reason why people complain about the characters not being likeable is because this is an already existing IP with already established characters who have never been portrayed as a bunch of assholes who hate eachother, but as nice people who are all friends and this is upsetting for a lot of longtime fans.
well that too but in my view it can also be jsutified byt the fact that the characters are TOO unliable. there is no balance. The show opens with the title character brutally beating the shit out of one of the other main characters out of nowhere for no reason and its too brtual and realsitic to be comedic slapstick and the motives are too unclear to be funny or cathartic and it leads to nothing so it jsut feels like pointless sadism for th sake of it. the cruelty is just NOT FUNNY and so you can only see it for cruelty. and that's what these characters are (well mostly velma honestly): they're cruel. they're jsut TOO MEAN.
Honestly I thinks its because the most awful unlikable character of all not only is the main character but the show refuses to frame them accordingly, instead the show bends over backwards to try and frame Velma likes she's smart and snarky with just some rough edges because she's a social outcast but no she's just selfish, manipulative, cruel, and frankly just all around toxic and the joke is she doesn't even come off being all that smart which is literally supposed to one of the defining traits of the character Norville comes off as the most bookish nerdy character in the group, Velma mostly comes off as arrogant and conceited probably because the writing staff don't actually know the difference between that and actually being smart. Seriously the part the where Fred falls in love with Velma because of her supposed inner beauty was a bad joke because Velma is way uglier inside than out. "Knows herself?" Velma has no idea who she is if because she did she'd try and be a better person. "Natural born Leader?" more like manipulative, callus, sociopath that just wants people to just do what she wants.
another reason i think is because this is clearly a self insert,and like many self insert the world bend to how the charachter want things to go to please their own world view,i hate that a lot of fanfiction are like this but the fact more and more "real show" with big budget and made by corporation are resembling shitty fanfic is absurd
If there's one thing that I like that the Velma show did... It allowed a lot of Fred Jones Compilations to show up in my recommended, and get a new found appreciation and how his character was built slowly over fifty years
Velma made me realize how much I liked Fred as a character normally. Seeing how he’s treated + knowing that they got Frank Welker to play his dad just makes me angry tbh.
Are you serious? The accurate depictions of Fred meant nothing to you until this spoiled, pathetic, entitled version came out? No wonder the country is such a dump if that’s the kind of character people “appreciate”.
I think the main thing about the "everyone is awful" trope is that the characters get constantly called out for it, or they fail in their endeavors at awful things To use Always Sunny as an example: No one claps their hands at Charlie for stalking the waitress and sniffing glue No one thinks Dennis is a role model for bein a creepy sex offender No one thinks Mac is smart for his antisemetic thoughts or his hyper Christian views on stuff Everyone thinks Dee is the worst, regardless of what she does They all think Frank going on benders all the time is great because he gives them money But the thing with Frank, or even when they thought Dennis was in the right in The D.E.N.N.I.S. System, or any of the others being in the right at any other point, is that they still portray each of them as terrible people that do terrible things all throughout. Whether it is by having normal people telling them how terrible they are (like the therapists in The Gang Gets Analyzed or The Gang Gives Frank an Intervention), or by having them tell each other how bad they are, or by having their plans fail spectacularly. But that never happens in Velma. What negative consequence did she suffer that wasn't immediately followed by something good? Velma gets ran over by a car > Immediately meets the one person who gives her half the answers of the case Velma and the gang fall into a cave for being jealous freaks > Immediately find the villain's lair and her mom Velma gets Fred jailed by insulting and forcing him to give a "confession" (for a crime he didn't commit and in which he admitted nothing) > Fred develops a crush on her and becomes her friend And only time she gets called out for real is when she's shaming the hot girls for wanting to be hot. And yes, slut shaming is gross, or whatever... But the point of them being turned ugly wasn't to slut shame them, it's to not have them killed. Of course, women shouldn't be murdered for wanting to get sexy, that's a very nice message and all, but I don't think the serial killer will care much about it.
exactly they're shitty but there's no catharsis in their meanness, no real humuour to be found in it, and no moral so you cna't even jsutify it with "character arrrrc"
Also anytime a character calls out her behavior or doesn't want to be around her she does the not really an apology thing where the show is basically saying "see she's sorry" but then forgets it like a minute later because she goes back to how she normally is. There's not real growth with her character, it's like a rollercoaster that when you get to the top instead of completing the ride you just go backwards and have to start from the beginning again.
@@rushink You know, the showrunners keep making a show they don't like, keep on writing in the studio, and see there's a black clad guy coming into their office, not saying a word, they are very startled by it, but don't say anything because of the implication.
Comparing this to HGS is genuinely unfair. In HGS, you could tell that the writers liked and had fun with the characters and story they created despite writing them incompetently which made it still kinda endearing in a bizarre way. But this show doesn't even seem to like itself.
C-puff does in fact say this, also pointing out that HGS was done by complete newbies with no experience but also genuine love for their project, while this was done by industry veterans. Mindy Kaling got her start writing, acting, producing the US series of The Office. She even got a medal from the US president for her work. She of all people should know how to make something funny.
HGS is a evident someone has a grand idea bot not the skill neccesary to build upon it. Most character are either half-baked or not write correctly, themes that bounce around the place because there was a room of yes-people whom never dare to correct the heads of the real opretation and obviously crunch animation and while it did represent ideals in a borish matter with no much to give... it has love and people who cared. Velma is all that's wrong in adult animation, crass humor that exists to mock the audince, rancid vitriol pushed by nehilistic writters that hates with passion their lives and want everyone to hate it as much, animation that while great only exentuates the awful quialities of the writting, nepotism build in every square-inch of the building. And hate, just, blatant hate for the characters, the universe, the IP, the fans, the haters, everyone.
At least you can tell Raye Rodriguez had a passion for his OCs by how much he talked about the show before and after it aired, even after all the harrassment, he is still passionate I genuinely, hope he becomes better, a better, writer and can give his characters the stories they and his passion deserve Also hope he stops giving excuses and accepts he is not as good as he thinks he is But this, the Velma show, just felt like they had an idea for a parody of school shows ( most obviouslyRiverdale) and execs told them "we need a Scooby Doo show, add the characters to this" It hates all the tropes that's included in it, but still can't think of something better or a way to implement them It doesn't do anything new, and the only unpredictable things about it are the twists that come out of nothing, like most of the last episode
I do think it’s kinda funny that the one character they actively worked their hardest to to make unlikable is actually by far and away the most liked character in the cast. I haven’t seen a single person say they lived Velma or daphne. And most people like norville for a bit and then get super disappointed that he fails them at the end. And then there is Fred who they made the punching bag but is actively trying throughout the show to be a good person, even if he fails. Thus making him the only actually likable character in this show. I wonder how the writers feel about that.
I actually kinda disagree. I think Fred is made to be the butt of the joke in many ways, and also this silly but well-meaning guy. But I'm not sure if the writers meant for him to be the most unlikeable... The other characters do much more heinous shit than him. I'm just not sure if Fred being made fun of is intended for us to hate him or feel bad for him.
@@lauraanderson8785 for a normal everyday person I would 100% agree with you. But the writers of this show aren’t normal everyday people, they are Hollywood types. And for Hollywood types Fred is the worst kind of person. He is white. He is rich. He is dumb. He is racist (according to the writers who more then likely don’t believe the other characters can be racist). He is a womanizer. Then after reading the feminism book, you can also add he’s a simp. And he is a the type of male feminist who speaks over women. That’s like the ultimate list of things that Hollywood doesn’t like. Only thing missing is he’s abusive which they made him like 60% of the way there with his short temper. I wouldn’t be surprised at all that when and if season 2 actually gets made that they crank him up to 11 because they didn’t expect people to like him. That’s just my take on it, perhaps I’m wrong.
This should have just been an original show. Imagine if High Guardian Spice was "Usagi" and featured the cast of Sailor Moon. At the very least when HGS failed, it only failed HGS. Ray, Crunchyroll, and the studio behind everything screwed up, but they screwed up on their own terms. It's still a bad show, but it's its _own_ bad show. You won't get HGS anywhere except HGS. You can get the concepts in Velma in a dozen other shows featuring the same characters, but better. I think it's great that you point out criticism is more deserved on this one. HGS was a bad show and Ray handled the backlash poorly, but compare that to the juggernauts with their much larger pocket-fulls of money that worked on this one. Budget may not have been the only issue with HGS, but what is Velma's excuse? Because it can't even argue that much. I'm not going to pretend I have the expertise to critique this show the way someone in the industry does, but I can critique how it made me feel. It made me feel just alienated. It disliked the concept of Scooby-Doo, which is why the Great Dane isn't present. It disliked the concept of adult animation and mocked the idea that adults want to watch cartoons. It made every person on the cast feel like an absolute jerk, so I can't identify with anyone. I don't know how it wanted me to join in. I genuinely like the concept of diversifying the cast and adding personality quirks that help further flesh them out, but it also simultaneously makes everyone so emotionally shallow that I don't like them, and just wish for the old cast back.
That was the original intention, but no studio would green light it because of it being original, and new, it has no following and therefore a huge financial gamble, instead they attached a highly popular and loved franchise with an already huge following with thousands of fans so it would be a financial benefit until it airs.
I'm finally glad someone mentioned the bad acting. Also, since Velma only cares about Norville when it benefits her. it makes sense that Norville is a "Nice guy". through out the relationship it's obvious to him that the relationship is transactional. So to get her attention (and hopefully attraction) he has to do some unsavory things. Love that you're talking about this show
That "I was stupid as a teenager" vs "teenagers are stupid" comment hit the nail on the head. The former position comes from a place of human understanding, humility, and even affection. The Clone High writers understood how they had their own foibles and weren't afraid to poke fun at them and drew even the ridiculous events from a point of empathy allowing the audience to connect and enjoy the show. The latter position comes from how smart the writers think they are and how superior they feel to teenagers, especially the ones they went to school with. They don't try to relate any kind of empathy to the teenagers or understanding of how they might feel, just poor caricatures with no recognizable humanity about them, therefore we can't connect to them or feel any humor from their actions. The constant meta references are them just bragging how smart they are over actually having humor. The whole thing was just a vanity project where the self-insert Velma is smarter than everyone and every character that's actually important is in lover with her and that the writers can feel they can get back at their high school bullies or everyone they thought was "above" them by making stand-ins for them in the show and makeing them look stupid and immoral.
you gotta love that the show supposedly tries to portray velma as super smart despite frewuently showing her to be a dumbass who makes many mistakes and incorrect assumptions (at least in the first episode) and is msotly jsut ARROGANT, not SMART.
Exactly this whole show reeks of "I hated high school because I wasn't with the popular crowd". I also feel they didn't have a lot of friends either (if you don't have friends that's your fault not anybody else's)
“Why is Fred jacked?” “Got obsessed with entomology and began working out to honor the origin of the word gymnasium. Then, when the owner began paying him to continue working out, as long as he wore pants. Saves so much on a gym membership.”
Mystery Incorporated is still the most mature of all Scooby Doo media, despite the claims that Velma tried to play to. It's the differences between a child's idea of maturity (Vulgarity, blood, nudity) and actual maturity. Characters deal with societal expectations, the philosophy of free will versus providence, obessession, regret, guilt, the idea that you can make your own future and go your own direction, that you are not your family, and that greed will ruin the foundations of any person.
This show is like self-insert fiction I wrote in high school. The difference is I was a teenager with no film making experience. These are grownups with decades in Hollywood.
I appreciate the fact you referenced JelloApocalypse's breakdown of the Scooby-Doo characters. Looking back on that only makes Velma seem worse because of how it seems to so aggressively oppose all the points he made in that video. Edit: Also... me. I'm in this video. Huh.
This video kept reminding me more and more about OSP's trope talk about Lampshading. There's a specific quote there where Red said "if the author wasn't happy with this story beat, why did they still choose to write it that way?" (ua-cam.com/video/G1gzqtwrutw/v-deo.html) and at first while watching the episode i thought, "well sometimes that's a teenager, a young fanfic author who doesn't know there's other ways, they write the story beat that way because they always see it like that and think that it might be the only way, but still notice that it gets used a lot enough to lampshade it. But this isn't the case here in Velma, these authors Are experienced. they just wrote a story in a genre and medium they have visceral hate for, and couldn't possibly make anyone think that they enjoy it, so they had to let their opinion be heard every half a second. At that point, just start a podcast, scream your opinions into the void
Velma has to be one of the most hate- and spitefull pieces of media I've ever seen. It hates it's audience, source material, medium and basically everything else you could hate.
@@osets2117 My guess is that it was too far in production to cancel and they thought they'd throw it out in hopes of making at least some money from it.
@@Alexander59059 doesn't necessarily say much since shows get renewed quite early. It might have been a foregone conclusion or they decided to renew after the first 1-3 episodes.
They also had brains in jars and none of them were screaming constantly at the top of their speakers. Those things freak me out when they scream but it's also the way they're SUPPOSED to be. So seeing them just not screaming and lamenting about the loss of their body was offputting and kept making me think of screams that weren't there. Like... "Did the writers not think about how utterly horrifying this concept is?"
Honestly, I've never interpreted the Mystery Inc version of Velma as a b*tch. I've always seen those negative traits of hers as a direct side effect of her trying to force a relationship with someone who doesn't prioritize her the way she wanted them to. I've never associated it with her sexuality one way or another, like it was kinda Shaggy's fault for being so passive and letting Scooby and Velma fight over his priorities and run from the conversation instead of just sitting them both down and saying that they all need to work out a way to make this new dynamic work. I honestly don't even hate Velma and Shaggy being paired together, just how his relationship was handled since it came across like a guy trying to casually date two women who were both pushing him to pick one and get serious. I even think Scooby came across as equally negative in that situation.
to be fare with Scooby I can understand why he was angry. his friend at random times ditching him, Velma being mean to him, and then finding out that his friend was keeping something like that a secret from HIM, his best friend is a hard pill to swallow. so I can understand why he was giving shaggy a hard time along with velma.
There's this little game series of detective games, the first one in the series is called Detective Grimoire and it's so lovingly animated, the characters have this great cartoonish design and the puzzle are fantastic so it quickly became one of my favorite detective games. But I like the sequel Tangle Tower better cause everything in the first game comes back improved. I'm only sharing this cause these games gave me huge Scooby Doo vibes, it's all in the comedic writing.
I love Tangled Tower. The characters are all very unique and fun to follow and the story always keep you guessing about the mystery until the very end. This is because the mystery keeps getting deeper and deeper as it goes on. Tangled Tower is one of the best point and click games in existence.
I do believe Velma is way way worse than high guardian spice for one simple reason: INTEND. HGS sucks because of a utterly lack of talent and proper direction, but in velma you can tell the people making it knew what the fck they were doing. The hallucinations parts are very well animated and the show as a whole is horrible but has a professional level of production, way better than most adulswim things, way better than most adult oriented cartoons -but it truly feels and is clear to see that they made it as bad as possible on purpose. Sometimes it looks awful and right afterwards it looks amazing; for example, when fred throws that paper cutter he's STIFF and very badly animated, but when the thing bounces and cuts the legs it's very well animated, it's endearing to say the least.
The first is like the waiter dropping your soup on your head by accident, Velma is like the waiter do it intentionally because you offened it by just existing.
Anyway, I don't think that Fred was portrayed as being dumb in the post live action era. His fascination with traps was useful, beyond being a joke, and has been sort of a leader. Velma, in Mystery Inc., probably wasn't the nicest person, especially in the Shaggy romance arc, but she wasn't mean. I don't remember anything of that sort, at least. On Velma, however, she's a truly horrible person. This show as a whole is just mean spirited with no good reason.
yeah MI Velma was the worst part of MI seaosn one but she was never CRUEL. She was nevr truly ARROGANT. She was never protrayed as holier than thou. She was never shown as the type of eprson who'd brutally assault one of her old friends over a petty, self-sabotaging grudge.
Fred usually was portrayed as oblivious to some things, rather than dumb. He just wasn't exactly good at picking up some subtexts, taking things at face value. But if you were being blunt and open with him, he was doing perfectly fine, and was smart when it comes to things he's interested in.
also as for "are they gay straight etc" I feel like when its something that gets revamped a lot its basically "this version of so and so is blank" not their whole being and every version" but that's just me.
Almost forgot to write a comment because you said it so well that I had nothing more to say 👏 I like how you mentioned that "unlikable character cast" *has* worked before, I think people forget that a TV show doesn't need likable characters to do their story well or have fun. Community is another example that comes to mind, Dan Harmon's self sabotaging depressed attitude aside.
If we're getting into serious shows, House of Cards is a perfect example of how to make the audience root even for an outwardly monstrous, borderline sociopathic protagonist. Hell, they even break the fourth wall constantly to tell the audience that they're sick fucks for enjoying the ride. Well at least for the first 3 seasons. After that, the show kinda lost track of its narrative and themes (Hell, i personally think the show should have ended with Frank becoming President, to drive the point home that there is nothing that can stop him now, with the fate of the world in the hands of a madman)
Ok, I finished watching. I like how you notice the positives or the things that you like in the show, plus some of the critiques of other Scooby Doo things (I personally never liked the "sassy" Velma either, plus her little ribbon doesn't fit the design at all imo). Also, I need to watch the Zombie Island one, it looks cool (as well as the KISS one).
Zombie Island is legit a lot of fun. It hits that balance where it's a horror movie but made for kids. So it's creepy and feels like it has real stakes but it's not TOO scary so kids can still have fun with it. But at the time it was the hardest Scooby Doo had gone with the horror. The KISS one is just insane in the best possible way and completely on purpose. It had KISS powering a guitar shaped spaceship with the power of Rock. It's incredible. it also has Matthew Lillard playing Shaggy which is fantastic.
i agree on you for sure on so much. especially how you can pull back no punches on someone who should have all the time talent experience etc vs new people in the thing.
11:12 As a European man, I am wondering if anyone ever described herself as "an Asian woman." Or "Yeah, I'm Chinese or Japanese or Korean or Cantonese or something."
For all the issues with HGS, it was harmless. Velma feels vindictive like the writers are working through some deep-seated anger with it. Ultimately, I'd rather be locked in a room with Sage or Rosemary than this version of Velma any day.
@johnoconnell5004 If we're going down that road, I'd rather be locked in a room with Misato Katsuragi and Faye Valentine. My point remains for all her issues Sage is s far more likeable character than Mindy..err I mean this version of Velma.
One key to understanding Fred is that all four human characters were cribbed from the old Dobie Gillis show. Dobie was tall and blonde, but definitely not a jock. He was incredibly below average and was obsessed with girls--because he didn't have one. He didn't really have a snowball's chance with the Daphne of his classroom because she was Tuesday Weld, and sat next to Warren Beatty, literally Warren Beatty before his movie career took off. Warren Beatty was essentially the villain of the series, always showing Dobie up, because unlike Dobie he was rich and handsome. Dobie's best friend was beatnik Maynard G Krebbs, the proto-Shaggy. Maynard was played by Bob Denver (later Gilligan of Gilligan's Island) and you'll notice that Shaggy has his nose. There was no Scooby, but Maynard was good with animals and sometimes had entire scenes pouring his heart out to monkeys or cats. There was one girl who determined to catch Dobie: Zelda, the model for Velma. Hard-headed, matter-of-fact, scientific to a fault. In a TV movie reunion decades later, the creator/writer of the series revealed that they did finally get married, and took over the Gillis family's mom and pop grocery. Zelda and Maynard's characterizations flowed easily into the cartoon mystery comedy, but Dobie's principal obsession with girls wasn't much use. Except you might say his attempts to catch girls turned into Fred's expertise with setting traps.
Oh I think I just recently read about this show in my “1001 tv shows to watch before you die” book! Thank you for the info! I’m gonna reread this section
It's amazing how the creators of this show managed to unite people from all over the political spectrum in hating it, which considering how divided we are nowadays is a fucking miracle
Hey the mystery incorporated Velma wasn't a bad character at all in fact they provided depth to the generic "smart girl with glasses" they made her not deal with nonsense well at all which not only compliments her intelligence it also provides both a flaw and strength to her character
for the Fred part. Honestly its kinda amazing having that 1 thing you like. Even if its weird. Honestly it can be very atractive to find someone with a passion
I watched it once, to see if it was really as bad as people claim. You know the deleted scene in the original Alien, where Dallas has been cocooned by the Xenomorph and begs Ripley to kill him because what he's going through is so horrible? Yeah... I'd prefer going through that over ever watching this insult to Scooby-Doo again
In the original Fred also set up the traps. he had a strategy to catch the monster of the week that didn't work out all the time due to the bumblings of Scooby and Shaggy.
So in your opinion Fred in the later series is the well built guy suffering from Asperger syndrome. -Hyper Fixations -Not dumb but comes off weird -Social awkward -Rigid thinking which leads to repetitive action The first and the last actually fit his traps from the beginning of the series until now. They never were even particularly good thought out and yet he kept making rube Goldberg machine style traps, the worst kind of machine since one failure at any point renders a mostly perfect design useless. At the same time his execution was impressive and suggested a talent for mechanical design if he just thought them out better which is the not actually dumb part.
That was a fantastic breakdown. Love how you weren’t just whole hog against the show and actually pointed out when it was funny. Most videos covering this tend to not do that.
Fred is the Goat, he's always into something peculiar, and what's best he's earnest to the fullest, while every other character kinda likes this or that based on thei9r preference Fred could be into Foliage or Scissors history and the next time he's into plastic wraps and artsy framework.
The thing with unlikable character based shows is that you still have to make them kinda likeable in some fashion, not go too far, and the show still has to acknowledge that those traits are bad in some way. Velma treats all the negative traits that the characters have as complete positives. It also treats the trait of just having a certain skin tone as evil all on its own. Edit: also the absolute fact that they forget that their characters are 15 and still do all the extreme sexual things they do with the characters as if it isn't messed up.
When I think of HGS I picture one of these Mass Effect fanfics that are crossovers with Transformers, Warhammer, Deuss Ex, My Little Pony, and half a dozen other setting, and have a humanity lead by a council composed of Optimus Prime, Prince Celestia and Naruto. It’s a very misguided product but one created by someone who truly wanted to make it. It failed for a lack of focus, direction and experience, but not a lack of passion. When I see Velma, I see the oposite. It can have great animation when it wants to (the panic scenes) and the writing is sharp and precise. The problem then is that the purpose of that dialogue is to fill watchers with hatred for the characters and the show itself. It feels like the creation of a group of people who knew what they were doing but absolutely hated every moment of it.
at the end of this all I can say is that I wholeheartedly agree with your oppinion as well as the comments that you presented. Everything about this show had felt so hateful to the point of me not being able to enjoy a single thing about it when I (truthfully hate-)watched it. Even the pretty dope animation in velmas halucinations didn't help eliviate the bitterness left on my tongue as an aftertaste. I also think that Shaggy and Freds VA's tried their best with what they had, but nothing can save terribly rotten lines.
It's so rough because you can tell a LOT of people working on this not involved with the writing really did put a lot of work and care into this. Which makes me frustrated because these artists deserve their efforts to be for much better products than this. But that's how it goes. You get given crap but buy God are you gonna pretend it's the most important piece of art you're working on!
One thing I noticed about Velma was that they didn't transition between the different tones cleanly. It almost felt like someone was given a list of jokes and serious moments and told to fit it all into an episode.
On your rant about Fred being autistic coded: YESS OH MY GODS YES. I’m autistic and he was always my favorite as a kid, because it felt like he was the one I could relate too the most. And I was so upset how in Velma they made fun of his anger issues as I too had really bad anger issues as a kid (they still flare up sometimes, but they’re way way better), and they are NOT something to be made fun of. Maybe in a light aspect, but they seriously make life hard.
26:47 OKAY BUT THIS. This is how the show could've been saved. This could've genuinely been a fun dynamic to have throught the series if executed correctly. Unfortunately the show had to throw all that out the window (or not even concider it) and fvck everything else up--
I've seen this video twice now and the only thing rattling in my brain after this (besides loving your videos!) is "I should totally watch Scooby-Doo! and KISS"
Heyyyyyyyy fun fact: the people who aren’t making death threats or angry about the race changes or Velma being a lesbian, forgetting those people exist for a minute. The scooby doo fans who are peaceful and dog loving, are righteously pissed. Reason being that since the release of Velma, actually before and after, the release of Velma there has been projects being cancelled left and right, especially 4 scooby doo projects. Haunted high rise, which had everything done except animation. Scoob 2 holiday haunt, think that one was almost done. Scooby doo and the mystery pups, a preschool scooby show that hbomax dropped and they need to find a new distributor. And most importantly scooby doo and krypto too, a completely done scooby doo movie that was leaked online but was never announced, I’m guessing it was going to be like one of the yearly scooby doo specials but zaslav said “nope put it in the bin”. Don’t know if they’ll actually put scooby doo kyrpto too on dvd or not because they haven’t really said anything about. But yeah, Velma is the thing that stayed while everything else got the boot. Honestly from my research this show was hbomaxs or wbs cry of pure desperation. I say that because like a movie, they use celebrity power to promote, they changed the race, they gave no push back for anything (except the dog, though I’m sure scooby heard the pitch, walked out and didn’t come back, and he’s his agent is telling them rell ro!) not the mention the well, let’s do everything that other shows are doing that makes them popular (while at the same time not understanding the concept and making anything good) Anyway, that’s all I got, if you want to know more I’d ask around the scooby doo subreddit. Stay away from the Velma subreddit, it’s aloooooot of denial. It’s cursed I’ll say that.
Oh thank you! I'll be sure to check in on the subreddit! I also have an "in" on some Scooby Doo people who know what they're talking about, but my "contact" (for lack of a better word) is busy on a film shoot so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get the footage in time.
@C-Puff Person no problem. By the way after this, you definitely need a chaser to get this down easier. So I recommend a show that did being a teenage mystery show better, a Canadian show called Detentionaire. By the way it does hypnotism much better in the show along with teenagers, relationships, and above all Mystery. I rewatch it every year in December, and you can find it here on youtube. Also I never watched this show all the way through, i could barely get through episode 1 without almost breaking my iPad from unnecessary roughness. But episode 10, the revelation made me want to shining finger my iPad (it's a gundam move). Not kidding the theme went into my head and didn't leave the entire day. Love my anger and all of my sorrow. Okay have nice day and check out Detentionaire when you have a urge for trying something new. (Okay real quick, what you said about Fred having weird interests, for be cool scooby doo, they took that personality trait and put in Daphne. It's amazing she's a goofball and Fred is the straight man to her jokes.) Oooh one more thing (I'm done after this promise) you will find validation about velmas personality. People have complained that since mystery incorporated Velma has become some what of a bitch, though Mindys Velma turned it up to 11. Okay done
I watch a five hour compilation of your breakdown of HGS so you bet I’m here for this take down but my god I hope you balance out the bad with some actual good shows
Right around 1:00:00 “… I miss him” Actually got me, I might have to go find that show now! Huh look at that, something positive actually came from Velma
1:12:03 I did wonder why you never referred to Velma's VA by name. And, in this instance, it might behoove you to look her up, since she's also the creator and executive producer of the show. Yes, the VA of Velma is also responsible for EVERYTHING in this show,
Oh yeah I’m aware of that! Mindy something. Apparently she’s like a well known celebrity or something in the comedy sphere. Probably SNL related? Idk but her being a “name” makes me want to disregard her all the more. I’ll probably mention her by name at some point but mostly it’s my usual “oh you’re using a celebrity as a marketing tactic? Sorry, I don’t know who any of these people are and I don’t care. Make a good show. Your tactics have no power here.”
@@c-puff Mindy Kaling. If you watched "The Office," you've probably seen her. And, if she were just a name, I'd agree there's really no point in talking about her. However, thing is, Velma is basically Mindy Kaling's Self Insert, which, in my opinion, puts a completely different spin on things, what with her being the creator, executive producer, and title character who bears certain physical resemblances with the in-show character. Factor in that she very proudly and publicly admitted to forcing herself onto a known gay man during her TV show "The Mindy Project" and then threatened to fire another for bringing up how that might be problematic, and... well, let's just say certain things kind of make more sense under that streetlamp. You might feel a bit different, and that's cool, but it's definitely something to check out, even if you ultimately find there's little point to it.
I could say a lot about Velma but a lot has been said and I'd rather go for something positive: I think this is your best video yet. Composition, pacing, audio, visual choices, timing, script - I even hear a confidence in your voice that feels really good to listen to. I've been enjoying your content for a while, but you know when you see a youtube creator that posts something that makes you think "This is it, this is a level up" ? This is the best video on Velma out there and I'm excited for the future part(s) I'm going to proudly share this one any chance I get.
Hot damn C-Puff, UA-cam straight up tried to hide this from me. Good thing I saw your Twitter post and scrolled through my subscription feed ^^; So two things: 1) The new Deadpan expression made me laugh every time it came up XD 2) You know, I never thought of Fred that way. But as you listed all the things about him, particularly his fixations... as someone on the spectrum I have to say, Bravo Scooby-Doo I can now rewatch those movies with a newfound appreciation for our Golden Boy whether it was intended or not. On that note, yeah... that’s such a disappointing missed opportunity with Velma’s Fred. :(
This just made me want to rewatch Clone High again, thanks! Was such a great show. It, like Undergrads (another show I need to rewatch) was unfortunately too short lived. Only a season each, a damn shame Velma on the otherhand... well I won't say anything to get me banned so I'll leave it there.
Thank you for pointing me towards the Scooby Doo KISS crossover. They didn’t need to make Detroit Rock City an unbelievably epic boss fight, but it’s amazing.
The only good thing I've heard about this show is the animation itself. Some of the backgrounds have Easter eggs to other characters or mysteries the team solved in different shows, even images of the hex girls. But none of that was ever mentioned or noticed by the characters which leads me to believe it was the animation team trying to help keep us interested in some part of their work, even if the writing and jokes dropped the ball. Also times that circumvented the teams dynamic well: Monster from Mexico: Fred helps figure out the monster is not a native speaker due to his knowledge of the language and misuse of accents on words. Mystery Inc.: Daphne not understanding that Velma, (and her mother) were seen as the prettier one. Phantosaur: Shaggy being a badass KISS: Velma unable to comprehend the idea that the whole event was real because magic has no logic. ScoobyNatural: the entire gang freaking out that ghosts were real.
44:14 I believe what you are describing here with fred is called the himbo, something that came about in the 90’s, think like kronk, a simple but very likable jock type who always means well even if it means at times he’s utterly oblivious. But now that you mention it, oh my god how did I not see that he is autistic, I mean I gravitate towards him in every iteration and he’s been my favorite since what’s new scooby doo. Yet it makes so much sense.
@@ginnys.matthias1818 absolutely, this thing in velma isn’t Fred Jones, lets call him one of Mindy’s toy, because that’s how she is treating these characters.
@@Numatruehome poor plastic toy Fred :( it sucks because this review really showed that (despite me really not liking the direction they started Fred's character) if competently handled could have been...well competent...it wouldn't have been Fred still, but even not Fred deserved better as the only semi non mean-spirited character in this awful show
1:06:30 yes, thank you! Bisexual people are actually a thing. But as far as Hollywood is concerned, you're either (A) gay and in denial or (B) shipping gold, and can be OTPed with anything vaguely bipedal like it's a Robert Heinlein novel. 1:08:10 Holy crap, I was just about to bring up Ken Ashcorp's Absolute Territory (which I think Velma exemplifies even though it's knees not thighs)
Honestly, the show was just so BITTER. It seemed to dislike its source material, its audience, its choice of tone... while at the same time continually patting itself on the back. Add in SO much meta and off topic social topic discussion... It's just nauseating. You can change a LOT about Scooby Doo, as has been shown over the years, but consistent tone and emotional attachment is important. And, it's kinda sad, too. The show has legitimately good art and voice cast. But, you'd never even know it was a SD show if a couple names and colors were changed.
This made people realize how much Scooby was important to them. Nothing like butchering characters who raised you gets you to care about them. Fred should have been a himbo and his big secret is that he's keeping Scooby behind his parents back because Scooby isn't up to his breed's standard and it wouldn't look good for their image. Scooby could still talk but only either Fred or Velma can understand him
26:42 If only this show was in better hands, something like this could have been a reality. 38:03 They also somehow got Weird Al as the guy who gets his leg chopped off by Fred. What dirt did they have on these people? 50:08 This bit is the perfect summary of my feelings on the show when I wasn’t finding unintentional humor as my mind turned to mush. Thank you for suffering so some people don’t have to.
That thing Fred hurls back at the kids in school is not a guillotine, it is a paper cutter - it is a real office supply thing. The blade is on a spring and used to cut down stacks of paper multiple layers thick. Also, you could be excused for missing it, but red-haired glasses kid who gets his foot cut off, and who appears for bit roles in later episodes is voiced by Weird Al, which is baffling. Why get him for such a minute role, I have no idea...
@@SwiftNimblefoot It might have to do with the dutch influence in Africaans. I know we in Germany termed the office device "Fallbeil" (falling blade) for its resemblance to an executioner's sword, which was also the "Eindeutschung" (germanization) for the word "guillotine". Maybe in Dutch and Africaans, something similar happened.
1:09:40 Unfortunately, though Daphne wins, she doesn't get a gun. They forgot this point almost as soon as they said it. I would've liked to see at least a little continuity
You know how Chris Chan's mere existence haunts the sonic fanbase? Mindy's Velma is basically the same thing except it's a self insert, Sonichu is not an self insert of Sonic, Sonichu is apparently it's own thing
I figured out what irks me about the opening and the premise most specifically. Velma repeats over and over "This is my story, told my way" as if we're getting a new perspective on a story we've already heard. But like, we *haven't* heard this story yet. This isn't an adaptation, it's an original plot made for the show ("original" insofar as Scooby-Doo hasn't done this specific plot before). She puts emphasis on how she, not Fred, is the hero of this story but we never got the story from Fred's alleged pov before we got this. In fact considering all previous Scooby-Doo series I think Fred has the least screen time out of all the main cast. So the franchise never considered him the main character who needed the script flipped on him. It's such a bad faith way to approach the franchise. Wicked this ain't.
Scooby doo was the best part of my childhood I’d watch it all the time, this newest version of these characters physically hurts me in ways I can’t comprehend 😢
I really enjoy a lot of your takes, thanks so much for doing a Velma video and exposing yourself to all this so many times. I don't know where you're getting "hourglass Velma is a recent invention" when she's been like that since 1969, but I do love this (*visual*) take on the character.
I do like your discussion on Velma, although hoping that your brain and sanity survives… especially after learning that Season 2 has already been announced. (Most likely it’s because it was already made as a 20 episode show split into 2 seasons) I will say though, I kinda disagree, I personally am not a huge fan of Daphne’s design, I like aspects of it (like the shirt and leggings and such) but never been a fan of that hairstyle or the shoes… they kinda feel out of place to me with the rest of the design. Also I feel weird about them making Daphne Asian because they kept her orange hair and even try to come up with excuses for it… if they ignored it, I could accept that (I mean anime does that too) or if they gave a understandable reason, that’d work… but bringing it up and then having the answer be a joke was the worst choice IMO.
I just want to thank C-Puff and all the other content creators who so valiantly risked their sanity and will to live to watch this trash and survive to warn us all not to. Your sacrifices will be remembered. Thank you all for your service (from a former USN veteran, seriously...thank you!)
Velma is that ungodly combination of not funny, mean-spirited, cynical AND boring/predictable. At last check, it's rated as being worse than Santa Inc, which was listed as THE worst show of all time.
My benchmark for the worst show ever is still “Heil Honey I’m home” but despite the obvious bad taste and offensiveness, I think Velma might be a worse sit.
At least High Guardian Spice wasn't mean-spirited. Velma is just so spiteful and vile I have no idea how Mindy can even live with herself.
I mean it had a FEW moments of Mean-Spirited, but not to the extent of this yeah.
@@ShadowWolfRising This is where we are now.
@@CheeseOfMasters 'Weary Sigh'
I know
Her generous salary and royalties from other projects certainly helps.
@@Donnerbalken28 JK Rowling reference
It's no surprise that Velma's creator was honoured by the US President for her contributions to psychological warfare.
Honestly I haven't looked into it but I am convinced the award had nothing to do with this show and they just mentioned the two together in the same breath to make it SEEM like there's a connection as a marketing strategy. but I haven't looked into it too deep. As always I'm more interested in just the show as it stands XD for my own sanity tbh
@@c-puff oh yeah, I don't think it had anything to do with the show. But it's one of those things that make you wonder whether we're living in the Matrix - one with a number of missing DLCs, patches and with some very obscure mods installed (such as the one that makes goats scream).
@@TroySpace honestly, I think we have to be in a beta version of the matrix that isn't getting any patches or updates. It's just auto running and slowly falling apart
Do you care if what you say is true? That happened before Velma! But hey it’s all about your feelings.
@@TroySpace “Psychological Warfare”
How woke can you get? The show hurt your feelings so it’s now “warfare”?
No wonder the US is a dump. Actual important things are happening that need addressing but a horrendous cartoon is what people are concerned about.
“Norville is worried Velma is having another episode”
Same but in a very different context
To be fair, the boobytrap thing for Fred was based on him being the guy who always came up with whatever trap they needed to catch the "monster" in each episode back in the original series. So that was something sorta always there, Mystery Inc. just chose to emphasize it.
Yeah, she made it look like traps are a new addition to his personality. It was just taking his "thing" to an extreme.
@@clarenceonyekwere5428 That's very telling though, how bad this show really is. It's so bad that even its attempts to be faithful to the source material annoy and offend its audience. It's like that anecdote, that "when you hate someone, everything they do is offensive. Look at that fucker eating those crackers. Like he fucking owns the place!"
@@ScrambledAndBenedictUm… They were talking about the MI version.
@@wannabehistorian371 Yeah, MI took his existing affinity to traps and ramped it up to 11+1
If anyone here hasn’t yet watched Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated, it is the best display of all the characters, especially Fred. Fred was smart, charming, and a leader people could actually follow.
He's also what can only be described as Trapsexual, as in he loves making, using, and thinking of Traps... literal traps not the other kind....
And it's actually endearing tbh
About the only thing you could really hold against MI's version of Fred is that he was emotionally immature; and given his role model in the series never really encouraged emotions, it's not hard to understand why such things took the character a while to understand. All the characters have issues, but you definitely see character growth throughout the seasons.
I liked the portrayal of Velma as the bitter ex (which actually is justified) who has done the mystery inc stuff for so long she is official done with all the bullshit.
@@Donnerbalken28 If anyone had the right to be totally done with the BS, it was Velma in MI. The whole f-ed up triangle with her, Shaggy, and Scooby was really dumb drama for the pure sake of there being drama. I've never had a dog, so if they're anywhere near as needy and possessive as Scooby was, someone fill me in. Shaggy not having the guts to just tell his best friend/pet that he had a girlfriend, one said dog also liked most of the time, made even less sense!
plus actually good mysteries that ahd genuinely threatening antagonists with cool designs, fun if convoluted explanations and, most importantly, actually good jokes built off of the situation.
Velma straight up committing assault in the first episode for no other reason than she’s a shitty human being is what boggles my mind. Like there is no reason to route for her with that one move.
Yeah no wonder people thought she was the killer
I feel like part of the reason why people complain about the characters not being likeable is because this is an already existing IP with already established characters who have never been portrayed as a bunch of assholes who hate eachother, but as nice people who are all friends and this is upsetting for a lot of longtime fans.
well that too but in my view it can also be jsutified byt the fact that the characters are TOO unliable. there is no balance. The show opens with the title character brutally beating the shit out of one of the other main characters out of nowhere for no reason and its too brtual and realsitic to be comedic slapstick and the motives are too unclear to be funny or cathartic and it leads to nothing so it jsut feels like pointless sadism for th sake of it.
the cruelty is just NOT FUNNY and so you can only see it for cruelty. and that's what these characters are (well mostly velma honestly): they're cruel.
they're jsut TOO MEAN.
Honestly I thinks its because the most awful unlikable character of all not only is the main character but the show refuses to frame them accordingly, instead the show bends over backwards to try and frame Velma likes she's smart and snarky with just some rough edges because she's a social outcast but no she's just selfish, manipulative, cruel, and frankly just all around toxic and the joke is she doesn't even come off being all that smart which is literally supposed to one of the defining traits of the character Norville comes off as the most bookish nerdy character in the group, Velma mostly comes off as arrogant and conceited probably because the writing staff don't actually know the difference between that and actually being smart.
Seriously the part the where Fred falls in love with Velma because of her supposed inner beauty was a bad joke because Velma is way uglier inside than out. "Knows herself?" Velma has no idea who she is if because she did she'd try and be a better person. "Natural born Leader?" more like manipulative, callus, sociopath that just wants people to just do what she wants.
Yeah If a character has an established personality you can't paste a new one on there and expect people to recieve the character well still
another reason i think is because this is clearly a self insert,and like many self insert the world bend to how the charachter want things to go to please their own world view,i hate that a lot of fanfiction are like this but the fact more and more "real show" with big budget and made by corporation are resembling shitty fanfic is absurd
If there's one thing that I like that the Velma show did... It allowed a lot of Fred Jones Compilations to show up in my recommended, and get a new found appreciation and how his character was built slowly over fifty years
Velma made me realize how much I liked Fred as a character normally. Seeing how he’s treated + knowing that they got Frank Welker to play his dad just makes me angry tbh.
@@KlutzyNinjaKitty Agreed. But then again, he also voiced Baby Oopsie-Daisy in Dollman vs. Demonic Toys, so........yeah.
Are you serious? The accurate depictions of Fred meant nothing to you until this spoiled, pathetic, entitled version came out?
No wonder the country is such a dump if that’s the kind of character people “appreciate”.
He went from generic dude to autistic coded himbo, and we can't help but love him.
Fred is truly the underdog in a meta sense.
I think the main thing about the "everyone is awful" trope is that the characters get constantly called out for it, or they fail in their endeavors at awful things
To use Always Sunny as an example:
No one claps their hands at Charlie for stalking the waitress and sniffing glue
No one thinks Dennis is a role model for bein a creepy sex offender
No one thinks Mac is smart for his antisemetic thoughts or his hyper Christian views on stuff
Everyone thinks Dee is the worst, regardless of what she does
They all think Frank going on benders all the time is great because he gives them money
But the thing with Frank, or even when they thought Dennis was in the right in The D.E.N.N.I.S. System, or any of the others being in the right at any other point, is that they still portray each of them as terrible people that do terrible things all throughout. Whether it is by having normal people telling them how terrible they are (like the therapists in The Gang Gets Analyzed or The Gang Gives Frank an Intervention), or by having them tell each other how bad they are, or by having their plans fail spectacularly.
But that never happens in Velma.
What negative consequence did she suffer that wasn't immediately followed by something good?
Velma gets ran over by a car > Immediately meets the one person who gives her half the answers of the case
Velma and the gang fall into a cave for being jealous freaks > Immediately find the villain's lair and her mom
Velma gets Fred jailed by insulting and forcing him to give a "confession" (for a crime he didn't commit and in which he admitted nothing) > Fred develops a crush on her and becomes her friend
And only time she gets called out for real is when she's shaming the hot girls for wanting to be hot. And yes, slut shaming is gross, or whatever... But the point of them being turned ugly wasn't to slut shame them, it's to not have them killed. Of course, women shouldn't be murdered for wanting to get sexy, that's a very nice message and all, but I don't think the serial killer will care much about it.
exactly they're shitty but there's no catharsis in their meanness, no real humuour to be found in it, and no moral so you cna't even jsutify it with "character arrrrc"
The showrunners should probably watch your analysis, but they won't, because of the implication.
@@Donnerbalken28 Now, you... You said that word, "implication" the one time. Wha-... What implication?
Also anytime a character calls out her behavior or doesn't want to be around her she does the not really an apology thing where the show is basically saying "see she's sorry" but then forgets it like a minute later because she goes back to how she normally is. There's not real growth with her character, it's like a rollercoaster that when you get to the top instead of completing the ride you just go backwards and have to start from the beginning again.
@@rushink You know, the showrunners keep making a show they don't like, keep on writing in the studio, and see there's a black clad guy coming into their office, not saying a word, they are very startled by it, but don't say anything because of the implication.
Comparing this to HGS is genuinely unfair. In HGS, you could tell that the writers liked and had fun with the characters and story they created despite writing them incompetently which made it still kinda endearing in a bizarre way. But this show doesn't even seem to like itself.
the onlything they enjoyed was the art of animation probably - considering the designs are fairly consistent
C-puff does in fact say this, also pointing out that HGS was done by complete newbies with no experience but also genuine love for their project, while this was done by industry veterans. Mindy Kaling got her start writing, acting, producing the US series of The Office. She even got a medal from the US president for her work. She of all people should know how to make something funny.
HGS is a evident someone has a grand idea bot not the skill neccesary to build upon it. Most character are either half-baked or not write correctly, themes that bounce around the place because there was a room of yes-people whom never dare to correct the heads of the real opretation and obviously crunch animation and while it did represent ideals in a borish matter with no much to give... it has love and people who cared.
Velma is all that's wrong in adult animation, crass humor that exists to mock the audince, rancid vitriol pushed by nehilistic writters that hates with passion their lives and want everyone to hate it as much, animation that while great only exentuates the awful quialities of the writting, nepotism build in every square-inch of the building. And hate, just, blatant hate for the characters, the universe, the IP, the fans, the haters, everyone.
At least you can tell Raye Rodriguez had a passion for his OCs by how much he talked about the show before and after it aired, even after all the harrassment, he is still passionate
I genuinely, hope he becomes better, a better, writer and can give his characters the stories they and his passion deserve
Also hope he stops giving excuses and accepts he is not as good as he thinks he is
But this, the Velma show, just felt like they had an idea for a parody of school shows ( most obviouslyRiverdale) and execs told them "we need a Scooby Doo show, add the characters to this"
It hates all the tropes that's included in it, but still can't think of something better or a way to implement them
It doesn't do anything new, and the only unpredictable things about it are the twists that come out of nothing, like most of the last episode
HGS isn't very good, yeah, but there's something just... genuine to it that Velma could *never* have.
I do think it’s kinda funny that the one character they actively worked their hardest to to make unlikable is actually by far and away the most liked character in the cast. I haven’t seen a single person say they lived Velma or daphne. And most people like norville for a bit and then get super disappointed that he fails them at the end. And then there is Fred who they made the punching bag but is actively trying throughout the show to be a good person, even if he fails. Thus making him the only actually likable character in this show. I wonder how the writers feel about that.
I've heard some people who made videos about Velma said they liked Daphne
@@Saltedroastedcaramel I’m sure there are a few just as I’m sure there are a few that actually like the show. I haven’t seen them though.
@@MrMossMan7272 Yeah there's not a lot
I actually kinda disagree. I think Fred is made to be the butt of the joke in many ways, and also this silly but well-meaning guy. But I'm not sure if the writers meant for him to be the most unlikeable... The other characters do much more heinous shit than him. I'm just not sure if Fred being made fun of is intended for us to hate him or feel bad for him.
@@lauraanderson8785 for a normal everyday person I would 100% agree with you. But the writers of this show aren’t normal everyday people, they are Hollywood types. And for Hollywood types Fred is the worst kind of person. He is white. He is rich. He is dumb. He is racist (according to the writers who more then likely don’t believe the other characters can be racist). He is a womanizer. Then after reading the feminism book, you can also add he’s a simp. And he is a the type of male feminist who speaks over women. That’s like the ultimate list of things that Hollywood doesn’t like. Only thing missing is he’s abusive which they made him like 60% of the way there with his short temper.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all that when and if season 2 actually gets made that they crank him up to 11 because they didn’t expect people to like him. That’s just my take on it, perhaps I’m wrong.
This should have just been an original show. Imagine if High Guardian Spice was "Usagi" and featured the cast of Sailor Moon. At the very least when HGS failed, it only failed HGS. Ray, Crunchyroll, and the studio behind everything screwed up, but they screwed up on their own terms. It's still a bad show, but it's its _own_ bad show. You won't get HGS anywhere except HGS. You can get the concepts in Velma in a dozen other shows featuring the same characters, but better.
I think it's great that you point out criticism is more deserved on this one. HGS was a bad show and Ray handled the backlash poorly, but compare that to the juggernauts with their much larger pocket-fulls of money that worked on this one. Budget may not have been the only issue with HGS, but what is Velma's excuse? Because it can't even argue that much. I'm not going to pretend I have the expertise to critique this show the way someone in the industry does, but I can critique how it made me feel.
It made me feel just alienated. It disliked the concept of Scooby-Doo, which is why the Great Dane isn't present. It disliked the concept of adult animation and mocked the idea that adults want to watch cartoons. It made every person on the cast feel like an absolute jerk, so I can't identify with anyone. I don't know how it wanted me to join in. I genuinely like the concept of diversifying the cast and adding personality quirks that help further flesh them out, but it also simultaneously makes everyone so emotionally shallow that I don't like them, and just wish for the old cast back.
That was the original intention, but no studio would green light it because of it being original, and new, it has no following and therefore a huge financial gamble, instead they attached a highly popular and loved franchise with an already huge following with thousands of fans so it would be a financial benefit until it airs.
at least with HGS we got amity and snapdragon what has velma ever really given us except heartache?
I'm finally glad someone mentioned the bad acting.
Also, since Velma only cares about Norville when it benefits her. it makes sense that Norville is a "Nice guy". through out the relationship it's obvious to him that the relationship is transactional. So to get her attention (and hopefully attraction) he has to do some unsavory things.
Love that you're talking about this show
And really, he had no say in the relationship from the beginning from that flashback she just kinda dragged him along.
That "I was stupid as a teenager" vs "teenagers are stupid" comment hit the nail on the head. The former position comes from a place of human understanding, humility, and even affection. The Clone High writers understood how they had their own foibles and weren't afraid to poke fun at them and drew even the ridiculous events from a point of empathy allowing the audience to connect and enjoy the show. The latter position comes from how smart the writers think they are and how superior they feel to teenagers, especially the ones they went to school with. They don't try to relate any kind of empathy to the teenagers or understanding of how they might feel, just poor caricatures with no recognizable humanity about them, therefore we can't connect to them or feel any humor from their actions. The constant meta references are them just bragging how smart they are over actually having humor. The whole thing was just a vanity project where the self-insert Velma is smarter than everyone and every character that's actually important is in lover with her and that the writers can feel they can get back at their high school bullies or everyone they thought was "above" them by making stand-ins for them in the show and makeing them look stupid and immoral.
you gotta love that the show supposedly tries to portray velma as super smart despite frewuently showing her to be a dumbass who makes many mistakes and incorrect assumptions (at least in the first episode) and is msotly jsut ARROGANT, not SMART.
Exactly this whole show reeks of "I hated high school because I wasn't with the popular crowd". I also feel they didn't have a lot of friends either (if you don't have friends that's your fault not anybody else's)
Fred over the years essentially became a neurodivergent himbo and I love him for that
Fred is one of my favorite autistic coded characters next to Zane from Ninjago.
“Why is Fred jacked?”
“Got obsessed with entomology and began working out to honor the origin of the word gymnasium. Then, when the owner began paying him to continue working out, as long as he wore pants. Saves so much on a gym membership.”
Mystery Incorporated is still the most mature of all Scooby Doo media, despite the claims that Velma tried to play to.
It's the differences between a child's idea of maturity (Vulgarity, blood, nudity) and actual maturity.
Characters deal with societal expectations, the philosophy of free will versus providence, obessession, regret, guilt, the idea that you can make your own future and go your own direction, that you are not your family, and that greed will ruin the foundations of any person.
This show is like self-insert fiction I wrote in high school. The difference is I was a teenager with no film making experience. These are grownups with decades in Hollywood.
I'm not even sure they can be qualified as grown-ups
Grown-ups in the legal sense. They’re definitely over 18 and should know better.
@@lilyofthevalley2048 can't argue with that (nor would I)
The cops really think someone would hide a corpse in their own locker.
Yeah the writing in this show is sooooo good.
I appreciate the fact you referenced JelloApocalypse's breakdown of the Scooby-Doo characters. Looking back on that only makes Velma seem worse because of how it seems to so aggressively oppose all the points he made in that video.
Edit: Also... me. I'm in this video. Huh.
Haha! You put it so well I did not want to paraphrase what you had said and pretended I came up with it on my own. 💖
This video kept reminding me more and more about OSP's trope talk about Lampshading. There's a specific quote there where Red said "if the author wasn't happy with this story beat, why did they still choose to write it that way?" (ua-cam.com/video/G1gzqtwrutw/v-deo.html)
and at first while watching the episode i thought, "well sometimes that's a teenager, a young fanfic author who doesn't know there's other ways, they write the story beat that way because they always see it like that and think that it might be the only way, but still notice that it gets used a lot enough to lampshade it.
But this isn't the case here in Velma, these authors Are experienced. they just wrote a story in a genre and medium they have visceral hate for, and couldn't possibly make anyone think that they enjoy it, so they had to let their opinion be heard every half a second. At that point, just start a podcast, scream your opinions into the void
Velma has to be one of the most hate- and spitefull pieces of media I've ever seen. It hates it's audience, source material, medium and basically everything else you could hate.
What makes it worse is all the other stuff that was cancelled (and outright removed) yet this was completed and shown
@@osets2117 My guess is that it was too far in production to cancel and they thought they'd throw it out in hopes of making at least some money from it.
It even hates its own EXISTANCE
@@LukasJampen
It got approved for a second season so someone must have thought it was good enough
@@Alexander59059 doesn't necessarily say much since shows get renewed quite early. It might have been a foregone conclusion or they decided to renew after the first 1-3 episodes.
They also had brains in jars and none of them were screaming constantly at the top of their speakers.
Those things freak me out when they scream but it's also the way they're SUPPOSED to be.
So seeing them just not screaming and lamenting about the loss of their body was offputting and kept making me think of screams that weren't there. Like... "Did the writers not think about how utterly horrifying this concept is?"
So sorry you had to go through that... But at least we will be entertained! Your suffering won't go to waste I promise
hahahaha! I am glad U can at least provide the laughs
Honestly, I've never interpreted the Mystery Inc version of Velma as a b*tch. I've always seen those negative traits of hers as a direct side effect of her trying to force a relationship with someone who doesn't prioritize her the way she wanted them to. I've never associated it with her sexuality one way or another, like it was kinda Shaggy's fault for being so passive and letting Scooby and Velma fight over his priorities and run from the conversation instead of just sitting them both down and saying that they all need to work out a way to make this new dynamic work. I honestly don't even hate Velma and Shaggy being paired together, just how his relationship was handled since it came across like a guy trying to casually date two women who were both pushing him to pick one and get serious. I even think Scooby came across as equally negative in that situation.
Exactly, nobody in that triangle was without fault, I'd say they're all equally to blame
to be fare with Scooby I can understand why he was angry. his friend at random times ditching him, Velma being mean to him, and then finding out that his friend was keeping something like that a secret from HIM, his best friend is a hard pill to swallow.
so I can understand why he was giving shaggy a hard time along with velma.
Fred Jones is my favorite character from Mystery Incorperated because I think he's subtle good autism representation.
There's this little game series of detective games, the first one in the series is called Detective Grimoire and it's so lovingly animated, the characters have this great cartoonish design and the puzzle are fantastic so it quickly became one of my favorite detective games. But I like the sequel Tangle Tower better cause everything in the first game comes back improved. I'm only sharing this cause these games gave me huge Scooby Doo vibes, it's all in the comedic writing.
I love Tangled Tower. The characters are all very unique and fun to follow and the story always keep you guessing about the mystery until the very end. This is because the mystery keeps getting deeper and deeper as it goes on. Tangled Tower is one of the best point and click games in existence.
Ooh, I should play it sometime
As a wise man once said;
*"Fred is a himbo!"*
Who exactly said that?
I do believe Velma is way way worse than high guardian spice for one simple reason: INTEND. HGS sucks because of a utterly lack of talent and proper direction, but in velma you can tell the people making it knew what the fck they were doing. The hallucinations parts are very well animated and the show as a whole is horrible but has a professional level of production, way better than most adulswim things, way better than most adult oriented cartoons -but it truly feels and is clear to see that they made it as bad as possible on purpose. Sometimes it looks awful and right afterwards it looks amazing; for example, when fred throws that paper cutter he's STIFF and very badly animated, but when the thing bounces and cuts the legs it's very well animated, it's endearing to say the least.
The first is like the waiter dropping your soup on your head by accident, Velma is like the waiter do it intentionally because you offened it by just existing.
"Worried Velma might have another episode" We're all worried about that
Me after forcing every youtuber to review Velma 3:41
Youuuuuuu did thiiiiis 😂😂😭
@@c-puff also this was entirely unintentional but i was planning on uploading another Velma vid as an April fools joke. Timing
@@guardianHQ hahaha yes do it! 👀
@@c-puff ua-cam.com/video/QfAvMRIjApM/v-deo.html the Velma rises
Anyway, I don't think that Fred was portrayed as being dumb in the post live action era. His fascination with traps was useful, beyond being a joke, and has been sort of a leader.
Velma, in Mystery Inc., probably wasn't the nicest person, especially in the Shaggy romance arc, but she wasn't mean. I don't remember anything of that sort, at least.
On Velma, however, she's a truly horrible person. This show as a whole is just mean spirited with no good reason.
yeah MI Velma was the worst part of MI seaosn one but she was never CRUEL. She was nevr truly ARROGANT. She was never protrayed as holier than thou. She was never shown as the type of eprson who'd brutally assault one of her old friends over a petty, self-sabotaging grudge.
mystery inc velma never outright insulted people she was just sarcastic and she took a dangerous situation seriously!
Fred usually was portrayed as oblivious to some things, rather than dumb. He just wasn't exactly good at picking up some subtexts, taking things at face value. But if you were being blunt and open with him, he was doing perfectly fine, and was smart when it comes to things he's interested in.
the hate of velma has brought mankind closer than religion, politics, or industry. great video subbed
Your avatar has an amazing design. I love the blinking, haven't seen a png-tuber do that in a while. Also, great background.
Unironically, fred is the best character in this show. He’s the only one with SOMETHING of a character arc!
also as for "are they gay straight etc" I feel like when its something that gets revamped a lot its basically "this version of so and so is blank" not their whole being and every version" but that's just me.
Honestly that's true, and I plan on talking a bit more about that in the later parts. (I didn't want to front load part 1 too much)
Almost forgot to write a comment because you said it so well that I had nothing more to say 👏
I like how you mentioned that "unlikable character cast" *has* worked before, I think people forget that a TV show doesn't need likable characters to do their story well or have fun. Community is another example that comes to mind, Dan Harmon's self sabotaging depressed attitude aside.
If we're getting into serious shows, House of Cards is a perfect example of how to make the audience root even for an outwardly monstrous, borderline sociopathic protagonist. Hell, they even break the fourth wall constantly to tell the audience that they're sick fucks for enjoying the ride. Well at least for the first 3 seasons. After that, the show kinda lost track of its narrative and themes (Hell, i personally think the show should have ended with Frank becoming President, to drive the point home that there is nothing that can stop him now, with the fate of the world in the hands of a madman)
Ok, I finished watching. I like how you notice the positives or the things that you like in the show, plus some of the critiques of other Scooby Doo things (I personally never liked the "sassy" Velma either, plus her little ribbon doesn't fit the design at all imo). Also, I need to watch the Zombie Island one, it looks cool (as well as the KISS one).
Zombie Island is legit a lot of fun. It hits that balance where it's a horror movie but made for kids. So it's creepy and feels like it has real stakes but it's not TOO scary so kids can still have fun with it. But at the time it was the hardest Scooby Doo had gone with the horror.
The KISS one is just insane in the best possible way and completely on purpose. It had KISS powering a guitar shaped spaceship with the power of Rock. It's incredible. it also has Matthew Lillard playing Shaggy which is fantastic.
You've never seen zombie Island? Awh man you're missing out. You should also watch "witches ghost" too
i agree on you for sure on so much. especially how you can pull back no punches on someone who should have all the time talent experience etc vs new people in the thing.
11:12 As a European man, I am wondering if anyone ever described herself as "an Asian woman." Or "Yeah, I'm Chinese or Japanese or Korean or Cantonese or something."
All the videos complaining about this show have only made me appreciate Frank Welker. Absolute legend.
It's crazy how he's been voicing Fred after all of these years with exceptions.
Frank Welker is also the original voice of Megatron.
For all the issues with HGS, it was harmless. Velma feels vindictive like the writers are working through some deep-seated anger with it. Ultimately, I'd rather be locked in a room with Sage or Rosemary than this version of Velma any day.
right? at least rose or sage had decent conversations once in a while
It'd rather be locked in a room with Batman and Optimus Prime because those two are my favorite fictional characters.
@johnoconnell5004 If we're going down that road, I'd rather be locked in a room with Misato Katsuragi and Faye Valentine. My point remains for all her issues Sage is s far more likeable character than Mindy..err I mean this version of Velma.
One key to understanding Fred is that all four human characters were cribbed from the old Dobie Gillis show. Dobie was tall and blonde, but definitely not a jock. He was incredibly below average and was obsessed with girls--because he didn't have one. He didn't really have a snowball's chance with the Daphne of his classroom because she was Tuesday Weld, and sat next to Warren Beatty, literally Warren Beatty before his movie career took off. Warren Beatty was essentially the villain of the series, always showing Dobie up, because unlike Dobie he was rich and handsome.
Dobie's best friend was beatnik Maynard G Krebbs, the proto-Shaggy. Maynard was played by Bob Denver (later Gilligan of Gilligan's Island) and you'll notice that Shaggy has his nose. There was no Scooby, but Maynard was good with animals and sometimes had entire scenes pouring his heart out to monkeys or cats.
There was one girl who determined to catch Dobie: Zelda, the model for Velma. Hard-headed, matter-of-fact, scientific to a fault. In a TV movie reunion decades later, the creator/writer of the series revealed that they did finally get married, and took over the Gillis family's mom and pop grocery.
Zelda and Maynard's characterizations flowed easily into the cartoon mystery comedy, but Dobie's principal obsession with girls wasn't much use. Except you might say his attempts to catch girls turned into Fred's expertise with setting traps.
Oh I think I just recently read about this show in my “1001 tv shows to watch before you die” book! Thank you for the info! I’m gonna reread this section
It's amazing how the creators of this show managed to unite people from all over the political spectrum in hating it, which considering how divided we are nowadays is a fucking miracle
Hey the mystery incorporated Velma wasn't a bad character at all in fact they provided depth to the generic "smart girl with glasses" they made her not deal with nonsense well at all which not only compliments her intelligence it also provides both a flaw and strength to her character
for the Fred part.
Honestly its kinda amazing having that 1 thing you like.
Even if its weird.
Honestly it can be very atractive to find someone with a passion
Between your autopsy of High Guardian Spice and this I genuinely hope your mental health stays strong, great video!
I watched it once, to see if it was really as bad as people claim.
You know the deleted scene in the original Alien, where Dallas has been cocooned by the Xenomorph and begs Ripley to kill him because what he's going through is so horrible? Yeah... I'd prefer going through that over ever watching this insult to Scooby-Doo again
That Scooby doo x Kiss clip really snapped me back to reality, that was that sickest shit ever!! Got dayum I gotta go watch that!!
They really went OFF with this one! It's so good.
This is probably the best dissection of this hot pile of garbage I had ever seen. Such an underrated gem of a channel
Fred having random hyperfixations made me laugh, as someone with ADHD I can relate.
As someone who's autistic and has hyperfixations on Batman and Transformers, I can relate.
In the original Fred also set up the traps. he had a strategy to catch the monster of the week that didn't work out all the time due to the bumblings of Scooby and Shaggy.
So in your opinion Fred in the later series is the well built guy suffering from Asperger syndrome.
-Hyper Fixations
-Not dumb but comes off weird
-Social awkward
-Rigid thinking which leads to repetitive action
The first and the last actually fit his traps from the beginning of the series until now. They never were even particularly good thought out and yet he kept making rube Goldberg machine style traps, the worst kind of machine since one failure at any point renders a mostly perfect design useless. At the same time his execution was impressive and suggested a talent for mechanical design if he just thought them out better which is the not actually dumb part.
That was a fantastic breakdown. Love how you weren’t just whole hog against the show and actually pointed out when it was funny. Most videos covering this tend to not do that.
Fred is the Goat, he's always into something peculiar, and what's best he's earnest to the fullest, while every other character kinda likes this or that based on thei9r preference Fred could be into Foliage or Scissors history and the next time he's into plastic wraps and artsy framework.
The thing with unlikable character based shows is that you still have to make them kinda likeable in some fashion, not go too far, and the show still has to acknowledge that those traits are bad in some way. Velma treats all the negative traits that the characters have as complete positives. It also treats the trait of just having a certain skin tone as evil all on its own.
Edit: also the absolute fact that they forget that their characters are 15 and still do all the extreme sexual things they do with the characters as if it isn't messed up.
When I think of HGS I picture one of these Mass Effect fanfics that are crossovers with Transformers, Warhammer, Deuss Ex, My Little Pony, and half a dozen other setting, and have a humanity lead by a council composed of Optimus Prime, Prince Celestia and Naruto. It’s a very misguided product but one created by someone who truly wanted to make it. It failed for a lack of focus, direction and experience, but not a lack of passion.
When I see Velma, I see the oposite. It can have great animation when it wants to (the panic scenes) and the writing is sharp and precise. The problem then is that the purpose of that dialogue is to fill watchers with hatred for the characters and the show itself. It feels like the creation of a group of people who knew what they were doing but absolutely hated every moment of it.
the best april fools video of all time
The true fool however, is me....
at the end of this all I can say is that I wholeheartedly agree with your oppinion as well as the comments that you presented.
Everything about this show had felt so hateful to the point of me not being able to enjoy a single thing about it when I (truthfully hate-)watched it. Even the pretty dope animation in velmas halucinations didn't help eliviate the bitterness left on my tongue as an aftertaste. I also think that Shaggy and Freds VA's tried their best with what they had, but nothing can save terribly rotten lines.
It's so rough because you can tell a LOT of people working on this not involved with the writing really did put a lot of work and care into this. Which makes me frustrated because these artists deserve their efforts to be for much better products than this. But that's how it goes.
You get given crap but buy God are you gonna pretend it's the most important piece of art you're working on!
I feel bad for everyone, who's not a producer (they're the ones behind this travesty), that worked on this show. They all deserve better
One thing I noticed about Velma was that they didn't transition between the different tones cleanly. It almost felt like someone was given a list of jokes and serious moments and told to fit it all into an episode.
On your rant about Fred being autistic coded: YESS OH MY GODS YES. I’m autistic and he was always my favorite as a kid, because it felt like he was the one I could relate too the most.
And I was so upset how in Velma they made fun of his anger issues as I too had really bad anger issues as a kid (they still flare up sometimes, but they’re way way better), and they are NOT something to be made fun of. Maybe in a light aspect, but they seriously make life hard.
I am sorry for what this poor soul has to go through I would not wish this on my worst enemy
i know man we just have to stay strong hope our senses dont disengrate and sadly keep moving forward
26:47 OKAY BUT THIS. This is how the show could've been saved. This could've genuinely been a fun dynamic to have throught the series if executed correctly. Unfortunately the show had to throw all that out the window (or not even concider it) and fvck everything else up--
45:49 The crushing realization this is still a video about Mindy Kaling's "Velma"
I've seen this video twice now and the only thing rattling in my brain after this (besides loving your videos!) is "I should totally watch Scooby-Doo! and KISS"
I pray for your braincells for having to go through this show. Please watch something good as a sort of recovery therapy.
Heyyyyyyyy fun fact: the people who aren’t making death threats or angry about the race changes or Velma being a lesbian, forgetting those people exist for a minute. The scooby doo fans who are peaceful and dog loving, are righteously pissed.
Reason being that since the release of Velma, actually before and after, the release of Velma there has been projects being cancelled left and right, especially 4 scooby doo projects.
Haunted high rise, which had everything done except animation. Scoob 2 holiday haunt, think that one was almost done. Scooby doo and the mystery pups, a preschool scooby show that hbomax dropped and they need to find a new distributor. And most importantly scooby doo and krypto too, a completely done scooby doo movie that was leaked online but was never announced, I’m guessing it was going to be like one of the yearly scooby doo specials but zaslav said “nope put it in the bin”. Don’t know if they’ll actually put scooby doo kyrpto too on dvd or not because they haven’t really said anything about.
But yeah, Velma is the thing that stayed while everything else got the boot.
Honestly from my research this show was hbomaxs or wbs cry of pure desperation.
I say that because like a movie, they use celebrity power to promote, they changed the race, they gave no push back for anything (except the dog, though I’m sure scooby heard the pitch, walked out and didn’t come back, and he’s his agent is telling them rell ro!) not the mention the well, let’s do everything that other shows are doing that makes them popular (while at the same time not understanding the concept and making anything good)
Anyway, that’s all I got, if you want to know more I’d ask around the scooby doo subreddit. Stay away from the Velma subreddit, it’s aloooooot of denial. It’s cursed I’ll say that.
Oh thank you! I'll be sure to check in on the subreddit! I also have an "in" on some Scooby Doo people who know what they're talking about, but my "contact" (for lack of a better word) is busy on a film shoot so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get the footage in time.
@C-Puff Person no problem.
By the way after this, you definitely need a chaser to get this down easier. So I recommend a show that did being a teenage mystery show better, a Canadian show called Detentionaire. By the way it does hypnotism much better in the show along with teenagers, relationships, and above all Mystery. I rewatch it every year in December, and you can find it here on youtube.
Also I never watched this show all the way through, i could barely get through episode 1 without almost breaking my iPad from unnecessary roughness. But episode 10, the revelation made me want to shining finger my iPad (it's a gundam move). Not kidding the theme went into my head and didn't leave the entire day. Love my anger and all of my sorrow.
Okay have nice day and check out Detentionaire when you have a urge for trying something new.
(Okay real quick, what you said about Fred having weird interests, for be cool scooby doo, they took that personality trait and put in Daphne. It's amazing she's a goofball and Fred is the straight man to her jokes.)
Oooh one more thing (I'm done after this promise) you will find validation about velmas personality. People have complained that since mystery incorporated Velma has become some what of a bitch, though Mindys Velma turned it up to 11.
Okay done
I watch a five hour compilation of your breakdown of HGS so you bet I’m here for this take down but my god I hope you balance out the bad with some actual good shows
Did you really call a paper slicer a guillotine 😂😂😂 you had me up to there
😂 It's what we call them here! I swear!!
@@c-puff I love when you say it! All I can think about is Salem witch trials ! 🤣 will watch the pt 2
We call them that in England as well.
@@CruelestChris I didn’t even know that in America that’s what we use to call a machine that cuts off peoples head 🤣🤣😭
@@Pinkhairedliberal
We call that a guillotine too.
Right around 1:00:00 “… I miss him”
Actually got me, I might have to go find that show now!
Huh look at that, something positive actually came from Velma
1:12:03 I did wonder why you never referred to Velma's VA by name. And, in this instance, it might behoove you to look her up, since she's also the creator and executive producer of the show.
Yes, the VA of Velma is also responsible for EVERYTHING in this show,
Oh yeah I’m aware of that! Mindy something. Apparently she’s like a well known celebrity or something in the comedy sphere. Probably SNL related?
Idk but her being a “name” makes me want to disregard her all the more. I’ll probably mention her by name at some point but mostly it’s my usual “oh you’re using a celebrity as a marketing tactic? Sorry, I don’t know who any of these people are and I don’t care. Make a good show. Your tactics have no power here.”
@@c-puff Mindy Kaling. If you watched "The Office," you've probably seen her. And, if she were just a name, I'd agree there's really no point in talking about her. However, thing is, Velma is basically Mindy Kaling's Self Insert, which, in my opinion, puts a completely different spin on things, what with her being the creator, executive producer, and title character who bears certain physical resemblances with the in-show character. Factor in that she very proudly and publicly admitted to forcing herself onto a known gay man during her TV show "The Mindy Project" and then threatened to fire another for bringing up how that might be problematic, and... well, let's just say certain things kind of make more sense under that streetlamp. You might feel a bit different, and that's cool, but it's definitely something to check out, even if you ultimately find there's little point to it.
Mindy Kaling only plays herself, I don't think I've ever liked any of her roles
As Broc Sampson said to Molotov "you're a bad person"
I could say a lot about Velma but a lot has been said and I'd rather go for something positive: I think this is your best video yet. Composition, pacing, audio, visual choices, timing, script - I even hear a confidence in your voice that feels really good to listen to. I've been enjoying your content for a while, but you know when you see a youtube creator that posts something that makes you think "This is it, this is a level up" ?
This is the best video on Velma out there and I'm excited for the future part(s)
I'm going to proudly share this one any chance I get.
Skgsakaksb thank you so much??? 🥺
I believe you have flabbergasted her with your compliment, good show old chap
Hgs try to hamfist it’s message, with Velma it feels like a middle finger to the audience every other minute
Hot damn C-Puff, UA-cam straight up tried to hide this from me. Good thing I saw your Twitter post and scrolled through my subscription feed ^^;
So two things: 1) The new Deadpan expression made me laugh every time it came up XD
2) You know, I never thought of Fred that way. But as you listed all the things about him, particularly his fixations... as someone on the spectrum I have to say, Bravo Scooby-Doo I can now rewatch those movies with a newfound appreciation for our Golden Boy whether it was intended or not. On that note, yeah... that’s such a disappointing missed opportunity with Velma’s Fred. :(
This just made me want to rewatch Clone High again, thanks!
Was such a great show. It, like Undergrads (another show I need to rewatch) was unfortunately too short lived. Only a season each, a damn shame
Velma on the otherhand... well I won't say anything to get me banned so I'll leave it there.
Thank you for pointing me towards the Scooby Doo KISS crossover. They didn’t need to make Detroit Rock City an unbelievably epic boss fight, but it’s amazing.
26:49 this moment I had fanfiction writing inspiration to just make a better Velma show based around this thought.
The only good thing I've heard about this show is the animation itself. Some of the backgrounds have Easter eggs to other characters or mysteries the team solved in different shows, even images of the hex girls. But none of that was ever mentioned or noticed by the characters which leads me to believe it was the animation team trying to help keep us interested in some part of their work, even if the writing and jokes dropped the ball.
Also times that circumvented the teams dynamic well:
Monster from Mexico: Fred helps figure out the monster is not a native speaker due to his knowledge of the language and misuse of accents on words.
Mystery Inc.: Daphne not understanding that Velma, (and her mother) were seen as the prettier one.
Phantosaur: Shaggy being a badass
KISS: Velma unable to comprehend the idea that the whole event was real because magic has no logic.
ScoobyNatural: the entire gang freaking out that ghosts were real.
shaggy and scooby would be the Perfect Mukbang streamers
Would they though? At the rate they eat food, the streams wouldn't last long
Mukbang Shaggy be like: I love Scooby Snacks. Dun Dun! We love Scooby Snacks. Dun Dun!
44:14 I believe what you are describing here with fred is called the himbo, something that came about in the 90’s, think like kronk, a simple but very likable jock type who always means well even if it means at times he’s utterly oblivious. But now that you mention it, oh my god how did I not see that he is autistic, I mean I gravitate towards him in every iteration and he’s been my favorite since what’s new scooby doo. Yet it makes so much sense.
Indeed indeed
We stan our autistic himbo Fred Jones
@@ginnys.matthias1818 absolutely, this thing in velma isn’t Fred Jones, lets call him one of Mindy’s toy, because that’s how she is treating these characters.
@@Numatruehome poor plastic toy Fred
:( it sucks because this review really showed that (despite me really not liking the direction they started Fred's character) if competently handled could have been...well competent...it wouldn't have been Fred still, but even not Fred deserved better as the only semi non mean-spirited character in this awful show
1:06:30 yes, thank you! Bisexual people are actually a thing. But as far as Hollywood is concerned, you're either (A) gay and in denial or (B) shipping gold, and can be OTPed with anything vaguely bipedal like it's a Robert Heinlein novel.
1:08:10 Holy crap, I was just about to bring up Ken Ashcorp's Absolute Territory (which I think Velma exemplifies even though it's knees not thighs)
“Mystery bang” is a better Scooby doo adaptation
ahhhhh, here we are! Can't wait to hear your thoughts while I sketch ^^
Honestly, the show was just so BITTER. It seemed to dislike its source material, its audience, its choice of tone... while at the same time continually patting itself on the back. Add in SO much meta and off topic social topic discussion... It's just nauseating. You can change a LOT about Scooby Doo, as has been shown over the years, but consistent tone and emotional attachment is important. And, it's kinda sad, too. The show has legitimately good art and voice cast. But, you'd never even know it was a SD show if a couple names and colors were changed.
Glad to see this video finished! Guess it's time to watch Scooby-Doo and Kiss to wash the taste of Velma out, lol.
THANK YOU FOR THIS GIFT!!!! Your editing was 10/10. Love the vid, can't wait to see the rest of the series.
This made people realize how much Scooby was important to them. Nothing like butchering characters who raised you gets you to care about them.
Fred should have been a himbo and his big secret is that he's keeping Scooby behind his parents back because Scooby isn't up to his breed's standard and it wouldn't look good for their image. Scooby could still talk but only either Fred or Velma can understand him
Dang shaggy and Scooby chill, he said he was sorry.👍
The fact that a LOT of cool animated shows got dropped n this is what stayed 😭
It funny how during the part where Velma fails because it’s unfunny - you showed the short clip of Twisted Hair and I burst out laughing 😂
For me it was the clone high clips. Just so good lol
I love your videos, you have great opinions and a wry sense of humor that doesn’t come across as mean
26:42 If only this show was in better hands, something like this could have been a reality.
38:03 They also somehow got Weird Al as the guy who gets his leg chopped off by Fred. What dirt did they have on these people?
50:08 This bit is the perfect summary of my feelings on the show when I wasn’t finding unintentional humor as my mind turned to mush.
Thank you for suffering so some people don’t have to.
No way. Weird Al?! …why…
WHY, AL!!!
That thing Fred hurls back at the kids in school is not a guillotine, it is a paper cutter - it is a real office supply thing. The blade is on a spring and used to cut down stacks of paper multiple layers thick. Also, you could be excused for missing it, but red-haired glasses kid who gets his foot cut off, and who appears for bit roles in later episodes is voiced by Weird Al, which is baffling. Why get him for such a minute role, I have no idea...
X'D yes... we call them guillotines here. It's what it's name is.
@@c-puff Wait, really? I thought that was just used for the execution device and this was called a paper cutter.
@@SwiftNimblefoot It might have to do with the dutch influence in Africaans. I know we in Germany termed the office device "Fallbeil" (falling blade) for its resemblance to an executioner's sword, which was also the "Eindeutschung" (germanization) for the word "guillotine". Maybe in Dutch and Africaans, something similar happened.
1:09:40 Unfortunately, though Daphne wins, she doesn't get a gun. They forgot this point almost as soon as they said it. I would've liked to see at least a little continuity
You know how Chris Chan's mere existence haunts the sonic fanbase?
Mindy's Velma is basically the same thing except it's a self insert, Sonichu is not an self insert of Sonic, Sonichu is apparently it's own thing
Can I say, I love your accent. Your voice just makes me smile
I figured out what irks me about the opening and the premise most specifically. Velma repeats over and over "This is my story, told my way" as if we're getting a new perspective on a story we've already heard. But like, we *haven't* heard this story yet. This isn't an adaptation, it's an original plot made for the show ("original" insofar as Scooby-Doo hasn't done this specific plot before). She puts emphasis on how she, not Fred, is the hero of this story but we never got the story from Fred's alleged pov before we got this. In fact considering all previous Scooby-Doo series I think Fred has the least screen time out of all the main cast. So the franchise never considered him the main character who needed the script flipped on him. It's such a bad faith way to approach the franchise. Wicked this ain't.
Scooby doo was the best part of my childhood I’d watch it all the time, this newest version of these characters physically hurts me in ways I can’t comprehend 😢
I really enjoy a lot of your takes, thanks so much for doing a Velma video and exposing yourself to all this so many times.
I don't know where you're getting "hourglass Velma is a recent invention" when she's been like that since 1969, but I do love this (*visual*) take on the character.
I do like your discussion on Velma, although hoping that your brain and sanity survives… especially after learning that Season 2 has already been announced. (Most likely it’s because it was already made as a 20 episode show split into 2 seasons)
I will say though, I kinda disagree, I personally am not a huge fan of Daphne’s design, I like aspects of it (like the shirt and leggings and such) but never been a fan of that hairstyle or the shoes… they kinda feel out of place to me with the rest of the design. Also I feel weird about them making Daphne Asian because they kept her orange hair and even try to come up with excuses for it… if they ignored it, I could accept that (I mean anime does that too) or if they gave a understandable reason, that’d work… but bringing it up and then having the answer be a joke was the worst choice IMO.
Agreed on the hair. Like, I didn’t think it was an issue until the show itself tried to lampshade it. It’s so weird.
I just want to thank C-Puff and all the other content creators who so valiantly risked their sanity and will to live to watch this trash and survive to warn us all not to. Your sacrifices will be remembered. Thank you all for your service (from a former USN veteran, seriously...thank you!)
Velma is that ungodly combination of not funny, mean-spirited, cynical AND boring/predictable. At last check, it's rated as being worse than Santa Inc, which was listed as THE worst show of all time.
My benchmark for the worst show ever is still “Heil Honey I’m home” but despite the obvious bad taste and offensiveness, I think Velma might be a worse sit.
Wonder what it was like binge watching this
*C-puff strapped to a chair
"ITS A SIN! ITS A SIN!"
I understood that reference