When we think of Scooby-Doo, what comes to mind is definitely the characters, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Scooby and Velma, plus how could we forget about the Scooby Snacks, Shaggy and Scooby being frightened by “monsters” and Velma saying “Jinkies!”. The iconic TV show started in 1969 and it is still on air. Originally, the show was Called Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, written and created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears by Hanna-Barbera Productions, but then it was renamed to Scooby-Doo. The TV show became so successful for generations that they began to release merchandise from the series, including video games, toys, films and live-action films. Now HBO Max will release in 2023, Velma, an animated series starring the smartest character of the gang.
The plot of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! starts with the main characters, Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Shaggy Rogers and their talking dog Scooby-Doo, a group of teenagers who solve mysteries involving “supernatural creatures” through a series of mischief and missteps. The original series started in 1969, yet throughout the years, the TV show has been developing and constantly changing its name. In 2002, a new Scooby-Doo series premiered, named What’s New, Scooby-Doo? Produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue!, in 2006. Also, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated released in 2010. Finally in 2014 Cartoon Network introduced a new variety of Scooby-Doo content like Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! Which concluded in 2018.
HBO Max announced Velma on October 5th, 2022 and released a teaser the next day, which shows Velma Dinkley contacting HBO Max in regard to a an announcement by HBO alleging they would be making a spin-off series of The Jetsons (A TV show created by Hanna-Barbera Productions), where she is expressing her disgust towards Judy Jetson’s new version, then she receives a phone call by an unknown caller to make the trailer spooky. The call is from a serial killer who is already inside Velma’s house, the teaser ends with Velma screaming and blood splashing on the window. It is unconvincing that the main character of the animated series would have died in the trailer.
The plot of Velma is set before the character joined Mystery Incorporated. The series will be an adult animated comedy focused on the origin story of Velma Dinkley (Voiced by Mindy Kaling), the smartest and at the same time under-appreciated character of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. gang. The rest of the member will be voiced by Glenn Howerton (Fred), Constance Wu (Daphne), Sam Richardson (Norville or Shaggy) and Frank Welker who has been voicing Fred and Scooby since the beginning of the franchise, and will probably lend a voice to Scooby-Doo.
The series also has a wide supporting cast consisting on Ming-Na Wen, Gary Cole, Debbie Ryan, Melissa Fumero, Stephen Root , Ken Leung, Jane Lynch, Cherry Jones, Shay Mitchell, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, Sarayu Blue, Nicole Byer, Wanda Sykes, Fortune Feimster, Yvonne Orji, Russell Peters, Kulap Vilaysack, Cameron Hales and featuring the NBA player, Karl-Anthony Towns.
Before the announcement, on October 4th, 2022, it was released the movie Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! Where it was confirmed that Velma is part of the LGBTQ+ community. It is known that from the beginning of the franchise, Velma has been trying to get out of the closet. In fact, Filmmaker James Gunn said in 2020 that he tried to adapt Velma as a gay character on his live-action movies.
This had repercussions on the original HBO Max series, however, being such an iconic character worldwide, this will not affect the success that the series may have in 2023.
Andrea Rich