Velma (TV Series) Velma (2023) User Reviews

Velma

[Prismark10 · 4/10 · 27 April 2024]

In the first Mission Impossible film. A beloved legacy character from the television series was revealed to be a villain.

Warner Brothers said hold my beer. Here is an adult cartoon that is a spin off from Scooby Doo. This is an idea even more outlandish than the Banana Splits reimagined as a horror movie.

Before Velma joined the Mystery Machine. She was a cynical wisecracking nerd wrapped in the trauma of her mother going missing.

Daphne is a high school mean girl who deals in drugs. Fred is an over privileged self obsessed man child.

Wisely Shaggy and Scooby Doo baled out for now.

The first episode has these high school girls naked in the shower because pilot episodes have gratuitous nudity to hook in viewers.

With a scattergun approach, some of the humour did land but not all of it. There is a story arc regarding Velma's mom.

The trouble is I have no idea just who this edgy meta obsessed series is aimed at. It is not kids, fans of Scooby Doo or even the character Velma.

1 good joke at the beginning of the episode

[sbob322 · 1/10 · 16 January 2023]

They have 1 good joke at the beginning about pilot episodes after that this episode was unfunny. It feels like the people who made this hate scooby doo and somehow got the rights to use its characters. Other than characters sort of looking like Mystery Inc no one acts like they should not even as a parody of the character. I couldn't tell if the Daphne they introduced was supposed to actually be Daphne or was meant to mislead us. As a pilot episode I don't see how this series got made.

They made every character unlikable and unfunny. I will watch more to give it a shot but after the initial episode I would bet money this thing gets canceled after 1 season.

Awful Start

[StaticBroadcast · 1/10 · 18 January 2023]

Well, that could have gone better a lot of times. As someone who went in open (i liked High Guardian and Q-Force, so this could go the same) this was an abomination of an opener. The comedy is horrible and relies only on sex jokes and meta humor that sinks almost as low as those awful spoof movies that came out about a decade ago.

All the characters are painfully unlikable or flat-out annoying. Velma is easily the worst character. The writing doesn't do her character justice at all, and if anything makes her unlikable beyond recognition. Norville (Shaggy stand-in) isn't awful, but he just comes off as annoying. Daphne's unlikeable, but seems like the only character with development. Fred obviously isn't the killer, but he's making himself a red-herring when the audience knows it's not him, that's not how red-herrings work.

The story shows promise though. Despite the weird teen sexualisation and Riverdale-style high school drama, it seems like it can develop on the mysteries it sets up.

1/10 opening, but will continue.

advertised as mature, made for pre-teens

[agof · 1/10 · 22 January 2023]

If you want to make something edgy - make something edgy. I would really like to see this idea done by europeans.

But this disgusting censorship betrays the real age rating of this show - 15. Or more like, divide that by two, if not by three, since there is less adult stuff, treated in a mature way, than they show in prime time on TV with no age ratings.

Just imagine the opening scene but with zero censorship. Even with the same terrible writing it will hit significantly differently. For starters it wouldn't feel like cut scenes from family guy that we were watching at 11.

And then it is written by old people as how do you do fellow kids and post-modernism that has died when WW2 has ended and showed that it's really, really bad, and maybe we should be a little bit more human and a little bit less cog in a machine.

This is so extremely dated and done to death, pop-references does not equal humour.

How does a comedy have no jokes

[harmanmehat · 1/10 · 29 January 2023]

It feels like there are spaces for jokes but it doesn't land and every character only has one personality like how fred is racist or how daphne is hot nothing more and velma is so annoying norville seems fine and how one of the characters is just horny this is one of the most unfunny shows ive ever seen and i know his real name has always been norville but shaggy is way better also wheres scooby i know its about velma but it has every other character and some scenes go on forever velma just insults everyone for no reason and just pushes away norville for no reason like he didn't deserve that the end.

A bucket of lost potential and no strong feelings

[EweTwentyThree · 5/10 · 23 January 2023]

I can already see this review getting completely ratioed in the likes/dislikes for rating it anything above a 2 and honestly I can't blame anyone for that, while I think a show like "Fairview" deserves the hate that this show received more tenfold, I also can't blame anyone for the visceral reaction they had to this.

Coming as someone with no attachment to the Scooby Doo franchise, Velmas inital hour was completely... tolerable. Not funny at all, almost every single joke missed, but I liked the visuals and some of the characters (specifically Norville, I unironically like them and I am not embarrassed to admit that) were alright. Velma is a bit of an ass, and Fred/Daphne are huge asses, which honestly I'm alright with. I like asshole characters to some extent, they can be incredibly entertaining and as someone whos never cared for Scooby Doo I can't really complain about character assassination (though, I get why a fan would care) Bojack Horseman was a lot more unlikable in the first episode than Velma was here for instance to me, and that show turned out excellent.

Velma feels like the type of show that would've benefited tenfold from a few things:

More respect to it's audience No relation to Scooby Doo or any other franchise Jokes that are actually funny

If Velma did all of the things listed above. I would definitely be on board with this show, and that's where Velma gets me. This show is salvageable, and that hurts more than a show like Fairview, I can genuinely imagine a world where an improved take on a show like this could be an absolute banger. But the end result is just, whatever y'know?

For me, Velma was a middle of the road experience, I'd love to be able to proudly rate this a 1/10, or have this super diverse take about how it's a 10/10 or whatever. But I can't fit into either catagory, Velma provokes barely any emotion out of me and the emotions it does provoke are more of "Wow! I wish this was a much better show!". While Velmas premiere gets a 5/10 from me, don't take that as a sign of it being worth watching. Unless I hear about significant improvement, I'll be tuning out of this for now.

Overly Hated?

[enrique_aikenf · 14 January 2023]

Now don't get me wrong, I do not think this episode or show so far is anywhere near a 10, however, this show is definitely over hated.

I have seen far worse than this, and it genuinely had me interested at times. If you haven't seen this, ignore the 1 and 2 star reviews and give it a shot.

I feel from the outset, this show was going to be condemned and flooded with bad reviews for whatever reasons. In recent times people tend to have the mob mentality, just to see something or someone crash and burn.

Honestly, give this episode at least a watch without the mindset that it is going to be bad.

Surprisingly Not Bad.

[HotHamlet · 5/10 · 15 January 2023]

I went into this show with negative expectations based on what people have said. But i must say that i am actually pretty surprised at this very first episode.

Now i am not going to lie and say i believe this episode to be terrible (like a lot of people believe) but i will not try to go against the grain just to be different. I simply believe this show's first episode is average.

The comedy is nothing amazing and the first few minutes of the show had me assuming the rest of the episode would be just as bad. But after the first few minutes (which i believe to be very poor) the show actually got better. At no point for the rest of the episode did i hate the writing and/or get annoyed or cringe. Now this is coming from someone who doesn't like this type of humor usually.

The first episode had a fine little premise for the rest of the series to follow and the whole round-up with Fred i didn't mind at all.

For me this episode is simply mediocre. But not at all bad.

I actually liked it.

[fjf-28671 · 10/10 · 15 January 2023]

I actually liked it. I'm honestly not sure why the show is getting the hate it is, but people are clearly review bombing it. All over twitter and tumblr people are going on and on about how terrible it is but they go on to say they haven't seen it/only seen trailers/only saw the first few minutes.

It is very different than any other version of Scooby-Doo. For one, it doesn't have Scooby-Doo in it. Second it's done in an adult animation style with adult themes along the lines of Archer but more tame. If you are offended by the first five minutes of the show you probably won't like it though I think they were trying to make a point/joke rather than it be indicative of how the rest of the show would be going.

The character's rough outlines are there but they are very different in execution so again, if you find yourself easily offended or getting upset about changes to a cartoon you love this is not the show for you. Everything doesn't have to be for everyone.

Not bad

[pauli_gomez · 7/10 · 28 January 2023]

I do not understand the backlash and review bombing. The show is clearly teen oriented. It is not particularly original, except for it happening to the Scooby-Gang. There is a lot of meta-jokes, misunderstandings and information about the families of the Gang (without Scooby).

The beginning, with the books in the shelves, was probably funnier for me than the rest of the episode, but still, it is not really bad. It establishes Velma;s personality and motivation, the secondary characters and a lot of other things. My main problem was a scene when a character chopped other character legs and no one reacted as if it was a big deal. That sounded too over the top, like Looney Toones jokes instead of the normal Scooby shows or what seemed to be a more adult Scooby show. I wish they had not done that or the baby inside the belly joke. They did not fit the rest of the humour.

Actually Pretty Good

[crystal-nickles · 10/10 · 12 January 2023]

I don't know why other reviews are so low. I thought this was a clever update to the Scooby Doo cast as all know so well. I'm not constantly laughing but it was much more of a smirking type of comedy. There are references to the well known material and jokes surrounding it which give a lovely feeling of nostalgia. The first two episodes kept me engaged and I can't wait for more.

The voice actors for this show you'll recognize from some of your favorites and I find the matches excellent. Mindy Kaling is, as always, memorable. I can't imagine anyone else cast in the role.

Only con, no Scooby Doo. (At least so far)

This delivered on what Mindy Kaling Promised

[jaredprophet · 10/10 · 26 January 2023]

Velma is an outsider nerd and Daphne is a popular girl, just like we saw in the Daphne & Velma movie and in the Daphne & Velma books from Scholastic.

Anyone melting down about this HBO Max Velma show, really hasn't seen the crime committed against Mystery Incorporated on the Venture Bros show. Which was also a Warner Bros show. They were murderous drug dealers who came to a violent end.

There's punk band named Me First And The Gimme Gimmes who made a name for themselves by doing punk covers of 70s soft rock hits. The same way Type O Negative gained popularity by covering Summer Breeze.

Velma is like that. Different, but very familiar all at the same time.

I like it- what's the deal?

[brieannchapple · 10/10 · 25 January 2023]

It's offensive and self-aware. It made me laugh out loud several times- what more do I want from a comedy? Also, better writing than the new Avatar, so it's a win win all around. Oh, 600 characters required? Well, ok... I like how the characters new personalities really fit their original designs. Fred is a pretentious entitled white kid and Daphne is a beautiful popular mean girl. Thelma is a self-hating uber intelligent problem solver and Shaggy is a normal under the radar pothead. It vaguely reminds me of Veronica Mars. I appreciate the social commentary. As a liberal, I enjoy the jabs at both the left and the right equally- what sjw doesn't love a little self depreciation? I'm interested in the mystery as well. To hold my interest, I always appreciate real stakes and some sincerity but I'm still enjoying it for what it is! Incredible acting/cast also!

If You Hate It... Don't Watch It?

[callendfech · 10 February 2023]

I love the Scooby-Doo franchise. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated is peak fiction. But anyway, I came into this with super low expectations from all of the reviews I've seen. I was pleasantly surprised by this premiere.

Things I Liked:

• The animation is gorgeous, especially when Velma has her hallucinations
• The music was really good
• The plot is interesting and engaging to me. The mystery makes me want to continue the series. I want to know where Diya went and who murdered Brenda and Krista.

• Norville is a great and likable character
• Cliffhanger

Things I Didn't Like:

• Too much meta humor
• Not funny in the slightest. A few chuckles at most.

• Daphne and Fred are SO UNLIKABLE

I'm neutral to Velma's character for now.

I'm not changing on this show.

[tommypezmaster · 10/10 · 28 March 2024]

There's a good reason why Velma is written like this in the series. It's a prequel to the original Scooby-Doo. She becomes hard on them but she would later warm up to them and becomes Mystery Inc.

You praised characters like Cat, Rudy Tabootie, Baby Slyvester, Brain Newport, Rodney J. Squirrel, Tak, Will Valentine, Bessie Higgenbottom, Igor, Eric Needles, Scaredy Squirrel, Reggie, Be Cool Fred Jones, Bud Buckwald, 2017 Flint Lockwood and Gene Meh for doing the same thing Velma did throughout the series and yet she get the cold shoulder and the others don't?

This kind of mood swing proves this site can't handle my opinions, EVER!

Love it.

[johannbalasuriya · 10/10 · 30 April 2024]

I dont know why people are acting like old "Fuddie Duddies" about this show. I found it very entertaining. I enjoyed the updated character back stories. The foreshadowing jokes. The show is a dark reflection about what some kida are going through in this day and age. From one character being childish and unable to deal with life outside his "Bubble. To a daughter dancining like a stripper because that is the only way her Father will pay attention to her. I like the the new ethinic backgrounds for the characters.

The show is funny because the true horror or the thing that scared people the most was how it relected modern kids and modern issues. I.e How a cop conviniently assumed that his wife was dead so he could start afresh with another woman.